Dearest Smith’s franchisees, teachers and staff: We are on a roll and there is no stopping us now. I wish everyone a great summer and get ready to hit it hard right after Obon! I am confident that my Smith’s School of English franchise in Kotoen will get a whole bunch of new signups this [...]
Well, it seems I have compiled the full festival list for the summer of 2011 at last !! Some of the fireworks displays were expected to be canceled because of the the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami, but in the end weren’t. Foreigners are believed to stay away this summer but locals may be in the mood to travel [...]
Great so now it’s time for my annual Festival Preview! The problem is that there is still some disagreement about exactly what festivals will be held when. Because of the problems in the Tohoku area, some festivals may have been canceled or are in limbo at the moment. I can report that while many foreigners [...]
Yoko and I have been married for thirteen years and our anniversary is this Friday the 24th. It is a particularly auspicious day in the Japanese calendar because it is ‘Taian’, a day of especially good luck. Well, good luck has certainly been with us as here we are all these years later and it [...]
Well another year goes by and the summer festival season is right around the corner once again! Everyone knows how much we love reveling in the summer heat! Very soon I’ll publish the summer festival calendar my wife and I look forward to so much each year. I was hoping to do it today but [...]
More and more of us are paying attention to aesthetics, cleanliness and beauty. This is normal for a group of business owners, especially those of us within the Smith’s School of English Franchise system, people who are successful and enjoy very much what they do and the service they offer. Soon after the beautiful cherry blossoms [...]
Well, now is a good time to get out there and promote. Spring has come I think! And Typhoon number 1 is almost by us so we should see some nice weather for a while. Telephones will ring like mad so get out there and get some flyers out! Every once in a while you [...]
Now already the weather is noticeably warmer and the flowers and bugs are coming out. I actually can’t wait for rainy season in a way because of the remarkable green. The combination of precipitation, high humidity and high temperatures causes an interesting jungle-like atmosphere around much of the country. This is especially noticeable in places like [...]
Hello again. Cherry blossom season is already passing in most places in Osaka and Hyogo Prefecture. This is the scene right outside our apartment. At least it was until the last couple of rains did it in! Oh well. The weather has warmed up very nicely and as we prepare for a nice long and [...]
It might come as a surprise to many that there is a still a lot of nature in Japan. Many people often refer to the seemingly endless urban concrete sprawl, a certain image that Japan is certainly famous for, but at the same time the propensity of its people to gather in large metropolitan areas [...]
Bad Behavior has blocked 1333 access attempts in the last 7 days.