Hello friends,

This is Genie in Japan, writing from the city of Maibara in Shiga, Japan.

I don’t know why they call it a city.

“Mai” means “rice” and “bara” means “fields.”  Ricefields.  That’s where I live.  Seriously.

Not that I’m complaining.  The air is clean, there’s no congestion plus rivers and creeks and green and flowers and plants everywhere–life is at a much slower place, and I love that I don’t have to face the 405 everyday on my commute to school.  I just hop on a bike and maybe 7 minutes later, I’m there.  That’s for one of my schools–Maibara Junior High.

The commute to Kanan Junior High is a little bit more complicated.  Get on a train and hop over one station, then a 15 minute bike ride along a river and through rice fields, rain, or shine, or snow.  Many times while in a suit, of course.

Pictures to come after the first paycheck which will allow the purchase of a camera.  Look forward to it.

For now, I leave you with a haiku:

You look Japanese

But you don’t speak Japanese

Are you retarded

*poetry analysis to follow.