A New Beginning

A new chapter of the Japan Experiment has begun. Because this chapter is entirely different, I thought it deserved it's own space.

I have been homeless and unemployed for the past three months--though not in Japan the entire time. Since I was working for an English school, when I quit said job I had to vacate the apartment they provided. But because I've met some truly wonderful people here, namely B. and H., I didn't end up sleeping in a blue tarp tent in Ueno Park.

My first month of unemployment/homelessness was spent doing practically nothing. Of course, technically I was preparing for my trip to Australia, Thailand and Cambodia, but realistically I was doing nothing but watching B.'s American TV shows on DVD [that Arrested Development is pretty damn funny!!] and spending time with S.

My original plan was to spend a little less than a month doing some sightseeing and whatnot in Tokyo and the surrounding areas, travel around Australia and Southeast Asia, return to Japan and travel a little more, and then go home. Back in the beginning of April, that was the plan, and a good plan I thought. But then at the end of April, I fell for a boy... The more time that passed, the more I considered changing my plan. I do have a three year visa [well, two years now] and other than friends and family, I have no real reason to go home. My house is rented, I have no job to return to, and I won't be able to get into grad school before taking the dreaded GRE, for which I need to study... And I really liked this guy.

So after returning from my soul searching in Australia, my awe-inspiring run through Cambodia on the back of a motor bike, and my disgusted time in Thailand, I stared looking for a job in Tokyo. Unfortunately, I don't speak Japanese [because I wasted an entire year here doing god knows what instead of learning the language!] and if one doesn't speak Japanese, the job pool shrinks drastically. Due to this disability, I can either teach English or work in the fairly large sex industry. [On a side note, dancers make an extremely high amount of money a month here, but I think it's a little late in the game to be taking that up!] There are a few jobs out there that don't require Japanese and don't involve teaching or flirting with drunk salarymen, but most of them have to do with some kind of financial institution. After going on an interview for one of those companies, I think the sex industry would be easier [and guaranteed/stable] money... And I probably wouldn't feel like as much of a whore.