YAY!!

So today I found out I got accepted to this cool program where I am going to go to a small Japanese town about 2 hours away, meet a bunch of the faculty of the school district, spend the night in a ryokan, and then the next day I get to hang out with Japanese children all day yay!!

In case anyone didn't know, I am not the biggest fan of children, but Japanese children, are hilarious.

For some reason writing this reminded me of this video I saw a long time ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlHHsjQ7D9Q&feature=PlayList&p=CE8DB19B4EA94589&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=11

Pretty lame actually I know, sorry for wasting your time.

Anyway, the best thing about this trip is that it's all free!! Totally cool right? And I get to stay in a ryokan, which is a really traditional style Japanese inn. So all the rooms have tatami mats on the ground, and you have to kneel down and stuff, and I think they make you wear traditional Japanese clothing...sweet!

I will be sure to take my camera and get some cool pictures and stuff. It happens in about a week and a half. yay!!

Also, just a little bit of random information:

Currently the largest problem within Japan is the fact that it's society is aging very rapidly. This is actually happening all over the world, however in Japan the speed is much more rapid. Japan is losing between 500,000-1,000,000 people every year from its total population, and the birth rate is currently below 2.1 (the minimum required to sustain a civilization).

The government is also in really big financial trouble. They are nearly 9 trillion dollars in debt. This is less than America's 10 trillion, but when you combine this information with the fact that Japan only has 130 million people, as opposed to America's 300 million +, the problem is obviously much more extreme.

Japan's welfare system is also being put under severe pressure. Their pension plans fall under 2 categories, public and private. I'm not exactly sure how the system works, just that I am under the public health insurance plan, and it's 18 dollars a month roughly. If something were to happen, the government would cover 70% of the cost, and the last 30% would be left for me. This actually changed some time in the 90's, it used to be 80% was covered, but since Japan has been in recession since the 90's (also called the lost decade in Japan), the government has had to relocate money etc.


Also the brand name Logitech, in Japan, is Logicool

I would also like to point out that classroom etiquette is obviously different for people of different countries, and people from the same country. It's very actually extremely surprising to hear what some people will say or do in class.

I also saw a pigeon today rock on!