The Weekend Review: Back from Tokyo
I just got back from an utterly exhausting but interesting, exciting and fun five days in Tokyo. Before you go searching the side bar for pics (erm, yeah... they're still being uploaded but a little slow on the posting...), I'll just warn you it was mostly meetings and workshops (with little/no time for sightseeing, so unless you want to see me in the power suit - hot - or pictures from government and random dinners in Shibuya and Roppongi, there's not going to be much to view.
A few weeks ago, I was elected to the national council of the organization I have been working with over the last year (charity gigs). When I first ran, I knew I would be getting involved on a broader scale, but (in hindsight), I really had no clue what I was getting into. Along with the 11 others on the committee, we will be planning orientation events for thousands of people this summer, as the Advertising Liaison, I'll get to work with some pretty huge, but wicked, companies on getting funds for this non-profit and today I attended my first Opinion Exchange with the three ministries responsible for the future of the Japanese people (yes, education) to present the results of recently conducted surveys of life and working (in education) in Japan. I am quite honestly a little frustrated that pretty much nobody knows how much this committee actually does (including myself...), but at the same time, I am really excited for the challenge and am looking forward to changing that fact and getting my feet wet.
I headed to the Tokyo-area on Friday with a friend from my prefecture (the new webmaster) to stay with his friend in Saitama Prefecture. It was a fun night. The guy we stayed with was really nice and a lot of fun. I definitely learned more from one night in his living room about anime than I think I had in the last 2 (no, 26) years, but it was a good time.
On Saturday, we headed into Akasaka to meet up with the rest of the council for a full day of workshops with dinner at the Pink Cow (awesome little place near Shibuya with a great dinner spread and pics of unsuspecting - ok, passed out - Tokyoites plastered to the walls). Sunday was another full day of meetings, followed by a slightly-less-expensive-than-Norway dinner of Ultimate drinks and huge burgers at T.G.I.Fridays (shout out to Carlson... pride runs deep) and more run-throughs for Monday's meetings. Monday and Tuesday meetings at the government headquarters were pretty intense and, being new, my only real duties this round were transcribing and observing, but I was totally blown away by my predecessors and think the "discussion" went well. The conference room we were in also overlooked the Diet building (parliament), Prime Minister's residence, Tokyo Tower, and the kicker for me, the Royal Palace, which I have been around twice before, but is closed to the public (so the aerial view was a treat... love it!). I also found a little German bakery near the hotel early this morning, which I was pretty pumped (seriously been craving pretzels for a few weeks now), but it was sort of crap. I'll be back, though, so it'll be fun to get to know another neighborhood of Toks a bit better before this Japanese chapter of my life closes.
It was tempting to stay in Tokyo a bit longer, but I was tired and had a long trip home, so I took the bullet train home shortly after we finished. One of my girlfriends here is actually moving back to America on Sunday (SUNDAY) so we met for a girls night, but it was also a little strange doing the first of the goodbyes tonight. It can be hard moving anywhere, let alone a foreign country, and being away from your familiar support and social networks. While some people will always just be a priority and hold a lot of meaning in your life - even with distance - I've become so comfortable with and come to love some people here a lot. A lot of us are going to be splitting up sooner than it feels like (mostly to be living on different continents) and it's going to be sad recognizing that and doing our final sayonaras. Yes, it's easier to keep in touch now with the internet and stuff, I've done this before and I now have a lot more reasons to visit people all over the world (or people all over the world that have a reason to come visit)... but it still sucks.
I'm really tired and need to get to bed (back to the old grind tomorrow), but definitely a good week/weekend.
A few weeks ago, I was elected to the national council of the organization I have been working with over the last year (charity gigs). When I first ran, I knew I would be getting involved on a broader scale, but (in hindsight), I really had no clue what I was getting into. Along with the 11 others on the committee, we will be planning orientation events for thousands of people this summer, as the Advertising Liaison, I'll get to work with some pretty huge, but wicked, companies on getting funds for this non-profit and today I attended my first Opinion Exchange with the three ministries responsible for the future of the Japanese people (yes, education) to present the results of recently conducted surveys of life and working (in education) in Japan. I am quite honestly a little frustrated that pretty much nobody knows how much this committee actually does (including myself...), but at the same time, I am really excited for the challenge and am looking forward to changing that fact and getting my feet wet.
I headed to the Tokyo-area on Friday with a friend from my prefecture (the new webmaster) to stay with his friend in Saitama Prefecture. It was a fun night. The guy we stayed with was really nice and a lot of fun. I definitely learned more from one night in his living room about anime than I think I had in the last 2 (no, 26) years, but it was a good time.
On Saturday, we headed into Akasaka to meet up with the rest of the council for a full day of workshops with dinner at the Pink Cow (awesome little place near Shibuya with a great dinner spread and pics of unsuspecting - ok, passed out - Tokyoites plastered to the walls). Sunday was another full day of meetings, followed by a slightly-less-expensive-than-Norway dinner of Ultimate drinks and huge burgers at T.G.I.Fridays (shout out to Carlson... pride runs deep) and more run-throughs for Monday's meetings. Monday and Tuesday meetings at the government headquarters were pretty intense and, being new, my only real duties this round were transcribing and observing, but I was totally blown away by my predecessors and think the "discussion" went well. The conference room we were in also overlooked the Diet building (parliament), Prime Minister's residence, Tokyo Tower, and the kicker for me, the Royal Palace, which I have been around twice before, but is closed to the public (so the aerial view was a treat... love it!). I also found a little German bakery near the hotel early this morning, which I was pretty pumped (seriously been craving pretzels for a few weeks now), but it was sort of crap. I'll be back, though, so it'll be fun to get to know another neighborhood of Toks a bit better before this Japanese chapter of my life closes.
It was tempting to stay in Tokyo a bit longer, but I was tired and had a long trip home, so I took the bullet train home shortly after we finished. One of my girlfriends here is actually moving back to America on Sunday (SUNDAY) so we met for a girls night, but it was also a little strange doing the first of the goodbyes tonight. It can be hard moving anywhere, let alone a foreign country, and being away from your familiar support and social networks. While some people will always just be a priority and hold a lot of meaning in your life - even with distance - I've become so comfortable with and come to love some people here a lot. A lot of us are going to be splitting up sooner than it feels like (mostly to be living on different continents) and it's going to be sad recognizing that and doing our final sayonaras. Yes, it's easier to keep in touch now with the internet and stuff, I've done this before and I now have a lot more reasons to visit people all over the world (or people all over the world that have a reason to come visit)... but it still sucks.
I'm really tired and need to get to bed (back to the old grind tomorrow), but definitely a good week/weekend.
posted by Brenda Ann Elizabeth McKinney @ 3:34 AM
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