Back from UK wedding

I just got back from a week in Cambridge, London, and Edinburgh. The main reason for the trip was for my friend Wei's wedding. It was an amazing wedding. Wei looked absolutely stunning. I am so happy for her and her new husband Bobby. I wish them a wonderful life together and hope to keep in strong contact with them through the rest of our lives.

It was good to go back to the UK. It was good to see old friends and walk the familiar streets in Cambridge and London, but it also was different. It lost a lot of the glamour it had possessed while I was there. It is a great place to visit on Holiday, but I am in no rush to live there again. Life just seemed slower there than Tokyo. But then strangely coming back to Tokyo, I was struck by a slower pace here to. It has been hard to figure out what it is, but I think I have an idea. People in the UK rush around a lot more, they walk fast there, while in Tokyo people "flow" and sometimes the flow is actually pretty slow. People walk on the street at a more slower pace here it seems, almost as if they enjoy the process of walking around. I have needed to slow my pace down since coming back (and paying more attention to the people around me). Almost as if in Tokyo the process of walking around, window shopping, and watching people is in itself a relaxation.

But the UK seeemed overall slow and borring. Kind of what made me leave, it felt old and kind of stuck in their own past. Not really exciting or energetic. Tokyo is full of energy and life and change, in the city and the people. At least that is how it strikes me. Lots of little things too, but basically I was bored and relaxed in the UK and I feel alive and motivated in Tokyo.

Funny, but I think the holiday changed me a little, but I am not sure how exactly yet. I am for certain much less scared of catching peoples eyes here in Japan now, and I am realizing that people do look around and don't just walk with their heads down. I am also just a little more comfortable with Japanese too. Vocabulary is starting to stick. I think overall I just feel a little more comfortable and a little less like a stranger in a strange land.

So yeah, a UK Holiday is perfect, but I am so much happier living in Tokyo. Just wish my friends Wei, Michael, and Hans lived closer.