Long Story Short (or maybe longer)

When I first arrived in Japan in January 2005 I googled everything about Japan for more information. It is the most foreign place you could imagine and I wanted to learn everything I could.

I found several blogs of english-speaking ex-pats living in Japan and these became daily reads for me. They continue to be so to this day.

One of the bloggers I found was Harvey. Harvey's blog is mostly about language and so it was very much over my head but I checked it out at least weekly.

Cut to the future. I'm back home in the US now reading about this freaking crazy CA boy who actually walked the length of Japan TO IMPRESS HIS JAPANESE GIRLFRIEND, AYUMI! He's a filmmaker and documented this journey (google Kintaro Walks Japan and buy the DVD - I swear you won't regret it). I bought the DVD and learned more about Tyler and the girlfriend Ayumi and Ayumi's father, George Meegan. In the 70s George walked from the southernmost tip of South America to the northernmost tip of Alaska. Every second was on foot. Walking.

So anyway I totally dug this book and so I looked up his website and wrote him. He actually answered! And then I found his daughter Ayumi on line. I wrote her. She answered. Several months later Ayumi wrote to tell me she thought I shoud read Harvey's blog, which I had been reading for about a year and a half!

When Ayumi suggested this I wrote Harvey right away and told him about this coincidence.

Turns out now that Harvey will be coming to Atlanta for a job interview the second week of June and has been invited to sleep on my very non-private pull-out futon sofa to save money for the two days he's here.

The internet is such an incredible tool for bringing people together! Truly I believe children should be supervised on it but I think this is an amazing thing for this almost 45 year old adult! What friends I have, all over the world!