Scammy Almost another month of traveling down and I have made my way from Shanghai to Beijing then down again through Xi'an to my latest stop in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. To be honest I was not much of a sinophile when I got here - China really lives up to its reputation of being dirty (more like gross), noisy and crowded - and I actually considered catching the next ferry back to Japan after my second day in Shanghai. It wasn't the dirt, noise or crowds making me miss good old Nippon, it was the seeming lack of ethics in this [View Full Entry]

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I meant to write much sooner than this. A month is a long time to travel a country without recording your adventures, but somehow faced with the thought of sacrificing a day and possibly a new adventure to sitting in an internet café, I just couldn’t do it. Finally, I have decided to rest for a few days at a friend’s house to get myself sorted out before I sail to Shanghai on Friday. The last month has been a whirlwind trek around Japan during which I haven’t remained in most places for more than a day. I have done most [View Full Entry]

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This will be my last posting from Shibushi. I find it amusing that I'm writing my last post from the same place I wrote my first post - Popeye Internet Cafe! I only have about 15 minutes before my time runs out so this will be an extremely quick update. It has been about a month since my last entry. Since then I've busy wrapping everything up - teaching my last classes, having farewell parties with the various groups I've worked with, seeing friends one last time. I am scheduled to leave town on Monday, though I won't actually leave [View Full Entry]

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Here I am, finishing off my holiday Monday with a melon soda and some computer time. Our school's culture festival is taking place this Friday and Saturday so our school gave us a holiday in exchange for our attendance on both days. I'm exhausted even though I was supposed to use this extra time to relax and prepare for my departure. Living in the countryside, it's not always easy to find exciting things to do, especially when you're the only one on holiday - but I don't seem to encounter this problem very often. There always seems to be something [View Full Entry]

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Sometimes I wonder about Japan. Recently I have made a habit of browsing the Asahi (English) newspaper cover to cover during my free periods. The world is a fascinating place but I always find myself drawn to the back of each edition where they feature Japanese news. This is where you find the juicy stuff: corruption, murder, scandal. There never seems to be a shortage of sensational stories. In the last two months we’ve seen Shibushi featured for police corruption that led to innocent suspects being tortured into confessions and government corruption that resulted in the minister of [View Full Entry]

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If you ask me, the best way to foster communication and understanding between people is outdoor pursuits. It’s probably just getting together with people who have the same interests but there’s something about being outside that allows you to commune with people in ways that don’t actually require much oral communication. My case in point is last weekend when I went trekking with my friend, Satoko, and two of her adventurous friends. I met Satoko last month through my friend Lucy. When I mentioned my love of walking she was quick to tell me about her friend Nomoto-san (or [View Full Entry]

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I believe I have committed the sin of all blogging sins…I have gone over a month without an update! I failed to report the blooming of the cherry blossoms; I didn’t disclose any details about my Aussie friend Tim’s second visit; I even attended another wild dance party in the city without a peep. I believe I have gone too long to revisit those events, but having received several requests for an update I will write about my latest adventure. To be honest, except for a couple of exceptional weekends, I had settled into a bit of a rut since [View Full Entry]

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I wrote this update days ago but have dragged my feet on posting it (for no other reason than sheer laziness). There was an earthquake in Northern Japan last weekend (which I hadn’t even heard about until I got to work this morning). Although it was very strong, it didn’t have any impact down here in Kagoshima. Now for my overdue entry: I ran my third and last half-marathon in Japan last weekend on one of Kagoshima’s southern islands called Tanegashima - famous for surfing, black sugar and a rocket launch pad. I traveled down on the aptly named “Rocket” [View Full Entry]

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As promised, here are some photos from the wedding reception I attended on Saturday. In many ways it was similar to a Western reception; it was held in Kagoshima’s swanky Hotel Welview and consisted of an 8-course traditional Japanese dinner, a beautiful cake and copious amounts of champagne, beer and shochu (the drink of choice down here, made with fermented sweet potatoes). Everyone was seated around round-tables in a reception hall with a head table for the bride and groom up front. As usual, speeches were made by several people, though these seemed to be more professional than a [View Full Entry]

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Spring has sprung here in Kagoshima. The temperature is warm, the plum blossoms are blooming (cherry blossoms won’t come until April) and everyone is back down to wearing one layer of socks at school. We had “haru-ichiban,” the first winds of spring, last week so I think that makes it official. Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe Retreat I have continued to have exciting adventures regardless of the weather. I’m on a new quest to see as much of Japan (or maybe the world) as possible on foot. I have also decided to get to know myself a little better by experiencin [View Full Entry]

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