Blogs from Ehime, Japan, Asia - page 7

Hello Peter! Well, first yes this is a little late as your birthday was at the beginning, not the end of the month, and I apologise for that, however, at the time I was hold up at a rather small and inconvenient lodgings in the suburbs of osaka, where I was studying to be a Japanese poet. Secondly, disaster struck whilst in Osaka and the combination of too much data and my lack of tlc for my computer meant that it crashed and has been out of service ever since. Living on an island in teh middle of knowwhere has meant that the only mac shop is about 5 hours from here and very expensive so iam going to stick it out for a while. However, I have manged ot peice together the video (s) that ... read more

Sayounara! Asia » Japan » Ehime » Matsuyama By MarbarJuly 21st 2007 The aparto is looking bare. My head pounds from the last 3 nights of sayounara parties. I haven't eaten so much grub in this country since I got here. It's all part of the sayounara process here in Japan. I thought Minnesotans were long on goodbyes. My process here started 2 months ago and snowballed into the past five days. People I thought I had already bid farewell to continued to call for one more dinner. Oh, you're busy? How about lunch? You must eat one last real Japanese meal before you leave! Now I have just over 24 hours to scrub the flat, cancel cell phone accounts, close bank acc... read more

url='/Videos/4209.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/4209.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;'Hiroshima Carps song As the rainy season continues, the days are getting hotter and more humid. But last weekend I managed to escape the island during a couple of dry days to celebrate Nick’s (English teacher on neighboring island, Ikina) birthday in Hiroshima city. We went to our favorite team, the Hiroshima Carps’, baseball game against the Tokyo Giants. Japanese baseball games are really crazy and fun. Of course, I can’t compare them to baseball games in the U.S., because I’ve never been to one in the U.S. But, another American I was with, Adam, said that baseball fans in the U.S. are nowhere near as enthusiastic and crazy as Japanese baseball fans are. I believe him because the fans here just don’t stop cheering through the whole game, and it’s not just random ... read more

Sometimes its those little things you never noticed before that bring a smile to your face. Like the signs posted at my train station about proper self conduct while riding. Or the excitement on the faces of new 1st grade elementary school students who have never seen you before and realize they can actually communicate with you. And one ought to never forget the joy of playing "dress-up" with her girlfriends. Even though the bulk of my "travels" are done I am still finding things are not too boring in the small inaka (country) town of Hojo. ... read more

url='/Videos/3573.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3573.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' clamwivesurl='/Videos/3734.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3734.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' Slainurl='/Videos/3575.html' onclick='dialog("/Videos/3575.html?popped=1","tbvideo",600,600);return false;' ze beast Watch the videos to the left but only if you dont mind incessant swearing brought on by pent up inswearability in my day to day life. Sorry family. So what do I do on my island? Yes, I am hit with that troubling problem created in an effort to thrust rural Japanese into he world of the 21st centaury international culture, whether they like it or not, or having to live in basically the middle of no-where - alone. Now, that is obviously the job description and in a way what I signed up for. In a way. But it doe... read more