Movin on.

Well, the good news is my long period of uncertainty is over. I now know where I am off to when Okazaki closes on the 31st of December....









Do you want to know?










Of course you do!







Sorry bout that, but I must have my fun! As of January 5th 2006 I will be living and working in Kanazawa , a medium sized city on the west coast of Japan. Yup, I'm leaving Nagoya in just over a month. I can't say I'm completly overjoyed with that news, but there is a bright side. While I do love Nagoya, and really enjoy my friends and have gotten to know the city and my neighborhood, I miss nature. I miss beauty. Now thats not to say that nothing in Nagoya is beautiful, but the striking areas are certainly outnumbered by the nigh unending grey concrete cityscape.

What does that have to do with Kanazawa? Well I'm glad you asked. Kanazawa is a medium sized city (450,000) that had nothing industrial or military during that unfortunate conflict back in the early '40s. What this means is that unlike most Japanese cities, Kanazawa was not utterly flattened. So it actually has many of the historical buildings from the 1800s and even before. I have heard it is sometimes called "little Kyoto", and has what is considered the third most beautiful garden in Japan. (Honestly, who compiles all these rankings?) It is sandwitched between the sea of Japan and the north-western edge of the Japanese Alps, so there should be plenty of natural beauty.

So all in all I'm rather neutral at the moment. I'm certainly sad, and a litte upset, to be leaving all the friends I just made a few months ago. More upheaval in an already rather busy year is not to be courted. On the other hand, it certainly looks like Kanazawa is a really beautiful area, and I will be in a larger school, one with another native english teacher. So there will be chances to meet even newer new friends, and it will be nice not to commute as much as I do now. Head office told me that they are aiming for a 10 minute bike ride to work, much nicer than my current 10 minute bike ride plus 25 minute train ride! So heres to luck, and a fascinating fresh start to my new year. (and for 4 moves in the year 2005!)