Blogs from Kagawa, Japan, Asia - page 3

As the weather starts to cool , I'm realizing that our crazy summer in Japan is nearly over. The sweltering heat and humidity has given way to warm days, and warm nights. Although I'm grateful for the cooler days, I'm sad the summer is drawing to a close. It's been incredible, just really incredible. After my brothers came in June, Robert and Janet made it over here for two weeks. Then, Alex and I got to spend some serious quality time with our friends here, going to festivals, having barbecues, dancing and feasting! A few highlights: Going to Tokushima for Awa Odori, with Toshi, and her family, Nick and his mother and her boyfriend. We arrived early enough in the day to watch the crowd swell from huge to unbelievably huge! Alex and I stayed late ... read more

What do you get when you combine a few extra paid vacation days, a last-minute $200 flight, and the opportunity to try a new way of travel in a new country? The answer: a total game-changer of a weekend in one of the world’s most fascinating metropolises. While much of my four days there were spent doing the usual mix of sightseeing and nightlife-participation, it was this new phenomenon called Couchsurfing that has flipped the travel world completely upside down that made the experience better than any other travel experience I’ve had to date. For those who don’t know, Couchsurfing, in the travel sense, is a direct reference to the term used for someone who goes from friend’s couch to friend’s couch, never seeming like he/she has a true place of their own. While the term ... read more

After 10 months of being kept at arm’s length by the Japanese community, I was finally able to infiltrate an important aspect of their society, and it could not have been a more enjoyable experience. On a Thursday night, I happened to bump into my Japanese friend, Chiemi, and her mom at the mall. Chiemi recently returned to Japan after spending a few years in Europe studying fine art and English, so when she came back, she quickly fell in with the foreigner community here. Chiemi grew up in a real small, real country, town that I also happen to teach in. When we ran into each other, she casually invited me to her house for a “dinner party” at her and her parents’ house, and that a few of my foreigner friends were already planning ... read more

Hey everybody, As you may have noticed, I haven't posted many blogs as of late. I think that the more I got used to life in Japan, fewer things really surprised me enough to do a long-form blog entry. Really, some of the best stories I have are one-liners from students, random occurrences, and other various minutia that would make much of a blog entry. So, I have decided to join the masses and get on Twitter. I feel like this is the best forum to share the quirky randomness that I experience here. I will continue to try to do some long-form blogs, but I need ideas. To follow me on Twitter, I am at www.twitter.com/daveinjapan Best, Dave... read more

Spring has sprung and the blossoms have bloomed!!! Sakura or cherry blossoms are practically the symbol of Japan and for good reason. They’re absolutely beautiful. This year I celebrated in the exact same places I did the year before, on Sunday at Marugame Castle with the Grasshopper crew and then on Monday at Ritsurin Koen. Two hanami picnics in two days, isn’t life grand? ^_^ The one at the castle was a huge party of mainly foreigners (much to the surprise of the local population I’m sure) from all over Kagawa prefecture and quite a few from Ehime prefecture too. We ate and drank all afternoon. We ate the food that everyone brought to share and food from the yatai (festival stalls) too. One of my favorite things about festivals in Japan is the yatai. Colorfully ... read more