Tora! Tora! Tora!

As I'm typing this, I am bound for Tokyo. Buses, streetcars, trains, and airplanes all play a part in my journey towards Japan's capital city. Why am I headed to Tokyo? Well, I'll tell you. After this quick commercial break...

Daddy's coming! Daddy's coming!

I heartily apologize to all of my readers for any terror-filled childhood flashbacks those words might have induced, but I'm excited! It took a bit of work, but my Dad was finally convinced that he should come see Japan while I was here to show him around. He had to come quick, I won't be in Japan much longer. That's right. I'm returning to the States at the end of the month, so start preparing.

It's funny that whenever the subject of my return to America has come up, practically all of my acquaintances here in Japan have said the same thing, "But you've only been here a year!" Disbelief sounds in their voices as if they were saying, "But you've only been here a few days!" A year is a fair amount of time to spend in a country, I think. That's certainly not to say that I've seen or learnt all Japan has to offer. On the contrary. There's much that I've not experienced and I hope to return someday to see a few of the things I have missed. But though I was open to anything that came my way, I never had much expectation to stay in Japan for longer than a year. I've truly enjoyed my time here, but I miss my friends and family. I miss America and I want to return. But not quite yet. I do have a few more things to do before I leave the Land of the Rising Sun. Most importantly, I am super excited to show this amazing country to my Dad.

To experience as much of Japan as we could on a limited budget and timetable, Nobie suggested that we buy a rail pass that would allow us to travel anywhere we want for 7 days for a pretty inexpensive price. That sounded perfect and I planned our travels accordingly. Then, a few months ago, it was brought to my attention by a fellow ALT that the JR rail pass is only available to people with a temporary visitor visa and with my work visa, I wasn't eligible. And so began a long, drawn out, hair-pulling process to figure out how I could purchase the pass despite this ridiculous proviso. I won't go into it too deeply, but to say that a few of my plans involved disguises, tears, and even a trip to Korea. Eventually, a friend of a friend suggested I go to the Immigration Office in Kumamoto and ask them to change my visa back to a temporary visitor after my job ended at the end of March and I no longer needed a work visa. Not quite as exciting as my plans, but a bit simpler and the one I ultimately decided to go with.

So, a few days ago I walked into the Immigration Office and requested to change my visa status. It took four Immigration officials, a few phone calls, and a bit more than an hour to work it out. At first, they couldn't understand why I needed to change my status when my work visa was good through the end of June. When I explained the rail pass, I don't think they believed me at first. One of the officials went to the JR website and another actually called JR to see if this restriction was really true. You know it's bad when even the bureaucrats are bemused at the absurdity of the Gordian Knot of Red Tape that they themselves have constructed. The sword finally sliced through and I can travel without impunity once again.

And speaking of traveling, we're back to my trip to Tokyo. It will be mid-evening when I finally arrive at my hotel in Tokyo. Dad flies in the next day and we will be spending about a week and a half traveling through Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and Hiroshima before finally arriving in Kumamoto where we'll spend another week and then fly back to Kansas together.

As you can imagine, I'll probably be back in America before I post any more significant updates to this blog. But please stay tuned because I'm sure I'll have many interesting stories to tell of our journeys and tons of pictures to show.

Daddy is coming! Daddy is coming!

Album currently playing on my IPOD - Tracy Chapman's 1988 eponymous album. My Dad, always ahead of the curve, introduced me to this amazing singer-songwriter almost 8 years before all of my friends were singing along to her songs on the radio.

- Jenny