About

わたし　は　しいら　です (2)

Welcome to Gisuru!  I’m Shiira and I’ll be your host.  Who am I, you ask?  No one important.  When pressed for an answer to that question, my usual reply is “I’m just me and nobody else”.  I think that sums it up just about perfectly.  It’s hard to explain “who you are” so I pretty much stick with what I am.

…I’m a single mom of a 15-year old.  Raising kids can be loads of fun, but I think teenagers become a different species once they hit 13 or so.  They’re still pretty cool/neat though.

…I’m old.  Not old enough to collect social security, mind you, but old enough to remember growing up in the 80’s and laughing at all the crap we thought was so “awesome”.

…I’m a University student.  Flawed thinking left me with an Associates Degree in Business from years ago so I’ve decided to go back to school and pursue the somewhat elusive Bachelors of Business Administration w/International Management as a specialty.  It’s tough, but it’s fun too.

…I am absolutely obsessed with Japan.  I started with a passing interest more than a year ago and now I’ll all about all things Japanese.  My 2nd trip is coming up this August (2009) so I want to help others embarking on their first trips to avoid some of the “rough” spots I experienced.

Lastly, why do I call myself  Shiira?  Interesting you should ask.  Here’s that story… 

  • kailahana
    Interesting profile- I'm 41, returning to school to get my first bachelor's degree and studying Japanese. I also had my first trip to Japan recently, in April 09, with my teenage daughter. It's nice running into your blog; gives me hope and encourages me that I'm not the only "old" person tackling a "young" person challenge. Best of luck for your success!
  • Hi Shiira!
    I'm the webmaster of a site for JTB UK in London, and one of the many bits of useful information I've collected on it is a list of prices of basic things a traveller might need while in Japan. But I think some of it might be a bit out of date now. If you could be really kind and check a few for me while you're there in August, I'd be very grateful (and credit you on the webpage, of course). The full list is on:
    http://www.accessjapan.co.uk/newlookexperts/pricecheck.html
    but the ones I thought you might be able to help me with are particularly:
    Coke / coffee / beer / cinema / internet cafe / aspirin / battery / condoms / lipstick / foreign newspaper / sanitary towels / tampons / airmail postage.
    Do you think you could look at a few while you are in Japan?
    By the way, you're not old. Not as old as me anyway, I reckon. Because I remember the crap from the seventies too. My 15-year-old son doesn't go much for my taste in music, but he expresses his cool/neat-ness by being a computer nerd, and has http://www.oufoufsworld.co.uk to prove it.

    All the best for your trip
    Clive B
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