We have our tickets off the island–next stop Europe! For Katie it feels a little weird, she says. She hasn’t been out of Asia in 15 months. I’m just happy 🙂 The whole thing is amazing, but even Europe sounds a lot closer than Japan!
First we have to move her out of her apartment, which has been quite the project. It’s small, but a lot is crammed in there. Plus everything has to be sorted. Take with, ship home, throw away, give away.
We have shipped 4 large boxes home with only a couple small boxes remaining. When we leave for Europe, it’s backpacks only. All work clothes, shoes, winter coats, and keepsakes are crossing the Pacific on their slow boat to Todd’s doorstep. Two employees were helping Katie at the post office. They kept saying “Ballou?” “Ballou?” or that’s what I heard. They were trying to complete the “Value” of the items in the boxes 🙂 
Donating stuff is not that big here. There is a facebook page of ex-pats who buy/sell/trade, but that started to seem complicated. Luckily she met the girl who is taking her apartment and she will take the items Katie added to the furnished apartment–lamps, rug, weights, humidifier, organizers. Katie told the new girl (new teacher for Katie’s company) that she would give it all to her if she would take everything–deal! So that left 3 bags of clothes. No GoodWill box on the corner here. One popular store, Uniqlo, will take back their own items. H&M store will take some. Katie found the Salvation Army in Tokyo with a teeny bit of info about Osaka. It seemed like there might be a branch in a church or something. We decided to try to find it yesterday. It had a phone number, so I encouraged Katie to call. Even though she has a Japanese number, it still costs her money. But it was a long walk so I figured it would be worth it if we could confirm.
Katie had spent about an hour on the phone already, trying to cancel her internet and wifi–2 separate companies. One had an English speaking representative with a British accent. The other had a translator. What an ordeal!
So when the person answered the phone at the donation center listed online, Katie was able ask in Japanese if it was the Salvation Army. “Hai.” Yes. Can we drop off clothing? “Hai.” It sounds like “Hi” and they said it loud and sharp…HI! I hear it all the time–Hai, hai, hai! Yes yes yes.
Like pack mules we started our trip south. Taking the train only cut off a few minutes and it was 70 degrees so even though it was a few miles we decided to walk. Katie has friends who live in this direction, so she knew parts of the area. Soon we got into an area of older homes. It looked pretty run down really and there were a few homeless people, which is uncommon here. 
Katie stopped every few blocks to check the map. I thought there is no way we are gonna find anywhere like a Salvation Army. She said she thought it was up ahead on the left. We turned the corner and BAM! there was a small building with a cross on the top. In front there was a white van parked and on it there was a smallsticker, like 3×5 inches, that said: Salvation Army. Wow! A woman answered, took our stuff, thanked us profusely in Japanese, and off we went!
On the way home we took a different route through Shinsekai. Katie swears we were there when I first arrived, but that is all a blur and nothing looked familiar. The area is yet another market, with Pachinko parlors, restaurants, shops. Some of the area looked pretty low-end, some parts quite touristy.
Katie really likes the matcha flavored stuff–it is everywhere in Osaka! It’s an odd, fresh flavor–not bad, but not chocolate 🙂 As always there were capsule toys. This group included red machines with black paper covering the window–sex toys, just 300 yen! 
Yesterday we started defrosting her little fridge and sorting more stuff. We made another run to the post office–open on Saturday wow! It’s nice because you take a number and sit on couches; they call you when it’s your turn and we’ve never waited more than a few minutes.
The small dirt park down the road is busy every day now that spring is really here! Yesterday morning there was a group of about 20 young adults, stretching and learning basic ballet moves from a young instructor. The butterflies flutter around the bushes and trees. 
Azaleas are in full bloom here, lush and covered in flowers like at the Masters Golf Tournament. Even these imprisoned azaleas were impressive!
On the side of the park there is a small temple. The symbol for temple is like a swastika, which really struck me at first but now I’ve seen it a lot on maps and at the temples. Frequently there will be offerings of candles or decorative items or even practical things like water. 
Before I forget, let me correct the pronunciation of Tokyo–it is <<Toh-Kyoh>>. Kyoto is <<Kyoh-Toh>>. No accents, 2 syllables, mash the kyo together. Katie explained we don’t really have the “kyo” sound in English, but when she told her students we call it “Toh-key-oh” that thought that was hilarious!
Photo: Katie filling out the paperwork to ship stuff home
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