Some Old Posts From When We Moved to Japan

We moved to Japan in early April 2004, staying at Fumie's folks' place in Hirakata-city, an hour south of Kyoto. Fumie had arranged an apartment prior to arriving, so once we were over jet lag sufficiently to move, we started the process of building a new life.

This was prior to my having started a blog, but for the first couple of weeks I kept an “on-line diary”, half for my family in The States to read, and half for my own memory. It apparently didn't work well for the latter goal, because I forgot about it until I ran across it today.


18-Month-Old Anthony
Unhappy With His New Boots
A week after we moved to Kyoto

For posterity, I've gone and injected these diary-like daily accounts into my blog with the April 2004 dates appropriate to the days they cover. It's pretty boring reading, but those with insomnia may wish to peruse them.

Getting Settled In Japan:


All 2 comments so far, oldest first...

Hirakata-shi … makes me feel nazukashii because that’s where I first stayed when I arrived in Japan about 25 years before you (room&board in exchange for teaching English — I soon found a better-paying job). I still remember the September heat and humidity and the amazingly noisy cicadas — and the smell of the open sewers (not as bad as one might expect, probably due to the Japanese diet).

By the way, it’s only half an hour from Hirakatashi to Sanjo Kyoto by Keihan express. I made that trip many many times.

— comment by Peter on February 9th, 2008 at 5:23pm JST (16 years, 9 months ago) comment permalink

I didn’t find the diary boring but then again I have to admit that I suffer from insomnia – and Kyoto nostalgia. But still I probably wouldn’t read all that if I hadn’t had the chance to get to know you and your son!

— comment by Anne on September 9th, 2012 at 1:25am JST (12 years, 2 months ago) comment permalink
Leave a comment...


All comments are invisible to others until Jeffrey approves them.

Please mention what part of the world you're writing from, if you don't mind. It's always interesting to see where people are visiting from.

IMPORTANT:I'm mostly retired, so I don't check comments often anymore, sorry.


You can use basic HTML; be sure to close tags properly.

Subscribe without commenting