More and more pieces keep falling into place. I now know the address of my temporary housing in Kobe, and who (at least one of) my roommates will be. One thing does occur to me, however, and that is that I will probably not have an real internet connection in my first apartment. Still, this shouldn't be too much hassle as Japan has and abundance of internet cafes, free wi-fi, and "free" wifi to connect to. With all but a week left, I'm getting really excited.

Jaa Mata Ne.

Quick Update

As promised, I received my CoE via FedEx at the crack of dawn this morning. Shortly there after I took it downtown to the Japanese consulate along with my passport to get my visa. If all goes well I should be able to pick my newly stamped passport on Thursday.

On a side note, it has been brought to my attention that comments were disabled on this blog. This had been remedied.

Jaa Mata Ne.

Last of the puzzle pieces?

As mentioned in my last update I've been waiting to learn where in Kobe I'll be staying, and for my CoE to arrive. And now I've gotten confirmation of both!

Now, it seems that I won't actually be moving into my permanent residence until late May because the current tenants have decided to stay on a while longer, but I'm told I'll have comparable accommodations in the mean time. (I've also been able to check out at least one of my roommates already... thank you social networking websites.)

According to FedEx my CoE will arrive early Monday morning, which should allow me time to take it to the Japanese Consulate downtown and get it changed into a visa that same day

With those two items down, I'm felling fairly well prepared to head off to adventure yet again. The next 11 days should be fairly quiet, but of course I'll post if anything of interest happens. Until then:

Jaa Mata Ne.

Moving forward

Once again I have failed to update this blog in nearly a month. This time, however, with good reason... nothing much has been happening... I haven't been so much "busy" as distracted... until the last 24 hours when some big pieces seem to have finally be fallen into place.

A few days after my last post I went to get my pre-employment physical. Making a long and frustrating story short it took two weeks to get my results (perfect health) back. Normally I'd patiently sit back until the doctor did his thing, but I ran into a situation where it was the Thursday before, and I needed to have the document physically in Japan on Monday. Luckily things happened and through the magic of FedEx everything got where it needed to go on time.

In the mean time I've also gotten my teeth cleaned and eyes checked. I hear from my dentist that Japanese dental care is about on par with British dental care, so it looks like I'll be seeing the dentist when I come home for a visit. I didn't buy new lenses or frames at the optometrists this time for two reasons: one, my prescription hasn't changed that much and two, I hear I can get cheap glasses in Hong Kong and it gives me (another) excuse to fly over for a weekend (along with getting a few cheap suits tailor made.)

Okay, I know you don't care about all that, you want to know what happened yesterday to rouse my from my blog-less sleep. Well, it seems that I will be living in the city of Kobe, Japan this time around. For those with little or no idea: Kobe is a city of 1.5million people in the south of Japan's main island and is located near Kyoto and Osaka. Still doesn't ring a bell? Head over to the local steak house and order a Kobe steak. Besides very expensive beef, Kobe is also know for being rocked by a devastating earthquake about 5 years ago.

Lastly, in addition to learning which city I'll be staying in, I also learned that my CoE (a document which allows me to get a visa) is allegedly on its way. The CoE is really the last big thing that could bring this whole thing to a crashing halt. Without it I won't have a visa, and without a visa I won't be able to enter Japan.

I suppose that's it for now. I'll write again as more news comes in. For those keeping track of such things I depart in only 15 days!

Jaa Mata Ne.