はじめまして。Hello everyone, my name is Joe Kester.

That photo was taken with my host family in August 2008 during the Hirosaki Neputa summer festival. I was an exchange student at Hirosaki University in Hirosaki, Japan from April 2008 until March 2009 and this blog is full to the brim with posts about my time studying abroad. If you are thinking of studying in Japan as an exchange student, start here. I hope that you can find my posts to be of some use!

I’m currently finishing up my final year as a student at the University of Maine, where I’ll be graduating with an English degree. Where will life take me from there? I don’t quite know yet, but I know I’m going to end up back in Japan one way or another.

I can be contacted directly at joe (at) joe in japan dot com.

Header images by Pet_r, Ian Muttoo, WillJL, and chaojikazu.