Today and tomorrow (5/4 and 5/4) the annual Danjiri festival is held in Okamoto (eastern part of Kobe). About ten groups push the ornate Danjiri Carts or Danjiri Guruma slowly down the street while playing traditional music using drums (Taiko) and bells (Kane) and waving to the crowd. You can find out more at the [...]
Life in Japan is actually very good. I can’t imagine a safer and better place to live. Since the major earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, I have gotten so many emails from friends in the U.S. And they worry so much about me and my family. It is heartening. But actually, Japan is a [...]
Since I started living and working in Kansai, I have made exploring the areas around my home in Nishinomiya and my English conversation school in Kawanishi a regular part of my life. Most of my travels have been along the Hankyu Takarazuka Main Line. The stations between Takarazuka and Kawanishi along this line are in a [...]
On Saturday night (March 26th) Smith’s School of English Koenji had a dinner party at Restaurant Rainbow which is within 2 minutes walk of the school. Twenty-six of us gathered at 7:30pm at the restaurant & within minutes the atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as students caught up with other English learners and met new ones as [...]
On Feb. 1, 2011 I suddenly had a cancellation of my 9:00 p.m. man-to-man lesson so I quickly sent out invitations to many of my students. Of course I knew that, being such short notice, I would not get many ‘takers’. But happily three of my students joined me. We had a very nice time [...]
Well, a new year has arrived! Now is the time to decide what you want to change in your life, what you want to do differently, what new adventure you want to embark on, what new skill you want to acquire or what new business you want to start. I have been working at this [...]
Every day I see thousands of young people here in Japan, near the station and near my school (many are university students). Some of them are studying English or other foreign languages with the intent to become good communicators. I think that these young people are very wise because more than at any time in [...]
Wow! Last night felt so refreshing! After the hotest summer on record it was great to finally sleep in a cool bedroom without the AC. But it only serves to remind me that Japan has some great seasons. They are very distinct and beautiful. Having lived in Japan for a total of 12 years over [...]
This is an interim report on the Smith’s Okamoto school. I took over the Smith’s School of English in Okamoto in July 2006. It had been in operation since September 2004 (6 years total so far) and it had only a tiny 15 active students at the time I took over. This month (August [...]
Last week I had three students and decided to use the vocabulary lessons. These are an interesting part of the Smith’s curriculum. They consist of many units each comprising 12 words. The words are random and unrelated for the most part. Some are nouns. Some are verbs and some are adjectives. Some can be used [...]
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