Thursday, February 03, 2005

I've Been Here Officially One Year

Today I've been here officially for one year. My visa was issued on February 3rd of last year and so I had to get it renewed. Today I had to go to the Ward Office to report that I had a new visa and get my alien registration card stamped. In addition, I had completely filled all my passport pages and it was about to expire, so last month I got a new passport.

So, my passport is blank except for a Japanese visa. I guess I'll have to go somewhere.

If you look back in the blog, I started the semi-regular weekly emails in February of last year also. Sometimes it feels like the time has gone really fast and sometimes it feels like I've been here forever. Mostly it has been good and I've been able to go home regularly and have visitors too.

The blog thing is interesting for me - it has turned into a little bit more of a diary than what it used to be which was a place to post email I sent home. I have never kept a diary (except for those running mileage diaries I used to keep) because I never felt it was worth recording what I was doing. But this is interesting because it is more about things happening around me.

2 comments:

Teresa said...

That is amazing to think a whole year has gone by !
The Blog is so much fun! I don't know how you think of things to write. The people pictures are great, like the one on the train. I would love to see you capture some of the intersections, like the one we were at where they have the huge electronic billboards (Shibuya?), and the scramble, and you get an idea of how crowded it can get. Any pictures that capture the night-sights would be fun.

Random Traveller said...

I will try to get a good picture at night. The active spots I like include Shinjuku, Shibuya, and Ginza. There is lots of neon, lots of people, and you see the big TVs. Even Shimbashi is kind of interesting.

...Frank