Halfway Anywhere

How I Travel, Make Money, and Stay Alive

If there's one thing I get asked more than anything else it's, "How are you able to live this life of adventure? Where does the money come from?" Well, curious reader, here is your answer. When I first tried to write this post it turned into an explanation of how I started Halfway Anywhere -

Halfway Anywhere: The Origin Story

If there's one question that you folks contact me with the most, it's this, "How do you support yourself? How do you make money? What on Earth are you doing to be able to support this [apparent] life of indefinite travel!?" As I do with most things I find myself responding to in emails over and

Japanese Middle Schoolers Do English

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

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 before

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

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

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

I’m Moving To Japan

It was bound to happen eventually - I finally got myself a temporary, permanent address (or at least I expect to have one soon). Yes, unfortunately, my trove of pilfered troll gold has run dry and I am now forced back into a state of servitude - exchanging hours of my life for rectangular pieces