Now Arriving in: Osaka

This is the first post in the blog I`ve set up for while I`m in Osaka, Japan, for one month during the summer of 2009. This is the second time I`ve been to Japan, but instead of going with my Japanese class I`m here with my friend Glenn and his girlfriend Yumi, who I met through Judo club at Purdue University.

This is all being taken down as a way to keep in touch with my friends and loved ones that I really miss right now, and to help keep a record to look back at and smile about for myself.

To get here it was a flight to Chicago, then Korea, each with five hour layovers which meant a lot of aimless walking in airports. On the flight to korea there was a little boy who was crying because he missed his dad which stopped me from sleeping a lot, but when he wasn`t crying he was really cute and cool. He seemed to think I was cool becuase he liked handing me his toys and talking to me in baby-korean talk which was pretty funny.

I finally got to Osaka 2 days after I left Indianapolis, and Glenn and Yumi helped show me around. We ate noodles close to our hotel, and spent a lot of time checking out the subway stations and areas around town, also checking out the Osaka Shooto Club which I am definately joining. I go back there today to do the final paper work, which was interesting becuase I had to go and make a passport photo in a photo booth to attatch to my membership papers (you need to apply a picture of yourself to your resume too when you apply for jobs in Japan).

The hotel I`m staying at is really really nice, and has a lot of other people from around the world. There`s Americans, New Zealanders, a British girl, and my roomate is Australian. Everyone seems really chill and it`s great. The assistant landlord lady is named Keiko and she`s nice too. I told her that that is the name of Naoko`s (my girlfriend who unfortunately is stuck in Indiana) older sister so I she said I can call her onee-san which I thought was pretty funny.

Now its time for breakfast, so to the convenience stores I go. Convenience stores in Japan are all sorts of badass by the way. Pictures and more words will come next time I need a break from adventuring.

Up up and away!