In 2002 I traveled to Japan from April to July as part of an exchange-faculty program between The Evergreen State College and the University of Hyogo in the city of Kobe. I was there to teach a single course titled American Music History, but unofficially I was there for much more than that. This visit to Japan was more like a sabbatical, as I had the chance to see Japan from the perspective of someone who lives there. I wrote a type of weekly gazette for my friends and family while I was there, and I have included the gazettes in the sidebar to the left. As soon as I have figured out how to include photographs, I will place those in the gazettes as well. I did all the typical things that any American professor would do: I drank sake under the lovely cascading cherry blossoms; I visited stunning temples and shrines; I attended performances of traditional Japanese arts like bunraku, kabuki, noh, and gagaku. It was all just as I had hoped. But really, no one tells you about the giant poisonous centipedes.