I have arrived, Japan get ready!

Well, it is quite difficult explain the excitement I am feeling to be in Japan right now. The fear of failure, isolation, and embarrassment is overwhelmed by the sheer fact that I am in Japan, and in Japan for the long hall. The plane ride surprisingly relaxing, which is unlikely for me. Usually, the plane is the first place that lose my composure and tend to get very stressed out. Just knowing that Japan lay 5600 miles away was calming.

My time in Tokyo has been slightly disappointing. My one desire was to get out of the hotel area, Shinjuku, and do touristy things around the city, like see Tokyo Tower and the Ferris wheel and Shibuya intersection. All of which I was unable to do because of the orientation in Keio Plaza Hotel and work meetings involving drinking and eating. This just means that in the next year I will have to return to Tokyo to do these things.

I was also fairly disappointed in the food served to us JETs here at the orientation. The breakfast here in the hotel was quite aweful. The eggs were powdered and soggy, the bacon was nearly completely raw, the sausage was really small hotdogs, and there was broccoli...what the hell...broccoli. Lunch was typically more tasty, but there was a totally soy-beef...it had the consistency of over cooked dog-meat and the odor of warm dog food. I have come to the decision that I will try anything twice, and I have. Everything else I have conquered -- excluding the fried chicken cartilage which had the texture of fish skulls -- has been oishii (delicious), even raw horse shashimi had a unique flavor, comparable to the flavor of extremely raw steak and texture of raw fish.

The weather has been on and off the past several days, switching between hot/humid and humid/humid and rainy/humid. Apparently, this is considered decent weather. I am excited to leave for Kyoto in the morning on the Shinkansen. Hopefully we will take the bullet train route that goes by Fuji-sama. Videos and pictures to come, archiving my travels and adventures here in Japan.

Lots of beer and lots of food. I like Japan already.

Gio.