Daley-sensei's Adventures in Himeji, Japan.

Happy New Years! This year is the Year of the Horse , according to the Japanese Calendar. I celebrated it in full Japanese style, as is only fitting when living in Japan! I learned how to wear a kimono (sort of...). It was one of the ones I purchased from Kyoto! I borrowed some of the missing pieces from a friend who helped me to put it on. It took a really long time to put everything in place! Almost 40 minutes, if I timed it correctly. Wearing the entire ensemble felt reminiscent of wearing a corset, I was belted in so tightly; it was surprisingly comfortable to wear, though, even if bending down was basically impossible. I was told that wearing kimonos is a very traditional part of "Hatsumode," or the first visit to a shrine in the new year (English doesn't have a single-word equivalent for this). However, for the entire night, I didn't see a single other person in a kimono! It was a little embarrassing. Still, I visited two shrines (of which none of

So, I thought I'd write a bit about the daily life in Japan. Garbage, for instance, is a pretty important topic to cover here. And I figured I'd talk about bugs, because, well, who actually talks about the bugs in the foreign countries they live in? I will, since in the spring/summer/autumn the bugs are everywhere , and quite a few of them are toxic. Rather like Arizona, actually. Garbage in Japan But first, garbage! It's actually a pretty complicated affair! You need to sort your garbage into five main categories: burnable, plastic, paper, bottles, and "big gomi." ("Gomi" is Japanese for garbage.) Below is a diagram that explains in a bit more detail the different categories. Burnables are collected every Wednesday and Saturday in Shirasagi, and they must be put inside a specially-designated white plastic bag; the garbage can't be collected inside any other bag! Plastics include plastic bags or small plastic objects, but not PET

Lots of photos this blog post! Winter vacation is starting soon, so I'll have the time to write some more in-depth posts about life in Japan. I still haven't talked about bugs or garbage, for instance, and now that I've been inside of Japanese schools for almost an entire term, I have a better grasp of how to compare them with American schools. So stay tuned over the next couple of weeks for those posts! Onwards, then, to some photos! Kobe A few weeks ago I was in the city of Kobe for an evening, enjoying all-you-can-eat Brazilian barbecue. It was my first time to get a chance to wander Kobe, if only for a little bit. Kobe is the next-biggest city in this region of Japan after Himeji, and it is about 30-40 minutes away by train. It is also the nearest place to us that has Mexican food! I really miss burritos... Anyway, the photos I took in Kobe were taken via my iPhone, since my camera was in need of a good charging, so the quality is not the best. These photos belo

Here's a bunch of long overdue photos from the last two weeks! The autumn leaves have been absolutely stunning! The mountainsides are turning all sorts of colors, which makes them even more stunning than usual. I did my best to photograph the one that you can see from Shirasagi's garden, which is right outside of my apartment. The leaves are finally starting to fall from most of the trees these days, but the colors were beautiful while they lasted! Below are a bunch of photos of the bike paths next to the Himeji Castle Moat, which were surrounded by trees in stunning shades of red and gold. This is definitely the scenic route to get to downtown in Himeji! Unfortunately, I'm still not quite sure of all of the twists and turns through neighborhoods that it involves to get to the back entrance of this pathway, but once I'm on it I can orient myself via the castle.  This area is always full of joggers, bikers, and... cats. Stray cats, for t