Kanja-san

I met a terminal cancer patient yesterday. It was only part way through a wonderful conversation with her that she told me her diagnosis. I didn`t really know what to say, so I just said that I was sorry and that it sounded like she had had an amazing life. She told me she had traveled to 25 countries, including England three times, and China, where she taught English. I found myself thinking about her last night and I regretted not learning more about her when I had the chance. Today though I found out her name and the date of her next treatment at the hospital. I have also loosely arranged to get a little time off work to go and see her when she is next here. I feel like I should buy her a gift or something, but what does one buy for someone who is dying? I can`t even give her food because she has no appetite due to all of her medications. Maybe I should just give her as much of my time as possible….?

手荷物 Baggage

I know it has been a while since my last post. I have been wanting to write more but there's not all that much to report back on at the moment. That is, apart from my packing dilemma. I have 29 kilograms in total to sustain me for 6 and a half months. I alternate between thinking this is plenty and pitifully little. I'm trying to trick my brain into thinking it will be enough and I'm managing to convince myself of this for about 90% of the time. Unlike most airlines I have come across is the past – who charge £4 to £6 per kg of excess baggage – Virgin Atlantic charge £43 per kg, so there's no way I can be even a little over. I have 23kg for my suitcase and 6kg for my hand luggage, and that's that.

So how does one pack six and a half months worth of stuff into 29kg? How does one possibly decide what one needs and what one doesn't need, what might come in handy, or what might prove to be just a waste of space and weight? Personally, I like to go the list route. I have made lists for everything – stuff that is going in my hand luggage, stuff to go in my suitcase, stuff to go in a bag that's going into my suitcase for me to take out on arrival in Tokyo. I have made lists of individual items of clothing, make-up, toiletries and jewellery. I am well aware of the obsessive-compulsive nature of my packing strategy but hey, it works and it is possibly the only thing that is keeping me from panicking.

My master packing list gets edited every few days but I'm still not happy with it. Some things I repeatedly take off and put back on. For instance, at first I decided I could manage without a comb or brush (I have curly hair so can, more easily than a non-curly haired person, get by without one) but now I have two combs on there, a fine tooth and a wide tooth. It doesn't matter if I take zero, one, or two combs – combs are not important - but the tight regulations on my packing are making the most negligible thing in normal circumstances seem critical even when they are not. It's the same with every single item on my list and at the moment I have 150 things on there. It's so stressful. Another thing I have to take into account is the return journey and all the souvenirs etc. that I will be bringing back with me. The weight allowance is the same coming back so I either have to pack with weight to spare or be prepared to leave some stuff in Japan. *sigh* I'll manage – I have no other choice.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: my suitcase, the lightest light-weight suitcase I could find, weighs 3.7kg. My luggage allowance is down to 25.3 kilograms. Life's tough, ain't it?