Leaving Japan...

is going to be pretty easy for me.  But nothing in Japan is ever easy.  So far things look like they are going pretty smooth- but this morning- a friend of mine thought he was going to need to rent a truck for the day to move some stuff- it turns out that he didn't need it... well, he goes to the 'Mini-Nex' (where they rent cars and sell gas and service cars) and tells them he doesn't need the truck anymore.  Well, they tell him, you have to give us a 24 hour notice or you don't get your deposit back.  (he had deposited $30 with them, but they charge $7 an hour...) with the minimum being 3 hours.  So, he says, OK, I'll rent it for 3 hours... well the Japanese girl at the counter knew him, and said, tell you what, just rent it for 1 hour, and you'll be OK.  Sounds good he says, so he goes through all the paperwork to rent the truck, inspects it and everything, then goes to leave and says alright, here's $7 for my one hour.  You can keep the keys.  But wait, she says, you have to come back in 1 hour.  So, he says, how about I just leave the truck here (because he was still going to go move some furniture) and you can check it back in in 1 hour- no, she says, you still have to be back in one hour.  Fine he says... I'll see you in an hour... 

I asked him if he was going to be back in an hour... no chance he said.

Funny thing was, he ended up dropping me off (I'm car-less myself right now because I sold mine) and he says- I've got to go get some gas- (it's been 40 minutes into his hour at this point) I wonder if they'll let me get by with 40 minutes worth?

This is just one small example of the stuff you deal with on a daily basis when you live here.

That's why leaving Japan is going to be easy for me.