Observations

We arrived back home this weekend from a week-long vacation in the US.  A few observations I made on my first trip back since we moved here:

1. America really is a "melting pot".  So many different ethnicities, nationalities, accents....Japan, on the other hand, is a big pot full o' Japanese people. 

2. Moe's and Target really need to expand into Japan.  I'm seriously considering a letter-writing campaign.

3. The flight (and jet lag) from Japan to the East Coast is tiring, but tolerable.  The flight (and jet lag) from the East Coast to Japan is a miserable, miserable experience.  You somehow lose a whole day and spend 24 hours awake.  It's like achieving time travel but in the worst possible way.



Also, yesterday (Monday) was another national holiday here.  It was Health & Sports Day.  This holiday was created after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to commemorate the opening ceremonies.  At some point it was moved to fall in with the Happy Monday System.   Poor jet-lagged Chad had to go into work for a conference call even though the offices were closed.  I noticed one of my neighbors playing ball with some of the neighborhood children in the street....could have been coincidence, but I've never seen her out there before so I'm going to believe she was celebrating. ;)