I went to buy some textbooks for my students this afternoon and chatted for a minute or two with one of the guys who worked there, a fellow bilingual haafu.

- You said before you grew up in both America in Japan, right? Where in America?
- Yeah, lived in Seattle for a few years.
- Oh, I was just there a few weeks ago on my way to Moscow, Idaho. Have you been to Moscow?
- My brother went to school there for four years. He hated it. Moscow is so small, there’s nothing to do.
- It was great to see small town life and I really enjoyed my time there, but it’s a relief to be back in the city.

I guess his brother didn’t get to attend the history conference. Poor guy. But after coming back here, I started to wonder what life in Moscow is like when it’s not conference season. As several people told me, I can imagine it won’t be as exciting as it was during the conference.

While I was there, I couldn’t get over the fact that everywhere Lindsey and I went, she knew everybody. People passing by in their cars, walking down the street, and working in the stores, she would wave and greet them by name. Everybody was so friendly I didn’t know what to do at first. My first day at the mall, I nearly jumped out of my skin when somebody who worked there came up behind me and greeted me like somebody he knew. But after going to a few stores, I realized everybody was like that. After growing up my entire life not talking to the millions of strangers who live in this city, or actually, when outside, so oblivious of strangers that they are practically non-existant, it was a mind-boggling experience.

A lot of the time I was there, I felt like I’d been sucked into a movie. Huge houses, wide empty roads, vast spaces of open land, and a “downtown” that was smaller than any section of any town I’d ever seen in my life. When somebody was telling me she was so excited about how busy downtown was getting, I was utterly at a loss for words. The entire population of Moscow is smaller than the number of people who go through our little, local train station every day.

Population of Moscow, Idaho: 21,291
Population of Koganei, Tokyo: 110,557
Population of Tokyo, Japan: 12,170,000

People often ask me if I like living here and if I like it better here than living “in America.” I used to answer, “Well, I’ve never really lived anywhere else that I can remember, so I can’t give you a real answer.” Now, I answer with an enthusiastic, “Yes! I love Tokyo.” Sometimes, I’ll even add, “I love the smell of exhaust hanging in the air. Home, sweet home.”

This city is packed with millions and millions of people from pretty much every country in the world. Tokyo is full of universities, a number of which are top universities in the world. There are art exhibitions every day. Every week, some world-famous musician has a concert. All year around, there are top class orchestras, ballet companies, theatrical companies, and circuses on stage. Politicians, journalists, scholars, artists, actors, chefs, are flying in and out all the time. There are innumerable restaurants serving food from every continent (OK, except Antarctica, you smart aleck). There are tens of thousands of stores selling everything you could ever need or want, selling things even beyond imagination.

Tokyo is the home of a breathtakingly exciting technological mecca. There is no place in the world like Akihabara Electric Town. People actually fly in from all over the world just to visit that section of Tokyo. Every computer, every computer part, accessories, electronic gadgets, both old and new, are sold there. More and more here about Akiba. If any of you techno-geeky bloggers come over, I’ll take you for a visit.

Granted, it’s not as if I am always meeting people from Swaziland, going to exhibitions, buying new computers, and eating out every day. But any time I want to, I can. Just knowing that makes a difference. And even if I’m not doing it myself, there is always somebody I know, a friend, a student, a neighbor, somebody, who is doing one of those things. I used to take it for granted, and probably still do. But not as much as before.

One of the things I like best about Tokyo is its safety. It’s so safe here, it’s ridiculous. One of my former students was a policeman. He said that about 50% of the misdemeanors in Japan were thefts … of bicycles. Basically, as a policeman, all he does is track stolen bicycles. Can you imagine? According to an interesting book I have, the murder rate here is 1/15th that of the US.

You know what? I’m rambling beyond control. I don’t even know what I’m writing about anymore. It’s nearing 1 AM and I’m going to church tomorrow morning, so g’night.