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Youkoso: Dr. Bronner's Japan Studies University.

Everyone knows that Tokyo is the biggest city, but nothing can prepare you for the draw of its gravitational field. While cities are alien growths on a smooth planet, Tokyo is imperceptibly wide to the point of appearing flat. Ten thousand feet in the air, it's impossible to tell the massive city apart from the dark green world on which it resides. Not a growth, but the whole. Only the ocean limits it-- and from a plane, it looks as if the ocean was built on Tokyo, not the other way around.

Japan in summer is enveloped by an ever-present, penetrating humidity. In Tokyo I found it to be the worst… hard to breathe... But here in Akita, it ranges from only unpleasant to actually comforting. I can only imagine how thick the air gets further down south…!

My school in Akita, where I’ll be studying for the next six weeks, is an interesting meeting point for lingual immersion. Japanese students come here to take classes in English, and meet English speaking students. As for those English speaking students, they of course come to learn Japanese. Students from both places are roomed together, allowing for mutual language practice.

It's an interesting place, very far from the metropolises of lower Honshu. I'm excited to learn more about it and report things back...

Akita Experiences: Started a collection of fun bevvies. Saw my first suzumebachi. Got yelled at by a lunch lady. Crashed on a real futon. Learned that dogs in Japan say “wan!” Drew a map of Oregon. Read lots and lots and lots. Ate amazing food.

Tangent: When people say they hate small talk, it strikes me as a sign of being sheltered. Small talk is a skill, and a seriously good small talker can break down barriers strikingly fast. It demands patience and adult sensibilities. I try my hardest to be a good small talker… In a foreign country it is very difficult to be a good small talker... Bringing homely expectations to a new country leads to outcomes ranging from chuckle-worthy (I found a Balatro fan 5,000 miles from home!) to downright harmful. In lieu of losing all my built up small talk skills, I will have to find something new. Adaptation, improvisation, else social annihilation.

All of this, and it's just day two in Akita! Japan will surely leave its mark on me.