久しぶり

Sorry it's been so long since my last post (I know you are all glued to your computers waiting for it every day!). My friend Richard came to visit in Tokyo for 2 weeks in early September. We trekked all around Tokyo, and even got out to Hakone, Odawara, and Kamakura (flashback to the trip Nate took me on the first tme I came to Japan as a sixteen year old). I even got to do some new sightseeing with Richard that I hadn't gotten around to yet, like Kappabashi dori (the street where plastic food displays are sold), Tsukiji fish market (the largest fish market in the world), and Ginza (fancy shopping area). Richard was lucky to encounter a few late summer matsuri festivals as well (including my neighborhood matsuri that passed right by my apartment).
After Richard left, I had to buckle down and start studying since classes at Chuo University started. I am taking an intensive Japanese course, a computer modeling and simulations course, and a research seminar on Japanese politics. In my spare time (of which there is little), I am studying Japanese or teaching English lessons (I have two students now!).