Another Christmas has come and gone, like a Japanese teacher at Dickinson College. My parents and I drove up to Northeastern PA to visit my father's side of the family from the 24th until the 26th, and it was enjoyable. My cousin Johnny is back from Iraq for good, and it was really nice to see him and hear some of his weird and funny stories. Apparently insurgents use turkeys as watch animals. My cousin Ruthann, whose apartment I inherited, bought her fiance a PS3 for Christmas. Since they live close by, this is a very good thing for me. We had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, and many, many side dishes for Christmas dinner; I can't remember the last time I ate as much. Fortunately, I was able to make up for all the dark turkey meat that I missed at Thanksgiving. I have to make up for my body-destroying grad student diet somehow.

Christmas morning was the usual festival of excess and overindulgence that is traditional to our family. I felt vaguely guilty given the present economic climate, but the Golgo 13 manga my father gave me disposed of those feelings as surely as Duke Togo disposes of his targets. I received the complete Battles Without Honor or Humanity DVD box set and the Yakuza II PS2 game, so it was a very Japanese underworld-themed Christmas. We should have hung severed pinkie-shaped ornaments on the tree to celebrate. Also among my presents was Persona 3:FES, which is just as cool as pretzelcoatl made it sound. So far it's a pleasing cross between Utena, Twin Peaks, and Final Fantasy, and I can't say no to that. Yet another chance to vicariously relive my wasted high school years, but with occult conspiracies and turn-based combat, exactly the way I always wanted it to be.

So, belated Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you all enjoyed the holiday as much as I did.

So I'm back in the US. I flew in from Narita on the 23rd, then went up to visit relatives in upstate PA for Christmas with my parents. We had to stay in a hotel, but we spent most of the time at my aunt's house, so it wasn't so bad. I got to see my cousin Johnny who's a captain in the army and got back from Iraq in July. Unfortunately it looks like he'll have to go back eventually. In the meantime, he's training new recruits up in New York, which meant he had a lot of funny stories to tell including one about a recruit who's blind in one eye who he's dubbed 'the pirate.' I was still pretty jet-lagged a lot of the time, but I was awake for Christmas morning and Christmas dinner. I got some nice clothes from my aunt and uncle and a lot of books from my parents and other relatives, including a useful-looking book on grad school. I also got the huge hardcover Absolute Sandman, which is just as beautiful as I imagined it to be. It was a very Neil Gaiman Christmas when you factor in that, the book of short stories by him that I bought, and the CD of music inspired by his works that I received from my other cousin. Christmas dinner ended up being a little strange. Conversation at the young persons' dinner table ended up turning towards horror stories about strippers and strip clubs at one point. Sadly I couldn't share any tales of decadence from the far east. I'll be in the US until the 7th, so contact me if you want to get together before I leave.

I had to perform an unexpected task as part of my job last friday; I was a santa claus for a preschool. Surprisingly enough, they had a Santa suit that fit me and a fake beard. I came into the room with a sack of presents on my back, then the little kids sang a song for me and asked me questions. Then I gave each of them a gift from the bag. It was fun and definitely not something I ever saw myself doing. I have pictures that the school took and I'll try to post them at some point. It would have been better if I could have had someone dress up as the krampus and come with me, though. Speaking of which, if teaching Japanese middle students about the krampus is wrong, I don't want to be right. I included it on my bulletin board explaining Christmas complete with a picture that I found on the internet. Once again, making these holiday bulletin boards is hard because I always want to give the full story. For example, I couldn't not talk about how Christmas was originally several Pagan solstice festivals and how the earliest Christians didn't celebrate it. But I worry that going into so much detail makes the whole thing boring. The kids seem most interested in the pictures of christmas cookies and gingerbread houses that I posted. Christmas in Japan is a lot like Christmas in America. The stores are all blaring Christmas music all the time. If I hear "All I Want for Christmas is You" one more time, I'll snap. I should have mentioned this earlier, but I'll be in the US from the 23rd until January 7th. I'll be a bit busy visiting family, but if you want to talk on the phone or get together, let me know.