March 2007 at USJ

March 2007 at USJ - 18.jpg, originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Went to USJ for the 2nd time this past month during my Spring Break.

Went with a great group of friends from Shimane, including Rob, Jon, Linda, Jen and Eric - all pictured here wearing the 3D glasses for the Spider-Man ride.

We had a great time, got lucky with the weather and over-ate at the Hard Rock Cafe when we were done at the park.

Click on this pic to see many more from that day.

-Jason

kendo practice at Japanese Jr High

I walked around last week and took pics of my kids practicing with their after-school clubs. I also shot this short, 1-min vid of my kendo team working out. I'll try to post the pics to my Flickr site soon.

Enjoy,
Jason

Graduation Day at TJH

Graduation Day at TJH - 6.jpg, originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Wednesday, March 14th, was Graduation Day at my Jr High - Taisha Chu.

We had a nice ceremony, even if it was way too cold in the gym, and I was able to snap a last few pics of my way-cool san nen sei before they left Taisha Chu for the last time.

Many of them had their cameras and I posed in a ton of pics this year, but I was able to ask them to take pics for me as well.

Click on this pic to see more at my Flickr site.

Also on the site are pics from the Shogakko (Elementary school) graduation I attended on Monday at Araki Sho. I have video of both grads that I'll post to my YouTube site soon.

Many of the pics have comments so I won't elaborate too much here. Suffice to say, that after being here almost three years now, this graduation was the most emotional - I'm really and truly going to miss the san nen sei that graduated this year - they were a great group of kids!

-Jason

7 minutes of Spider-Man 3 footage

Yeah - I'm a big geek - so what else is new?? :)

Go HERE for 7 minutes of footage from the upcoming Spider-Man film, which opens May 4th in both American and Japan! Yeah!

The footage of Peter battling the new Green Goblin is outstanding! Can't wait!!

The movie opens here in Japan during the "Golden Week" holidays - so I'll get to go on opening day. One of my favorite students, Hitoshi, who is now in HS, has a birthday that week, so I'm gonna offer to drive him and his brother the hour out to the best movie theater around - I hope he'll be able to go if he doesn't have kendo that week everyday.

Enjoy!
-Jason

AJET Gangsters & Molls charity event

AJET Gangsters & Molls charity event - 11.jpg, originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

A bunch of JETs and Japanese people got together in Matsue recently for a fundraiser for the Shimane AJET scholarship fund. We had a "Gangsters and Molls" costume party, with food, music and the "King of Shimane" contest. Thanks to Gemma for all her hard work organizing this event.

Click on this pic to see all my pics from that night. It was a fun time, and I dressed up as a "Mob Boss" complete with nasty mustache that I grew for the event.

:)

WTC

This weekend I rented the Oliver Stone movie "World Trade Center." It has Nic Cage as a Port Authority officer who was trapped in the rubble of the collapsed towers on 9/11. It was a good film, but not quite as moving and interesting as "United 93" the docudrama by Paul Greengrass about the flight that crashed in Pennsylvania.

By sheer coincidence, I was introduced to an article and blog about 9/11 and the people who feel that the terrorists weren't fully responsible for what happened that day - basically saying that the Bush administration needed something as drastic as a "new Pearl Harbor" to enact its plans to invade Iraq, etc. and therefore had a hand in the attacks on the Pentagon and the WTC.

I'm not going to give my opinion of it all here, but I found these sites to be very interesting - check them out if you have time:

a 90-minute documentary called Loose Change about the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11
This was very interesting.


interesting article with a Japanese perspective on the attacks and budding conspiracy


Japanese peace activist's blog
The top two videos, posted on March 10th, are interesting viewing - each takes about 8 minutes to watch, but they are worth it, save for the last one minute of the 2nd video, which includes some horrific imagery and is a little heavy-handed.

Anyway - interesting viewing and certainly made me think - which is always a good thing.

-Jason

Yo Sen Kai movie - Taisha Chu

Here is a 7-minute film I made for my graduating 9th graders, who were 7th graders when I first arrived in Japan in 2004.
Two and a half years with these great kids distilled into a 7-min movie.
It was the time alloted to me for the farewell ceremony (Yo Sen Kai) we're having for them today at school.

I hope you enjoy the film, despite the poor picture quality that results from the compression needed to make the film small enough to upload to You Tube.

-Jason

Farewell movie for my 6th graders

Here is a short movie I made for my graduating 6th graders at Taisha Sho. Took me about 5 hours last night to cobble it together and work out all the transitions and effects and editing it to the songs.
Turned out pretty good, and you'll see after I upload the longer film I made for my graduating 9th graders that I copied most of ideas from that project, which I'd been working on for about a week to get it just right.

Quality of the pics here are just so-so, and you can read more about that in my comments on the YouTube site.

Enjoy!
-Jason

stuff...

Hello All -

Random happenings with me...

** With the help of my friend, Kazuki, I was able to get box seat tickets for the next Sumo tournament in Osaka in March. Slowly, but surely, I've turned into the biggest fan of Sumo. I really love it and my world gets put on hold practically for two weeks every other month while I watch the new tourney.
I'm excited to be seeing it live again for the first time since late 2005 - my goal is visit all 4 Sumo arenas before I leave Japan - so after March, it'll be two down and two to go (Tokyo and Nagoya).
I'll be joined by 5 other Shimane ALTs - so it should be a fun trip! Pictures and a report for sure in April. :)

** Been busy lately teaching myself how to use iMovie on my Apple laptop. I'm trying to make a mini-movie for my 9th graders for their farewell ceremony the week before graduation. I have so, so many pictures of them from the past 2 years, but they only alloted me 6 minutes, so I've had to whittle my selection down to about 100 pictures or so. But with iMovie, I'm able to add cool transitions, effects, title cards and music. Kinda like a Power Point presentation, but a level up - and you save it as a Quick Time movie - it's been really fun, but a lot more work than I thought it would be - of course, I want it to be great - and I think it will be - gonna work more on it tonight. And I'll eventually upload it to my YouTube site.

** Random observation - I'm fat. Yeah - no surprise there, but I think I've gained back any weight I lost after I first arrived in Japan. I gotta get out and start to exercise again - start going to kendo practice again and try to lose a few of these pounds.

** In case I haven't told you personally, I decided to sign up for one more year on the JET Programme. So that means I'll be here in Taisha, doing the same job, until July of 2008. Which means that the kids that graduate next March, in 2008, will have been my students since they were in Elementary school! Wow! My kids truly are wonderful human beings and they make my job so much fun.

** Two goals for 2007 - I'd like to improve my Japanese, which basically stalled in its progress about a year ago, and work more at trying to find a companion to share some of my time with - pretty lonely out here in the inaka after 2 1/2 years. Maybe that whole "lose some weight" thing will help, as well as being better able to sling the Nihongo. :P

** New Spider-Man movie at theatres in two months!!!!

** I am so hooked on American TV right now. After first moving here, and having access to NO American shows, I now regularly watch 7 shows and watch even others on DVD. My niece lent me the Season One box set for The OC, and now I'm hooked on that show too. My favorite show of the moment has got to be "Heroes." So GOOD!!

Hope all is well with you!

-Jason

Chatting with two former students

chatting with two former students


Here are two of my favorite students from last year who graduated and are now ichi nen sei at a local high school. Despite the bad sound sync - I think you'll enjoy this fun interview with Ruriko & Sayako.

Yuki & Saki's impromptu routine

Yuki & Saki's impromptu routine

I just posted a few new videos with some of my wacky and cool 9th graders. Check em all out at my YouTube site by clicking on the words "YouTube" in this video.

Cheers,
Jason

Ang jumping rope with shogakusei

Here is my friend, Angharad, jumping rope with some of my shogakusei last week at Taisha Sho.

Ang teaches at my local high school - Taisha HS - but she came over and joined me for a day of classes at Taisha Sho. We had fun!

The sound sync is a little off, but you'll still enjoy some of my cute 4th graders mugging for the camera at the end.

-jason

Be careful what you wish for...

I've been busy...

You hear that phrase so often from friends and co-workers that it almost doesn't mean that much anymore.

But I really have been busy... :)

Just a week ago I was a little upset that I wasn't being asked to many "regular" classes at my Jr High. I was mostly being used in the optional (sentaku) English class and for the two classes with our special needs kids.

And then just yesterday, I was asked to teach 6 classes - every period of the day. And it was a unique situation in that I taught at every strata of my responsibilities. I started off the day at my closest elementary school - Taisha Sho - teaching two classes, 1st and 2nd period, of 2nd graders. It was an easy lesson reviewing the numbers from 1-10 and playing games. At elementary school here, they give the kids an extended break between 2nd and 3rd period - recess - and that allowed me to get back to my Jr High in time to teach 3rd period.

3rd period I had Optional-A class, or sentaku eigo, for my 9th graders. It's actually two classes happening at the same time, since about 45 kids signed up - so they split it into two. So I often get asked to divide my time and spend half of the class with one group and the other with the 2nd group. So 3rd period I did a weather game in one class and a boggle game in another.

Then 4th period I had 8th graders, where I'm helping to teach them the concept of "most" and "best." As in "Baseball is the MOST popular sport in Japan" and "I like vanilla ice cream the best." So we did some review and I came up with an interview game that the kids seemed to enjoy.

Then it was lunch, which was fish, which meant that I ate only rice and drank some milk. There was a "milk scare" recently and for about 10 days we got other things to drink, like yogurt, and apple juice, but now they're back to milk.

After lunch I hung out with some of my cool 9th graders and then it was cleaning time. After that it was 2pm and time for 5th period.

5th period was a class of 7th graders, who are learning to use "can" in sentences. So again I came up with an interview game where they went around the room and asked their classmates - "Can you ride a bike?" "Yes, I can." "No, I can't." and so on.

After that it was time for my Winter Vacation quiz. I showed slides of my trip home to San Diego and talked about where I went and what I did, and then tested how well the kids listened by giving them a short T/F quiz. I've done this quiz a bunch of times by now, and I think this is probably the last class where I'll do it.

And finally it was 6th period and time for my "San San" class. "San San" is the name at my school for a small class with kids who are developmentally disabled & therefore, behind the other kids in learning. We did a little easy phonics work followed by a review of the names for drinks, and then some easy math (in English) and then with the help of the JTE, I attempted to teach them how to play the card game "Gin." There are 4 kids in the class, but this period was only the two 7th graders, so it worked out ok.

Then I had to hang around after school to discuss lesson plans for Friday and to talk to the teacher in charge of the farewell ceremony for the soon-to-graduate 9th graders. I want to show a slideshow of some of my many pictures of the 9th grade class and we decided I could have about 6 minutes during the ceremony to show pictures. I'm going to try and use my trusty Apple iBook to put the pics and titles cards into a movie that will include transitions and music - it'll be my little project for the nest two weekends.

I headed home about 5pm, still way before most teachers leave, but satisfied that I'd put in a good day of work.

So after feeling like I wasn't being utilized as much as I'd like, I had a day where I taught elementary kids, 7th graders, 8th graders, 9th graders and special needs kids. When it rains it pours. (But, literally, not here recently - we've been having great weather, even though it did snow once last week - the first time it's snowed this winter since I returned from America)

Today, there was no school at my Jr High since we'll be having classes on Saturday this week instead. On Saturday, the local 6th graders will visit Taisha Chu and see what life in Jr High is like. But I went to school today anyway - I decided to observe classes at my elementary school and I spent 1-4 periods with my 6th graders at Taisha Sho. It was interesting to join them for "Peer Support" class and Japanese lessons.

Today was a good day since I got my hair cut with my free time after lunch. I needed a hair cut badly. I pay about 3400yen, or about $30 for my haircut and shampoo - a little more than I would pay in the States. But it's worth it - you get a little head massage and the women at my local salon are super friendly. And as is standard in all parts of Japan, you don't have to tip. But I brought the woman that cuts my hair - Fumiko - some Jelly Beans from America as a gift (omiyage) and she seemed happy.

I also made a trip to the post office and picked up a package my parents sent full of great stuff I couldn't bring in my over-stuffed suitcases when I came back from America. Thanks for the Mac n Cheese!!!!

I should mention that my parents are now reading this blog - I helped them buy a new computer - a new iMac of course - at Christmas - and I made sure to bookmark my blog so they would start reading it. They always claimed to have trouble accessing it before when they lived in England, but now they have no excuses. :)

OK - this post has rambled on too long... But I will try and not be so busy soon and add more pics and videos soon.

Hope all is well with you.

-Jason

Jr High Boys kendo in Yasugi

I just posted 4 short clips of my kendo teams (boys and girls) from their competition in Yasugi this past weekend. My boys did well at the start of the day, but lost in the 2nd round. My girls did better, making it to the final round and coming in 2nd overall.

I've been busy the past few weekends getting out and seeing my kids compete - I watched Volleyball in Matsue three weeks ago, then tennis in Matsue two weeks ago, then kendo this past Sunday in Yasugi, which is about an hour away by car. This Sunday I'm off again to watch my Chorus club compete, again in Matsue, which is the captital of Shimane.

Enjoy,
Jason

Ohisashiburi

"Ohisashiburi" basically means "long time - no see." I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I hope to remedy that soon.

I've got tons of fun new pics, both from my trip home to SAN DIEGO for winter vacation, and from my ongoing adventures right here in glorious Taisha.

My future here in Japan is a bit uncertain at the moment. The JET Programme used to basically be a 3 year program, where we teachers decided to renew our contracts on a yearly basis. But 3 years was the maximum unless you applied to do a special Elementary School-only job for a 4th and 5th year. Most JETs seem to stay 2 years. So I was set to go home in July at the end of my three years, but late last year, the government agency that runs the JET Programme decided to change the re-contracting rules and allow JETs to stay a 4th or 5th year assuming that the school/town they work for still wants them around. So I had to think anew about leaving.

And I decided to try and transfer to a High School for my 4th and 5th years, so I would have had the experience of teaching at every level of the Japanese education system from pre-school to kindergarten to elementary to Jr High to High School.

But...

my transfer request was denied. I just found out today. I'm really bummed, as I think I would have a lot to offer my new school and I would have enjoyed the fresh challenges of teaching new kids in a new enviroment.

So now I have to decide if I want to
1 - stay at my current job for a 4th and possibly 5th year
2 - leave the JET Programme, but stay in Japan, which would mean finding a different job in another city
or
3 - going home, applying to Grad school, getting my teaching credential, and starting my career as a High School history teacher in California

lots to think about...

and I have to decide by Monday. Yeah, it was nice of the Japanese bureaucrats to wait to deny me until 3 days before the deadline for my re-contracting decision.

So guess what I'll be doing this weekend...

I will be watching the American SuperBowl on Monday, as they're showing it live in Japan at 8am Monday morning. (I'm taking a day off I got for working some overtime a few weeks back).

Anyway - hope all is well where you are - I promise to have new pictures and new vids up soon, so thanks if you've been checking in here - I haven't forgotten. :)

-J

Who's coming to town?

Xmas at Usagi Sho - 1
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

Santa Jason is coming to town! :)

This is me decked out in a fantastic Santa suit for an Xmas party at my tiny elementary school - Usagi Sho.

I only got to be Santa san twice this year, because I'm leaving tomorrow - yes - I'm heading home to America!!!

I took this next week off school - I'll miss 6 days all together - and I'm flying home to San Diego on Sunday and I won't be back until January 6th. Almost three full weeks of battery recharge with my whole family in town for the holidays. With my folks being in England and my brother being in Iraq for the past year, and of course with me in Japan, it's been a long time since we've all been together at the holidays - so I'm really excited to be heading home - my first time to leave Japan since March of 2005.

This might be my last post for a while, so I hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic New Year!

Click on this pic to be taken to a bunch of random holiday pics I took this past week.

ho ho ho...
-J

Xmas lesson with Araki eigo club

Xmas lesson with Araki eigo club - 6.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

ALTs - Click to see some examples of this very simple to make Holiday Card. I found the idea online at a good site for games for your classroom - i also got a great printable pattern for making snowflakes.

http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/

**Yes, I know this picture shows the card upside down, but it just looked even weirder when I flipped it over.

cooking French toast with Opt-A

cooking French toast with Opt-A - 5.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

click on this pic to go to my Flickr site to see pics of my 9th graders and my elementary school kids in one of my English clubs cooking French Toast.

I chose FT since I really enjoy eating it, it's easy to prepare and cook and most of the kids haven't eaten it before. I had some syrup my friend, Emily, had bought me when she was home in America, so that made it even better. The kids had fun, there was some English involved and we all ate well - Japanese bread is HUGE!

-JCH
the "C" stands for culinary gourmet! (NOT!)

Japanese students singing Xmas song

Here are my kids in the Araki Sho eigo club singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."

Enjoy!
-JCH

Sept 06 trip - DAY THREE - Nara

Sept 06 trip - DAY THREE - Nara - 26.jpg
Originally uploaded by Jason In Japan.

OK - here is the last batch of pics from my September trip to Kyoto.

This was Monday, September 18th - a national holiday in Japan - "Respect for the Aged Day."

Kazuki met me at my hotel for the 9am checkout, we stuffed my stuff in a train station locker and then set out for Nara, which is about an hour away from Kyoto by train.

You can read more about what we saw and why Nara is an important site by checking out all the pics on my Flickr site.

Seeing the "Daibutsu" (Great Buddha) at Todai-ji was perhaps the highlight of an overall amazing weekend. The sheer size was so impressive - I was truly in awe walking around it. Not sure why it impressed me so - perhaps I was thinking about how monumental it must have been for Buddhist pilgrims to see it back in the 800s or 900s, let alone for us jaded, modern-day tourists.

I'm not a religious person at all, but studying world religions in college, I'll admit Buddhism had an appeal for me - and seeing this fantastic monument was a moving experience for me - far more so than I ever thought it would be.

We didn't really have time to explore the rest of the park at Nara, but I'd like to go back again and walk around even more - maybe on a day when it's less hot outside and more comfortable to walk around.

Kazuki and I had some lunch and then jumped back on a train to Kyoto and then to Osaka, as I had to book my return bus ticket from Osaka. We had some tasty okonomiyaki at a small place in the Osaka eki and then it was on the bus for the 6 hour journey back to Izumo.

An excellent weekend of sight seeing!

Enjoy,
Jason