I’m almost completely packed.
I’m taking my giant oversized black bag, my regularly-sized green luggage, and my purple backpack. I’m embarrassed that I can’t bear to downsize my belongings any further.

I’m moving to Japan tomorrow.
I’m due to arrive at the Narita airport to arrive in the afternoon of the 19th. When I arrive, I’ll have about a week of training with a bunch of other English teachers in Tokyo before moving out the country-ish. I’m working for a company called Interac that recruits teachers and contracts with the Japanese schools. In each of my classes there will be a Japanese English teacher and I’ll be there to assist.

I’ve made some changes in my life to adapt to what I think Japan will be like. I’ve started eating fish again. After 8 years of strict
vegetarianism, I’m still a bit weirded out by it. I feel about
seafood now about the same way I felt about Playdough in preschool. It might technically be edible and might actually taste really good, but you’re not really supposed to eat that stuff.

I asked myself what sort of image I of the American Woman I wanted to project in Japan. I decided I wanted to be somewhere between Pairs Hilton and Hillary Clinton. And exactly what do they have in common?

That’s right, I dyed my hair blonde. If I’m going to stand out so
severely, I might as well make it as extreme as possible.