Anpanman

It literally means, "sweet-bean-jam-bread-man." Anpanman is ridiculously popular, and the kids from 5 years old all know who he is.

It's the most ridiculous character I've ever heard of, his buddies are "Curry-bread-man, and Uncle Jam" and his enemy is "Baikin-man."

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! It's hilarious!

Check out this website, it's great. It only takes a couple of minutes to surf the links and it's damn funny. My lord!:

http://www.netgeist.com/Anpan-land/Anpanland.htm

or this,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anpanman

... is this just the soy sauce talking, or is this not the funniest thing ever?

Thai-rando Pictures

You asked for `em, here they are... Nikki has uploaded them for your viewing pleasure.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=elnpe2n.79ugark3&x=0&y=jiuv2g

Just copy and paste into your browser, no need to sign-in (just click on the big picture of the album).

Bort in Japan

I've been meaning to put these pictures up for awhile... my buddy Bort visited Japan in the fall and we travelled around for a bit. Up until that point, I hadn't noticed the effect that seeing a foreigner had on Japanese people (surprise, shock, panic attack, comedy, fear), being that I blend right in with my natural camoflague. It was pretty funny!


For instance, we went sneaker shopping and the chick that was working sees Bort, starts laughing, and goes "Harro, we have foreigner sizes too!"

I just finished a job application to be a workshop presenter at the Tokyo Orientation Conference for JETs over the summer. My topic - looking like you're Japanese when you're really not. It mostly consists of how to milk it (like playing the race card to get a free trip to Tokyo).

I was reading my buddy Ty's blog, and he had an entry about sticking out (see previous entry - he's the white dude doing The Worm in Osaka). Some people don't really care for the attention ("If you stare hard enough, we might turn Japanese" - as my buddy Jon says), some just roll with it and have a great time (my girl Zainabu is like a local celebrity, even signs autographs... and her game is off the hook).

Japan is a pretty insular place, people all look and act pretty much the same, and it's interesting to see their reaction when there is something different happening.

Graduation

Last month, we had graduation for the 9th graders. They are moving onto bigger and better things (goodbye sailor uniform, hello suits). It was weak sauce sitting in a butt ass cold gym for 2 hours, but it was cool goofing around with the kids afterwards. Too bad these kids graduated, they are awesome. Good luck kids!!


Here's Mina, Minami, and I forget the tall girl's name but she's wicked funny. 3 smart and cool ladies.

The kid on the left's name is Shu too! That's Kohei on the right. Neither speak a lick of Engrish but we always had fun actin' a fool.

... and waiting in the wings, are my 8th graders. Bunch of Monkeys.

Ohanami

Literally meaning "honorable cherry-blossom viewing," Ohanami is a big to-do here in Japan. There are countless cherry trees planted EVERYWHERE, and the when the blossoms bloom, it looks like snow is suspended in the air.

Japanese people love this time of year probably because 1) it means the awful, terrible winter is ending, and 2) they have big picnic/bbq/make out sessions while sitting under the cherry trees.

Last Saturday, I went to the Himeji cherry blossom festival, located at the castle. While it served as a nice backdrop, it was butt ass cold and it was overcast.

The day after, I went to the ohanami at Tatsuno park/castle, which was awesome! It was a gorgeous day.

Obaa-chan (old ladies) doin' the boogaloo.

For the Tastsuno Ohanami, they have a big Samurai parade through the castle, park, and surrounding "old village." A lot of my students were in the parade! Aren't they cute?

"You have dishonored the Maeda clan with your silly photo pose."

And finally, on Friday night, I went out to dinner with my teachers and after they got nice and liquored up, we all decided to go to the castle and check out the full-moon and full-bloom.


It was sweet.