Home Sweet Heiwa-cho

I've been back in Heiwa-cho for the past few days. The minute my feet touched the ground, I've been on the run with no signs of slowing down. Heiwa-cho is a small country town that means Peace Town, but it hasn't been very peaceful recently. There have been two earthquakes, one typhoon, and a couple other surprises to boot.

I arrived at Nagoya International Airport about 8pm on September 4th after a brief and uneventful stop over in Tokyo Narita.

It was raining when I stepped off the plane and unusually cool for early September. I was looking forward to some time to myself, so I didn't ask anyone to meet me at the airport. Instead I opted for the privacy of a pricey taxi cab.

The cab driver was funny in that he spoke a little English. Everything he knew, he'd learned from watching American gangster movies. So, every other word was f*ck this and f*ck that. All in his best DeNiro accent.

Stepping out of the cab, I noticed my yard was completely overgrown. Much like some of the jungle I trekked through in Thailand and Laos. I had to fight my way to the front door, but the inside of my house was in good shape. No mold covering my floors and furniture like last year.

First thing I did was take a shower. Then I started unpacking and watching the clock. There's a 13 hour time difference between Japan and the East coast of the US, and I didn't want to wake anyone up when I called home.

At a sufficient time, I placed my first call to my Uncle Ned's house. He was recovering from a successful brain operation and considering the circumstances, he sounded really good. Occasionally, he'd get a bit emotional, but for the most part he's a stubborn Gignilliat that's chocked full of determination and refuses to let brain cancer get him down. I tip my hat to him and to my cousins, Harris & Stuart, who are by his side every inch of the way. They left no doubt in my mind that our family will make it through these hard times.

Next, I called my grandparents and attempted to reach my mother, but there was no one home. I also tried to call a few friends who were attending the University of Georgia's first football game of the season, but as expected they didn't answer.

Sunday morning I slept as late as I could; I think I woke up at 11am, and then called my friend Miki who works for a Japanese company called Gulliver that buys and sells used cars.

The road tax, called Shakken, was about to expire on my Toyota Light Ace van. The van was diesel and a recent law passed banning the renewal of all diesel cars in Aichi Prefecture, so I had to buy new car.

Miki picked out a Mazda Cappella wagon for me while I was gone and all I had to do was go pick it up and give him the money. It cost me about $730 and it has enough Shakken to get me through to the end of the school year in March. At which point, I hope to sell it to some other English teacher for about $500.

While I was getting the papers all worked out with Miki, another friend named Richard Jordan called to inform me that Big Frog, a Japanese jamband, was passing through Yokkaichi about dinner time. He invited me to drive down in my new car and have dinner with them. Splendid.

"By the way," he says, "I have an old iMac computer I'm about to throw away. Do you want it?"

So, in the span of about 30min I got a new car and a new PC! All on my first day back in Japan.

On the drive down to Yokkaichi there was an earthquake while I was on the highway. I didn't feel it, but Richard told me as soon I met him.

Richard, Big Frog, and I hung out at Richard's house and watched a DVD Richard had made documenting his families' summer trip to England.

Later that night, after I'd returned, home there was another earthquake. This seemed to be a big one. It shook everything in my house for at least thirty seconds, and I actually crawled underneath my kitchen table just in case the roof collapsed on my 90-year-old house. Luckily, everything was okay.

Monday I went back to work. Work was nothing special, but I did meet a new English teacher to the area named Daphne. She's a Canadian who recently graduated from University and came to Japan on the JET Program.

Monday night, Miki came over with a friend named Wacky to look at some pictures of my summer journey. We hung out and had a few beers, and they eventually went home around midnight.

Then, my old girlfriend Mika called me out of the blue. I hadn't spoken with her in almost a year, so we ended up chatting late into the night.

Tuesday I got up around noon and drove to meet Miki at his work because he needed a few more papers to make the car sale complete, and he graciously helped me install a 10 disc CD changer. Let there be music!!

Tuesday night, enjoying my new ride and cranking out the tunes, I drove into Nagoya to meet my friend Toku and see a guy named Kei, an acquaintance, play improvisational guitar.

A huge typhoon was blowing through, so no one else made the trip out. It was not as bad as it seemed; just a hellva lot a wind and a little rain, but it was all over the news to take shelter and many schools were cancelled.

Wednesday I went to Jyushiyama Junior High School and taught four classes about my time in SE Asia. I showed them many pictures from my trip and hopefully they got something interesting out of it. I never can tell.

Last night I watched one of the pirate DVDs I bought in Hanoi, Charlie Kaufman's newest movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I'm not sure if this the kind of film my Uncle Ned would enjoy, but the title alone speaks wonders.

The next few days I plan to drop more pictures into all my previous posts, so the archives for July and August should start to take shape. Please keep checking back.