The Weekly Review

So it’s the end of my first week here in Japan, which seemed like a good point to reflect on the general goings on and life so far in a different country. 

As you may have noticed I’ve only really had positive things to say about the experience so far. So in review, two thumbs up. Would do again.

Seriously though, it’s hard to find a downside to this place. Sure the room I’m staying in is as big as some people’s bathrooms back home, the streets are nearly always busy between 8:00 – 20:00 and on every other street corner on the main roads you will find someone trying to hand you a flier or sell something to you. But there is nothing bad about this. The room is completely functional for my needs and is in a great location for doing my week as a tourist before starting work. The streets are busy but for the most part people are always looking where they are going and I’ve not experienced much in the way of others pushing through crowds to get anywhere, while the people handing out fliers, well they are just doing their job. They are not pushy about it, and only briefly try to get your attention.

The streets are very clean here, not completely devoid of rubbish, but when you consider the population sizes it’s pretty impressive how little there is. The whole time here I’ve maybe seen one bit of gum on the floor and a handful of cigarette ends. You can find that and more in a square foot of Cardiff, never mind any other bigger cities in the UK. 

Cyclists are the only thing so far that I’m a bit mixed on. While it’s good that so many choose bikes over cars to get around the city, a lot of people also cycle at 100 miles per second and I’ve seen more than a few near misses between bikes and people. This includes one guy who was cycling down the wrong side of the road, but really didn’t seem to care. It could just be because everyone cycling seems really proficient at doing so, but when the place is as crowded as it is its a little scary at points. 

Next week I start my job as foreigner #6711098 teaching English in Japan, so expect this blog to be a little less adventurous and more ‘this is my work day!  This is my new home! Here is a dragon I found!’ But will otherwise still be updating as regularly as I can. 

Finally, because I promised Aaron I would after he asked for more pictures of anime girls, here is a short section on that; 

Are you happy now Aaron? Are you!?

Thank you once again to everyone who keeps reading this, I always knew I was pretty great, but it’s good to have the confirmation.

See you next week! じゃ、また！