Omigahd! My whole family is watching! I'll have to be on my best behavior now. Sigh. Japan is good. I like it. Guam is good. I like it too.

Nah! I guess I am who I am.

Yesterday Wakana and I walked down to Doki-Doki to rent some more videos. On the way back we stopped, at her insistence, at Dohton Bori for more Japanese pizza/pancake. This time we had a simple one with shrimp as the main ingredient. When we went to the drink counter to fill our coffee cups I looked out the window and was stunned by what I saw. The sun was low in the sky and shone quite brightly but we were under a thick overcast. The mountains varied between glowing in the sunlight and looming darkly under the clouds and in the shadow of the higher peaks. The light around us as we walked home was eerie to say the least with bright sun casting long shadows and making the buildings bright against the dark sky beyond. There was just a little snow coming down around us. The wind was very strong and cut through our clothing.

As I have said before Nishinasuno sits on a plain between the mountain range and some low hills. It is always breezy and sometimes the winds blow very strong. In the winter it comes down off the volcano to the northwest and sweeps across the plain. It쳌fs last stop, according to the weather maps I쳌fve seen, was Siberia and we all recognize that as a metaphor for cold.

On Wednesday I am headed for Tokyo to meet with the embassy staff about Wakana쳌fs immigrant visa and then I will meet up with Masato at the Shinjuku train station about 6:00. He is a college professor and looks like one in the photo he sent me.