JISHIN

My second earthquake in Japan: sitting at working laughing with my coworkers when it hit. We're on the second floor and the whole building jiggled, diffferent from last time when my apartment block swayed methodically form side to side. It didn't last long but my heart was going doki doki doki for a long time afterwards. Amazing I was sitting on the internet, and the page continued to load as nature ravaged my courage.Apparently the second floor is the worst place to be in a building. If it collapses the ground floor stays intact, but the second floor disintergrates, whilst higher floors fare better even though they drop a storey!

Miekawa San immediately jumped on another computer to look up the stats for the earthquake, and they were immediately available. How do they do that? It felt really strong but was only a 3; the epicentre was a mere 20kms away on the border of Ehime, the next ken. We're not in the earthquake belt and that was a pretty rare one. Tanaka San rang her grandmother, maybe 7km away, to see if she was okay and she hadn't even noticed it!

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE: WORLD'S WORST CORRROSPONDENT AWARD

Creative Espionage is ashamed to announce the nomination of Kirstie Taylor for this year's "World's Worst Correspondent" Award.

On checking her email inbox Kirstie reluctantly admitted she had no fewer than 16 unanswered emails contained therein, some dating back to last August.

She unreservedly apologizes to all concerned. In her defense Kirstie states "I was having trouble with my yahoo account a couple of months ago, emails were just being lost in the ether. I sent myself a couple of test emails that never made it through. As a closet technophobe, quite frankly, I got scared of my email."

But does this recent problem account for lapses that go back almost twelve months? "I'm just not good at keeping in touch with people. As a kid I never managed to sustain a penpal, and when I moved to Australia --- well, my mum still writes to my friends' mums ---　and tells me how they are doing.

It doesn't mean I don't care though.

"I made a commitment to myself at the beginning of the year, - the year of the inoshishi (boar) seemed the perfect time for it - that this year I would focus on my studies; I have to spend a lot of time in the office at work now and I'm using the time to study Japanese. Its starting to come together though the rules behind -te verb conjugation completely flummox me and send me into a minor panic every so often and my listening is still basically crap.

"However I've become very conscientious about always going to karate and my brain and body are starting to work together finally. My cell memory is kicking in and combinations are becoming a lot smoother.."

Kirstie also adds that she has become somewhat of a hermit here in Japan too, actively avoiding the expat population. "After teaching all week, I really need my free time to myself. You can only be genki for so long. I'm using the time to have another crack at working out the meaning of life. Japan is too comfortable, I'm very happy and content here, but is this really what I want out of life? I find I have fallen into an easy routine and my goals seem to slip further and further away. I've even let my writing slide, which in recent years has been my lifebuoy. It's like I've run out of thing to say.

"On the other hand I'm starting over completely - trying to find healthy ways to nurture my creativity. I've become increasingly aware of how interconnected my brain and body have become. If I don't exercise for a few days I'm a total nightmare to be around. I get frustrated at inconsequential things and take out my self hatred on other people. Similarly, when I get really busy and stressed I end up eating junk food from the conbini, which amplifies the problem and so the circle continues. As well as karate I've been swimming and running pretty regularly."

Last weekend Kirstie went to a rock concert put on by the local JET teachers, had tons of fun, went to a castle party afterward and got atrociously drunk.

"It was great. I was sick as a dog for the next couple of days. I've been wanting to stop drinking for a while now and this was the perfect impetus. I've been in detox for the past week and already my skin has cleared up, my eyes are brighter and my chi is flowing much more freely.

"I've also started getting back into yoga, something I haven't done since before Korea, but have really missed. I have these great memories of waking up with the sun on a boat in Malaysia, spending time doing sun salutations and basic stretches and then swimming in this beautiful pool next to a beach kissing the Andaman Sea. It was magic."

Kirstie sends her apologies to all concerned and promises once again to try to be a better friend.