During my time teaching in Japan, I have managed to learn a lot about my the English language. My students here are fond of using and combining letters in ways that would have never crossed my mind as a native speaker. Unfortunately, due to the way English classes function here in Fukui (and likely elsewhere […]
25 Things Japan Should Have Proofread
This isn’t the first time I have had the urge to comment on the – creative – English waiting to be discovered across Japan, but after over a year in the country I have more to share. Like I said in my earlier post, for some reason I did not expect this from Japan. Much […]
How Vacation Time (年休 Nenkyu) Works In Japan
I used to think the United States had problems with vacation time from work (“I still do, but I used to too” -MH). Now that I have been able to experience Japan’s take on vacation time, or 年休 (nenkyu), I have realized that things could be far worse in the States of United America. Now […]
15 Things I’ve Learned About Japanese School Children
Since relocating to Japan, I have learned a lot about the country’s customs, culture, and children (but mostly about konbinis). And since the children are our future, I think I have a pretty good grasp on the direction this place is heading (you can count on enjoy many soccer, much boy bands, and of course, […]
A Nuclear Disaster In Japan’s Fukui Prefecture
Today, Japan’s Fukui Prefecture experienced what is being called the most destructive nuclear disaster that the world has ever seen. With what is expected to be one hundred times the fallout of Fukushima following the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Japanese government has already created a three hundred kilometer containment zone around Japan Atomic Power […]
A Mother’s Lullaby: Dead Babies In English Crass
I’m no expert in the fields of teaching or language acquisition (despite my extensive list of expertise including but not limited to: pooping in the woods, hitchhiking, fighting bears, and being mugged), but there are certain aspects of English language education in Japan that I am sure I could make a strong case against being […]
Contract Signing: They’re Trying To Turn Me Into A Robot
So today is the big day? Apparently I have yet to officially be employed despite having already been told to do things related to said employment (or put more accurately, having things suggested to me that urgently need my doing). I am reminded of the below video as we are being told to make sure […]
The JET Programme: So You Want To Be An English Teacher
Sushi, Sony, Miyazaki, Nintendo, Sumo. You would be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t associate at least one of these things with Japan. But what about the words (or more accurately, acronyms): ALT, CIR, and JET? Each year, the Japanese government employs thousands of foreigners as Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) in elementary, middle schools, and […]
Surviving Day One Of Work In Japan
6:50 AM and my alarm goes off. I’m not outdoors in my sleeping bag meaning I am not okay being woken up this early. Snooze for the next half hour. Roll out of bed. Put on shirt. Put on pants. Brush teeth. No breakfast. Out the door in ten minutes. Regretting this already. Apparently it’s […]
Photo Gallery: Kyushoku, School Lunch In Japan (給食)
Japan has granted me the opportunity to experience school lunch in a third country, on a third continent (depending on how you classify The Americas, that is). Weekdays in Japan I eat lunch at one of two junior high schools – the Japanese know this lunch as kyushoku (給食). I eat alongside Japanese students who […]
