You know that picture in your head you have of Japan? Maybe you imagine lush green Japanese gardens, with impeccably manicured trees, zen gardens, traditional teahouses, tranquil ponds and moss everywhere... at least that's what I pictured before I came here. I recently visited Ritsurin Garden in Takamatsu, and my imaginary picture came to life!At the entrance, there are special attendants who have "I Speak English!" buttons, but all you really need to do is hold up the number of fingers for ...
Japan
A Weekend in Osaka
When I first visited Japan seven years ago, I crammed as much as I could into my trip. I think I came to Osaka, the second-largest city in all of Japan, for about two days. My memories are hazy, partly from drowning my brain in rum during my recent years living in the Caribbean and partly because the breakneck speed of my trip back then means everything sort of runs together in my mind now. All I remember seeing was massive restaurant signs in Amerika-mura (the "American" neighborhood...note the ...
Islands of Japan: Megijima
The latest in the Islands of Japan series!Right now, I'm all about exploring my corner of Japan. The island that I live on, Shikoku, is big enough to have lots of geographic variety but small enough to visit different places on day trips or a weekend trip if I wanted to go all the way to the other end. I'm trying to save all my vacation days for next summer - they kinda frown on us taking days off while school is in session so I'm saving them up to take a month-long trip next August - so I'm ...
Islands of Japan: Miyajima
After a couple months of having to spend all my extra money on furniture and my car, I was finally able to do a little traveling around Japan and start to explore all the amazing places this country has to offer. This is the first in my series exploring Japan's islands.First stop: Miyajima Island in Hiroshima Prefecture!(Fun fact - Miyajima just means 'shrine island' and the island is referred to as that because of the famous giant orange torii gate located there. It's a UNESCO World ...
You Shook Me All Night Long
One thing I kind of forgot about when I got all excited about moving to Japan was earthquakes.Japan has A LOT of earthquakes. Actually, 6% of all the earthquakes in the whole damn world happen here. We get about 1500 a year.Our disaster preparation seminar at orientation was comprised of 30 minutes of showing footage from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, a short remembrance of a JET Programme participant who died in the disaster, and a card to put in our wallets with emergency info ...
You Might as Well Dance
One thing I want aspiring or incoming JET participants to know is this: you need to show up in this country with your A-game, because more often than not, you are expected to head straight into an onslaught of activities upon arriving...jet lag, lack of sleep, churned-up digestive system, and culture shock be damned. I was lucky that I didn't feel much of these (maybe lack of sleep), though my comrades certainly did. The biggest struggle for me was that I am used to SO much time alone, and SO ...
Konnichiwa Bitches: Hello from Japan
Just a post to say... I MADE IT. Hello from Shinjuku, Tokyo! I'm eating everything. I'll have more to tell you all soon.It's muggy and humid and roasting hot. It makes me miss Roatan. I don't want to put my suit on, but work is work. What a funny feeling it is to wake up in a new world to your new life. Bring it, Japan.Guys, make sure to follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter ... there's lots of extras posted there that don't make it onto the blog. I also have Google+ if ...
The JET Programme: From Application to Acceptance
Most of you know by now that I'm headed to Japan to teach English as a participant on the JET Programme. I wrote previously about how this was a long time coming (I first heard about it in 2006!) and a basic breakdown of the timeline. This post will be more detailed, and will probably only be interesting to those of you who found my blog while searching for info about JET, sorry! Please keep in mind while reading that I am a Canadian (Vancouver consulate) JET, and things differ by ...
So I’m Moving to Japan… WTF
Yeah, so I know I kinda just slid that in there among all my "I'm leaving Roatan for good blah blah blah" stuff lately... "oh and PS I'm moving to Japan".WTF?(I know, right.)It's actually been a really, really, long time coming. To be accurate, about 10 years in the making! Here's the story.From the time I was a little kid, I have always been fascinated with Japan. Not Asia...not other countries in the area. Just Japan. I wasn't into anime or J-pop, but I was in love with the food, the ...