Family, Friends, and Fellow Country Folk,

My stay in Japan is over. I was there for nearly 6 months, and the whole thing just felt so surreal. Right now, sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and listening to the Clash, it almost seems like I had never even left the US. It's so incredibly weird. If it wasn't for my increased knowledge of Japanese and the 800 odd pictures I took while I was there, I may not even truly believe that I WAS there for six months. But then again, Asheville now seems terribly small in comparison. Does that make sense? The six months almost seem like they never happened but at the same time they seem like the most real part of my life. I guess the word for that is surreal.

Anyways, since this is one of the last posts I'm going to write about japan, I'm going to just type my thoughts on japan, things I liked, things I didn't, what i gained from this experience, etc.

Some things that I dislike about japan(in no particular order)

The buildings in japan all have a look of having been built really fast, without any thought given to architectural beauty and instead only to convience and cost. The colors are all faded and dull. Which may be why all the shops are filled with bright colors(especially pink). The traditional buildings are gorgeous, but they are far and few between. Also, there are tons and tons of apartment buildings, and they're really rather ugly. Also, they have walls built around all the freeways, and that really gets on my nerves because they are just tall grey walls that prevent me from seeing everything. Lets put it this way, Asheville is brown and warm, and Tokyo is grey and faded. That's not to say that Japan doesn't have lots of natural beauty, but i just don't like the cities...... But anyway this is just my personal opinion.

Another thing I dislike is the way that old Japanese people talk. It the most annoying thing ever to listen to. They talk and talk and talk and repeat the same thing over and over and they make assumptions and end every. single. frickin. sentience with the word `-ne?` Blah blah blah ne? blah blah blah ne? It drives me up the wall! By the way, `ne` is a post position which is like asking for the other persons confirmation. Which is like them constantly validating their own opinions. So annoying......

Well, its not really just for japan, but........I dislike how the Japanese people insist on driving such ridiculously huge cars when their streets are so narrow. It is incredibly difficult to park and there just simply isn't room. Well, Its actually the same for everything. they want to have big houses and big cars and big furniture, but japan is really small, that that stuff doesn't fit! Its like they want to live the American dream in an eighth of the space.

Another thing that irks me. Tokyo is this amazing place to shop, with cool fashion and awesome shoes etc., and peeps in the Tokyo district STILL dress like they're in the 90's in America. Why don't people realize how important fashion is in their lives? Would it kill them to spend 5 extra minutes getting dressed?

Okay, that's enough pessimistic statements. Let's move on to the positive.

I LOVE Japanese fashion. It's cool, it's unique, and right now, in japan, it's no more expensive than it is in America. It's just so much more creative than America's, high fashion excluded. I realize that a person's fashion sense varies, but Japan is my personal favorite type.

I also love J-pop magazines, incidentally.

Another of my favorite things bout japan is the food. Japanese food is so yummy, even the weird deserts. Though now that I think about it, I probably like most country's food, except Chinese. Traditional Chinese food entails eating parts of the animal that I didn't know were edible, such as pig ears, fish heads, and even jellyfish(actually the jellyfish wasn't too bad, it tasted sorta like a seaweed salad).

Even though there were hard times as well as good times I still think that every moment of the experience was worth it, and I plan to return to Japan during college.

Thank you to all the people who supported me and encouraged my home stay.