Okazaki Sun Hotel

Oh Japan, how I love you! I had an easy flight into Nagoya. I was able to catch the train into town and find the hotel quite easily- helps that when I walked out of the JR (Japan Rail) station, the hotel was right there! They didn't have rooms ready since it was 9am so I asked for a map and headed out. It rained pretty consistently all of Friday...

Just a quick stop over for a night, on my way to Yatakama which i think will be interesting. Nagoya is like a mini Tokyo, but nicer, the streets are wider and less crowded. The buildings are quite interesting! Lots of designer shops and the train station right in the middle.

With the magic of the Japan Rail Pass, I took the Shinkansen over to Nagoya. Despite a reputation to be a working city, it has an alter ego. It is listed as a UNESO City of Design. I didn't even know there was such a classification previously. So naturally, that intrigued me.

I visited the International Design Centre Nagoya which a buil...

Well, I think everyone who's been party of Toyone Junior High School automatically gets to put their name and entry in this bit. I'm limited to 60 words (in Japanese), describing an experience or memory, or thought, about Toyone JHS. So many to choose from...so here goes.

I suppose I could, and should, start with my most memorable exper...

Fortunately, "New Year's in Japan" is more exciting that "Christmas in Japan".

So that's really not saying much, as "Christmas in Japan" is a about as exciting as going to the convenience store for a meat bun, however I did have a really fun New Year's. New Year's is all about time with family and there are many things that need to be d...

I had set myself two basic goals before coming to Japan. The first, obviously, to be able to converse in Japanese, and the second - no chocolate or booze for 6 weeks.

I'm still working on the first goal, but the 2nd...

Chocolate I'd bought within days of arriving. There were a number of contributing factors, not least of which...

Although properly called a 発表会 (recital of various types by students), I like to give it this punny name for something closer to the truth.

Here in Tomiyama, all the students of the junior high school, elementary and pre-school came together in performing a variety of Japanese and international-theme skits and music...

Well today was a fun day. Even the test I 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 costume party, and although Roxy mentioned this, it d...

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 kanji practice and sentence usage part and one particles and reading part. Talk about EPIC FAIL...