What's this blog all about?

That's what I've been wondering.

When I started writing it, it was all about the preparation for moving here. The first few months were about everything new I was experiencing and seeing. But now? It feels like I've seen and experienced everything new and it's all just repeats from here-on-in.

I get up. I go / don't go / think about going to the gym. I try to cycle to the station without hitting or being hit by anyone. I cram onto a crowded train and go to work. I teach lots of students - many or whom are extremely blinkered to the world around them. I finish teaching and get back onto another crowded train. And then it all starts again the next day.

Of course, reading Dogs and Demons: The Fall of Modern Japan and reading recent articles on other things (child abductions in Japan and the lack of Japan signing the Hague convention, etc), isn't really helping my frame of mind. The book though is definitely worth a read (albeit a slightly depressing one) if you want something thought and anger provoking. Suddenly a lot of things here make more sense. But enough of the maudlin stuff.

Although it does bring me nicely onto Memoirs of a Geisha, which I saw yesterday. It was lovely seeing the Japan that Alex Kerr (author of Dogs and Demons) says no longer exists anywhere outside of Hollywood... I really liked the movie, anyway. I'm not sure what the big deal about the Chinese actresses really is. The accents were dodgy BUT I thought they were good actresses, and surely that's what counts? We don't scream and yell every time an American actress pretends to be a Brit, or vice versa. Is it really so different?

Last night I went out drinking. It was fun, and I have a hangover today. The absolute highlight of my weekend though was finding a shop that sells couscous and lentils. I just cannot express how excited this made me. I've not seen either on sale since I got here. It brightened up my whole day!

And I have a dilemma: I have a few days off in March. I can't decide between going to Seoul, South Korea or going to Osaka and Himeji. I want to do both and will do both this year but for March.... I just don't know.

Oh, despite the negativity of recent posts, I have no intention of giving this all up. It's an easy life, after all and I get to indulge myself in so much travel...