Category Archives: Asia

Feb15

Ten cups: island cuisine

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Ten cups: island cuisine
Ten cups: island cuisine

originally published September 21, 2022

Returning to the mini-series covering January to March 2022…

After our Valentine’s Day photo session in Boma, we drove to a bed-and-restaurant overlooking the coast. Dining delights awaited.

A student amused me once by reporting that most people visited Japan for the food. Though I suspect the survey results may have misled by allowing respondents to select multiple answers, I would have to admit that my name would have added to their number. Friends persuaded me to risk another overseas move in part by singing the praises of Japanese food.

This restaurant did not disappoint. “That’s a lot of raw,” one of the other JETs remarked as I gleefully welcomed plates of local sashimi and wild boar carpaccio. Japan’s stringent hygiene standards have indulged my weakness for undercooked things (as my brother calls it): not only sushi, but raw eggs and red meat abound. In Amami I tasted horse sashimi, and at the local grocery store I picked up a prospect that had fascinated me ever since I first heard of it from a friend — chicken sashimi.

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Feb14

Lady tree: Boma Heart

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Lady tree: Boma Heart

originally published September 8, 2022

On Valentine’s Day, the other JET teachers and I gathered for a local tradition: the lighting of the Boma heart. Boma sits along the coast, just north of the ferry port. In a grove of sakura (cherry blossom) trees, the locals rig up decorations where friends can gather and snap pictures. I broke out my DSLR camera for the occasion.

cherry blossoms: dark pink on the islands
ornamental shrubs – almost as enchanting as the sakura
Daniel brought chocolates for everyone!

On the path back down the hillside, lanterns lit our way home.

Feb11

Mother island: Amami Oshima

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Mother island: Amami Oshima
Mother island: Amami Oshima

originally published July 1, 2022

In February I visited Amami Island, Tokunoshima’s nearest neighbor to the north. Imagine the country mouse arriving at his city cousin’s estate: compared with my stomping ground, the sprawl of this island verges on metropolis.

An archipelago in microcosm, Amami did not lend itself to pedestrian traffic. I secured a room at a highly rated bed and breakfast near the ferry port, where the beaming owners suffered nothing so trivial as a language barrier to impede their welcome.

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Feb5

Sacred staff: special needs school

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Sacred staff: special needs school

Originally published September 6, 2022

In December I had admired an art reception hosted by the special needs school. Though it shares a building with Tokunoshima High School (easily done with the declining population vacating a shocking percentage of the classroom space here), the school belongs to an independent organization located on the neighboring Amami island.

Now they welcomed me again, this time for a painstakingly prepared show-and-tell English lesson. With the staff diligently interpreting my more obscure statements, I proffered my self-introduction slides. Then I settled in for the main event: charades, with the students challenging me to guess.

my self-introduction at the special needs school
the students quizzed me at charades

I treasured my time with them, touched by the staff’s devotion to their charges and the students’ enthusiasm for crossing the language barrier. “I like English!” one boy announced, beaming. His friend, who relies on sign language, nonetheless starred with his superb miming — which only goes to show that communication amounts to more than words.

Jan20

Learning born: Tokunoshima High School

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Learning born: Tokunoshima High School
Learning born: Tokunoshima High School

originally published September 5, 2022

Between Christmas in Kyoto, and Golden Week in Tokyo, I skipped several months of life on my little island. To make up the difference, I’ll be writing a series of mini-posts around a theme or event from my season of settling in: January to March 2022.

Where else to begin but with the epicenter of my activities here, Tokunoshima High School? As the Japanese school year ends in April, the spring quarter featured the sort of scholarly occasions that I would associate with summertime.

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Jan1

Mountain gods: Christmas in Kyoto

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Mountain gods: Christmas in Kyoto

originally published February 17, 2022

My first Christmas in Japan marked my first serious bout with homesickness. Holidays away from home hadn’t tormented me in South Africa or the UK — but this was my first time overseas with no one to visit. There is a big difference, I discovered, between being away from your family, and being without any family at all.

At loose ends for the end of the year, I maximized my vacation time with a trip to Kyoto, the destination most recommended to me by my Japanese co-workers and students.

Before I boarded the plane, I tackled my first full month at work, with all the typical frenzy and festivities.

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Dec21

Happy Island: arriving in Japan

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Happy Island: arriving in Japan

The time difference between Washington, D.C. and Japan is twice as long as with South Africa – but the flight here took half the time! The advantages of crossing the pole rather than the equator, I surmise.

My employment with JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program) commenced at the end of October 2021, when my plane touched down in Tokyo. Too much is happening for me to neglect my adventures here while chronicling my intercontinental tour, so I’ll alternate updates.

After some harrowing airport travails earlier this summer, I entrusted myself with relief to the capable Japanese bureaucracy.

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