Up and Running!

It has taken me seven months to setup a blog, but I'm finally here. I have been thinking recently about some of the adventures I've gotten myself into here, and decided it would be better to write them up instead of relying on my shoddy memory to keep track of everything. I don't intend for this blog to be viewed by many people beyond my friends and family, so I don't intend on writing for an audience.

I guess I ought to establish some basic goals for this blog, or it may go the way of the 10+ websites I have designed, used for a brief period of time, and then abandoned shortly thereafter. Up until now, I had been making the webpages out of interest in the technology, but this time I am much more interested in content. Not that I have such an exciting life...

Basic goals:

• Give my family and friends a chance to read about what I'm up to
• Post photos of my various trips
• Post progress on the Japanese-learning software I am planning to create
• Write at least a little bit every day I possibly can, covering roughly what happened

This is my first time using a blogger since the concept first started to gain attention, and I see the technology has gotten a great deal more advanced. If there is a way of generating blogs on a thematic basis, I would also like to post Japanese lessons for anybody interested, but if that turns out not to be possible, I still intend to publish these on my website (still in development).

Enough about the blog itself -- there is much self-absorbed rambling to be done. Currently I am living in Japan, in a smallish city called Kiryu (桐生) of about 115,000 people, including 2,000 or so foreign nationals. No, I didn't just happen to know that; I looked it up because somebody asked me recently and I had no idea about the population of my city. E-Fox, if you ever read this, I shudder to think of your reaction... : ) Last year I applied for the International Internship Program offered by the Japanese External Trade Organization (aka JETRO) and got a job with Mitsuba Corporation, where I've been working as an intern in the Purchasing Department ever since the beginning of September 2004. My contract will run out at the end of July, after which I intend to move to Kyoto and begin my life together with Anna, my fiance. I have currently finished 4/5 years of university but may not graduate for a few more years as Anna and I plan on staying in Japan for another year or two to improve our language skills.

I live by myself in a small, sparsely furnished apartment provided by Mitsuba, which means "three leaves" in Japanese. I have met some truly wonderful people in my time here, but to be honest there is not much in the way of entertainment. In fact, most stores close down at 5:00 PM or so, even on the weekends, and armed with only a mountain bike to commute, I haven't done much travelling locally. In my spare time, I exercise, juggle, study Japanese and Chinese, listen to and play music, learn about computers, and talk with my friends. Sadly, as Anna is now has been in Kyoto since June and transportation is very expensive in Japan, we only get to meet about once a month on average. Our next plans to meet will be at the Noge Daidogei (野毛大道芸), a street performing festival in Yokohama. I haven't been to a juggling festival since I was 14 when I first started learning, and Anna has never been to one before, so it should be fun. We also plan on going to the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi sometime later.

I meant to write a lot more, but it's already 2:00 am and I need to get some sleep. I hope I make good on my promise to keep writing everyday. Oyasumi...