I'll write more about training later, but want to mention how surprisingly easy I've found it to communicate with people in Japanese. Getting the gist of what people are saying is usually pretty easy, and it's actually really fun trying to speak with people. A couple of the Japanese Interac employees were getting a kick out of speaking with me and seeing how much I could understand.

I've arrived in Tokyo.

The trip itself actually kinda sucked. My PSP somehow ran out of batteries after 45 minutes, and the microSD card I use to pirate DS game ended up with a corrupted file that was unreadable. The plane was also about 80 degrees for the whole trip, and the seats were so small that my 140lb frame could barely fit. Next time I'm splurging on an airline that isn't United.

The worst part of the day was without a doubt the trip from Narita to my hotel in Asakusa. During the ~1.5 hour train ride I was suddenly swept with *intense* nausea. Fortunately I had packed some promethazine just in case this happened, but the promethazine took long enough to kick in that I was having to struggle to keep from vomiting the entire ride.

Lugging two 50lb suitcases up and down stairs this entire time certainly wasn't fun either.

Despite all of this, I am in absolute ecstasy right now. Why? Because I have a *single* hotel room with free internet. No obligations outside of training, and I can chill out all I want.

Couldn't feel better.

Well, it begins

Posting this from O'Hara airport in Chicago. Will update when I arrive in Tokyo.