life has been filled with work, family, and travel since i last wrote. it's been joyfully hectic, what with endless translation work and writing my column, being with family, traveling to tokyo again after 6 years. it feels good to be back in this city that carries an odd familiarity. perhaps it's the language, or the people, or the old apartment where my self-made hello kitty window decoration still hangs from years ago...tokyo has a bit of a home quality to it.

going to keep this short for now as i am on the road and battery is running out. maybe it's a good thing that i am finally living my life instead of writing about it as i have in the last little long while =)