New developments include my own apartment, now partially furnished, pictures to come.

Underneath the apartment today, in an odd cafe, I met a second year student of philosophy at Kyoto University, living in Osaka. Kyoto is, in addition to a cultural center, a university town. Where American large cities are seen perhaps as being more cosmopolitan than small, and having residents with higher levels of education, this is perhaps not the case with Osaka. I get the distinct impression from the adult students that I meet in the suburbs that there might be a brain-drain pattern at work in Osaka, as people educated in traditional arts, humanities, and sciences leave the commercial centers for places more conducive to contemplation, research and small children. Among these places Kyoto and various `donatsu` (lit. donuts), the smaller cities encircling Osaka.

I have somehow stumbled into an opportunity to borrow a cello from a Japanese teacher whose daughter no longer plays.

I`m writing from the Yahoo! BB cafe across the street from my new place, which offers both free internet and unlimited pop refills, both gold-mines in this city.
Unfortunately the staff keep politely interupting me with attempts to peddle broadband at my apartment next door, a luxury that I can`t afford.

I`m meeting many interesting people through my job, and learning fascinating things about the Japanese first hand. Unfortunately, a language problem. Perhaps, given the population of Osaka and certain pressures for conformity within Japanese society, wordly Japanese are predisposed to turn to escapes like travel abroad, foreign languages, etc, thus ultimately appearing across the table from me at an English language school. The unfortunate result is that the unavoidable corollary to me realizing that a Japanese is an interesting and multi-dimensional person is the use of the English language.

So learning the Japanese language is proving tough.

I was given a Kanji name today, so perhaps I will get a personal `Hanko`, the red stamp used as signature and seal in Japan.