And so it begins...

Friend, family, or random internet wanderer, welcome to my blog!

I really hate first posts. They can range from very clever from the right person to downright inane from the wrong one, but they seem too much like first date conversation for me to truly like them. I find myself fighting from giving too much information too fast, thus overwhelming the reader with boring unnecassary details. But since I wanted to blog about my travels and time in Japan, here I am trying to compose the dreaded first post.

I have not blogged since my time in Rome, but I remember it very fondly as one of my favorite things about traveling, for a few reasons. Not only did it allow me to tell my loved ones what was going on in my day to day life, as well as relate things I found interesting or downright ridiculous, it also enhanced the overall experience for me. I found that by thinking over things I've witnessed, and by relating them back, they were more memorable. So in attempt to recreate such a feeling, and share with all of you, here I am again. Back to blogging.

I leave in approimately 7 hours from now for Nagoya, Japan, a city I knew very little about before I got placed there a few months back. In truth, Japan itself was a country I knew very little about until the last few years. My first fleeting connections were as a child playing Nintendo games and vaguely knowing they didn't come from America. Then as a teenager, spending 4 o clock on saturday evenings, that time right before saturday night where there is nothing to do, watching vintaged samurai movies and old Akira Kurosawa flicks on IFC. But still, even when I was playing the old NES or dazedly watching black and white subtitled movies, Japan still seemed distant and inaccesable.

Then I went to college, and the world, as it does, opened up to me. I was drawn to history and art, and studying such things, the world that had one time seemed so out of reach started to feel less so. And after living in Rome, I was bit by a travel bug that has not let up since. I came back to college to finish my degree and, since I had traveled to Europe a few times by then, turned my sights to Asia. And that's when I really started to learn about Japan.

So a few comprehensive history and art classes later, I was charmed by the land of the rising sun. And circumstances and my own temperment being what they are, I find myself now going to live there. For just over a year, I will be teaching English for an eikaiwa in Nagoya. And as I sit and write this, I am such a mix of frazzled nerves and untempered excitment my stomach hurts. But I wanted to write this down before I left, as a kind of symbolic beginning to the next chapter of my life.

So what will this blog be? Probably about my life, about the places and people and day to day, but I hope to go beyond just observations. I want not only to report but share what I'm doing and what amuses me. And to echo the sentiment from my old blog, this may be an exercise in fruitless self indulgence, but this time I know it will also be a collection of memories.

And about the title I chose for my blog, Japonisme was a term used to describe influence of the arts of Japan on the West. In the late 19th century, it inspired innumerable artists in both form and subject, one of which is the header of my blog (Its called Caprice in Purple and Gold No 2 by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, if you're interested). And like that, I hope to be influenced and inspired by Japan.

So the next time I right in this blog, I will be moved in and living there. I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I know I will enjoy writing it. My posts may be stupid, thoughtful, funny, or simply ridiculous. They may be observations and discussions, or a travel log. It can be pictures, videos, links, or pithy little thoughts. They may be anything, but more than anything, I hope they are interesting.