It was bound to happen eventually – I finally got myself a temporary, permanent address (or at least I expect to have one soon).
Yes, unfortunately, my trove of pilfered troll gold has run dry and I am now forced back into a state of servitude – exchanging hours of my life for rectangular pieces of paper that can then be traded for food or the removal of a person's clothing. What a joyous occasion this is.
As the title of this post may have led you to believe, the place I will soon become a resident of is the Japan (yes, the Japan). Yes, the near homogeneous island of the rising sun will soon find itself home to yours truly. I don't know what they were thinking to have proposed such an outlandish opportunity.
However, I have taken to thinking of this change as less of a settling down and more of a continuation of my wanderings. Surely every day spent in an office with people who do not speak my language or share my gift of facial hair will result in countless new adventures (mundane as they may be) and opportunities for me to reinforce the idea that foreigners are scary and unpredictable souls not to be trifled with.
Another benefit to the move: my base of operations now lies at Asia's doorstep, giving me easy access to a still unexplored region of the world (I'm looking at you, Nepal).
So where precisely in this nation of volcanic islands will I be planting myself? Good question.
I will be based in Fukui Prefecture on the island of Honshu.
My city of Echizen (formerly Takefu) is located 3.5 hours west of Tokyo and 1.5 hours north of Kyoto via train. It has already been described to me as “the most boring prefecture in all of Japan”, and as a place where their accents resemble that of backwoods hillbillies (not that this makes any immediate difference to me).
So basically it's adventure time.
Said hearsay does not bother me. Finding myself off the map is precisely where I like to be, and my time spent in Japan's inaka will not go unappreciated.
If my previous trip to Japan was any indication of what living in the country will be like, then I can say with near certainty that what lies ahead will be nothing short of spectacular(ly uncomfortable for the people of Japan).
いきましょう!