We can finally cross off one more major event that we wanted to experience while living in Japan… the ancient Japanese sport of sumo wrestling! There are six sumo Grand Tournaments a year, three are held in Tokyo, one in Osaka, Nagoya, and Kyushu (where we live). A tournament lasts for 15 days, each rikishi…
In my previous blog, I wrote about becoming an English teacher. In this blog, I’d like to share some snapshots of my teaching experiences with the different companies that I help with. I will start with some pictures of me working at Huis ten Bosch in English Square: The following are some group photos that…
Back in the States, I graduated college with a bachelor’s degree in English, emphasizing on the subjects of Language and Literature. Aside from my full time job working in the hospitality industry, I was fortunate enough to also be able to work within the educational system in the States, gaining experience with children as a…
Read more “Are bananas a fruit?” “Yes.” “Are bananas a vegetable?” “Yes.”
Located in Beppu, Japan is a popular area and well-known tourist attraction called “Jigoku Meguri.” The word “jigoku” takes its meaning, “burning hell,” from the ancient Buddhist sutras of the East. It is said that a visit to the eight phenomenal, natural hot spring sites will also conjure up images of the hellish depths of the “Inferno”…
Beppu is a city in Oita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. It is a relatively small city, famous for its unique and visually stunning hot springs. Beppu is pressed along the Beppu Bay coast and between mountains making it a thin and long city. Hot water gushes at many spots in the city. One…
Who needs water to take a bath? This past weekend on our trip to the other side of the island of Kyushu, to a city called Beppu, we came across quite an experience! Beppu is well-known for their hot springs and onsens. And it was here that we found the unique experience of sand bathing. There are…
We have been living in Japan for just about six months now, but we have only had a vehicle for about a month and a half. In the beginning we thought that we would try an experiment: to go these next three years without using a car. I mean, why waste the money and have to worry about car…
Tops, or koma, are round and made of wood and pierced through the middle with a rod that’s used as the axis for rotating. These tops, which spin by being spun either by hand or with a string, came to Japan in the eighth century from China, by way of the Korean Peninsula (that is where…
Read more Sasebo Koma: The Beautiful Folk Art of Spinning Tops
The most famous food in Sasebo is the American-style hamburger, known as the Sasebo Burger. And here they insist that mostly everything is homemade. Some shops bake their own buns, and the burger is grilled after the order is taken. It is usually priced around 300 yen to 500 yen (about $5.00, give or take…
After a long, stressful, and strenuous trip and a couple of months of adjusting in a foreign country, we can now call Sasebo, Japan our home! Now that we are somewhat accustomed to this part of the world, we would like to invite everyone else into our lives. We want to share photos and information…
American Roots. Traveling Boots. 
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