I recently had a look through the many stamps in my passport and realized it has been 2 years already since I have left Japan. It seems like a very long time. Many things have happened. Some for the better, some for the worse.
In those 2 years, I have rarely looked back and haven't visited Japan since. Strangely, this is not due to a lack of money or time. I haven't figured it out yet, but I think it is not just the right thing or right time to do. Living in Japan always fascinated me. However, to go there as a mere visitor doesn't really strike me as nearly half as attractive.
Another thing worth noting is that I learned from my previous stays that as good my time in Japan was, it will not be the same if I would return. After returning home from a longer stay abroad, many people express some kind of longing for that far away place, wherever it may be. Returnees usually get itchy feet and want to return to the place where so many discoveries were made and the days were not just passing by but given the person abroad a good sense of excitement. However, this is not always true when having returned to that place after a leave of absence. In my experience, things change rather fast and while one is eager to return to "that place" and works hard for it to happen, the place doesn't wait for us. This holds especially true when having been a student abroad.
This being said, I do want to return some day. There are still a few things on my bucket list for Japan. These include Yakushima, Sadogashima, and Okinawa. Meanwhile, there is a whole world to explore, which's surface I have only scratched upon. :)
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