This Christmas we are heading back to Europe! I am so excited to enjoy a festive season closer to home. Admittedly, I am not quite making it back to the UK – rather I am enjoying a Christmas in France at my sister and her husband’s house and then a new year in Paris with…
Category: Life in Japan
Shimonoseki Aquarium
We recently visited the infamous Shimonoseki Kaikyo Aquarium. The aquarium is well-known throughout Japan, and maybe even further afield, as it boasts an impressive collection of over 100 puffer fish. Shimonoseki is the home of the puffer fish, with about 70% of all of Japan’s puffer fish being caught just off its shores. So, it…
N5 Stands for NO X 5 – But Apparently we PASSED!
Up-date: We passed! Somehow and with little in it…success! In the first weekend of December, Dan and I decided to give ourselves a little festive treat, and take a Japanese proficiency exam. We went in at the beginner, and lowest, level of N5 of the JLPT test (Japanese government accredited). So we enjoyed (in no…
Birthday Bits
Another birthday, another workday. This years birthday work day was a day of student plays. They were pretty good fun and several of them managed to get a birthday reference into them! My delightful third graders even made me a card saying lots of lovely things about me and my classes, and sang me a…
From Heaven to Hell
The International Saga Balloon Festival is something Dan and I have wanted to witness for a long time. Picture mountains in the background, autumnal sunshine, and many unique and colourful hot air balloons ‘racing’ around the skies. Beautiful. It was, therefore, with mounting excitement that we planned our trip to Saga with Brittany and Mitch….
Surprising Shocks
We have now been living in Japan for well over a year. It seems remarkable that we have managed this long, given that we are still far from masters of both the language and life here. Sure, we are used to living in Japan. Things are familiar to us. Yet, each day I will still…
D and His Golden Balls
As an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) in Japan, I have four schools that I visit each week. One is my ‘base school’ which is where my supervisor is and where all my paperwork (of which there are trees worth) takes place. The other three are called ‘visit schools’, where I am never seen as a…
Japan: It’s Like Living in England Roughly Between 1980-1997
Since arriving here I have often compared living in Japan to the UK in the 1950s. Yet, I am a historian and heart, and it bothered me that this was a date I had plucked from the air without too much consideration. So, on one walk home, I decided to put some moderate brain power…
Time Masters
The Beat cafe has featured in our blog many times. It is a special place, I wish was mine. Not only does it provide an atmosphere to relax the skin off you, but it also showcases local artists and promotes local music and events. It was here on one Saturday that we found a flyer…
Out and About in Shimonoseki
As the Autumn temperature settles in, we decided it was time to go on our tried and tested onsen journey once more. It is mere 20 degrees now (if you are reading this in the UK, this is actually pretty cold after the summer!) and so the warm natural spring baths of Kawatana Onsen are…