Its half 10 at night and I'm sitting in a hammock on the roof of my building. There are 3 reasons why. 1 )I have a headache and it's cool up here and quiet. 2 )I have some sunburn and I'm trying to distract myself from the crazy itching and 3) because I like it up here. There are 5 months left of my time in Japan and Its gone way too quick. I've had a great time so far and seen many beautiful places. I've learnt to snowboard and made some great friends. But money is running out and everyone wants me home. I've applied for some private teaching work and asked back at the English cafe and if things go my way I should be able to last out my time. I'm gonna apply to some Okinawa resorts for work too as it's the other end of the scale from the mountains and you never know I may learn to surf.

I'm already thinking about how much I'll miss it here. It's clean and safe and everyone's so friendly and it's sad to think that once I leave I can't come back other than as a tourist. I do think about home and what it would be like to have money again. To buy nice things and make the next steps of having a place and pursuing a career. I hope I last the time here and wish I could stay. To be here with money and no worries would be amazing to not be held back by what I can afford so that I could explore the country further…. Let's hope my parent win the lottery. But there are other places I think about too, places I still want to see. I know in this year I could have simply explored Asia and just taken a taste of each country but really I didn't save enough money for that. I'll have to do what everyone else does and try to take in what I can 2 weeks at a time on my yearly holiday.

I see my family tomorrow as they are currently on a flight to Tokyo. I hope the like it here I want them to be able to see why I like it here. There's lots they want to do and plenty of places to visit in and around Tokyo. I'll see if I can even get my mum to talk a little Japanese to someone. It will be great to see them after 7 months. I've missed them allot. Being on the other side of the world is a little different to being an hour's flight away. I've got used to being away from them though since I first went to university and we've always found ways to stay in touch. I know mum would rather me home now than here, and I appreciate I'm further away but really I'm safer here than I was in the UK. When I go out drinking there's no fights breaking out or people throwing up on every corner. (The exceptions are the gaijin.) Crime is low here and I feel safer walking down an alley here than through town in the UK. Perhaps I have rose tinted glasses on but I don't think so. The other thing here that I like is that all the other foreigners I meet here are like minded. For the most part we are all here for the same reason. We all love Japan and its culture we all want to stay and because of that I've made great friends here and so easily as well. I will Miss Japan allot......but it's not over yet.