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I only noticed the other day that I haven't made a blog post in over a month!
I've been pretty uninspired, but then suddenly everything seems to be happening all at once and I've been rushed off my feet! There was christmas, and then new years, but on new years eve I finally got my start date from my new job....19th of February....I have to be there and ready to start work. This basically means I have a month to move myself to Japan.
I handed my notice in at my current job yesterday, this afternoon I'm booking my flight, next week I'm going to London to get them to stamp my work visa into my passport, and on the 18th of Feb my apartment will be ready!
I'm leaving on the 15th Feb.....everything suddenly seems so real rather than just something that was going to happen at some point....
I'm going to try and make some blog posts between now and leaving, and I'll be starting up a youtube channel for you guys too, so keep your eyes peeled!
Sorry for not writing much recently, but I've had a lot to think about over the past few weeks. Trips back and forth to London, interviews, paperwork, waiting..waiting..waiting..
I had my official job offer last Monday!
I'll be working for one of the big chain Eikaiwa (english conversation schools) in Japan starting between Feb/March 2013.
Now it's onto more waiting....
I sent my visa paperwork off earlier this week along with copies of all the documents they need to process it. It was surprisingly less work than I first thought, but hey, they do the hard work at their end. The whole thing should take between 4 - 6 weeks, and I'll be waiting for them to send me a CoE (certificate of eligibility) which I then have to take to London along with my Passport for them to stamp my work visa into. Only once this is complete will I get the location I'll be working in.
I now have 3 months left in the UK and it's yet to really hit me. This will be my last christmas with my family for at least 2 years. I am terrified and excited all at the same time. From here on I'll be keeping you all regularly updated on my move to Japan and all the shit in between.
For now I have to work out what the hell I should be taking with me....
Following my friend Ali over at VIVA☆DREAMER this post is about 'Summer Memories'!
I have to say, this summer has been one of the best I've had. This year so many exciting things have happened and been put in motion, with more to come yet too! It's hard to list exactly what I enjoyed the most, but most of them circled around those first two weeks in August.
1. Seeing a side to Japan I've never experienced thanks to the Boys and Ku.
2. 飲み会! and the friends that we made through them.
3. Hanabi! Watching fireworks and sitting in a park eating festival Yakisoba with friends.
4. Neputa! Wearing Yukata and seeing the floats and Taiko in Hirosaki and Aomori. Amazing.
5. Getting to work with a Japanese band. Kiryu's manager is terrifying.
5. Finally getting things sorted out for next year and the big move!
Overall I've had an amazing summer, and now heading into September even more exciting things are to come. I have the final stage of my ECC interviews at the end of the month and I'm busy studying for my test! Wish me luck!
On the 7th of August me and Ku caught the night bus from Tokyo back to Hirosaki. What I thought was going to be a horrific journey turned out to be quiet alright, I'd say the night bus is a pretty decent budget way to travel long distances in Japan, and certainly cheaper than the Shinkansen!!!
So after a 9 or 10? hour bus journey we arrived in Hirosaki early in the morning on the 8th. We went and crashed at Ku's place ready for the evening ahead. Taking the train over to Aomori in the afternoon we went for food and then to head to the venu, loaded with my photography stuff and a nervous buzz. We had to walk past the line of fans to get into the venu before hand (ignoring the looks of curiosity and hatred), we received our press pass stickers and went to set up! Faced with a half dressed band as soon as we walked into the hall, I left Ku to do the talking. I also never really realized Takemasa was so tall......Oh and their manager is terrifying.....
The live itself was packed out! Something of a surprise, but it being a one man and all...I guess it was expected. Personally I've never listened to Kiryu, but I was given a good show and the band ended up being a lot heavier than I expected! Mahiro sounds awesome live. I wouldn't mind paying to be in the crowd to see them one time, it was a very active gig with much jumping and headbanging (unusual for a vk show it seems). Soon after the live was finished we had to pack and leave pretty sharpish, only waiting for the venu to empty and to beable to speak to management, because I was back on the nightbus to Tokyo the same evening!!
Overall I think it went well! I got some good shots (I took over 600 photos that night) and once they are published I'll link you all too them! I can't post any of the band on here because they have to be run through management first and then published with the article, but I'll give you a couple of ones I CAN post.
