Quick Update

Hey! I'm currently homeless (again) having moved out of my place in Nihonmatsu. I'm spending about a week in Kashiwa and Tokyo for training, before shipping out to my next assignment which is in Oita (on Kyushu, where I lived for the first couple years in Japan). It's nice to be back in and around Kashiwa; I've been able to catch up with a few friends already and should have a couple more reunions over the next two or three days. After that, my company is going to put me up in a hotel in downtown Tokyo. That should be fun! The first time I was in Japan, with the JET program, we were all put up in a very fancy hotel, the Keio Plaza Hotel, which is located right in the heart of Tokyo on some very prime real estate. That opportunity was mostly wasted on me, however, because I was exhausted from jet lag and also because I was frankly intimidated by the scale of Tokyo and the prospect of getting lost in the megalopolis somehow. When you don't speak Japanese, it can be really unnerving wandering around with no clue of where you're going or where you've been. (Has everyone seen "Lost in Translation" yet? I watched that again a couple weeks ago -- what a great movie.)

So anyhow, I just got paid and I'm getting 4 days in Tokyo courtesy of my new employer, so it should be fun. I'm going to be in Oita on April 4th, so I will post my finalized address and stuff for anybody who wants it. Wish me luck!