An incomplete list of foods I miss:

No Comments »|July 1, 2009|5:35 pm


Diet Snapple
Hot Pockets
Stromboli
Hummus
Taco Bell
Wheat Bread
Turkey
Philly Rolls
White Pizza with Vegtables
Pizzas that do not cost $30
Buffalo Wings with Blue Cheese
Dorito’s Munchies Mix
Wawa
Water Ice
Diet Soda (the choices here are Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi and that’s all)
Pitas
Ranch Dressing
Chicken Ceasar Salads
Salads that are made with lettuce and not cabbage
Microwave tv Dinners
Mac and Cheese
Baked Beans
Being able to read the labels on food
Food that is low cal or non fat
Terrible breakfast cereals like Lucky Charms and Reese’s Puffs
Waffles
High quality cheese (like Tilamook, Mozz., etc.)
Vegetable Trays
Everything Bagels

You’ll naver take me alive!

1 Comment »|June 25, 2009|6:01 pm


Quotation from Love Story as seen in the bathroom at Kumamoto Cineplex

Quotation from "Love Story" as seen in the bathroom at Kumamoto Cineplex

Bad Day

9 Comments »|June 24, 2009|11:10 pm


Someone stole my bike.  :(

OC I

1 Comment »|June 23, 2009|10:59 pm


High school in Japan is more like college in America, in the sense that you can get away with a lot more because the teacher doesn’t care.  It is all about how much you study on your own time for the exams.  Most of the ‘bad’ behavior is sleeping, but sometimes they read manga, have invisible ping-pong matches, sit in each other’s laps, fly paper airplanes to each other, eat, flex their muscles, dance, have silent conversations across the room, and plenty of other things that would get you kicked out of class in America.  To be honest, I am pretty sure you can’t kick a student out of class in Japan, because by law they have the right to be there.  But man, will they get chewed out later!  Anyway, as an example, today in class I watched a boy:

1) move to a seat near an outlet

2) plug in his straightener

3) set up a standing mirror

4) proceed to straighten his wet hair (they had had swimming class the period before)

5) listen to the awful sizzling sound of wet hair being straightened

6) put wax in his hair to spike it

7) pick up the standing mirror and checked the sides and top of his hair, and then asked his friend to check the back

8) and finally leave class to put all his hair stuff away

And it was like nothing was happening.

Only in Japan!

almost like a free vacation

6 Comments »|June 15, 2009|9:29 pm


Next month I will spend two 11 hour days in Taipei.

What do I do with two 11 hours days in Taipei?

Rookies~

3 Comments »|June 8, 2009|6:13 pm


I have every intention of writing about South Korea and cross posting the photos here (you can find the whole set on facebook now) but I am  TOO BUSY TOO LAZY too preoccupied watching Japanese tv.  Currently, I am watching this:

Rookies Banner

Rookies Banner

It is about a teacher (guy in the black jacket in the center) who becomes the advisor of the baseball team, which consists of bad kids, bullies, and thugs, who have gotten lazy after a six month ban for playing due to a fight.  He makes it his mission to turn their minds around and show them that they can reach their dream of going to Koshien, Japan’s National High School Baseball Tournament.  It is totally unrealistic and ridiculous, but I love it anyway.

Last weekend:  980 yen karaoke + nomihoudai, a real sit down dinner, oar boats, lake picnic, salsa dancing, 3am McD’s with a stranger who wanted to speak English, getting told that I have a small face a lot

In 46 days, my best friend is getting married and I will have been in Japan for a year.

My Wheels

5 Comments »|June 5, 2009|6:44 pm


As per request of my dad, here are two photos of my bike:

My Bike

My Bike

My Bike II

My Bike II

A Shocking Revelation!

5 Comments »|June 2, 2009|5:03 pm


It turns out that I’m NOT fat and athletically un-inclined towards riding a bike–I’ve just been riding on flat tires for the past four months.

Who knew!

Shooting Stars

1 Comment »|May 22, 2009|11:33 pm


Today I watched some students practice judo.  It was the first time I have ever seen judo played in person and not on tv.  It was really neat.  It is one of those things that I realized would probably never have happened if I didn’t come to Japan.

Me, drawn by a 3rd year student

Me, drawn by a 3rd year student

During class Q & A a student asked “Shall we dance?” and we totally did.  I love my job.

Summer Cut

4 Comments »|May 19, 2009|4:41 pm


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New Friends in Tagawa

New Friends in Tagawa

This is the shortest I have ever cut my hair.