Okazaki, Japan Travel Blogs

NICK: Viewing nature in Okazaki
Feb 17, 2006 (7 photos)

... shrines to see Ieyasu Tokugawa's favorite shrine(a bit of history; tokugawa ieyasu was one of the most powerful shoguns in Japan's history and lived during the 1600s.) These shrines are buried in the hills and are awesome for the amount of trees that ...

NICK: Chilly willy and his 10 toesies
Mar 13, 2006 (5 photos)

... something similar from their wives, basically to continue being their mothers. I hear that the younger generation males(both japan and eastern europe) are changing. I went with Michiyo's family to a chinese restaurant for Michiyo's mother's birthday. ...

NICK: That's _Mr._ Meat, to you.
Mar 6, 2006 (4 photos)

... enjoyment of calling me "meat." Ooh, I finally started taking lessons in Japanese. I found some free lessons from the Okazaki International Association (OIA). I went to the lessons for the first time this weekend and was shocked with the amount of ppl ...

NICK: The most unromantic Valentine's Day.
Feb 14, 2006 (3 photos)

... out michiyo drives a mini. Cool - Very good thing her dad brought a van, as well. I was so happy to make it to Okazaki. I'd forgotten how cool Michiyo is, it's been a long time since I'd seen her. She has a small English school that she runs here in ...

NICK: I am Buddha's bitch.
Mar 15, 2006 (3 photos)

... I was the only man sitting with women. Segregation is something new to me. According to the discussion on Monday with the ladies, in Japan, women take care of all things in and around the home, and men take care of things outside of the home. A man ...

NICK: Not better or worse,just very very different
Mar 20, 2006 (9 photos)

... I haven't been in a ritzy enough furniture store. *SIREN* This one is probably odd for the rest of the country, but here in Okazaki there's a siren that blares at 6am, 12pm, 6am, and 9pm, on weekdays. It's an air raid-style siren, from WWII it sounds ...

NICK: I HAVE A JOB!!! Kinda.. Ok, not really.
Mar 18, 2006 (5 photos)

I thought I had a job with a school in Matsuyama since I had a good interview - then I didn't, but now I sort of do. I guess that's the way the superball bounces. As I said before, I had a pretty good interview - I wowed the interviewer with my ...

NICK: Turning Japanese, I think I'm turning
Mar 2, 2006 (11 photos)

... - I still haven't practiced Japanese at all. Acutally, these past 2 weeks have flown by since I got back to Okazaki. I've spent nearly everyday working on my TEFL certification (which, after some research, I'm finding is not terribly important). I'm now ...

NICK: Just pics
Mar 24, 2006 (4 photos)

See pics.

NICK: Watashi wa nihongo wo benkyoo shitetu
Mar 10, 2006 (6 photos)

It means "I'm studying Japanese" I've forgotten how hard it is to learn another language. Michiyo's niece, Mayumi came over to visit, but ended up being my Japanese teacher since Michiyo had to teach a junior high class (I never help with those cuz ...

De var då kanske dags för detta.
Jan 12, 2006 (5 photos)

... är mitt i vinter perioden nu så känns de mer som som vår. Soligt och brun/grönt överallt. Färden mellan Nagoya och och Okazaki bestod av en enorm motorväg och en avfart. Allting gick jättesnabbt och under färden lyssnade vi på skolans egna radiokanal (om vi fattade ...

Showering, Getting Lost, Meeting Yamaguchi
Oct 3, 2008 (11 photos)

... phrases such as what to do when you are lost, what platform number goes to this station, does this train/bus go to Higashi-Okazaki? After class I was given a big map and Morya had to draw my house onto it. I went with Megumi (Emily's host sister), Emily ...

EPIC WEEKEND!
Dec 7, 2008 (19 photos)

OMG what an AMAZING, AWESOME, FANTASTIC, SPLENDIFEROUS weekend ^_^! On Saturday I met up with Roxy at around 3:15 and then we met up with Tomomi at around 4 and went shopping on Osu Street! I did not plan to spend that much money...haha. But I did buy ...

New words, Frustration
Dec 5, 2008

So I woke up this morning, had my toast, and got to school a little early. Aoyama's class I learned that うまい has multiple meanings, and also learned the Japanese equivalent to "Sup?" although it's actually a long sentence so not ...

Cake, Laziness, New Library
Nov 24, 2008

... , that was Saturday. Sunday I woke up and didn't do too much, left my house around 2:30ish and met up with Roxy in Okazaki Park. We explored a bit of it and also watched this dance competition of some sort. Really cool, but not sure what type of ...

Pasta, Roxy's Birthday, ORIGAMI!!!
Nov 20, 2008 (7 photos)

... star, Santa Claus, a New Year's ornament and next week it will be a Christmas Wreath. We then were treated to lunch at a place in Okazaki park. I had MISO KATSU! OMG it was so good! The rest of the food in my bento box was okay I guess. Not by any means ...

Seijin Shiki!!!
Jan 12, 2009 (68 photos)

Today was Seijin Shiki. For those of you who don't know, that's the Coming of Age Ceremony in Japan. I was up really early to try to figure out what to do with my hair, and the final result turned out a lot better than I expected, so yay! My host mother ...

Costume Party, ID and Cream
Jan 25, 2009 (45 photos)

... took wasn't too bad, somehow I managed an 86% overall but that was the Level 4. Anyways after the test we had this lunch at the Okazaki New Grand Hotel. Boy was I surprised, it turned out to be one of the silliest parties I have ever been to. It was a ...

School Festival, Osu Street, Book-Off
Oct 27, 2008 (39 photos)

... though they were only $25. I had a crepe there as well, although I did have a predicament on how to eat it since in Japan you aren't allowed to eat standing up. It was a hot day too, I kept sneaking bites when nobody was around and finally just ended ...

99 Yen Shop, Kendo, Daiso, Karaoke
Oct 19, 2008 (27 photos)

... :P. We also briefly listened to some band performers on the stage by the train station. We parted ways at Higashi-Okazaki and I pretty much just went home after that. There was still some dinner left, udon and apples. Oh btw the ...

Uni Qlo, Micro Snacks, Japanese Culture Party
Oct 15, 2008 (7 photos)

Okay so Monday was an extremely lazy day for me, I didn't feel like doing a whole lot, I watched the Initial D movie on the computer and then later my host mom took me to Apita and treated me to ice cream, mmm strawberry cheesecake :P. ...

Sleepless nights, Japanese Stories, Snack Buying
Nov 11, 2008

The weekend was a write-off, I was sick so I did not leave the house for 3 days. My host mom was really nice about feeding me lots of fruit though, persimmon, apple and even pear (not apple-pear). Dinner was sushi saturday night, fish sunday night and ...

Face of Jizo , Raiki's Bday, Kindergarten Festival
Oct 12, 2008 (19 photos)

So Japan is starting to be fun again, Friday was Yamaguchi's class, we read "The Face of Jizo" and then watched the play. After that I had lunch with Roxy and then Moriya took me to Japanese cooking class. It was very fast, I understood about half the ...

Seijin Shiki Preparations
Jan 10, 2009

So it has been an exhausting three days. On Thursday I found a student that is going to Seijin Shiki as well! So I won't be all by my lonesome. In any case, we only had Sasaki's class and read more of Homeless Chuu Gakusei. Then I went searching at ...

Cleaning, Host Family Christmas, Megumi's Party
Dec 24, 2008 (6 photos)

On Monday I tried getting up early to go get my bike from Yahagibashi, my bike had not only been moved but the kickstand had been locked. Luckily the guys were there  to help me. I got the contact info I was looking for and did a bit of studying and ...

JLPT Level 3, Totoro House, Magnet Train!
Jan 22, 2009

Monday had the killer test. The Japanese Language Placement Test Level 3. Now I'd taken the Level 4 one when I first came to Japan, so I knew what to expect. Or rather I relatively thought I knew. Turns out there were 3 parts. Two listening parts, one ...

Christmas decorating, Cooking Club, Tye-dye
Nov 28, 2008 (1 photos)

Monday I woke up and after having breakfast, actually studied for an hour and a half. I worked on the grammar booklet and then had ramen for lunch. I decided to make good use of my time and make all my scrap pieces of paper into squares. Then I found a ...

Okazaki Park, 99 yen store
Nov 30, 2008 (153 photos)

... parking my bike at the new library. I then went for a short walk around the library taking pictures and then went to Okazaki Park. I took tons of pictures! (I am trying to upload them right now, facebook keeps rejecting them). The autumn leaves are so ...

Decent Chinese Food, Wasted Time, Mister Donuts?
Jan 15, 2009

So on Tuesday, I had Aoyama's class in the first period. It was not fulfilling, the students know the sounds...in any case there were some very funny sayings such as "queer spears" and "Don't open the window - Okay, I don't". Talk about some very bad ...

Christmas in Japan!
Dec 29, 2008

OMG so on Christmas day I woke up early to open my three presents, first I opened Bryn's present. OMG it's such a pretty elephant necklace! Yay! I love it ^_^!! Then I opened the Christmas present I'd been hanging onto since I'd gotten here. Yay for ...