Sapporo Diaries: Special Guest and First Long Stay!
I normally go to Sapporo on day trips on a weekend day so I don’t have to worry about staying too late and overnight, but this weekend was an exception, because my boyfriend is coming to visit me! The plan was to meet up with him in Sapporo Friday evening since he would land earlier…
Sorting Trash in Japan
You may or may not have heard, but Japan sorts its trash. And not just recyclebles and non-recyclebles, but more thorough than that. I believe the specificity of categories also depends on the region and city! When I moved to my town, I was given a booklet specifically on how to sort trash and a…
Sapporo Diaries: Chatting with Strangers, Sweets Galore, and Early Christmas Shopping?
Here’s the next edition of a new series I’m dubbing Sapporo Diaries, because whenever I go out it’s really a Sapporo day trip. I really should explore more of the smaller cities or even Otaru, the next big city over, but Sapporo just has that big city vibe that nothing else really has, plus all…
Sapporo Diaries: Beef Tongue, Retro Window Shopping, and Winter Prep-ish
A few weeks ago, specifically October 16, I went out to Sapporo to get out of my place, eat some good food and do some shopping. It was honestly mostly centered around Sapporo station, but really, Sapporo station itself is endless and there’s already plenty to do there anyway. I might have mentioned this previously,…
Japanese Elementary Schools
Rural Hokkaido public school, as opposed to my experience growing up in an American (more specifcally Southern Californian) public school. In my time working here, I’ve noticed some perculiar small things, and I though I’d collect these thoughts into a post because I found the cultural differences interesting. Of course, this is comparing working in…
On Kyushoku (Japanese School Lunch)
Kyushoku, or 給食, is what I believe a popular-ish topic among the working in Japan world. It’s basically school provided lunch. As I am not a student, I am not entirely sure if the families pay for the kids’ food, but in any case, everyone at school eats this supposedly nutritionally balanced meal at lunch.…
An Unexpected Japanese Cultural Difference
I don’t mean to be the priviledged foreigner in a foreign country, but one of the most unexpected things I now certainly believe I took for granted was the keyboard. Yes. The keyboard. Now, you may be wondering, is this really a big deal? In the grand scheme of things, no, not really, but as…
(My) School Life as an Elementary School ALT on the JET Program
The JET Program’s motto is “Every Situation is Different”, or ESID for short. Basically, no one is ever going to have the same experience, so it’s hard to generalize the whole experience to someone. Some of my friends are T1s (Teacher 1, aka primary teacher, doing lesson planning, despite having “Assistant” in our working title),…
My Experience Traveling to Japan During Covid (July 2022)
I essentially started preparing my leave from America to Japan around June-July, left July 23 from Los Angeles, and arrived in Narita Airport on the 24th. (I would have recorded as much as the process as I could, since I tend to forget things and I really wanted to write down what I could, but…
Hello World!
In this small corner of the internet, I have started an obscure blog that probably no one will read. Maybe if I share it with friends and family they’ll read it less out of curiosity and more out of pity because there’s no one else to find this small website among an entire abyss of…
Annie's Excursions
A Travel and Lifestyle Blog