By Ada Smith
I remember when I first came to Japan and heard stories of wild and crazy things that would happen to JETs; unexpected adventures that would happen or strange gifts that they were given just for the fact that they were one of the sole representatives of a different nation in their town. They were the kinds of stories that were hard to believe because they sounded so extreme, so they must be rare or non-existent.
Oh how young and naive I was.
(more…)By Lee Anne Ledwell
My name is Lee Anne Ledwell and, as I’m sure most of you are aware, I was the Ehime AJET President from 2018-2019. Together with the current president, Laura Beardslee, we were able to rejuvenate Ehime AJET into the blossoming organization you know today. I wanted to take the time to write out this article explaining everything that has happened with Ehime AJET from its resurrection to what our council has accomplished this year to where I hope future councils will lead us.
By Tim Van Gardingen
For a cloudy day in January, it is strikingly warm in Matsuyama city. Matsuyama is the largest city on Shikoku, Japan’s smallest main island. Usually the coldest month of the year, Matsuyama is today enjoying a very mild 14 degrees C.
The warmer winter days are only one sign of the increasing grasp of climate change in south Japan. Regional typhoon patterns are also changing, and the combination of rising temperatures and increasing typhoon damage poses new threats to the region.
(more…)Join us for a picnic Saturday March 23rd at Dogo Park. We'll be enjoying flowers and food from about 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Please bring your own food and drinks!…
We have a new JET! Let's welcome her with dinner at Everest Nepalese Restaurant on Okaido. We'll be meeting March 15th after the BOE meeting. Please say your going on…
By Jordan Rocke
For this article, I tried to thing of an interesting perspective I could provide here. In the past, I’ve talked with some first year Primary or Junior High ALTs who didn’t know much about the Senior High School (SHS) system. I figured I might be able to help out by giving everyone an idea about how SHS work, and what teaching at a SHS is like, at least in my experience.
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By Joshua Hill
I woke up this Christmas Eve with a new anticipation. Instead of performing the traditional caroling and cookie decorating with my family, back in America, I would be traveling to Matsuyama Castle as a Samurai.
By Tim van Gardingen
On an empty train station platform in rural Japan, there is a poster pasted on the wall with a message in imposing red letters: “Stop Karoshi!” Karoshi is a phrase meaning ‘death by overworking’, and the concept has become so normalised that it has entered the Japanese lexicon. The phenomenon, despite efforts to counter it, appears set to stay.
At first glance, the Japanese government appears to be working hard to battle the nation’s unhealthy working hours, but its current approach is at best superficial and at worst a purposeful avoidance of the problem.