Back into the heart of darkness

As my frequent readers know, I will be heading back to Japan with the JET program as a CIR this August. I finally got my placement the other day: Ikata, Ehime prefecture. Some fun facts about Ikata:

• It is located on the Sadamisaki Peninsula off of the island of Shikoku. In other words, it is a pubic hair on the right testicle of Japan.
• Its population is 12,000 after combining with two other towns.
• It has a nuclear power plant.
• Its other main industry is citrus fruit, particularly mandarin oranges.
• The inventor of the blue LED was born in one of the smaller towns that combined to form Ikata.
• It has a sister city relationship with Red Wing, Minnesota, because both towns have the same kind of nuclear power plant.

I have come to accept that I may die over there. It was nice knowing you all.

You think I’m kidding, but you need to understand that I will be doing battle with giant centipedes.

I’m told that when they bite you, the pain is such that you feel like your bitten body part has been severed. The only way to kill them is to scald them with boiling water.

I went to the doctor today to get looked at for asthma, as I find it hard to breathe after running. I was asked if I had a will. I’m thinking I should probably make one. I’ll also have to look into getting insurance that covers death by giant insect.

やっと JET の派遣先が決まりました。上記の英語を訳すのは面倒だから、大学の先生たち、知り合いなどに送ったメールをここに転載する：

「JETの行き先が決まったら報告します」と約束した皆様へ

今日JETから行き先の通知がついに届きました。なんと、愛媛県伊方町です。佐田岬半島に位置し、人口1.2万人を誇るド田舎町で、原子力発電所と風車が有名らしい。主な産業は柑橘類の栽培。青色発光ダイオードを発明した中村修二氏は旧瀬戸町（市町村合併により現在の伊方町に当たる）に生まれました。

以上、報告いたしました。

マディソンで知り合った愛媛県住民の H さんへのメールに書いたコメントを付け加えると、

笑えばいいのか泣けばいいのかわからないような、複雑な心境です

とにかく、ムカデが怖いです。以上、ブログいたしました。