Big in Japan

Pictured above is Yours Truly, nearly 8 years ago, checking out a CD vending machine at the train station in Kyoto, Japan, where I was visiting my friend Anne, who was there for a year to teach English. The trip marked the beginning of a big “things are looking up” phase; shortly after it, the Worst Date Ever would take place, I’d pick up the accordion and things would never be the same.

Sarah Marchildon, a Vancouverite who blogs at The Hollywood North Report, relocated in July to a rural town on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan to teach English. Given its small-town-ness and its removal from more cosmopolitan places like Tokyo or Osaka, it’s quite likely that there are locals who’ve never seen a real live white person before. Go visit her blog and see what she’s been up to!

I think I’d better finish the Ireland travel diary before I start recounting my last trip to Japan, but I’ve got a Japanese story or two to tell…