When the time came to wrap up my job here in Japan, I had three days to take a vacation. I wanted to go to either Hokkaido or Okinawa (two very different vacation spots - the first is the northern end of Japan and the second is the southern end) as those were the last two prefectures that were on my bucket list. As it became more apparent that I'd only have the time and money to do one or the other, the weather made my choice for me: three days in Sapporo, Hokkaido.Sapporo is the capital ...
Japan
Osaka Ramen Expo: The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
I have a few annual traditions here in Japan. Climbing Hanamiyama, or Cherry Blossom Viewing Mountain, every spring in sakura season. Photographing the lotus blooms in the summer. Cooking steaming pots of nabe on chilly nights in the winter.But my favorite tradition is my annual pilgrimage to the Osaka Ramen Expo (Japanese site) held every weekend in December.Bampakukoen Ramen ExpoStarting in 2013, festival organizers have brought the Ramen Expo to life each December in Bampakukoen ...
Two Years in Japan
It's been the longest and shortest two years of my life. (Sometimes I feel like I've been living here FOREVER. And sometimes I still feel like I just arrived.August 2018 marked two years of living in Japan, and it's been quite the ride. I never expected that at the ripe old age of 33 that I'd be going into my third year of teaching English here and going on almost eight years of living abroad... but here I am.What I've DoneSo much. I've done so much since I've been here! I've ...
TokyoTreat Unboxing: Japanese Candy Dreams Come True
TokyoTreat recently reached out to me to check out their amazing subscription boxes, full to the brim of delicious Japanese candy and snacks! It was a good day when this bright orange box showed up at my door:TokyoTreat offers a variety of box types to suit any snacker's desires. Have a look through all the options on their site! (Note: affiliate link) I was sent a Premium Box to find out what TokyoTreat is all about.Every box comes with a cute guide that explains (in English!) what all the ...
Islands of Japan: Shodoshima
Reggae music was playing somewhere down the beach. The sun was shining, the sand was hot, and I was drinking a cold drink. The ocean was a shimmery blue and kids were shrieking and splashing around with colorful floaties.But wait. What's this? The writing on this delicious alcoholic beverage is in Japanese. I was IN JAPAN!?! Yes friends, this is not a post about my beloved Caribbean island Roatan. This is about the chillest little island that's a hop, skip and a jump away from my town here ...
A Tokushima Tour
When I tell people I live in Tokushima prefecture (prefecture is like the Japanese version of a province or state), most Japanese people laugh and give me the "poor you" face. My prefecture is not particularly famous for anything other than having a giant dance festival once a year (it's outrageously fun) and apparently the worst drivers in Japan (can confirm). Tokushima is a small, unassuming little prefecture on the northeast corner of Shikoku, which is the smallest of the four main islands ...
A Weekend in Okayama City
In February, we did a Vancouver JET meetup in Okayama City. Besides all the excitement of attending Hadaka Matsuri (the Naked Man Festival), I enjoyed visiting Okayama City a lot. I live in a town of 60,000 so getting to go to a "big city" of 800,000 is a huge deal for me!Getting to Okayama City From Tokushima (my prefecture), I had to take a train about from Naruto, change in Takamatsu, and then on to Okayama City. The trip is about 2ish hours each way. My blessed JTE (English teacher at ...
Hadaka Matsuri: The Naked Man Festival in Okayama
When one of my fellow ALTs in a nearby prefecture invited me to watch the Hadaka Matsuri in Okayama prefecture in February, I said, "what's that?"Maybe you can imagine how quickly I said YES when he said it was a festival where 9,000 men wear fundoshi (basically a loincloth) and run around in a temple chasing sticks.Yo, sign me up!What It Is Hadaka Matsuri (translated into "Naked Man Festival") is a festival over 500 years old held at Saidaiji Temple in Okayama City. It's billed as "one ...
What I Wish I Had Known Before Coming to Japan
I tried to include this in my First Six Months in Japan recap post, but my "What I Wish I Had Known Before Coming to Japan" section was longer than the post itself. It clearly needed its own post, so here you go! Or, if you're an ALT: here you are! (Inside ALT joke - students learn "here you are" instead of "here you go", and after months of saying it constantly, it starts to replace "here you go" in your natural speech!)This list of things I wish I had known before coming to Japan is ...
1368 Steps: Visiting Kotohira-gu
In the spirit of exploring the island I live on, Shikoku, I jumped at an invitation from a fellow ALT to spend a Saturday at a famous shrine, Kotohira-gu. (She conveniently left out that I would need to climb 1,368 steps up the side of a mountain to get to it...!)Kotohira-gu Shrine (commonly known as Konpira-san) is a huge Shinto shrine located 35km outside of Takamatsu, in Kagawa prefecture on Shikoku Island. It's about a 1.5 hour drive from the town we live in (Naruto), and the tolls are ...