Life in Japan

Geisha in Gion district, Kyoto, Japan

First of all, I would like to apologize for the garbage quality of the photo - I think the humidity in Japan has gotten into my camera and messed up the lens a bit. At least I'm in Japan, and the options for getting a new camera are pretty much endless! I'm looking into getting a digital camera, there are some amazing options on the market now. Some are even as flexible as a standard manual SLR camera, with added bonuses like built-in filters and the ability to switch to B&W, sepia, etc. Very cool!
I have been in Japan for 4 months, and am still finding it a bit of a struggle. The language is amazingly complex (3 separate writing systems plus roman characters), and many different levels of formality, which makes it like learning 6 languages in one! I try to study whenever I can, but as with any language, it's very difficult. It doesn't help that the grammar is completely different from English (or French or Italian, of which I know a tiny bit). Very frustrating, I think I am doing well, and then I can't even understand the 3 year olds that I teach. Oh well, all part of going to a totally different culture.
There are a lot of things in Japan that irritate me, confuse me, and generally make me shake my head, but I am trying to focus on finding things that I find interesting and funny. It's too easy to go "I'm right, they're wrong", and I don't want to be like that. I see too many foreigners in Japan with terrible attitudes, and I don't want to be one of them. I also see people who have lived here for 10 years, and still find the country fascinating. I don't plan on staying that long (maybe 2-3 years), but that's the kind of attitude I would like to have.