opinions

Well. Another week goes by, and I'm posting again. Time moves a bit faster than you'd think, especially without an internet connection. I'm changing that though - because I live in my own apartment, I'm going to try to have DSL wired to that room. The rates are fairly cheap - around $40 a month for (pause for effect) 50 MBPS down/15MBPS up! That's possibly overkill. :) That being said - more photos are up at flickr. Check em out. Link's in the bar.

And now, as the title suggests, I have some opinions of Japan upon being here around 2 weeks. These are just some small things of note, little tidbits that I've picked up. YMMV.

First: if you need to find something that tastes really good, is pretty cheap, and looks somewhat like normal food, find a bread store. Bread stores do not just sell bread. Bread stores sell pretty much anything. For around 200 yen (~$2) you can pick up a nicely cooked ham-and-cheese sandwich, crust removed. Absolutely delicious. you can make a full meal there for about $6 (which, in this country, is pretty good... food is not cheap.).

Second: You are never more than 20 meters (65 feet-ish) away from a cat in this country. They roam the cities, the countryside, and probably even the mountains (I haven't checked yet...) like it's theirs. And it pretty much is. People will go out of their way to let a cat go by, and the cat's are like, "yeah... whatever. Stupid humans."

Apparently karaoke is performed in marathon sessions. I went out with a couple friends on Sunday to go karaoke. We arrived at this hotel-like building, very shiny and clean, and ordered a session. It cost around $10 apiece - but that was worth it for 5 hours of singing in a 5'x5' room. Fortunately, that included drink prices. So, even a few waters and orange juices later, I wasn't going be able to sing anymore - dry throat.

Finally, it doesn't matter what country you're in: if you're looking for a party with people, join a choir. Nagasaki Gaikoku go Daigaku (my school, aka NUFS) does not have a music program. So, I went over to Nagasaki Daigaku (affectionately known as cho-dai) and asked them if I could join their choir program. Apparently, choir is all student-organized, as a club setting. I'm the only gaijin there so far (one of my friends is coming with me tonight), but I've had more fun with that group in the past few days than in the time that I had spent here before that. Choir people know how to have fun.

Scott, Jesse, and Brian - Don't worry. I found a DDR partner. I'll be all practiced up for the club to start again next year. Hope you will be too. :)

Everyone, thanks for keeping an eye on me. I'll talk to you all later.

じゃ、　まった。 See you.