Author Archives: Edward

I was born and raised in Nanaimo, BC, Canada. I graduated with a B.A. in Math and Philosophy. I have been in Japan since January 2007 and I absolutely love it here. I love sightseeing, snowboarding or sitting in the sun reading detective novels in winter, sitting in the shade reading detective novels or surfing in summer; and my most recent passions are cycling and 35mm film photography.

Monkeys… Arashiyama, My Favourite Place in Kyoto

Living in Japan we get a lot of visitors from home. My sister has visited, my parents, friends from home, friends from university, even friends from other parts of Japan. I love showing people around, being their local guide. Giving my friends and family a tour of the places I love and introducing them to [...]

Smith’s 2010 Cherry Blossom Viewing Party スミス英会話大阪城公園お花見

It’s almost Cherry Blossom Viewing season again and time for the annual Smith’s School of English Kansai Area Hanami (Cherry Blossom Viewing) Party. Cherry Blossom Viewing Parties are common all across Japan as the Cherry Blossom buds open to reveal their oh so delicate and beautiful blossoms. Usually, families, friends or co-workers get together for [...]

Warm-up and an Easy Start, Keys to Lesson Success

Upon entering an English school, students are greeted with a slew of standard English greetings. From the simple “Hello” and “How are you?” to the more colloquial “What’s new?” or “How ya going mate?”, students are immediately immersed in English. English classrooms are the place for English immersion: the walls have English posters, the book [...]

Olympic History in Vancouver Feb 22 2010

In a sport dominated by Europeans, and Russians in particular, it was a huge surprise when the Canadian pair of Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won the gold on February 22nd 2010 in Vancouver. Their win was the first ever by a North American pair, and they also made history as the youngest ever ice dance pairs [...]

Professional Basketball in Japan?

Basketball in Japan?
Sports. I love ‘em. I love to watch sports, I love to play sports.
My hometown, Nanaimo BC Canada is a standard Canadian city- small, homely, and full of sports. Or so I thought. Nanaimo has Junior Hockey, College Baseball, and a slew of minor leagues and high school sports. Now that I live [...]

BC’s Kermode Spirit Bear

With so much news about the Vancouver 2010 winter Olympics, and everyone in my English school talking about them, I thought it would be nice to post about other wonderful goings on in Canada. Below there is a link to a live web cam placed with care and much effort in the den of a [...]

Homemade & Hand-Made Valentine’s Day Gifts

For more on Valentine’s Day in Japan (English) CLICK HERE
For more on Valentine’s Day in Japan (日本語) CLICK HERE
Valentine’s day in Japan is so unlike valentine’s day in Canada. For men. In Canada, valentine’s day is a day for men to spend money, stress about preparing just the right gift, dinner, romantic night out. In [...]

Malta is NOT in Italy

It’s true! A student is going on a trip to Malta next month. In her English lesson last week, she told me she was going to Italy for a week tour. She told me she is going to Malta, which she explained was a small Italian island located just off the tip of the Italian [...]

Japanese Olympic Medals

So yesterday Japan finally got their first medal, making it to the podium in 500m men’s speed skating. 2 Japanese olympians stood shoulder to shoulder on the podium, smiling and clutching their hard earned silver and bronze medals. As I am from Canada I was a bit sad because they both had races with Canadians [...]

Ice Hockey and Ice Skating and Winter Fun

With all this new snow falling and the coldness setting in, it reminds me of my home… Canada. Well, not really MY Canada, as my hometown is currently sunny and 10 degrees, and also rarely sees snow, but rather the Canada of ice hockey and skiing and winter fun. Recently I have found a [...]

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