You, gentle reader, are perusing the first post on this, the Gai-jin Ghetto blog. To dispel any confusion, this is not going to be an "urban" blog in the hip-hop, Reggeaton, Spike Lee -sense. If you're looking to schnizzle someone's nizzle, you'll do better elsewhere (or at least you'll have to wait a few posts until I decide its OK to get my funky groove on). So what is this blog about if not pop-culture?
Our family of six trembling middle-class Caucasians is being transferred by a large international professional services firm for which my wife happily toils (referred to hereafter as "the Man") directly into the center of the most homogeneous (and expensive) city on the planet: Tokyo. Fortunately for us, the Man is providing us with a "package," which means a) we'll be living an unconscionable higher style of life than local Japanese at our family's level, b) we won't have to sell any of the kids to do so, and c) we'll be living amidst other Americans & foreigners in similar circumstances, and all pretty much in the same few neighborhoods of south-central Tokyo. In short, we're moving into a gai-jin (foreigner's) ghetto (albeit a rather pleasant one, from what the real estate folks tell me).
How do I feel about this? In the words of the unstoppable James Brown, "I feel Good!" But not entirely. We're leaving a picture-postcard town in Connecticut, complete with friendly (or at least unobtrusive) neighbors, fabulous public schools brimming with caring teachers, heaps of good friends, and the best, sniff, sniff, LDS Ward east of the Sierra-Nevada mountain range. Our new home will have approximately the same footage inside, but instead of 1.5 acres overlooking the lake, we have a six square foot patio. The patio overlooks the regional incinerator. Fortunately, the patio has an unobstructed view.
Well, its getting late. There's more packing to be done. My wife, after examining the remaining items on the checklist, is beginning to hyperventilate. So I guess its time to sign off. I'll write again once we're completely packed. Or when we've arrived in Tokyo. Whichever comes first.
