Blogs from Kamijima, Ochi, Ehime, Japan, Asia
May 14th 2012
インターネットの発展に伴い、大きなchangsが取り上げている - いつもの始まり。オンラインショッピングは、すべてのコインに2つの面があるとして、それはあまりにも、二つのエッジを持っている繁栄の空気で撮影しています。一方で、それは利便性を提供しています。物事オンラインでも完了しています。我々は外出することなく、ほぼすべてを購入することができます。第二に、我々は、価格と機能を比較することができます。だから我々はだまされません。また、検索エンジンで、我々は簡単に価格帯のように、私達に適した何かを見つけることができ、様々な範囲、またはブランドの範囲です。このようなtory burch、ハンドバ... read more
November 21st 2008
This is my last blog entry. I decided to make it a kind of "best of" list. I've posted all of my favorite photos I took during my two years teaching in Japan. In addition, I have a few lists I made during my last couple of months in Japan: my opinion of the best things about Japan and the worst things about Japan. I realized that a lot of my favorite things and least favorite things about Japan involve food, so I made a separate list: My favorite food in Japan that I can't get easily in the U.S. and Food I miss from the U.S. The items on the lists are in no particular order. Enjoy! Best Things about Japan: -tatami floors -practical bicycles -traditions (music, tea ceremony, ikebana, art) -festivals -public transportation -enka ... read more
Lessons from Obaa-chan and Ojii-chan
Published: November 19th 2008Asia » Japan » Ehime » Ochi » Kamijima
November 11th 2008
The following is an essay I wrote about my experience in Japan. It was published in both English and Japanese in the 2008 Japan Exchange and Teaching Journal. Lessons from Obaa-chan and Ojii-chan: Overcoming Ageism in the Aging Society of Japan Japan: the land of contrast. It is the land of skyscrapers and mountains, hi-tech toilets and hot spring baths, vending machines and tea ceremony. It’s also the land of a decreasing birth rate and an increasing population of elders. In fact, Japan is facing a serious demographic dilemma, as about a fifth of its population are aged 65 years or older, making it the most rapidly aging society in the world. Putting aside the countless negative effects this problem is presenting to Japan, what effect did it have on me as an American living and ... read more
October 18th 2008
Well, what can I say? This is it. The end of my two years in Japan. The end of my life as Jennie-Sensei, as the only white person in the community, as the first woman to come here to teach English, as that weirdo who got countless stares but even more cheerful greetings, as an independent woman taking on the world. Obviously, the past two years hasn’t been all adventure and enlightenment. There was a lot of loneliness, feelings of not fitting in, frustration with language, culture, coworkers. But as a whole, these last two years were exactly what my predecessors said they would be: a life-changing experience. Not only have I opened my eyes, mind, and heart to ways of the world I never knew existed, but I have also had the time (a LOT ... read more
October 2nd 2008
Note: These last few blog entries are extremely overdue. I am posting them about three months after these events took place. With only one more week of school left before summer vacation, and the temperature and humidity going up, up, up, school life on the island of Yuge is going out with a bang. Not that the students aren’t studying as hard as ever and us teachers aren’t delivering our regular lessons, but in addition to the daily academics of school, we are taking advantage of the summer and our beautiful island in the Inland Sea. And with only two weeks before I fly out of my life here and back to the homeland, there couldn’t be a better way to end my two years of teaching here. At my junior high school, we’ve been training ... read more
June 26th 2008
The countdown has begun. It is officially only one more month until I leave my Yuge home. I’ve started to get schmaltzy about everything these days, thinking it may be the “last time.” Seriously…I need to pull myself together. I even get teary-eyed if I see a commercial I like on TV thinking “this might be the last time I see this commercial!” or if I buy some dish detergent at the supermarket thinking “this might be the last time I every buy another bottle of dish detergent here!” Yes, it’s a little out of control. But, I’m not the only person tearing up. All of my students, for the most part, are in the dark about me leaving in a month. Most of them probably won’t know until maybe a week before I leave. But, ... read more
May 26th 2008
The first week of May is a chain of holidays (including Showa Day, Constitution Day, Greenery Day, and Boy’s day) that are strung together to form what the Japanese call, “Golden Week.” It is one of the only times most people have a break from their jobs throughout the whole year, so everyone flocks in huge masses to vacation spots. The chaos of it all reminds me of “moving-in” day at West Virginia University, when everyone knows better than to go out in their cars or visit any shopping centers. During Golden Week, the only way you can avoid traffic or getting trampled by the stampede is to hide in the safety of your own home. This, of course, is not what I did. My dear mother came all the way from West Virginia to visit ... read more
April 28th 2008
Spring has come to my little corner of Japan! And in Japan, spring time means only one thing…SAKURA! Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. Sakura are a national symbol of Japan, and Japanese people are not short of obsessed with the flowers. Every night the national news reports on the sakura developments throughout the country, and every weather forecast is transformed into a sakura tracker to update the public as the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) moves northward up the archipelago. Sakura are so sacred in the Japanese culture because they are only in bloom for about two weeks every year, so they are a symbol of the transient nature of life. Every year during the sakura season several pop music singers come out with sakura-themed songs, traditional Japanese dance and music performances are ... read more
March 28th 2008
Another school year has come to a close. Graduation and closing ceremonies were held, students have gone on a two-week spring break, and teachers are in the midst of cleaning out their desks and their apartments to move to their next schools assignment. I can’t get over how destructive the Japanese teaching system is to teachers’ lives, families, and well-being. I suppose it’s nice to have a new start at a new school every three years, but what about creating a life with lasting relationships in one place? My friend and co-teacher, Eri, is being moved to another island after living and working on Yuge for three years. She is so upset about the transition, that she was even thinking about retiring, rather than being moved again. Teachers are not notified about their new placement until ... read more
Naoshima: Posh Art Community in the Middle of the Inland Sea
Published: February 29th 2008Asia » Japan » Ehime » Ochi » Kamijima
February 28th 2008
Well, I have now crossed another item off my list of “things to do in Japan before I leave.” For a long time I have wanted to visit a small island in the Inland Sea called Naoshima. It is known to be an art island, and although it’s about the same size as Yuge, it has the attractions of two large contemporary art museums. Most of the people who live on the island are somehow affiliated with the art world, and there are also many old village houses that have been converted into art spaces. I thought it was a bit out of the ordinary that such a remote island in the Inland Sea, like the island I live on, could have such a thriving art community, when usually such art is seen in big cities. ... read more
