David Chart's Japan Diary

This is my diary of my time in Japan, initially studying Japanese in Japan at the Yamasa Institute Aichi Center for Japanese Studies. Given that I don't currently plan to leave Japan, this diary may go on for a long time. Each of the dates below links to a diary entry, and the entries are ordered with the most recent at the top, for the benefit of those few people who are reading this as it goes along. You can also go to the first entry, and follow the link to the next entry on each page to read the entries in order.

I also have a blog in Japanese. I've been keeping this up for quite a while now.

Diary Entries

2009/07/21: Lake Kawaguchi
2009/3/21: Return to Izu Ohshima.
2009/2/20: Fukagawa.
2009/2/19: Christmas and New Year.
2008/10/18: Atami.
2008/10/14: Izu Ohshima, Part Two.
2008/10/11: Izu Ohshima, Part One.
2008/10/9: England.
2008/10/7: Kameido Tenjin and Tomioka Hachimangu.
2008/7/14: Suwa.
2008/5/5: Koganei Par.k
2008/4/21: Yamate and Motomachi.
2008/3/4: First Rabbit Festival.
2008/3/3: Doll Festival.
2008/1/14: New Year celebrations.
2007/12/31: Kuizome and Christmas.
2007/10/31: Hatsumiyamairi.
2007/07/06: Three Shrines.
2007/05/08: Matsushima and Sendai.
2007/05/07: Lake Tazawa.
2007/05/06: Tsuru no Yu.
2007/05/05: Kakunodate.
2007/04/27: Art Fair, American Cousin, Chakutai Shiki, and 40,000 words.
2007/04/01: Cherry blossoms.
2007/03/05: A local walk.
2007/02/11: Another ultrasound scan, and a family visit.
2007/02/02: Walks.
2007/01/06: An eventful New Year.
2006/12/29: Christmas!
2006/12/11: Visa and Kawasaki City Representative Assembly for Foreign Residents.
2006/11/21: Health Check and Immigration.
2006/11/07: Lion Dance and Wedding Music.
2006/10/24: Shinto Wedding Ceremony.
2006/10/06: Our Wedding.
2006/08/29: Works, fire and otherwise.
2006/08/19: O-Bon.
2006/08/01: Work and Wedding Preparations.
2006/07/18: Summer Festival.
2006/07/04: A weird film and a pleasant tea house.
2006/06/20: Bridal Fair and visiting friends.
2006/06/06: Shinto, walks, and gender politics.
2006/05/16: Golden Week and asthma.
2006/05/02: Courses and a small trip.
2006/04/18: Manga and schedules.
2006/04/04: Brains.
2006/03/22: Shinto art and shopping.
2006/03/07: Japanese festivals.
2006/02/21: A local walk.
2006/02/07: Books, work, and a bit of leisure.
2006/01/24: Snow, Books, TV, and English Teaching.
2006/01/09: California.
2005/12/02: Family visit.
2005/11/15: Wedding and Honeymoon.
2005/11/10: Politics.
2005/11/01: Wedding Forms.
2005/10/25: Yokohama and the Triennale.
2005/10/18: Wedding Visa.
2005/10/11: Mcs, Macs, and Music.
2005/10/04: A normal week.
2005/09/27: Wedding Bureaucracy.
2005/09/21: Wedding Bookings.
2005/09/13: Wedding Preparations.
2005/09/05: England
2005/08/12: Moving and cancelled flights.
2005/07/28: Lost in Translation
2005/07/23: Earthquake.
2005/07/07: Buying a flat.
2005/06/28: Balconies.
2005/06/21: Beetles.
2005/06/13: The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan.
2005/06/06: Roleplaying and Parapsychology.
2005/05/30: Work and Weather.
2005/05/22: Redesigns, Religion, Real Estate.
2005/05/16: Playing Ars Magica.
2005/05/09: Flat-hunting.
2005/05/02: Tokyo Disney Sea.
2005/04/25: Rural Tokyo and other legendary locations.
2005/04/15: Cherry blossom viewing.
2005/04/07: Cherry blossoms.
2005/03/31: Moving to Tokyo, and visa approval.
2005/03/27: Graduation and Immigration.
2005/03/22: Dramatics, parties, and Tokyo.
2005/03/12: I've been sick. And the Yamasa Speech Contest.
2005/02/16: JLPT results and a trip to Tokyo.
2005/02/06: More tests.
2005/01/30: Getting published in Japanese.
2005/01/25: Off to Tokyo again.
2005/01/16: A rather boring week.
2005/01/09: New quarter, new teachers.
2005/01/03: The end of term and the year in review.
2004/12/19: Work, tests, interview.
2004/12/12: Work, party, interview.
2004/12/05: The Japanese Language Proficiency Test. And another typhoon.
2004/11/28: After an interesting week, one rather less so.
2004/11/22: Passing exams, publishing books, and visiting Tokyo.
2004/11/14: A week that was good to experience, but boring to read about.
2004/11/07: A fairly miscellaneous week.
2004/10/30: A Speech Contest.
2004/10/20: Yet another typhoon, and a trip to Tokyo.
2004/10/09: A new quarter of school begins.
2004/09/30: Osaka, Miyajima, and a typhoon.
2004/09/25: The rest of Sheila's visit, way back in May.
2004/09/22: The end of my first year of studies.
2004/09/21: Hokkaido. Set collected.
2004/09/16: Class party, bureaucracy, and tests.
2004/09/09: My diary is one year old. Happy Birthday my diary.
2004/09/07: Natural disasters.
2004/09/05: Test results, immigration, and Sailor Moon.
2004/08/29: Test, Buses, Website move.
2004/08/21: A visit to Atsuta Jingu in Nagoya. And back in time three months for the first bit of Sheila's visit.
2004/08/15: Rural areas and my first onsen.
2004/08/08: Award nominations, test results, project completion, and fireworks.
2004/08/01: The weather. It's not been a thrill-packed week.
2004/07/25: Tokyo and Modern Art. And a ninja. And Godzilla.
2004/07/19: Shikoku. Three islands down, one to go.
2004/07/10: A couple of days now, and a couple of days three months ago. Finally, the account of the first family visit is finished.
2004/07/07: One term ends and another begins.
2004/06/21: Tests, travel, and typhoon.
2004/06/13: Finish up a bunch of freelancing, have a bit of a break, and still more of the family visit.
2004/06/06: Finishing some writing, starting some teaching, and another day of family visit.
2004/05/29: Test results, and a bit more of family visit. I will get caught up...
2004/05/23: Not a very interesting week, so a very short entry.
2004/05/16: Homework? Bah, who needs it. Plus some holiday details.
2004/05/08: Busy, busy, busy...
2004/04/22: The family arrive in Japan. Nearly a month ago now...
2004/04/18: The end of term. Last term. And my Japanese roleplaying game.
2004/04/14: I do start filling in the gap, with my visit to touristy parts of Okazaki.
2004/04/10: The third quarter opens. And I don't get round to starting filling in the gap just yet.
2004/03/20: My second quarter draws to a close. Tests, turtles, and tunes.
2004/03/13: Party!
2004/03/08: Kyushu
2004/03/01: A visit from Taehee.
2004/02/21: The Yamasa speech contest.
2004/02/15: An ordinary week, but I'm not ill any more.
2004/02/08: Tokyo, Kamakura, and the following week.
2004/02/01: Tests and being ill... I ran out of time before writing up my fun visit to Tokyo and Kamakura, so this is a rather negative entry.
2004/01/24: Dinners with friends and being ill.
2004/01/17: More snow, and an ordinary week.
2004/01/11: A haircut. It's exciting. Really.
2004/01/10: The start of a new quarter.
2004/01/04: The Grand Shrines of Ise.
2004/01/01: Happy New Year.
2003/12/28: Merry Christmas. And a first term's retrospective.
2003/12/20: Snow.
2003/12/13: A fairly quiet week, and an assessment of the first two months.
2003/12/06: Kyoto. And a very strange experience...
2003/11/27: Another visit to Nagoya, and a language exchange event.
2003/11/16: Test results, and meeting my father in Tokyo.
2003/11/09: Another trip to a festival, a children's party, and a big test.
2003/11/01: A trip to a local festival, Halloween, and a one month assessment.
2003/10/26: A week in summary and a visit to a school festival.
2003/10/21: My visit to Nara.
2003/10/18: A week in quick summary, including today's trip to Nagoya to meet another friend of mine.
2003/10/12: Laundry. And a tour of my flat.
2003/10/08: Lessons start.
2003/10/07: Orientation. A lot of talk about rubbish, and email problems.
2003/10/06: Welcome to Yamasa. Here's an exam.
2003/10/05: Friday and Saturday (3rd and 4th) in Tokyo, and shopping in Okazaki.
2003/10/04: Arrival in Okazaki.
2003/10/02: A day of mad sight-seeing all over Tokyo. With pictures.
2003/10/01: Arrival in Japan! Finally the title of the diary becomes appropriate.
2003/09/29: Packed, and ready to leave for Japan.
2003/09/26: I get my visa.
2003/09/22: The documents proving that I'm eligible for a visa arrive. But not the visa (yet).
2003/09/16: The bank forgets to debit money from my account before sending it to Japan.
2003/09/12: Booking hotels and money transfers going slowly.
2003/09/09: I finally get the letter from Yamasa confirming that my student visa was accepted, and I run around trying to do as much admin as possible as quickly as possible.

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