Today is the first day...

of the rest of my blog.
I understand that many people will never visit Japan. Many people have been to Japan before, and there are people who used to live in Japan who now only visit occasionally. Amazingly, some people currently live in Japan. This blog is for all of you, and also for those people than somehow misread the categories and think that they don't fit into one. I write so that we can connect. Through my sorrow and joy, anguish and triumph, agony and ecstasy(I think I'm going to like this blogging thing) this computer screen will allow me to stay in touch with you. I encourage you to respond to my posts, and continue to update me on your life on this site and at my regular address.
Now, on to the show!
I finally made a connection to the music world here. This past weekend I met a man named Tsunoda(sounds like 'sonata', fittingly) Sensei, who teaches violin and cello. I didn't quite know what to expect--lessons, a mini jam session, directions to the symphony hall in Kumamoto... He brought out the Pachelbel Canon. Good choice; I could tell he knew how to gage a musician's ability. We played it as a duet, first with violins, and afterwards with him on cello. I could tell he was impressed, which made me nervous. I didn't want to make him think I was better than I am. Better to impress at first than to flail one's arms, I guess, and so I let him be impressed. He was so impressed, actually, that he wanted me to come back and play more, which I will do tonight. He asked if I'd ever played Beethoven's Spring Sonata, which I hadn't--so he gave me a copy. Then, he took me and Mr. Nakayama, who had introduced us, to lunch at a ryokan, a traditional Japanese restaurant. There are times, I'm sure we all experienced them, where a situation becomes dreamlike, unreal in a way, and details come to the fore. Walking into the ryokan, sneaking glances at the sculptured stone gardens, the flowers, the dolls, and then into the private room to eat... I left my mind and became life itself in order to take it all in. So beautiful--I could not speak for some time. And then, we started eating. Sashimi, sea urchin, shrimp, lotus root, ginko nuts(!), vegetable ball soup, lightly fried rice with pickled plums and other lively flavors inside, beer(of course), shochu(Japanese whiskey), all served by, you guessed it, women in kimonos. Mr. Tsunoda, did I not mention, is a chiropractor and Chinese herbalist by profession. Business is good, I'd judge. He said he visits this ryote about once a week. Needless to say, I never saw a bill. By the time lunch was over, we had determined that I would play the Beethoven sonata with his pianist friend soon, and would I join some of his friends in the Brandenburg #5?
So, it was one of the better days, here in Japan, on that day.
Today, as usual, I sit at my office desk, at the Board of Education, 390 Kunaideme, Arao City, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan 864-8686. If the afflatus should strike, please write me a snail mail :)
P.S. Tomorrow the school term starts. Life is about to get a whole lot weirder... stay tuned