Preparation Phase

By my calculations, according to our synchronised watches, we’ll be on a plane heading to Japan (aka Nippon) in approximately 36 hours. So I feel the time is ripe to publish my list of…

Top 10 Things I Am And Am Not Looking Forward to About Japan

And they are as follows:

1. Coffee. I live in a Darwinian Mecca of baristas (bariste?). It’s survival of the best grinder of organic fair trade beans processed by a boutique roaster on the lower north shore. Will I survive three weeks of trawling the streets for a caffeine hit only to abase myself before steps of Starbucks every morning? Things I’m not looking forward to.

2. Having stamps in my brand new passport. I’m looking forward to that.

3. Tokyo: a city almost entirely composed of people who are effortlessly cooler, thinner and younger than I am. This should probably more accurately belong in the category of things I’m growing daily more nervous about.

4. Food. Which category does this fall into? I like Japanese food and I’m looking forward to eating more of it. On the other hand, I like other kinds of food and I’m not looking forward to them not being available. I can see the long term benefits of eating less carbs, but will I be so permanently hungry by the time I get home that I start devouring raw potatoes as I walk in the door? And I quite like fish, but I don’t know if I can eat it exclusively for three weeks. It’s not exactly a culture of sourdough and washed rind, is it? Most of all I’m hoping I don’t get back and find I never want to eat sushi again.

5. Being away from work. It’s only been two days and I’m already more relaxed than I can remember being in ages.

6. Being out of my depth. Is this even possible anymore? Everywhere in the world, people seem to speak English. Of course we’ve chosen the politest country on earth in which to have this experience, but I’m hoping it will still be an adventure trying to do everyday things like going to the bathroom and eating breakfast.

7. Living out of a suitcase. Enough said.

8. Shinkansen (bullet trains). I would say I’m morbidly curious. Anything travelling that fast on land shouldn’t be you or I going off to work. It should be the result of a dare.

9. Fabric. Paula told me I should buy some and I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. Dying to check it out.

10. Not having a mobile phone. Apparently in Japan you need something (bluetooth?) to make the phone work on their network, and I don’t have it. It’s now been almost ten years since I first bought a mobile phone (I was a late bloomer) and I haven’t been out of range of it since, except when I forget it in the morning sometimes. I’m looking forward to not being accountable to whoever tries to ring me. Sadly there’s always email (please email me! Don’t listen to anything I say!).

That’s all for now, watch this space. (On the web. Not the space in the suitcase. I’m not posting updates of that.)

PS We don’t actually have synchronised watches. I just put that in. I don’t even have a watch.