Ohayo-gozaimasu, konichi-wa, konban-wa, etc., etc…It’s been a while - shashiburi. I guess time flies - no matter where you are…be it taking the trains in Tokyo or riding my big, red bicycle with a basket to school. Good times. Since returning to the land of extremities after from my latest adventure in April sailing down south in kiwi-land - my days have been filled with Suzuki-san’s Japanese lessons, the occasional no-mi-chai (drinking parties), moving into a giant house with a garden, venturing out to a few baseball games at Marines Stadium to support Bobby V [View Full Entry]

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Well, November and December have come and gone. From what I can remember, it was spent working most of the time, including weekends, either making up classes or fulfilling committee requirements for Nichi-Dai’s freshman entrance exam (which is a Japanese cultural phenomenon in itself, as each university has one of its own, and which almost 100% of my students will tell you has been the greatest challenge thus far in their lives). Come December, the semester was coming to a close, and I serendipitously had one of those chance meetings while aimlessly wandering around T [View Full Entry]

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Happy Halloween everyone! It seems like we've been celebrating it here in Japan for the past week, that it's hard to believe that the day has actually arrived. Dressing up in Japan was a riot - they sure love their costumes!!! The Scooby Doo gang was a hit - although Shaggy was nowhere to be found....he was probably off someone doing what he does best.... Other than that - things are moving right a long here on the big island. I woke up with one of my friends about a week ago to watch the first game of the series at [View Full Entry]

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DB-Shi has come and gone...and yes, we did do more than just drink beer and go to baseball games, I think.... :) It was sooooooo...... wonderful to have my first visitor come! I can't wait for the rest. It's hard to believe that I'll be home in a few weeks for the Sisson-Huff wedding down in Athens. I can't wait to see everyone.... Recently, my days have been busy keeping up with work, watching World Cup soccer, writing a few chapters about international food for one of my colleague's books, riding my bicycle and ummm.....sleeping, I guess. My diet consists of [View Full Entry]

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Well, for my first Golden Week in Japan - I'd say that it was pretty typical - Japanese style: *Made some new friends. *BBQed in the park Nihon-style, with beer, sochu, veges and sushi...then continued afterwards at an Izakaya. *BBQed in the park American-style with beer, burgers, salads and rice krispie treats. *Finally found the Great Buddah in Kamakura - with the help of some French-Canadians, their car - and of course, its GPS. *Took a million "hai - cheese" photos on a picture-perfect day. *Stubbornly attempted to speak my limited Japanese with a taxi-driver for 20 minutes in Kisa [View Full Entry]

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