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By Joe, August 28, 2010 1:08 am

I’m back! In Japan, that is. Enjoy this compilation of video from my first few weeks. :D More coming soon!

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By Joe, July 22, 2010 2:41 pm

Only a week or so left to go now until I’m in Japan and starting my job. In this video I reflect a bit on the past week and on the place that I will be leaving, Maine.

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By Joe, March 23, 2009 2:45 pm

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'»

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By Joe, February 23, 2009 5:05 pm

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'»

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By Joe, September 12, 2008 1:03 am

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'»

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By Joe, August 9, 2008 6:48 pm

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'»

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By Joe, July 22, 2008 3:20 pm

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'»

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By Joe, June 23, 2008 9:38 pm

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'»

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By Joe, June 14, 2008 3:44 pm

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'»

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By Joe, May 20, 2008 5:32 pm

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'»