JohnstonJournal.com | The official website of Jeff & Nozomi Johnston

Fall has fallen here in Tokyo!

For the last few days, it has felt like summer abruptly ended, and we literally went from shorts to jackets! We have our warm blankets back on our beds, and I even turned our toilet seat warmer back on! I love that feeling of expecting a really cold seat, but then you sit down and are pleasantly surprised and happy by the warmness... but I digress.  What was I talking about? Oh yeah... we're glad to have the humid summer over with, but not sure if we are ready for the shivering, wear-your-mittens-to-bed weather.

Zack and Ellie are having a great start of the school year. Zack is...

I celebrated my 44th birthday with some help from my family and friends. . .  Ok, so I celebrated throughout the weekend even though my birthday is September 21.  Here are a fewsnapshots of my birthday weekend.

Friday, September 19

 Asian Access staff help me celebrate my birthday at the office.

When I read the words on my computer screen, I was shocked, amazed and totally exasperated.

Shocked. . .

There was a mix-up with my itinerary to visit Los Angeles, as Travelocity canceled my entire reservation without reason or warning. But fortunately, I found the error about 6 days ahead of time.

I had logged into Travelocity to locate and print my itinerary which was purchased one month prior.  Sure enough, my itinerary was there in "My Stuff" under "My Trips."  I clicked the link for the trip, which had an assigned Trip ID.  The itinerary for the trip began to load.  Then, after a few seconds, the trip details disappeared. The whole page of data vanished in an instant, replaced by a simple red error message:

"This trip has been canceled."

Amazed. . .

So, using Skype, . . .

You know you're in Japan when...

• ...you can text, dial, and answer your cell phone while riding your bike.
• ...your Aqua Fresh toothpaste comes out and all the stripes are mixed together due to the humidity.
• ...you see women in jackets, scarves, arm covers, gloves, sunglasses, and a hat in the middle of the summer to NOT get a suntan.
• ...your friend compliments you on your white legs.
• ...you can smell your next door neighbor's breakfast during your shower (usually fish).
• ...you can hear your next door neighbor snoring when he falls asleep in their living room, and you giggle at him. Then the startling realization that they can hear your bodily noises as well.
• ...the first thing you mention when seeing your friend is the weather. "It's raining today, isn't it?"