Home sweet home...for now!

Saturday was a beautiful, sunny, blue sky day, and so I decided to have a relaxing wander around my ‘city’, Yanai, in order to take some photographs of the sights and scenery that I take for granted on a daily basis. I took quite a few little movies of different areas, and enjoyed my leisurely stroll along the white walled street, the main street, and the quiet lanes near my apartment. After reading Kat’s blog last week (entitled, ‘Things I’ll Miss About Japan : Yanai’), I realised that I too wanted to pay homage to our quaint old ‘city’!! Yanai has only around 30,000 inhabitants, making it a very tiny ‘city’ indeed, and certainly not what I would consider a city to be back home. I remember when I received my placement details for JET (almost 2 years ago), and how I was a little worried about the prospect of living somewhere that seemed so rural, remote, quiet, and boring. However, after the initial shock of seeing mountains and rice fields surrounding my apartment, I soon settled in to life in Yanai. It’s such a nice place to live. Yes, it is quiet (although I’d kind of forgotten that until Zeenat pointed it out to me on her visit!), and no there is not a plethora of things to do, bars to frequent, and shops to spend my pay cheque in. But, it doesn’t need to have any of those things…it has rural charm! If I want shops or bars, I am about an hour from Hiroshima on the train. I am close to other local cities and towns that have beaches (better beaches than Yanai!), cinemas, and other JETS to have parties with. But it terms of living somewhere…having a comfortable base to return to….walking along the streets that have barely no light at night and feeling completely safe….seeing gorgeous sunsets from my apartment…having a really good friend only a 10 minute walk away…being able to walk everywhere (to work, to town etc)…..hosting great summer festivals…singing my heart out at cheap and friendly karaoke joints (gotta love the karaoke king, Kat!)…eating great tonkatsu and yakiniku….having a cheap, spacious apartment…Yanai is a wonderful home!