For anyone who missed out on the kickstarter, but still wants a book, they're available to purchase over here!

The response to the print version has seriously been amazing, and I'm so happy with how it came out. It looks and feels like... a real book, hahaha!

Eventually, I hope to draw more journal comics and upload them here under a new title. But for now, have you checked out my other ongoing comics Sleepless Domain and/or Kiwi Blitz? They're pretty good IMO!

Here's one of those promised epilogue comics! XD

I stocked up on easy-to-understand used games before I left Japan, and I'm still working my way through 'em. Since I still suck at reading kanji, it's mostly Nintendo games I already know and rhythm games. Still, it's nice to have some practice now that I'm back in the US.

...or at least, it's nice to have a small excuse to play more video games >:P

FIRST OFF! I guess you could call this the 'conclusion' comic, but it's not necessarily the last LSE! I have a few little denoument strips in mind, which should go up much quicker than this one did since they're strips and not comic-ending pages =__=;;

There's so much I want to say, but I don't wanna bury you under text! So to try to keep it brief: Thank you SO MUCH to everyone for reading the comic, leaving your encouragement and questions, and sharing your own experiences with me! I'm seriously blown away by how many people have contacted me that are now thinking of becoming (or already applied to be) ALTs!

Obviously not everyone can or should do it, but as someone who never lived outside the US before, it was a HUGE experience for me. Living in another country that length of time really gives you a new perspective on a lot of things, and helps you reassess what's really important in your life.

And huge shoutout to all my friends, coworkers, and students back in Japan, who made my time there really amazing! I think I was really lucky with where I got placed and all the amazing and welcoming people I got to meet. It was only 2.5 years, but technically that's about a tenth of my life so far if you look at it that way!?

And the book is now in the works! We're planning for an October kickstarter! But we want to have the whole book laid out and prepped by that point, so that the KS goes smoothly and everyone gets their copies ASAP. But I'll definitely be updating here as that moves along!

And speaking of October, if you happen to live around Corpus Christi, Texas (I know the chances are slim! XD) I'll be at Realmscon! I didn't plan any other cons this year since I'm still so busy settling back into the US, but this one's local so it's the one exception! :0

And of course my other two comics, Sleepless Domain and Kiwi Blitz, will continue to update regularly!

Thanks so much again AAAAaaaaAA!!

I'm so sorry for the hiatus before these last few comics! I think part of me knows it's about to be over and doesn't want it to end... but I gotta get it done right and move on to making the book and focusing on my other two comics! So the next pages will be much more timely, I swear!

Meanwhile within the comic itself, my eternal savior Emi went and got me a first aid kid from the second graders' classroom. Apparently the kids were really worried about me and being super adorable about it! But I was more worried about makin' a mess >3>;;

And, y'know, washing! to Prevent tetanus! It's important! You don't want to catch tetris disease.

GUHH! So I don't actually bring it up much in the comic, but I started out teaching at 4 schools each week (going to the biggest one twice). Though one was so small that it shut down, so by the end it was only 3.

This school was the smallest and most awkward, and I always got the impression they didn't really like me. But I think it was just hard to communicate with the language barrier Q__Q Everyone was so nice on the last day and gave me lots of amazing pictures and gifts that I can't share because Privacy.

But jesus they really surprised me at the end there. They hit my weak point for massive damage. I was destroyed entirely.

Is this full circle!? Not Quite!?

Luckily all my boxes got to the US safely except the last one, which did not contain any of my important plushies or Detective Conan volumes.

For people who've been asking about  how many comics are left: I don't have an exact number, but it's not many now!! 'A' We're in the final stretch, and I'm doing more prep for the book kickstarter soon.

The fact that this kid watches Top Gear is actually REALLY impressive, since he has to read the subtitles in real time with the kanji and everything.  (And yes, it's the BBC version).

But still!! Don't call your friends rubbish people!! It's hilarious but also rude I guess whatever!!

Whenever people ask me if anything 'surprised' me about Japan, this is usually my answer. I'm not sure I ever saw what we would think of as a 'normal' bar in Kurihara. It was all Snack Bars. I only ever want to one alone once, and it was a very strange and expensive evening. It ended when I saw one of the ladies take some money out of the wallet of a passed out patron and then call him a cab. You knew this was not the first time they had this interaction. Seemed like a good time to head home.

Further Drinking Party talk!

This is actually the same guy from strip 50. He is an A+ bro.

There's a lot of interesting factoids about Japanese drinking parties that I don't have space for in my doofy journal comic, but here's a few more:

- Every starts with beer for the first cheers, which sucks because I hate beer and it tastes like peeps.

-It's usually rude to refill your own glass, so everyone does it for each other. But note that your buddies will do it endlessly, so at some point you have to give up emptying your glass or you WILL DIE.

- Luckily these usually happen at an Izakaya and involve lots of delicious food, so be sure to drink on a full stomach FOR YER HEALTH. Stuff that face! You already paid for it!!

And my Japanese friends insist there's no difference between Shitfaced Mary and Sober Mary. That's just the kinda gal I am~?

I suddenly remembered this a couple days ago when my arm fell off my current glasses >3>;;

I basically spent the rest of the class perma-winking, but then the school handyman was nice enough to fix them for me. Life's an adventure!

If you happen to follow my twitter, you've seen how crazy I've been about being back with my doggy XD

I video-skyped with my parents about once a week, so I never felt like I was TOO separated from them, but you just can't pet a pooch over the internet yet >:( What is technology even for!?

The principal of my wednesday school was really awesome, but also intimidating. He was like your dad that you were always worried you might be disappointing. But he was always super kind, and he stood out front for an hour every morning to greet the kids and help them cross the street T3T

I mean, he might still be the principal there. But staff gets switched up every year so who knows! D;

And the gal on the left is the janitor there, who I slowly became good buds with despite our initial inability to communicate with. She took me to meet her corgi once and gave me a giant cabbage to take home, which IMO is the purest expression of friendship possible.

This is one of those events that I'd already mentioned on my twitter a while ago, but I was looking back through my ol' photos and realized it was still owed a strip ;<

Another thing that killed me was that there were also Chinese and Korean 'newspapers', which featured their awesome traditional garb. This is our international legacy. We Wear Hats.

Before anything else: This is NOT the last LSE. If anything, I'd call this the lead-in the the final act?

Time-wise, this happened around November or so. I'd been kicking the decision back and forth for a while, but between financial and time considerations, it just finally made sense for me to head home and try this whole artsy fartsy business.

While LSE will still be going for a few months, I have started some prep work on the book! It will be very complete and include lots of commentary, as well as some extra comics for context and setup. I'm really excited to get it all together, but it's gonna be a lot of work! Aaaa! I'll keep you guys updated!

I think Let it Go (And the Japanese version) were even bigger over in Japan than in the US?! There was basically no escape whatsoever. It's not a bad song!! It's just UNENDING

Also I meant to draw this strip long ago but avoided it because... motorcycles...

It's been a long time since a full-pager! :0

I mentioned Kanchō in the description last time, and I was surprised at how many people have never heard of it! So I felt that it was my duty to put this information out there ;0

For further reading, here's the wiki page about it.

I'm pretty sure the vast majority of my fat is in my butt/thighs. I'm like one of those old victorian dress bustles but with flesh.

Also, that second grader hallway was the prime danger zone for kancho attacks. You gotta guard dat butt with your life.

On one hand, young people should not be concerned with the appearance.

On the other hand, why did I feel the need to tuck my t-shirt into my shorts!?!?