It's one of those times to update a month of intense, dense happenings. I have learned a good many things- the freehand kanji recognition tool on Microsoft Word, that Hawaii is in fact a state of America (red cheeks), that my assumption that ‘America’ refers to the northern part of an entire continent is of no comfort to Canadians offended by ( Read more... )

I like that my lessons with Matsuo sensai have become a lot less linear; we leap from textbook to discussing cultural difference, using language as a probe into things we might not otherwise notice as strange ( Read more... )

Last night was the Leavers Party for departing ALTs and was a surprisingly moving, enjoyable event- I always look forward to and unthinkingly sign up for these big JET affairs and often find myself feeling like a social retard with my clumsy networking 'abilities' but I think few people probably feel naturally au fait with the engineering of short ( Read more... )

My dear friend Miss Emily Collins has been learning the way of the bamboo sword, or Japanese fencing, or kendo. Walking through the rain from Hiyoshi JHS to the office I saw the kendo master standing with a mobile phone in the doorway of the kendo dojo and felt less guilty that I have not spent more (any) time in there watching the few (mostly ( Read more... )

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?". The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's ( Read more... )

As Mamiko is seeing me off at the school door where the staff change from indoor to outdoor shoes, unusually jolly students traipse down the corridors behind us. I hear a cry of 'CUCUMBER' and feel very pleased indeed that they are practising their vegetable vocab. I chortle merrily 'I'm not a cucumber!' but no, Mamiko tells me- apparently the ( Read more... )

I thread between the oppressively ranked, organised office, the mould-sprouting peace and mess of my house and its books, the humid and determined regiment of the taiko dojo...the highlight of the weekend in Amami was easily the chance to snorkel amid the coral reefs from a local diving instructor's boat near Kouniya ( Read more... )

Hedges choked by the spider webs encasing their branches. Pumpkin plants and vines peppered with bejewelled spiderwebs, ensembles to inspire the illustrations of beautiful fairy tales. Reminds me of reading the 'Necklace of Raindrops' with Rachel Miller and the fansiful fetishes I pursued through the years of our childhood of sometime togetherness ( Read more... )

A taiko drama. These eventful practices happen once in a while, rousing us from complacency and stirring emotions, misunderstandingd and usually, eventual harmony and learning ( Read more... )

It's unpleasant when what might be fresh, flirtatious 'April showers' in English pre-summer language of On the Up, is here an instituted season, The Rainy Season, hailed by pernicious, wiry black bugs and your towels smelling a bit by the time they've dried. You dread it and..oh cripes, maybe this is premature- we haven't even hit the bloody rainy ( Read more... )