Farewell Party / Sobbetsukai
(Originally posted on adventurasia.freezope.org around 2003~2004)
Last night, a group of us had a ’sobbetsukai’ or ‘farewell party’ for a friend of ours who will be returning to Singapore this Sunday. Many of us who attended the party have known him for most of the duration of his stay in Tokyo - almost 3 years.
The party itself was nice - it was held at Shiribe in Shibuya. A somewhat secluded hideout located behind a music store. Some people gave small toasts. We talked about things that we did together - trips, cultural events, people met, etc. A summary of his Japan experiences if you will.
Unfortunately, these sorts of parties are becoming all too common recently…
Last month, I attended another farewell party for a guy in my Japanese class. I had only known him from the short time that I had attended this class. But he was also a long time tokyoite - being in Japan a total of 5 years. A smaller group of us consisting of our two Japanese teachers, myself, and another student set off to a izakaya (japanese bar/restaurant) near the school. Afterwards, we got to hone our pool/billiards skills at a nearby hall. We played until 3am before parting ways.
This Friday, I have another sobbetsukai, this time for a Japanese friend of mine who I have known for about 3-4 years. She was born and raised in Japan most of her life, although she has already been abroad for several years. This time, she plans to go to school in America - and whether she will be returning to Japan is anyone’s guess.
Being a foreigner, in a foreign country, these sorts of events are common. Everyone is coming and going. Arriving and departing. Exiting and returning. Tokyo, being an international community (at least in terms of the foreigners you meet) offers many opportunities to meeting people from all over the world. During my time here, I’ve met and became friends with people from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Phillipines, Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Switzerland, France, Turkey, Thailand, Australia, Canada and America.
A good thing about knowing people from other parts of the world is that when you go travelling, you always have a place to stay 
Unfortunately, being a foreigner in a foreign land such as Japan, one can never feel 100% welcome here. This has more to do with age-old government policies and stereotypes and history passed on from previous generations.
Examples abound:
- It is very difficult for foreigners to own property.
- It is quite difficult for foreigners to rent their own apartment.
- It is quite difficult for foreigners to get their own credit card (even though we can get them in our home country when we are teenagers).
- The popular news always reports crimes committed by foreigners and can be dragged on and on.
- Contrast to crimes committed by local citizens, sometimes more heinious, yet, only make news for a couple of days.
- Most of my foreign friends have been stopped by the police at least once and for no particular reason.
Anyways, the list can go on, but it’s something that many people have become accustomed to. I suppose these are the people that make Tokyo, their home (away from home).
Filed under: Japan
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