Q. What is a universally understood phrase for despair and frustration?
A. Japanese language class.

Sure, there are other difficult languages. People tell me English is harder to learn. I won't argue. I won't even go much further into this, beyond saying that it is really difficult. Do a little research and you'll find that the language is something of a stand alone, not really closely related to the languages of the countries around it. I could rant for a long time about how much effort I expend trying to wrap my head around it, instead I'll just move on.

I've been doing various things to get myself familiar with Japanese culture. One of the most interesting has been discovering podcasts. The ones I have listened to the most have been of English-speaking persons living for extended periods in Japan.

They have proven to be very informative and entertaining. At least one of them I'd listen to even if I were not going to Nihon (Japan). Here are my three favorites, should you want to give them a try. By-the-way, I download all of these via iTunes, so you can just put the title in the iTunes Store search field, but I'll put the URL.
1. "The Japanofiles Podcast." http://japanofiles.libsyn.com/  Produced from 2009 − 2011, host David Carlson interviews other English-speaking residents or visitors in the area around Matsumoto. His are the most serious and involved of the podcasts, probably because he is obviously an old guy. These podcast are all audio.
2. "A Year In Japan."  http://www.ayearinjapan.com/. For some reason not all of the episodes are
available on iTunes and their website is confusing. That is unfortunate, because they are the funniest of the three. Very silly, in fact. But they have some interesting interviews. For example, they interviewed a Western woman who does hostess dancing in Japan. You are not going to get material like that on Dave Carlson's podcast. They also have a youtube channel: search "Joseph Tame, The Daily Mumble."
3. The one I found most recently is "Finding Japan." http://www.findingjapan.com. These were done by a younger guy, or couple of guys. They are not as crazy as the two guys in "A Year In Japan," but just as informative. They also have a lot of video, a lot of it short.

There you go.

I'm doing a CD to take along with me. It was recorded back in 1998. It's been "sitting on the shelf," as they say. Never seemed quite the right time to put it out and now the CD era is over. I am having them duplicated rather than replicated; just enough to take along. When I get back I'll release it online. It is a trio recording, the late Glenn Horiuchi, Francis Wong and myself. I've named us the Geodetic Trio. The project's title is Cartography (人生の地図). It contains a composition each by Glenn and Francis and two by myself. It has always been one of my favorite projects. It should be perfect for the mid-level gifts R. Rudich told me I need to bring with me.