Hey, What Happened to February?

A living situation update from the past month.

I still cannot legally drive, although I take my final test Friday. It’s my first attempt. I am not encouraged by the fact that my friend just failed her third attempt yesterday. I worry only because each trip to the driving center costs about $20 in transportation fees, $50 in test fees, three hours to get there and back, and a day of vacation time. I am using my last paid day off for the school year. Luckily, the new school year begins in twenty days and I get five more emergency paid days off.

• Hitoshi moved into the extra room in my apartment, and life in japan has just become much easier. It’s really nice to have another person around the house. In addition to just having someone to socialize with more often, I’m also paying less in rent and bills, and spending less money on food since its much easier to cook and clean with 2 people. I’m also getting tremendous help with my Japanese. Iina!
  

• Thanks to the magic of the internet, I picked up a second job writing music for a small production company in Austin. I just finished my first ‘contract’ as a composer/musician for a couple of pilots. While the music I wrote for the pilots is not my best stuff ive ever written, I was actually proud of a few tracks considering the time constraints. This is the first time I’ve made a substantial amount of money with music. I had a great time doing it so hopefully I can turn this into a more permanent source of income.

• After a year of living in Kota, I finally met the few other foreigners living in town. I’ve actually run into one of them several times at the train station. That is, I met them repeatedly, not ran over them again and again. It wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that I actually managed more than a passing "Hi, whats up?" This weekend we ended up going to a hinamatsuri. Although people do not typically gather for hinamatsuri in Japan, a nearby town has a festival anyway. They gather a bunch of bamboo and reeds and set it all on fire. While the reeds are burning, a bunch of men in water-soaked cat and panda suits dance around and agitate the fire so it burns bigger and faster. It reminded me of a scene out of a Miazaki animated film. It was short but sweet.

This matsuri was actually supposed to happen last month, but it was cancelled when someone snuck onto the festival grounds and set the whole thing on fire the night before. Since there were no people dressed as cats or pandas dancing around at the time, it was considered arson.

Other than finally getting to meet the other foreigners in Kota, my favorite part about the matsuri was eating my favorite takoyaki. A typical takoyaki ball only contains a piece of octopus, but my favorite takoyaki vendors take it to the next level and they somehow manage to put an entire mini-octopus in the ball for your chewing pleasure. I ended up eating three of them. Pure tentacle heaven.