More from Hokkaido, National Ainu Museum Hello! Last time, I wrote about visiting Hokkaido and hiking at Asahidake. Earlier in the trip, while I was making my way to Asahikawa (the town near the mountain), I came across a flyer advertising bus tours in the area. A lot of people recommend renting a car while visiting Hokkaido. But, I do not have a Japanese driver's license and since it was a busy travel season, renting a vehicle would be expensive. Foreigners can get an "international" license...
over 1 year ago • 1 min read
Trip to Hokkaido Hello! I recently took a trip up to Hokkaido, which is the northernmost main island of Japan. It takes about two hours to get there from Kobe via plane. Traveling by train takes at least a half day of riding, so it is better to fly up. Temperatures in Kobe had been pretty hot, so I was hoping to get a break from the heat further north. I flew into Sapporo. Sapporo is the largest city in Hokkaido and also home of the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team. This was Ohtani's team in...
over 1 year ago • 3 min read
Summer Break Hello! Summer break has started here. During the break, students get about a month off from classes - from the last week of July through the last week of August. During school breaks, teachers are still expected to go into work, but some take paid time off during this period. There are a few days when the school is completely closed. My assistant principal told me that the board of education actually asks the school to close during those days in order to save on electricity...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Sick Leave and Club Activities Hello! Had to take a sick day this past week from school, which was part of the reason why I did not write last week. Was trying to fight off some sickness. I was able to make it into school for most of the day on Monday but ended up taking Tuesday off to recuperate. Things seem fine now. We have paid sick leave here, but there are some complicated rules around using it. In order to take it, we have to visit and get a receipt from a doctor dated the same day for...
almost 2 years ago • 2 min read
Baseball Practice and Language Learning Hello! I did not have as much time to write an update this week, but I will share a few things that have been happening. Summer weather has continued here - it gets pretty hot, humid and rainy this time of year, so it is difficult to plan outdoor activities. Despite the hot weather, I have been able to go to our high school's baseball practice a few times a week over the past few weeks. The team usually follows a similar schedule each day - they do some...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Quick one this week Hello! I will keep it quick this week and will try to write more in a future week. Only major thing that happened here recently was that Japan officially ended the COVID emergency. It has not changed people's behavior too much, as the majority of people still wear masks. Only a small handful of teachers do not wear masks (the majority still do) and all students still wear them. Also, a teacher recommended an onsen nearby the school, so I visited it on Friday. You can see...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Golden Week at Mt Tsurugi Hello! This week was Golden Week in Japan, which is a series of holidays at the beginning of May. Most Japanese people had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday off from work and school. It can be a difficult time to travel in Japan, because everyone is taking a vacation. Like I have mentioned before, the Japanese tend to all travel around the same time of year (Golden Week in May, Obon in August and around the New Year's holidays). You usually need to make plans far in...
almost 2 years ago • 1 min read
Changing Schools Hi There! Sorry for the lack of update last week - changing schools was a major project so I was spending a lot of time doing that. As I mentioned in the March 26th update, closing ceremony and my last day with those students was on Friday, March 24th. I took the following Monday off from work then went to the elementary school the rest of the week (Tuesday-Friday). I spent most of the week cleaning up my desk and packing up belongings. On Wednesday, the ALT that would be...
about 2 years ago • 5 min read
Closing Ceremony, Graduation and WBC Final Hello! I hope that you are doing okay. I might keep this one brief - it was my last week with students at my school. It ended up being pretty emotional. On Thursday, we had our graduation ceremony for the 6th graders and closing ceremony with the remaining students was on Friday. I probably shared this last week, but my post from this time last year talks about the graduation ceremony - here is a link to my post on that from last year. Overall,...
about 2 years ago • 3 min read