Today marks the six-month anniversary of my arrival in Japan.
I'll be honest with you, folks. I wish I had more to show for it. I sleep on the floor in an unfurnished shoebox. I have no friends. My job is silly. I can't speak Japanese.
I'm trying, I swear.
My impending relocation carries with it a lot of opportunities to start over. I'll finally be living downtown, so I may actually leave my house from time to time. The previously mentioned Kimi Information Center helps gaijin like me hook up with private students, which opens the possibility of both boosting my income and expanding my social horizons. And ultimately, having a new place to live means new places to explore, new restaurants to try, new things to see.
To my readers: I appreciate your having stuck with me so far. With any luck, the future holds more interesting entries.
I've been getting that question a lot lately. The truth is, I don't know.
Yeah, my life here so far is a crappy corporate parade of boredom, but there's no guarantee that my life back in the States (or Canada, if Bush gets re-elected) wouldn't be equally suck-tacular.
In five months, I'll have a better idea of how well I can assemble a life from scratch.
Hi Mike,
I understand can you fully, ive been in japan for 8 months and have experienced the same thing. Japan can be a pretty lonely place with no friends and no one to turn too. hang in there!!!
It is too bad you sound so lonely in Japan! Why is that... are you not much fun? Are you socially not cool? You write like you are a gaijin in prose. If I can fix you up with a nice young man of your liking let me know. Naoko
Well, I'm sticking with women for the time being, but I appreciate the offer.
Congrats on sticking it out. With that hefty investment in a Tokyo apartment, are you planning on staying more longer term?