The Last Post

This will be my last post before departure, and it will be a short one. Exactly twelve hours now remain until take-off. Wish me luck.

Tickets Arrived

I finally recieved my tickets today, as was expected. 35 hours from now, my plane will just have taken off from Gothenburg, having set course for Paris and Charles de Gaulle International Airport. I haven't been in Paris in ages, and though I won't actually get to see the city this time either, it still feels like a breath of fresh air not going through Vienna, as I've done the last four times I've gone anywhere moderately far away.

From Paris the trip then continues to Tokyo, a flight taking just over twelve hours, meaning I will land on Tokyo Narita as early as 06.30 local time.

As you may have noticed I changed the background of the blog. I am aware that it is not very well cut, and that it doesn't actually look very good - but it was the best I could do on this computer, lacking everything in the way of advanced photo editing softwhere as it does. Frankly, I had to do it in Paint. And it does beat the standard background that came with the template, so until I can make something better, it stays.

Finally, a small update on yesterday's post. The movie I saw (Arn – The Kingdom at Road's End; sequel to this) was very good. I can very much recommend it.

P.S. I've been experimenting a bit with various fonts here on the blog. If you have a preference, let me know.

Final Preparations

Less than three days remain now, before I leave for Tokyo. Everything is comming together at last. I've tried packing all the stuff I intend to bring with me, landing well within the 32 kg limit imposed by the airline. The rest of the things from my apartment, about half of which is books, will be safely locked away in my father's basement. The paperwork too seems to be in perfect order - except for the small fact that I still don't have the ticket in my hand.

Something like that always happens, whenever I go abroad. There's always one vital thing remaining two days before I leave. Some call it bad planning. I call it a fact of life. Either way, I am used to it. So as long as everything else is ready, I see no reason to panic.

And everything else do indeed seem to be ready. I've even said my final goodbyes to most of my friends. Most of them. A few remain, so I still have a couple of lunches to look forward to before departure.

I've spent the day taking care of some financial preparations. I cancelled one of my credit cards, as I won't be needing it during the upcomming year. It would just be lying there, making unnecessary charges to my account. I also bought myself a fresh pile of new shiny yen. I am not much into cash, really... seriously, I hate the stuff, always using a debit card for purchases, but with Japan being as ridiculously obsessed with printed money as it is, I didn't really see I had a choice in the matter.

Now I am leaving for the theater, to watch the second Arn movie. I'll let you know what I think of it.

The Story So Far

So why am I doing this? Why would I leave all my family and friends, some of whom I will no doubt miss almost unbearably much, to go to a place on the other side of the planet, and more or less start life all over? Why seek myself to a culture so westernized, and yet so foreign? Why leave my little corner of Europe at all, when so many others seem so content living here?

First things first. I have never really felt very at home in Sweden. Sure, I love my friends, I love my family. And I have to say I've found the city of Gothenburg to be somewhat picturesque during the year I've now been living here, and more pleasant than I'd ever expected a Swedish town to be. And the people I've met here have turned out to be some of the best friends I've ever had. Which of course counts for alot. But does it count for enough? That's the question I'll need to find the answer to.

So the people I know beside, there's really nothing holding me in this country. The cities, to begin with, are much too small and rural. As some people need little red cabins or vast oceans to survive, I need skyskrapers and beautiful architecture. Preferably intertwined with lush parks and palmtrees - it isn't the lack of nature that is important, but the presence of millions of people, the pulse that makes a world metropolis truly come alive, and the architectural feats of wonderment that often comes with it.

The scandinavian weather is another great thorne in my side. Always too cold, and often too wet. Even at summer the temperature much too rarely reaches anywhere near pleasurable levels, and at winter it's often just plain ridiculous how cold it is. And by the gods, if it has to rain all the time anyway, can't there at least be a cozy thunderstorm or two instead of ... well, this?

But let us move on to other things. I've lingered enough on what makes Sweden a place worth leaving, and though I assure you I could keep on for quite a few more paragraphs, there really would be no point. This is not a blog about Sweden, after all, but a blog about my dreams and aspirations, about Japan, and why I chose to go there.

And the answer to that question is easy enough. I have always found Asia to be an alluring place. I've always been mysteriously drawn to the continent, and especially to its more eastern parts. Imperial China and Samurai Japan are doubtlessly two of the most interesting cultures to have ever existed, and while I don't have much over for the communist regimes that has dominated the area for the the past half century, the region's recent adoption of capitalism has, in my opinion, once again made it a place well worth my attention.

And probably more so than any other place in Asia, Japan has held my interest firmly for the last several years. Never having had to deal with them "evil commies", the country has had the chance to develop into something entirely unique. More western than any other Asian state, while at the same time more eastern than most, a society sprinkled with the beauty of capitalist ideals, intriguing foreign customs, and the very edge of new technology, Japan was the obvious place where I had to go.

And at its center, the shining city of Tokyo.

Foreword

With this first post ever, I would like to welcome any and all of you who may eventually come to read this blog. Of course you won't be here already - and there's a good chance you never will be - but being the nice and social person that I am, I obviously couldn't let a small detail like that stand in the way of a proper welcome.

Half a month remain before I leave for Japan, and while most things are already planned and ready, I still have a few vital decisions to make before I leave. One of which regards this blog. It is the question of language. I still haven't decided, you see, whether I should blog in my native Swedish, or in the considerably more international English. Undoubtedly, they would both have their benefits. So what do you think, Oh Potential Reader, what language would you prefer? I promise I will listen in on the silence of the comment area, taking notice of all the advice you will not have given.