nicole @nicole@myna.social

Okay, so maybe reading the Slack channel of goodbyes from my now-exited peers on the train wasn’t the greatest idea. (I _was_ warned).

I did learn that tissue will be readily offered to a sobbing woman, no matter how large and awkwardly-shaped she might be.

😭😭😭

Standing in center of the Shin Ōsaka train station waiting for my shinkansen to be posted on the board, and again wishing I had invested in waterproof mascara. 🥹

It’s 0422 and I’m awake, staring at the ceiling of my hotel room. 😳

Korea Town was a fun shamble. I had the best meal of the trip at an adorbs little Korean Izakaya. Then we wandered over to and through Nihombashi, where we got kicked out of one shop for being gaijin, denied entrance to a bar for being gaijin, and I found the butter gachapon for my dairy products of Hokkaido bag tag collection.

That’s a successful outing!!

(Photos of Ōsaka streets in the rain are such a cliche that I hesitate to share, but whatevs)

Okay, after a bit of morning sadness and feelings ramble, we’re heading into Ōsaka. Destination: Korea Town!

Last full day in Japan (tomorrow’s a travel day).

While I was bouncing around Hokkaido, crying my eyes out every other day (I really need to invest in waterproof mascara), the org I’ve been in for seven years was dissolved. My team continues, but dozens of longtime peers and partners lost their jobs.

Everything since has felt like a prolonged drawing in of breath before a plunge into cold waters. (Albeit, with a side table of fresh Japanese food).

The cold water comes to me on Monday.

Our J-Horror movie fest turned into epically-scaled napping. I think I slept for 14 hours yesterday, all said.

There was also some novelty food purchasing. Namely, Japan’s Dominoes Pizza Cheese Volcano, which took me right back to high school in all the worst ways.

Today, we’re supposed to hit the park.

“Vacation”

Arrived at Universal Studios in Ōsaka. This is our three-day wind down from our Hokkaido road trip, which involved long strings of 18-hour days. We checked in around 0030, and were in bed by 0400.

I was last here in 2017. Mozilla had just acquired Pocket, and I was rewarding myself with my first vacation ever. I remember stewing quietly in my trans longing.

Today is a J-horror movie fest in our hotel room. Nothing to do but chill.

Of course, we’ll probably mess it up somehow. 🙃

Photographic proof that @pauline dragged me into a trans bar and I didn’t run away (this time).

Boarded flight to Ōsaka. 👋 北海道! The young salary man in the seat next to me probably weighs half as much as I do, but splays himself like a crab twice his size. I’m pretty good at folding myself up, but buttoning the top of my blouse without invading his space was complicated origami.

My “favorite” part of every trip: mailing presents and laundry back to the States. 😂

Asahikawa was full of surprises. We had a wonderful yakiniku mutton meal at Chinngis Khan, after which we stumbled into drinks with a friendly hostess and high school teacher at Café Nan. From there a gay bar, Ciel, where had a round or two before a representative of the nearby trans bar came to collect us. We made it back to our hotel before 0500, and negotiated a 1400 check-out, which we barely managed.