It's hard to think that I'll be back in the US in two more weeks. In some ways it seems more like I'm travelling than returning home. The last trip was definitely a lot more clear cut. After two and a half weeks bouncing around, the longest stay for 6 weeks in Kanazawa, it was obvious that I'd been traveling, and that I was returning home. This time is definitely different. It'll be tough saying goodbye to everyone here, but at the same time I'm honestly excited to get back to Chicago. For those that haven't heard, I'll be back the 29th. Two more weeks!

Nick's visit was awesome. It was definitely touch and go for a while, but it somehow managed to meet up at the airport fine. I was an hour late, I think I took the slowest train from Tokyo. Luckily it isn't too hard to spot another white person, even in the Tokyo international terminal. Just look for the brown hair. We spent three days in Tokyo; visited the Meiji Shrine, the Edo Museum, the prefecture government offices, and of course karaoke. McNees needed new shoes (he's size 13.5) so we spent a good part of one day shopping too. Japan does not have many large shoes, so what should have been a pretty simple errand turned into a real trial.

Being back was definitely nostalgic. Sleeping in the same place I'd spent the night straight off the plane, revisiting some of the same sites, riding the train to and from the airport... It was odd go through the same motions with Nobu, and least in part because when I left last time I wasn't sure I'd ever be back to visit him again. Being in Tokyo also reminded me just how big it is. Living in Aizu must have really dulled the memory, because the first night there I was overwhelmed, maybe even more than last summer, but the number of people. Shoe-shopping in Harajuku was probably the craziest of it all. Friday night in one of Tokyos biggest nightlife districts is not something to underestimate. It was literally a sea of people, and even having been in Japan for 5 months, the experience was totally alien.

Aizu was much more sedate than Tokyo. The weather was less that perfect, rainy season's definitely started, but we managed to get out anyways. We visited the Byakkotai graves, and then worked our way through a whole bunch of smaller temples and shrines along Aizu's east side on the way to the castle. The whole experience was fairly bewildering. Off the beaten path the signs were either all Japanese (usually handwritten) or barely comprehensible English. The tourist maps we grabbed before leaving didn't really help either. After Tokyo Aizu was just as shocking. I think we went an entire day up in the hills without seeing anyone else. It really felt like two different Japans.

Since Nick was here we did midnight meat, 1AM growler, 2AM fruit. For meat Nick bought some horse sashimi, and for exotic fruit we had a yellow melon. It turned out not to be so exotic. It was a regular melon, but yellow. The Aizu kids we were hanging out with seemed a little confused by the tradition, but I think I explained it okay. After Nick left people showed up the next night with beef and declared it was "Kleeman time".

Nobu also came to visit Aizu, but his visit was a little more sedate. It rained 4/5 days he was here, and my wallet was still hurting from Tokyo, so we ended up hanging around a lot. Luckily it cleared up for my birthday, so Nobu got to party here. We had some people over and had dinner and fireworks. It was a really weird group of people, half english speakers, half Japanese. Students, non-students, even one of our teachers stopped in. All in all really fun, even if it did make me a little homesick.

So, with just 2 weeks left here nothing has started to wind down. Theres still a goodbye party, a last visit to superstar, and a mountain of paperwork waiting. Probably one more blog entry too. If I don't get distracted.

Hope to see everyone soon!