My week in Hong Kong was spent shopping and eating in street markets in Kowloon. That probably explains why I came home with a suitcase full of knockoff designer handbags and sneakers, multiple pairs of plastic ‘made in Hong Kong’ three dollar heels and…food poisoning. I won’t bore you with photos of skyscrapers, butterflies and… Read More Hong Kong, You’re Hilarious
A lot has happened in the two weeks since I left Japan. For starters, I flew to Singapore and Hong Kong. I also was an extra in a Bollywood film, got robbed, ate a bird’s nest, got food poisoning, lost my camera and learned a valuable lesson about karma. But I’m getting ahead of myself.… Read More Garage Sale at the Airport (or How I Spent My Last Day in Japan)
There’s been a change of plans. My departure time has now been rescheduled for tomorrow, which means that in T-Minus 27 hours I’ll be blasting off of Planet Tokyo, headed in the general direction of the the US of A with a couple week stopover in Singapore and Hong Kong. My last day of work… Read More Don’t Make Me Go Back in the Bubble!
Broken Heart by !!ii~ُtHًeً B؛e$tُ DaٌM؛n ‘T‘h،!n9ّ~’s In two days I’ll be ending my year long relationship with Japan. And the thought that I’ll be trading in a mostly comfortable, stable and familiar relationship for a lonely, uncertain future has got me more than a little freaked out. Two nights ago I sat in a… Read More Breaking Up is Hard to Do
I’ve spent most of my time abroad trying to hide my culture. Just like an actress tries to hide a large nose with flattering hair styles and makeup, I tried to hide my American-ness with Canadian flag patches and bad french accents. When I lived in Germany, I was Re-AhhN-non from Paris and acquired a… Read More Trapped by My Culture
Not being able to read Japanese can have some disastrous consequences.… Read More The 999th Reason Why I Hate Japanese
I’ve moved up in the World, folks. Quite literally. I’m now living (well, for two weeks anyway) in a deluxe apartment on the 21st floor of a sky rise in Roppongi. Here’s a picture of the view from the balcony. Yep, that’s the Tokyo tower in the distance. God, I think that the second best… Read More I’ve Got Friends in High Places…
“I think careers are a 20th century invention…And I don’t want one.” – Chris McCandless, from the film Into the Wild “So, you mean you’ve made a career out of moving to other countries?” The girl with the Katie Holmes haircut asked, frowning in a way that suggested she found that idea disturbing. We were… Read More Happily Uncareered
Photo by Jam343 Sakura is dying, my job is now hiring someone to replace me and last Monday, I moved out of the Foreigner’s Ghetto. And it’s now becoming increasingly more difficult to pretend that I’m not leaving Japan. I started packing around midnight on Sunday night…and finished about five hours later. And then at… Read More Moving Out and Moving On…
“Just follow the giant pink penis! We’re in the crowd right behind it.” – My friend, while shouting directions over his cell phone. The Japanese word for penis is “chinko”. I know this because I had to ask the woman behind me while I was waiting in the line to buy a penis-shaped lollypop. “One… Read More Kanamara Matsuri