I know I promised more frequent updates in my last entry, but it turns out I don't have intertnet access at my new plase yet.  Yes, that's right, my new place, meaning I've moved out and on my own now.

My new place is in a city called Tsukuba, about an hour north of Tokyo...Imagine Iowa City (or any Big Ten school I suppose), multiply the population by 10, and add about 10 years to everybody's age, and you can get a pretty good picture of life in Tsukuba.  It is a research oriented city, with Universities, the Japan Space Center, Japan's largest particle accelerator etc etc.  But it is pretty nice.  It's not so jam packed with people like Tokyo or Osaka, so it's more relaxed, and has much more greenery, so I think I will enjoy it here.  Here are some pictures from:

my place when I moved in

my place with stuff in it

my new car!



It turns out Tsukuba doesn't have that great of a public transportation system.  Well, it does, but not to my work.  So I had to buy a car.  I had about two days to pick out a car before I had to go to work, so I really couldn't be too picky, but I think I did pretty well.  It's a Honda Civic EL.  It has a 1.3 liter engine, which is a size you don't hear of too much in the states.  It runs pretty well, it's clean, and shoud get great milage (because it's only 1.3l).  But, but, but, it is an automatic...(T_T).  But it should be fine for a couple of years until I can really go shopping for the car I want.

and my dog (who is unfortunately in Kobe...)

Well, that's about all from here.  Drop me a line whenever,

yt