{"id":4405,"date":"2014-09-01T11:59:46","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T02:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/?p=4405"},"modified":"2014-09-01T12:00:15","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T03:00:15","slug":"news-from-ajet-september-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/2014\/09\/news-from-ajet-september-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"<b>News from AJET: <\/b>September 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>A New Term Begins!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hey there, Hyogo &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to believe that it is September already &#8211; our departing friends have left Japan to start new chapters of their lives and the new ALTs have arrived and are (hopefully!) settling into their new lives. With the new term beginning, it is easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of lesson planning, new projects, and school activities &#8211; but don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget to save some time for adventures outside of work!<\/p>\n<p>Want to travel? Start planning early. Ask your supervisor for a school calendar and find your midterm and final exams, national holidays, and any other days for potential vacations. Check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flypeach.com\/home.aspx\">Peach<\/a> and other budget travel options for cheap tickets (pro tip: sign up for Peach\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s emails to take advantage of their airfare sales!).<\/p>\n<p>Staying closer to home? It can be easy to overlook your city and nearby areas in favor of popular travel destinations, but saving time to explore your placement can be incredibly rewarding. Ask teachers about their favorite spots or check for maps at city offices or tourism associations (my town has an English map with local points of interests and walking courses\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 though it did take me six months to discover it!). Go for a walk, wander around, or just get lost &#8211; you never know who you can meet or what hidden gems you can find tucked away in your area.<\/p>\n<p>Feeling social? The new <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/current-hajet-volunteers\/\">HAJET PR team<\/a> is working hard to plan fun events throughout Hyogo and beyond, and Block 6 rep, Ashlie, has you covered for events with our neighboring prefectures. If you enjoyed the Welcome Party and want more time with fellow ALTs (or, if you couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it), check out some of the upcoming HAJET and Block 6 events: meet JETs in neighboring prefectures at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/526598307440739\/\">Block 6 Welcome Picnic<\/a> in Kyoto, discuss Anthony Doerr\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <i>All the Light We Cannot See<\/i> at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/586996924752679\/\">HAJET Book Club<\/a>, and take on the Yoshino river\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rapids in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/events\/633142643466459\/\">Shikoku Rafting Trip<\/a>. As always, keep updated on upcoming events with the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/event-calendar\/ *hyogo.pr@hyogo.ajet.net\">HAJET calendar<\/a>. If you have any questions or ideas for future events, contact us at hyogo.pr@hyogo.ajet.net.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re more interested in cultural events, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re spoilt for choice. Kyoto has <a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanvisitor.com\/japanese-festivals\/festival-september\">numerous festivals<\/a> in September, Himeji hosts the dangerous and dazzling <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyogo-tourism.jp\/english\/whatsnew\/index.php?id=900\">Nada Fighting Festival\u00c2\u00a0<\/a>(Kenka Matsuri), and you can taste local specialty akashiyaki at Akashi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hyogo-tourism.jp\/english\/whatsnew\/index.php?id=925\">Manpuku Food Fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Hopefully that is enough to tide you over until next month\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s issue!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Until then,<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Erika<\/p>\n<p><b><br \/>\n<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; A New Term Begins! Hey there, Hyogo &#8211; It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to believe that it is September already &#8211; our departing friends have left Japan to start new chapters of their lives and the new ALTs have arrived and are (hopefully!) settling into their new lives. With the new term beginning, it is easy to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[120,409,356],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4405\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}