"The Solution Is Elementary, My Dear Watson"

 After my previous post, I am glad to announce that my rather messy situation has been resolved thanks to a few very helpful individuals. During the time between the 8th and the 19th, I will stay in a total of three different households!

The first, as I mentioned before, will be that of my friend Tatsuro, although he will only be there one of the four days I will be staying there. Luckily, his sister will be around to keep an eye on me which is lovely since we get on very well. The day will go something like the following:

Upon arriving at Narita airport, I will take a one hour train ride to Tokyo station. As everyone knows, it is the main hub of Japan, or what I call the Labyrinth of train stations. It is even worse to maneuver than Euston Station in London. Standing at any point in the station, it is hard to tell which way is up or down, north, east, south or west. I usually end up trying to track down a grumpy officer to guide me in the right direction, only getting a few meters away before having to ask another grumpy officer the same question. At times, I strongly dislike this station, but at others, I take a weird kind of thrill in the idea of getting completely and utterly lost in its maze of endless stores and platforms, as well as the satisfaction of getting to my destination. I guess it suffices to say that Tokyo station and I have a very complicated relationship. :P The toughest part of my journey, though I won't elaborate here, will be finding the store at which Tatsuro's sister works to pick up the key, and getting from Tokyo to N---u, but since I have done it a few times before, I think I can trust my instincts (says Heather as she heads off in the completely wrong direction).

The second stop will be Kyoto where one of my best buddies Ayumi lives. Though the train trip is costing me an arm and a leg, in the end, it was impossible to turn down a week of izakayas (Japanese bars), karaoke, girl talk and the beauty of Kyoto city! The last time I saw Ayumi in Kyoto, we hardly knew each other except for through our email exchanges. Actually, come to think of it, it was the first time we had ever met so we were just figuring each other out. However, this time we can ditch the formalities and take on Kyoto as old friends - should be a lot of fun!

The final stop was truly unexpected. After posting my last post, I received a very "out of the blue" email from my professor who suggested that I stay at his parent's house if necessary. Seeing that I had already arranged two separate visits, I gladly accepted, figuring why not meet some new people, and see a new place!

...and so stands my present situation! Three different houses, three different groups of people, one kooky traveller - it is almost like a trip within a trip, or one of those crazy variety shows you might see on late night TV! And by the time I reach Gunma, no doubt I will have completely settled in.

To end this post, I would like to say thank you to Tatsuro, Ayumi and my professor - without you, I would certainly be sleeping in a small, dusty corner of Tokyo station for two weeks. ;-) Domo arigatou gozaimasu.