Preparation

Hello from sunny Portland Oregon!


This is my first entry in this blog designed to chronicle my life in Japan in the upcoming year. Having never traveled out of the U.S. before, one might expect this to be a harrowing experience. Thankfully I am not traveling alone- I have my stuffed alligator "Alistair" who will be keeping me company and acting as my mascot while I'm abroad. We will be flying to Japan on the 30th, a little less than a week from now.

In addition to inflicting the adventures of a young man and his stuffed animal on the folks back home, I'm also intending to share tidbits about the culture that aren't generally included in textbooks or travel guides. For example you will doubtless hear about the lack of dish washers or clothes dryers in the average Japanese home, or the fact that bathrooms are often equipped with their own pair of slippers. Mundane differences that we take for granted in our own cultures. Hopefully this will be as interesting to follow as it will be to write!

Finally a bit of housekeeping: My Japanese was rudimentary at its best and I've had almost a year to lose it. If I post something in Japanese and you spot an error please email me so I can fix it!

-Andrew