Going to Japan

I am taking an unexpected trip to Japan. It's only been a few weeks since the massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's east coast, and there is still a great amount of damage in many places. However, I'm not going there to help the Red Cross or any other humanitarian organization. In my opinion, Japan doesn't need more people in need of food, water, and shelter in the areas where people, buildings, animals, and whole towns have been swept away. They don't need someone who doesn't speak Japanese and doesn't know a thing about rebuilding after disasters poking around and getting in the way. Instead, I'm going to one of the many places in Japan largely unaffected by the disasters and normally bustling with tourist activity, which due to foreign media fear-mongering have turned into ghost towns and brought an economy to a screeching halt.

My boyfriend, Bobby, teaches ninjutsu, and for the last two years has been planning a trip for himself and his top student to train with the grandmaster. After the earthquake happened, the person who was originally going with him on the trip backed out, and Bobby asked me to come with him. This wasn't an easy decision for me, because right now I'm worrying about missing school, applying for jobs, and all sorts of other stuff. I wasn't prepared to go anywhere until the semester was over. However, both of the trips I'd hoped to go on over the summer had been canceled due to circumstances beyond my control, and I'm kind of itching to go someplace. Japan has always been fascinating to me, from being an anime fan in junior high to being friends with foreign-exchange students in high school to hearing stories from friends who had studied there for a while in college. School will be there when I get back, and I'll have time on the plane and while Bobby is in classes to do at least some of my homework. So, why not? What better time than now while I'm relatively young and obligation-free to go out and explore the world?

We'll be staying in a place called Kashiwa in the Chiba prefecture, and making a couple of day trips to explore nearby Tokyo and go to the sakura festival. In between Bobby's ninjutsu training, of course. I may be going to observe a couple of classes, but I don't really plan on doing as much training as Bobby is, because ninjutsu isn't really my art, and I've still got a semi-bum knee from the whole surgery ordeal. But either way, this is going to be a fun time. And as nervous as I may be, I am looking forward to it.