In The Future...

-We Will Drive Cars That Can Fly
-We Will Live In Giant Geodesic Domes
-We Will Have 50 Megabit Per Second Internet Connections Wired To Our Caravans

Well, the first one is a way off yet. But the last two - Welcome to Japan.

In Australia, the fastest connection theoretically available is around 20 Mbit/Sec, but you need to be camped next door to the telephone exchange to get it. so the reality is usually somewhat less. And its only available on a small percentage of exchanges. In my space here in Sysdney, I'm lucky enough to be connected to one of those special exchanges, and as a result i get a blisteringly fast 8Mbit/sec. by contrast, the average houshold broadband connection is 512k/sec - one sixteenth of what I get here.

Kakizakai-sensei has generously found out about getting the internet plumbed into my caravan in Chichibu. The result: by the time I arrive, the giant manga-style organic tangle of fibre-optic cables should have sprouted out of the ground and enveloped the van, reality will be a relative point of view, and the van will exist half in this world, and half floating in the twinkling data-sphere of the greater internet, running at speeds a hundred times what a regular net connection here in Australia gives you.

It boggles the mind - this is not a datacentre in the heart of tokyo. This is a caravan, on the edge of a small town in the mountains of Japan.

Casts our national network here in Aus into pretty sad light, doesn't it...

Another Three Months...

Well, its been six months or so since i got back. I know i promised to keep blogging, and tell some of the stories that didnt get blogged - especially the stories of my wonderful two week cycle tour. But you know what its like. Once back in Australia, my life here took hold of me again and it just never happened.

*But*

Come the 28th of September, 2006, I'm off to do it all again! Another 3 Months in Japan. :)

This time will be a little different, however, as I dont have three months of leave from work up my sleeve. This time, i'm going to have to continue to work while I'm there. Ill be working 4 days a week, doing exactly what I do here, just from over there. If all goes to plan, my caravan will have broadband by the time I arrive, and it will be mostly business as usual. I'll resume my shakuhachi studies with Kakizakai-sensei, and my explorations of the odd stuff to be found at the local supermarket.

I have vowed, however, *never* to touch another mystery triangle as long as I live, tho I do plan on writing a short guide to convenience store cuisine in a future blog entry.

So the next while will be spent getting my work processes well sorted for the time away, doing flute practice, and figuring out what to (or not to) take :)

Ive saved the best news till last however - my partner Rachel is going to come and spend two weeks with me there in early December!! :D I'm pretty over the moon about this. I'll take some holidays durning this time, and we will see the Yomatsuri (Night Festival) in Chichibu, and then take off for a week, railpasses in hand.

Lots of other folks may well be passing thru too, and im looking forward to seeing all of them. My Caravan is Your Caravan...



See you all soon!