Ever since my first visit to Japan, almost 20 years ago, I have always loved visiting the country’s great traditional hot springs 温泉. My first visit to an onsen was in Nita , in Shimane-ken 島根県. Although I had read much of the etiquette of the onsen, I was lucky enough, on that occasion [...]
Earlier this summer I wrote a post about a trip that I took to Myokenguchi 妙見口 see HERE. At the end of that article I promised a return visit, which I did last Sunday. This time we visited Myoken-san, the location of Nose Myoken-san Temple 能勢妙見山堂, headquarters of the Nichiren Buddhist sect.
Two apparently unrelated events happened to me yesterday that really got me thinking about my recent huge changes in life: coming to live in Japan and buying a Smith’s School of English franchised school. First, I visited Smith’s School of English head office in Kyobashi for an owners’ seminar, where I found the friendliness and support [...]
I’m sure you all know that Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has called a general election for August 30th. This means that we will see numerous local politicians and their supporters making speeches and handing out flyers at the stations where we are handing out flyers for our English schools. (Interesting use of present continuous). [...]
BMX flying One aspect of Nishinomiyahama 西宮浜, where I have lived for almost a year and a half, that I have not mentioned before in this series is the variety of sports and leisure activities that go on there almost throughout the year. There is always so much going on both on land and [...]
Birds in Flight – Isle of Wight I have seen many definitions of wabisabi 侘寂, but that which appeals to me the most is the idea of beauty arising out of a transient moment, out of elements that in themselves contain the imperfections of the natural world. The words wabi and sabi also suggest [...]
I recently bought an iPod Touch to replace my old HP iPAQ that had given up the ghost (phrase) after about six years. I use a pocket sized computer (PDA) mainly to read ebooks and listen to BBC podcasts when I can’t sleep (thinking about an early wakeup to do flyers). I also use it [...]
I was reading a feature on the Japan Times website recently. This article was entitled Silent Spring in Tokyo and bemoaned the lack of any sign of wildlife in the Tokyo suburb where the author lives (he states that it is about an hour’s train ride from midtown). All that I can say to the writer [...]
There is an old railway line that runs into the mountains form Hankyu Kawanishi Noseguchi Station 川西能勢口駅, which is opposite my school Smith’s School of English, Kawanishi. This is the Hankyu Nose Line 能勢電鉄妙見線 which runs approximately 12 kilometers into the mountains north of Kawanishi, coming to an end at Myokenguchi 妙見口. As [...]
Well, another month has passed; I have now been the owner of Smith’s School of English, Kawanishi スミス英会話川西校 for 3 months, and I find myself in a reflective mood again. I have been thinking how easy I now find it to adapt lessons from most parts of the SSE curriculum to suit students of different levels. Again I [...]
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