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