Hanami Highlights
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Greetings Block 6! Just a few things this month in the realm of AJET. Late last month, we released the AJET app for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch! This app is full of useful things including links to emergency numbers and the AJET support line, useful words and phrases for medical visits, food shopping,…
Festivities in Kobe’s Chinatown during the first weekend of February celebrated Shunsetsu, and the start of the year of the Rabbit. Beginning February 3rd with the new moon (to end January 22nd, 2012), Rabbit years are said to be for catching one’s breath after the dynamism of the Tiger. This year’s Rabbit is associated with the element metal, so the fluffy bunny may have a bit of a sharp edge (perhaps dulled a little by the fact that it’s yin metal, not yang this year)! Nankin-machi was thronged with visitors all weekend long, and on display were performances of dance, acrobatics, tai chi, as well as the famous lion and dragon dances.
Sometimes when you’re homesick and nothing is working to keep you motivated and happy, you need to do something out the ordinary. Similar to most of you, I decided to go traveling around Japan for spring break. Even though I love Awaji, every now and then I get island fever. I prepared for this trip…
About this time last year, I’d been hearing stories of this epic bike ride called the ‘Shimanami Kaido’, seven bridges that span between the islands from Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture to Imabari in Ehime Prefecture. After further research I found out that the first bridge (if you start in Onomichi) is usually bypassed as it…
So, you wake up one day and you find yourself staring at a stranger in the mirror. And in addition to your eye-brows that need to be re-arched, a facial that is over-due and the nose job you have been contemplating, you also find yourself thinking a certain way, you are embedded with certain thoughts,…
Our cherry blossoms may have been here in an instant, gone with a flash, but if you missed out on Yabu’s thousand-year-old sakura blooms, you can still get your ancient (but still going strong) flora on in the Yamasaki (Shiso) area early in May. Shiso’s thousand-year-old wisteria is a beautiful sight to behold. Typically, the…