In Japan every school has one day in the fall when all of the students and their parents participate in fun games/sports. Today was Yachiyo Junior Highschool's Sports Day, so I went to watch for a few hours in the morning. I thought it was going to be far more serious and competitive, but it turned out to be a fun day with games such as "tug-of-war," or "tsunahiki" as it is called in Japanese. It was a good day! P.S... Mom, this is for you: I took pictures of everything I pass on my walk to school, the pictures will be posted in order so that you can imagine my walk. It takes about 10 minutes.... read more

As English teachers employed by the Japanese government we were required to attend a 5-day Culture and Language Training program. In reality, it was a five day party, and I am really glad we were required to attend! From the 22nd to the 26th of August, 40 or so new English teachers were sent to the "Hiroshima International Plaza" in Saijo-shi, Hiroshima Prefecture. It was a lot of fun because we spent our mornings in Japanese classes (which were anything but stressful), and then we spent our afternoons doing "cultural activities," such as scavenger hunts. For the big scavenger hunt our bus dropped us off at this mall where we were to take pictures of various Japanese products. However, within the first 10 minutes of being there we had security after us and were basically ... read more

Saturday August 6th was the 60th anniversary of the Atomic Bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. There were memorials going on all day, and then at night they had a lantern lighting festival. Two of the other English teachers (Heather and Stacey) and I spent the day sightseeing. We started off at the Atomic Bomb Dome, and then wandered through the Peace Park. By the afternoon we were ready to get away from the crowds so we walked to Hiroshima Castle and spent a few hours there. After dinner we made our way back towards the A-Bomb Dome and the river, and participated in the lantern floating ceremony. It was really pretty to see all of the lanterns floating down the river, unfortunately my pictures do not do it justice. ... read more

When I first arrived in Japan we spent 3 days at the Keio Plaza Hotel for Tokyo Orientation. I am not going to say much more about this because it was a month ago (due to the fact that I took so long to begin this travel blog). However, it was a lot of fun, and I wanted to post some of the pictures from it. Enjoy!... read more