Every morning I wake up, eat breakfast, and start my walk to the train station. It’s great getting to hear the utter silence in the morning. No cars, an occasional bird, and the sun beaming down since 5:30. As I walk past shrines and temples, I get waves of cherry blossom incenses wafting in the air. It’s fantastic. Even though everything here is time related and following the schedule is of the utmost importance, I managed to find a casualness to Japan. My area isn’t exactly country, although I won’t speak for the next town over, but it’s interesting seeing the cohesion of new and old. A bell being rung by the old couple praying at a shrine and the incenses accent the large new roads formed for the guy with Jag that will be hitting the streets in an hour. Somehow it works.

I’ve always been interested in what the world market uses in comparison to the US. As for the car market, the US has the most diverse by far with cars varying from domestic and foreign. However, I find that in most other countries, the home maker has the advantage. The same case is found here in Japan. There are very few American makes here,… very very few. I see a Chevy or two rolling around and maybe an old Dodge once in a great while, even a Chrysler or two, but most of the others are domestic brands. The big surprises are that of the European makes. I found Opel and Peugeot to be very popular amongst others (VW, Mercedes, and BMW) in the foreign brands. Another seemingly sought after “foreign” brand is Lexus.

Cars here aren’t as small as everyone thinks they are. Brands like Peugeot and Opel specialize in these small cars, but others such as Chevy, BMW, Lexus and Mercedes do not. Even the domestic makers seem to have shifted their attention away from small cars and are making these large beasts. I guess it all depends on the brand… I find domestic Japanese brands that are successful in markets abroad have shied away from small car production. On the other hand, companies like Daihatsu, not so popular in the US, focus their attention on a small cheap car for the masses, (literally a box on wheels smaller than any Scion you can think of).

I know this may not be interesting to most of you, but given what I studied I like to observe these kinds of things. I think the car market is by far the best to observe because there is so much diversity to it. So many countries strive to get into the mix and the two newest competitors are that of China and India! How many of you realize that India aims to sell cars in the US? If I’m not mistaken they already started this past year with Tata Motors.

So I have recently learned something after self-reflection. I always realized that the way I see things isn’t always how others will see them. Of course, makes sense, right? Well,… I think that most of us take this for granted. When we look at photos for instance, the artist saw something that we wouldn’t normally see. I may see a wall, but the photographer managed to take the picture at such an angle that it’s no longer a wall but something else! They introduce you to new things, open your mind to a world that you normally don’t get to experience. After taking photos myself for over a year, it’s finally dawned on me. I would always strive to be creative, but it’s not something you can force, rather you need to open your mind to it. I have some new photos that I like very much and enjoyed every minute taking them (even though they probably only took one minute in total). I may sound crazy, but see for yourself:

So I arrived at my apartment yesterday after a long trudging day of work. I recieved a letter from the energy company (a letter in which I can’t read) that gives me a date and a phone number. Well,.. I assume the date is the time I have till my electricity goes off and the telephone number is to some poor chap who will have to butcher English. And I mean butcher, like those guys with cleavers and a side of minced pork.

I also received my first pay check after two months of working!! Oh how it was great. Finally, some money in the bank.

Lastly! Oh that’s right,.. ONE MORE THING. I got a package from someone. I was so excited. It was a T-shirt shipped all the way from good old Rhode Island! The D-House family decided to include my name on their shirt and not only that; Josh, Maiko, Bob (Duhum), Steve (Seungtae), Yuseon,  Yunji, and Kan bought me one and sent it to me! You guys are fantastic, thank you so much. It really meant a lot to me. Also thanks to the D-House and D-House staff for including my name on the shirt. Good luck to all of you! I hope you had a great year at URI!