The tickets are now in, and I know my exact flight date. Things are starting to get more interesting as I prepare myself both mentally and physically to spend the next 2 months working in Japan. A lot has been learned in such a short amount of time, not all about Japanese language. I have had a great opportunity to invest time aside from studying the language, to grow my cultural understanding of Japan, as well as its history. I thought I knew Tokyo before, but after a week watching all the youtube documentaries about it, I came to a conclusion that I actually know nothing about Tokyo, at least until now. It is very facinating to realize after how much I have studied in the past about Japan and all that it has to offer, I only know a fracture, if even that, about the things it hides inside.
One thing I have heard my friends and relatives saying a lot lately, is that: "Are you nervous about going to Japan?" Nervous? Why would I be? I have waited for this moment my whole life, and it is unbelievable to think that I am actually weeks away from stepping in to an airplane that will take me to that magical world I dreamed about as a child. So no, I am not nervous. The only thing truly making me nervous is the upcomming flight. About 16 hours having to sit in an airplane is something i have never done before, and I get fed up and angry for a 5 hour flight alone. I better grab some good entertainment with me this time, or I will be bored out of my mind.
While I might not be the greatest to speak or understand Japanese, I have had a joy learning this wonderful language for the past 6-7 months like there was no tomorrow. I have studied Japanese way before, but it was until these 6-7 months when I truly began to unlock the grammar and Kanji of Japanese language. I thought it would take me years to learn Kanji, but boy was I wrong. I actually can read a handful of Kanji, and even recognize hundreds by what they mean. Hiragana and Katakana have giving me no trouble at all, I can read them pretty smoothly nowadays. I learn around 20 new Kanji each day - further expanding my Kanji library, which in result allows me to read and understand more Japanese. It only gets better and better, as by knowing more Kanji only makes learning new Kanji more easier. I love it! With a new Kanji comes a new word, so not only do I learn a new letter (symbol), but also a new word with it, How great is that?!
It has been a heck of an adventure to search all I can about navigating my way in Tokyo by foot, taxi, bus, metro, and even train. It isn't always easy, when you are not actually familiar with the whole infrastructure of foreign public transportation system. Especially in Japan, this appears to be very chaotic, compared to rest of the world. However, I have learned all I can about this particular subject, and even though I have never used it before, I am very confident that it will not prove to be a problem to me. I have even navigated my way from Tokyo station to my future work place by using Google street view, to see how I would perfom when actually there. I did pretty good, actually found the place with first try. It isn't even that far away from Tokyo station to be honest, and from Narita airport one can take a bus or train all the way to Tokyo station.
I will keep updating the blog once a week before the flight, and after that probably once a day, once I get my interent running in Japan that is. Stay tuned and stay awesome everyone!
Ps: There will be colorful pictures in the future, so you don't need to only look at walls of text. I just need to be in Japan to take a picture of something worth while.