Author Archives: Deana

Japan enjoys such a variety of local differences!

On a recent trip to Smith head office in Osaka, I was reminded how different the weather can be in various parts of the country, even though the distance is not so great. Of course, where we are from in Canada, temperatures vary greatly from city to city, and also from day to day. It is [...]

Variety

On a recent trip to Smith head office in Osaka, I was reminded how different the weather can be in various parts of the country, even though the distance is not so great. Of course, where we are from in Canada, temperatures vary greatly from city to city, and also from day to day. It [...]

7-Eleven to the Rescue!

Just want to draw attention to the kindness of people here. Today I was having lunch at a restaurant across the street from our school in Azamino, and decided to make a quick run to the convenience store to pay a few bills and pick up a couple of things. We’ve had rain the entire [...]

水天宮 Suitengu Shrine with Smith’s Students

I wrote this ages ago, and meant to post it then. Better late than never! Mike and I are expecting a baby in September (2008), so a class of students decided to take me to Suitengu shrine. Everyone had been asking me if I had been to that shrine yet, so I was really glad [...]

Work / Family Balance

  I was just over at Hub Pages, reading comments to a story by fellow franchisee Derek at Tsukaguchi (スミス英会話 塚口). Someone posted a link to another soapbox story, written by Helena at Nakamozu (スミス英会話 なかもず). It was a great read for me, as I am expecting our first child very, very soon. Her comments about family [...]

Why we’re still in Japan after 8 years

I wrote most of this as a comment to a story posted by Derek (from スミス英会話塚口), but I think I should share it with all of you too! We are very excited to be having a baby in Japan. Japan is a place I can feel safe every day, at any time of day or [...]

Flu shot on the go!

Recently one of the nurses from my doctor’s office joined our school. Although the clinic is for gynecology and dermatology, if you go there with other problems, they are willing and indeed happy to help. Because of this, they get a lot of business in this season for colds and flu. This nurse had recommended [...]

Being a foreigner in Japan

With the recent addition of fingerprinting foreigners at immigration, there has been a lot of talk this past month about the treatment of foreigners in Japan. Here is something you probably don’t hear much about: Last week, I had to go to one of the government offices to get some documents changed. I recently had [...]

So much to see and do here!

My cousin is currently in Hong Kong setting up an office for an investment company. He is thinking about coming to Japan to visit us before xmas, so we have been exchanging emails on what to do. This really reminded me how much there is to do here! So many excellent activities (golf, skiiing, scuba [...]

Golfing in Japan

My husband (and co-owner of Smith’s Azamino), Mike, has recently gotten back into golf, an activity he used to do quite a bit in Canada when he was younger, and one which we didn’t think we could afford to do here in Japan. While it isn’t cheap, it is not unreasonably expensive if you can [...]

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