Monthly Archive for August, 2007

La Lune

Published on August 29, 2007 in Hachimantai, Photography and Uncategorized. 2 Comments

La Lune, originally uploaded by jasohill.

Did you catch the total lunar eclipse on August 28, 2007? It wasn’t hard to see from Matsuo, Hachimantai City. All I had to do was look up. There were clear skies all evening. Still, it wasn’t an easy subject to capture. Even though my lens is a 200mm zoom lens, I still had to do a lot of cropping to get this image.

Many of my students has no idea how a lunar eclipse happens, so I spend the first fifteen minutes of my classes today giving them a quick astronomy lesson. Most seemed bored, but there were a fair number of students that wanted to know more. I’m glad I was able to reach out to them.

Update: English meaning section. I almost forgot to post what the Japanese word for Lunar Eclipse is. In Japanese you say gesshoku(月食) for a lunar eclipse and nisshoku(日食）for a solar eclipse. They mean “Moon Eat” and “Sun Eat.”  If it’s a total eclipse of sun sun, you say kaikishoku(皆既食）、and of the moon, kaikigesshoku(皆既月食.）The more you know…

My Dress Shirt; Show it to me

Published on August 23, 2007 in Culture and Hachimantai. 0 Comments

Recently, I have found my problem solving skills to be in a state of atrophy. This might be due to the lack of challenge at my work place, or perhaps laziness in general. Going from a stressed out University student to glorified human tape recorder(read:ALT)  carries with it some serious consequences; many of which I probably won’t realize until long after I am out of Japan. As a way to improve my mind, I have been reading more, attempting some challenging logic puzzles and playing some sudoku. I have found the results of my training to be quite satisfactory, and my head no longer seers in pain at basic computations.

However, Japan always seems to find a way to brake my brain in two. I’m not sure if it is the culture to blame, or rather the company in particular, but I am flabbergasted at what I encountered on Thursday evening at a local dry-cleaners. I had dropped off a dress shirt there the other day and was going to pick it up. I thought this would be a routine trip. Oh, how wrong I was. Here is how things played out. The dialogue was in Japanese, but it has been translated into English for your enjoyment.

Continue reading ‘My Dress Shirt; Show it to me’

Shigyoushiki time, baby.

Published on August 20, 2007 in Culture, Education and Hachimantai. 1 Comment

  If you found yourself choking on the first word up there in title, have no fear. I will explain it all to you.  The 始業式(shigyoushiki) is the ceremony that schools hold at the start of the new term. In this case it is the second term, and it starts right now.  This ceremony is not as formal as most are.  It doesn’t even involve wearing a tie in most cases. 

 　　The Shigyoushiki is to let the students know that they should move from their summer vacation study schedule to a regular school schedule.   Otherwise they might not know they are actually suppose to attend classes again(they never stop coming to school, however.) I’m actually sure they would know about the new term, but you never can be too sure; and never being too sure is what Japan is all about.  Practice, practice and more practice.  Constant Vigilance!!!

    I took part in this ritual and it wasn’t all that bad. The principal came up and spoke of all the recent elementary school deaths around Japan(perhaps as a subtle hint not to die this term.)  He also wanted us to try our hardest and never give up, and that it’s time to pick up the pace and study like tomorrow was never going to come.   Constant Vigilance!!!

   Never mind that I had know idea when this ceremony started. I decided to be vigilant and get up at six am, so I could make it there without missing the ceremony. I made it with one and a half hours to spare. A close call.　But I was vigilant!!!

 Vigilant!!!

Hachimantai Photo of the Week -Issue 7-

Published on August 12, 2007 in Hachimantai, Photography and Uncategorized. 0 Comments


Seasonal, originally uploaded by jasohill.

The hot season has finally arrived in Japan. Temperature soar to 30+C and I’m left sweating the days away.

It’s not all that bad, however. One of the nice things about this time of year are the flowers. You can see many different kinds, and if you are lucky, you can grab a good picture of them as well.