"To die will be a very great adventure." J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

The thing I hear most from other people about this whole "going to Japan to teach English" thing is, "Oh, I wish I could do something like that." Being the persistently-helpful asshole I am, I immediately offer a laundry list of people and companies to contact, only to be met with a whole slew of excuses: need to save money, don't want to break up with my boyfriend, can't abandon my pet goldfish, etc.

Well, there's always a reason not to do something. Me, I only have reasons to go to Japan. Let me explain:

I was born in the US and lived most of my life there, but went to Canada for university. In my second year, my parents decide out of the blue to pack up our shit and move to Abu Dhabi, a fairly esoteric choice. What's a girl to do straight out of school when she can't even flop at Mom and Dad's and work a shitty temp job?

I'm no weeaboo. Sure, I had an anime period when I was in eighth grade or so, but I don't really watch the stuff. I do still listen to J-Rock, but everything I like is hopelessly outdated (I like to pretend Malice Mizer never folded), and every time I hear Gwen Stefani squeal about Harajuku, I feel vaguely ill. I don't speak Japanese. I don't cosplay. I don't even eat fish.

You might very well be asking, then, "why Japan?" Well, Steve- I can call you Steve, can't I?- I love Japanese history and culture. It's fascinating. I have an anthropological interest in sex workers, and Japan is nothing if not a neon candyland of crazy poon. I'm also very interested in geisha. And Shintoism. And trains. And very small trees. And going to the store and buying a small luxury item and having it wrapped in no less than three bags, plus tissue paper. Maybe I'm not the average eikaiwa drone; I don't really know. All I know is that Japan feels right for me, right for now.

I'm leaving for Japan at the end of October, and until that point, I'm in limbo. I figured that, in between puttering around the US-Canada border and selling my old possessions on eBay in order to make beer money, I might as well do something vaguely constructive. Hence, this blog. Vamonos.