Nice to meet you

Hello!
I have set up this blog to provide advice for others doing similar things to me, maybe receive advice from others and allow people to follow me on this crazy journey that I have started.

To fill you in, I am on my gap year now, I am 18 and I have been obsessed with Japan since 2003. I have been teaching myself Japanese and doing absolutely anything possible to prepare myself for going to Japan in January 2008. I can read and write hiragana, katakana and around 200 kanji. It's been difficult to teach myself around my GCSEs and A-levels but nowhere near impossible. It's proof that you can do anything if you put your mind to it and you're motivated enough to go through with something. And of course that Japanese is not as hard to learn as a lot of people make out!

My plan is to go to Japan on the 6th January 2008 and teach English on a working holiday visa (I will post some advice for anyone wanting to apply for this type of visa soon) while travelling around the country, getting to know the culture, people and language.
Then I will return to the UK on 7th August 2008 in time for University in Leeds, where I will study English and Japanese. And hopefully have a big head start!

So stick with me if you're interested and I'll keep you updated about everything I'm doing in preparation for the trip and then my experiences in Japan.