I left my friends at Matsue Station and my heart in Japan

And so it was, after I had dusted down the blackboard at St Hearn's, emptied the inkpots, marked the last paper and put my red pens aside, it was time to leave my beloved Nippon. Sir S had already left a few months earlier for a good job in London, and Britain beckoned. My last days were a hectic and delightful blur of sayonara shenanigans with friends old and new.

Misses S, M & Usagi

Misses K & T

Fare thee well, Hiroshima friends!

Japan was home to me and although I was an outsider in some ways, I felt like I belonged there, like I was a part of the place and it an important part of me. Beautiful Nippon, you will be much missed.

A midsummer night's sayonara party

Mata ne, Matsue!

One day, I'll be back.