Journey to Japan, Part 1 · 9:17pm Jan 15th, 2020

The bad news: I'm going to be away for a couple of weeks.

The good news: I'm going to be in Japan for a couple of weeks.

_{Yes, that Japan.}

So this is basically something that caught me completely off guard. And by "completely off guard," I mean "completely off guard when the opportunity first fell in my lap," which was roughly six months ago. This isn't a last minute deal, just a deal that still feels like it's blindsiding me, even after months of preparation ~~and not practicing my kanji nearly enough I'm going to be~~ that ~~sort of gaijin i guess I'm so sorry.~~

The aforementioned opportunity is that I have a friend who lives close by: a ten minute drive, which means that i get to see him when he wants to hang out on saturdays, so roughly 1-2 times a month or so. He's a busy guy, and works with marketing relations for his company, so he flies out all the time to talk with reps from different parts of the country. This also means that he accrues metric buttloads of frequent flier miles, which he then spends to take his wife on vacations to various parts of the world (and the fact that he plays the various rewards programs associated with credit cards and airlines like a fiddle doesn't hurt.) He's been to Japan twice at this point, practices speaking/writing it in his spare time, and is effectively fluent at this point. As is the aforementioned wife and a friend who used to live in town (and now lives in seattle for work-related reasons, and trips like these are basically how they meet up face-to-face instead of online.)

That aforementioned friend of a friend is the reason why i'm going. See, the difference in travel expenses is a lot more when adding a third person into a group of two than it is adding a fourth person into a group of three. So said friend did the math, realized that adding a fourth person wouldn't be all that much more and called me up. The whole reason he dropped the offer now is because, while my job is stable, it still doesn't pay all that much - I'm not unemployed, so i can actually afford to travel sometimes (i.e. to Bronycon, maybe EFNW/Trotcon this year instead), but i can't really afford to travel to the extent that your average middle-aged, middle-class couple on a holiday would be able to, for example. Ergo, when he dropped the offer, said friend mentioned that it'd be cheaper than i was likely to find ever again for a two week visit and named an approximate price.

I took it.

_{RIP, my hard-earned bits. Things'll feel a little shakier without you.}

Anyways, the point is that I'll be gone for most of the next two weeks - if i have internet access and down time, it'll be rarely, since i plan on hanging out with one of my best friends in friggin' Japan the entire time. Posting any content (outside of blog posts, maybe) will basically Not Be A Thing That Happens during that time, though i fully intend to sketch down ideas for later if inspiration strikes.

And photos. Lots and lots of photos. Of everything.

_{All of the camwork in Japan, none of the shamwork on an evil plan.}