First – the backstory.
When we got married, my husband and I were brainstorming on places we wanted to live. There is no reason that we have to live in the same state where we were married (or the same country); so we were throwing out possibilities and how easy or difficult it would be to live there. The stipulations were that we had to live in a semi-major city, with relatively easy access to a good hospital. The reason is that my husband has Crohn’s disease, so easy access to medical care is a must. (which rules out his dream of living high in the mountains.)
Well early in 2015, my husband asked about the possibility of us living in Japan. He had taken Japanese in college, and he loved the language and culture, so he wanted to put Japan on the table. There are other reasons that Japan is on the table, but it seemed the most versatile of anywhere we were thinking, so I thought why not?
So. We’re moving to Japan.
Not RIGHT THIS MINUTE, mind you. There are things that need to get done first.
1) We both need to learn the language. So- we both need to go back to school. For Japanese. Which means it’s going to take about 4 years, before we are ready to move.
2) I need to learn how to care for my hair. I’ve never really learned to take care of my hair- I’ve just been muddling through… for YEARS. But since the availability will be scarce of black hair care products- I’m going to need to lock down a routine, and then find a source for my products (which will probably be Amazon).
3) We currently have a cat. So, if we have a cat in three years- we need to figure out how to get him through the quarantine procedures as quickly as possible. (Which means starting a year before we leave for Japan and getting him the vaccinations he needs to breeze through quarantine.) Now- please note that I don’t plan on getting rid of the cat- it’s just that he is about 13 years old, so he realistically may not be alive in three years. But, since they can live 15-20 years. It’s likely that he’ll still be around.
4) I’m a plus size girl. I do plan to lose some weight (see point number 5), but I’m not going to get down to being absolutely thin. Just healthy. And healthy… is still around a size 10/12. And an American size 12 is still too big for 90% of the clothes in Japan. Plus- we Westerners have a bigger build than Japanese women, so even if we could fit- most clothes would still fit weird. Our shoulders are broader, so sleeved clothes would have a weird shoulder seam, and the sleeves would probably not be long enough. Also- the pants definitely wouldn’t be long enough. So bringing my own core wardrobe, PLUS having reliable sources of clothing is a must.
5) Getting an exercise routine. And mostly it’s going to have to be a routine that doesn’t use weights. Now hand weights are fine, but even the gyms in Japan don’t have a lot of weight machines. Not to mention the gyms are expensive. So it’s going to have to be workouts that can easily be done at home or at a public park.
So if you have read this far- this part may affect you. I will be tagging my posts. Posts about my hair will be tagged [Hair Journey] in the title. Posts about clothing will be tagged [Clothes Journey], posts about language will be tagged [Japanese] (or whatever language I’m using), and posts about exercise will be tagged [Fitness]. This way you can just skip the post if you’d rather not read about that subject.
Duck And Cover 