A couple days ago, this tiny blog of mine was nominated for a Liebster Award by the fabulous Kainoa over at Holoholo Girls. I’ve been a long-time follower (*cough* lurker *cough*) of their blog, and I love their creative, insightful, and beautifully personal posts about life. Needless to say, coming from them, this means a lot! Thank you/ありがとう~!
Valentine’s Day, The Last of Us way. | Image source.
Valentine’s Day has never been a significant holiday for me personally. As a kid, it was the day I had to remember to come to school wearing something red or pink, instead of our school’s green sweater and kilt uniform. I never really cared for the holiday, but I never hated it either, the way that some folks do, I suppose.
In Japan, バレンタインデー (Valentine’s Day) is a day for women to buy chocolates for the men in their lives, whether it be to express love and affection for a boyfriend or husband, or 義理チョコ (“obligatory chocolate gifts”) for male bosses or colleagues.
It didn’t really hit me that we were moving to Tokyo until we actually stepped off the plane at Narita Airport.
I’d spent my last few days in Santa Monica dealing with the logistics of our move, frantically selling our furniture on Craigslist, attempting to pack our entire lives into however many boxes could fit into 150 cubic feet, and then throwing away the rest. I’d slept maybe eight hours in three days. There was simply no time to get excited or scared or even emotionally acknowledge our move.
Even during the 11-hour flight from LAX to NRT, during which you’d think that I’d have ample opportunity to pause and reflect on the situation, I managed to keep myself distracted with movies and sleep. It really wasn’t until we stepped through the jet bridge, luggage in tow, the hot, humid air enveloping my body in instant sweat, that it finally hit me:
HOLY FUCK. We’re moving to Japan. No — scratch that — we’re in Japan. To live here.
I can’t believe it’s the end of March already. This year is going by so quickly. In no time, the game I’m working on will be wrapped up and Edu and I will be headed to Brazil, and shortly after that we’ll be packing up and moving to Japan. Crazy, eh? I am so ready to move to Tokyo. My emotions about the whole thing have swung completely in the opposite direction now since the news first hit us. I’m not just feeling better about the idea of moving to Tokyo, I can’t wait to go.
