Yes, a little less than 3 years since I left for Japan, I’ve finally started my blog!

Much has happened since then, twists and turns mostly unexpected, and my life now is a million miles away from anything I would have imagined or recognised when I left. Mostly in a good way!

When I first left England I was all “don’t worry guys, I’ll be sending you regular email updates, or blogging, or something”. When I got here I was more like “oh crap oh crap oh crap I need a job… But I’d rather be in the dojo!” Then I got work and I was all “oh god oh god oh god I need keep the customers happy, somehow survive on this meagre pittance and still keep as close as I can to 6 days a week in the dojo!” Then after about 9 months as life seemed to be settling into something vaguely resembling sanity, the matter of converting my working holiday visa to a regular one loomed large on the horizon, and since then I have rarely known where I’ll be living 3 months down the line, and always seemed to have more to worry about than writing home about my misadventures, on the rare nights that I have anything left in me at the end of it all.

So, yes! Since September 2013 I have found gainful employment at a travel startup in Tokyo which has brought me more new experiences and opportunities than the English teaching I expected to be doing; had more training sessions with world-class instructors than I could have ever hoped for back home; bounced from country to country at the whim of Lord Balaji The Visa God; got a little bit better at karate… and ended up here! Where is here? I’m not quite sure, but it seems to be a point at which writing can be nourishing rather than draining, and I seem sometimes to have a little energy left at the end of the day.

Now that I have a blog up and running, what shall I write about first?…