taking the new ALTs to Hinomisaki

taking the new ALTs to Hinomisaki - 11
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

So the new Izumo area ALTs have arrived and we got a bunch of new people this year.

Without going into too many details that would only interest a fellow ALT - Izumo increased its amount of teachers so that each of the 6 Izumo area Jr Highs now has its own ALT.

Lisa left, so that leaves third-year Rusty and second-year Chris to be joined by (left to right) Angelo from South Africa, Eric E. from America, Ewan from Scotland and Hannah from Wales.

We also got two new ALTs (Eric N. & Ivy - both Americans) out in Hirata, which is about 20 minutes away but technically part of Izumo now, a new ALT out in Sada (Sam from New Zealand), a married couple taking over Zach's High Schools and two new CIRs - Pia (from Finland) and Judy (from California).

So lots of new folks in and around Izumo. I spent a few days acting as tour guide to some of the local sites like Izumo Taisha shrine and the lighthouse at Hinomisaki.

They all seem like decent folk and I look forward to getting to know each of them over the coming year.

Enjoy the pics!
-Jason

Ni Nen Sei Sports Day - Girls' Basketball

Ni Nen Sei Sports Day - Girls' Basketball - 7
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Click on this pic to see a whole bunch of pictures of my 8th grade girls playing basketball in a super hot gym.

The boys got to play soccer outside where it was equally hot, but at least there was a little breeze.

Our main gym is on the 2nd floor (the kendo and judo dojo are underneath on the first floor) and I made a joke with my kendo coach (seated in the background of this pic) when a ball went out onto the balcony that it went over the railing and smashed the window of his car parked below. He was not entirely amused.
But the next day he was calling me a "gifted fortune teller" since that exact thing happened when the 7th grade girls were playing and he had to have his car towed to a nearby glass shop to get the windshield replaced. I felt really bad, but you can't say I didn't warn him sortof.

Every year the 8th grade class takes a 3-day field trip to Osaka and Kyoto in September. Last year I asked to go, but they basically made up excuses why I couldn't. This year tho I'm sitting with the 8th grade teachers for the first time, so it'll be interesting to see if they invite me to go along. I would like to go since the kids get to go to USJ (Universal Studios Japan) in Osaka and I would have a blast riding the Spider-Man and Jurassic Park rides with them.

Anyway - I hope to post a bunch of pics in the next few days, but I'm jumping all around time wise.

Enjoy,
Jason

class picture day with 3-4 class at IzumoTaisha

class picture day w: 3-4 class - 12
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I tagged along with 3-4 class as they walked up to our local shrine - IzumoTaisha - for their class picture for the san nen sei yearbook they'll all get when they graduate in March.

It was July 11th and it was HOT, but the kids never mind getting out of school for a few hours, even if it means having to pose in the hot sun for pictures.

As you can see, IT makes a pretty nifty backdrop for a class pic. The other 4 homerooms in the 9th grade go to various locations around Taisha, like the old JR station and the Winery, but I think IT is one of the best locations.

You can also see that boys outnumber girls in this class - which is true across the board in my Jr high classes.

Click on this pic for more pics from the day.

Class 3-3 Pencil Cases

Class 3-3 Pencil Cases - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

more fun pencil cases - this time from class 3-3.

I hope to upload MANY pictures this week, so check back from time to time for more fun pics.

I've been taking tons of pictures lately too. I just passed the 4000 picture mark - i can't even begin to think about what that would have cost me if I'd had to get all that film developed and printed. Thank god for digital cameras! :)

2006 Leaver's Party in Sada

2006 Leaver's Party in Sada - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The end of July/beginning of August is the time when we say goodbye to JETs who are leaving the programme and heading home and say hello to the fresh recruits who arrive in Shimane from Tokyo Orientation stunned at how hot it is in Japan in August.

We had a nice party for the JETs who are leaving at Sada Forrest Park. BBQ food and a cool slideshow by AJET President Ben and the AJET Awards.

I was given the award for "SuperJET" - mostly due to my presentation in Kobe I would guess. It was nice to get an award from my peers, so thanks to those who voted for me. :)

We had this discussion on the Shimane JETs webboard a few months ago - while I think I would feel OK classifying myself as a Super ALT, I don't think I quite make the grade as a "Super JET." I do my best to attend JET functions and I try to get to know as many JETs as possible, but I'm not as active in weekend activities as many other JETs.
But I think I'm pretty kick-ass as an ALT - the job part of being a JET. I need to work on the "Fun" part of being a JET a bit more and socialize a bit more since it's my last year now and I've got the teaching part wired.

Click on the pic for more pics from the night.

-Jason

roku nen sei and Mayuko & Mihoko

roku nen sei and Mayuko & Mihoko
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here are some of the 6th graders at one of my Elementary schools - Taisha Sho. Also in the pic are the two women who now teach "Super English" classes with the 6th graders every week - Mayuko & Mihoko.

These girls will graduate next March and then join me at Taisha Chu next April - my last class of new ichi nen sei before I leave Taisha next July.

Super English is the name for the program now in every elementary school in the Izumo area, where local people come in and teach supplementary English lessons 3 times a week with only the 6th graders in an attempt to get them more prepared for 7th grade English. It's been happening in some Izumo schools for a few years now, but this is the first year they're trying it at my schools in the Taisha area. I've only participated in Super English lessons at Taisha Sho, but I think I'll be asked to join in at Araki and Yokan Sho as well.

I've heard mixed reports from other ALTs about the merits of this program, and I'll refrain from any comment yet since it's just started in my area. But more English can only be a good thing in my opinion. And the kids at Taisha Sho are lucky because Mihoko and Mayuko are young and fun and speak pretty good English.

This day we studied the alphabet letters - and played my made-up game called "Romaji Bingo." It's usually a big hit with my classes and the Spongebob stickers as prizes certainly don't hurt. :)

-Jason

Fun @ Yokan Sho

Fun @ Yokan Sho - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

On Wednesday, July 12th, I spent the entire day at one of my elementary schools - Yokan Sho.

They had scheduled me to teach 5 periods in a row and then have English club 6th period, but I told them that is just too much genki - these kids wear me out, so I had them reschedule slightly to give me one rest period.

Still, I taught 3 classes, had a rest period, ate lunch with the kids, taught one more class and then had English club. It was a full day, and it was HOT that day - I think I changed clothes 3 times.

And to top it all off, when I was done, I jumped in my car (God, how I love having a car now) and sped off to a local High School to judge a speech contest as a favor for another ALT.

You find the energy cuz you feed off the kids - they are so happy to see you and have such fun in the lessons it does make the time go by quickly.

Funny thing at lunch - the 5th graders who I ate with that day group their desks into little circles at lunch time, so one kids from each group did JANKEN to see which group I would sit with. The group that won didn't talk to me AT ALL the entire time - they just ate and grunted when I tried to ask a few questions... haha. Oh well - you get unconditional love on the one hand and you're shunned by 10 year olds on the other. All is a day's work for Super JET.

Oh yeah - I am now officially a Super JET. I got an award to prove it and everything. More details about that soon. You gotta leave your readers wanting more... :P

-Jason

Yasugi Trivia Night

Yasugi Trivia Night - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Linda - the CIR out in Yasugi, hosted a Trivia Night, so I dragged Irish Mark, and Ang and Ang brought two of her Japanese friends along and we went for a night of questions to stump our collective brains. Had much fun! And we crushed the competition... LOL

Yokan Eigo Club 2006-2007

Yokan Eigo Club 2006-2007
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

This is my whole English Club at Yokan Shogakko this year.
All girls this time - two 4th graders, three 5th graders and one 6th grader.
from left: Ayane, Shiori, Kanoko, Shiori, Yuka and Wakako.
They've been a fun bunch so far - we meet about once a month for one hour of English fun.

Hirata HS - Gemma's ESS club - group

Hirata HS - Gemma's ESS club - 4
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The whole genki club. I'm sure their speeches were wonderful!

:)

Hirata HS - Gemma's ESS club

Hirata HS - Gemma's ESS club - 11
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I try to help out other JETs as much as I can, and I sometimes ask them to return the favor by helping me with events here in Taisha. We all like seeing each other and lending a hand, but sometimes the Japanese educational bureaucracy gets in the way.

Anyway, my fellow ALT Gemma was having a small speech contest for just the high school students in her ESS club. I said I'd come along to help judge.

Well, that day was a heckuva day and I ended up getting a bit lost on the way, so I arrived a wee bit late - ok it was over an hour late, and I missed all the speeches. :(

But Gemma had me up on stage with Cat and Heidi to help give out the awards and prizes and we had fun afterwards mingling and eating and Gemma even made us line dance.

It was a fun afternoon.

-JCH

CHESS 2006

CHESS 2006 - Day TWO - 50
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Once again this year I participated in a 3-day camp for High School students here in Shimane. The camp is called CHESS (Camp for High School English Students of Shimane) and it's been taking place in my prefecture for about 15 years now.

Last year we had about 80 students and we gathered at a facility in Gotsu, but this year we had less students, about 60, and we gathered at a different facility near Mt. Sanbe.

The other change for me from last year was my assignment - last year I was an assitant group leader, sheperding a group of 7 students around for the 3 days, helping them prepare a skit to perform on the final day. That was cool, cuz I got to bond with that small group of kids.

This year, I was put in charge of a workshop - The Tricky Mysteries (Trivia) workshop, so I got to see all ten groups over the course of 5 workshops. This was also fun, as I love trivia and it was fun to see all the groups competing. Also, it gave me a little more free time to simply interact with all the kids, as I had none of the pressure of trying to get the skit ready for Sunday.

Oh yeah, the camp was on a Friday thru Sunday this year, which was a change from the midweek schedule last year.
And the final day of the camp was also the day of my Mom's birthday, the Wimbledon tennis final and the World Cup soccer final. It was a busy weekend! :)

So click on this picture and you'll be taken to my online site which has about 70 or 80 pics from CHESS this year.

The coolest thing for me at CHESS is getting to actually have conversations in ENglish with students. Most of the kids who come to the camp really like English, and since they're older than the students I teach at Jr High or Elementary school, they can actually talk to you in English - which is so Cool!

And I got to see some of my former Jr High students who are now in High School.

Anyway - it was three days of heat, mosquitos, "viking-style" meals, one cold shower, late nights and I loved it all - one of the best work-related activities I do ALL year. Can't wait to go again next year for my final time.

-Jason

The 2006 Chugokku Cup

The 2006 Chugokku Cup - 3
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The Shimane JETs have their own soccer team - The Shimane Samurai Superstars. They have a mens' team and a womens' team and they play other adult teams for fun.

This was a tournament largely put together by Shimane ALT Cleve and held this year on Saturday, June 17th, at the amazing Hamayama Park sports facility in my town, Taisha.

Cleve asked me to help out in the announcer's booth for the day and I happy to oblige.

I got to watch some fun soccer and cheer on my friends, who are decked out in red in this pic.

Chugokku is the region of Japan than Shimane prefecture is in, so teams came from adjacent prefectures such as Yamaguchi, Hiroshima and Okayama. There were also a few teams of Japanese players from the area. The Shimane team made it to the final match only to be beaten by one of the Japanese teams in a tight match with the score of 3-2.

click on this pic for more photos from the day.

-Jason Cosell

T&F club - macho pose

T&F club - macho pose
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

This is me with the Track and Field club members who are 9th graders.

This was taken on Tuesday, June 20th, at the conclusion of the tournament. My kids did allright, but didn't take home any of the big team prizes.

I went back out to support them after school that day, and luckily didn't get any of the sunburn I got when i was with them all day the previous Sunday.

special Track & Field socks!

06:06 Track & Field at Hamayama Park - 14
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I spent most of Sunday, June 18th, out at Hamayama park watching my JH's track and field team compete against other area teams.

I had a great time talking to the kids and cheering on the runners and jumpers.

This pic is of the silly and funny socks all the girls on the team seem to wear. Click on any pic to see many more that day.

-JCH

Trivia for week of July 10th

Jamie Lee Curtis was praised for her performance in the 2003 remake of the film Freaky Friday. Who starred in the 1976 original?

Answer for week of June 26th (highlight line below):
"The Scientist"

Letters from Kaori & Yukako - 1

Letters from Kaori & Yukako - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I get cool hand-written letters from some of my kids - one of the benefits of low-tech Taisha living - most can't email me unless I owned a Japanese cell phone and I've refused to get one so far.

So they write me and include cool drawings and little stickers and sometimes they write in both Japanese and English, which is good practice for me, but a few of the really smart girls just write me in English. More than any omiyage I could buy in a shop, these letters and drawings are what I'll treasure when I leave Japan.

-JCH

Brass Band @ Misen no Sato - cool chicks

Brass Band @ Misen no Sato - cool chicks
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My band chicks are the greatest girls. More than any other group of kids at my Jr High, they try to talk to me in English and chat about regular stuff - so much of my conversations with kids are still limited to "Boy, Jason, you sure are big" or "Do you have a girlfriend" or "Do they have rain in America?"

So I try my best to support them and go see them perform whenever I can. This day was a Sunday, but I went anyway, and I was the only staff member there other than the main band teacher - Sakamoto sensei.

Turns out the place was a retirement community, but that didn't stop my band from playing and dancing and singing to the "Matsui Ken Samba."

-JCH

Yuki & Hiromi - "hen na kao"

Yuki & Hiromi - "hen na kao"
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Every month I now make three 4-page English newsletters at my Jr High. One for each grade level - 7th to 9th.
I include English word puzzles, interviews with teachers, contests and pictures.

Yuki and Hiromi have asked me to NOT use this picture in the 9th grade English newsletter. hmmm......

:)

Spider-Man 3 trailer!!

OK - I know it's a year away and maybe even longer before I get to see it here in Japan, but Sony has released the first trailer for the new Spider-Man film, due for May 2007.

You can watch it Here.

It's cool that director Sam Raimi is tackling the Venom storyline, a long-time favorite of fans of the comic book.

And it looks like we'll get an appearance by the Hobgoblin and The Sandman - two cool villians.

Can't wait!

Now if they'd just hurry up and release Superman Returns and X-Men 3 here!

-Jason

Trivia for week of June 26th

Which nifty Coldplay video required lead singer Chris Martin to figure out how to sing his lyrics backward in order to fit to the narrative, which plays out in reverse as the video unspools?

Answer for week of June 5th (highlight line below):
Frank Sinatra

Day Two of Tennis @ Hamayama Park

Day Two of Tennis @ Hamayama Park - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

On June 13th and 14th, my Jr High basically shut down while members of the various sports teams at my school went off to compete in city wide competitions.

I'm not kidding about the shutting down part - that Tuesday and Wednesday, the kids that did have to come to school (the kids in the band or chorus or not in a club for instance) got to go home both days after third period, and there were no classes to teach as the first three periods were basically study hall periods.

What's funny is how much complaining you hear here about the declining academic performance of Japanese students and how they should go back to a 6-day school week, but then you have days like this where everything stops for sports. Hmmmm....

Anyway, these teams from my school were competing:
Kendo, judo, baseball, soccer, volleyball, tennis, and track & field.

So I had to go to shogakko during the day both days, but after lunch I was free to go and cheer on my kids. Last year I didn't have my car yet, but this year I was mobile, so I headed over to the local sports ground (Hamayama Park) on Tuesday to watch Tennis, and then I caught the end of the volleyball competitions at another local Jr High.

It was really fun seeing my kids compete and cheering them on, since I was the only one shouting encouragment in English.

What's kinda sad is as I go to more and more of these special events, how little I see other ALTs. I know many don't have just one base school like I do, but some could make the effort and support their kids, cuz they love seeing us there.

On Wednesday it was more volleyball (we lost), a little soccer (we won), and the girls tennis finals (we won).
Track n Field was actually happening that Sunday, and I went to that too (pictures soon).

Click on the pic here for more pics of the various sports.

Go! Fight! Win!

My brother, Paul, in Iraq

My brother, Paul, in Iraq
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My younger brother, Paul, is a soldier in the American Army and currently he's serving his one-year rotation in Iraq.

He sent me this pic recently to show me how hot it is where he is. He said it's actually closer to 130.F, but the thermometer stops at 120.

I guess it's hard for me to complain now about getting sweaty after singing and dancing to "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" with fifty-five 9-year-olds at one of my shogakko, that has no air-con, when Paul is out there with a 50-lbs pack and lugging an M-16.

Paul will hopefully be back in America in November and I'll get to see him when I go home to San Diego for Xmas.

-Jason

My trip to Dogo (Oki)

My trip to Dogo (Oki)
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

In early June I took the ferry from the mainland and went out to Dogo island in the Oki chain off the coast of Shimane. Four JETs live on Dogo, the largest island in the Oki chain.

My friends Liz & Eri, who came to stay at my place over New Years, are both going home in July after two years on the island. So I wanted to say good bye and see Dogo, as I'd never been before. (I've been to Nishinoshima and Chibu in Oki, but never Dogo)

Donna, a first year ALT, is also leaving Dogo, but she's staying with the JET Programme, she just transferred to the mainland.

I arrived on Saturday afternoon, after missing my scheduled ferry. So I had to pay a little extra and I took the Rainbow ferry, which makes it out to Dogo in just over an hour, instead of the 2 1/2 hours the normal ferry takes.

We hung out on Saturday, chatted, watched a flick, had dinner at a Chinese restaurant and then sang some karaoke.

Sunday Liz and I did a fair amount of walking as she showed me around Dogo, then we went bowling and had dinner at a brand-new Italian restaurant, the only one on the island.

Monday I went to one of Liz's school and then we attended a local festival that's a pretty big deal apparently.

Had a great time and Liz was a great host.

-JCH

2006 Taisha JH Pep Rally

2006 Taisha JH Pep Rally
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

click on this pic to see other pics from my Jr High's summer sports pep rally.

I'm gonna try to upload about 100 pics in the next few days so there should be plenty to look at soon.

-Jason

3-4 girls & their pencil cases

3-4 girls & their pencil cases
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I added about 10 pics of kids in one of my 9th grade classes and their pencil cases - some real interesting choices for something to hold your pencils.

Check em out by clicking on the this pic.

Enjoy,
Jason

Trivia for week of June 5th

Which musical legend, known as "The Voice" in the 1940s, recorded over 1,500 songs in the course of his lifetime?

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
"Thank you."

Trivia for week of May 29th

Alfred Hitchcock, when accepting the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award in 1967, gave one of the shortest acceptance speeches in Oscar history. What was it?

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
B. Tori Amos

side note - Hitchcock is one of the undisputed masters of cinema, and yet he NEVER won an Oscar for Best Director. But many of his films are routinely mentioned in the top ten lists of best films of all time - Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Notorious - the list goes on and on. Treat yourself and watch a Hitchcock film soon - you'll be glad you did!

Mr. Rogers

My friend Zach had a link to this 7 minute clip on YouTube and I'm so glad I saw it.

The clip is of Mr. Rogers - a famous American host of children's programming on TV. He's testifying before a senate subcommitee in 1969 (the year I was born) to try and secure funding for what would become PBS - Public Broadcasting - a TV channel in the states with no commercials that shows almost entirely educational programming such as Mr. Rogers Neighboorhood and Sesame Street.

I grew up on these two shows in the 1970s. I have distinct memories of coming home from kindergarten at around noon most days and plopping down on the floor in front of the TV to eat my cheese sandwich and watch an hour of Mr Rogers and Sesame Street. I LOVED these shows.

Watching the clip made me remember how reassuring Mr Rogers and his show were. I know he passed away recently, but I hope his legacy lives on and similar shows on PBS are airing for this and future generations.

After I finished watching the clip I caught myself crying - just out of nowhere welling up. I think I got so emotional because of childhood memories, but mostly I think it was because Mr. Rogers was such a decent guy - I think about how he dedicated his life to making children he never met feel loved and cared for and that is such a special and rare thing. Plus - I'm just a big softie about certain things.

Bring around so many young kids at my 5 elementary schools these past two years has really made it clear to me how important it is to let kids that age know how special they are and how much they can achieve if they work hard and try their best.

Anyway, watch the clip if you have time, and thanx to Zach for the link.

-JCH

Tag - you're it!

My friend and fellow Izumo area ALT, Titia, "tagged" me on her blog, so now I have to fill out the following survery or be forever shunned by the Shimane Blogger community. :P

I didn't even know you could be tagged in cyberspace - i didn't know what it meant until I saw Titia in person the other day and she explained it to me...

So here we go...


4 Jobs I've Had in My Life:

Comic Book Store manager
Jr League soccer referee
Advertising sales for a cool firm called PRN
Laserdisc/DVD/Video Store guru


4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again:

Jaws
The Empire Strikes Back
Singin' in the Rain
The Muppet Movie
(and believe me, after all the years working at video stores, I have watched these flicks MANY times)


4 Places I Have Lived:

Dallas, TX, USA
Santa Monica, CA, USA
Berkeley, CA, USA
Taisha, Shimane, JAPAN


4 TV Shows I Love To Watch:

24
Prison Break
LOST
Battlestar Galactica


4 Websites I visit:

www.thejapanesepage.com
www.shimanejets.com
www.imdb.com
www.youtube.com


4 Places I have Been on Vacaction:

London, England
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Fukuoka, JAPAN
Walt Disney World, Florida, USA (pre-EPCOT)


4 Favorite Foods:

CHEESE!
Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits
My Mom's Roast Beef & Yorkshire Pudding
TACOS!


4 Places I would rather be right now:

in England with my folks
in San Diego with my sister
asleep
in Korea seeing fricking X-MEN 3


4 Bands I Can Listen to over and over again:

It has to be a "band"? hmmm...
The Cure
The Police
Men At Work
U2


4 Pet Peeves:

teachers and co-workers who speak at me in rapid-fire Japanese even tho they know I can't understand
smoking in restaurants
constantly being sweaty in the summer here
JETs who do nothing but complain about Japan and then re-contract to stay another year


4 People I am Tagging:

Ang
Dustin
Emily
Trevor

Star Wars on Robot Chicken

You gotta love YouTube.com - great place to see all kinds of clips you'd otherwise miss.

My friend, Pat, sent me a link to this clip - a parody of Star Wars. Really, REALLY, REALLY FUNNY!

Enjoy,
Jason

Welcome to new readers!

Hello All,

I just got back from Kobe, where I attended the JET conference for recontracting ALTs.

I had to present a workshop on using Audio & Visual Aids in class. By all accounts it went pretty well - both my workshops were well attended and audience reaction was very positive.

I was able to recommend some of the tools I use to keep my classes interesting and I was also able to plug the new Shimane ALT produced DVD made by the San In Film Project.

So I want to say "Hello" and "Welcome" to any new readers who may have found my little corner of the internet after attending one of the workshops in Kobe.
I was really very appreciative of all the feedback I got - many ALTs came up to me and said how much they enjoyed my presentation or even more important that they liked one or two of my ideas and hope to use them in their own classes.

For those that did attend, here is a list of some of the songs I've used in The Lyrics Game that have worked well:

The Wind by Cat Stevens
For You by Duncan Sheik
Love Me Tender by Elvis Presley
What a Wonderful World by Sam Cooke

All are short with little repeats and are clear and easy to understand.

Also, I can't recommend enough subscribing to the Daily Yomiuri. I use it in my classes all the time to play the newspaper game - a popular & fun activity in my schools. And of course to decorate my class rooms, as mentioned in my workshops. I also like to do the crossword, but be warned it's rather American-centric. :)

Click Here for a special offer from JET Set on subscribing. It's worth the money.

I also realized that in the first session (#2) I mentioned the Whose watch is this? game, but didn't mention Romaji Bingo and vice versa in the afternoon session (#5). If you want to know more about either of these games or anything else in the presentation, feel free to email me.

Thanx again for all the great feedback and I'm so glad so many of you got something good out of the workshops.
Good luck with your teaching and post a comment or send me an email and let me know how your classes are going.

Cheers,
Jason H.

Comix rule!

Comix rule!
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I love American comic books!

All types, including romance stories, suspense, gothic horror, humor, and of course Superheroes.

My kids really don't know American superheroes that well, despite the plethora of recent film adaptations.

So I set up this display in my Language Lab classroom, which is used almost exclusively for English teaching, with some actual comic books in bags pinned up around the two large posters.

I bought the posters on eBay, and they were pretty cheap to send folded - much cheaper than buying a poster in a bookstore here. And I still get comics shipped to me every other month from the fine folks at the Comic Gallery in San Diego, where I used to work long ago.

Most Japanese manga (comics) are in B&W - so my kids are always interested in the full color monthlies and the difference in art styles.

It was just Free Comic Book Day in America, so I have some nifty free comics coming in my next shipment to give away as prizes in my classes.

-Jason

My kids only watch the best movies!

My kids only watch the best movies!
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My local video store sells off it's overstock VHS rental tapes for about 300 yen (about $3) after they stop renting as much. I've been able to get some great titles for my kids to watch - all in English with subtitles.

My school is gonna have quite the cool library before I leave.

-JCH

mmmmm - Food!

mmmmm - Food!
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My cool stateside friends and my relatives (both in England and America) send me care packages with food I miss.

So I decided to put the packaging to use and created a small display at my JH. The signs say, "These are some of Jason's favorite foods." and "What is your favorite food? Please tell me."

So thanx to Uncle Terry, Michele, my Big Sis and my Mom for sending the packages! I savor every mouthful!

-JCH

Isogashii desu ne! (So Busy!)

So Busy!
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

This is my schedule board on my desk at my Junior High.

I use it so my 5 JTE (Japanese Teachers of English) can sign up to have me come to their class.

I also write in my visits to Elementary school so they know when I'll be gone and unavailable.

Last week was a drop dead busy week!

There was no 6th period at my JH on Monday or Thursday, so out of 28 possible periods, I taught a class in 22 of them!

1-# means 7th graders
2-# means 8th graders
3-# means 9th graders
san san and iki iki are my special needs classes
Opt means my special elective English classes
and the red entries are my shogakko (elem school) visits

They are getting they money's worth out of this ALT, that's for sure.

-Jason

But I can't really complain because I talk to ALTs (especially High School ALTs) that teach 5 classes in a whole WEEK! I'd rather be super busy than super bored.

Trivia for week of May 22nd

Which pop chanteuse made a cameo appearance singing at a party in the 2003 film Mona Lisa Smile?

A. Sarah McLachlan
B. Tori Amos
C. Madonna
D. Bette Midler

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
C. Charlotte Church

Random thoughts - May 2006

I've been busy lately. School is back in full swing and it seems I have more classes than last year. I'll soon start visiting elementary schools again too, so my days will remain full until the summer break in late July.

July will bring new friends in the form of a new crop of JETs coming to Izumo and Shimane, but it will also see some of my good friends depart. A few have decided to stick around for a third year like me, but it seems two years was enough or just right for many of the JETs that first arrived with me back in 2004.

I've really been trying to come up with new lesson plans and games for my Jr High classes - half to keep myself interested and also to give the kids something new - by now many of them have played some of my more reliable games many times. I also decided to start an English language 4-page newsletter for each grade level - made by me of course. The first issue for my 7th graders was well-received, so I'll try and get the 8th and 9th grade editions out soon.

I've always considered myself pretty handy with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc, but the interface on the school computer is all in Japanese and I have an Apple laptop, so my desktop publishing options are a bit limited.

I've also got two mini-projects going on in May - one is a yearbook/annual for all the Shimane JETs that I'm helping a friend edit. We've been gathering submissions and will soon compile the book - a keepsake for all the leaving JETs and cool memory item for the other JETs.
I've also been selected to give two short presentations at a JET conference in Kobe next week for other ALTs who have decided to stay for a 2nd year. I have to speak on using audio/visual aids in the classroom - not a topic I'm 100% confident I can speak about for 70 minutes, but I'm sure it'll be good. I did a similar thing all through college - worry about a presentation/paper/test right until the last minute and then generally pull it off better than I'd hoped.

And of course I'm coming home everyday to watch the current sumo tournament - good stuff this time as the dominant champion - Asashoryu - is out with an injury, so it's opened up the field a bit and about 6 wrestlers could pull out a victory.

After almost two years of faithful service - my washing machine broke last week - it's developed a leak. So I've been going to a coin-op laundry over in Izumo - not a bad place, but a little pricey. I'll have to talk to my supervisor about getting it fixed, since it's owned by the city - but that means breaking out my dictionary and looking up all the words I'll need for the conversation. One of my car headlights is out too. My mom always said these things come in "threes" so I'm waiting for something else to break.

For my yearbook piece, I'm gonna do a rif on the famous questionaire made popular on Inside the Actor's Studio.

How would you answer these questions?...

01. What is your favorite word?

02. What is your least favorite word?

03. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

04. What turns you off?

05. What is your favorite curse word?

06. What sound or noise do you love?

07. What sound or noise do you hate?

08. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

09. What profession would you not like to do?

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Hope all is well in your corner of heaven.

-Jason

Trivia for week of May 15th

Which singer's debut album was released when she was just thirteen?

A. Britney Spears
B. Debbie Gibson
C. Charlotte Church
D. Brandy

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
Christopher Guest, director of "Best in Show" and "Waiting for Guffman"

Trivia for week of May 8th

Which actor-director is a pioneer in "mockumentary" filmmaking, and relies on a regular group of actors who are gifted at the improvisation his films require?

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
B. Tommy Lee Jones

Clubs at Taisha Chu

Clubs at Taisha Chu
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Last Tuesday, May 2nd, was the last day of school before the Golden Week holidays - a series of 3 national holidays in a row that give many Japanese about a week's vacation each year in early May.

Since I was not going anywhere this year, I went to work on Monday and Tuesday - many JETs take those two days off in order to have about 10 days off in a row (including the weekends).

Tuesday was a mellow day although I taught all 4 classes that day, so I was busy at first. But we ate bento lunch early that day, at about 11:30, and then cleaned the school in preparation for the visiting parents. That's why I'm wearing a tie - I taught 4th period in an ichi nen sei class where the parents could come and watch their students being taught. After 4th period, at about 2pm, the parents and most of the staff went off for various PTA meetings, and the kids either went home early or went off to their clubs for daily practice.

Having nothing to do, I decided to wander around and chat with the various clubs and snap some pics. You can see some more pics by clicking on this one.

This upcoming week I've promised myself that I will start working out with the kendo team again - I had stopped during the very cold winter months, but I need to start getting some decent exercise again. But today is the start of the May Sumo tournament, so my desire to rush home each day to watch sumo for the next two weeks may supercede my desire to get sweaty with a big bamboo sword. We'll see. :)

-Jason

PS - what do you think of the tie? I just bought it. I'm so fashion-challenged - I need to know if it will go with any other color shirts other than the white one I'm wearing here.

Is Margaret Cho happy?

I'm a big fan of Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho.

Her concert DVDs are really funny, extremely vulgar and quite thoughtful as well.

She was the first Asian-American to have their own TV show - the ill-conceived and ill-fated 1994 ABC sitcom All American Girl.

She describes what it was like to be on the show in her brilliant DVD I'm The One That I Want. A must see!

So I'm curious if she's at all happy with the current state of Asians on American TV. Because it occured to me the other day while watching my current favorite show - Battlestar Galactica - which features the amazing and very hot Grace Park - that THREE of my current favorite shows prominently feature Asian actresses. (Although, ironically, none of them are Asian-American - two are from Canada and one was born in Korea).

Did I mention that Grace Park is really HOT! OK, OK, enough of that.... :)

One of the other two actresses is the phenomenal Sandra Oh, who plays doctor Chritina Yang on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.
I've been a fan of Sandra's career since her debut in a Canadian indie film called Double Happiness in 1994. Recently she was so perfect in the great comedy, Sideways.
She is so much better utilized on this show than Ming-Na Wen on ER, where they have never known what to do with her character.
And she has some fun confounding stereotypes on the show - she's aggressive instead of demure and she punctures the notion that all Asian are alike, responding on one show to a fellow doctor's request that she help translate for a Chinese
patient - "I grew up in the valley. And besides, I'm Korean, not Chinese."

And the third actress is the graceful and alluring Yunjin Kim, who plays Sun on the best show on TV - ABC's LOST.
Kim was born in South Korea and plays a Korean wife on the show who hides the fact that she's learning English from her traditional husband. Already a big star in Korea, Kim is now turning heads in Hollywood and while she doesn't get that much screen time on LOST, every episode featuring her and her on-screen husband (played very well by Daniel Dae Kim) has been among the series best. And they have the luxury of speaking their native language on the show and having it subtitled for the American audience, a rare occurence for a recurring character on American TV.
I read somewhere that due to his childhood in America, Daniel Kim knew very little Korean before he did Lost. He has said that Yunjin Kim, who is fluent in both English and Korean, has been invaluable in coaching him on his Korean, which has apparently improved. Ironically, to the audience's knowledge, Daniel's character knows nothing but Korean.

So three pretty and talented Asian actresses on some high-profile shows in America. And all of them have Korean heritage! I'll have to wander over to Margaret's blog to see if she's made any comments on this recent trend.

Lastly, I also noticed this year that the much-hyped Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue included a half-Asian model named Aline Nakashima.
Not a common occurence in that magazine either - but it's easy to see why they picked Aline - she's truly stunning.

OK - enough salivating over the hot women - see you later.

-Jason

I'm not a complete chowder head

8th grade was a longggggggg time ago for me.

Nice to know that I haven't forgotten everything I learned....

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Beach BBQ day at Taisha JH

San Nen Sei hiking
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My Jr High has an annual event each April - the entire school hikes up the coast from Taisha toward Hinomisaki and each grade camps out and BBQs for the day.

Last year it was windy as hell, but this year the weather was slightly better - not great but at least it didn't rain the whole day.

The kids all bike down to the local beach and then we all set out by grade up the coast road to a "beach" (really just a rocky place with lots of trash) where the kids break out all kinds of pots and pans and wood and make fires and cook yakiniku, yakisoba, okonomiyaki and other tasty Japanese foods.

It's a fun day and it's also good exercise.

My kids are always more open to chatting with me in these relaxed situations and it gives me a good opportunity to hang out with them outside of the normal school routine and rules.

This year my desk in the staff room is with the 8th grade teachers, so I'm assigned to them when we do group activities like this. My 8th graders this year are a good group overall - and the 8th grade class is slightly smaller than the 7th and 9th grade classes with only 4 homerooms whereas the other two grades each have 5 homerooms.

Marching home after the BBQ I was teaching some of the kids to chant, kinda like when you march in the military. Silly stuff like "We are Taisha Chu - yes we are! We're gonna walk cuz we can't run far! Sound Off! 1-2. Sound Off! 3-4" that kinda thing.

So they asked me to get up at the end of the day and lead the whole class in the chant - so I just had them say the numbers and clap. It was funny and the head teacher for the whole grade was really happy they all did something together. So it'll be interesting to see if they invite me to go on the 8th grade school field trip to Osaka and Kyoto this year.

Anyway - click on this pic and you can see all 23 pics from that day on my Flickr site.

-Jason

Trivia for week of May 1st

Al Gore shared a room with which popular actor when they were both students at Harvard?

A. Harrison Ford
B. Tommy Lee Jones
C. Kevin Costner
D. Dennis Quaid

Last Question's Answer (highlight line below):
All My Children

One reason living in Japan really sucks!

I've griped here before about thr release dates for movies in Japan as compared to almost everywhere else in the world - here is another example that kills me -

X-Men 3 or as the studio is now calling it, "X-Men: The Last Stand," is coming out in America on May 26th.

But if you Click Here - and then click on the Worldwide Release Dates button you'll see a chart of release dates for every country set to show the film.

Notice that only ONE country is not opening the film in MAY - and that country is....

JAPAN!!!!! ARRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!!

And it that wasn't bad enough - when will it come out in Japan you ask.....


SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!! I smell a Korea trip coming up....

sakura at IzumoTaisha

sakura at IzumoTaisha
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I just added 24 pictures from my field trip with the 9th grade class to our local shrine - Izumo Taisha.

Every year in April my whole Junior High leaves school for the day and goes off to draw somewhere. Last year I went with the 9th graders to IzumoTaisha and I had a great time - this year was no different. The 7th graders went to the local winery and the 8th graders went to an historic old station, but I chose to go with the 9th graders to the shrine.

Mostly because the shrine is really pretty this time of year and it's one of the best opportunities for me to walk around and chat with the students in a relaxed way. I had some really great conversations on everything from what teachers I like, to do I like girls with big boobs or no boobs to my favorite song at karaoke.

We left the school just after 9am, walked up to the shrine, then the kids picked out random spots to sit and sketch until lunch at 12:30. Then they sketched some more and we all headed back to school at 3pm. We got really lucky because it was crappy weather all week, but that Wednesday was GORGEOUS, and then it rained all day Thursday. So lucky.

I sat down by myself to enjoy my "sack lunch" when some of the 9th grade girls saw me sitting by myself and came over and asked me to join them. So cool of them - a really good group. Still so interested in my life despite having known me for almost two years now. But I seem to be able to get to know the 9th graders best each year - and this year's class will be a good class to get to know better. They'll be the last class I see graduate - but it'll be a nice full-circle type thing since they had just started Junior High as 7th graders when I arrived in 2004.

Anyway - click on the photo to see more.

See ya,
Jason

Nyuugakushiki

1-1 kyoshitsu
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The calm before the storm - Nyuugakushiki means "entrance ceremony for new students." The first day for my new 7th graders is a big deal here - there is a whole ceremony with a reading of their names and speeches and songs and most of the new students' parents attend.

For me it's an interesting day - i get to see all my old 6th graders - some wearing a school uniform for the first time - all serious and nervous about starting Jr High. The cool thing for me is that they all know me from my coming to their elementary schools - so other than their friends who are upperclassmen - I'm the one familiar face. Great group of kids this year - I look forward to teaching them.

click on this pic to see many more from this day - i posted comments on Flickr this time instead of blogging about the pics.

Enjoy,
Jason

Trivia for week of April 17th

In 2003, which American soap opera featured the first lesbian kiss in the history of American daytime television?

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
Liza Minnelli

Konomi, me, Yuka & Kayo

Konomi, me, Yuka & Kayo
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I send out pics to my parents in England and my sister in San Diego separately because neither of them read this blog - what'cha gonna do? :)

So sometimes I forget what I've blogged and what I've sent round in an email to my folks and sis.

I realized that I hadn't posted any of this set of pics I took back in early February since I had a pretty full beard at the time.

I kinda liked the beard but it grows really gray now, making me look a lot older and it's way too hot to have during the hotter months coming up.

Konomi (on the left) took great pleasure in explaining her last name, which is Okuma, to me in English one day - telling me it means "Big Bear." So after that day, every time I'd pass her in the hall and say "Hi Konomi" she'd point at herself and say "big bear," almost guaranteeing that she is one of the few students whose full name I will remember.

Chip Lips

Chip Lips
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I've posted my last batch of pics of my just-graduated san nen sei at my Flickr site - just click any pic to see them all.

I think I get to know the san nen sei the best over the course of the year - so I hope I can get to know some of my new san nen sei as well as I did this super group of students.

Trivia for week of April 10th

Who is one of only a few artists to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, a Tony and an Oscar, and also the only Oscar winner whose parents had both won Oscars as well?

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
Presbyterian

Man Utd vs Arsenal

This one is for my buddy, Mark M., who, despite being Irish, is a die-hard Arsenal fan.

I'm sure he really doesn't want to re-live this defeat, but they are impressive goals.

The video runs 2 1/2 minutes and the commentary is in Spanish.





Enjoy,
Jason

Heidi & Ang at Hamayama Park

JET Fun on Izumo International Day - 5
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I recently uploaded about 30 new & random pics from the past few months to my online photo album.

So hop on your nearest tiger and head over to my Flickr site to see some of the fun I'm having here in Taisha.

You can now simply click on the nifty Flickr Badge on the upper right at any time and be taken to my latest photos. (That idea and the YouTube site link stolen from my friend Nathan's blog - Cheers Nathan!)

-JCH

5-25-77

For those of you "in the know" - the numbers above will not appear as a random sequence but immediately conjur to mind a specific date in film history - May 25, 1977 - opening day for a little George Lucas sci-fi film called STAR WARS. (back when it was just "Star Wars" and not yet "Episode 4 - A New Hope")

An independent film called 5-25-77 is set to open in America in, you guessed it, May of this year. Obviously I won't be there to see it. And despite other HUGE films opening in May, including X-Men 3 and The Da Vinci Code, I'd actually be more excited to see 5-25-77.

After you see the trailer and if you know me at all, you'll know why. Luckily, the film is not really about Star Wars exactly - it seems more of an American Graffiti - what happens to a group of friends on a specific day. And the short trailer is chock full of things that made me smile. I wasn't in High School when Star Wars first opened **I"m NOT that OLD!** but I did go see it on the big screen with my older sister and parents that summer.

So if you're in America and this film plays near you - give it a shot - it looks to be a charming little film. And the director made a great choice casting John Francis Daley in the lead. Daley used to be much smaller and younger when he portrayed Sam Weir on one of my all-time favorite TV shows - FREAKS and GEEKS, but he seems perfect for this role.

So check out the trailer below and save me an aisle seat....







-Jason

ID4 with a Japanese accent

I just signed up at a site called You Tube so I can hopefully post a link to a movie trailer I want all of you to see.

But first I will test to make sure it's gonna work by posting this link

This is a short video of a Japanese man watching the movie "Idependence Day" and speaking along with the dialogue.

Maybe funny for some, but those of us teaching here, this is a daily occurence - and to be perfectly honest, the guy does a pretty good job - i would kill for most of my students to speak this enthusiastically and have this guy's pronunciation.

OK - see if this works....



-JCH

How popular is your name?

I get forwarded all kinds of emails from friends asking me to take this survey or fill out this questionaire or go to this website to fill in my information - some of it is tedious, but some can be suprisingly fun.

I stumbled across this link when I was filling in my birthday info for a friend -

Find out how popular your first name has been over the past 100 years, just Click Here and enter your first name.

So I clicked and here is what I found out about the fantastic first name JASON...

It means healer - i think from the ancient Greek. Maybe my parents wanted a doctor in the family... Sorry Mom & Dad - didn't happen. :)

Jason was the 3rd most popular name for boys in the 1970s and the 8th most popular in the 1980s. No real suprise here - i knew many Jasons growing up. I was born in 1969, so I guess my parents got in early. I used to be the only Jason in all of Shimane, but this year two new ALTs named Jason came, so now it's just like being back in high school - Jason who? which one? haha

So i typed in my old girlfriend's name - Heather - because she used to always joke that Jason & Heather was the name of the uber-white Californian couple and she is probably right - Heather was the 8th most popular girl's name in the 1970s and the 10th most popular in the 1980s. Curious about Heather - doesn't even rank on the list pre-1940s - like it's a modern name.

I seemed to know more Jennifers and Micheles growing up - and they both rank a bit higher - altho you get diff results if you type Michele and if you type Michelle.

Anyway - how does your name rank? I assume this is mostly an American-generated list, so my apologies if your name is not widely known in America.

-Jason
The Healer

Trivia for week of April 3rd

Mr. Rogers was ordained as a minister in what church?

Last question's Answer (highlight line below):
C. Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies

Ohguni sensei

ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho - 10
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Ohguni sensei got this whole day (See post below about the ALT Invasion)organized and kept it running smoothly. A big thanks to him for the fun day and for a great year in his class.

Yano sensei

ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho - 11
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

A big thanks to Yano sensei for a great day and also for a wonderful year with her 5th graders. I hope I get to teach with her again next year.

ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho

ALT Invasion at Taisha Sho - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The two classes of soon-to-be 6th graders at Taisha Elementary will be going to Hiroshima on a class trip in late April. So, just like last year, I gathered together a few of my friends and local ALTs and we all converged on Taisha Sho to joint-teach a lesson and help the kids practice their English.

As part of their trip, the students have to go up to foreigners in the Peace Park and ask them a few simple questions in English - "What's your name?", "Where are you from?" etc. Not tough stuff per se, but daunting for 11 and 12-year-old Japanese kids.

So to get them used to meeting new foreigners I brought with me Mark (England), Ang (England), Chris & Susie (America), Mark (Ireland) and Rusty & Lisa (America). No Aussies, Canadians or Kiwis this time, but I did try.

I'm sure for many of my small-town students, this was the largest group of foreigners they've ever encountered in one place - you have to remember I'm the only non-Japanese person in my town - No Chinese, No Koreans, No Brazilians - just me.

And the kids had a great time - we did a we short self-introductions, played an easy warm-up game ("Cowboy Showdown") and then all got in a big circle and sung and danced "The Hokey Pokey." After that we split into groups and practiced the target dialogue before turning the kids loose to go up to all the adults in the room (The 8 foreign teachers and the 2 Japanese homeroom teachers) and practice the dialogue and gather signatures. About 3 kids were able to talk to all of us and get all 10 signatures - earning them a much-coveted SpongeBob sticker.

I wish these two classes the best of luck on their trip to Hiroshima and I hope they have nice weather, so there'll be lots of foreigners milling around the Peace Park.

Click on this pic to see more pictures from this day.

-Jason

Taisha Elementary Graduation 2006

Nagami sensei & pupils
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here is Nagami sensei, one of the 6th grader teachers at Taisha Sho, my biggest elementary school, and some of his 6th grade graduates.

Since Taisha is a bigger school than Yokan Sho, their graduation ceremony took a little longer than Yokan's, so I was able to swing by and see the kids leaving the school for the last time.

I had a great time with both 6th grade classes at Taisha Sho this year, and that is in no small part because of Nagami sensei, who is a fantastic teacher and really devoted to English education. I hope I get to teach with him a bunch more this upcoming year. His daughter, Wakiko, was one of my speech contest winners at Taisha Chu this past year and his younger daughter, Kanoko, was in my English club at Yokan Sho. Both are great kids and their English is leaps and bounds ahead of their peers.

Click on any photo for a few more pics from Taisha Sho.

Me & Maejima sensei

Me & Maejima sensei
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here I am with the other 6th grader teacher - Maejima sensei. She wore traditional clothes to the graduation ceremony - not a kimono as such, but hakama - the same type of pants I wear when I play kendo and a crossover top.

We got lucky with the weather and it was relatively nice that Friday so we could take pictures outside.
I'll miss those scenic mountains in the background when I leave next year.

The Graduating Class of 2006 at Yokan Elementary

The Graduating Class of 2006 at Yokan Elementary
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

This is the somewhat small class of 6th graders who just graduated from my 3rd biggest elementary school - Yokan Sho. Yokan has only one class per grade, and no one class has more than 30 students, so it's relatively smaller than Araki and Taisha Sho - my two biggest elementary schools.

They were a good class and I'll be happy to see most of them everyday starting in April as they start Jr. High.

I attended Yokan's graduation ceremony this year, since I went to Taisha's last year, and will attend Araki Sho's ceremony next year - that way I would have been to all three of my bigger elemnetary school's ceremonies during my tenure here. They all have graduation on the same day at the same time, so I can't do more than one a year. Although this year I was able to swing by Taisha Sho and see some of the graduates as they left the school for the last time - I'll post some of those pics soon.

Yokan Sho 2006 Graduation

Yokan Sho 2006 Graduation - 28
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Yokan had an interesting wrinkle in their sotsugyoushiki (graduation ceremony) - after the graduating students received their diploma they exited the stage and then went into the audience to find one of their parents and handed the dipolma off to them.

The student would bow and say something along the lines of "Please hold on to this for me" and the parent would bow back and say "Omedetou Gozaimasu" which means Congratualtions.

A few of the Moms wore ceremonial kimono, such as the lovely one pictured here. And most of the Moms cried at some point during the ceremony.

6th grade Teacher & pupils

6th grade Teacher & pupils
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here is Ago sensei, the 6th grade (roku nen sei) teacher, and three of his 6th grade graduates (sotsugyousei).
Ago sensei was a cool guy, so it'll be interesting to see what grade he teaches next year, as this year was his first at Yokan Sho. His daughter is one of my students at my Jr. High.

Most of the elementary school teachers advance each year with their class - so, for instance, when I first arrived Sonoyama sensei at Yokan Sho - one of my favorite Elem teachers - was teaching the 2nd graders. This past year he taught the 3rd graders and next year he'll teach the 4th graders. Not sure if this continuity is good for the students overall, but this system is very much in keeping with the social dynamic here in Japan of group harmony and the importance of the group.

These three girls will be with me everyday at Taisha JH starting April 10th. They didn't have to wear a school uniform at Yokan Sho, but they will at Jr. High.

with the Principal & Vice-Principal

with the Principal & Vice-Principal
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here I am with the Kocho sensei (School Principal) and the Kyoto sensei (School Vice-Principal) at Yokan Elementary. The Kocho sensei always gets spiffed up for these occasions, often wearing a tux coat with tails.

Luckily we had decent weather and were able to pose outside for pictures.

Trivia for week of March 20th

Uma Thurman's father, Robert, is a respected professor of what subject at Columbia University?

A. French
B. American Studies
C. Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies
D. Economics

Answer for week of March 6th (highlight line below):
50 Cent Congrats to Titia for writing in with the correct response

goofing around with the coolest chicks at Taisha Chu

more goofing around - 7
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

In addition to the cool students from my optional English class (see pics below), the other group of kids I'm gonna miss is the small group of girls who hang out with me on Tuesdays and Thursdays after lunch in the language lab.

We watch movie clips, music videos, short cartoons or listen to music and play cards and eat snacks and chat about whatever - it's often the best 20 minutes of my day.

While I'm sure the new 9th graders next term will be just as fun and genki, these girls have been so nice and cool to me they'll be a tough act to follow.

They are clockwise from the lower left: Nobuko, Anna, Ruriko, Masako & Yuki.

Students like the ones pictured in these posts are the reason I decided to stay a 3rd year - they make all the other crap bearable.

my goofy lunchtime companions

more goofing around - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Here are (left to right): Maki, Manami, Mako & Risako

All super-smart and really fun to chat with - I'll miss 'em all after they graduate in a few weeks.

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - end of class pics

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - 15
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

My elective English class for the 9th graders finished last week.

It was a tougher class this term, with some strong persoanlities making it difficult to simply teach, but as always, the girls in the class were a delight - enthusiastic about English and willing to play just about game I threw at them.

Here are 5 of my favorite people in Japan (left to right): Kana, Manami, Marina, Konomi & Yuka.

Unfortunately two of the girls from this class had to miss the final class for interview test practice, so Chikako and Yuri are not in any of the pics.

We braved the cold of the hallway outside the language lab and I snapped a few pics of all the kids in class that day in small groups. Click on any photo here and you can see them all at my Flickr site.

Ask Japanese girls to pose or simply count down 3-2-1 CHEESE and this is the photo you'll get. Peace sign every time. So I asked them to try something different and got a few interesting pics, like the pics below...

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - the wave?

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - 14
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

So when I asked them to "pose" they came up with this design all on their own. Not sure what it's supposed to be - the Japanese Wave?

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - pose!

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - 10
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

It was too cold to go outside like I did last term, so we did the best we could indoors. I tried to get them to do some interesting poses, and a few of those pics turned out well.

This is back to front: Anna, Sayako, Miho, Yurie and Kaori.

Great gals - I'm gonna miss 'em all.

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - boys

2005-2006 Sentaku Eigo class - 8
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

With a little coaxing I can get the boys to pose beyond the normal "Peace" sign too.

I had some problems this term keeping the boys in line, and since they outnumbered the girls 2 to 1 in this class, it was tough going at times, but a good learning experience overall.

BTW - not the 5 boys pictured here - these guys are all some of my best students.

Trivia for week of March 6th

Here's one for you youngsters that read my blog.... :P

Which Eminem protege had an ongoing feud with rapper Ja Rule?

A. Ludacris
B. Fablos
C. Nelly
D. 50 Cent

Last Week's Answer (highlight line below):
"You got me straight trippin', boo!"

Japan has a long way to go...

I really do love Japan, but there are things about the country that are frustrating, exasperating, tiresome, aggravating, annoying, mind-boggling, and/or disturbing. Something along these lines happened today at work, but that story will have to wait for my next post. For now, I'll share this story from United for a Multicultural Japan.

Japan is going to be undergoing a serious population depletion in the coming years, and they just don't do themselves any favors in the areas of immigration or accomodating foreign residents...

>>>>

Mommy's Mug Shot
The UMJ Volume 2.9 (Opinion)
By: Amy Uehara
The other day, my two children and I went to the local city office to get photo copies of my foreign registration file. I needed it for my visa application. You see, I have been married to a Japanese man for 13 years and have thought of Japan as my home since I was 19 years of age. Yet, every three years I need to apply to continue living in this country. I have no intention of divorcing my husband and abandoning my children. I am not listed as living in the same house as they because they are all listed on the JYUMINHYO or the list of household residents. I am not. I am in a separate file. As I am home most of the time and do most of the domestic work, i have taken to calling myself a live-in foreign laborer or SUMIKOMI GAIJIN RODOSHA.

This year, along with my application for the three year visa, I applied for the permanent visa. This allows me to stop having to apply every three years. I will be able to stay in Japan with my childten should my husband die or divorce me. Otherwise it could be very difficult to apply for the one-year guardian visa the Japanese government recently began granting. I still must buy a re-entry permit every time I leave Japan or I will not be able to come back to my home. Even with a permanent visa, I still will not be listed as living with my family together. I am an outsider in my own home. There is no record that I have given birth to my children on my records although I believe I am listed on their birth certificate.They are Japanese nationals. This would change if I changed my citizenship to Japanese. I love my native conuntry and am intent on keeping my citizenship. The other reason would be that a new Japanese citizenship for me would not mean that I could stop being an outsider. When I enter Japan after a trip, I enter through the Japanese line with permission. People stare and I am told that the foreign line is "over there." I tell them that I am allowed to enter through the Japanese line and they look puzzled. This would not change with my exchange of citizenship. It is not yet common knowledge that many foreigners will live and die here as part of this nation's citizenry.

When my son saw my many pictures in the file at the city office, he said, "Mommy, you look like a criminal." The pain in those words ran deep as I looked at my pictures and my finger prints over the years. And my crime was falling in love.

"Pinch - Punch!"

"Pinch, Punch, It's the first of the month.

NO "returns" of ANY kind!"

hehehehe