Mark, I wish you luck with the big changes. You mentioned that this may be happening that night in Shimokitazawa, but now you've made it real I feel kinda sad, even though I hardly know you.

I'm sure I'll enjoy reading your take on moving back to Canada, and the changes that you and your family will undergo in moving into a different culture.

My to-do-list is pretty impressive at the moment too, though I'm sure it pales in camparison to yours! Gambaro, ne. Onwards and upwards.

Good luck Mark. The decision to leave Japan must have been a very hard one. That's a question for me as well. If, down the road, you can share with us more about why you decided to leave, I'd love to hear about that. I can understand if you'd rather not too.

For me there are many reasons to stay in Japan right now, mostly centered around family and my own growth/experiencing Japanese culture first-hand.

I don't think about leaving Japan per se, as I hope to come and go on a regular basis, but that's a dream, not a reality yet.

Martine, Gen, thanks for the kind words. I plan on writing plenty more on leaving Japan soon, so don't unsubscribe to my feed just yet ;-)

What a huge step... I have no idea what figured into the move but I'm gather it was heart-wrenching. I hope everything goes super-smoothly.

Huge step it is. And Erik, maybe we can make our way down the coast and meet up with some of those fab SF photobloggers.

That would be most fab indeed!!