Category Archives: The Mikan

Christian and Miya’s Christmas Celebration at the Civic Center

By Sage Burch

“Back in my home country, Christmas is all about 3 Fs; fun, food, and family. Being away from home during Christmas can sometimes feel very isolating and lonely so I thought that it would be a good idea to have folks come together and just have a good time with each other. It really warms my heart to share a holiday moment with everyone and to see that everyone had a great time. Thank you for coming and also sharing with everyone!” —Christian 

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Vampires, Witches, Skeletons, Mesoamerican Gods and a Big Bloody Castle: An Introduction to Solo Journaling TTRPGs

By Jordan Rocke

G’day everyone! It’s “the blog editor didn’t want to bother everyone during the holidays and now has no content for the blog queued up” time! This time, I want to talk about something that has been getting me through a lot of dead deskwarming time: Solo Journaling RPGs.

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Backtrack #22: Welcomed and Included (Heeni (Janie) Tito, Masaki ALT 1997-2000)

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What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?

Kia ora koutou, ko Heeni (Janie) Tito ahau. I was a teacher at kindergarten, primary and junior high schools in Masaki-cho, Ehime-ken from 1997-2000.

I descend from Ngā Puhi and Ngāti Whātua iwi, of Northland, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Currently living in Wellington.

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30 Candles: Three Tales of Candlelit Horror

Edited by Jordan Rocke

On October 22nd, 2022, a decent cross-section of the population of Ehime JETs and former JETs turned up to sleepy little Hojo to try their best not to set fire to my unsuspecting tatami. Specifically, we all played a homebrew horror game named 10 Candles. We split into three groups in different parts of my house. Fueled by top-tier Hojoan pizza and Andrew’s amazing brownies, all our flavours of madness were bound to come out. As such, I asked players from each of the three groups to write a short summary of their experiences in the game. Please enjoy, thank you again to everyone who attended, and I appreciate that my house remains intact despite all the candles we burned through!

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Unbeaten Paths: Nanyo Summer 2022 – New Faces in the Inaka

Edited by Jordan Rocke

G’day everyone! Finally, here’s our beloved small town newcomers in the Inaka heart of Ehime, Nanyo! This isn’t just the final Unbeaten Paths for this year, but assuming there is no surprise flood of Ehime JETs between now and April 2023, this will be the last Unbeaten Paths that I (Jordan) will be running. This is the 12th entry in the series, and I’m so incredibly blown away each year by how many people are willing to take the time to write up an introduction to put out into the world, saying hello to the other JETs in Ehime. What started 3 years ago as a simple project to allow JETs from smaller participating countries to talk about how they became interested in JET without the networks that US, American and Canadian JETs have has turned into a project that occupies a spot on my calendar every year (or several spots, thanks to the odd arrival patterns COVID forced on us). During COVID, where events are often difficult to justify, it has been a wonderful way for me, and hopefully others, to learn a little about the other JETs who aren’t that far away.

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Unbeaten Paths: Toyo 2022 – The New Faces

Edited by Jordan Rocke

Welcome to the after-summer 2022 Unbeaten Paths! For those who are new to the premise, this is a set of introductions, divided by region, of the new JETs in our community! There’s no obligation to write an introduction, so this isn’t an exhaustive list of all the new folks, but I’m always really glad of how many people do take the time out of their day to put an introduction together. If you are a new JET who missed out and would like to be included , please reach out at themikanblog@gmail.com and I can add you in!

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Two Whole Days of Near Non-Stop Rugby: The Tokushima AJET Touch Rugby Tournament

By Jonty Cook

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Every year – barring the Covid Era – the Shikoku University hosts a touch rugby tournament over a summer weekend for all to participate in. This year, we managed to scrounge up an Ehime team of 5 people to play, with another joining along as our support, photographer, and sideline coach. Not quite the team of a required six on the field, but we were ready to accept our role as the scrappy underdogs, underestimated by everyone and determined to shock and awe. We were the Ehime Goonies.

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Listen to the Japanese School Band

By Patrick Peh

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Beyond this door, you will find young aspiring musicians of Uchimiya Junior High School  preparing for their big day tomorrow. Tomorrow is August 2nd, which is the second day of the JHS division for the 70th All Japan Band Competition in Ehime. This band of 30 odd members will perform under category A in the competition. This article hopes to be a refreshing post as I only talk about Japanese bands in schools, which is different from The Sea, The Iwa & The Classroom where I would write about things around the neighborhood.

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