In the News.

I was just going through my daily reading of the news when I came upon this article. The article basically touches upon the comment made by the Education Minister and his description of English Language education in elementary school as a "sweet" -- "pleasing but unnecessary". And in my opinion, I think he's right. While I think -- overall -- a second-language education should be compulsory at some point, the 'token foreign-language education' recommended by the Central Council for Education is grossly inadequate.

Is there a better way? Maybe. We'll just have to wait-and-see what the new government decides to do in the upcoming weeks/months. Enjoy the weekend!

Another Year?

Although the final decision to re-contract is still many many months away -- I haven't been able to stop thinking about whether I want to stay another year in Japan. If I don't re-contract that means I'll be heading back to Canada (I think) in July to... ? And if I do re-contract, I know I don't really want to do another year in Japan working as an ALT.

So, the question that keeps running through my head is, "What's next?"

Okinawa / 沖縄

This was beautiful Okinawa! Well, actually, that -was- beautiful Okinawa a few hours before the typhoon hit. My relaxing tropical beach vacation didn't quite work out the way I wanted to but, I had to suck it up and just try my best to enjoy the weekend. And it turned out to be a pretty good vacation -- despite the crappy weather.

My first impression of Okinawa was just how laid-back everything was. Maybe it was just the atmosphere, people, food, activities, etc., but it was definitely a place to just chill out and relax. While in Okinawa I thought to myself, "Man, it must be so kool to be placed here as a JET..".


This was the view from our hotel. How awesome would that be to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of the ocean everyday? This was my first tropical beach vacation and, while I didn't get to go to the beach as often as I had hoped, it was nice just to experience it for the first time. I couldn't believe how clear and blue/green the water was! I was speechless.


Seeing as we had to spend most of our time indoors because of the typhoon, we decided to check out Okinawa's famed Aquarium. The Aquarium is the largest of its kind in Japan and it was quite spectacular. The brochure said that it was also the only Aquarium in the world to house live Manta Rays. The giant water-tank pictured above was absolutely HUGE. In case you're wondering, that's a whale in there. And it wasn't the only one; that's how big it was.


Okinawa is famous for a few things. Goya (bitter-melon.. I'm not sure why it's called bitter-melon when it is a vegetable..), Okinawa beef, soba noodles, sweet potato and its own brand of fire-water: Awamori. The reason why Awamori is famous all over Japan is because the really expensive ones have -real- snakes in them -- like the one pictured above. That bottle (jug?) of Awamori cost over 100,000 yen (~$1000.00 CDN for folks back home).


A shot of waves crashing onto the shore.


During the trip we also stopped by one of Okinawa's most famous scenic spot -- Cape Manzamo. I will upload a better picture of the cape itself later on but, the above-picture is a shot of a pair of statues I found a little ways off the "safe" route.


Absolutely stunning.

I'm hoping to visit Okinawa one more time before I leave Japan -- and this time, I won't go during typhoon season! :)

Long Week ... end.

This week has probably been one of the longest I've experienced in quite some time. Thankfully it's the weekend (well, not technically but thank goodness for vacation days) and I'll be heading to Okinawa tomorrow. It looks like a typhoon is coming in though so, I might not get to be outside as much as I would like. That aside, it's going to be a great trip nonetheless. I'll update this blog when I get back. Enjoy the weekend!

Not my 体育祭 day.

Well, as promised I've decided to get back into the habit of updating this blog a little bit more often. I'm not quite sure how long this enthusiasm will last -- I guess I better start planning some more interesting stuff this year, eh? :)

Anyhow, this weekend I finally went to Futsukaichi / 二日市 to check out this "famous" yakitori place my colleagues had been obsessed about all last year. I have to admit, it was pretty good! The place was very "local" and it definitely had a good atmosphere to it. The staff was friendly (for obvious reasons) and the food was great. Unfortunately, they didn't have pig intestines (or we couldn't figure out the Japanese word for it) which was a let-down because I wanted everybody to try it (we accidentally ordered regular pig meat twice -- I guess our gestures didn't work that time). Afterwards, we went to a "secret" tropical island-theme bar with an open patio. It had rained earlier but we still opted to sit outside on the semi-wet patio (crazy foreigners.. haha!) to enjoy the full-moon. It was a nice way to end the work week because...


.. we had to wake up _really_ early on a Saturday to watch my friend Dori's Sports Day Festival. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, Sports Day is definitely a Japanese-thing (I'm unsure if other Asian/non-Western countries have anything similar to it though..). However, High School Sports Day are on an entirely different level from their Junior High School and elementary School counterparts. High School Sports Day are, simply put, amazing. They are an acrobatic show, track-and-field meet, blood fighting, music and dance concert all rolled into one -- with a Japanese twist, of course.


The entire production is put on, run, organized, designed and managed by the students. The teachers interfere as little as possible during the entire time. The students usually start Sports Day preparations a few weeks to a month before the summer vacation. During most of the summer vacation and almost every day up until the actual day, the students practice after school for the various events. It is definitely a learning experience for all the students.


A typical example of some of the stunts the students perform during the event. Some of the stuff that is done during Sports Day would be considered illegal in Canada. Many times during the day I thought to myself, "Wow.. if we were in Canada, there would already be a lawsuit in the mail!"


All the events were group-oriented (as can only be expected) and were executed beautifully! During the above dance show, the cheerleaders were performing a modern dance routine and kept saying, "Let's go lead! Let's go lead!" and I couldn't figure out why. Finally, my friend Dori explained after noticing my confusion that they were, in actuality, saying, "Let's go RED! Let's go RED!" -- the colour of their team. :)


This was my 3rd Sports Day that I've attended so far since coming to Japan -- and it certainly won't be my last. It's funny -- though some people might consider them a burden to attend (and I admit, at times it got boring and I wanted to just go home and sleep) I have had a great time at all of them so far. For me, this was a chance to see something "ordinary" to most Japanese people (every Japanese person can remember their Sports Day -- they do it every year from elementary school to the end of high school) but to a foreigner, it is something completely extraordinary. I won't be in Japan forever so, no regrets, right?!

Ahh well, that's just me. :)

Hazy Days..

I apologize for the lack of posts and interesting pictures lately. Things have been busy (as usual) and I just haven't had the energy to bother with taking photos either. I promise that'll change this weekend!

After being bugged for a whole year (haha, joke!) by the Futsukachi crew to just hang-out, I am finally going to make the long trek there this weekend. My friend Dori has graciously invited me to her Sports Day and seeing as this is definitely a "Japan-thing", I figured it would be a good excuse to spend the weekend there as well. I'm looking forward to this "yakitori" place (bbq meat-on-a-stick) they've been raving about since coming to Japan.

In other news, next weekend I'll be heading to O-K-I-N-A-W-A for a well-deserved tropical vacation. There should be lots of pictures then -- I hope.

That's it for now -- I hope everybody is enjoying the cool weather!