Blogs from Ehime, Japan, Asia - page 4

Spring has come to my little corner of Japan! And in Japan, spring time means only one thing…SAKURA! Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms. Sakura are a national symbol of Japan, and Japanese people are not short of obsessed with the flowers. Every night the national news reports on the sakura developments throughout the country, and every weather forecast is transformed into a sakura tracker to update the public as the sakura zensen (cherry blossom front) moves northward up the archipelago. Sakura are so sacred in the Japanese culture because they are only in bloom for about two weeks every year, so they are a symbol of the transient nature of life. Every year during the sakura season several pop music singers come out with sakura-themed songs, traditional Japanese dance and music performances are ... read more

Another school year has come to a close. Graduation and closing ceremonies were held, students have gone on a two-week spring break, and teachers are in the midst of cleaning out their desks and their apartments to move to their next schools assignment. I can’t get over how destructive the Japanese teaching system is to teachers’ lives, families, and well-being. I suppose it’s nice to have a new start at a new school every three years, but what about creating a life with lasting relationships in one place? My friend and co-teacher, Eri, is being moved to another island after living and working on Yuge for three years. She is so upset about the transition, that she was even thinking about retiring, rather than being moved again. Teachers are not notified about their new placement until ... read more

There are few other places that I would rather call home in Japan than Matsuyama. It is one of those cities that one takes an almost immediate liking to. The old wooden floored trolleys that slowly make their circuit around the city, the hundreds of people going their different ways on old school or super chick bicycles and Matsuyama’s crown jewel, it’s castle, sitting on top of a mountain of green in the city center, gives the city a feeling of an older Japan, seemingly thousands of miles away from its pumped-up counterparts on the main island of Honshu. Although Matsuyama is the biggest city on the rural island of Shikoku there isn’t much that feels big about it. For the most part it retains the feeling of what it really is, an old castle town ... read more

Well, I have now crossed another item off my list of “things to do in Japan before I leave.” For a long time I have wanted to visit a small island in the Inland Sea called Naoshima. It is known to be an art island, and although it’s about the same size as Yuge, it has the attractions of two large contemporary art museums. Most of the people who live on the island are somehow affiliated with the art world, and there are also many old village houses that have been converted into art spaces. I thought it was a bit out of the ordinary that such a remote island in the Inland Sea, like the island I live on, could have such a thriving art community, when usually such art is seen in big cities. ... read more

January was a musical month. On January 20th I taught classes at the second annual International School Day. It was held on the island next to me that belongs to Hiroshima Prefecture. This is the same event at which I taught square dancing last year. It is an event sponsored by the rotary club for junior high school students in Hiroshima Prefecture, and is meant to be a kind of international exchange experience without spending all the money to actually go abroad. The classes can be about almost anything as long as there is no Japanese used. It is supposed to make the students realize that English is more than just a school subject and can actually be useful for learning other interesting things. It’s also a good opportunity for the students as they almost never ... read more