Japan - Day 183

5 1/2 hours. This is how long I sat in a chair at a hair salon last week. 5 1/2 hours. The result? Straight hair! I'm pretty stoked! After heeding Amy's not-so-subtle hints that my hair could use an update I went in search of a Japanese straight perm on my last day off. (Also known as a "sta-late-toe permu"). I was skeptical at first. I didn't think any treatment in the world would ever tame my hair, but now a week later, my hair is still straight. Even when I just let it air dry. It's a miracle! Hallelujah! (Bust out the Leonard Cohen). In all honesty it's not *perfectly* straight, but it's much more than I ever anticipated. I can leave my hair down and I don't look like the Bride of Frankenstein by the time I reach the bus stop. A miracle in my books.

Aside from this life-changing event (not to be overly dramatic about the whole experience), there have been a few new developments here in Japan. My request to Tokyo has finally been approved. It looks like I'll be heading there October 1st :) ...This is after having to track down the appropriate personnel in Osaka after not hearing anything in over a month. ...Turns out they never received my request back in July after I sent it to my area manager. I'm not sure whose to blame, either him for not faxing it or the Osaka office for losing the paperwork afterwards. Either way it wouldn't surprise me, but I'm just glad that now everything is finally sorted out. Ahh the joys of working for a huge corporation... (Oh yeah, maybe it won't be until November 1st, because head office still doesn't have their act *completely* together). So here's hoping!

Starting to plan another trip. I'm hoping to get out to South Korea at the end of September before I move. Amy and I are trying to book a few days in Seoul. Should be pretty exciting! ...I'm not entirely sure what is in store there, but I'm sure an adventure of some sort!

Today me and Amy went and watched a professional soccer game. The home town team is Oita Trinita. They're not that good. Actually they pretty much suck. They're in 16th place out of 17 in the 1st Division. Not entirely sure what the "1st Division" means, but I guess one of the J-League categories... The game started out on a high enough note. Oita scored within the first 10 minutes and then again about 15 minutes later. Ahead by 2-0 things were looking good for our heroes, but that's when everything started to change. Much like watching a Calgary Flames game. After scoring the first two points of the game, Trinita fell from grace. The opponent, the Shimizu S-Pulse game back to score the next three goals. The final score was 4-3 for the S-Pulse. But at least what Trinita lacks in skill, the fans make up for in spirit. Huge flags, banners, drums, and singing and dancing filled the stadium for the entire 90-odd minutes of play. Overall it was a lot of fun and definitely worth the price of admission - even though we lost.

What else is new? Not a whole lot really aside from the fact that it's boiling hot here! Today was 29 but felt like 42 with the humidity. It's even worse since we have no Central Air in our apartment. We've actually started to camp-out in our living room (the only room cooled by the weak air conditioning unit we have). It feels like Rez all over again. In a couple of weeks it should start to cool down. Hopefully.