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Tabibito ("旅人") means "Traveler"

Welcome and thank you for reading the inaugural issue of Tabibito! Pronounced "Tah-bee-BEE-toe," (It's been too long since my linguistics classes to remember the correct international phoenetic alphabet transcription, so I will wait for Reiji Mitsurugi to come and correct me! ha!) the purpose of this publication is simple culture of Japan, very different from my old newspaper which focused solely on politics.


The New Society Logo

For those of you unfamiliar with my writing, my old newspaper called New Society (or "新社会" SHINSHAKAI) is now the official Newspaper of the Imperial Sun Party! The Imperial Sun Party organization is the new press director, allowing those with org access to post articles that will reach the entire party. I encourage all ISP members and those interested in the ISP's activities to vote every issue and subscribe so that the Imperial Sun Party can continue making eJapan strong!




In this issue, I discuss housing in eJapan, something brought to mind as I finally purchased a Q5 house. It took me months of saving my money and working for those stupid hard worker medals, my day 29 hopes nearly dashed on more than one occasion. You all know how that goes, I am certain. I purchased my old Q2 residence, a small efficiency apartment in the DOGENZAKA area of Shibuya-ku in Neo-Tokyo (yes, right behind all those nasty love hotels!), and lived there from April until October 20th. After the design phase of the home, which included a a small rock garden, functional well, and extravagantly spacious 和室 ("WASHITSU" or Japanese-style room), construction of the KITA estate in the ARASHIYAMA district of Old Kyoto Prefecture was completed on October 18th, shortly before move-in.




After confirming a few details, like proper water pipe placement to avoid freezing in the winter (a constant problem in many Japanese homes), I moved in and prepared for the winter. Looking out into the courtyard, there appeared to be two stone men sitting between the trees. Of course, as I got closer, the turned out to be simple pieces of stone that simply appeared to be shaped as men sitting cross-legged, but it lent a peculiar mystery to the place, and I told my Adjutant Ryanon to put cameras in the eyes, just for giggles. He seemed to be an expert on the placement of secret cameras, and I could only wonder where else he had put them...




A nice courtyard, well, and Japanese-style lantern completed the traditional look of the building's exterior. I made a mental note, thanking myself for not putting in one of those tacky KOI fish ponds. It does look nice, but feeding those things was always a hassle, especially in the winter. Yes, the rock garden would do quite nicely, low-maintenance, but conveying a sense of tranquility.




The appeal of the indoor layout of the main hall was immediately apparent, and the housewarming party of my closest friends (none of you were invited, ha!) took advantage of these wide, open spaces, very unusual for modern Japanese housing, but not at all uncommon for estates back in Japan's earlier days. Party functionaries, international guests, and friends could all be entertained, until told in that polite Kyoto dialect, "ぶぶつけでもどうどす？" In Standard Japanese: " お茶漬けはどうですか" or "Would you like some OCHATSUKE?" (rice with green tea poured over it), which in Standard English really means something like "You don't have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here."

That is all for this issue of Tabibito!

I would like to end with a short advertisement: I donated my old Q2 house to loyal Imperial Sun Party member, Peter McGoon in recognition of his service to the party and eJapan. In the Imperial Sun Party, we believe that loyalty brings rewards, not the other way around.

Thank you!
KITA Ikki

NOTE: All pictures were taken at SHINGOZAN house, located not far from DAZAIFU Shrine in Fukuoka, Japan, (not Kyoto!). If anyone has any questions about life in Japan or going there for travel/study/work, feel free to ask me.