I tend to like starting these posts with a description of my current surroundings for whatever reason, so let me begin from there once again. I’m now in the far less atmospheric (and far less warm) kitchen of my host’s house, since I assumed that my kind host would not exactly approve of me bringing a cup of tea and chocolate cake up to my … Continue reading Northern Treks: Iwate (Day 2)
Well I start this post in much different surroundings from my last one. I’m sitting on the tatami floor of a beautiful Japanese-style room (right next to the flame-burning space heater, as there is no central heating). The room is divided into 2 identical 6-tatami mat rooms (~10 sq ft each) by a beautiful fabric sliding door, painted with a simple Japanese landscape (currently open so that … Continue reading Northern Treks: Iwate (Day 1)
According to my suspiciously easy teaching contract, I’m supposed to teach at my school only 16 days a month. The theory behind this is that the same teaching contract applies to all teachers in my program placed in Tokyo Prefecture. Up until a few years ago, most of those teachers were not placed in the greater metropolitan Tokyo area, but were rather in the outskirts … Continue reading Who is laughing at mankind?
I’m staring at my little collection of New Years cards from the kiddies, written to me during their Christmas Day Winter Seminar (inhumane), and I just noticed that every one features the phrase “A Happy New Year!” rather than “Happy New Year!” Obviously drilled into them as part of the lesson, but kind of an odd error. Maybe the teacher learned this from the “We … Continue reading The Shadow Puppets
As we enter into the final days of July, we’re finally hitting those excruciatingly hot Tokyo summer days that I remember from three years ago when I studied Japanese for a summer at ICU. The thick, choking humidity immediately engulfs you when you step outside like the steam of a sauna. I think yesterday it just barely pushed over 100º F (37.8º C) for a … Continue reading The White Wonderland of Wakkanai
Since I’m starting this blog a bit late in my Tokyo life I have to wash over the last ten months of anecdotes and try to sift out the ones most worthy of and translateable into a story. So as I continue this endless sifting process, and until I come up with a better strategy for selection, I’m going to take a somewhat pragmatic, almost … Continue reading Ogasawara Islands
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