Through the Eyes of a Vagrant

It’s been a while since I updated my blog, but now I will begin updating it regularly again. This entry is to bring everyone up to speed on what has happened in the past year, and to where exactly my travels have taken me until this point.
In August of 2008 I returned to Canada [...]

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In Hokkaido, from July the 7th to the 9th, Japan will be hosting the 2008 Toyoko Summit (G8). This time, Japan, the United States of America, England, France, Italy, Germany, Canada, Russia, and the President of the EU Commission will be meeting to discuss things such as global warming. This summit has been [...]

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The new website is still under construction, but because I recently took my computer for a swim I may not be able to do a proper update until the end of July (consequently, the same time I return to Canada).  Around that time the website should explode with content so it should be well worth [...]

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So there are these energy drinks in Japan. I see the teachers drinking them the odd time and I didn’t really think anything of it. They look like bottles of cough syrup, so that has kind of deterred me from trying one. So a couple days ago I saw one of the [...]

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So after being here for a while I got to see a difference in the gender roles first hand and can pass to you my first hand knowledge and experiences.  In Japan the gender roles are fairly clear cut.  The men work and the women stay at home.  This is rarely questioned and quite accepted.
I [...]

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To begin, this is a long entry. I’ve been thinking about this one for a couple weeks now and this is the final solidification of such thoughts. If you are going to read this one, grab a beer.
Well, the time to give my decision to recontract is fast approaching and I really wish I had [...]

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In general, the students at my schools do their best to say some English whenever I see them. Many times this just amounts to a simple hello. This applies to the teachers too. Many of them say good morning to me as opposed to ohayou gozaimasu. Some of them will even [...]

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Before I came to Japan, I heard from many people that there is no discipline in Japan.  Believe me, there is discipline - it just doesn’t present itself in the form we know of in Canada because everyone’s way of thinking in Japan is so different from ours.  I’ve seen kids get told off in [...]

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Speaking Japanese when you are on the JET Programme is nothing but a pro, there are no cons (other than they know your level and speak faster). In the classroom, because I spoke Japanese, they let me teach solo on just my second day. I am most definitely allowed to use Japanese in class, and [...]

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It is near impossible to find clothes here if you are big guy. Back in Canada I wear a large and sometimes an extra-large. Here, I need to wear a 3L. At the very most, most stores only go up to LL (which is the one right before 3L). The highest [...]

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