Before the winter break, one of my JTEs approached me with an opportunity to do something really exciting with my 2nd year students (JHS, 13/14 year olds). It’s an opportunity that I honestly never expected. With the constant pressure the teachers always seem to be under to follow the textbooks as closely as they can,…
Composting can be a drag. As earth-friendly as it sounds, it’s not simple, where throwing your food into a garbage can is. You need to work at it—make a neat garbage pile in your yard, rake it all the time to aerate and prevent stinky and dangerous mold growth, and deal with vermin who see…
Japan’s skiing has been kept a secret from the international market for years by the locals and Antipodeans in the know, and for good reason. The powder here is renowned for being particularly light and is eloquently named ‘champagne powder’. As soon as I got back from a week of powder in Hakuba over New…
ã‚‚ã®ã™ã”ã„スピードã§èµ°ã‚‹ãƒã‚¹ã¯ä½•ã§ã™ã‹ï¼Ÿ （もã®ã™ã”ã„スピードã§ã¯ã—ã‚‹ãƒã‚¹ã¯ãªã‚“ã§ã™ã‹ï¼Ÿï¼‰
Come with us now on a journey through time and space……. and mochi! I bid you welcome to Chapter 1 of ‘The Mochi Diaries’ and invite you to join me as I indulge in my infatuation with exploring the world of the sticky delicious Japanese sweets known as mochi!!! ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ But Daniel, you…
清水寺（æ’州） If you haven’t been to your first temple of the new year yet, consider giving Kiyomizudera a try! And I don’t even mean the one in Kyoto, though that it also part of our pilgrimage.  Banshu Kiyomizu-dera, or “Kiyomizudera II†(as it is the second of that name on the pilgrimage) is temple 25…
Three months into my Japanese sojourn, a family connection led to my boarding a bus to Sakaide in Shikoku to stay with a Japanese family I had met just once before. I’ve hosted and been hosted a fair bit, but as with everything, Japan’s a little different.  Right from my arrival when we went straight…
Part of the reason I decided to start writing for the Times was to hold myself accountable for my beliefs. And I’m not ashamed to say that a huge obstacle lies between my proclaimed dedication to the art of sustainability and its practice: I’m a lazy bastard. Well, I guess I’m not that lazy. I fill…
The Kobe Prefectural Museum of Art is a modern and contemporary art museum located in the heart of Kobe just minutes away from Sannomiya Station. It was built in 1995, and was part of the rebuilding project following the Great Hanshin Earthquake. It features over 8,000 works of art from Hyogo artist and artists around…