Postponed...

I bet everyone's assuming I'm either in Japan right now or I've just returned. Nope...I still haven't left for Japan yet. I was originally scheduled to leave early last Saturday morning until someone asked the all-important question: "Don't you need a Visa to go to Japan and China?" Well, it turns out you don't need a Visa for Japan, but you do need one for China. Apparently to get this important document you have to also have an invitation from someone (in this case it'll come from the animation studio I'll be visiting), an itinerary, photos, your passport and most importantly -- time to apply. We found a web-site that promised a quick turnaround, but unfortunately that would now put my arrival in Japan just in time for Chinese New Year - or so close to it that I would have very limited time to visit both the Japanese and the Chinese studios.
So instead of my rushing around like a headless chicken everyone agreed it was better to postpone the trip until after the holiday in the first week of February. This will probably work out better in the long run anyway because now I'd have had a chance to look at all the take 2s on The Condor before going over there.
I know this wasn't very exciting for anyone except maybe me and my family, but I thought I owed some sort of follow-up to anyone reading.

In the meantime here's a couple of drawings that some of you might find interesting...