So, graduation came and went. This year's was, at the same time, less and more distressing than last year's. Last year, I was wholly unprepared for the emotional wallop of saying goodbye, all at once, to hundreds of wonderful students that I had come to know over a few short months. This year, the students who were graduating were ones that I ( Read more... )

For those of you who have never been to Japan and are thus unaware, let me give you a brief primer on the convenience store, or combini. Combinis are everywhere in Japan, and can be found on almost every street corner in Tokyo as well as in the middle of nowhere, dotting Japan's beautiful countryside. There are huge nationwide chains like Lawson' ( Read more... )

Sound the trumpets and ring the bells, I have internet ( Read more... )

In a country like Japan, where there is no serious, conservative religion (like Christianity, Islam, etc.) presiding over everything and providing the foundation for the culture, and where less than 1% of the population regularly practices a religion, spirituality manifests itself in curious ways ( Read more... )

Oops, as in, sorry I haven't updated this thing in half a damn year. I moved to a new apartment at the end of October, and I still do not have an internet connection there. The reason for this, is the truly epic incompetence of the Yahoo BB internet service. They are who I have to use to get hooked up at my new place, and they are staggeringly ( Read more... )

Howdy ( Read more... )

THE RULES ( Read more... )

Updated my site with lots of pictures from the various places I traveled recently, and also changed the format of the site just a little. Please take a look, and make my day by posting a comment!

http://www.heavymetaltotoro.com/

My sister was visiting the past few weeks, which provided me with a much needed summer vacation. She arrived on July 11 and for the first week and a half we stayed in Hiroshima. She came to school with me for three days, and though I think she enjoyed the experience overall, she didn't seem to fall in love with the whole thing, and the students ( Read more... )

Myself and another teacher singing an old Japanese song in front of my entire school at the opening ceremony for our School Festival this year. The brass band club provides accompaniment. 25 years from now I will go back and look at this video, and remember exactly why I loved this job so much.