I’ve done a few programmes like JET now; stuff where you’re in an unfamiliar environment, working in exotic locales (or, at least, more exotic than where you’d normally be) and generally away from the life you knew for quite a long period of time. Inevitably, people get misty-eyed and want to return. I always tell…
She took her shears from his hands, wiped the traces of dirt off the handle, and carefully put them down on the grass behind her. She lifted a broken piece of wood from out of her tomato patch, and carefully drew out two characters next to they boy’s name: å¤å±± “I am Furuyama-san….
I’ve been travelling a lot recently, and I had an epiphany at 3.00 am yesterday (or 11.00 am, depending which time zone you want to use), while into the 23rd hour of a 28-hour trip. The world is actually that little animatic map you get on planes. You know, the strange Windows 95-era rendering of…
I just love The Jungle Book. I love the book; I love the 1960’s Disney film; I love the 1980’s Warner Brothers cartoon; I love the 1990s version with Jason Lee; I just love The Jungle Book. In a school production, I even played Bagheera, to hilariously awful effect- on opening night, in my first…
Despite being accident prone for most of my life, I have done an astounding job of avoiding hospital stays. While I may have had a brief brush with the emergency ward after breaking my collarbone at age five I have never actually had to do an overnight stay. Until now that is. Still making it…
Honestly, I am excited to the core, however, having an unfurnished apartment was both horrifying and daunting! Thankfully though, my Kocho-sensei and his family decided to host me for a couple of days so I could get all my things ready in my apartment. As I began to look at all the costs of…
Furuyama-san gazed towards the bright morning sun. She slowly shifted her balance from foot to foot, her right hand idly gripping a pair of shears. A shadow moved slowly towards her, framed against the natural angles of the village houses. The shadow became larger. Furuyama-san slowly leaned down and plucked up a…
Day 1 – 14:00 I was expecting a beautiful young woman in a maid costume. But my supervisor turned out to be a middle aged man with furry eyebrows. Major bummer! He didn’t drive a suped-up Civic with pounding bass either. But the passenger door opened at the push of a…
Hello! Resident Yama Girl Caitlin here. Did anyone feel inspired to climb Mt. Seppiko after reading my column last month? This time I will introduce you to a slightly higher, but significantly easier climb. Mt Sengamine (åƒãƒ¶å³°) is a 1005m peak in the Kanzaki district. I set off at around 10am, along…