Second Year Begins

Hello everyone.  It's taken me forever to get around to updating this.  I am about twice as busy with the new job, so I that's why.

Although my time was short in Japan I had an awesome time.  Seeing just part of how unique the Japanese are and meeting a few of them made me realize how much I still love Japan.

First of all, I had some problems with my ATM card, so my budget was pretty thin, so I ended up staying in a 24 hour internet cafe.  It was a decent setup.  For less than $30 I was able to get a cubicle that had internet access and a TV for about 10 hours.  This came with as many as you  like non-alcoholic drinks.  Also many DVDs and comic books (probably some computer games) were available for entertainment.  It was kind of noisy though, so before I went to bed, I went out to explore and get my drink on.

It looked like I would be alone that night, so I tried to find a place where Westerners hang out.  I asked a couple girls, but they couldn't help, but someone noticed that I was lost and he came to see if he could help, his name was Kenji Hara.  He totally went out of his way to help me for no apearant reason except he noticed that I needed help.  At first I was suspicious of him because he seemed so eager to help.  He called up some of his friends and got directions and actually walked me to a hangout, but it would not open until later, so he asked me if I would like to hang out with his friends.  So suddenly, I had a group of Fukuoka University students to hang out with, which was awesome.

It turns out his friends recognized me from earlier in the night when I tried to order food at a restaurant, but I couldn't because the restaurant didn't accept American Express, and they said to Kenji that my Japanese was good based on the way I handled the situation with the restaurant staff.  So I had a great time with them that night. Kenji was the hero that night, so I bought him a drink.

                                                              Kenji (Ken), Keiko, Chinatsu

                               Kosei (Casey), Kobayashi Tsuyoshi, Keiko, Chinatsu, Kenji (Ken)

   One thing we did that night was give each other names from our home countries.  I told them my English name meant powerful leader, so they named me Kobayashi (strong) Tsuyoshi (REALLY REALLY REALLY STRONG....hahhaaha).  Then I told Chinatsu she should go home because it was getting too late and she agreed because  she lived an hour away, but before she left, she took this paper with her and hugged me which is rare for both Korean and Japanese people, but I guess she tried to act like an American around me since she had spent six months in Australia and was aware of Western customs.

The next day I went to Ohiri Park and saw some people dancing to a popular song.  They became shy, but they did the dance one more time and they were friendly.