Halfway Home

I have now been in Japan for a little over a year. My new contract with Asakuchi City Board of Education has just begun, and as far as I can tell this will be my second and last year in this country. Looking back it can be likened to how some soldiers describe trench warfare: 95% utter boredom and 5% sheer terror... though I may be exaggerating just a little. The sheer terror is pretty minimal, mainly restricted to cycling, bank transactions in Japanese and incidents involving police. Riding a bicycle here accounts for a lot of the terror, what with relative interpretations of red traffic lights, sidewalks that pass as traffic lanes and people who are worse than South Africans at SMSing while driving. Risks such as earthquakes, floods, typhoons and proximity to nuclear-armed enemies (especially North Korea, which amuses itself by firing ICBMs at or over Japan every so often) are more exciting than terrifying, really. The scariest bits are aspects of everyday life.

A lot of it is fun, I must add, which trench warfare most definitely is not (unless you're more than a bit unhinged). New cultural experiences, both with Japanese and other internationals, parties, fun classes at school (they do exist) and travelling are all tanoshiimono (enjoyable things). I got to chat with two of my best friends in London last night via webcam; something which, though possible in South Africa, would be very difficult for me to arrange (It would have to involve theft and fraud). I can do it here legally on equipment that I own and both my conscience and criminal record are clear. I have been using some of what little free time I have to reflect on how my life has changed since I got here:

I drink more than I did in SA;
I smoke less;
I earn more;
I sleep less;
I work more;
I exercise less
and I eat more sushi than i ever could have dreamed of.
All of these parameters might better be described with a 'much' before the adjective.

Some good, some bad. Another great thing being in Japan gives me that trench warfare has only limited use for is the opportunity for exploring other countries in Asia. You can read about what happens when JETs visit Thailand in the archives of Fractalmindscape. Next up is a short trip to India, which I'm sure will yeild blogworthy experiences galore.

So, with 372 days under my belt and about the same still to go, this is a slightly more Japanized version of the Dylan you once knew signing off till next time.
Sayonara!