Greetings and salutations!

Well I've awoken to my first morning in Japan alive and well, let me give you a quick review of what's happened so far. I left Calgary yesterday morning and flew to Vancouver. A big thanks to Jeremy Perdue for coming out to the airport to see me off along with my dad and brother. I made use of the pre-paid wireless Hotspot in the Vancouver airport to send out some quick emails and then it was off to Japan.

The flight was about 10 hours long. I had an aisle seat and two chicken dinners. I've never had too much of a problem with airline food, or even hospital food for that matter. I guess I'm not too picky, which I imagine will serve me well here. I watched Big Fish and Cheaper by the Dozen during the flight. I also read a great book called Every Young Man's Battle.

I was getting somewhat sore by the time we arrived in Japan. I saw Mt. Fuji coming out of the clouds which was an awesome sight. After landing outside of Nagoya, things started happening fairly quickly. Jeff, an English fellow from KTC (the company I'm teaching for) met Tanya (another teacher from Victoria) and me at the airport. Our first stop was the KTC office to fill out the standard paperwork. From there we were shown the subway station, supermarket, and so on - the basic neccessities we'll be frequenting during the two weeks of our training here, which commences June 1.

Finally, we were dropped off at our apartments. Though I'll be sharing with one other guy, the apartment is much bigger than I was expecting. There are essentially 5 rooms (living, dining, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom) separated by sliding panels. None of the rooms is very big of course but I'm quite comfortable here. The bedroom floor is covered in Tatami matting and I sleep on a futon set which is quite comfortable as well. There is also a balcony, which is nice, but the downside is that the train passes right in front of my building. It's a bit noisy but it provides for a New York feel.

Nagoya is home to about 2.2 million people and has just about anything you can imagine. I have taken one excursion this morning, walking several blocks from my apartment. I hope to explore the transit system and other things in the days ahead. So far I haven't met anyone who speaks English and I know this will be the biggest challenge I will face in the days and weeks to come. While I am understandably anxious, I am not freaking out by any means and am confident that I will eventually settle into a familiar pattern.

Update: My flatmate Eric has arrived from Vancouver. He's originally from Medicine Hat and worked for Electronic Arts...sweet! We had Ramen for dinner and wandered around the city at night. It's way better having someone here. Also, I've managed to piggy back a wireless connection in the building which is the best news yet! Anyway, that's all for now. I hope to get in touch with Takako and Keishiro very soon. As for the rest of you, take care and God Bless.

With Hope,
Joseph