Another Lap (Dance) Around the Rising Sun

The people who run the JET programme very cleverly set the date for the decision whether or not to recontract at the beginning of February. It is cold, it is dark, most people have just come back from holidays in brighter, warmer, more Englishey places and it is just about halfway through the first year. This makes the decision a very tricky one if it has been delayed up to that date. I got to the point where I was at such a loss about what to do that I called friends and family to help me with this difficult choice which would determine how (or most importantly where)I'd spend the next 18 months of my life. I got an overwhelming STAY vote, so I recontracted. I will be here until July 2007. The friends who had helped me with this decision then happily informed me how good the waves are, how beautiful the girls are, how nice the weather is, etc. etc. back home...once it was too late. I went from being about halfway through my tenure, to about a quarter of the way though, by signing on the dotted line. I've had to renounce several things that I enjoyed in order to come to Japan, but some things I have exprienced here are just inexperiencable elsewhere. A few weeks ago, I witnessed a moshpit in a karaoke booth (karaoke in Okayama is a bit more hardcore than what you see in Lost in Translation). A bit later, I saw people getting in trouble with the police for impersonating the rock group Kiss in public. Last weekend I was party to a foodfight in an Izakaya (traditional restaurant). I was on TV, and the programme was about me! (giving a speech on South Africa). I was invited to play at a club in Okayama when I was trying out a Japanese Stratocaster at a music shop, but my weekends are booked out as far into the future as I care to look. I treasure Monday nights, because they mean being able to make up some of the sleep lost on the previous weekend, but lately there have been parties on Monday nights too! (Kasaoka International Exchange Association works hard and parties harder afterwards). Last weekend's party was held by the Kiwis and was also televised! I wonder how many people watching would have noticed that the hippie with the guitar sitting by the fire was the same person in the pinstriped suit giving a powerpoint presentation the previous week...
I really miss the people and the fun stuff in Cape Town. Another year is a long time, but all things pass. No waves, no tanned babes, little glorious weather...but where else can you tell a roomful of pensioners about quantum physics and Swazi cash crops and then get paid for it?