Tonight the Board of Education in Innoshima had a "welcome party" for Dana and I. This party was originally planned for the end of August, but it was cancelled the first time because people were too busy getting ready for the beginning of school, and then secondly because of the pending typhoon. So four months later, we were welcomed! The party actually ended up being a "Welcome Heather and Dana / End of the Year" enkai. Enkai translates to drinking party....which are very frequent among Japanese co-workers. It's an event where you get rip-roaring drunk, make a fool of yourself, and [View Full Entry]

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The PTA at one of my Junior High Schools (Habu JHS) organized a "mock traditional tea ceremony". An actual traditional Japanese tea ceremony is extremely serious, precise, and very long. This was an opportunity for "regular" Japanese people (and me!) to attend and participate in a ceremony without having to take a million lessons beforehand. It is a popular hobby for Japanese people, to take tea ceremony lessons to learn more about their culture. The classes are held in traditional Japanese rooms (tatami floors). There are many rituals that have to be memorized. Almost every movement that [View Full Entry]

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I'm always looking for new activities for the evenings. As it gets colder and colder (and central heating doesn't exist), keeping busy is the way to stay warm. Tonight on the neighbouring island of Setoda, the JETs Daniel and Allison offered an "International Cooking Class" for the local people. A group of about 12 of us gathered to make and eat dinner together. It was a lot of fun. We made leek soup, Monte Crisco sandwiches and baked apples. It was completely not Japanese (which was the point) and very delicious! [View Full Entry]

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For the month of November on Saturday nights that are free Kagura performances near Hiroshima Castle, so I thought I would check it out. Kagura is a form of sacred Japanese dances that is performed in honour of the gods. It is a popular form of entertainment today, as well as a way of giving thanks for the harvest in autumn. The particular show I saw was in the Iwami-style which orginated in the mountains northwest of Hiroshima. The show is accompanied by a small group of drummers on stage that set the tempo for the performance (hachi-byoshi eight beat tempo). [View Full Entry]

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I have taken up the hobby of Ikebana, also known as Japanese Flower arranging. Twice a month at one of my schools, Habu Elementary, the teachers gather at 5p.m. for a quick lesson in ikebana. A teacher comes with beautiful bunches of flowers...and we arrive with our vases/bowls and clippers. We each make an arrangement and then the teacher criticizes and fixes our work. I haven't really been given a proper lesson on what the appropriate positions are for the flowers, because the teacher speaks only Japanese. So basically I try to copy what everyone else is doing around me. The [View Full Entry]

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The Sandan-kyo was a perfect place to see the leaves changing this autumn. It reminded me so much of home in Canada....it made me a bit homesick! The gorge is about 60 km north-west of Hiroshima city. It took about two hours by bus to get there. I went on the hike with my friends Stacey, Marc, Nikki and Alexis. There is an 11km path that goes through the gorge. We started a bit late, so we made it 4 kilometers in before having to turn around. With no daylight savings in Japan, it gets dark really early here! It was [View Full Entry]

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This weekend I travelled to Fukuyama for a birthday bash, as well as a day trip to Tomonoura for sightseeing. Tomonoura is a small fishing port south of Fukuyama in Hiroshima-ken. Fukuyama is the second largest city in Hiroshima prefecture. A number of JETs were all celebrating their birthdays, so we got together at Matt's apartment for a bbq, and later a night on the town. Unfortunately, it was the coldest day we've experienced so far! We all made the best of it, and it turned out to be a wicked party! On Saturday I visited Tomonoura with my friend Stacey. [View Full Entry]

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I have a collection of pictures of Innoshima and Hiroshima that I wanted to post. Enjoy! [View Full Entry]

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Friday night was the unofficial beginning of the festival in Saijo, Ehime. It technically started at 9a.m. on Saturday, but why not get a head start with a killer party on Friday?!?! I drove to Saijo on Shikoku a second time, with Dana, Allison and Jess (fellow JETs) on Friday evening. We got there around 10pm. which was hours before the beginning of the party. We just parked the car, had some food and drinks and waited. We were the only people around for a long time, and Saijo is not a very big place....so we thought that we might have [View Full Entry]

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I decided that a day and night of sake fun had to be followed up with a day trip.....destination: Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture. Stacey, Jennifer, Alexis and I took a 45 minute train to our neighbouring prefecture, (to the west) Yamaguchi. Iwakuni is the home of one of the three famous bridges of Japan. The Kintai Bridge is the major attraction for this small city. It was first built in 1673, but has been rebuilt a few times since. We took a cable car up to see Iwakuni Castle, and walked to a bamboo grove....which turned out to be a parking [View Full Entry]

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