I sit here typing up this post on my final week in Japan as a foreign exchange student (while at the same time rocking out to some Bump of Chicken) and there’s a mixture of feelings going on. On the one hand, I’ve had an absolutely fantastic time here in Japan. I think I can say without reservation it has been the most eventful year of my life. Not only have I acquired the Japanese language, at least conversationally, I have made life-long friends and more memories than I have bothered to re-account on the blog here. On the other hand, I know that my time is up here and I have return home. I’m quite content with that, though, as I have many people back home I want to meet again, not the least of whom is my family. Besides, I have to graduate from college. If I ever want to return to Japan that’s a necessity.
I figured I’d use this post to give out some final advice to everyone who is thinking of studying abroad, gleaned from my year here. Of course it all boils down to want you want from your time in a foreign country, but this is what I found worked for me:
Continue reading 'End of an Era'»
I gave all you guys the low-down on last semester’s classes, so I figured it would be a good idea to tell how you how things went this time around. Overall, this semester was just as successful as the last was and I had a good time in all of my classes. Once again, they centered around the Japanese language and the culture of Japan. So, let me give you the run down!
Continue reading 'A Review of the Second Semester’s Classes'»
It’s certainly been a quiet past couple weeks since I got back from Korea. I’ve been spending my time studying Japanese here in my room and going out on my bike, and occasionally hanging out with JJ. But I’ve also had a long-standing medical issue of mine come up again and it was necessary for me to go and seek out a doctor’s help for pain in my leg. Now, don’t get too worried – I’m perfectly fine and healthy (well, besides the leg) and I am recovering. But since all this happened to me, I got to see first hand just what kind of medical care is available in Japan. So, click on to see what it’s all about!
Continue reading 'My Experience with the Japanese Health Care System'»
Hey all! Had quite the busy past week here in Japan. Every summer here is always full of summer festivals. Aomori prefecture, the prefecture I am currently living in, is host to the Neputa and Nebuta festivals. They are quite rambunctious affairs, with loud cheering, lots of food and drink, and of course, dancing. I even got the opportunity to participate in Neputa here in Hirosaki with my fellow exchange students. So let’s get right into it with the details!
Continue reading 'Neputa and Nebuta'»
Ohisashiburi! It’s been a long time, eh? Well, since it’s coming down to the end of the semester here, I’ve been busy with this and that, but I’ll try to give you all a bit up an update now. There were festivals at the beginning of the month, then a camping trip with my club and the culture festival at my host family’s daughters’ school. Also, in other exciting news, I have successfully applied for an extension, so I will be staying here in Japan until February 2009! One semester just wasn’t enough. Well, without further ado, let’s get on with it!
Continue reading 'The Month of July: Festivals and Fun'»
Hirosaki 08-09
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4th of July, bunkasai, dancing, festivals, fireworks, food, hanabi, Hirosaki, host family, Japan, Korea, matsuri, nature, neputa, outdoors, tankenbu, traveling, trip, video, Yosakoi
I’ve kept busy the past couple weekends, doing one sort of party or another. Not to say that the weekday stuff isn’t great, too. It’s hard to believe, but we’re more than half-way through this semester! Starting pretty soon, I’m going to have to start worrying about finals and presentations. Well, I’ll go over some of the highlights of the past weeks.
Continue reading 'Party, Party'»
Hirosaki 08-09
| Aomori, food, hanabi, Hirosaki, host family, Japan, kaji-machi, karaoke, museum, nomihodai, party, tankenbu
It’s been a while since I posted in this space, huh? Well, I just took my first trip during my time here: a couple days down in Tokyo with some of my Korean friends. I’ll get to that in a bit, but first I thought that I’d try to play catch-up and go over what I’ve been up to the last couple of weeks since I posted last.
Continue reading 'The Trip to Tokyo'»
Hirosaki 08-09
| Akihabara, food, geek, Japan, maid cafe, otaku, shopping, Tokyo, traveling, Ueno, video, video games, yako basu
It’s been a pretty full weekend for me once again. Since Wednesday, I went to the second concert on Thursday (which rocked), went to Aomori with Hwang and Paku, did CPR training with my club, went out for karaoke and finally, on Sunday, spent the entire day with my new host family. Well, let’s get into then, shall we?
Continue reading 'Meeting the Family'»
Hirosaki 08-09
| Aomori, concert, elementary school, food, geek, host family, Japan, JET program, karaoke, King Kong, kohen, Macs, okonomiyaki, restaurant, school, tankenbu, trains, traveling, video
Sorry for taking so long to get a new post up! I’ve been busy with this and that, but I decided that enough was enough and that I’m writing this thing now. Thank you for bearing with me. I also decided that from now on I’m going to use a jump on my posts, since the long pages on this site are making it difficult for some people to load it properly. Click the following link to read the rest of the post.
Continue reading 'Rafting, Rock Climbing, Punk Rock Shows and Other Exploits'»
Hirosaki 08-09
| apples, climbing, cooking, countryside, curry, Japan, kohen, LMC, momo, nature, onsen, rafting, sukiyaki, tabehodai, tankenbu, traveling, trip, video
I’ve been having another great week in Japan. This past Tuesday and Wednesday, I attended hanami on three separate occasions at Hirosaki park. Situated in the northeastern portion of Hirosaki, the park is home to about 2600 cherry trees, which all have spectacularly blossomed. I’ve been told that over the course of “Golden Week” (which happens next week), about 2 million people will pass through Hirosaki park. I will now do as many other gaijin already have and cover my blog here with photos of pink trees.
Continue reading 'Hanami'»
Hirosaki 08-09
| bar, castle, Fujisaki, Golden Week, hanami, Hirosaki, Japan, Japanese, kohen, nomihodai, nomikai, party, sakura, tankenbu, video
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