H.O.T.

I'd assumed it was just the unbearably hot Summer that we'd been promised (in a characteristically melodramatic fashion) for the past few months. However, apparently yesterday was the hottest day in Japan ever, and twelve people died from heatstroke. Tokyo has been in the high 30s for a few days now (instead of the low-to-mid 30s) and I honestly don't think it's that different. But what do I know, I wear a t-shirt in the middle of winter so I'm obviously unqualified to talk about temperature.

Very relieved to have the final school exam out of the way after a looooooooooooong 11 months of constant testing. It's like being... well, in school I guess. I now know considerably more about Taiwan and Korea than I did last September, and I think I may even have accidentally picked up some Japanese grammar along the way.

Planning continues for my one-month exile to the Australia-of-Japan next month. I now have a list of what I'm told is ALL of the exciting things on Hachijo (geothermal powerplant included) and two weeks tomorrow I can start ticking them off. It's going to be very strange being in such a resolutely un-'Tokyo' place, but I'm certainly not complaining because that's specifically what I had in mind. Am hoping to be able to go along on a proper commercial fishing trip when I'm there, with any luck not to anywhere that will involve being captured by the Russians.