It is strange to think that it has been that long since I first came here. The recent time here has passed very quickly as it does when you are busy. As I look back, some things have rolled along as expected while others have been pretty different from my expectations.
One example of something that both fits and deviates from my expectation is my language progression. One one level, I am way behind where I thought I would be after a year of living here. I am still relatively illiterate; I can't read a random package that I pick up in a store, I can't carry on idle chatter with the man at the post office or the cleaning lady in my building without reverting back to a game of charades. On reflection, however, I am able to cope in a way that would make the me of one year ago think that I was completely comfortable with Japanaese and could read, write, listen and speak easily (Ha, don't I have her fooled).
Another thing that is in the same category is my progress in my work. On one hand, my research has been progressing well and I have been writing papers, getting time in the field and giving talks, all of which were goals I had on arrival. On the other hand, the teaching and mentoring side of my work has been relatively non-existant (see previous paragraph concerning my Japanese illiteracy). I had hoped, 1 year ago, that I would have more chance to work directly with graduate students, help mentor them and even maybe teach a class. Forget it! There isn't even one single class in our faculty that is taught in English (this was a surprise to me since Hokkaido University is a top University with strong emphasis on the strength of English in graduate school) and between my non-existant Japanese and their weakness in English there isn't much chance to work directly with students (unless you can convince their sensei to tell them to do so in which case they will reluctantly work with the scary-emotion-expressing-English-speaking" postdoc). So, on the job front, I am both on target and way off target all at once.
Travelling has been one thing that I have been lucky to get loads of in the past year. Not only am I in Japan and able to see many incredible places here, but I have also been fortunate to skip off to a few other international destinations for work and play along the way.
All in all, things have been entertaining and enjoyable. Sapporo is a comfortable city, even for an illiterate foreigner, and infrastructure in Japan (trains, subways, shopping areas etc) makes temporary life here easy. The climate in Sapporo is nice with lots of snow and recreation in the winter and warm sunny late summers with lots of hiking near the city (watch out for spring and early summer though.... windy!). Nevertheless, with only 6 months to go in my contract, I can't help but look forward to the comforts of home and getting a chance to see friends and family again.
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