Children who raise insects at school learn lifelong valuable skills, in developing empathy and kindness towards others and the world around them.…
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PERSONAL BLOG
Ash or Satoshi? Doesn’t matter – they’re the same person. As an International Relations Coordinator in Japan, I spend a lot of time with people in my community. It is part of my role here to communicate with people around me! But sometimes I don’t know what to say. When in doubt, I ask, “what Pokemon do you like?” Talking about gaming is an accessible and reliable conversation topic. Especially something as universal as Pokemon. Games and Learning My brother…
If there is something that Japanese people take seriously, it’s their culture. Since the introduction of baseball to Japan in 1867 and its professional debut in 1920, the sport has woven into the nation’s spirit as if it were invented there. Support for all teams from the local beginners to the pro league is widespread. So much so that a high school baseball tournament is almost regarded as a holiday. Last month on May 10th, half of the Board of…
Springtime was busy, with people waking up early to gettheir gardens and fields planted in the sunny reprieves amidst the rainy season. Bees werebuzzing to and from the wide selection of early Spring flowers, either planted with care orthe lively wild blossoms. There were, and still are a lot of flowers to pay attention to, as it seems thatevery week, a blooming season ends and another begins. The earliest flowers of the year were the azalea bushes all over town,…
Shoutout to MChe Lee on Unsplash for the image. Greetings from Ashoro! We have started the third month of the new school year, and it is different than the last couple of years for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are clearly still in apandemic. Secondly, I am the only C.I.R. (Coordinator of International Relations) here now,whereas we had two of us here until the end of February this year. When there are two of us here, we meet nearly…
The significance of April 1st is vastly different in Japan and Canada. You may all know that here in Canada, it is April Fool’s Day. Though for the most part, it is just a regular school or work day. Nothing major happens, except perhaps you fell for a corporate joke that there would be new skincare products promising to leave your skin velvety smooth called V by Velveeta – (you know – the cheese brand?) or an exfoliating mask you’d…
Greetings from Ashoro! When talking about the end of the school year, most of us in Canada would be referring to the month of June. Our thoughts may then drift towards the two months of summer break that follow. However, if you refer to June as the end of the school year to a person in Japan, they would give you a weird look. Compared to Canada, the school year is split very differently here in Japan. We are currently…
Greetings from Japan! Did you know that Wetaskiwin’s sister city, Ashoro (which is technically a town) is nestled in the foothills of Mt. Meakan? This means that we can find stunning ski hills in every direction. I have never really skied before; however, I cannot pass up the opportunity to hit the slopes here – seeing how the powder snow in Hokkaido is world-renowned. My community includes a handful of highly skilled skiers, and they have been patient and enthusiastic…
We can all agree that things are uncertain around the globe right now, amidst a global pandemic. Yet, I found a pretty rad opportunity to work in Japan, so I took it. I was not sure what to expect when travelling, so I documented my experience in case it could shed some light on airport and flying conditions right now. Also, big thank you to Mike Palmowski (@mikepalmowski on instagram, show him some love!) for the feature photo. IN FLIGHT…