Business Ryokan Sakuragawa Nishiwaki

... also says that it is important to make sure the cattle feel relaxed, and also naturally to keep the cowsheds clean. But what took me by surprise was that the cattle listen to music all day long!

I asked whether the cattle are fed beer and given massages with sake to produce better quality beef, according to the myth believed by some overseas.

They flatly denied it with the simple phrase, “No beer, No massage”!

The cattle are shipped before they ...

Here we are in Kobe. We will be here until tomorrow night at midnight.　We　will　 be　here　until　tomo rrow　night　at　midn ight.　　Unfortunately, 288;we　cannot　uploadz 88;pix ...

The four of us ( Me, Jess, Saffiya and Nichelle ) all made our way bright and early to Tarumi station ( near our hostel ) to catch a train to the main event of our little trip...or at least the inspiration for it: Himeji Castle. You see Himeji Castle is one of the oldest and largest and definately most famous castles in Japan and it was soon going to be closing for 4-6 years for restoration. Last week was what is called her "Silver Week" which means all the ALT's get ...

... since our friend's from Matsuyama were going to be arriving shortly.

After they arrived and we took some photos overlooking Kobe, we all set off for Kobe's Chinatown. It was quite interesting, but honestly the Chinatown in Vancouver is a lot bigger and I think more Chinese. There was still a lot of Japanese restaurants and signage in Kobe's Chinatown.

After that, came the most interesting part of Kobe, the harbour ...

... I couldn't help but laugh a little bit (in my head, of course) wondering if my student even had any idea what Harvard was (seeing as how he chose Kita Otsu over say, a school with a curriculum designed to teach you real things that could potentially help you in college)... Here's another example of one of my student's work: "I went to Yokohama. Because living grandmother. And I went ...

A collection of ALT experience essays will be sent out to our local board of education and all the public schools in our area in both English and Japanese to promote cross-cultural understanding. Here is mine! :) Experience Essay "I believe in you...Don't worry...I have the utmost confidence in your ability." These were just some of the words of encouragement ...

I know it's been TOO LONG! It seems to me it's time for a new camera. These past few weeks, every time I go to take a picture, my batteries are mysteriously dead, even if I just charged them. SO, I've decided that #1, I'm investing in a new camera for Christmas :), and #2, I will post an almost picture-less entry (sorry!!!). Where do I begin? Yesterday about 10 ALTs and I volunteered at an all day English camp for Japanese high school students. It was great! We each had ...

10/30/2006- Monday I'm too old to stay out all night...never too old to feed deer, though! :-D Here are some pictures from this weekend. We had our annual JET Halloween party and somehow I was persuaded to hang out until the morning trains started running again around 5:25 in the morning! (they stop between 12am and 5ish). I think around 2am we were all wishing we had just gone home! It was a fun night, nonetheless. :)

... and design the cup, too! There were many families doing the same thing. We are all getting a kick out of watching the Japanese children. AFter that we toured the Kureha Shrine, a local Shinto shrine. It was small and very peaceful. It sits right in the middle of a neighborhood. The last tour was a contemporary art museum. I can't tell you much about it, other than it was a very wealthy man (he started the huge ...

... take enough pictures. At this point, I'm really glad I didn't learn much of the language, as it wouldn't have helped all that much, considering I can't read a thing. Met a fellow named drew, and we're off to a samurai grave yard, as well as a few other places(Kyoto women's university included). Woo. More tomorrow(as I am hogging drews computer).