Japan. Day 1. Later.

Why am I here? I ask myself.
What have I done to deserve this?
What do I have to do from now on to atone for this blessing?
How will I pay for it all?

The beauty, the love, the joy...

Nama Japan:

Toyota city is a bit like a modern country side.

It has fields, but it has tall buildings.

It smells incredible, there is a lot of green, few cars (all of them Toyotas of course), very polite drivers, many bicycles, small shops, karaoke, pachinko, ramen restaurants, kombini stores, cleaning shops, sake bars, and small hospitals.

It has small houses and it has huge blocks.

There's a little bit of everything.

And I live in an International Suite (aka dormitory), called Ohbayashi Kokusai Center (known as Oasis) with other hundreds of foreigners that come and go.

The guys at the front desk are incredibly polite and open-minded.

One day I was a little late and they even called me to ask me if I am ok and if I am going to work any time soon because it is late.

I gave them chocolate and now we talk every day.

To commute from Oasis to The Technical Center, it takes about 10 minutes by bus and 30 minutes by bycicle.

Oh, yes, I have my own bycicle, with which I role all day long (in my free time of course).

My dorm room is rather spacious, with a bedroom (normal bed, but sliding windows :P), a kitchen (incredibly small), a toilet, separated from the shower, in which I can enjoy long hours on the lovely electric toilet that cleans and massages my tooshie.

I also have a TV full of lovely Japanese channels, an airconditioner (oh so important during these incredibly HOT and HUMID early autumn days).

In order to understand how mushi-atsui it is here, try to remember how the air in the bathroom was after you've taken a really hot bath. 

It is suffocatingly hot and you sweat like a horse... and you can't do anything about it.

At least the water is clean.

The air doesn't feel polluted AT ALL, it smells rather nice actually, smells green and fresh, especially after a little rain.

And one more important thing here.

Streets are so incredibly clean, that it's actually creepy.

No stray dogs, no dirt, no dust, no nothing.

It's like walking in slippers inside your own home...

And I'm serious.

I'll make a picture of the streets one day.

...

So today I've greeted everyone at the office.

Now it's time to go home and take a well deserved nap.

I'll see you tomorrow!

... is the last phrase on this day's journal. I'll write some more next time.

Buh'bye.