Honolulu blog

So I made it to Honolulu and through customs. I’m officially back in the US and I already hate it! The people are all loud and obnoxious, the only friendly people I’ve met were foreigners ☹. I’m experiencing serious culture shock here. I’m in Hawaii, I should be relaxing, but I can’t relax at all. Of course I haven’t made it to my condo and settled in yet, but still.
The rest of the flight from Japan passed uneventfully. I have to say again it was quite nice to be in the business section and having the extra leg room, foot rest, seat space, etc. It certainly made me comfortable in an uncomfortable time.
I’m really hoping that once I’m on Maui and have my car and make it to my condo I’ll be able to simmer down a bit. The only bright ray until that point is I’ve made it through security with 2 hours to spare so I am not in a rush at least.
I really miss all you Japan readers. Someone go ring my door bell for old times sake… well not right now as it’s 7 am there so probably everyone is getting ready for work, but when you get home. I really hope we meet again. Bye for now.

Inflight blog 2

Blog 2 … I am currently watching “21,” a movie about the MIT students who took Vegas for a lot of money. I am really enjoying my flight back to reality.
On a sadder note I really miss my Japanese and foreign friends already and I’m not even on US soil yet. This morning I had a last coffee with Julian, my upstairs … well ex-upstairs, neighbor married to Taube. We just shot the shit and I enjoyed his company one last time. There is a possibility I’ll see them again, but as they’ve been in Shirasagi for going on 4 years it’s unlikely they will still be there when I find my way back to Japan. Of course if I was independently wealthy, or at least had enough money not to jeopardize grad school tuition, I’d come back to Japan by the end of this year. Hint hint to anyone who wants to pass along lovin … ☺.
It was really hard leaving Karen and Eiko at the airport. They both came with me on the bus from Himeji to see me off, which was really nice. On the bright side of it though there were a number of items including my conditioner that I forgot didn’t meet the under 100ml requirements for flights that I passed back to them after they got confiscated. They even took a packet of dried coco that I had packed in my carry on! Anyway, back to the movie. ☺

Inflight blog 1

So my sadness about leaving Japan was tempered a bit by the fact that for some reason I was upgraded to business class!!! So here I am in business class enjoying free whiskey (Suntory 17 y/o no less, for those of my who don’t know Japanese whiskey it’s very nice.) and watching a bit of Blue Man Group in Tokyo ☺.
The video was very interesting because through out there are intermissions where the original Blue Man Group talks about their beginnings and how they got started with the original rock concert. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the group before, but it is really cool to see the stuff they do. In the video I’m watching now they do stuff like catch gumballs in their mouth from across the stage and then proceed to paint on a bit of canvase by “spitting” on it. They also make sculptures with marshmallows and all sorts of other crazy stuff. Also the video was cool because they show video of them wandering around Tokyo and I recognized places that I was at last fall.
I have to say that I’m sure my subsequent rides on JAL will not measure up to this first time, but I plan to fly with this airline again if I ever get the chance (which could very well happen as I intend to come back to Japan!) The service obviously is excellent because I am in business class, but to be honest I’ve heard good things about this airline and nothing that I’ve experienced thus far has proved those testimonials wrong. ☺
All in all although I have left Japan I feel that my flight back to reality is a good one. I’m only 40 minutes into the flight but I have high hopes for an excellent flight the rest of the way to Honolulu.

Missing Japan

Well by demand here is a list of some stuff I will miss in Japan.

The culture EVERYWHERE. It's hard to not find a place with a temple/shrine or other historical/cultural sites within walking distance.
The kindness of the people.
The way Japan smells.
The awsome public transportation.
My friends I've made over here.
The ability to be a bit frivalous with money occassionally and not have to worry.
The pattern of work and play.
The size of Japan, you can walk everywhere.
Kitsune Udon.

More later ...

Quickie

Just a quick blog to let you know that I'm doing well. Yesterday I went to USJ with my friend Karen and we had a blast. The park was fairly empty so we were able to ride the most popular attractions more often that I feel we would normally. We did the roller coaster 9 times Jurassic Park 2 times and Back to the Future and Spiderman once each.
Today I went to Kobe with Yuriko. It was great to see her one last time before heading back to the states. We just wandered around Kobe and talked a lot, but it was nice to be around her. I really hope that she is able to enter school at Oregon state so that we can pick up our relationship in the states. Thats all for now. Heading out for a bit of night life.

Beer Garden

So last night was a little farewell party for me at the local beer garden. Unlike ones in the states Japan Beer Gardens are usually on top of a building, not particularly garden like, and serve food as well as beverage for one all you can eat and drink fee. It was good to see many of my friends that I haven't seen in awhile once more before I left. Afterward a few of us went to Tiger, a local bar, and met up with some more people who couldn't meet at the beer garden. Not a whole lot else has happened since my last blog. I went to Kobe Sunday and wandered around there for old times sake. Monday was a packing day and yesterday besides the social activities at night was mostly resting with a little bit of cleaning and last exploring of Himeji. Friday I am planning to hit USJ, Saturday my friend Yuriko is coming into town from up north and Sunday I'll finally catch up with Takuma and his family. They invited me over their their house for a bit on Sunday.

Nike+ Number Two Hundred ??? ... Lazy me

So now that I've hit 200+ runs I've become a bit lazy on posting. I know you are all sad to see them stop being a daily thing on my blog ... lol.

This past week was very busy. I had my last bit of work in Japan. So from yesterday until the 17th I'll be bumming around in Japan. I have mixed emotions on it. I have become quite use to the work schedule over here and it is odd to think that at least for the next two years+ I won't be on that schedule anymore. I am looking forward to seeing people back home, but as the end draws nearer I'm becoming more and more saddened by the prospect of never seeing some of the people I have met in my time over here ever again. I am getting ready to go to Kobe so I will continue this blog at a later date. Until then toodles.