Am I Back?
Not yet...but stay tuned.
The title is taken from Hokusai's "36 Views of Mt. Fuji" and this is sort of like that: an image of an American's personal experiences in Japanese culture and making sense of them.
The post which inaugurated this blog was about a language school called ABC. Go to the archives and read about my first hand experiences interviewing with the place.
ラベル: bad eikaiwa, fraud
Toi Otosho O!
Summers in Japan are like Michigan summers, hot, wet, heavy tests of endurance. Osaka wilts under a lead grey sky in the low 30s and 95+ humidity. Kyoto is a bowl of suet and sweat. Yet Japanese businessmen will insist on black business suits and stoic expressions. The smarter gaijin are free to get away with offending the locals with t-shirts and shorts. Ah, freedom.
Sorry for the lack of content. I've been a bit busy with other projects lately. I'll try to put something up next weekend! Thanks for your patience.
Hanami is the annual celebration of the cherry blossoms. Being a nature-oriented culture, Japan takes time out to observe seasonal occurrences, Spring being one of them. Hanami is not an officially sanctioned holiday but a culturally approved one. Because cherry trees bloom at different times of the year, students get the luxury of witnessing the first blossoms while office workers hope that the blossom stay long enough for the weekend.
WARNING: THIS MOVIE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!