Yachiyo-cho, Akitakata-shi arrival!

---

On the 2nd of August I flew from Tokyo to Hiroshima where I was met by my future supervisor and another English teacher. It was about 40 Cel. that day, and I had to wear a full suit. I thought I was going to melt! Actually, I was pretty sure I was going to melt when they explained to me that the air conditioner in my new apartment had been hit by lightening and would take 3-5 days to fix!
The drive from the airport was very pretty. We drove though the countryside and into the mountains.. which, as I discovered, is where Yachiyo-cho (my town) is. The population of Yachiyo-cho is 3,000 or 4,000, but it seems much smaller. I think that I have actually been introduced to just about everyone here in the last month.
The fact that there are no grocery stores within a 30 min. drive from here is proof that I am out in the middle of nowhere. In Yachiyo-cho we have one 7-Eleven, and 2 hardware stores. Oh, there is also a restaurant, but it only has 6 tables in it, and it smells really bad!

---

Photos

Yachiyo-cho
This is where I live

Path to Yoshida BOE
I walk along this path every Friday morning to get to the neighbouring towns Board of Education

The Yachiyo-cho choir
This pic is from an O-Bon festival that took place at one of the shrines in Yachiyo-cho. For the record: I was actually invited to join them!

O-Bon dancing in Yachiyo-cho
Traditional O-Bon dancing

Some of my new students
Japanese have the cutest kids!