In my little corner of Eastern Hokkaido, my town is being turned upside-down in a once-in-a-lifetime historical event. Gappei 2009! Today, my town has officially merged with the next town over to become the new Town of Yubetsu, complete with speeches, ribbon-cutting, and a flag-raising ceremony. With two towns of less than 6,000 people adjacent to each other, it made financial and demographical sense to become a unified town. With it, though, comes the upheaval of transferring town halls, re-electing mayors, assigning public employees to different departments, reallocating duties, changing addresses, designing a new flag and logo, and moving desks around. It's a bureaucratic fireworks show! With all the chaos going on, there are a lot of unknowns about how the two towns will deal with being one and I'm just a poor little ALT all caught up in the mix. The upside is that I currently have an awesome new desk.. but no supervisor. Luckily, my job and the schools I teach at are the same for now but come April Madness next year, that could change too.

Sayonara, Kamiyubetsu :(