the best japan has to offer

Been living in central Japan for almost a year now. Unfortunately not much blazing going on around these parts, but I have my rare moments of victory (smoked some blueberry with my aussie friend before a zoo trip last week).

There's a decent trance scene around here, and I'm going to a party in the forest near here next weekend, so hopefully I can score some bud and chill it out. Just wanted to say what's up and see if anyone else has travelled in Japan. Peace it out.:rasta:

Sounds cool. It gave me a chance to imagine the World on the flip side.

What's Aichi like, it sounds awesome. What's the forest like?

Right now I'm actually trying to decide between studying Chinese and Japanese in school. The basic characters are about the same, but I imagine (spoken) Japanese is more difficult. How's your language?

Thanks for posting.

T.P.-
Aichi is an all right place, though I actually lied about it being the best Japan has to offer. What can I say right? Nagoya is a large city with a lot to do, but I'm actually living a little bit away from Nagoya.
I studied Japanese for 4 years at my university in the U.S. I graduated in June of '05, then came out here. My Japanese is pretty sound, I think. I have a J girlfriend so that helps.
I would recommend studying Chinese if you are interested in business opportunities. For pure enjoyment, however, Japanese is certainly interesting and a challenge (takes a lot of work). Also, there are far fewer speakers of Japanese in the U.S. than speakers of Chinese, so that is something to consider. Let me know if you have any other questions, because I have plenty of experience with life in Japan.

Hotbox, are you into Zen at all? That would be one major reason for me to go to Japan someday. My spiritual interests kinda determine my language interests more than anything, I don't give a shit about business opportunities or how many people speak it or whatver. I'm into Taoism which would lead me to Chinese, as well as early Buddhism. But it seems like Zen has seen the most flourishing in Japan, I'd love to do a meditation retreat there sometime. I'm not sure but it also seems that the music and art scenes are more happening in Japan, which is up my alley too.

I'm not too into cities, so I'm sure the more rural places like where you're living would be the "best there is to offer", at least for me. I love the outdoors. Where'd you go to university? Do you meet a lot of english speakers when you move to another country like that? I am intrigued. Let me know if you know anything about the monastaries too.

TP-
I am interested in Buddhism as a philosophical state of mind, certainly I regard this life as non-permanent. I think the Zen movement has flourished in Japan, but perhaps less in a way of thinking, and more as a cultural aspect. For instance, Kyoto has some awe-inspiring zen based architecture. Kyoto is hands down one of my favorite places in the world to be. Japan is just a trip to visit man, for sure. Lot's of crazy stuff here, it's similar to, but at the same time so different from the U.S. Hard to explain, it has to be experienced. I had an interesting experience tonight, but I'm tired so I will have to tell about it tomorrow or the next day.
I went to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Studied Japanese pretty intensively, so I definitely had a solid background before coming here. Talk to you later man, i'm out.

Welcome to the site... cool