fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #282 ]

⌈ Secret Post #282 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 09 pages, 208 secrets from Secret Submission Post #041.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 ] broken links, [ 1 2 3 ] not!secrets, 0 not!fandom.
Next Secret Post: Tomorrow, Monday, October 15th, 2007.
Current Secret Submission Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, honey.

I don't even know what to say to you.

A friend of mine once said that being in Japan was like being in love with a charming, charismatic drunk. The good times are amazing but the bad times are so, so bad, and no matter how much you'll want them to change, they never will. Not for you, and not for me.

I lived in Japan for two years; two of the worst and best years of my life. Everything good you think or imagine about it is roughly true. The downside: Just think of all those times you're never taken seriously or valued where you are. Then multiply that by ten. Then add in the fact that you'll never truly hate it, because it's so, so beautiful, so much beauty everywhere.

I'm glad I'm not there anymore, yet I'm always looking for that opportunity to go back.

Oh Japan. I wish I could quit you.

I often think of Japan as something like Estella from Dickens' Great Expectations - rich, alluring, graceful, lovely, but unable to love or return love.

Whatever the metaphor, my own personal experience is similar - Japan is infinitely beautiful and exciting but also cold and lonely.

The expats lament.

(I'm going on my third consecitive year here. Combined wit the time I've spent here in college, it's been nearly 3 years)

Were you here on JET or something? I'm curious (It's always nice to talk to other expats)

Yeah, JET. It was... well, it was JET, with the awesome and suck that implies. I've promised myself that if/when I do return to Japan, it won't be to teach English.

That said, I do miss the school. High school anime (especially ones set in the countryside) now make me unbearably nostalgic and maudlin -- of course, they don't include the terrible isolation and angst.

Where in Japan are you?

I'm out in the middle of nowhere in Okayama-ken. It's been wierd, I was unhappy my first year but my second year was awesome, and my third is shaping up to be busy and crazy. And I know I'm going to be in Japan teaching a fourth year, though I am uncertain if I want to remain where I am making decent money or move and make less. I actually enjoy teaching at Elementary school, which is a LOT of what keeps me reasonably sane, I think.

Japan has always been for me the place that I love and adore and loathe all at once. I have a shitty house and an okay job, but my students make it worthwhile. I know I'm one of the lucky ones, cause I'll be riding somewhere in town and my students will say hi to me and make me smile. I TOTALLY sound like all the brainwashed nitwits now, lol.

Where were you?

I was in the far corner of Hyogo-ken, for 2 years at a pretty academic high school. HIGHLY mixed experience, though largely loved the kids. Would've stayed a third year but I was engaged to a girl stateside and tired of the long-distance thing.

Damn my weak will, I would like to get back to Japan someday. At least I've got an okay job for it when I get serious about Returning.

Ahhh, Hyogo-ken<333 I love Hyogo-ken and most anything in the Kansai region, as that's where I went to college when I studied abroad (yay Konan Daigaku!). I understand totally about the long distance thing, and kudos to you and her for actually getting through it! That's all sorts of awesome, and hard.

I wish you luck upon returning. If it's anytime in the next two years, even for a visit, look me up. I won't mind at all. =)

Oh wow, you put things perfectly.

I've been in Japan for almost four months and that's almost exactly how I feel.

I've done things here far more exciting and fun than I've done back at home. But man, when I'm not doing those things? Everything's just meh. The highs and lows just make me dizzy sometimes.

Just remember for when you DO go back: Get ready to get finger printed ~_~

[ SECRET POST #282 ]

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