A Free Moment

Tokyo, Japan

Ok, so Im on the same computer but I have 20 minutes left to kill on my 290 yen internet hour (thats about 3 bucks). The flight over was fine, considering it was free. Legroom was an issue even though I got an exit door; how was I to know the window seat on an exit row had my right leg squished against the big jutting out bit of the exit door? I sat next to an old british couple so I didn:t quite feel right taking advantage of the free drinks afforded to me courtesy of JAL.

I landed and progressed through customs, which may or may not have taken away three hours of my life that Ill never get back. It took forever! Once I was free of the constabulary, I met Ayume and Yuke, two of the japanese scholars in the programme. They introduced me to Cathy, Monica, and Dennis, the three scholars from Taiwan. We bummed around at the airport waiting 45 minutes for Monica and Katelyn to arrive, then hightailed it to the Yoyogi Memorial Centre where the rest of the scholars were having an enjoyable dinner.
We ate sandwiches in the bus. :(

We had a bit of a mingle after that, got assigned some rooms, said goodnight, and I had a good ol chinwag with one of the JAL organisers, Greg. Hes an aussie guy over here doing a one year internship, and is turning out to be a tops bloke. Im rooming for the duration of the trip with Eddie from Malaysia and Demy from Indonesia. I hope I dont keep them up with the snoring.

The next day was the start of the program, where we had a few lectures. Ill reedit this post to tell you more about the lectures when I have access to my notes and some more time.

Actually, do have to fly, running out of time. So Ill edit this post with the goings on of the next few days and the last few days when we get back from Nigata; we`re going to go eat some salmon, watch a festival, and swim naked in some hot springs while looking out over the ocean at sunset. How often can a bloke says he`s done that? :D