Thanks, Ali! =) I'm glad to hear things are well on your end. But yeah, I guess hindsight is 20/20, eh?

Thanks, Coco! Yeah, I think it could be fun. =)

Thanks, Jim - I'll check that out.
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Thanks, Tiffany. Have you played with Akira? =)
My experience with it had groups of players, so I didn't know it could be played with just two until reading Jessie's post, actually.
My recent post Guest Post: Karuta

Hmmm...when she contacted me, she mentioned some of my previous posts, so I assumed she was a reader. Didn't really see an issue with her plugging her site, since the article's content is interesting and relevant. That said, I did have a guest post in the past by a guy who submitted almost the same exact thing to Surviving in Japan. I guess that is the way of things now...I guess I should be on top of it.
My recent post Guest Post: Karuta

Yeah, and it uses some of the older kana that are rarely seen today,
My recent post Guest Post: Karuta

I'm going to quote it in some places, but if you want to read it and don't have access, let me know if you'd like me to try scanning it and emailing it to you. You'll have to deal with my notes being scrawled all over it, though. =P
My recent post The young vs the old...

Tiffany,

I could write a ton about that, but I already have so I'll refer you to these to posts if you're interested: http://www.jadij.com/2012/05/end.html http://www.jadij.com/2012/08/life-after-jet-paul-...

I think what it ultimately comes down to is that she had to choose which direction to move her life in - working towards moving to America and building a life with me, or staying in Japan and working on her music career. Even that is a little too black and white, because if she had put it to me I may have considered living in Japan to be with her. In the end she didn't break up with me, but she may as well have. She told me she was moving to a different city in Japan to be closer to the music community and that she was just going to get busier and busier (we already were straining to find time to talk on Skype and gchat). She said that she decided that she needed to focus on improving her piano and performance skills and networking with other musicians and that she couldn't think about moving to America or getting married anytime soon. She didn't really leave me any choice - I couldn't keep going in a long distance relationship with no end in sight and in which my partner was going to cast our relationship as secondary (or tertiary). So...that's basically what happened.

I think I need to build new associations with Japanese, as hard as it is right now. I worked for years on my Japanese before I met her, and I'm angling for a career that will make use of it. Would be such a waste to give it up because it reminds me of her.

Thanks for your thoughts though and for the comment. =)
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Touche!

Definitely. By no means high-quality dining, and I really do miss good, restaurant-quality noodles...but not bad to have on hand for like 90 yen.
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