Chronicles of a Mediterranean Gaijin

Halfway through my second week in Japan and I am finally starting to settle in. Mind you, I still have a very long way to go. If I had to sum up Japan in a single word, I would say contradiction. It is a country of immense natural beauty but yet its coast and countryside is littered with concrete. The Japanese themselves are very friendly and bend over backwards to be helpful and yet women-only passenger cars had to be introduced on the Tokyo metro because of gropers.

My biggest difficulty thus far is the language. I don’t know a single word of Japanese so even a simple task such as going to get lunch is an adventure. I am never sure what I am actually buying and when it comes to paying, I just bow and thank the cashier whenever I think it’s right to do so. I’m sure I have unintentially offended a few persons! Nonetheless, I am sure that once my flat hunting is out of the way I will be able to devote time to the study of Japanese and I’ll be gossiping with the locals in no time.