Travelling Japan during peak vacation periods can be fairly complicated, especially on a budget. 

I first heard about the 青春１８きっぷ the last time I was in Japan, as an exchange student in Kyoto; the ticket can be purchased for 11500yen for use on JR line local/rapid trains.  The ticket itself entitles the bearer 5 days of unlimited travel.  While it is a very economical way to travel far distances, the experience of traveling by slow trains can be quite exhausting. 

Seeing as how I’m three weeks into my summer vacation and I don’t have much to show for it, I thought I’d better get on it.  I’ve got plans in the works to do a little bit of travelling to Kyoto and possibly Hiroshima and I’ve continued to teach private English lessons, but since my main goal this summer has been to study Japanese, I think I can finally say that I’ve started. 

http://2kyuu.posterous.com

The focus for this new blog is to keep track of my studying for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (N2).  It’s only been a few days but my brains been ticking non-stop.  I spent most of my day working on it.  I have a few books that I am currently working from, and I introduce them on the site, but I also will try and update with things like “word of the day” entries and some “free study” topics, one of which will be Japanese solfege (which I encountered briefly during my thesis research).  I will provide translations and romaji intermittently, although the majority will be in Japanese.  If you’re interested, please check it out~!

BTW new haircut!

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Q: How do you make use of a non-”career driven” degree, such as one in an interdisciplinary major like Asian Studies?

A1: More school
A2: Be creative
A3: Give up

If you picked answer 3, that’s pretty much what I’d resigned myself to.  After graduating I came home and found a job fairly quickly as the executive assistant at a local landscaping firm; full-time, Monday through Friday, with decent benefits and starting pay. In time I came to understand that the job description, designed to be flexible on purpose, proved the value of my college experience even if it had nothing to do with Asian Studies or Japan. My superiors and coworkers even came to recognize my abilities and appreciate what I’ve done for the company.

As much as I hate to leave this job, my first “real” job, before at least a year has passed, I am doing so only because of a greater opportunity has surfaced, granting me the chance to return to Japan for a year to teach English while exploring other options; some quite even possibly related to my interests. I’m not sure who I’ve told, but in case you didn’t know, well, now you do.

With four weeks to go I feel like I should be excited…and I am, don’t get me wrong.  Living abroad, teaching, travelling is nothing short of a dream come true.  But is it worth risking putting my life here on hold, even if I keep the ties to home strong?  I know I’m asking a lot, leaving the ones I love, but is it too much this time?  What truly makes life worth living?