So I learned from experience today that contrary to previous reports, one CANNOT put “as many coins as you like” in the ATM for a deposit. The machine freaks out and sort of goes catatonic, shrieking as it shuts down. You have to call a person and they explain to you that if you are [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
AMAZING RACE: SAGA Application forms are available here (PDF) or here (Word).
Please note that the race format is subject to change– for example, we may randomly mix teams.
Use the PDF version if you just want to quickly fill in and print the form for delivery or fax.
The Word document can be saved for emailing, [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
By now you know that in Japan, the school year starts in April and a few teachers leave at the end of March, with new ones rotating in to replace them.
The holidays are dead if you are not vacationing. Likewise, the first week of school will be a testing time for the students. It might [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Do you ever get those blue “notice of redelivery” cards in your mailbox? Here is a blog with step-by-step instructions to get your package redelivered on your terms.
http://melt-in-japan.blogspot.com/2008/02/rescheduling-deliveries-in-japan.html
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
This past Saturday I went to Hita City in Oita to see their hina matsuri (aka girl’s day aka doll festival) dolls. it was pretty sweet! there is a nice old part of town (a little touristy but meh) where all of the cute shops have their dolls displayed as well as private residences/museums that [...]
Read the rest of saritajuanita’s article.
On Sunday, March 2nd, there’s going to be a ‘Samurai parade’ taking place in Saga city. People are assembling at 7.30-8.30am in the gym of the Fuzoku Elementary school, next to the Saga Castle History Museum in Saga City and will be taking to the streets donned in feudal attire at 10.30am. The person organising [...]
Read the rest of applestereo’s article.
Happy Chinese New Year!
So here is a quick note for those of you looking for the 脱退一時金裁定請求書 (Pension Lump Sum Withdrawal Form):
There is information about this on the CLAIR website, in addition to the GIH (the General Information Handbook that you have no doubt lost by now ;o)
http://www.jetprogramme.org/e/former/pension.html
For those of you looking to [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
When: 7th,8th+10th of March
Where: ＊Nippon Budokan Training Center 582 Sawakura, Katsuura Citｙ, Chiba
＊International Budo University 841 Shinga, Katsuura City
There will be lectures in both English and Japanese on topics such as ancient martial arts techniques, the influence martial arts has on health as well as ancient martial arts of the ryukyu islands. There will also [...]
Read the rest of applestereo’s article.
We are now recruiting dedicated volunteers to join the Saga JET Habitat for Humanity 2008 Trip!
Wondering where to go and what to do during your Golden Week holidays? Why not join the Saga JET Habitat for Humanity 2008 group? Support the global community and build homes for low income earners and their families!
About Habitat for [...]
Read the rest of jbergeron’s article.
Feeling stressed? Overworked? Having difficulty sleeping? Needing an energy boost?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, then you should consider getting a massage to release those weary muscles, help your body’s circulation, and improve your overall well-being.
Yuri Sakaguchi, Spa Director and Therapist at the Heaka Aveda Spa in Tenjin, offers [...]
Read the rest of jbergeron’s article.
AEON/Jusco (and possibly MaxValu?) are now selling certified Fair Trade coffee.
At 200g for just under 400 yen, it’s a little more than the bargain basement blends, but it’s still much cheaper than Starbucks and you are doing something good for the coffee growers.
The two blends I saw were Ethiopia and Indonesia, but [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Last but certainly not least are the C-Group people. Someone, please throw a party so we can meet them!
So we were offline today because Dreamhost was having problems with their computers in L.A.
The good news is that now (and actually during the problem) you can access SagaJET’s lovely wisdom on your cell phone!
“Where’s that onsen they were talking about?”
“What time does the event start?”
“What kind of restaurants are in Saga?”
Just point [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
On Sunday 26th of this month, the annual Dragon boat race is going to be held at the Kasegawa reservoir near to Saga city. Every year, over 50 boats compete for a prize of 100,000yen with each boat consisting of 16 people (1 skipper, 1 ‘rudder’, and 14 people furiously paddling). It seems that each [...]
Read the rest of applestereo’s article.
A bit late, perhaps, but for the last procrastinators, an extra boost: http://www.freewebs.com/kumamoto_electro/ustaxinfo.htm
The best part is the sample forms they’ve included. I think some of the information is dated, but the pictures help a LOT for the 2555EZ.
For your 2555EZ, a date calculator. Be sure to check the “include the end date” box: http://www.timeanddate.com/date/duration.html
According to [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Basics. Good for newbies or potential Saga JETs
http://www.chickobe.com/CultureTips.htm
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Please give them a warm welcome at the party on the 10th.
Check your email or the forums for more information.
Original forums post here.
From Nirav:
As some of you may already know, the weekend of August 4th is the annual “Sakae no Kuni Matsuri” festival here in Saga City. (More info, in Japanese, here ) On the night of the 5th, there will be a big dancing procession along the main street in Saga (the [...]
Read the rest of The Event Poster’s article.
Please give them a big welcome at the welcome party on August 3rd.
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2359
If Elisabeth’s Geocities link doesn’t work, here is a copy of the form I saved and uploaded to our server.
Bored this week? Wanna see another part of Kyushu?
Fukuoka-Now.com maintains a list of festivals. You can sort by name, by month or by prefecture.
http://www.fukuoka-now.com/kcalendar/index.php?order=month,title&offset=120
Each has a short blurb and often contact info to get in on the action. We’ve linked you to August so you can start the new JET year running.
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Not a huge thing, but some people have never taken city buses before. Also, the Saga Buses (and a lot in Japan, actually) charge by distance, not a flat rate, so they might be different from other buses you’ve ridden.
Here is a PDF file to help you figure it out. But it’s not anything [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Original Forums post HERE.
This Saturday, July 28th from 1-6:30pm at the Tojin Hiroba (where is that? you know, it’s that space on the eki street next to Tojin Cafe where they hold concerts all the time)
THere will be:
Workshops!
Jenbe (sp?) African drumming!
African dancing!
Stamp-making!
A Fashion Show!
Performances!
Ushizu African Drumming Club (high schoolers, they have this in ushizu?!)
Forikan (pro [...]
Read the rest of The Event Poster’s article.
PLEASE send Katie an email if you want to go to one or both of these parties.
“A” Welcome Party
WHERE: Naos
WHEN: August 3rd, 7.30pm sharp
WHAT: nomi-tabe houdai
(all you can eat and drink for a set period, usually 2 hours)
NON-DRINKERS:
Katie can speak to the restaurant owners if people don’t want to drink.
COST: [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Office dress can be confusing when you’ve come straight out of uni and suddenly need to not wear t-shirts and jeans. Here is a basic guide for what to wear in the office. Since I’m male, my advice will focus on that. Maybe one of the female ALTs will add her thoughts.
There are two basic [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
So right now you are sitting on your hands, wanting to do something to get ready also and to let you procrastinate from packing, right?
I recommend thinking about the things you will be teaching about in your Self-Intro Lesson; since I had only a vague idea of what I was supposed to [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
So I’m working on the site behind the scenes, but it’s not a 1-man show, people.
I would love for people to start writing the odd article or maybe even a column if you love to write. I can contribute, but I don’t want to dominate.
Stylewise, think lifestyle magazine. The tone is not personal [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Jayne suggests this article from the Japan times on how to deal with the muggy Japanese summer. We’ve reprinted a copy here on the site in case the original link breaks.
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Posted by: Lee
Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:43 pm
Post subject: music fest in tosu
there’s a big (sort of) music festival on in tosu, at kawauchi dam, on the 16th. starts at about 1 or 2, til 9/10. lots of good music, good food, booze.
free bus goes every 30 minutes or so from the [...]
Read the rest of The Event Poster’s article.
You too can ride out the storm with the gusto of Slim Pickens on a warhead!
….okay, bad comparison there…just read the article.
As typhoon Man-Yi rolls up towards Kyushu, it’s a good time to consider your personal emergency plan in the event of a natural disaster.
Before newbies start re-watching all of those awful nat. [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2338
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2316
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2353
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2319
http://www.fukuoka-now.com/events/index.php?id=1689
6/30/2007 http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2363
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2333
Read the rest of The Event Poster’s article.
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2284
Read the rest of The Event Poster’s article.
http://www.sagajet.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2354
So it’s really a modest makeover– the layout stays the same, colors and images change. So Justin said he didn’t like the header’s funky “g” so I did a little playing around. I think I like this more than that, but maybe there’s room for improvement. Not sure. Let me know what you think [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Okay, not really. But I was asked to put something up. It’s sort of a testament to the pain of content-generation that the last post here was from the LAST time we changed website admins. Hopefully, we can get fresh info and good articles up…at least until my energy starts flagging.
I don’t really [...]
Read the rest of Jesse’s article.
Hello, this is Sergio, the new SagaJet Website Administrator (wow, I’m finally important!). During these next few weeks, Chris and I will be discussing the website and he will be teaching me the sacred duties of the administrator and passing the mantle over to me. Please bear with this time of transition and let me [...]
Read the rest of shpena’s article.
*Thanks to Cheryl of Kitakyushu for authoring this article
Disaster Message Board Services
NTT as well as the three major cell phone providers (Docomo, Vodafone, and AU) each have an emergency message board system. This system allows those who are in a stricken area to leave either a voice (NTT) or text message (cell phones) with [...]
Read the rest of Chris Gibson’s article.
The 10th anniversary of the Caribbean Festival “Isla de Salsa” runs Saturday and Sunday, August 19th and 20th, on the island of Nokonoshima off the coast of Fukuoka. More information can be found at the Isla de Salsa homepage and on the SagaJET forums.
Japanese Lessons for this year’s Group A and Group B arrivals are located in Saga City. Classes are from 1:00pm - 5:00pm on August 16th-18th and 21st-25th.
The Tara Mountains are the collective name of the ten or so peaks that form the southwestern border between Nagasaki and Saga prefectures. Though named for Tara-dake (996m), the tallest mountain of this range is actually Kyoga Dake (1076m). Nearby towns and cities include Kashima, Ureshino, and Tara in Saga, and Takaki, Isahaya, Omura, and Higashisonogi in Nagasaki. Route 444 cuts a clear path from Kashima to Omura, providing easy access for the majority of activities described in this travel guide.
The Tara Mountains offer an abundance of things to do for the mildly to the super fit: hiking, camping, backpacking, rock climbing, and swimming. These should all be done at your own risk.
Read the rest of Joseph Tris’s article.
Join regatta lovers from all over Saga-ken in sailing down the Tafuse River in anything that floats. Saturday, 8 July, 1 p.m., Tafusegawa Riverside Park. Full details are on the message board.
Oita’s Concert on the Rock music festival runs Saturday and Sunday, 3-4 June. More info is, as always, on the message board.
Selling your Japanese car? Surprise, surprise, it involves a lot of paperwork and bureaucracy. Here are two illustrated guides to walk you through the process.
Read the rest of Leah Kennedy’s article.
Mud + Olympics = Gatalympics. More info on the website and on the message board.
As of today, I’ve lived in Japan for two years and nine months, and in that time I’ve done a lot of things: traveled around the country, met interesting people, eaten unidentifiable foods. I’ve lived here for so long, in fact, that I only have two months before they kick my wife and I out. Despite all of the experiences I’ve had in my first 2.75 years, though, I’ve realized that there are roughly one billion things I haven’t done that I need to squeeze into the next 0.25 years.
Many JETs are likely in the same situation. Between working, preparing to leave and trying to enjoy the warm weather before it gets too warm, lots of folks are finding their schedules filling up fast. For some, this isn’t a problem; they just go with the proverbial flow and do what they can, when they can. Me, I’m a planner, so I’m making lists and marking calendars to make sure I get everything done. You might remember that I’m also a technophile, so many of my lists and calendars exist only as bits on my computer.
One item on my current to-do list is “write article about electronic organization.” Since I love checking things off of lists as much as I love putting them on, here’s a quick survey of some of the tools I’ve used (or have looked into using) to keep myself at least marginally organized in my last few months here. Not every tool will work for every JET, but one or two may fit your needs well enough to make sure you don’t miss anything important before you leave. (If you’re not leaving in July, I suppose you could use these tools, too; just don’t go bragging to me about the free time you have on your Google Calendar from all the not-packing-boxes you’re doing).
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Golden Week, a.k.a. the only time the Japanese go on vacation, begins with Green Day on 29 April, a holiday sadly wasted on a Saturday this year. Luckily Green Day is followed by Constitution Memorial Day (3 May), National Holiday (4 May) and Children’s Day (5 May), making for a nice five day weekend.
(Note: This week’s “Hi, Tech” is brought to you by Arita JET Sergio Pena, whose well-timed article on computer security saved me from having to dream up something to write about this week. Also, there will be no “Hi, Tech” next week because of the Golden Week holidays. If a “Hi, Tech” is written and no one is around to read it, is it really written? — Nicholas)
Computer security. These two words echo throughout the internet, but do you really know what they mean? Sure, you might have heard about viruses, spam, identity theft and the like, but do you know how to protect yourself and your beloved computer from the cesspool that is the internet? In this article, I hope to establish a baseline definition of certain terms and to enlighten you on this very important — but often overlooked — aspect of technology.
Let’s start off with the basics, shall we?
Read the rest of Sergio Pena’s article.
I’m freshly back from a four-day trip to Kyoto with my wife and our aforementioned visitor. Being in Kyoto, the epitome of beautiful Japanese cities, we did what any good tourists should do: take loads of pictures. Pictures of temples. Pictures of deer. Pictures of deer at temples.
We took so many pictures, in fact, that our guest’s digital camera gave out on the last day of our trip. One minute it was chugging away, and the next minute it was refusing to retract its lens or focus (important things for a digital camera to do). Luckily for our guest, her camera (like the three of us) just needed a break; it started working again the next day.
For that one day her camera was broken, though, our guest was seriously considering buying a replacement. She was in the right place–digital cameras in Japan are probably the smallest, coolest and pinkest in the world. I was of course only too happy to help her do a little research on what kind of camera was best for her. Since she ended up not needing a new camera, and since I can’t let good research go wasted, allow me to pass my thoughts on buying a digital camera on to you.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
PowerPoint slides and a handout from the leavers workshop at the 2006 Saga JET conference are available for those getting ready to end their tenure as a JET this summer. Download away if you liked them at the conference and want your very own copy!
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Saga JETs heading to Bangladesh to work with Habitat for Humanity are throwing a charity “passport party.” Two thousand yen for adults (1000 for kids) will get you into five party rooms modeled after a different country. The party starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, April 15 at the Saga City ken apartments and everyone is welcome (kids can stay until 9 p.m.). There’s a lot more info on the message board.
The Saga City language classes at Avance are starting again on 12 April and will run until the 19 July. Classes are Wednesdays at either 6:30 p.m. or 8 p.m. Tuition is 4000 yen. The classes are “for those who are interested in entering at the introductory and beginner levels, covering basic Japanese daily conversation, reading and writing skills.”
If you want to sign up, send your name, address, nationality, work/school name, and telephone number to fax 0952 24-7337 or email nihong_saga@yahoo.ne.jp.
The placement test is on April 12th, so please arrive by 6 p.m.
Astute readers might have noticed that there was no “Hi, Tech” last week. Apologizes for not writing, but I had a really good reason, I swear. My wife and I are playing hosts to a friend from college, and we’ve been busy doing out host duties, like showing our guest the local sites (i.e. big trees and tiny cars) and helping her avoid accidentally eating raw horse.
All the hosting has (a) put me in a very travel agent-y frame of mind and (b) not left me with much time to plan a proper article. I didn’t want to let my writing muscles atrophy any more than they already have by skipping another week, though (some days I can barely string two words together as it is), so this week I’ve gone with my newfound fondness for planning other people’s trips and pulled together a collection of sites that may be useful the next time you have a visitor.
None of these sites are particularly obscure and you could probably find most of them after 30 seconds on Blingo (which may or may not be how I found some of them). Still, it might be nice to have them collected in one place for easy access the next time you’re looking to distract your visitors with something other than your tales of bravely facing six classes of elementary school students in one day.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
The annual Kyushu Cup football tournament (that’s soccer for the yanks) will be held in Saga this year. Kickoff is 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 8, at Saga Nishi High School. There’s more info on the message board, including a nice preview by Dustin Hovda.
Takeo’s Spring Festival runs from 1-2 April. Come for the drunk men parading through the streets, stay for the crowning of Miss Sakura.
It’s only a few days away from the beginning of April and a new Japanese school year. If you’re one of the lucky few who are allowed to take secret spring break vacation, count your blessings. Otherwise, you’re probably trapped at your school or office being forced to either look busy or help with spring cleaning. Or, if you are my wife, you’re doing both at the same time: her spring cleaning chore was to lug two dozen old computers down a flight of stairs and then lug them back up after she was done. Seriously.
Since I’m not a JET, I’ve been spared pointless computer lugging, but I do have some tidying up to do. I’ve been hoarding a collection of links that, until now, haven’t fit in any of my previous articles. I might as well join with the spring cleaners and take care of those links here. Enjoy.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
The gospel choir Golden Angels, an “Asian group from overseas,” will perform with three other choirs from Saga on Sunday, March 26 at Avance in Saga City. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.; admission is free.
In the world of computer applications, there are three kinds of free software, and three weird catch phrases that always go with them. Software can be “free as in beer,” “free as in speech” or “free as in illegal.” Technically I made that last catch phrase up, but does it sound any worse than “free as in beer”?
Software that’s “free as in speech” also goes by the name “open source software.” These programs are written by computing do-gooders who believe that the code used to power their programs (called the “source code”) should be available to the public to encourage collaboration and innovation. It’s actually a pretty noble idea, made even nobler by the fact that most “free as in speech” software also costs nothing to use.
Software that’s “free as in illegal,” on the other hand, is the kind that usually isn’t free but can be not-really-legally downloaded via file sharing programs and used with hacked or stolen registration keys. Downloading this software has the advantage of giving you a free copy of sometimes very pricey programs as long as you don’t mind (a) the off chance of getting hit with a big fine and (b) the horrible, horrible guilt of being a software pirate, matey. Okay, so the guilt isn’t that bad, but there’s usually at least a little twinge of remorse involved.
The final category of free software, the kind that’s strangely been dubbed “free as in beer,” is my favorite. This is the kind that’s available completely legally and completely free. Much of this software is also open source, so people nerdier than myself can marvel at all the source code then can handle. The best part about “free as in beer” software, though, is how far its come since the term “free as in beer” was coined. A lot of these free applications are advanced enough to rival their costlier cousins. Free software has gotten so usable, in fact, that I often prefer it to purchased software.
Since a computer is only as useful as the software you have on it, here are five “free as in beer” programs that will make your computer really, really useful without costing you a single yen.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
The official start of spring and a holiday. What could be better?
The Bangladesh Habitat for Humanity group is putting on a pub trivia night to raise funds for their trip. Competition starts at 5 p.m., March 18 at the Celtic Heart in Saga City and costs 1500 yen to enter. Details and rules are on the message board.
Go on a guided tour (in English!) of Arita, learn about its hina dolls, have a giant meal, paint some procelain. You can get more information on the message board.
When I first came to Japan from America, everything was new and exciting. Signs were unreadable! Food was raw and fishy! Cars drove on the left side of the road! I was living in a different country for the first time, and it was great.
My enthusiasm lasted for a couple of months, and then reality hit: I was living in the middle of nowhere in a different country. I’d left the breadbasket of America to come to the rice basket of Japan and, once I’d learned to read the signs, things weren’t all that different anymore. It was time a vacation.
Although at that point I was so accustomed to my Japanese home that I wanted to leave it, I didn’t want to see the rest of the world with a tour group like many Japanese travelers do. Rather than turning to a travel agent to help plan the trip, then, I turned to the internet. (Who am I kidding, I would have turned to the internet even if I came from a family of travel agents who would disown me if I ever booked an airfare online.)
Since most JETs I know get a similar wanderlust while they’re in Japan, I thought I’d share a few good resources you might be able to use to plan your next getaway (even if it is only a prefecture or two away).
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Come make Jamaican and American desserts (Jamaican rock buns and pancakes!) in the latest installment of the Saga City International Cooking Class Series. Sunday, March 12, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., third floor cooking classroom in the Saga City Avance Building. More info is posted on the message board.
Final day to vote for your AJET national representative. Go to the AJET voting page to cast your ballot.
When I got my very first internet connection about 10 years ago, the only online task I did daily was check email. Back then, only a few major news outlets and a couple of very early adopters updated their websites on a regular basis. Most sites I knew about were either static advertisements for companies jumping on the web bandwagon or places for angsty nerds to publish their “poetry.”
Then man created blogs, and it was, well, if not good, at least more interesting. Suddenly everyone was writing on the web, and some people were even writing things worth reading. Angsty nerd poetry pages were replaced by sites offering fresh, interesting content that could develop a real readership. I started visiting more sites than just CNN.com every day.
But from frequently updated blogs arose a problem precisely opposite than the one I had when I first started using the internet: now I had too many sites I wanted to keep up with. Instead of just checking email and being done with it, I would check email and then go through all of my bookmarks to check for new content. Sure, it was only a matter of a few clicks, but I was living in the internet age, and a few clicks were too many.
Then, man created the news feed, and that was good. Now I only had to make one stop to be able to tell at a glance which sites had been updated since the last time I checked (probably five minutes ago, but that’s just me). And the more I played around with news feeds, the more I found they could actually be used for things more productive than finding out when my friends were writing about me.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Over the weekend I updated WordPress, the system that runs SagaJET, to the latest version. WordPress runs entirely behind the scenes, so the upgrade won’t be noticeable unless something went wrong. All seems to have gone well, though, so you shouldn’t come across anything out of the ordinary. If you do come across an error, let me know by either posting a comment or using the contact form.
Also, WordPress only runs the non-forum parts of this site, so nothing at all has changed with the message board. If you see a message board error, then I should never be allowed to work on a computer again.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Open mic night at Rebeers in Saga City to benefit the Habitat to Humanity trip to Bangladesh. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., music starts at 7:30 p.m. Admission is 1500 yen. You can find more info on the message board.
If the internet is to be believed, there are something like 2.5 billion phones in the world. Chances are, you’ll want to call at least a few of them while you’re a JET.
If the phone you want to call is in Japan, no problem: just dial area code and phone number, get connected and wait patiently for your perfectly reasonable phone bill to come.
It’s when the phone resides abroad that you get into trouble. Calling anywhere else in the world from Japan can be an experience that ranges from mildly tricky to hugely expensive. It took me a while after I first arrived in Japan to figure out all the ways to call home. It took me even longer to figure out how to work the answering machine, but that’s a different story.
What I learned (about calling internationally, not about working the answering machine) is that there are quite a few options, and with just a little research you can find the one that works best for you.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
When I first moved to Japan about two-and-a-half years ago, the only Japanese I knew came from Styx songs. I’ve come a long way since then. Now I know Japanese from Styx songs and commercials for Japanese car insurance.
Okay, I admit it, my Japanese is far from great; I’m barely able to hold a conversation with a five-year-old on my best days. Still, I’ve come across dozens of computer applications and websites that are useful for students of Japanese, and a few of them have even been good enough to fall into the category of “helpful to my linguistically challenged self.” Combine some of these programs and sites with a good study routine and you’ll be pera-pera in no time. (Or omit the good study routine–like me–and you’ll at least be able to avoid ordering raw beef from a menu. I think I understand why my Japanese is so bad…)
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
As a “computer guy” (and borderline obsessive, I think), I’m pretty particular about my computer. I like to have my desktop organized just so, I like to use Firefox for browsing the web and Thunderbird for checking email, I like to keep my documents folder squeaky clean. It’s pretty hard for me, then, to use a foreign computer for any significant amount of time.
For many JETs, though, using a computer other than their own for much of the day is a necessity. Whether they don’t own a computer, don’t want to lug their laptop around or can’t lug their desktop around, a lot of JETs are stuck using an office computer at work. I’ve heard some stories about these office computers that make me wonder how Japan got such a tech-savvy image; 10-year-old PCs with Japanese-only menus and restrictions on internet use can make it awfully hard for a JET to get work (or “work”) done.
Luckily, there are some solutions to office computing woes. Here are some fixes to the most common complaints I’ve heard about using clunky office computers.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Attaka Matsuri is a festival that showcases the local art and dance of Ureshino, with various events around the town. Amongst these, you’ll be able to taste local dishes, view exhibitions at various sites and sample the unique Onsen at discounted prices. Definitely a good way to warm you up during this cold season! More info on the message board.
If there’s one computer-related question I’m asked more often than any other by JETs, it’s definitely, “Can you help me buy a computer?” Asking me for help computer shopping is like asking a junkie to please help pick out the best heroin, so I’m always happy to offer my advice. However, since my advice is usually the same, I’ll share it here for anyone who is in the computer-buying market to consider: buy the computer you need.
I doubt I could offer a more general piece of advice if I tried, so let me go into more detail. There are currently about 1.6 million different computer models you can buy. Before you buy any of them, you need to figure out what you’re going to use your new computer for. Once you have your needs figured out, you can jot down a few features your computer must have and then go looking for a good value. The problem for many JETs, though, is matching up what they want to do with their computer to megabytes of RAM, gigahertz of processing power and all the other numbers you need to know when computer shopping.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
I’m not a JET. Even though I may help out my wife–who is a JET–with the occasional eikaiwa, I’ve never been in a Japanese school as a teacher. I’ve never come up with a lesson plan about the progressive tense, never made a worksheet on gerunds, never recited vocabulary words for a classroom full of students. These are perhaps not the best qualifications for someone getting ready to offer advice to JETs.
I am, however, a big fan of technology. I’m a web designer and work on a computer most of the day, so I know a little something about technology, too. Even though I’ve never signed a JET contract, I can Google “JET contract” in two seconds flat.
As I’ve watched my wife and my other JET friends work as assistant language teachers for the past two years, I’ve realized a “computer guy” like myself (read: nerd) might have something to offer the JET community. I’ve often been able to give advice when these ALTs talk about scouring through dozens of websites to find good teaching resources, struggling with making a worksheet with pencil and paper or fretting about what kind of computer to get. No reason, then, for me not to offer this same advice–tips on how technology can help you do your job–here on SagaJET.
Read the rest of Nicholas Johnson’s article.
Learn to cook traditional Japanese New Year’s food (osechi) on Sunday, Dec. 11, in the Avance cooking classroom. Registration is limited to 30 people. To register, call 0952-29-0322 and ask for Mika Baba or Sonya Kolba. More info is available on the message board.
