This was my last week at the FT, something I kept very close to my chest. It surprised a few people. Truth be told it didn’t really sink in for me until this week. I spent the entire week trying to remain composed.

Why leave? The exit survey poses that question expectantly. It’s simple: I’m relocating and circumstances [editor’s note: including but not only my age] made now the right time. Where to? Tokyo. I’ve wanted to do it since 2017, so, you know. That’s why. This has been in the works for a hot minute.

This week in data:

• 🥪 Pret eaten: 7 sandwiches
• 🚶 People who said they plan to visit Japan next year: 12
• 🎬 Movies watched: 6 films

Between packing and leaving a job. I began the week with a todo list as long as my arm...

Many people reached out to chat. Some wished me luck. Some said kind things. All of them — some of whom might be reading this — in reaching out made leaving just that little bit harder. Thank-you? But, really.

The most common question I got was “Do you speak any japanese?” to which I answered “少し話せます”, or, a little. The second most common question was “Are you packed yet?” to which I answered “No, but that’s not the problem - it’s getting rid of my furniture and all the other things I’m not packing!”...

I made a lot of headway there though: My wardrobe is now 1/4 its size, many of my kitchen trinkets & bits of computer/audio hardware now have new homes, and on Wednesday NR bought my air conditioner which I helped deliver to a cavernous townhouse.

The biggest hurdle to leaving a job — he says expertly now having only ever done this ceremony twice — is the bit where you have to stand up and say some words. The leaving speech. I put together some notes and then my brain spent most of Thursday in “waiting mode". Snapshot seemed to be overrunning and then very suddenly it wasn’t, and I was staring at a slide with a massive picture of my face on it. I Slacked Alice “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA”. She said several nice, witty things - raising the bar [for my speech] - and then it was my turn. It felt like an eternity but by clock-time only a few minutes had passed.

How often does someone on your blogroll do your leaving speech?

My leaving drinks were at The Shaw’s Booksellers. I booked space for 25 people and considerably more than 50 showed up, honestly, I felt touched. It took me two hours to make it past the entrant because the place was so packed. I’m grateful to everyone who came.

Thanks for lunch, ZA.

My final task on Friday was removing the stickers from my laptop - and I managed to fully remove and clean all but one, a “The W” sticker from Watergate Records. I left my last “We Come In Piece” jigsaw puzzle behind along with a few other things.

MT and FS intercepted me leaving the office and dragged me semi-reluctantly for dinner. We picked Franco Manca outside St Pauls — because if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that good pizza is difficult to find in Japan — and we confused the heck out of the staff by asking for extra garlic. All-in-all, one of the nicest and most memorable meals I’ve had in quite some time.

Getting home I gave up on the whole composure thing. Or it gave up on me. You’re saying goodbye to quite a lot: There were tears. I drafted and redrafted a few messages several times, sending some of them, until I was hit in the early hours by a revocation a full day early.

Saturday was the day when I finished packing, interspersed with help cleaning the apartment from LF who is the OG of this story. Our soundtrack was Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat which made things easier.

We went to Paddington, to meet TM and FS there... We had a quick lunch, a bit of a natter (mine mostly nervous energy) and then I left on the Heathrow express, two suitcases and bag in hand. Just over an hour later (yes, really) I was at my gate. Through Heathrow in record time.

The plane journey was great. 15 hours, minimal turbulence considering all the storms we flew through. ANA food slaps. I was in economy (3-4-3 configuration) and had two empty seats next to me. I think 11 hours might be my upper limit for flights, because this just felt too long. I watched six(!) feature-length movies - which is a new record:

The Fall Guy (2024) was just heaps of fun. I love it when movies are just about clever enough to parody things that other movies are doing. Solid 4/5.

Anatomy Of A Fall (2023)... IM and CC (hi! can I join your club now?!) gave me quite a bit of grief after I didn’t make it past the first ten minutes last time. So I gave it another go and - yeah it’s alright. It really builds. For me it felt a little slow overall so lost some points, but still a 3.5/5.

Wonka (2023) had been on my radar for ages, but the film itself seemed to be a random collection of tropes and lore all intent on viciously attacking the continuity of Gene Wilder’s classic performance: 2/5 ...

Barbie (2023) was fun. It conveyed some serious messages whilst also being an objectively good film? In particular I enjoyed seeing a good take on the consequences of toxic masculinity on men, however lighthearted the overall framing. 3/5.

Godzilla X Kong: The New Emprie (2024) was my first kaiju movie and I get it now. Some humans run around and do their own thing, but in the grand scheme of things you’re watching massive CGI animals doing their own thing - communicating exclusively through indecipherable grunting. I was quite tired at the time so this was honestly just a perfect watch. 3.5/5.

Garfield (2024) involved some kind of heist and copious references to classic panels. Fun but I’m not sure who the audience was. Well, I’m sure that I wasn’t it. 2.5/5.

Saturday day blended into Sunday evening, which is all part of my cunning plan to avoid jet-lag. We’ll see.

Lots of love. Catch you on the flip-side!