Kaishunro Hamamatsu

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but I've been getting my ass kicked consecutively by six to twelve year olds once a week---for a few weeks now.<br><br>Karate out here in the Inaka (countryside) is very different from your typical Western Mui-Tai, mat-grueling Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu-style ass-kickin workout. No. Here, it's a matter of being able to handle the mental discipline of allowing people smaller than you to kick your ass. Again...and again ...

... over to the main tub, find a spot in the corner, and try my best not to face anyone, looking shy or just slightly off in the head. As soon as I sunk in and started to enjoy the warmth and cleanliness of this water, I noticed my bandage floating away.<br>Quickly, I grabbed it, and became so mad...I got calm.<br>I give up. I said. and scrunched it in my hand, and did my best the rest of the evening to just avoid anyone seeing it, but not really caring.<br><br ...

... The course wasn't too difficult, with winding roads, long bridges overlooking a green lake (they don't call it Midori-ko Marathon for nothing), and surrounded by mountains on all sides. I almost tripped three of four times, Run Fat Boy Run-style, while trying to take all of it in while jamming to Enigma or screaming out Coldplay through my iPod. I tried to say 'Ganbatte' (Good luck! Try your best!) to everyone that went by ...

I had hinted at this particular event in the past, and decided to finally write about the various events that took place on that Saturday.<br><br>This being the second event my school was hosting in September, I was a little more excited to take part in it. The last event being the cleaning event, you can understand why. What they did in preparation for this, was split everyone in the Toyone-Village district into teams based on area. I fell into the Kamikurogawa ...

... or talked me into confusion--joining their local team), and on my way back home on the winding road, when I spotted something moving on the road. Now in this area, this is a common occurrence. Wild boards (Unoshishi), deer (Shika), and all other forms of life find their way onto the half-wild half-tamed highway that runs through these parts.<br><br>"Wild" would describe the ...

Taguchi Festival. October 10th.<br><br>You know, we had a hard time deciding which Festival we were going to check out, and it's a very long and somewhat unfortunate story as to how we ended up in Taguchi, but boy was I glad we went.<br><br>Every town will have its own flavor, its own specialty, that it will boast freely about and advertise. This can be partly attributed to a governmental push in (no idea what year, but possible in the early 20th century) to promote, advertise and ...

... It was a GREAT haircut. I sat to admire the view outside his place awhile, and returned home to prepare for that evening's dinner party at Ito-san's place.<br><br>Ito-san is a lovely woman. She's been studying English for almost 10 years now, and could be anywhere between 45 and 70 years old (I only say 70 because I think Derek once told me that she was beyond retirement age). Either way, she's energetic, extremely friendly, and has enough interest in the world and foreign ...

... the Japanese Education system. Think about how much money we spend on paying people to sweep, vacuum, mop, and clean up the messes that Western students haphazardly leave after themselves after eating, emptying out their lockers, or crafting a state-of-the-art spitball machine complete with an endless supply of ammunition. We're messy kids, and we don't even realize it.<br>In Japan, right from the start, they teach these kids the responsibility of cleaning up after themselves ...

... you actually made it yourself...sounded fun. We had our own area to eat and we sat on either side of a grill, so I watched as Yusuke stirred the ingredients and laid the mixture down, flipping it over after a few minutes had passed. I tried my hand next, and everything was going swimmingly until I tossed the okonomiyaki like a pancake, and it broke into about five pieces, much to Yusuke`s amusement! It didn`t matter though as it still tasted gorgeous... Yusuke had ...

... get to your house? -non-burnables, this is basically things like small non-recyclable plastics bags, saran wrap, cans, bottles. These are picked up on a different day. -PET (soda) bottles, plastic bags, 2 liter bottles, which must be washed, dried, and labels removed. These are taken to the grocery store. -Stryofoam, these are trays like the ones your beef comes on, etc. These must also be washed and taken to the grocery store. -Newspapers, magazines, boxes must be bundled with ...