Moving out

I have been very busy the past few weeks because we are going to leave Japan end of this month. Packing is the hardest thing to do and I am bad at organizing the miscellaneous little things. Felt as if wanting to throw away things like that, but each and every one of them is money so I have to consider that before eliminating them. The picture is only a part of our many boxes, which will be sent by air and sea.

So, to make it short, today we have sent all our things through a moving company and moved out to a nearby hotel. We will stay there until the 30th, before heading to Narita for the flight the next day.

In Japan, moving in and out is troublesome and consumes a lot of money. Deposit, key money and the first (if not few) months rent are the whole thing you have to pay before moving in. Don't expect you can get the whole deposit when you move out, because the house owner/agent will charge you almost all (if not all) from the deposit for all the damage that has been done to the apartment. If there is a tatami room, the chances are that you won't be getting a yen because the tatami must be changed for the next occupant.

What I hate most is that during these busy times there are so many invitations to dinner/lunch. Can't they consider us being so packed with our schedule managing this and that before leaving? After a long day sending off our things and doing some cleaning today, we will have to attend a BBQ tomorrow, and then my husband will have to attend a farewell party the night. We will have to return the key to the house owner on Sunday, so everything must be perfectly clean until then, so that we can get as much money returned as possible.

Btw, it was a sad day for my daughter as she had to say goodbye to her kindergarten friends. They have been exchanging letters the past couple of weeks, and what they wrote was only a few words, like "Nani, I will be missing you", "I like you" and such, with some cute drawings of princess or anime character in between. So sweet..Even today when we visited the school to say thanks to the teachers, her friends asked us if Nani could stay until the end and not follow us home earlier. This kindergarten is much better than the one in Fukuoka, because it gives more freedom for the kids to develop their skills. Nani is much better now in communicating, drawing, playing the melodion and origami (just invented a camera using her own method, which really surprised me). She can also read and write hiragana and katakana well now.

Ok, so much more to write but I am too tired. Will try my best to tell more stories on our activities before leaving Japan. Till then, I am going to get some zzzzs now.