Sloane’s emergency and flights to Japan

Hey there. It’s been a long time since I’ve needed to ask for personal financial assistance, and it’s not something I want to do or enjoy doing, but here I am.

As you may know, in October I left my life behind to move to Tokyo, Japan. If you know me, you know that the most important thing in the world to me is my cats, and unfortunately due to the archaic Japanese animal import laws, I had to leave my cats behind for a few months before they are legally allowed to enter Japan.

Leaving them for 3 months was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make, and I almost didn’t come to Japan after it really sank in that I would have to spend so much time without them. Every day and every night I think about them and I have spent countless sleepless nights crying because I miss them and I can’t feel complete until they are here.

My move to Japan was not something I took lightly and it was not an impromptu decision. I spent a couple of years thinking about it and a year researching and saving money. I didn’t have a concrete move day until about 2 months before I was leaving due to the wait time for my visa. This complicated things, since I was self employed and I needed to give my clients advance notice that I was ceasing operations.

I was supposed to move at the end of September so I notified my clients in early September. This means that beginning in early September I stopped booking services (I owned a cat sitting company) and since then I have had no income.

I have a job in Japan, but it’s not great and it doesn’t pay well, and I didn’t start working until the end of November. And, I won’t get paid for the hours I worked in November until the end of December. The money I will receive from working in November won’t even be enough to cover my rent. So, I will have gone almost 4 months with no income.

I have been living off of savings since the end of September and my savings are dwindling.

Because I had to leave my cats behind, I needed to find someone to watch them. This was a tall order because I have 3 cats and I ideally wanted to keep them together. My friend Ed offered to watch them, and we agreed that in exchange for watching them for 3 months I would pay for him to fly with the cats to Japan at the end of January. The cats could fly unaccompanied, but there is so much paperwork and red tape involved in flying them overseas that it’s better to have someone with them. The cats also have one more vet visit before they can come to Japan. This was a really good deal because it would cost more than the cost of a flight to Tokyo to pay someone fairly to watch the cats for 3

months, take them to the vet, and transport them to the airport and make sure all of their paperwork is in order.

Now that we are down to the wire and I need to book the cats’ flight in few days, I’ve come to the realization that I underestimated my expenses when moving to Japan (I also didn’t expect to go 4 months without pay) and I won’t easily recover from the upcoming financial loss of buying the plane ticket and paying for the cats’ airfare. Average flights for the end of January are $1,300+ plus it will cost upwards of $270 per cat. I also need to purchase appropriately sized airline approved crates.

You probably think I’m crazy and irresponsible and maybe I am. But I don’t think I can even begin to really enjoy my time here, feel at peace, and be happy until I am reunited with my cats. I just want to get them here safely and as soon as possible.

if you’re able to help in any way, I’ll be forever grateful.