Living, working and traveling in Japan - life as an English teacher in Nagoya

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About this blog

This is less a travelogue than an ongoing documentation of life abroad. I came to Nagoya back in March of 2003 and have been living and working here ever since. During that time I've seen a fair chunk of my host country as well as visited a number of neighboring others. I thought it worth preserving for posterity.

As this blog was created well after the fact, most of the older (2003) entries will remain as map points only. At this time, I don't have pictures on my computer to go with them and, anyhow, it was a bloody long time ago!

• 1

  Farewell (again) to the U.S.   Tulsa, OK on Mar 18, 2003 0 pictures 0 comments
• 2

  Digging in to Japanese living   Nagoya, Japan on Apr 1, 2003 0 pictures 0 comments
• 3

  Doing a visa run on company time?   Seoul, Korea Rep. on May 2, 2003 0 pictures 0 comments
• 4

  The arrival of the sakura   Nagoya, Japan on Apr 6, 2004 5 pictures 0 comments
• 5

  Black castle of the crows in the Japan Alps   Matsumoto, Japan on May 3, 2004 5 pictures 0 comments
• 6

  A Japanese phoenix   Hiroshima (and Miyajima), Japan on Jul 19, 2004 13 pictures 0 comments
• 7

  Time to play tour guide   Tokyo, Japan on Aug 9, 2004 13 pictures 0 comments
• 8

  On to the cultural capital   Kyoto, Japan on Aug 12, 2004 16 pictures 0 comments
• 9

  The finest of Japanese castles   Himeji, Japan on Aug 12, 2004 8 pictures 0 comments
• 10

  Great Buddhas and ancient capitals   Nara, Japan on Aug 14, 2004 12 pictures 0 comments
• 11

  Music and hedonism: stir well and indulge   Munich, Germany on Sep 23, 2004 28 pictures 0 comments
• 12

  The end of the (relationship) line. . . .   Nagoya, Japan on Oct 15, 2004 0 pictures 0 comments
• 13

  The old imperial capital's bountiful fall foliage   Kyoto, Japan on Nov 22, 2004 12 pictures 0 comments
• 14

  Paying respects to the hometown should be easier   Tulsa, OK on Dec 28, 2004 5 pictures 0 comments
• 15

  State capitals old and new   Guthrie and Oklahoma City, OK on Jan 3, 2005 12 pictures 0 comments
• 16

  Weekend getaway to Japan's second city   Osaka, Japan on Jan 11, 2005 18 pictures 0 comments
• 17

  Whore of the Orient   Shanghai, China on Feb 13, 2005 30 pictures 0 comments
• 18

  Back here again??   Seoul, Korea Rep. on Apr 28, 2005 19 pictures 0 comments
• 19

  Down amongst the tumuli   Gyeongju, Korea Rep. on May 2, 2005 18 pictures 0 comments
• 20

  Honeymoon island   Jeju-do, Korea Rep. on May 4, 2005 25 pictures 0 comments
• 21

  How to make a classic Japanese tourist trap   Nagoya, Japan on May 21, 2005 14 pictures 0 comments
• 22

  To the land of Chingis Khan   Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Aug 4, 2005 0 pictures 0 comments
• 23

  Sweating it out in the Mongolian sun   The Gobi Desert, Mongolia on Aug 10, 2005 47 pictures 0 comments
• 24

  Chingis Khan's old capital   Kharkhorin, Mongolia on Aug 12, 2005 19 pictures 0 comments
• 25

  A day of relaxation at the Great White Lake   Terkhin Tsagaan Nuur, Mongolia on Aug 14, 2005 10 pictures 0 comments
• 26

  Winding down and taking in the Soviet grandeur   Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on Aug 18, 2005 12 pictures 0 comments
• 27

  Kyushu's bustling metropolis   Fukuoka, Japan on Sep 20, 2005 22 pictures 0 comments
• 28

  Feudal Japan's window on the world   Nagasaki, Japan on Sep 22, 2005 18 pictures 0 comments
• 29

  Castle town of central Kyushu   Kumamoto, Japan on Sep 23, 2005 7 pictures 0 comments
• 30

  Days of toxic volcanic fumes and hot springs   Beppu, Japan on Sep 25, 2005 15 pictures 0 comments
• 31

  Snooping around Japan's largest lake   Nagahama and Hikone, Japan on Nov 4, 2005 13 pictures 0 comments
• 32

  A Kyoto on the Sea of Japan (minus the tourists)   Kanazawa, Japan on Nov 24, 2005 20 pictures 0 comments
• 33

  Smacked by Siberia   Nagoya, Japan on Dec 23, 2005 4 pictures 0 comments
• 34

  Hurrying to take in some of Beantown   Boston, MA on Dec 24, 2005 7 pictures 0 comments
• 35

  Christmas in the Berkshires   Alford, MA on Dec 29, 2005 14 pictures 0 comments
• 36

  A memorable New Year's in the Big Apple   New York, NY on Jan 3, 2006 39 pictures 0 comments
• 37

  Hitting the big city   Tokyo, Japan on Feb 12, 2006 36 pictures 0 comments
• 38

  Under the pink   Nagoya, Japan on Apr 11, 2006 15 pictures 0 comments
• 39

  Remnants of old Japan in the mountains   Magome and Tsumago, Japan on May 2, 2006 12 pictures 0 comments
• 40

  A weekend getaway to Western Honshu   Okayama (and Kurashiki), Japan on Jul 18, 2006 24 pictures 0 comments
• 41

  Jostling with the crowds   Nagoya, Japan on Jul 29, 2006 11 pictures 0 comments
• 42

  A rushed visit home   Tulsa, OK on Aug 17, 2006 25 pictures 0 comments
• 43

  Parading through the sticky summer   Nagoya, Japan on Aug 21, 2006 19 pictures 0 comments
• 44

  'Little Kyoto' in the Japan Alps   Takayama, Japan on Sep 25, 2006 25 pictures 0 comments
• 45

  A thousand and one ways to cook a pig   Naha, Okinawa, Japan on Oct 8, 2006 42 pictures 0 comments
• 46

  The big autumn parade   Nagoya, Japan on Oct 16, 2006 28 pictures 0 comments
• 47

  First step towards the next stage   Nagoya, Japan on Nov 17, 2006 0 pictures 0 comments
• 48

  Saying farewell to 2006   Nagoya, Japan on Dec 30, 2006 20 pictures 0 comments
• 49

  A traditional Japanese New Year's   Nagoya, Japan on Jan 4, 2007 20 pictures 0 comments
• 50

  A new tool for the coming spring   Nagoya, Japan on Mar 5, 2007 13 pictures 0 comments
• 51

  The great phallic procession   Komaki, Japan on Mar 15, 2007 30 pictures 0 comments
• 52

  Castle hunting in Tokugawa's backyard   Kakegawa, Hamamatsu and Toyohashi, Japan on Mar 24, 2007 20 pictures 0 comments
• 53

  Gainfully unemployed under the sakura   Kariya, Japan on Apr 3, 2007 13 pictures 0 comments
• 54

  Sakura in the old capital   Kyoto, Japan on Apr 6, 2007 45 pictures 0 comments
• 55

  Back in Kariya and cramped for time   Kariya, Japan on Apr 7, 2007 0 pictures 0 comments