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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What are Your 2012 New Year’s Resolutions?

January 9, 2012
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What are Your 2012 New Year’s Resolutions?

It’s 2012! Everybody! It’s a brand new year, and a chance for a brand new start. It’s time to dust off all of those fitness machines that you never bothered to use It’s time to start thinking about how this year will be different from 2011. It’s time for New Year’s Resolutions. How do you plan on improving yourself this year? I often have the tendency to go overboard when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions. 2012 will be no different. I have personal goals, professional goals, fitness goals, Japan Guy goals, and the list goes on. I don’t remember if I mentioned it in the “What’s Your Story?” post (you can find it...

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OH MY GOSH! The Cutest Little Japanese First Graders!

January 9, 2012
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OH MY GOSH! The Cutest Little Japanese First Graders!

This is just a little side post, but I had the cutest thing happen to me today. I had just finished doing one of the animal lessons with one of my first grade classes, and all of my students seemed really upbeat after class was done. I could tell the students enjoyed class, because the as soon as I said “See you next time!,” about six of the boys darted for the door, blocking the exit. They stood with their little arms crossed, Macho Japanese First Grader Style. It was almost like they were saying “You ain’t going nowhere, Donaldo Sensei.” I thought it was really cute. It made me feel good. I really...

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I’m BAAAAACCCKKK!!!

January 6, 2012
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I’m BAAAAACCCKKK!!!

みんなさん久しぶりですね？ (Minnasan, Hisashi Buri Desu Ne?) It’s been a long time hasn’t it, everybody? Sorry for the delay everyone. I guess things took a little bit longer than I thought after having to shake off those chocolate-gorgin’, lazy-arse, couch-sittin’, oversleepin’, net-surfin’, rakkafrakkin’ cobwebs out of my system. But I think I’m okay now . Believe it or not, my winter break was pretty uneventful. Honestly it was the quietest New Year’s day that I’ve ever had. I thought about going to Tokyo for New Year’s but was feeling a little under the weather. I started watch the New Year’s Eve Gaki no Tsukai comedy that I like so much, but fell asleep during the...

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Happy New Year Everybody! 皆さん明けましておめでとうございます!

January 1, 2012
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I’m officially still on my Japan Guy Winter Break, but couldn’t help myself, I had to write this post. Do you know how to say Happy New Year in Japanese? It’s Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu, or 明けましておめでとうございます! I was talking with my friend Kinya the other day and he was saying what a crazy year it’s been. We started talking about some of the major events this year. The biggest one that come to mind were the major earthquake and tsunami that devastated parts of Japan back in March, Osama Bin Laden’s death in May, Muammar al-Gaddafi’s death in October, and recently…the death of Kim Jong Il. I don’t know why the biggest things I...

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Japan Guy Winter Break

December 26, 2011
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Hey everybody! After quite a bit of thinking I’ve decided to take a winter break from December 26th, 2011 until January 5th, 2012. This will give me a chance to rest my brain a bit, and come back even stronger next year. I will do a short post New Year’s Day to wish everybody season’s greetings, but this will be the first time that I will take a break and not fill in the gaps for the missing articles, but I think it’s a great idea. Please keep in mind that although I won’t be posting any new articles during that time, I will still respond to comments and questions should you have them,...

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Merry Christmas from the Japan Guy

December 25, 2011
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Merry Christmas from the Japan Guy

I just wanted to take quick minute to say Merry Christmas to the coolest readers on the planet. May your holiday season be the brightest one it’s ever been, may your stomach be fuller than its ever been, may you drink and be merrier than you’ve ever been, may you have the best moments you’ve ever had. Merry Christmas to all and to all a wonderful holiday season! Sincerely, Donald Ash

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Being Santa Claus in Japan

December 24, 2011
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There were some really cute kids at this event.

I find it interesting, that I never once had to don a Santa suit while living in the United States, but since I’ve been here in Japan, every single year, without fail, something comes up where I always end up in a Santa suit. Initially I would dress up to be Santa for special AEON Christmas lessons right around the holidays. Truth be told, I enjoyed it every single time I did it. However, this Christmas I wasn’t actually working for AEON anymore, so I figured I wouldn’t end up doing my Santa Claus thing this year, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Actually, this year, the Santa think started back...

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My Two Most Overplayed Christmas Pop Songs…Yep, even here in Japan.

December 23, 2011
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My Two Most Overplayed Christmas Pop Songs…Yep, even here in Japan.

It’s Christmas, and with Christmas comes Christmas music, even here in Japan. Seeing how it’s celebrated in Japan almost makes it feel like a borrowed holiday. Actually Christmas isn’t really a holiday in Japan, just kind of a special day. Being a teacher means that I’m already off for winter vacation, but if you’re not teaching public school or college, it’s a normal workday. Anyway, in this short post I want to mention the two songs that I hear enough times, every December to make me want to take a red and green-colored Christmas bat to the nearest department store speaker. Some of you are probably thinking of the exact same two that I...

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Japanese Christmas Carols

December 22, 2011
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Japanese Christmas Carols

Today, we’re just going to listen to a little bit of music, but not just any old music…Christmas Music…in Japanese. You may be familiar with these to Christmas classics: Here Comes Santa Claus Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. In Japanese their titles are a bit different. Here Comes Santa Claus in Japanese is Santa Kuro-su ga Yattekuru. The Japanese title for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is Aka hana no Tonakai. When I heard the songs in Japanese, I really found in interesting, so let’s just hear what they sound like: Here Comes Santa Claus (The Japanese Version) – サンタクロースがやってくる Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reinder (The Japanese Version) – あかはなのトナカイ or 赤鼻のトナカイ Neat, right? Well, happy...

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