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As a foreigner who is still working on his Japanese, working in a Japanese public school can present some challenges from time to time. One such challenge is getting used to new, Japanese, school-related vocabulary. Were I teaching at American public school, I wouldn’t even give issues like this a second thought because English is […]

Let me start off by saying that I really like my apartment. I love the mix of traditional eastern style and modern western style. When I signed for this apartment, I thought “Man this is gonna be awesome!” and for the most part it is. However one incident changed my completely flowery perception of my […]

One of my duties as a new ALT in a Shougakko ( or Japanese elementary school) is to have lunch with the kids everyday. I just finished having my first school lunch with about 25 second graders. You might think that would be intimidating, but it was SO much fun. There were three other Japanese […]

Per my friend, Karl’s, recommendation, I thought I’d take a little trip to Shinjuku and visit the Square Enix store. Since I had to pick up my HIV test results at the Minami Shinjuku Building (don’t worry, it was negative), and it just so happened that the Square Enix Showcase was about a 10-15 minute […]

People decide to come to Japan for so many interesting reasons.  Some expats have an extreme fascination with Japanese culture: anime, J-pop, Japanese festivals, and the Japanese language. Others may be seeking a way to broaden their horizons, broaden their resumes, give their dating game a much-needed boost (let’s be honest), or even find a […]

Unless I have something extremely pressing to do, I always help the students clean after lunch. As my students and I were cleaning on this one particular day, I was in the hallway sweeping and I overheard some of my 2nd graders randomly calling out colors in English. My ears quickly zeroed in on this […]

Pop Quiz! Can you name all of the Ghibli Studio Films? If you were able to, congratulations. If you couldn’t do it, don’t feel bad, because I can’t do it either. I had a little online help with this one, but there are actually eighteen Ghibli films (excluding short films and Ghibli Museum movies): 1. […]

Here is the third and final part of my interview with Tony Du. With any of these videos if you have questions for Tony please feel free to leave them in the comments section of either post. ENJOY!

Today we’re going to talk about the kancho game. As much as I wish I could say that Naruto, or some other cool anime, was my first exposure this game (Donnie’s bottom lip quivers) it wasn’t. My first kancho exposure was 100% live in an eikaiwa (English conversation school) hallway. Watch this video and listen […]

Ah Japan…the Land of the Rising Sun, home of some of the most beautiful temples & shrines you will ever see, and a hot spot for all things tech. So, I’ll admit. I love living in Japan. I could probably write a mile-long list of the reasons I think it’s so wonderful, but today, I […]

Page 1| Page 2| Page 3| Page 4| Page 5| Page 6| Page 7 WHAT KEPT ME FROM LOSING IT… For many people, when things get tough, they turn to God or to the church for answers. Had it been ten years earlier, I would have done the same thing. But I’d be lying if […]

I had another opportunity to interview another expat that I know and respect, Tony Du. Tony has been an expat in Japan for more than five years now and I figure what better way to get another view on life in Japan than by asking someone who’s been here longer than I have. I think […]

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT I wanna tell you about this girl that I used to do date. When I was little younger. I’m not old now. I’m still young, but when I younger…there was this girl I used to date. And…Wow, what can I say about her? She was everything I wanted in a girl. She was […]

Ever heard the term otaku before? An English student of mine once explained that オタク translates to mean mania or enthusiast, and later became associated with those endaring expressions “geek” or “nerd.” You probably know the traditional nerd stereotype already: the glasses-wearing, fashion-aloof, pocket-protector wearing, Mark Zuckerberg-ish (sorry, Mark), man or woman who keeps to […]

Anyone else a fan of samurai bad-asses? Well this guy is! This guy also happens to have a few drops of anime nerd in his bloodstream. So instead of picking up a shinai or donning kendo armor that I put outside in the summer as a sweat offering to the Japanese Gods of Stench, I […]

I recently conducted an interview with Amanda Taylor of whoa-im-in-japan.com. I got word that she would be moving to Japan on January 10th, 2011. The tenth is a special day for me, because that’s the exact same date that I moved Japan (I came January 10th, 2008). Amanda’s training is actually happening around the same […]

Over the weekend I went to Odaiba (おだいばお or 台場) for the very first time. For many people living in Tokyo, and for many foreigners who’ve been in Japan for a while, this may not sound like such a big deal. Odaiba is a very popular hangout spot. Granted I have seen Odaiba and the […]

Let’s talk about something fun today, something that attracts so many to Japanese culture. Let’s talk ANIME (アニメ)and MANGA (漫画)! Have you ever heard of Shonen Jump? Well I didn’t know anything about it until I actually got to Japan. I learned about it when a training group member went to a Shonen Jump Festa, […]