Every year in Saijo, Hiroshima there is a festival dedicated solely to sake....basically a drink fest! Throughout the weekend people from all over the country come to sample sake from all regions of Japan. Sake, by the way, is Japanese rice wine. It can be served cold or warm. You drink it out of a small cup (about a one ounce shot). It is an aquired taste, but I quite like it now. There were hundreds of differents makes to sample! I met a group of JETs on Saturday morning at 10a.m. to get the day started. We went straight for [View Full Entry]

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Bright and early Friday morning, Dana and I drove to Onomichi to pick up two other JETs, Tanya and Kate....that was the start of our roadtrip to Shikoku to celebrate yet another long weekend! Our exact destinations were undecided, but we had an idea of what we wanted to see....we wanted to cover as much of Western Shikoku as possible, and we ended up doing a pretty good job of it! Shikoku is the fourth largest of Japan's islands. The route from Honshu (the main island) to Shikoku took across many bridges linking the many islands in the Inland Sea (where [View Full Entry]

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I traveled to Kobe on Friday night to spend the weekend with my lovely Toronto friends Stephanie and Adrian. I met them at the Japanese class I went to at home before I left. They were the perfect host and hostess! Kobe is a city of 1.4 million people. You might remember, in 1995 there was a major earthquake there which totalled neighbourhoods and killed more than 6000 people. It is because of this earthquake (apparently) that Kobe is home to the longest suspension bridge in the world. The Akashi Kaikyo Suspension Bridge (3910m) was being built between Kobe (Honshu) and [View Full Entry]

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I traveled with ALT friends Dana and Uli (my fellow islanders) to Okayama prefecture on Friday. We were invited by a group of Toronto JETs to join them at a beach party....so we braved the heavy Friday night traffic and headed to Kurashiki, Okayama. The trip there was a disaster...but eventually we made it. After picking up the crew in Kurashiki, we ended up in Tomano, Okayama. It was a party at a girl's apartment....we just sat around having drinks. Around midnight there was an announcement that we were going to the ferry....which we were excited about! (to the beach, right? [View Full Entry]

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After my first two days of school, I thought....why not climb a mountain!?! At 7p.m. on Saturday, a group of Hiroshima ALTs eagerly started the night climb up Mt. Fuji. This was after a bus ride to the mountain that started at 8a.m......so we were not the freshest bunch of hikers! We climbed through the night, from station to station, always looking for a rest. The paths were not at all what I expected. I figured since thousands of people make this climb every year, that there would be some sort of groomed path to follow....man, was I wrong! We were [View Full Entry]

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My first weekend at home in Innoshima was a complete success! August is festival month in Japan, and this weekend it was the Summer festival in Innoshima. My friends Stacey and Allison joined me for some island fun! On Saturday evening there was a big celebration at the beach. There were hundreds of people there, to watch dance performances, taiko drumming, fire parades, and a lot of chanting. The night started with performances by the children, who were really cute....and will probably all be my students in a couple of weeks! Most of the people were dressed in antique-style army gear. [View Full Entry]

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Today Lisa, Stacey and I took a trip to Miyajima....one of the three most scenic spots in all of Japan apparently. Unfortunately, my photos don't do this place any justice. We picked probably one of the busiest and hottest days to go...there was the summer's end firework display at night, which attractive thousands of people. The sun was burning hot as well....so we spent most of the day trying to find water and shade. Luckily it's not that far away, so I can return sometime soon. We met a bunch of other JETs there....gaijins stick together! Our group doubled with Casey, [View Full Entry]

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Since I've been here, I've been to three orientations....in Tokyo, Hiroshima city and Saijo. They're not very interesting to write about, since they mostly consisted of seminars for our jobs here...but I thought I would post some pics of the people that I've met during the evenings filled with parties! Actually, one evening in Saijo they had a karate demonstration. The kids were seriously amazing....and the cutest things in the world! When they finished we all played around together. [View Full Entry]

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This is my apartment. I live in a four story building with two apartments on each floor. It is common in Japan for buildings to be "themed"....I live in a "teacher's building". The English teacher I work with at Inhoku Junior High School lives on the first floor, and the first grade teacher from Habu Elementary that I visit once a month lives across the hall from me. Try to imagine this floor plan... When you walk in the front door, the kitchen is straight ahead. As you can see, there's not a whole lot to it. A fridge, a shelf, [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to Innoshima! Today we met all of the JETs going to Hiroshima prefecture. We flew to Hiroshima airport, and arrived in the early afternoon. It was the fastest flight of my life...I think because I was extremely anxious! At the airport there were many supervisors and older JETs waiting in the lobby with welcome signs. There was my sign 'Innoshima...Welcome'with two Japnese men standing behind it. They were Mr. Matsuura and Mr. Koyanagi, my two supervisors. I also met the other Innoshima ALT, Dana Such. I was soooooo happy that she was there! (more on Dana later!) We drove for [View Full Entry]

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