[Japan]: 4th anniversary!

[chochajin]

Yes, it's been 4 long years and finally it does feel like I've been in Japan for a long time. Maybe long enough.
As you know I've been thinking a lot about leaving Japan this past year.
Instead of leaving I decided to move to another city and job. I'm still not sure if it was a good decision, but my 5th and probably last year will surely show.

It's funny / interesting / destiny?! That my new job and all starts exactly on my anniversary! I move on the very day I arrived in Japan 4 years ago!!

Photo information: Fallen Tsubaki (blooming in winter in Japan!) taken a few days ago.

Alright, so let's have a look at YEAR 4 AMJ (= after moving to Japan ):
I'm not really satisfied with this 4th year.
2011 was probably not a good year for anybody living in Japan considering that soon after I wrote my last anniversary entry we had the earthquake / tsunami disaster!
It was just a very .... strange year! But yet I'm still here in Japan!

Compared to previous years (1st / 2nd / 3rd) I didn't do much, I didn't accomplish anything.
I still was very motivated towards the beginning of the year, even bought a lot of workout gear and did exercise quite regularly .. until around May when my "blog project" was born.
Ever since then I just sat in front of the computer, working on the blog from June to November 2011 nonstop. During that time I didn't do anything else. Well, ok I went back to Germany for 2 weeks in summer, but that's about it.
Thus, most of my resolutions from last year were a BIG FAT FAIL!

My resolutions from last year:

• Study less Japanese but without any breaks (I did study less, yes, namely NOTHING AT ALL!) => FAILED!


• Join some kind of activity (yoga, calligraphy, fitness club) FAILED!


• Get out there and get to know people (so I won't feel lonely anymore!) FAILED!


• Explore Japan even more (travelling, culture, people) - I could have done more, but I did partly, so to not be the total loser of the year: ACCOMPLISHED!


• Travel outside of Japan to somewhat nearby countries (China, Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia etc.) FAILED!


• Figure out what to do next (aka where to live / what kind of job to do / leave Japan: yes/no etc.) - well, as I'm moving today and starting my new job, I guess that counts as: ACCOMPLISHED!


• Improve my photography skills - I don't think I really did?! Maybe a bit: DUNNO!


• Become a better person in general - I've been working on it a lot, but ... DUNNO!


• Not getting upset about every tiny thing: ACCOMPLISHED!


• Reduce internet/pc use FAILED!

Somehow this is becoming more and more ridiculous from year to year.
I wonder if I still should keep those bullet point style at all. Very frustrating! ^-^;

The year started out so great! I had ambitions and I followed them.
I worked out a lot, my body felt great. I thought about my future a lot and was working towards a "next step" solution.
As some sort of "solution" this crazy "blog project" idea came up and from there I feel everything went into a wrong direction. That's how I truly feel about it right now.
I think I wasted too much time.
Now it often feels more like a burden when I "have to" write a blog entry.
That's not how it was supposed to be.

On the other hand I did some last minute traveling in my immediate neighborhood because .... I never did and this was my last chance before moving!
There were so many awesome spots to discover! I wanted to slap myself that in FOUR FREAKING LONG YEARS I didn't manage to visit there even once!!!!!!!!
I feel like I missed a lot of things!
What have I been doing in the past 4 years?

Well, yes, the first 2 years were busy because I focused on studying the language like WOAH, so I didn't get to experience so much outside of it:
like finding Japanese friends, joining any social activities or exploring the neighborhood more.
But what happened then?
I just got too lazy and preferred to stay in my safety zone most of the time aka my apartment.
Not good!

I don't regret coming to Japan and hopefully never will.
But I do partly regret how I spent those last 4 years.
There's no use being angry at myself now as it can't be changed anymore.

I just HOPE that I can make my 5th year a completely different, but good experience without any regrets.
This mostly includes me being less online and doing more things outside of my apartment.
I have no clue if I'll be able to do it.
So many new things are lying ahead of me: new work, new co-workers, new area, new apartment, finally having a car ETC.

I don't feel like making bullet points for my 5th year, but here we go:

• making it my last year in Japan


• experience something new / a new side of Japan


• don't spend too much time in my apartment / in front of the computer as I can do that once I'm back in Europe again


• join a Taiko group


• preparing going back to Europe

We'll see if there's gonna be a 5th year anniversary entry as I might not even stay a whole year anymore.


Last, but not least just because I do it every year:

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Top Commenters on chochajin's LiveJournal
(Self and anonymous comments excluded from rankings)

1	hesaki	624
2	amvn	469
3	asahifirsa	391
4	mtassarion	361
5	bf_nightingale	286
6	andou_	266
7	chatiel	244
8	mahochan1	239
9	karro	212
10	leviosa8	178

11	angelbott	174
12	linaaa	170
13	evilblueberry	165
14	quinnsan	162
15	pearlsphere	158
16	gabenut	149
17	anime_junkie18	146
18	meister_quitte	145
19	thinking_lotus	133
20	pandanroll	129
21	mhizxkyloz	128
22	__manga__	120
23	chibi_bijutsu	112
24	kitsune_no_ame	110
25	supajo	105
26	kamishey	104
27	shiinait	102
28	_usotsuki_	102
29	kare_chan	99
30	kevinsensei	95
31	ame_no_uta	93
32	nighstar	91
33	jimjamjenny	90
34	nekoyousei	90
35	taepot	88
36	musumeyz	86
37	celestica	83
38	calpis37	82
39	kurohaneshizumi	80
40	kanefunnn	78
41	koyachii	78
42	pnolan	77
43	ninchu	74
44	miss_dian	72
45	kurikuribebi	71
46	vixenofflames	71
47	lunatic_shadow	69
48	xia_hime	67
49	currynana	65
50	midnightbanshee	64
51	himehikari	63
52	gintoki_sama	62
53	tokyolights	61
54	vanityfair00	60
55	missmomoko	59
56	mila_gogo	59
57	jrock_nightmare	59
58	tangerinesun	59
59	moon_bunny735	59
60	keikazama	58
61	meghsta	58
62	nadiko	57
63	bluemchenblatt	56
64	azurewolf7	56
65	careline18	55
66	mit_souko	53
67	sakitokun	53
68	shunluv	52
69	ayuehime	52
70	yukikumo	50
71	shinigami_93	50
72	kmakms	49
73	x_houko_x	49
74	kawarashii	48
75	chaosmyth	48
76	twistedhalo04	47
77	hiromisky	46
78	venia_86	45
79	nfr	45
80	dismal_carnival	45
81	cinnamonghost	44
82	koichiko	43
83	amaya_in_love	42
84	moldypotatochip	41
85	ohmynews	41
86	wing_goddessxxx	41
87	samispo0n	41
88	loonalovegood	41
89	apsharha	41
90	princessxia	41
91	karu_chan	40
92	dr_crgirl	40
93	uver_chan	38
94	chocomemi	38
95	saa_ri	38
96	bunny_alice	37
97	miyu01	37
98	amai_purin	37
99	crypticbluerose	37
100	dungbrains	36

Total Commenters: 5251 (5151 not shown)
Total Comments: 39021
Report generated 2012/02/27 13:29:58 by scrapdog's LJ Comment Stats Wizard 1.7

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Congrats to asahifirsa who finally made it into the Top 3 this year! Thanks for your great and helpful comments!

Thanks for reading, especially to those who've been with me since Day 1 (March 1st 2008) of my Japan adventure (or even before that)!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/__manga__/]

weeeee number 22 XD

Big hug for you :3

[pnolan.livejournal.com]

Awww . . . you are way too hard on yourself! Stop it! :)

[mit-souko.livejournal.com]

I do think you are too hard on yourself. We all have regrets and might have [but didn't] this or that. Well, you did spend a lot of time on preparing for that blog, but look at the bright side: you will have all that time for other activities now. You did talk about your trips before, now it will be on your travel blog, that's not such a huge thing.

One does need to have some thoughts about what to do next [or not to do]. But if you end up doing something else, so what. You owe no one an explanation. You need to enjoy what you are doing, that's the main object. Life's too short for it to be just one long duty and filling in of spaces.

[kamishey.livejournal.com]

wow 4 years time goes by way too fast!!!
i hope that in this 5th year you can enjoy it at least a little bit better that the 4th :)

and yay 26! XD

[angelbott.livejournal.com]

#11 wow. xD Yay XD
I wish you have a good luck for your plan(s) in this year! ^o^

Noo some is failed. Dx;; hmm.. maybe you should try again in someday? :o

I hope 5th will get little better than last year...

[kate-firefly.livejournal.com]

happy 4th anniversary!! ~_~ aw....i get what you're saying, but i think for most people, it's like that. i mean not being able 2 do everything they wanted to do...u don't have to feel so bad. at least you got to do a lot of traveling! i really gotta try 2 work harder at reaching certain goals that i set for myself too. but procrastination is so damn addictive. lol. in fact, i'm doing it right now. i really should be doing something else right now. haha. good luck with everything this year!! *_*

and i do hope that you go back to germany, cuz i think it would make life easier for you in many ways...

[amvn.livejournal.com]

Yay I'm still #2!!! :D I feel that is quite an accomplishment, for me at least *lol* XDDD

I wouldn't say that you have failed this past year, but I guess that is a very personal statement for any of us. You made an AMAZING blog, I do think you take great photographs (well, that you've always done IMHO) and now you're going for something new :) But, I'm in total agreeance that 2011 was one of the worst years, probably THE worst year, for me as well :( I didn't really accomplish anything either (I passed one exam with bad grades, one I failed and I still didn't finish my master, or get to travel anywhere...). For me it started out quite well like it did for you, I worked quite efficiently Jan/Feb, then it went downhill from there XD But I do hope that 2012 will be better for both of us ♥ I think we both have to socialize more and don't have too high expectations, that way it's easier not to get disappointed :) *hugs*

Anyways, happy 4th anniversary :D ♥♥♥

[moldypotatochip.livejournal.com]

It's been about 4 years for me too, between study abroad, JET, and my current job.

I made your top 100~ impressive for me because I didn't have internet for 9 months (>_<)

I find that some goals can be really hard to reach unless you're super specific about how you go about them. I think that having goals is good because it shows you're working towards something. But because you didn't accomplish everything doesn't mean you didn't accomplish something. You did your best, right?

[weifrannie.livejournal.com]

Wishing you a more fruitful year ahead. Like what others said, don't be too hard on yourself. And if you feel like it's a burden maintaining your blog then it's not healthy anymore. You should think of yourself first. You don't have an obligation to your blog followers and they (including me) will be thankful if you post regularly but if your hands are tied up in other things then we can do nothing but wait.

Like you, I also regret how I spent my first 3 years here in Japan. But I'm hoping I'll be able to spend my remaining time here productively.

Good luck!

[asahifirsa.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about spending too much time in your apartment. I lived in Yokohama, only 15 minutes by bus from Kamakura and didn't go there until my last week in Japan. The only trips I made were Hokkaido with a friend and Okinawa with my s.o. when he came to visit. Still, I learned a lot about myself in that year and I think that's worth something as well. Maybe you need some bummer years to make you realize that you're wasting precious time and make you do something. It made you move and make some important decisions for yourself so I wouldn't write it off.

Nr. 3 hmm? I obviously spend too much time on the internet as well :)

[lala-lia.livejournal.com]

Good luck with your new job and city! I'm sure everything will work out perfectly!
~hugs :)