My sister just sent me a link to a Japanese food blog. It reminded me that I had a plan to start studying my kanji again. Maybe I’d study for the JPLT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) that I haven’t taken in years. I’ve heard it’s gotten easier since I took it but, really, I don’t care that much about grammar or writing. I just want to be able to read more.

I had this fantasy of moving back to Japan, but I think I’m just remember my mid-20’s with more nostalgia than I should. I was reminded that I was even more of a hothead back then (which I think I’m slowly outgrowing) and I sometimes remember the difficulties of living in a society that really had no place for me. Sort of like here. But it’s a lot easier living in America, really, even for the simple reason that electricity, gasoline, and land are so much cheaper that I can have a lot more toys here than there. Speaking of which, I need to dump a lot of the crap I have, and I have to keep reminding myself of that.

I remember thinking what a waste it was when my neighbor’s kids took everything out of the house and tossed it in a dumpster, and now I know that’s probably a valid way of dealing with a lot of daily crap people live with. For example, we have a kanji branding iron somewhere that my dad used to mark up the gardening equipment. He’d burn a kanji into the handle. How many decades has it been since we’ve used it? I figure if someone takes my rake, someone takes my rake. I also have things that look like homemade cleavers and I think there’s homemade desks in the garage. I think they all have to go.

Maybe I need to get rid of a bunch of stuff and move to Japan. Oh, well. It’s nice to have a decent fantasy life. At least there I’m doing pretty well.