Hello, I&m having fun in Japan. At the moment, I`m in a nightclub in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo area. It`s nice. I`m here with a bunch of ALT friends having a boogie. We went to an Italian restaurant. There`s so many cool people here. I love it. They have an internet computer in the bar. Next week I`m getting a japanese cellphone, nice. They cost $1000 in NZ. Here it`s $150 so its good. High tech and fun. My turtles are good. I like driving my scooter. Gotta go back to the dancefloor. Lots of love to NZ because love is the most important thing in the the world. Even though I don`t mention it all the time, I believe love is the supreme reality. Love is where it`s at.

Hi everyone. I found an amazing frog pond on a scooter expedition up in the forested mountains. The water is clear and its full of tadpoles! After looking closely I realised that there are several salamanders in there as well! In New Zealand I had two pet 'japanese fire bellied newts' and now I've found the real thing here in Okawachi! They are a little bigger than mine were, black with mottled red underbellies and very cute. I can go and watch them and they even feed themselves! I also like the local bus stop because there is always half a dozen little green frogs in there that I can play with. I saw a caterpillar that was completely bizzare, it was trying to cross the road so I rescued it and put it on a nearby plant.

Woohoo, I am mobile! Went to Akashi and sat my japanese moped licence. It cost about $100 and was an experience to remember. The test room itself was filled with a couple of hundred people. The instructions in japanese. I got the test questions in japanese english (a strange english dialect noteable for its ambiguity) nevertheless my faculty of inscrutation triumphed over perpetual obscurity and clarified the proceedures nicely. When the test was over, the papers with efficiently collected and fed into a machine that read and graded them. 10 minutes later, the results were posted on a video board in the main foyer, sorted into pass and fail groups. I passed woohoo. Then the practical lessons. That was fun. Kind of like go cart except with instructors. After busying from one counter to the next. This form and that form. I was finally given the little card with my photo on it. Yay. I have to say, I couldn't have done it without my friend/supervisor Mr kuroda. He's great. We bought a helmet. Took a while to locate a shop with XXL helmets. The BOE is going to provide me with a moped. Yay! Now I can explore in earnest and get to school without cycling for an hour. Anyway. Japan is great. better than I expected and every day is new.

Hi everyone, been having lots of fun recently. Went to a Hyogo ALT conference in Yashiro. About 280 ALTS (assistant language teachers) we had a ball. The kitchen staff played rock and roll. We danced, we sang, we had fun. I met the other ALTs in my area so now we can communicate. I braved the train system and went to Himeji on Saturday. Bought a new guitar. It's great. Now I can play away happily. Found a good sushi bar in Himeji. Only takes 30 min by train. About $5. Nice to know the city is close. I went to Kobe too. The Hyogo capital. Attended a beer garden with about 80 ALTs. It was fun. All you can eat, all you can drink for about $30. Took the late night train home. Met a japanese person who speaks english and is going to show me round Osaka. Yay. My turtles are alive and well.

Hi everyone,

Its business as usual in Japan. I have bought a new big tank for my turtles and they are happy. I catch them frequently experiencing turtle-bliss. I have also got two frogs in a smaller tank. They are bright green and quite neat. They climb around alot on their suction cap feeties. I've been becoming acquainted with numerous foreign food delights such as instant japanese noodles in a cup (just add water), japanese norimaki and various interesting beverages. I'm living mainly on muesli and bread and jam with rice and vegetables for dinner. Tofu is really cheap here, just $1 for a big block of tasteless white curd mmmm. I'm getting my konichi was and ohayoo gozaimasu's down now like a true japanese person and can almost half understand the inane variety shows on television, mainly because its mostly practical joking!

Hi Everyone, how are you all?
Japan has been very fun of late. Yesterday, Okawachi-cho celebrated the summer festival - bon odori matsuri. It was very nice. The town set up a festival area with a stage and lots of stalls housing activities and small shops / food stalls etc... I wore my hawaiian shirt to add to the theme. Many japanese people were wearing yukata or summer kimonos which are really nice and colourful and look very japanese. Soon I will have my digital photos online so I`ll let you know the link to them. At the festival there were interesting japanese fair games such as `catch many goldfish using flat rice paper scoop` and such like. My favourite was the turtle stall. There were about a hundred live baby turtles swimming in a shallow tank. For those of you who don`t know - I love turtles! I tried the game which involved attempting to scoop out these little turtles with a special rice paper scoop. The trick is the rice paper melts in the water and if you are not careful, the turtle rips a hole in the paper and falls through and you have to buy another scoop! Well I caught five turtles! Awesome. Because I caught five I got to take one away with me. My kind supervisor bought another turtle for me to be its friend. So now I have two pet turtles at home!!
Today, I set up two bank accounts to pay utilties and for savings. Mr Kuroda-san was very kind and helpful in assisting me to decipher the process. The banks even gave me a little gift for opening an account! they don`t do that in NZ... After opening the accounts Mr Kuroda-san and myself went and bought a medium aquarium for my new turtles and some turtle food. I have set up the tank with stones and water and added little pond plants from a pond near my apartment. The turtles are very happy. I hope they survive for ages. I have another little tank I got at the festival and think I might try keeping some of the little green frogs for a while that live around here. I will then have turtles and frogs! - bliss.
At the festival, many of the women were wearing traditional dress and at a certain time, they all formed two huge circles and danced a special `bon odori` dance about a beautiful centrepiece. It was very rhythmic and hypnotising and I managed to video some of it on my camera. I met lots of the local school kids who are very funny and kid-like. They find me very interesting as the only european about here and I had many introductions. so that was nice.
Today there is a typhoon in Okinawa (southern japan) that is spreading north and is expected to cross my area around midnight - strong winds are expected - hope it will be alright!
Oh, there were beautiful fireworks (hanabi / fire-flowers) at the festival also. A long and beautiful display.

Hope alls well in NZ miss you folks and I send my love to you,

ciao for now.

I want to add a few extra activities of the day here. Today I played table tennis at the Junior high school with the students. It was quite fun hitting the little ball back and forth. We used to have a table tennis table back in Wellington and I think even New Plymouth and its been a while since I played. The students are really good but I think I did quite well. I felt my job was to help the students improve and not to win anyway. I can`t remember the table tennis rules but I couldn`t explain that it japanese. Anyway, it was a casual game where I don`t think the rules mattered too much anyway. They are quite keen on sports here. After that I was invited to a riverside barbeque with a group of japanese and korean exchange students. The odd (and fun) part was that they had all these fish to barbeque but they released them into a sectioned (netted) off area of the stream and the students job was to wade about and to catch all these little fish that look like small trout - with their hands! I managed to catch two of the fish and was congratulated by the peoples. In japan they say `yataa!` which means success, when they are successful. It was quite fun. Although I`m not a big barbeque fan, it was fun catching the fish. I still don`t have any actual work to do so I think maybe I will start creating some for myself, maybe offering english classes at the town office or perhaps and english newsletter. I`ll think about it. They say its good to do as much as possible on the JET programme and to extend oneself by adding to the community.

Hi everyone,

thought I`d let you know I got my phone connected yesterday. My telephone number is : 0790-34-0657 . The 0790 part is for kanzaki-gun - the region in which I live, the 34 is for teramae which is a suburb of the town I live in and the 0657 is my personal number. If you want to call me you will need to add the international prefix for japan. Check the phone book but I think it might be 0081. I don`t know if you drop the first zero off the area code (i.e 0790 -> 790) after the international prefix like you do in NZ. Maybe, maybe not. The cheapest way to call Japan, I believe, is to use one of those prepaid calling cards you buy from dairys and shops (kia-ora, easycall, yabba, chi-tel etc...) the rates are super cheap and the cards are easy to use. Oh I should mention, japan time is 3 hours behind new zealand so keep that in mind if you want to call. I am usually at home in the evenings, after 5:15pm, but not during the day (except sometimes lunch from 12-1). If you call about 9pm NZ time it will be about 6pm in japan and I should be at home. I can`t call out yet until I set up an account with a special phone provider for cheap international calls but to do that I need a bank account and to get a bank account I need my alien registration card, you get the picture. I get my registration card next week and the bank account soon after (its all being arranged). I`m also going to sit my japanese drivers licence test so I can drive a moped/scooter to work! should be fun. I`ve been studying the road code (an english version - thank god) the english is very verbose and not at all succint but it gets the message across eventually. The road rules are very similar to NZ, drive on the left, the road signs are similar and so are the road markings so its pretty commonsense really. Yesterday, I met all the japanese teachers of english (JTEs) I will be working with at the elementary schools I will teach at (theres about 5 of them!) I did the self introduction thing (in japanese!) and told them about myself and new zealand in english (at their request). The english level varies but generally its all good. I met a resident who had very good english. It was nice explaining my thoughts as I have been living in my own world for the last week!. There is another ALT JET in the neighbouring town who I can visit. We have another orientation for the hyogo jets in a week so I can meet other jets and exchange phone numbers/emails and stuff. I have a bicycle which is great. I finally found sunscreen (phew, its hot and sunny here) so I can travel about the countryside more easily. When I get my scooter licence I will buy a scooter or perhaps the board of education will provide one for me. Then I can easily zip around the area and visit peoples and places. I would like to mention I found this crazy big bug outside my house yesterday evening. I think they`re called stag beetles. Apparently they are a popular japanese childrens play thing, they`re like little tank! The beetle is about 8-10cm long and has a big antler like headpiece. I`m told they`re harmless which is good. I decided to play with it so I took it inside my apartment and tried feeding it different foods. I discovered it really likes banana! it was is bug heaven eating my bananas. A fascinating creature, I eventually let it go back outside. Today I also found a little frog in the bus stop. I rescued it as I assumed it didn`t want to catch the bus and returned it to a nearby rice paddy.

Japan is wonderful. I`m really glad I got a rural placement as the people here are so friendly and the environment is very beautiful (lots of forested hills and rivers). There are heaps of new creatures here including racoons, monkeys, lots of frogs, big butterflies, snakes and even bears!. There is a pond by my apartment with plants growing in it and its full of little frogs and dragonflies. I`ve seen a snake that lives in there a few times now. It`s long and bronze coloured and quite nice looking really. I`m not going to trying and catch it though! The weather is super hot, a big change from the Wellington winter. It`s about 30 degrees everyday and more. Its also really humid (moshiatsui). I`m having trouble finding sunscreen but hopefully I`ll find some soon. In Japan they walk around with parasol sunshade umbrellas which is nice. The little village I live in is really beautiful. Theres a temple just up the road from where I live. All the houses are japanese style architecture wooden with these amazing ornate roof decorations. There`s a little place near my house where a man grows bonsai trees - they look so cool - I took photos. I haven`t got an internet connection at my house yet so I can`t upload my digital photos but I`ll let you know when I can! Did you know you can get grape fanta in Japan?. I`ve been buying these little fruit jellies from the supermarket that are really nice. Food here is soo different from NZ. I did manage to find some muesli for breakfast and bread and jam too!. Rice only comes in huge $50 bags. It`s hard to know what the products are beacuse I don`t understand the writing but some have helpful pictures or clear windows which is good. They have a lot of vending machines here too, they sell cigarettes and alcohol in vending machines! In NZ the kids would go crazy. Here, I don`t know... They have peach fanta too but I haven`t tried that yet. The grape was really nice.

I still haven`t started work yet. I start in September. But I am visiting the schools and getting to know the staff and pupils - and getting paid! Lots of free time to explore the wonders of Japan. I would like to get a train into the nearby big city Himeji but I don`t want to end up in Osaka or something. It`s hard to navigate because I can`t read the writing but I have a japanese phrase book with lots of useful transport related phrases e.g where is the train station, what platform is .. train? etc...

My phone gets connected today - I`m told so I`ll let you know my phone number!


p.s my email address is davidwhthomas@hotmail.com for those of you who don`t know or would like to send me comments or something...

Hi everyone!

Japan is still amazing. Its really hot and humid here. My apartment has air conditioning which is a blessing. Today I did a self introduction (in japanese) to about 150 workers from the town council office. Everyone clapped and said it was great speech which was a relief. I spent an hour or so piecing it together from dictionary phrases and I was happy with the result. I also visited kamioda elementary school where I met the 40 odd students. (they are so cute!) Each one introduced themselves to me and shook my hand (how do you do, my name is ... nice to meet you) it was very sweet. I played `glory glory hallelujah` on the piano and a little classical flute in D major which went down really well. On Saturday, I was given a ticket to see the arrow jazz orchestra at the town hall. That was wonderful. Just like something from the 1950`s They were really tight and actually very good, I was impressed although the japanese lyrics were beyond me, some of the songs were sung in english (i.e. My way and a few others) It was cool. I`m the only european in the whole area, so I stick out like a pink hippopotamus in a china store, but its OK, I`m getting used to it. When I arrived at the Junior high school (where I am now) the kids all ran up and pressed their faces against the window and waved. They love me here!. They`re actually looking now pressed up against the door. Oh well, I`ll try and look inconspicous. Yesterday, I went for a walk to a beautful lake in the mountains near where I live. It was lovely. There were butterflies everywhere and I saw a huge fish, lots of little fish as well as a snake!. There`s actually a snake that lives in the water near my apartment. I`ve seen it a few times now. I saw a little snake in the gutter this morrning. The animals here are really interesting. Lots of big colourful bugs and dragonflies. Everyone seems impressed at my Japanese. Those 3 years at high school are really paying off. The people are really nice and friendly and helpful. Actually japanese people are so nice. They work together so well because they constantly treat eachother with respect. The drivers are super courteous and everyone is so polite. One translation of Nihon (Japan) is `the great harmony` and its true. They live together harmoniously because they always treat eachother with respect and pay particular respect to the elderly. Japan is an ancient culture and in that sense it is very mature. Japan has evolved a certain cultural maturity which I feel is most wonderful. Another thing is they are all so happy. Whenever japanese people speak, its like they`re on the verge of laughter all the time. Everyday, they laugh so much, nearly all the time. Although some japanese are very serious there is a definite sense of humour in the air. Speaking of humour. Japanese television is soooo funny. God it makes me laugh. There are so many funny stories I can`t even begin to explain. It seems there is no bad news on television only people doing weird and interesting things and lots of entertainment. I like it, its easy to watch and entertaining. I can`t begin to explain the strange things they do but its certainly funny.

Anyway, I won`t spiel too long. hope alls well in your end of the woods,
love from David.

Japan is amazing! I have arrived in Okawachi-cho and the place is very beautiful. It is in a valley surrounded by lush green hills and lovely rivers. Nice and rural - im glad. The people are so friendly and helpful, they really are. My apartment is quite flash. Its new and clean and good. All the appliances have japanese writing on them so its hard to understand how to use them, even the washing machine! however, my colleagues are helping me to understand. The baths here are amazing, theyre all automatic, you just select the temperature and level and press a button and thats it - automatic. The first night I stayed with my supervisor and his family, that was a nice introduction. He has a beautifuul japanese style house. We went for a walk to a local shrine to offer some rice to the river god. A little frog jumped onto my shoe.

There are so many funny things here, everything is smaller and there is so much detail. Its very japanese. everyone speaks japanese and all the food is japanese. very japanese. I like it all though. The place I live is beautiful, there are rice paddys everywhere and the hills are so lush, covered in cedar and cypress trees with maples too. all the plants are different from NZ, the animals too. Okawachi has many frogs! I love frogs and they are everywhere. Because the rice paddys are filled with a few inches of water, there are little green frogs everywhere! There are also beautful big butterflies everywhere. I keep noticing new animals. Ive seen some neat lizard s too. The weather is really hot, its summer - about 30 degrees and quite humid. a change from the chilly wellington winter! Today, I have the afternoon off to explore further - hiking i think. Ive been quite busy with introductions and stuff over the last two days.