I read an editorial yesterday in which a man (I'm assuming an economist) argued in favor of privitizing the monetary system in our country. He actually thought that we should turn over the printing of money to a private company and that they should print money according to demand (money should be considered a commodity and allowed to be made according to how the free market dictates). I think that sounds incredibly ridiculous. People are constantly demanding more money, when would demand ever level off? Would we have to pay more for money because of the cost of making it? Wouldn't the people printing money just be able to print more to pay themselves? Although I don't always trust the federal government, after Enron I trust private companies even less. The whole thing sounded so illogical that I had to read the article twice just to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding something. But no, the economist was crazy.

I also went to see "Lost in Translation" yesterday with my grandmother. It was an incredible movie. I don't think I have ever seen an American movie that so acurately portrays the experience of being a foreigner in Japan (confusion, language mix-ups, frustration, etc). The movie was filmed in Japan and down to the subtle details was amazing. I'm not sure if I got more out of the movie for having been to Japan, but I could identify with a lot of things that happened to the main characters (of course I could also understand that Japanese that they couldn't). I also liked how the movie utilized slowness, people thinking, long drawn out silences, meaningful glances which was an interesting contrast to the scenary of Tokyo which is anything but silent and slow.

I leave tomorrow! I shouldn't be nervous, but new adventures always make me a little nervous because no matter how prepared I think I am, I'm not. I have no idea what the next year is going to be like, and I wouldn't really want to know, but I am still a little nervous.