I've been working more lately and that means more money; I haven't eaten a single onigiri this week. I even ate a BLT last night, damn it was good. But not all is bacon and tomato, my hopes to study another year in Tokyo look dashed. The Japan government scholarship I applied for requested at the last minute I be interviewed in Portland. I couldn't do that, and so the deadline sailed by. Ever the diplomat, I sent off polite emails requesting consideration for my special case. After waiting several days I finally got a curt 'no way' response. My mommy sent angry letters of to superiors, as she is want to do, and to my shock I received an email from the head of the Portland Consulate yesterday saying he would 'Look into things and get back to me'. There's a 1% chance that something might come of this, but I'm not holding my breath.

On the positive side of things my Japanese language skill has seriously improved. In utter disrespect of all cultural dimensional thinking, I have been striking up conversations with complete strangers. I can get away this more than native Japanese because I'm a foreigner. My god it's gratifying to be able to communicate with people I've never met before in a language that's not my own. I wish I had studied more Japanese before I came here, I would have been able to start doing this sooner.

Now for something completely different. Thanks to Mint Dandy's blog I found what I had long searched for: The Tokyo Gig Guide, a listing of live concerts in Tokyo. I also stumbed on this Japanese language BBS with concert listings. I tried going to a concert (the noun for which is 'rai-bu' == live) last night at the Shibuya Nest but got there too late, I'm trying again tonight. I haven't been to a real concert since I left America, so I'm really excited! Keep an eye out for a moblog posts of the fun. Update:And speaking of moblogs, I just fixed the moblog archive and switched the comment system to Backblog. Let me know if you have any problems.
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