Spring (March 2013)

Dear all,

How is everyone? I'm sorry it's been so long.

Quite a lot of things have happened since my last post about the homestay which seems ages ago even though it was only last month. Firstly I briefly popped back to the UK for just under two weeks to catch up with people from home, followed by two weeks back here in Kobe chilling out by myself, and finally my parents came to visit. Right now I have another couple of days here to sort out bits and bobs before I fly out to Indonesia on Monday to visit a friend from Oxford.

I should also clear up at this point something regarding a previous post of mine- the one where I had a rant about Kobe. It seems that this post might have upset a few people from the UK who are worrying about me and my wellbeing here in Japan. I must say that I am absolutely fine and not traumatised in any mental or physical way: this post was simply written at the end of a long term by me on a bad day, and is not reflective of my stay here in Japan as a whole which has been thoroughly enjoyable. So please don't worry because I'm absolutely fine!!!!

I do not, however, retract what I wrote though which is why whilst I was back in the UK I had a meeting with the programme coordinators in the Japanese faculty about ways to improve the university experience for next term. This was followed up with numerous meetings between senior staff from both parties so I'm sure by next term many of these teething problems will be sorted.

Anyway now we've got that out of the way: I had a fabulous time back in the UK and I really would like to thank everyone at home for being so hospitable as I couch-surfed across London and Oxford. It was really beneficial for me to go home for just a short period of time to catch up, relax and refresh myself ready for next term. The best thing about going back, I must say, was that it showed me the UK was just the same old place as when I left with its own good points and bad points just like anywhere else, as I started to idealise the place somewhat whilst being here.

After returning to Japan I had about two weeks by myself until my parents arrived. I mostly spent this time catching up on some studying and applying for some summer internships. I also had a wonderful day out with my friend Chizuko in Kyoto where we went to Tenmangu (a temple) to view the plum blossoms since the sakura cherry blossoms were not quite out yet. We then stopped off for some sushi and went to look round Kinkakuji (The Golden Temple)- and iconic landmark of Japan. Despite the weather it was a wonderful day out :)

Chizuko and me at Tenmangu temple

pink plum blossom

delicious sushi lunch

white plum blossom

I don't know what these little sticks of wood are called in Japanese but you essentially write what you are praying for at the top and your name beneath. One person by the name of Morimoto had written quite a few with the same wish: 合格祈願 (goukakukigan), a prayer for exam success

this big umbrella is called a 'bangasa'

it's bigger than Chizuko!!

stopped off for some takoyaki as a snack. Takoyaki is octopus in a ball of batter topped with Worcestershire sauce- it's lovely I promise you!

This is Kinkakuji (the golden temple) 

Side view

As I said, the following week my parents arrived in Japan. This was something I had been looking forward to for a long time, firstly because I hadn't seen my parents since last October and secondly because we were going on a big tour of Japan together. I have a couple of photos but most will follow in another post since they are on my parents' camera!

The first two days were spent in Kobe where I had the pleasure of introducing my parents to Chizuko and my host family. We went for walks around Kobe, visited the museum of the 1995 earthquake, went to a Japanese pub, looked round the sake breweries, and had a nice meal in Chizuko's flat. Chizuko, by the way, holds a kimono-dressing license (such a thing does exist! putting on a kimono actually requires a lot of skill!) and demonstrated her skills on my mum!! My dad and me had a go at some calligraphy too. 

 I actually did this one at Chizuko's house a couple of days before hence the different haircut!

mum in Kimono

Then we were swiftly off to Kyoto where we did all the sights. Inevitably I was back at the golden temple just the next week! Chizuko actually came to Kyoto one day to guide us round a little which was lovely. She also had made us all packed lunches which we had in the sun at Nijojo castle. Fantastic!

Back at Kinkakuji!

Next it was Kanazawa, a smaller city to the north east of Kyoto. Kanazawa is historically a wealthy city and used to be a playground for the rich samurai. Thus it was home to a magnificent castle and some beautiful gardens in particular Kenrokuen that must've cost a few quid to build! I particularly liked this place for it's international vibe despite being a relatively small city. Unlike Kobe, Kanazawa has a centre especially for foreign expats with free advisory service, library, and a notice board for Japanese seeking English teachers or simply foreign friends. I thought this to be a precious community resource we unfortunately don't have here in Kobe. 

The next place was called Takayama- literally high mountain, in the heart of the Japanese alps. We were starting to get worried as we looked out of the window on the train seeing snow about a metre thick which we totally weren't prepared for but luckily most had melted in Takayama. Takayama really open my eyes to two things: firstly that Japanese culture, despite all the talk of homogeneity etc., is actually surprisingly diverse. With its relatively isolated location, it had seemed to develop its own style of cookery, architecture and dialect which was a million miles away from Kobe. Secondly I developed a new appreciation of the Japanese country side through Takayama's wonderful old style buildings, natural springs and mountain views. Photos will follow as soon as possible!

After Takayama it was Hakone which was more essentially of the same. Hakone is closer to Tokyo though and it is where many Tokyoites like to go for the weekend to get away from the city. We also stayed in a traditional Japanese inn (called a 'ryoukan') which was quite hilarious. We had to wear 'yukata' which is traditional clothing and wonder around in slippers- an experience I won't forget any time soon!

We rounded the trip off in Tokyo. It was great to be back in Tokyo and I find the more time I spend here the more I fall in love with it. We did the whole lot: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akihabara, Tokyo Dome...ok so this probably doesn't mean anything to most people but when I get the photos I will upload everything and explain exactly what we did!

Needless to say I think my parents very much enjoyed seeing me and learning a bit about my life here which made me very happy. I am sorely missing living in hotels though- back to reality of the panic room I guess (this is what I call my dorm now). 

Got a lot of stuff to do tomorrow sorting things out for Bali so I will have to leave it here for now. I leave on Monday morning (its Saturday evening right now). Obviously really excited.  

If you held on for this long, thanks! :)

Sean
   

My Homestay Experience

It's me again (Running out of ways to introduce my posts other than 'hey it's Sean'.)

The holiday's in full swing! With all the trials and tribulations of last term now behind me, I am really looking forward to what this two-month holiday I have just embarked on will behold. This week, I am staying with a Japanese family, who's sitting room I am currently writing from. At the end of this week I will fly back to the UK for just under 2 weeks to do all sorts of catching up. The following week will be spent in Kobe since I need to show up to orchestra a bit (rehearsals continue through the holidays which has caused me all sorts of problems trying to negotiate when I can come because, obviously, I am not spending the entire two months here in Kobe in my panic-room-esque dorm). The next two weeks I am travelling with my parents around Japan, and finally I have 10 days in April with my friend from Uni, Steph who has a place on the island of Bali, Indonesia. Plenty to write about!

Ok so seeing as I'm on a homestay right now I will talk about that this post. I am going to try to update more this week too so I don't get to the end and forget everything I did like with my Tokyo post.

A 'homestay' is exactly what it says on the tin, staying in a Japanese household with a 'host' family. This is my first 'proper' homestay, but technically my second because I did a one-night homestay in Korea last summer. However it was kind of rubbish since instead of treating me like a normal family member they didn't speak to me at all and cooked me separate meals which was really weird.

A Japanese house differs to a western household in the following ways:

1) They aren't made of bricks they are made of...in fact I don't know but they look like they are made of plastic, like a massive porta-cabin.

The Morimoto household

Japanese houses always have the family name written by the entrance (The David bit is just the foreign student they had to stay with them before)

2) Japanese houses do not have central heating. Make no mistake though it gets just as cold here as the UK. Instead rooms are heated individually with an electric heater. This sounds like a hassle but I think it saves a lot of electricity since you only heat a room when you are using it.

3) This may not be 100% correct but from the houses I've been to in Japan everything is laminate floored. Since gets quite cold people always wear special slippers in the house, and there are separate slippers for going to the toilet.

4) Japanese houses all have a special hallway called a genkan, which is where people keep their outdoor shoes. The genkan is always at a lower level than the actual floor of the house, and when you enter the house you rise from the genkan, to translate directly.

5) For the bathroom, you always have to take a shower first before you enter the bath water.  I heard that it is also not customary to drain the bath water after use but in this house we use new water each time. 

This week I am living with the Morimoto family. This is my third day with them and we have been getting along really well. My 'mum', Mayumi, is from Kansai and you can tell, as she is really bubbly, has a strong sense of humor, full of energy, and kind of crude compared to most Japanese. My 'dad', Toru, is a civil servant. Most of the time he is at work so I haven't had a chance to get to know him incredibly well.

The first day isn't particularly interesting since we mainly just chilled at home and visited Toru's parents. Mayumi is a great cook and made us Bibimbap (this is a korean thing) for dinner. On Sunday we visited Osaka to have a look round some museums. Firstly we went to a history museum with a street of Osaka recreated in the Edo period (1600-1867), and after that a museum of retro Japanese electronic appliances such as old TVs, toasters and washing machines etc.

Recreation of an Edo period street

Even though it was a museum the realism was surprising as there were lots of people in kimono, and the 'weather' would suddenly change from sunny to stormy and dark, with storm clouds projected onto the ceiling. There were many traditional one-room houses, a bath house (with no water though), a pharmacy and market street so it was quite easy to get lost amongst it all!

Mum playing with a traditional catch the ball in the cup toy called a kendama

I also had a go

Outside the 'book store'

Photo outside the pharmacy with Dad. Behind the pharmacy there was a large (by Japan's standards) house, presumably belonging to the wealthy owner. If you look closely at the sign to the right of the photo there are some roman letters. They spell a Dutch name (Vloym Van Mittr or something). I'm not 100% sure but I assume this to be the name of the trading company. During the Edo period Japan operated a policy of national isolation; only the Chinese and the Dutch were permitted to trade with Japan at specially designated ports. In the Edo, trading with the Dutch was an important source of western technology (such as medicines) and was known as rangaku 'Dutch learning'. This represents some of the earliest western influences in Japan. 

Seeing as there are cars here, this scale model street must be from the Meiji period when trade with the west was opened up fully

Then we went to eat some takoyaki. This is octopus cut into small pieces fried in batter into a ball shape topped with a sweet sort of sauce, herbs, mayonnaise, and katsuo (fish flakes). This is a really popular food in Japan and even though it sounds like it could taste quite weird it's honestly delicious.

For dinner we went to a restaurant called 'The Old England', which marketed itself as an English restaurant, but, like all Western-style restaurants in Asia didn't serve anything even closely resembling English food (apart from the fish and chips). We ordered something called 'the English combo' which was a bowl of French fries, two bits of fried chicken, and a piece of battered fish. Dad had a 'medium' Guinness (an IRISH beer), what they call 1/2 pint, and Mum freaked out when I told her people normally drink twice of what Dad had ordered. The decor, looked like the houses of parliament, dark wood and those same kind of green leather chairs- so I guess that was authentic of England in a way.

Afterwards we went to a 'British pub', where we ordered 'roast beef', some slices of beef sitting on a tiny blob of mash floating in a pool of gravy. I thought it was really adorable of my host family going through the effort of taking me to all these 'British' places. Mum kept on asking me questions like "Is this like the real England?" Does this remind you of home?", and of course I lied because I couldn't bare to disappoint them after they'd gone through so much effort to track these places down.

Today we went for a walk round the beach. It was really cold so I obviously didn't go paddling but you could see Awaji Island and it the bridge connecting it to Honshu Island. I've also done a lot of TV watching here, not because I'm anti-social but because we don't have a TV in our horrible cramped dorm so I haven't had a chance to watch Japanese news before. Most of it seems to be centered on the Senkaku/Diaoyu (depending on whose side you're on) Islands dispute with China, and North Korea's plans to blow up Tokyo; stuff that makes me feel lucky to be from the UK.

That brings me up until this moment in time I am writing in terms of updates on my life. I'll try to update this week whilst I'm still in Japan, if not I'll probably write something on the plane journey home. See you soon, whoever you are reading this.

Sean

Something's on my mind

Hey everyone at home how are you getting on? Hope you all made it through January blues without needing a liver transplant. I'm writing to you today on a Tuesday afternoon from bed which I have yet to leave (I skipped class today). January has been a quiet month for me but I have been meaning to update for sometime to make up for my lacklustre post about Tokyo. Friday will be the end of this semester, this 15 week marathon of a semester, and I have found myself struck with waves of apathy about doing anything except waiting it out for freedom. I'm also slightly annoyed that I was supposed to be at the Sapporo snow festival right now, but due to a mix up of the term dates by Kobe University it turned out I had to stay here to take part in a laborious presentation exercise. I feel like a rant right now so I'm gonna have a rant- hard hats on people!

I knew Japan would be highs and lows and the past week has been a definite low. This isn't because I don't like Japan, find the culture confusing, or finding the language difficult anymore. I love Japan, know Kobe well, and can talk to people fine. The issue is Kobe University. Even though I've only mentioned these issues briefly on this blog before, I have been hit by a string of incompetencies by the University recently and am seriously considering dropping out from Kobe, severing all ties with them and moving to Osaka and finding a job there.

The problem is: we can't make Japanese friends here.

This is not my fault. I can communicate in Japanese fine now. It's because the set up here is completely wrong.

Issue 1: For a reason I will never understand we have been put in a department on the fringes of the university full of anti-social students who aren't interested in us. It would make a lot more sense to me to put us in the school of Intercultural studies, which is where every other foreign student is and well travelled Japanese people who would be more interested in us, and where lectures are perfectly pitched to our level. This term people have basically dropped out of their lectures since they're incomprehensible. I will never understand why such an incompetent decision as putting us here in the faculty of letters was made.

2: There has been next to no support network to help us integrate into such an antisocial department. There is one weekly 'international hour' which has turned into a laughing stock as our receptionist will just go into the common room clear everyone out just so us Oxford lot can sit there on our own drinking coffee with noone else bothering to show up more than once. There has also been no assistance in joining sports clubs and stuff which would be easy enough at home, but much harder to find and less accessible here. If there is a University psychologist we have no idea where they are; at the moment it is up to all of us to pick up the pieces when ever someone loses the plot.

3: Classes have been laborious. These are also every morning from 8.50-12.10 which is rough since they are conducted at 1mph. I could cover the same amount of material by myself in about half the time. Some teachers are very good, but others are inexperienced and nervous, without a clue of how to do anything except algorithmically follow the pattern of the textbook. By 12 we are knackered and simply do not have the energy to proactively leave our lonely faculty to look for Japanese friends. I do not believe we should even have to do this proactively; friends should have naturally gravitated towards us by now. Would it really be so hard to give us a break some days by moving the lessons forward by a period? apparently so.

I'd like to think I've tried really hard this term, and done better than most having got into the orchestra and icircle, but all of these are just one offs and this set up does not allow us to incorporate Japanese people into our daily lifestyle. Judging by the fact everyone around me seems to be emotionally breaking down with me verging ever closer to the edge makes it clear to me that something's wrong here. Because we have no friends, the Oxford lot are forced to do almost everything together. This inescapable intimacy is what's led to problems- we are just 12 random people all interested in the same subject, this does not mean our personalities will gel perfectly as friends, but right now we have no choice because we can't branch out for ourselves.

Like my friend said to me the other night "it shouldn't be this hard", and I agree. Another 15 weeks like this and the cracks will only get wider. I know some of this is just teething problems since this programme is brand new and we're the first year, in which case they should be prepared to make radical changes in time for next term to fix their own errors. Me and a friend are composing a letter to Oxford tonight to explain what I have just outlined. To be honest the solution is simple: move us to the faculty of intercultural studies, but when we asked about this there seems to be no flexibility on their part.

OK so rant over, please don't take this post as a sign that the whole experience has been miserable because this is not the case at all. I'm just not getting as much out of this as I'd hoped for. It really has nothing to do with me doubting my love of Japan. In fact, I cannot wait to come back here just not like this. If only I had the writing skills to word this more eloquently it wouldn't have sounded like such a rant. I just had to write about this since it's been on my mind for quite some time now.

As far as more positive news goes, I am visiting a really kind old lady tomorrow who I met at PechaKucha who invited me round to make me dinner and have a chat. Should be nice! On Sunday I am going on a 'homestay' at a Japanese household in Kobe which I'm sure I will have lots to say about on this blog. The family are a couple called Megumi and Toru, both 55. They have no pets (allergic) or kids (despise them) which is perfect for me. I'm looking forward to telling you all about this experience.

After that it's my flight home. I wasn't planning to come home but in light of all these fuck-ups I need some time to recharge for 2 weeks. I'm also excited to see our flat in Oxford for next year for real and not just through videos. Exciting times ahead.

Apologies, there wasn't any particular need to post the above issues here, on my blog for family and friends, it's just all I can think to write about at this minute.

Best,
Sean

I left my heart in Tokyo (genuinely)- Jan 2013

Well hello everyone happy new year to you! I'm sorry it's been such a long time since I last updated this blog. One of my new year's resolutions was 'to make myself more busy' which I've ended up taking to the extreme. So many things have happened between now and my last post that is impossible to mention all of them but I will do my best to keep this short and concise since I know how busy you all are.

I hate to be one of those annoying people who you receive letters from at the end of the year documenting their successes, but I can't help but look back on 2012 and what a positive year it has been not only for me but also for the UK as a whole. Somehow I feel these go hand-in-hand. I know that may seem like a strange thing to say but living as a foreigner in Japan has made me much more aware of my national identity I suppose. It seems weird to think that only a year ago my Japanese that was barely above GCSE and I had never even been to Asia before. A year later I am conversational Japanese and have spent almost 5 months in China, Korea and Japan, plus two good terms at Oxford. Although I don't think there's such thing as a perfect year, 2012 might be as close as I'll ever come.

I hope to carry some of this momentum into 2013. When I look back on how much I've improved so far the possibilities for my Japanese by the summer look very bright if I continue to keep up this level of intensity. Hence my main new year's resolution this year is to spot more opportunities to develop friendships with Japanese people. My entrance into the orchestra this week has been already a big boost and in fact I have just come back from an orchestra pub meet. I also attended a pecha kucha night last week I spotted on twitter. This is an evening whereby people can freely present about a topic/idea of their choice, in a fixed format of 20 powerpoint slides each lasting 20 seconds (to ensure conciseness), followed by a reception to discuss the material that has been presented. Here I met a new friend from Osaka which was great since my only contact in Osaka (Aerynn) moved back to the UK last year (I think I mentioned this on a previous post). I also met a lady called Chizuko who invited me to a tea ceremony circle she volunteers at at Kobe University, and also round to her house for chat and a coffee, and offer I fully intend to take up!

For new year I visited my senpai (person in the year above you taking the same subject) Helen, in Tokyo for 8 days. This was my first visit to Tokyo and it didn't disappoint. Unlike Beijing and Seoul, Tokyo really lived up to all of my expectations for an Asian mega-city. Along with Shanghai, I think it is my favourite city I have visited in East Asia. We literally did it all: Shinjuku, Shibuya, Roppongi hills, Asakusa, and more places I can't even remember the name of. I will try to pick out some the highlights.

My first day in Tokyo was one I won't forget for a very long time. We actually met up with one of my Japanese teachers back from Oxford, Hagiwara-sensei.  We started off by taking a look round Ueno Zoo which in all honestly looks like any other zoo hence no photos. On Helen's suggestion, after this the three of us headed into Akihabara, the electronics district of Tokyo, to have a meal together in a maid cafe. I had never been to a maid cafe before so was obviously not prepared for what was in store. As soon as the elevator door opened we were accosted by 3 young ladies in maid outfits to a table. The interior was pink and black, and had this brothel-esque kind of feel. At the table next to us were 4 Japanese guys in suits waving glowsticks around. Upon ordering the waitress asked us what picture she would like us to draw on our food in ketchup. weird. Half way through the meal disco lights and music were turned on as we had to watch one of the maids perform a dance routine as we sung along from a lyrics sheet. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures as this was obviously a tourist attraction but I did get an official picture. In hindsight, probably not the best place to take your teacher for a meal out.

The maid asked me what pose she wanted us to do. I panicked.

For new years day itself, we decided to climb Mt. Takao, about an hour outside Tokyo on the train, although when I say climb I mean got the chairlift. I went with Helen, her friend Sari (who she met at one of these pecha kucha nights in Tokyo!), her German boyfriend Robert, a couple called Megumi and Suzuki, and Helen's Taiwanese friend from university Te-yi. After spending some time at an Izakaya (Japanese pub) for a final drink and a meal of 2012, we headed to Mt Takao. It was heaving with people hoping to watch the first sun rise of 2013 amidst the Tokyo city-scape. Another problem was the sub-zero temperatures! It was worth all of this for the sight though. My camera doesn't do it justice in the slightest but I hope the picture gives you a sense of the sheer enormity of Tokyo.

Helen photobombing me in the Izakaya

Waiting for the chairlift was freezing!!

Tokyo city scape and first sun rise of 2013. If only I owned a fancy SLR camera!

The chairlift on the way down was terrifying as you constantly felt like you were going to fall off!

Since it has now turned 2.10 in the morning I think I am going to have to leave things there. I wish I could have talked about all the wonderful traditions at Japanese new year but I'm afraid you'll have to punch this into wikipedia if you want to find out more. Sorry I have so much work to do tomorrow. I have to prepare a presentation in Japanese that I am giving on wednesday at an English discussion group called iCircle, on a book I haven't read yet but claim to have done. oops.

Unfortunately since term carries on for 2 weeks longer than I was originally told, Sapporo is now off the cards it seems. There are still many other exciting things coming up however including a home stay in early feb, my brief return to the UK, a trip round all of Japan with my parents (called a todoufuken) and finally 10 days in Bali with my best friend from University. This will take us all the way through to April! I wish you all a prosperous 2013. Make it count.

Sean

Of Learning Japanese, Adulthood and Christmas in KFC. (December 2012)

Hey Minasan. It's quarter to 4 and I am only just dressed and showered, half the dorm have left, and I'm probably going to spend the whole day chilling here in my onsie sheltering from the rain. That can only mean one thing: the holidays have finally arrived. This couldn't have come soon enough since I can honestly say this has been the longest most knackering term I have ever experienced in Japan, Oxford, school, or just anywhere. Japanese semesters are 15 weeks long, almost double that of Oxford: a marathon not a sprint. I have learned this lesson well.

When I look back on this term I realise my Japanese is indistinguishably better from what it was when I got here. Trying to learn a language is like growing a plant. Firstly, for a plant to grow you have to spend time caring for it in the right conditions (i.e. sunlight/surrounded by Japanese people) and giving it the right things (water/vocab and grammar).  Doing these things has been effort but without them your 'plant' can't grow right?  Secondly, even when you do these things it takes time and patience to see any results. There is no point checking your progress everyday; you only notice the results after comparing it to a significant amount of time in the past.

(can't believe I just wrote that in all sincerity)

Lessons have still been up and down like I said in my last post, but I'm starting to get into the teaching style a bit more now. Last week we rounded off the term with a kind of speech symposium. I spoke about student lifestyle in the UK and Japan like I mentioned in my last post. I enjoyed this task since it involved interviewing and meeting lots of new people, whilst getting a chance to see if my own assumptions reflected Japanese students' own experiences. Since I am a foreigner in Japan I was obviously careful to come to some very diplomatic conclusions- a hallmark of the 'Japanese speech' in my opinion, but overall a really positive and useful activity. On the other hand, I was set an essay last week entitled 'my christmas holidays'. I mean seriously? 'my christmas holidays'? Would you wanna read on??: "I spent my holidays mainly lounging around in a onsie watching internet TV and drinking tea" (which is by the way 100% what I intend to do)

I turned 20 a week ago. Those of you who have me on facebook will know that I didn't deal with this particularly well. Apologies. This may have been the wine talking. At least I am now legal to drink here now not that made the slightest difference anyway since clubs accept my university card and store ID checks are nothing more than pressing an 'I am over 20'-button on a touchscreen. I did have a nice sit down meal with some friends for my birthday which turned out to be a really lovely evening. My Japanese friends bought me some really thoughtful presents including a Kobe university cap, a calendar of Japanese proverbs, incense sticks and concert tickets to name just a few. 

me looking ridiculous with my presents

I also can't believe I've left it this late to talk about christmas. Unfortunately, christmas isn't such a big thing over here. Most people don't even get the day off work. People also eat chicken instead of turkey, which is why my only christmas plan so far is to get KFC with friends. I'm not hugely bothered about spending christmas away from home since it doesn't even feel like christmas here anyway. The most christmas-y thing I've done was going to a light festival in Kobe called luminarie (french for...something), ru-mi-na-ri-e ルミナリエ in Japanese. Luminarie is a memorial set up for the victims of the Kobe 1995 earthquake. It was essentially a cathedral made from fairy lights with haunting choir music in the background, obviously beautiful albeit slightly bizarre.

  

Rather than Christmas, in Japan it's all about new years, and for the first week of the new year I hear everything comes to a complete stand-still. I have decided to go to Tokyo on Thursday to meet up with a good friend since I have been in Kobe for 3 months now, which is far too long to be in one place for. I also hope my megabus experiences will prepare me for the 10 hour coach journey. Pleasant.

One last bit of exciting news, I have decided for definite to come back to the UK just for a couple of weeks in February to check up on things back home. I'm looking forward to it already. In the meantime there's a couple more weeks of term when we go back on the 6th, and my tryout in the Orchestra which I'm excited but kind of nervous about, a week with a Japanese family, and a potential trip to Sapporo on the cards. Exciting stuff!

Until next time minasan,

Sean