Monthly Archives: January 2012

A Japanese, First Grade Janken Jungle

January 31, 2012
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A Japanese, First Grade Janken Jungle

Today was a really fun day with my first graders. In class today, we were doing the final lesson on animals, so I decided to make it fun for the kids. It’s not always easy coming up with new English activities to do in a Japanese classroom, but I thought of something interesting. We did a quick review of some of the different animals I introduced in the last couple weeks back: duck, goose, eagle, owl, tiger, lion, bear, giraffe, etc.. I made the review quick so we’d have time to complete the animal masks that we started working on last week. Kids had all kinds of crazy colored animals. There were blue lions,...

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Aonori, the Japanese Karaoke Song I Have to Learn!

January 26, 2012
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Aonori, the Japanese Karaoke Song I Have to Learn!

At the end of last year I had my first Bonenkai with the elementary school teachers and simply put it was a blast. It’s always nice to relax with cool people, have good food, and do a some karaoke. This was the first time I’ve been to karaoke where there were no other English speakers and I really had a good time practicing my Japanese at the same time. It was a win win situation. During karaoke two of the younger teachers sang a song that I REALLY want to learn. The name of this song is Aonori (青海苔) by Brief and Trunks (wait a second…brief and trunks, aren’t those expressions for underwear?!). The...

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What Happens if You’re Late Paying Your Taxes in Japan?

January 25, 2012
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What Happens if You’re Late Paying Your Taxes in Japan?

This is short post that I meant to put up last year, but since my taxes are broken into payments, I think it’s still relevant. When you live in Japan, so many of the things you see and do will be different from back home. However, some things don’t change. If you’re earning income here in Japan, you will have to pay taxes on it. Some companies are better than others at deducting it for you, which really makes things easier. But if you’re at a job that doesn’t you’ve got to handle the taxes on your own. Please check out the previous post I did on Japanese taxes. For me, coming from a...

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The Trouble With Teaching At a Shogakko

January 24, 2012
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The Trouble With Teaching At a Shogakko

Ah, teaching in Japan, one of the most fulfilling experiences you could ask for. The sun shines everyday, even on rainy days the sun shines just on my school. Birds chirps in English, the children are always 200% genki and merry, parents of your students greet you with fresh fruits in the morning, and you never have a difficult work day… RIININNNGGGGGGGGG!!! Hey, everybody, why are you guys in my apart…huh? Is this a article? Oh no, I must have been dream-blogging again. Please forgive me. Let me just read what I wrote…hmm…umm…ok. Quite a bit of that isn’t exactly true. No, teaching at a shogakko (Japanese public school isn’t perfect), but it’s one...

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Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream!?!?

January 18, 2012
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LIquid nitrogen, egg ice cream!!

We have club activities after school on Wednesdays at my shogakko . There is a cooking/home economics club, an outdoors club, and a science club…just to name some of the ones I’ve taken a glimpse at. Each of the clubs that I’ve seen has a really special appeal. If I were an Japanese elementary school student here, I’d have a hard time deciding which one to do. Last semester I watched the outdoors club more than any of the others. It was with this club that I watched students plant rice, grow sweet potatoes, and have some pretty tasty barbecues. Being out there digging in the soil with my students, eating with them, laughing...

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Japanese Electricity Bill Blues (JEBB)

January 13, 2012
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Japanese Electricity Bill Blues (JEBB)

Dum dee dum dum dum. Donald gets home from work, it was a standard, nothing too surprising, no major issues at school that he couldn’t handle. He opens the his mailbox to find a couple of bills inside. “No worries, just one of those costs to take care of I guess.” Crinkle, crinkle, rip. Donald opens the envelope from TEPCO. His eyes scan quickly to the right side of the bill to see the amount due. His glance comes to a dead stop, his eyes widen, his brow furrows, and sweat begins to bead on his brow. Being that it’s the thick of winter, the sweat probably isn’t coming from any heat source, but...

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Japanese Ekiden, The Ultimate Relay Race

January 12, 2012
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Japanese Ekiden, The Ultimate Relay Race

Have you heard of Ekiden before? If not, it’s a race that’s very much a part of Japanese popular culture. Ekiden is what I like to think of as a relay race with a twist. The twist is that each runner runs a half marathon. At the collegiate level (I think that’s the one that’s shown on TV) there are six members to a team. The entire team runs for a total of about people at 43 kilometrs or just under 27 miles. Running the Ekiden would be like a bad dream for me. I would get all suited to run the 4 by 400 relay, and then the coach would walk over to...

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Sweet Potatoes and Daigakuimo, A Tasty Vegetable Turned Tastier

January 11, 2012
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daigakuimosaucethumb2

One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to get as fit as I possibly can before Obon rolls around. I’d like to go to a nice beach in Japan and be super-ripped. Why? I don’t really have an answer. I know I enjoy exercise, and I figured getting as ripped as possible at least gives me a goal to shoot for (it might also be good for landing some cool modeling gig in the future). One of the big challenges with that is that I absolutely adore all things sweet*: chocolate, gummy bears, cakes of all kinds, caramel, ice cream, Jelly Belly jelly beans, and the list relentlessly goes on. So decided this week...

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Four Years in Japan…Still Here, Still Loving It

January 10, 2012
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Four Years in Japan…Still Here, Still Loving It

Today is January 10th, 2012, indeed a very special day for me. Exactly four years ago today I hopped on a one-way, nonstop, 12-hour flight to Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan. Although it doesn’t really feel like it, four years is quite a bit of time. Four years is as much time a many people spend in undergrad (I spent four-and-a-half). In four years, a child can go through a large part of his/her pubescent life. Geez! I’ve been in freakin’ Japan for FOUR YEARS!?! Where does the time go? In so many ways I feel that being here for four years is a wonderful thing, I happily celebrate it. In many respects I...

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Japan Fauna: No Squirrels in Japan?

January 9, 2012
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Japan Fauna: No Squirrels in Japan?

You know what animal I don’t see in Japan, that I saw everywhere in Georgia? SQUIRRELS! I hear they exist in some parts of Japan, but I have yet to see any. I’m sure have to exist somewhere around because I’ve seen several anime with squirrels or flying squirrels in them. But it must be a rare thing. I had an adult student once who said when he went to America and was taking pictures of squirrels, his American friends would ask him “Why are you doing that?” In America, seeing a squirrel doesn’t really strike you as anything special, but if I were to see one here, I would definitely stop and take...

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