Where Do I Begin?

During my professional career, of the many great things that have happened to me, perhaps none is more valuable than the personal enrichment I have gained as a result of my frequent travels to Japan.  I have learned about an incredible culture, met incredible people, made numerous friendships, seen many beautiful sights and had plenty of wonderful “adventures”.  This education has occurred both during as well as after work hours.  After returning from a trip, each of which has added precious memories to my now substantial collection, I have thought that I should write a book about my experiences.  Each time a new adventure would occur, I would say to myself, “now there is another great chapter for the book!”  Well realistically thinking I don’t believe it makes sense to write a book.  After all, that costs money, and who in the world would really want to buy it?  Therefore I started to consider alternatives, one of which was to write a blog.  Thanks to the prodding of my good friend Tom, I decided to do it.  Hey – a blog is free!  No one has to read it, and at the least, I will have a chance to pour out the many thoughts contained inside my head that desperately need a place to go.  Some of you may actually enjoy it, and for that I say in advance – “thank you!”  So here I go.  I would like to preface the various posts by saying that I do not plan to use the real names of all the “participants” (to protect the innocent!).  So if you see a name, it may or may not be abbreviated, it may or may not be real.  Yokoso Japan!!!