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When it Rains it Pours

The weather in Kochi prefecture involves a lot of rain. Mild winters (by Canadian standards) but a ridiculous amount of rain. Way too much rain. But interspersed between these rainy days are gorgeous sunny ones and sometimes days where the temperature reaches 20 degrees. It almost makes those rainy days worth it. The weather has become a metaphor for my life these days. Sunny - I got invited on a trip with my Junior High school to go to Kagawa, Okayama and Kochi for the weekend. Shopping, parties and staying in a ryokan! Rain - The Thursday before this was slated to happen I developed a leak in my ceiling. When I reached up to poke that leak...a hole opened up in my ceiling and dropped a bucketful of water down upon me and my kitchen. Sunny - My landlord speaks English (thank GOD) and I was able to call her. She came, took a look and apologized profusely. She called in for repairs and they said they could come straight away...on Saturday. Thankfully a good friend agreed to h...
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Challenges :: 20 Prefectures pt 2

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Remember how I stated in an earlier post that I want to visit 20 of the 46 Prefectures in Japan? Well I haven't forgotten it and am still pursuing it. The last time I updated you all I had visited Okayama and also gone to Hyogo. Since then I have visited two more Prefectures and both of them on Shikoku. Ehime Matsuyama is the capital city of Ehime. It's the prefecture just north of Kochi. It's a beautiful place. Myself and another Shimanto JET made the drive up to Matsuyama. It took around 3 hours (much shorter than the alternative which was a 6-7 hour train ride) The first thing I did was meet up with a fellow Toronto JET. We had met through the program's offered Japanese classes and she was gracious enough to be letting me spend the day with her and the night at her place! We had some lunch and then headed to Dogo Onsen. This is the onsen that inspired the bath house from spirited away. It was small but very enjoyable! We wandered around the shopping str...
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Fall Festivals

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Okay, so I'm really behind in posts so I'm going to attempt to zoom through my life these past few months. At the end of the year I hit up quite a few festivals in November and December! Most of these festivals include illuminations (aka Christmas lights). Shikoku island is quite warm in comparison to the rest of Japan so you get to see both the leaves of fall and also some beautiful lights. Our first festival was in Sakawa. A small city of around 13,000 it was absolutely beautiful. The area was really quiet and nice. Not to mention the illuminations were quite spectacular. Because of the mild weather they were able set up projectors. These projected scenes across the walls. There were falling sakura, fish swimming against buildings, Van Gogh paintings and a massive Christmas tree. After this there was the Ichijo festival in Shimanto. This is the biggest festival in Shimanto and one of the biggest festivals in Kochi. That's not saying a lot given how our prefect...
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What is it Like Working in a Japanese Elementary School?

Hey...wonder what it feels like to be a celebrity? Well, I've got the job for you: elementary school teacher as an ALT in small-city Japan. Sounds oddly specific but honestly that's because this is my life here. In South Korea I taught Kindergarten and after-school programs and I often felt like a mini-celebrity. If the students saw me outside of the classroom (aka going to get a coffee at the Ediya next door) they'd cry out in delight. But I had 10 students in my class and a handful of other after-school classes. It never felt too...overwhelming. Well, nowadays I teach at one of the large elementary schools in my city in Japan. It's near my actual apartment. I've transformed into a literal celebrity. I understand it completely. I'm recognizable as a Caucasian woman. I'm also exceedingly popular. My English classes are full of games and the students love talking to me. High-5s are a way of life. I also live only a couple of blocks away from my scho...
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Drills, Drills Drills

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Japan is a country that has a lot of risk factors to living here. It has mountains which pose landslide risks. It is close to the warm oceans of the south which leads to typhoons. It's on the Pacific ring of fire which leads to earthquakes and volcanos. It invented the word tsunami so you know that's an obvious risk. Then there are the risks every place faces such as fire. Japan is a place that is at risk for a lot of things and it knows it. They make sure you know it too. I've experienced four typhoons since arriving in August. The first one is pretty spooky when you come from Canada. I've never experienced those howling winds before and they can really surprise you when they batter at your windows. A few big earthquakes have happened during my lifetime in Japan. In 2016 there was a magnitude 7 earthquake in Kumamoto. We all remember the large earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima back in 2011. They happen a lot. Perhaps too frequently for my family's liking. W...
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Traveling in Japan when You Live in a Remote Area

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So you want to go to Japan. Japan's a small country that's packed with beautiful places to visit and things to see. Then you get placed in a remote area. Everyone you meet tells you how lucky you are, how much traveling you will get to do in Japan! They send you tons of things they find on the internet of unique cafes and cool sights in Tokyo, Osaka or maybe in Hokkaido. "You will travel so much!" they say. "Japan has the best transportation system in the world! How lucky!" Then you realize that this doesn't apply to every part of Japan, especially not if you end up on Shikoku. Shikoku is the smallest of the 4 main islands and it's generally ignored by most of the country. We don't have Shinkansen on the island and the trains that exist here are infrequent and slow....if they exist at all. It's mountainous and most cities are pretty small. My city of around 35,000 is one of the biggest in my Prefecture. The capital of Kochi city has a p...
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Halloween in Japan

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Do you like Halloween? Well of course you do, if you're North American then Halloween is a prime holiday. You can wear a costume of your choosing. Be sexy, be interesting and be creative if you want. You can get tons of candy if that's what you desire. Back in the day the candy aspect was a huge highlight for me but nowadays, given my dedication to my eating pattern, the idea of sitting down and eating an entire box of Halloween candy is less appealing. You'll have a party maybe and dress up for work. All in all, Halloween is a great time! In South Korea Halloween was basically non-existent. But in Japan, if you like Halloween, then you're in for a treat! Japan has taken most of the commercial aspects of Halloween. They don't do trick or treating but that's mainly because of the context around trick or treating is something they've missed out on. However, the excuse to party and eat spooky themed treats is one that that enjoy! You'll find tons of t...
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