Last night was the Sheffield University Japan Society Halloween party. I was going to write a full update about it, but the pictures are far too embarrasing. Well, I might put one at the end if you’re really lucky…

In the meantime, I wanted to talk about the new volunteers in Japan. Last year there were four of us - myself and Matt in Tokyo and Nate and Rolf in Hokkaido. I’m not sure if that’s the same arrangement this year, but I’ve been in contact with the two guys in Tokyo and the two in Hokkaido, so I am assuming it’s the same sort of thing.

As you may or may not know, Japan Is Doomed was the first year long volunteer blog from Japan of it’s kind. Nate had one too, but I got started first. I’m like Britney to his Christina. Except I’ve not shaved all my hair off or gone berserk (yet). I’d like to think I’ve started something of a trend - and considering all four of the current volunteers have blogs, I’d say it’s working. Little do they know they owe me £10,000 each in royalties…

I’m going to talk about each of the blogs. In the interest of me being lazy fairness, I’ll do them in alphabetical order. So, without further ado;

Craig’s Craig-San Japan! (Hokkaido)
Great read, although this blog needs way more hilariously embarrassing photos, just incase I ever meet Craig. I need to have enough ammunition for when he reminds me of those horrific Santa photos…

I loved his first blog post, about the “rushed injection of insane” that everyone feels when arriving. It sums up exactly how we felt a year ago, more or less.

Tom’s Japan Exile (Hokkaido)
Tom writes an insane amount of content on a great basis, which is excellent because it means I can read it instead of studying. Wait, that’s a terrible thing! Tom you are stopping me from passing my course! You fiend!

Since Toya, the village in Hokkaido where Tom and Craig live, is going to be hosting the G8 summit in 2008 (no, really), Tom and Craig have to do media training. They’re going to get into the papers more than Matt and I did though. Curses!

Mike’s Touring Tokyo (Tokyo)
This man has the best name of the four volunteers. He has also cornered the market in pretty photos of Tokyo, which can be quite challenging as it’s all huge skyscrapers and concrete.

His post about his trip to Yokohama, which reminded me a lot of my post on the same topic, was a great read and really puts mine in perspective.

Ben’s Transform To Tokyo (Tokyo)
Again, reading this blog is kind of difficult for me, because it just brings back all the great times I had last year, and frankly someone else having them now is just not fair. My plan to sneak to Japan in some sort of complex and hilarious manner involving a briefcase, a giant snake and a Chinchilla will be put into action soon because this is torture.

Ben wrote about the introduction to Tokyo way better than I did, so go read that.

So there you are. A new generation of bloggers. I feel like an old man already. If only they made some sort of online zimmerframe, so I could carefully plod my way from “buying-old-shoes.com” to “going-for-a-nice-afternoon-nap.org” at my own leisurely pace. All this wireless broadband Internet nonsense is madness, I say. Madness!

Oh, and here’s your embarrasing Halloween picture. Thanks to Ben for taking it and Kanako for sending me it.

Darren may have the hair, and Kanako may be well dressed, but I’m the one going to jail for murder! Haha!