One of my favorite things about the bus ride to work was the view outside the window. This may sound a bit mundane, but the bus passes through a road with a lot of trees, which is surprisingly relaxing. When the weather is good, it was possible to see the…

The first week in Japan was... quite challenging. Even though I was at work most of the time, I still had enough time in which I was left on my own to get the hang of things. One of these things I had to do was successfully communicate with the…

Hi everyone, it's been a while, I know. Japan has been a very busy (and fun!) time - work during the weekdays takes up quite a bit of energy, and the rest has been used up going to various places during the weekends. Since the work has been winding down…

When Ishida-san* told me that Tsukuba is in the countryside, he wasn't kidding. While there are quite a number of modern establishments, especially close to the downtown area, a fairly noticeable portion of the area is still farmland, as evidenced by the view from the window right outside my dorm…

I turned in my last final of spring term on Friday, the 14th, and after two days of intense moving and packing (you don't realize how much stuff you accumulate throughout the year until you have to pack it all up), I was off. The plan was to sleep during…