Man, when I got to Japan I thought I would just pick up right where I left off in Sendai.  Of course, nothing ever goes as planned, especially when you're stuck in the mountains.  I found that one of the few things that kept me sane was my friends.  My phone bill was huge for the first couple of months, but hey wants money when it comes to friends.
 

	GYOZA PARTY!   From left to right: Sophia (our cool Kencho operative), Stephanie (one of my best friends in Tokushima,  Ms. Shiota (One of Steph's English Conversation Class Students), Robert (Sophia's "Friend"), and me.
	From left to right are Yuki, Mike, and Wan.  Mike and Wan are to good friends of mine from UC Davis, my university.  We all tutored in Japanese together.  Yuki is Mike's girlfriend from Tokyo.   We got together in Aomori, Wan's present place of work and residence, and spent Christmas together.
	This is Satomi, an exchange student whom I befriended during my tutoring days at UC Davis.  We met up in Tokyo where she showed me around the most trendy places for Japanese young people.  I used many of the pictures I took there for a presentation I made on Japanese youth earlier this January.
	This is my buddy, Mark Yhnell.  He was my roommate at the Tokyo orientation and my first friend in Tokushima.  He hung out with me all the time and suffered through all my gripes and complaining.  Thanks man, you're the best.  But next time I'm gonna catch more fish than you!