Sooo…as those of you who’ve been following this blog for a while know, I’d had some problems in the past with encouraging my shy Japanese students to participate in class. Most of the time, the routine involved a lot of one-sided conversations (me) and silent, stone-faced stares (them). I’d theorized that this was due to… Read More Korean Children Aren’t Shy! And Other Observations…
Today I was strolling through Ueno Park when I came came across 200 or so people waiting patiently in a long line that stretched around the edge of a lake. At first I thought they were waiting in line for some sort of free theater show and I almost joined them, but then I noticed… Read More Living in a Tent Down by the River; What It’s Like for the Homeless in Japan
Shopping in Korea was a little like being in shop-a-holic Hell. Everywhere I turned there was store after store selling ridiculously inexpensive clothing ($10 US for a new coat)…but it was a little like that saying “Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink” in that there wasn’t a single, solitary under-priced piece of… Read More Shop-a-holic Hell
I went to South Korea last month and was super excited to find that like Japan (and yours truly), Korea is also ueber-obsessed with nonsensical English, (otherwise known as EngRish, or random computer generated gibberish). Judging from the sheer volume of shirts and signs sporting EngRish phrases, it would seem that Koreans have a real… Read More Engrish…Korean Style
Last Friday, I traded in THIS… Mavericks, a word famous surf spot down the road from where my mom lives in California Peaceful path along the beach a block from my mom’s house For this… http://i.pbase.com/g4/33/609133/2/52246018.DSC00728.jpg Tokyo, impressively cramped and crowded as ever A lot has happened since I last wrote. I’ve been frantically busy… Read More Japan, Part Two