Things change for the Gaijin

That`s right. I`ve now got a keitai (cell phone). That means whole new corridors of Japan are now open to me. Fast communication with my friends near Osaka, or the other JETs in the area will now replace the quiet nights at home in isolation. Speaking of other JETs, we had a prefectural meeting yesterday, which...was perhaps not very helpful. But, it was good to hang out with people and get a chance to cut loose afterward. We went to a British Pub and I had a few drinks before we went on the karaoke til the night wore on. Unfortunately, since I have to catch a train then a bus, I had to leave earlier than others. And, to top it off, I missed my bus on the way home! Luckily, My one great japanese contact in my city, we can call her Ms. Awesome, came to the rescue and picked me up from the train station. Ms. Awesome is almost the polar opposite of L-San (though their names are almost identical...how weird is that?). She`s helpful, not controlling, not patronizing, and generally nice to be around. I`m certainly thankful that I`ve got such a nice person on my side.

Now for the real update:
I never thought I would say this, but I am pretty upset at the Olympic coverage here in Japan. Japanese television is, of course, horrible. I was excited to watch the Olympics, maybe feel a spark of jingoistic patriotism as I watched the Americans take medal after medal. ...Or at least, due to the simplistic narrative of the Olympics games (bunch of people compete, some of them win), understand what is happening on the television for once.
...But, no. In Japan, they are only showing events that Japan is competing in (and have a good chance of winning). And, if Japan wins something, they`ll just show the last seconds over and over and over again, all day. I think I`ve watched the female judo winner like, 13 times in the last two days. And to top it off, the commentary is really bad. ...Not that I can understand it too much. But, in the states, we would have like, former Olympic medal winners talking about events. Again, in Japan, things are different. They just have Paris Hilton-style TaRenTos (talents) from reality television comment after events, saying things like `Such a shame!` or `They did it! Great!`
Anyway, WTF Japan? Way to crush my blossoming patriotism. ...Oh, actually ...seriously, thanks, Japan. I almost lost it there for a moment, in the monotonous mental chanting of `USA! USA! USA!` It has been replaced by `Let the best (wo)man win ... and let me read about it on the BBC days after the fact`.