You may remember my photo, “Rainbow of Peace.” I took it during my trip to Nagasaki in 2006. At the time I never thought it would be my most popular photo. I stood over the ground zero point at the memorial area and tried to get as many colors in the photo as I could. Once I got that photo on flickr, it took off and quickly became my most popular photo on flickr.
Well today, over two and a half years after I took it, “Rainbow of Peace” has surpassed the 15000 mark. I never though I would have a photo do that well. It’s certainly not my only successful photo on flickr, but it was the first to make me realize that I can take pictures that make people smile. It was the catalyst that lead to where I am today. On the road to a career as a pro.
I just wanted to thank everyone who helped make this photo the success it is today. I couldn’t get back to all of you, but I appreciate all the kind words you wrote for me and the photo.
You might have noticed a mirage on the blog today. You may have seen a post that was written by someone other than me. It’s not a mirage and you aren’t hallucinating.
I suppose now is the best time to announce some of the changes that are going to be taking place. First of all, I very pleased to welcome Ian Horner to the blog. Ian has been living in Japan for well over a year now and will be adding his writing experience to the site. He is the founder of tiltyhouse studios and Co-Host of Dai-Cast, a podcast focusing on Japan from a Canadian perspective.
The second change is to reflect the addition on new contributors to the site. I am dropping the “Jason” from the title. I will still be here, and I will still be blogging, but it’s no longer going to be just about me. So have a seat, pour yourself a glass of your favorite single malt whiskey and enjoy the new flavor.
Hey there everyone. This is Jason Hill, the owner and author “jasohill.com” and “Jason’s Launching over Japan.” First of all, I want to apologize for all the construction that has been going on around here. I decided that the site needed to be moved to a more scalable technology, so I purchased some webspace and moved everything over to wordpress.
You might notice a few things are different. First of all, I delete many of the posts that I made before coming to Japan. There really wasn’t any need for them. You can, however, now search the entire blog with the built in search feature. I have also added a number of categories. This will make finding an article much easier. All you need to do is search by the category tag.
I still intend to carry on in the same way I did before. Although, this time I hope to be a little more hard hitting, and digg up some great social and cultural information about Japan and Iwate. Please be patient while I categorize the 300 some articles that I have written up to this point. Thanks.
This is my last week as an ALT in Senmaya. Here is the breakdown of what has happened so far. I have now been the host of 3 farewell ceremonies, received 2 bouquets of flowers and have made 3 farewell speeches. Well over 700 students have wished me goodbye. I have also received around 40 farewell cards and have had 2 students burst into tears while talking to me. I have also received 1 certificate of appreciation from the prefecture. At the start of this week I was feeling fine, but I think it’s all starting to hit me now. Things are changing again, and those changes are all happening now. My three years in Senmaya are coming to an end, and that end is coming fast. Only thirteen days remain until I begin my move to northern Iwate. I can’t help but be overcome by it all.
If that weren’t enough, this is the week the temperature decided to soar into the 30s and the humidity rocketed up to 70%. I have basically been a mass of walking sweat and goo all week. It would unwise to touch me. Unwise, indeed.
The only thing that keeps me in a positive frame of mind is that I will soon be settled in at my new location and getting a little free time to relax and orchestrate my first move in Japan. After that, I’m sure I will be partaking in a number of welcome parties and festivals. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. My liver won’t survive this.
Other than all of that, I need to consider what I want to do for the rest of my life and I need to do it soon. I really think I could be a photographer. I think I need to start taking steps to ensure that is what I will do. I’ll work it out somehow. My motivation is strong and my desire to success has never been so high. My only advice those who might try and stop me is, “Get out of my way! You won’t like me when I’m motivated.” Have a good weekend everyone.
NOTE: Following this month, my blog is going to start going through some changes. I will still be talking about my personal life sometimes, but I’m changing the main focus on living in Iwate and Japan more than anything else. I want to dedicate this blog to those who have decided to make Japan their way of life as well. If you think Japan is all about Shinjuku, Pokemon and the Bullet Train, you obviously haven’t been reading this blog.
I want to thank everyone who has read up until this point. I hope my time here has been as enjoyable for you as it has for me. If you are ever seriously thinking of coming out to Japan, please send an email my way. I would love to know more about you and why you’ve made your choice.
If you visited the blog on April 1st you might have seen a little change on the site. For one day I had the blog done up like I was blogging from Turkey instead of Japan. I’ve always been a big fan of April Fools jokes, so I hope you enjoyed this one. Along those lines, I’ve also updated the colors to reflect spring. If you think they are too tacky let me know. I think they are already ridiculous looking.
Hey folks. Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been in Kyuushuu for the past 10 days and I’ve had very little time to update my blog. Be rest assure that when I return you’ll see the mother of all blog updates. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
We had the first snow of the season here this morning. What better way to celebrate than with a change of colors. Enjoy the new layout! I find this layout is a little les “Fruity” than the older one.
Sorry about the lack of updates folks. It’s been good so far, but I haven’t had much of a chance to write. I wouldn’t want to tell you everything that’s been going on in my life. I have to leave some of it personal…^_- I have a holiday coming up on Wednesday, so perhaps then. How if your life going? Leave me a comment. Share it with all of us.
Alright folks. I have a new message system live here, so if you’d like to leave a comment about what I wrote or anything in general, just click on the comment section…^_- For those of you who get this as a newsletter, you’ll have to go to the website http://jasohill.blogspot.com to leave a comment. Enjoy responsibly.
