Sorry for the recent lack of updates. As you may have surmised, the typhoon did not indeed blow me away. Life has kept me fairly busy recently though.

This happened a couple weeks ago now, but I think you guys will find it interesting so I'm going to write about it. At the end of the work week, before our last three day weekend the English teachers at my base school threw me a welcome party. This involved about a dozen of us going out for food and drinks at an izakaya near our school. In Japan it's not uncommon to have occasional after work parties with your co-workers. These parties are seen as opportunities to relax with your co-workers after a stressful workweek, so that's what we did. The teachers toasted to my arrival and our dinner began. We had food like yakitori (grilled chicken on a skewer), pasta, and sashimi (slices of raw fish; think sushi without the rice) while we drank. The etiquette at these parties is to make sure that your co-worker's glass is never empty, so as soon as you finish your drink your co-worker will pour you another one. It's very easy to become drunk this way, so if you don't want to get drunk you have to pay careful attention to how much you're drinking. I started off with cocktails, but by the end of the night my co-workers had me drinking sake with them. It was definitely the most delicious sake I've had. I stopped myself after a couple tiny cups because sake is strong though. At the end of the party, I walked to the train station and took the train with most of the other teachers. They typically drive to school, but in Japan you're legally not allowed to drive after you've had any amount of alcohol, so they took the train. The welcome party was a good time and it was interesting to get to spend time with my co-workers outside of the school.

This weekend is another three day weekend because Monday is Health and Sports Day. I'm planning on relaxing and meeting up with some friends in Ikebukuro. I'm going to be meeting up with two American friends that I met the last time I was here in Japan, so it'll be good to see them again and visit the places we used to go together.