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Diary

This page is a timeline of my time in Japan.  Each month is summarised in a couple of paragraphs, with links to photos and other information.  Past entries have been archived, click on the pictures to view.

Summer 2002

Autumn 2002

Winter 2002

Spring 2003

                                                                                                                         Summer 2003

October 2003

I buy an electronic dictionary - Canon IDF-4600 - Highly recommended if you are into making the most of your Japanese.  We have the annual Fukue festival and this year I join in properly, I dye my hair green and make it spiky, push a float and dance!  Rassa-ra, Rassa-ra, Rassa Rassa Rassa - RA!  I cook again for Divali and it tastes even better than last year.

November 2003

In between studying hard for the Japanese Proficiency test (Level 3) and applying for jobs in London for Autumn '04 I start another sport playing 5-aside football in the Fukue league.  I have an awesome weekend in Nagasaki on the opening weekend of a new club.  Ros comes back for a couple of weeks to see her boyf.  and I book my winter holiday, 4 weeks back in England.

December 2003

After I take the proficiency test it's all about England, packing and preparing.  I fly back on the 14th and surprise my parents who thought I was coming a week later.  Its a good surprise, but I wouldn't do it again, coming home to no food and a messy house isn't much fun.  I'm ill over Christmas and New Years so I just hang out with the family.  I have some job interviews - they go well.  I buy an awesome digital camera (Pentax Optio S4) and visit my old school to make a lesson.

January 2004

I decide that I will leave Japan at the end of this year.  It's time to move on, I'm not learning as much as in my first year and the offer of a job in London is too good to turn down.  I'm still making the most of my time here though - highlights being a Sumo tournament in which I take part (and lose) and a trip with the Nagasaki Ken football team (Champon) to Oita where we play in the Kyushu Cup (and lose).  Much fun though.

February 2004

A trip to Hokkaido to see the Snow Festival and a couple of days of snowboarding are well worth the massive amount I spent on it.  I take to snowboarding quite well doing jumps on my second day and pulling off 360's. 

March 2004

The returner's conference in Yokohama is encapsulated by a couple of excellent weekends in Tokyo.  Its an awesome city.  I enjoyed the art museum in the Roppongi hills building, some shrines and a couple of evenings out.  The best bit though was hanging out with some friends, a Nova teacher called Nilesh who used to live on my street when I was a JHS student, and a Japanese friend called Kaoru who showed me around the city and was an excellent host.