Commencing countdown, engines on

The beginning of my planned series of posts documenting my time in Japan. It was around October of 2016 that Nozomi and I decided that we are definitely going to do this. Spend a year in Japan experiencing the seasons, festivals, and all that Japan has to offer.

The plan was to find someone to rent our house so that we could cover the mortgage payments. We would find some sort of part-time work in Japan, teaching English was one option, to cover our living costs and hopefully still have enough left over to travel around Japan a little bit.

I started work at a friend’s start-up in late October. The initial thought was that I would work there for a year until I left for Japan. Luckily however things went well at the start-up and Panos was happy to consider letting me work remotely. Things were still left quite open until late summer when we finally decided that I would work from Japan. The plan is still fluid but the idea is to be full-time to start with and then move to 3 days a week once things settle.

Another piece of the puzzle fell in to place when Nozomi’s ex-colleague mentioned that she and her soon-to-be husband were looking to move out of their flat in to a house. A few conversations later they came over to view the house, liked it and decided on the spot that they would be happy to rent it from us.

So, two major pieces in place. But oh the pain of all the little things. The amount of stuff Nozomi and I have accumulated over the years is crazy! We were going to put all our things in the loft of our house but discovered so much crap once we started packing. Tine to make some harsh decisions on things that had made their way with us on the previous house move. Cue a number of trips to the charity shop with lots of bags full of assorted clothes, shoes, and that wonderful catch-all term - “bric-a-brac”.

And then of course, there’s all the utilities, etc that need to be closed off. Thankfully most of them now have online options that make things a lot easier. Virgin Media still needs to be called up.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, we also had to get rid of our TV, a cabinet, the sofa and mattress. Oh and two motorbikes and a car.

Enough already with all your possessions! It really does make you think - I’m sure we could get by with a lot less stuff. Maybe when we return to the UK we will. I still don’t think we were harsh enough with some of our stuff. A few more things will probably be discarded when we get back. I did rather love my bikes though… Will definitely have one bike when I get back. Two? Maybe too much.

If anyone reading this is planning anything similar, I would definitely recommend that you start packing a lot earlier. We started with about a month to go but it still seemed a bit hectic.

In any case, we did manage to get rid of most of our things that had to be sold. One of my bikes (the lovely thunder machine that is the Aprilia Tuono) didn’t sell. Panos has very kindly offered to hold on to it until the Spring and try to sell it then.

So, after a final round of shoving stuff in the loft (Nozomi is worried about the ceiling!) it was time to get in to the taxi for the flight. We’re stopping off in Mumbai for a few days to meet my family before we head on to Japan.

Despite all the effort of packing/selling/storing our belongings, it still hasn’t really sunk in that we’re doing this. Going away for a year to Japan! It’s definitely going to be an adventure. I speak a little bit of Japanese but nowhere near enough. My reading is even worse. I was going for lessons once a week for a period of about two years at ITO Japanese school. They are really great and I highly recommend them if you are looking to learn Japanese. Unfortunately I stopped the lessons about 18 months ago so I am woefully out of practice. Nozomi and I have the occasional conversation in Japanese but that tends to be quite short. I will definitely have to find a Japanese language school once we get there and ramp up big-time.

But before all that, 10 days of relaxing with the family in Mumbai. Stuffing my face with mum’s food and just chilling. Nozomi says she feels like a cat. Eating and resting. Me, I think I feel like a sloth :-)