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Just Another List: Map of The Jet Video Contest

As some of you know, CLAIR is holding a video contest for JET Program participants about the communities in which we all live. The winners haven’t been decided yet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all the great videos of places throughout Japan. Plus, voting continues until March 31. Click through the links in…

Who Needs a Revue Anyway? Takarazuka’s Rurouni Kenshin Adaptation
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Who Needs a Revue Anyway? Takarazuka’s Rurouni Kenshin Adaptation

  As many fellow nerds may know, the Snow Troupe of the all-female theater troupe of Hyogo has been performing a musical version of the manga Rurouni Kenshin. The aforementioned is the story of a samurai with a bloody past, wandering during the first several years of the Meiji Era to atone for his many…

WATN: Gina Panozzo (Okinawa, 2012-2015)
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WATN: Gina Panozzo (Okinawa, 2012-2015)

Hello fellow JETs, this is Gina reporting to you for duty. I’m a JET Alumnus who was stationed on beautiful Okinawa from 2012-2015. Some of you may believe I sold my soul for my awesome placement, but it was actually third on my list! Being based in Okinawa, I had an experience completely different from…

Strokes of Good Timing: Kagoshima City
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Strokes of Good Timing: Kagoshima City

  A bay city with a nearby volcano, Kagoshima is a beautiful and rather unique Japanese city. The volcano, Sakurajima, is still active and thus erupts rather frequently. 1914 was perhaps its largest recorded eruption and covered the city in ash, including a torii on the volcano’s island. Its remarkable landscapes make Kagoshima City a…

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Colin

“I love you.” Colin didn’t blink or put down his cup; he took a sip of tea and continued staring at his computer screen. I got the distinct feeling this had happened to him before. He clicked on something and I saw his eyes start to move as he read. He was infuriatingly calm. It…

The First Rule of Slade House is Don’t Go into Slade House: Book Club the 14th
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The First Rule of Slade House is Don’t Go into Slade House: Book Club the 14th

  On January the 31st (or 31th, as many of my students would have it), the Hyogo Book Club met to discuss David Mitchell’s Slade House. It was published on October 27th, 2015, mere days after the 12th book club meeting (for which we read Natsuo Kirino’s Real World) and of some significance to the…