Welcome to November! By now you’ve reflected on all you heard at the Skills Development Conference and might even have plans to put some of those key learnings into action. A big thanks to our fellow ALTs who organized the conference and a final round of applause for all those who presented. Moving forward,…
Message from the Editor Following the professional development that resulted from this year’s Skills Development Conference and the possible personal regret from Halloween festivities, November marks a time for many new JETs when things are finally beginning to fall into place. Much anticipated plans for winter vacation are being made in an effort to…
For the first book club of the new JET year, fourteen ALTs found themselves gathering at Tits Park fooled by the weather, wearing layers meant for the previous day’s chill. While waiting for everyone to arrive we made our introductions, some for the second and third time, and were also graced with the presence…
 The humidity of summer is finally disappearing, replaced by a slight chill in the air at times and announcing the arrival of what the Japanese call shokuyoku no aki（食欲ã®ç§‹ï¼‰. This roughly translates to “the season for eating,†an apt description for the renewed appetite that the cooler temperatures bring. Grilled with a light sprinkling…
This is a game board I made for a few my HS students. The aim of this game board is to make sentences with the verbs that the students land on. The players have to tell each other in which tense the sentence has to be. All you need is a dice and…
 Some say funk is dead, but honey, I beg to differ. Starting back in 2003 Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, a six man Japanese whirlwind of classic funk and ska, has been taking the world by storm. To give you the gist of their sound, you’ve got Naohito “Temjin†Yomoda on trumpet, Takeshi Kurihara with…
Inside the crowd was unique and varied. Larger men who wistfully looked up at the stage hoping to one day compete or perhaps remembering their own glory days, friends and middle-aged wives smartly dressed shouting words of encouragement to their partners on stage, and then the few photographers and writers scribbling notes on…
If you live in Kobe you recognize that there are many amenities the city provides that are harder to find in other parts of Hyogo. Simply put, we have a Costco! ALTs know just how lucky they are to be in such a great location, this is especially true for those who are avid…
This month we’re branching out from the usual coverage of Japanese current events and taking a look at our neighbors in China (expect to see more updates about regional news in future issues). As many of you are well aware, Hong Kong’s commercial district has been flooded with protestors, the majority being students,…