For my four-day weekend I decided to take off down to Kyushu. The original intention was to hike some more (possibly Aso-san, the largest caldera in the world) and meet up with my friend Jonathan. It quickly involved meeting up with many other people and turning into a fabulous trip...although I think I needed another vacation after!!! It included, hiking, shrines, boat cruises, drinking, dancing, street performers, hitching, a baseball game, and complete chaos....just the way I like it. Those random trips are the best. I hit up Shimonoseki and had some incredible sushi. Then I headed dow [View Full Entry]

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The same weekend of the Undokai I went to the inaka to watch a traditional dance called Kagura. The next day Lisa and I went on an excursion to a small town called Iwakuni. Kagura is a traditional local dance/performance. The performers wear elaborate kimonos and different masks. Each performance tells a story and is accompanied by traditional music. It was all in Japanese yet the stories are pretty straightforward through the dancing so it was easy for us to follow. I am not exactly sure where the dancing all originated. Since it is so localized there is not much [View Full Entry]

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It does not matter what grade or what school you attend, every Japanese school as an Undokai, which means sports day. From kindergarten to high school, every school has one. It would be more accurately called 'relay day' because the students do not really play sports, they play games and have races. The students had been practicing for sports day for at least a month so I was very excited to see what all the practice went to. I was soooo excited for my sportsl day. I even got to participate in one game...jump rope....with the rest of the teachers. [View Full Entry]

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The weekend after our Hiroshima Jeff and I did a little "Island Hopping" around the Seto Inland Sea, just off of Hiroshima. Orientation was actually very important, as we met all the other JETs and learned about life in Japan (basically learned all the stuff I needed to and missed bc I went sightseeing in Tokyo. We learned how to take care of the tatami mats, avoid cockroaches, and why the heck there is a huge raised yellow line in the middle of the sidewalk (its for the blind people!! All along I thought it separated the bike path and walking [View Full Entry]

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August 6, 1945 the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima City. Right before I left for Japan there was a cover article in TIME magazine on the upcoming 60th anniversary the following week. I feel very fortunate that I got to be there for the event and witness it first hand. In the morning there was a serious ceremony where the government got up and spoke and there were survivors from the a-bomb dropping as well. Due to the time of the serious ceremony and not to forget to mention the whole thing in Japanese, I opted out of going [View Full Entry]

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Konnichiwa!!! FINALLY!!! I have started my blog like I promised!!! Now instead of me writing the same thing 100 times or sending out a mass email (because I know everyone loves those impersonal things), I have this blog where I can update everyone on what is going on in Japan. I have been here officially for a month. It seems like forever and yet not so long at the same time. I start teaching this week. All of August the students are on break, yet I still have to go to school and sit there...doing nothing. I have also had many [View Full Entry]

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