We've been home for a week now. I'm finally beginning to get over my jet lag. Last night was the first night I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. For a while there I would wake up at 1 a.m. then every 2 hours until 6 a.m. when I felt so restless I just couldn't stay in bed any longer. I went to bed at 11:45 p.m. last night and didn't wake up until 5:30 a.m. Now the real test will be if I manage to stay alert in the late afternoon.

I really notice my dependence on having a car here. For a couple of days we only had one car, so when Brad went into the office I was literally stranded in the hotel room. JoAnn was kind enough to loan me her car, which freed me from being held prisoner at the Marriott Residence Inn. We are staying in a suite and when you first walk in, it seems nice enough. Except the room smells funny. Apparently the rooms are sometimes occupied by smokers ( I can tell by the cigarette burns in the carpet). To clear out the stench of the cigarette smoke, they use this awful carpet deodorizer that fills the room with a sickeningly sweet odor. The bed is so uncomfortable I wake up with a backache every morning. The sofa is not much better. Even though we bought gourmet coffee and use bottled water, the coffee we make in the coffee maker tastes awful. I guess it's going to be a long time till we are in a comfortable living space.

On Memorial Day, we went to JoAnn's house for dinner. She prepared some luscious crab cakes. Mmmmmm, they were good. That is one dining experience I don't believe you can find in Tokyo. I'm so glad to finally see JoAnn's condo. It's a nice cozy place, plenty of room for her and her cats, she's got nice and comfy wall-to-wall carpeting, a good-sized kitchen, washer and dryer built-in, a working fireplace, a balcony with a pleasant view and a convenient location. What more could one ask for?

We stopped by our house on Hawthorne Road yesterday. We had to check on some things for a homeowners's insurance policy with USAA. It was so strange to see our house with other peoples' stuff in it. The current tenant is very much into a western theme. There were pictures of cowboys and western-themed decor all over, plus pictures of their kids and other family members. Perhaps it's because the tenant has lots of large furniture, or perhaps we got used to our spacious living room/dining room in Tokyo, but the living room at Hawthorne Road seemed very small to me. Smaller than I remembered it. But I still admire the charm of the house with it's hardwood floors, gentle archways and built-in wooden cabinets. Our tenants will stay in the house till mid-2005, which is good to know. As far as we could tell, they've taken very good care of the house. They are both in the army and have two children, a boy and a girl. I only met the wife yesterday -- she was very nice and friendly and she told us how much they enjoy the house, especially the kitchen. Oh, how I do miss my kitchen!

I'm hanging out at JL's again while Brad's at the office. It's strange. It's been only a day and a half but Tokyo already seems like such a distant memory. Still I can't help shaking the overwhelming urge to take off my shoes as soon as I walk into someone's house. It just feels wrong to be walking through the rooms with my shoes on! Even though I didn't drive in Tokyo I got plenty used to traffic driving on the left side of the street and now it seems natural to me. Hope this feeling doesn't wear off too soon -- it will come in handy in the UK. Walking in Linthicum, I have been enjoying the greeness of it all. So many lovely old trees and bright green lawns. Today I was delighted to see bunnies and a couple of chipmunks in the front yards of some houses on Camp Meade Road. I'm sure the owners of those properties see them as pests, but I couldn't help but think how kawaiiiii those little critters were. (Kawai means cute in Japanese and is probably the most common word to be uttered by young Japanese women.) The bird calls all seem so exotic to me, though they are probably just robins and cardinals. The weather has been miserable since we arrived. Cold, damp, misty and nothing but rain in the forecast. Oh well, good training for England.

Our trip from Tokyo to Baltimore was long, tiring, boring, but, thankfully, uneventful. Our first leg took us from Tokyo to San Francisco. Brad managed to sleep during most of that 8.5 hour flight, but I did not manage to sleep a wink. I passed the time by reading and took a break to watch "The Recruit" starring Al Pacino. Not one of his best efforts -- the story line was a bit unbelievable. Sitting in SF airport I started to become overwhelmed with drowsiness and began to doze off, but by the time we boarded the plane I was wide awake again. We were met at BWI by Domenica and Brenda (a surprise as D. had written earlier saying she wouldn't be able to make it to the airport). D & B gave us a ride to JL's house where we picked up the Toyota that JL will loan us while we're here in Md. I also spoke to JoAnn who is sick with a cold. I slept pretty good last night. Now we're at JL's doing laundry and trying to figure out what to do the next few days.

This is it. Our last day in Japan. Many of the friends we've met here have expressed a hope that we will return some day. We do hope so. Will we ever? It's so hard to say. Travel is not so much fun these days. Today we woke up with the news that the terrorist alert has been upped to high. (code orange) There is no sense in getting uptight about it. We will fly today no matter what. And I'm sure we will continue to travel in the future.

Today was our last full day in Tokyo. We made the rounds again to some of our favorite spots in town including the Shitamachi museum, one of my all-time favorite museums in the world. We went to the observatory at the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Office Bldg -- Brad had never been there and he wanted to make sure he did before we left. It's been very rainy and hazy lately, so there wasn't much of a view. And, yes, we made a few more of those last-minute purchases.

On Monday I had my final get-together with KC and Michiko. We went to an exhibit at the Teien Art Museum in Meguro" Jewellery from the Renaissance to Art Deco. There were some exquisite pieces on display in the Art Deco mansion that is now a museum. I learned that the mansion, formerly a prince's residence was at one time turned into a hotel and was the orginal Prince Hotel in Tokyo (today the Prince Hotel chain is one of the largest in Japan, I believe.) Then KC, Michiko and I went to the newly opened Roppongi Hills complex for lunch. KC ahd to rush off to a meeting, so Michiko and I found a restaurant where we could linger over a cup of tea. At the end of the afternoon we bid each other a tearful goodbye.

On Monday evening I had dinner with two friends from DigitalEve Japan, Misa and Khris. Misa, who seems to know where all the great restaurants are, suggested we go to Kawa no Hotoride, a fabulous little restaurant in Omote-sando. The name means something like Beside the River and there is actually a stream with fish running through the middle of the restaurant. We had to climb over a little bridge to get to the private booth where we had our dinner. All the food was great, mostly Japanese cuisine, but some items with some definite western influence.

So I guess I've said all my goodbyes. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. We plan to leave for the airport around 12;30 p.m. Ken will drive us to the airport in the office van, bringing us full circle. It was Ken who initially drove us in to town three years ago upon our arrival in Japan. It has been a wonderful, enlightening and inspiring three years. Now we look forward to relaxing with family and friends before we head off for more overseas adventures.

Im sitting in a free Internet cafe in Tokyo typing this on a windows laptop with a Japanese keyboard. I cant find the apostrophe anywhere and I feel so uncoordinated without a mouse. That is a good reflection of my state of mind these days. I feel disoriented, disconnected. It may be a month or two before we are no longer living out of our suitcases. Hopefully Ive packed the right clothes for the English weather which, as I understand it, can range anywhere from brilliant sunny days to cold dank miserable rainy days. Today Brad and I attempted to go to one last shrine sale before we leave Tokyo, but it appears they no longer hold them at Meguro Fudo-son. So we have just been tooling around town, popping in here and there, taking in all the curious little eccentrities you run across as you wander through the town. We did some more shopping and picked up a beautiful basket at Mitsukoshi Nihombashi. We will most likely mail some things to our new address so we dont have to haul all this stuff around with us.

I Just got off the phone with Yorkshire Kennel. Ginger seems to be settling in just fine and is adjusting well to his new surroundings. It turns out that Ginger did not get to spend the night at Heathrow airport after all. He was picked up in London the day he arrived and driven back to the kennel in Yorkshire that evening. It is a relief to know that he is safe and sound.

Now Brad and I have just a couple of days left in Tokyo. Our packout went quite smoothly. We had a very competent, courteous and amiable Japanese crew pack us out. I watched in admiration as they wrapped our furniture so neatly in corrugated paper as if they were giant presents to placed under a tree. It took two days for the packout. The final inspection of our apt. took place on Friday and all went well. The owner of our building and a few inspectors walked through the apt. and other than a few chips of wood on door frames they found nothing to complain about.

We got some last minute shopping in today on the Ginza. I finally found a frame for the dragon print I picked up in Kyoto about 2 years ago! Brad took my picture on the very same corner where my father had taken a picture of my mother over 50 years ago. It took me quite a while to locate the exact street corner, but I am confident I found the right corner. We also took in a few art exhibits today: Treasures of the Romanovs and Russia at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art in Ueno Park and a fabulous exhibit of paintings by early 20th century Belgian artist Leon Spillaert at the Bridgestone Museum.

We've had some fabulous meals in the last couple of days. There are two brand new complexes that have recently opened: Shiodome and Roppongi Hills. Both of them have lots of new shops and restaurants and we've enjoyed trying out some of the new restaurants.

Ginger's Big Adventure

As I write this, our kitty is winging his way to London on a Japan Air Lines flight. For all the hassles and frustration in getting the documentation and testing done for Ginger's entry into the UK, things went incredibly smoothly this morning at Narita Airport. We had to get up quite early to catch a taxi to Tokyo station. Ginger put up his usual resistance but by 6 a.m. he was curled up in his carrier as we headed out the door. I had been worried that the taxi driver might refuse to accept a cat as a passenger, but there was not a word said about the unusual cargo in the back seat between me and Brad. It was a quick ride to Tokyo station -- it was too early for much traffic on the road. We had to pay 270 yen for Ginger's fare on the Narita Express train with us (our fare was about ten times that much). We boarded the train and tucked his carrier behind our seat for the hour-long ride to the airport. All the while Ginger remained quite calm. We never heard a peep out of him and now and then we caught him nosing around in curiosity at his strange surroundings. After arrival at Narita, we walked about 15 minutes to the Animal Quarantine Service Center. I held my breath as the Quarantine vet checked over our paperwork. All was in order. She took Ginger out of his cage to check his microchip number. I was amazed at how calm he acted even for that. Then we headed to Nippon Express, the cargo agent who made the arrangements for Ginger's flight. I had to sign a few forms, we paid the bill (61,419 yen, about $500) and we were done! Aside from the travel time, the whole process only took about a half an hour. Ginger's due to arrive around 4:30 p.m. London time. That's 1:30 a.m. Tokyo time. I'll call tomorrow morning to make sure he arrived safely. He'll be spending the night at Heathrow and then will be picked up the next morning by Yorkshire Quarantine Kennel. They told me that by 2 p.m. he should arrive at the kennel.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

Last night after finally crawling into bed we were rocked by an earthquake. It felt pretty strong and lasted for a long time, though I haven't heard what the Richter rating. It was followd by a very mild aftershock -- first time we've experienced an aftershock. Brad said it was Tokyo giving us a grand send-off.

We're into the final countdown now. We will spend only two more nights in our apartment. Tomorrow morning Dr. Tanabe comes to give Ginger his deworming treatment (required by the UK). Then we attend a farewell luncheon at Brad's office. Ginger leaves on Tuesday and that night we'll check into our temporary quarters. We'll be in the same building where we stayed when we first moved here. Govt quarters, but not too bad. At least we'll only be there for a week. We stayed there nearly two months when we first moved here.

I went to my final DigitalEve event on Saturday. We scheduled an afternoon tea at the Hilton in Shinjuku. The theme was "Hello, goodbye". I'm not the only DEva leaving Japan and a few others are also stepping down from the Steering Committee. Meanwhile, we welcomed some new members as volunteers. It was a nice social event. And the food was fantastic -- a cake buffet, but there were also savory items on the menu. Everything was delicious.

Today Brad and I went to Meguro Fudo-son to get in one more shrine sale before the movers come. We arrived around 10 a.m. and the place was empty. I was crestfallen. I was sure I had the schedule right -- every second and third Sunday at Meguro Fudo-son. Well, there wasn't much else we could do about it and since we weren't sure where else there was a shrine sale we decided to head out to Asakusabashi. That's the part of town full of stores selling paper products and packaging items -- everything you need to set up your own store or business. We are in search of a special cloth covered box to store our woodblock prints in. The box they came in is a bit tattered and we're hoping to find a replacement. Well, we came up emptyhanded at Asakusabashi. So from there we went to Asakusa for one last stroll through the shopping streets and the temple grounds. We picked up a few omiyage to take back home. So, I felt a little bit better. At least something useful had been accomplished.

Then back home for more organizing. I tried to pack my suitcases for the move and encountered such frustration. I have to pack for two different seasons: summer in the U.S. and who knows what kind of weather in England. The real problem is we don't really know when the rest of our clothes will arrive in England, so we've got to be sure to pack wisely.

Now it's past midnight. I was really tired and tried to go to bed about an hour ago, but I couldn't sleep. So I got up and took care of a few more things. After I post this I think I will hit the sack finally. Oh, and I checked my shrine sale schedule. There was supposed to be a shrine sale at Meguro Fudo-son today. Don't know what happened. Maybe they're not holding them there anymore. That's a shame.

Today my friend Michiko held a farewell lunch for me at her house. KC, my friend and neighbor, was also there as well as Michiko's friend Fumiko. Michiko and Fumiko cooked up a storm in my honor: tamago-yaki (Japanese-style omelet that has a sweet flavor), vegetable tempura, soup with egg-based tofu and edible cherry blossoms, baked chicken with sour cream and cheese, raw tuna and rice. Everything was delicious! The conversation was stimulating as usual -- we discussed everything from politics to social problems to the latest movies. Michiko showed us her wedding pictures in which she wore a tradtional kimono and then hauled out the very kimono in the pictures for us to see. It was exquisite -- ivory white silk with a peacock design embroidered in white. Fumiko and Michiko confessed that it's been ages since either of them wore a kimono and they complained about how restricting the garment is. Michiko presented me with a beautiful parting gift: indigo blue noren and placemats. Noren are Japanese curtains often hung at the entrance to restaurants, but can also be used to separate rooms in a house. Gaijin like me also use them as wall hangings. Michiko must have read my mind, because I had been thinking about bringing home a set of noren. I just hadn't found any I liked, but the ones she gave me were perfect. When I bid her good bye this afternoon I was near tears. She is a dear friend and I'll miss her so much. We will definitely stay in touch and there is a very good chance she'll come to visit in England.

I'm inundated by the details of our upcoming move. I have to make lists of all the things I need to do each day. Even then, I forget things. You would think for all the times we've moved that it would get easier. It doesn't. This time it seems especially difficult because we both enjoy living in Tokyo so much. We're trying hard to be positive and look forward to our new life in England, but we can't help feeling sad over leaving Japan.

We had a nice weekend, the first in a long time when we both spent the entire weekend together. Usually Brad's off playing golf or I'm attending a DigitalEve event. On Saturday, we spent the day with Heather and Graham, the English couple in our building with whom we've become friends. We had good weather and spent the morning strolling through Kasai Rinkai Koen, one of Tokyo's many parks. Then we had lunch along Tokyo Bay at TY Harbor, an American-style restaurant with its own microbrewery. It felt just like being in the States, not quite the experience I wanted to seek out during our last days in Tokyo, but the company was good. On Sunday we went to a Wisteria Festival at Kameido Shrine. (It's the same shrine I went to with my sister JoAnn when she came to visit in January 2002 -- at that time there was a Bullfinch Festival going on.) The shrine is rather unusual compared to others I've seen. There is a large pond in front of the shrine traversed by a number of bridges. In addition there is an incredible network of trellises filled with wisteria, all in full bloom over the weekend. Needless to say the shrine was packed with festival-goers. I certainly won't miss being caught in these pressing crowds of people.