Hannah, Judy & Pia @ IzumoTaisha

Hannah, Judy & Pia @ IT - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I met up with three new JETs on August 19th, in the early afternoon before the start of the Taisha Town Summer Festival (Goen Matsuri) later that same day.

We walked around Izumo Taisha shrine and then took in all the sites and smells of the town festival.

Pia, from Finland, and Judy, from California, are both new CIRs and work at the Izumo city hall. Hannah is a new ALT working at a Jr High in Izumo. Judy & Pia brought along one of their Japanese co-workers and she brought along her young son.

Since we saw many of my students all day long, I got the inevitable questions I get anytime my students see me with a female - is she your girlfriend? your wife?, and one student even asked if the Japanese boy in the stroller was my child!!!??!!.

We had a great time walking around the shrine, despite the heat, and then later in the day we got to sample all that the festival had to offer -

We ate vendor stall food, watched a parade, saw traditional and modern dance troupes, and even played a massive game of bingo.

And we saw MANY of my students, many of them dressed up in colorful summer yukata (pictures to be posted soon). In fact, the sound of Japanese young people saying "Jason da!" (It's Jason!) or "Jason sensei" became almost a running joke to Pia and Judy and Hannah since we heard it so often.

so, enjoy these pics and more to come very soon

-Jason

learning traditional Japanese dance

learning traditional Japanese dance - 21
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I was at a JET party recently and I got cornered by my friend and fellow ALT, Fiona, and she asked, "Jason, when are you going to post those pics from this summer's language course we did together?"
I've been so behind with pics, but hopefully this batch will apease Fiona - she's like the Hulk - you don't want to make her angry! - and the other ALTs who studied Japanese with me this past summer in Matsue.

A few times they tried to teach us a little about Japanese culture, so this day they made everyone get dressed up in yukata and dance with fans for an hour or so. I know this sounds cynical and harsh, but I find these "culture" moments an incredible waste of time. None of us are brand new ALTs - all of us in attendance had lived in Japan at least one full year at this point (two full years in my case) so we'd all had plenty of opportunites to seek out and experience Japanese culture. This one in particular had no connection to learning the language - at least the two other culture activities were about kanji and using Japanese.

Anyway- i happily snapped plenty of pics for all the ALTs, and they did all look cool in their yukata. I look particularly bad in this type of garment, especially when they don't have one even approaching my size, so I declined getting dressed up - it was more fun to watch anyways.

So ok, click on this pic for plenty more of "foreigners in Japanese clothes."

-Jason
grumpy old man?

skit rehearsal at the Summer Language Course

skit rehearsal - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Me and about 18 other ALTs from Shimane studied Japanese for 10 days this past summer.

here is a pic of me and my partner, Taisha HS ALT Ang, rehearsing our final skit. I was playing a convenience store clerk and she was a customer looking for directions. I try to pick her up at the end of the conversation and we had a choose your own ending for the audience - does Ang agree to let me come along to the summer festival she is looking for or reject me? Maybe I've watched too many special edition DVDs... :)

The course was ok, but the teachers were volunteers and spoke little English, either by choice or by necessity - a choice I don't quite agree with given the level of the learners involved. While I agree it's helpful to struggle to ask questions in the language you're learning, at some point you need explanations in English, and these explanations were not provided. Still, I did learn some new things, and I enjoyed hanging out with my fellow ALTs from all over Shimane.

click on this pic for more from our learning adventure at the kenshukan in Matsue in late July and early August of this year.

July 4th - a full day @ Taisha Sho

July 4th - a full day @ Taisha Sho - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

So while many of you had the day off on July 4th (at least my American friends), I spent the whole day at one of my local elementary schools - Taisha Shogakko.

Periods one and two were spent with the two classes of 4th graders and periods three and four were spent with the two classes of 5th graders. Then lunch with the kids, and after lunch one of my best Shogakko sensei - Nagami sensei - had a demonstration class with his class of 3rd graders. Other teachers from around Taisha came to observe him teach an English lesson, and I was invited to watch as well, and then those teachers had a meeting to discuss the class. Even though their discussion was in Japanese, I had to sit in and throw in comments from time-to-time.

So that was my full day from 8am to 4:30pm.

We played a chant/clap game in the 5th grade classes to help the kids learn family names, like brother, sister, mother, etc.

and in the fourth grade classes we played "What time is it Mr Wolf?", a fun game to learn numbers and telling time. It was a nice day so we could play outside on the grass - a bonus. And some of the kids had just been swimming when they came into my class. They have way more fun in shogakko than in my Jr High. :)

click on this pic to see many more from the day.

Cheers,
Jason

my Kyoto weekend - some preliminary pics

Sept 06 trip - DAY TWO - Kyoto - 45
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Hey Gang,

I had a GREAT time in Kyoto last weekend - and I took a TON of pics - so I hope to have a bunch of them online soon. I posted a few teaser pics for now - some of the most famous sites - including the entrance to Kiyomizudera - the temple of pure water - pictured at left.

So click on this pic for a few more from my great 3-day-weekend in Kyoto and Nara, and I'll get the rest online soon.

Peace be with you,
Jason

The Taisha HS Dance Team

2006 Taisha Summer Festival (Goen Matsuri) - 25
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I bumped into two of my former students, Atsumi and Anna, who were both san nen sei at my Jr High when I arrived in Taisha in 2004.

I had seen them just recently at the Taisha summer festival, when they performed with the Taisha High School Dance Team - and I promised them I would add the picture to my site. Well, it's been a few weeks, but I finally got around to adding the pic - and hopefully soon I'll add the rest of my pics from that really fun day.

Atsumi, in the front row on the far left, is the older sister of one of my favorite kids from this year's san nen sei class - Brass Band member Hiromi. Both great kids!

off to Kyoto

Hello All -

Didn't have a chance to get anymore updates on here this week, and tomorrow I am off to Kyoto for the 3-day weekend.

I finally got a memory card for my camera, so I can now take about 250 pictures at a higher quality setting before I have to download my camera to my laptop. SWEET!

But.... even tho I have lived in Japan for two years now, this is my first trip to Kyoto. But wouldn't you know it - a typhoon is headed toward Japan and we're supposed to have a wet weekend! :(

Hopefully I'll still get to take lots of pictures! More on my trip soon!

And I get to use my cool new iPod on the 6 hour bus ride there and back! So nice!

Hope you have a good weekend too!

-Jason

Eating Lunch with 1-3 class

Eating Lunch w: 1-3 class - 8
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Lunch at a Japanese Jr High usually occurs in the individual classes - altho I've heard about really small school, with less than 50 kids, where all the students eat together.

So at Taisha Chu, the lunch arrives via truck and is brought into a holding room, where students from each class go to get the various tubs and trays and food for that day's kyushoku (school lunch).

The kids take turns being the food fetchers and the food servers, and they have to wear these masks and aprons, but no gloves.

Everyone in the entire school, including the teachers, eat the same thing - and always milk, and only milk, to drink.

So I sometimes eat with the kids in their classroom instead of in the staff room. If I'm at an Elementary school, I always eat with the kids, but at Jr High they really don't care as much that I'm in there, since they only have about 15 minutes to eat after all the serving is completed. But class 1-3's homeroom teacher is also my JTE Moriyama sensei, so she askes me to join from time to time. I can chat a little with the kids in between bites, but mostly in Japanese since they don't really want to speak English when they're relaxing - that's too much like work.

Of course, since I don't eat fish and lots of other Japanese foods, somedays I eat very little off my tray, which kinda makes me feel bad, since the kids are taught to clean their trays - but I can usually get away with it by saying the magic English word they all know: "Diet."

click on this pic for more pics from this day.

Enjoy,
Jason

Next up is pics from my full day at Taisha Sho on July 4th, and then I hope to move up to more recent pics like the Taisha summer festival and then, eventually, yesterday's Sports Day, which was a blast!

cards for the Blue Team

cards for the Blue Team
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

So I've had lots of time on my hands at school this week. They've had virtually no classes since Monday and are letting the kids prepare for Sports Day on Friday everyday this week. They work so hard on it all, and it rained today, so I really hope it's nice on Friday and we don't have to postpone until Saturday.

With my time today I made the nifty cards you see here. I've been assigned to the Blue Team - so I got some blue construction paper, used pictures from a Marvel Comics page-a-day calendar I have and some Spongebob stationary I have, and made each student in the 3-2 San Nen Sei class (the blue team main class) a "Ganbatte" card.

I bought two bags of Kit Kats (which come in bags of 17 bars??) last night, so i was able to give each kid a card and a Kit Kat after school today and told them to do their best on Friday.

It was funny today - i was practicing the "Catch the Ball" game I'm doing and one of my JTEs asked me what I was gonna wear while throwing the ball. I said, "Well, I'll be wearing all Blue since I'm on the Blue Team this year." She said in the best indirect manner of the Japanese that it would be good if I could change clothes for the game since all the teams are involved and I'm not a member of the Blue Team while I'm doing the game. OOOKKKK - makes sense actually, but it's just something that I would never have thought about.

The other cool thing that happened today was I had a great impromptu chat with 4 of my san nen sei girls after lunch.

I was sitting on the wall by the dirt field watching my blue team go thru their dance routine, and Hiromi and Hiromi (yes -two girls named Hiromi) from the Green team came over and sat with me. We watched together for a while and started to chat about this and that. I had just seen Hiromi's older sister, Atsumi (who was my student when I first arrived in 2004), in a local eatery on Monday night, so we talked about that, and i asked the other Hiromi if she was "retired" from the Gymnastics club yet. We talked a little about last year's sports day and I asked them who was going to win this year and of course they said the Green Team. I asked them if they were a little sad since this is their last Sports Day as Jr High students and they both said yes, but also excited. I told Hiromi that this was my last Sports Day too, since I'll leave in July next year, and even though she won't even be a student at Taisha Chu next September, she looked visibly upset. I was a little touched that she was concerned and we chatted about whether I'll return to America or stay in Japan. A few other girls had drifited over, including Risa and Mizuki. So we chatted a little more before they had to go off and practice some more.

None of that probably seems that interesting to you, but I got home tonight and was looking at my pictures from the day (I've already taken like 100 pics and it's not even the real event yet) and I realized how cool it is that I can chat with the kids like that now.

You have to understand that two years ago, when I was a brand new ALT, the kids certainly wouldn't have been at ease speaking to me and I simply didn't have the Japanese language skills to hold anything approaching a conversation. You see, the entire chat I just described took place almost entirely in Japanese. I know, I know - I'm supposed to be here to promote learning English - but the simple fact is that most Jr High kids can't speak at all beyond a few set phrases and some very simple greetings.
So I've worked these past two years to get better at speaking Japanese simply so days like today can take place. It's incredibly satisying to actually be able to connect with the kids - and I'm still not even close to where I'd like to be speaking wise.

I look at pictures from two years ago, and the kids were just as genki and cute, but they are by and large just faces I briefly knew. I look at pictures of my kids now and I see beyond the face - i know that kid's name and his or her personality and so much more about them as people now.

So the simple act of sitting on a wall and chatting with a bunch of rural 14-year-olds was the highlight of my day.

I can't wait for Friday. Go BLUE TEAM!!

-JCH

Sports Day prep

Sports Day prep
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I know, I know - It's been a while since I've updated the site. Sorry.
I ended up have a really busy summer in some ways - and I took a TON of pictures - of summer events, the new ALTS, my students, all kinds of stuff.

So hopefully updates galore will be forthcoming.

Right now I'm helping my kids get ready for their annual Sports Day, which is this Friday at Taisha JH.
Here you can see one of the classes practicing the dance they will perform.
It's an incredibly big deal here and the soon-to-graduate 9th graders take it VERY seriously.

I decided I wanted to be more a part of it this year - my final year. So I suggested to the teacher in charge of the event, who happens to be a JTE, that I could play a game with the kids using an American football and a frisbee. He went for it, so now I am part of Sports Day. PLUS, they assigned me to a team this year - so I am part of the BLUE team - have to wear all blue that day and cheer them on against the Green, Pink, Red and Yellow teams.

More to come soon - i promise! :)

-JCH

Kendo practice tourney at Taisha Jr High

Kendo practice tourney @ TJH - 29
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

The boys kendo team from my school, Taisha Jr High, recently won the Shimane regional competition and will now go on to represent Shimane at the Chugoku regional competition. Go Team!

Click here for some pictures of a practice tournament my school hosted back in July to help the kids practice for the Shimane tournament.

I still pracitce with the team, but not as much as I used to. I usually don't get fully suited out - but I will a few more times before I leave next year. The players in this picture are girls from another school. My team has 5 female players, and about 16 male players spread out over the 3 grade levels.

-JCH

Shout out to my buddy Chris

I'm getting old folks - nothing I can do about it - it's just happening.

Next year will be my 20 year High School reunion! Where did those 20 years go??

Luckily, I have stayed in touch with a few friends from Torrey Pines High School in Del Mar, CA, where I graduated in 1987.

One of those friends is my buddy Chris, who now lives near Los Angeles and works for Mickey Mouse.

Chris is perhaps the most creatively talented person I have ever known - and right now he's using a small part of his creative energy to build an eclectic blog site you can access by clicking Here.

It's a cool website highlighting interesting mixes of music created by Chris and old albums he's finding online and making available via the new net sharing downloading sites.

Chris was (and probably stil is) a rapid Old School, Kirk & Spock Star Trek fan, so I found this video online and I want to share it with him and all of you: Click Here (this link is for Quick Time)
go Here if you don't have QT and select the Jay Leno performance from Oct 22nd.

A digression: I can safely say I am the biggest Joe Jackson fan in Japan. Well, there are some extreme Japanese fans out there, so maybe I can safely say I am the biggest gaijin Joe Jackson fan in Japan. He was and still is an incredible musician and songwriter, a great live performer, and he is everything that was cool in the 80s for me.

I must say as well that one of the best CDs I've bought in the past few years has been William Shatner's album entitled "Has Been."
It's a collaboration with Ben Folds and features some interesting guest stars, and I've been playing it a lot lately - iTunes also has a live version of the song "It Hasn't Happened Yet" that you can download for $1 that is even better than the version on the CD.

So check out Chris' site and click on the links for some cool music and videos.

What do you think you'll be doing when your 20year reunion comes up? Will you go?

-Jason

Trivia for week of August 14th

Wow - it's been a while since I've updated trivia. Sorry if you've been coming for a new question and not seeing one.

Here is this week's question followed by the answer for the question I asked way back on July 10th.

In which Bruce Springsteen video can a young Courteney Cox be seen dancing with The Boss?

July 10th's Answer (highlight line below):
Barbara Harris & Jodie Foster

Ichi Nen Sei girls - basketball sports day - 2

Ichi Nen Sei girls - basketball sports day - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

What's interesting for me to watch is how the girls bond now that they are Jr High students. They seem to form friendships with the students in their new class and/or in their new club. Meaning that what elementary school they came from seems less important than if they are in the band together or on the volleyball team together or in class 1-2 or 1-5 together. Which makes sense since they will spend so much time with that particular group of students.

For instance, this picture represents girls from 3 of my local elementary schools who are all now in the same class at my Jr High.

And I'm already starting to get sentimental about these picture oportunities, despite the fact that I have an entire year to go before I leave Taisha. I know now that every event I attend will be my last - my last Sports Day, my last speech contests, my last time being Santa at the local Kindergartens, my last graduation, etc.

I really hope this year is my best yet!

-Jason
an old softie

Ichi Nen Sei girls - basketball sports day

Ichi Nen Sei girls - basketball sports day - 20
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

click this pic for a bunch more of my 7th grade girls playing basketball and my 7th grade boys playing soccer on their class sports day in July.

Summer '06 regional T&F meet

Summer '06 regional T&F meet - 2
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

I joined some of my Track and Field kids out at Hamayama park on Wednesday morning to watch them try and qualify for the Chugoku regionals. Tuesday was the running events, and today was the field events, including two of my kids in the high jump - Wakiko and Yuma - both 9th graders.

It was really hot! So I have a hat (which says Taisha 'natch), a sweat towel, and off camera I'm holding a fan. Gotta be prepared!

Wakiko & Yuma both missed qualifying, but they did their best.

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! :)