The trees looked like they were on fire, they were so red. Autumn is beautiful in Japan. This is a Japanese maple tree at Kyoto's Ginkakuji Temple. 

A sunny haze over the canopy of trees at Ginkakuji Temple in Kyoto.  

This is Lisa and I in Kyoto's Ginkakuji (Silver) Temple.  

This is art by Amanda Gomes, who I am currently collaborating with for a series of short stories that I am writing for Nara JET's Yamato newsletter called The Adventures of Bianca Sukiyama. This is the cover art for the second story in the series subtitled: Dark Path. Email me if you'd like to read a copy... 

This is the bathtub scene where Bianca is thinking about Michael's blackmail predicament from my second story: The Adventures of Bianca Sukiyama: Dark Path. 

Sports Day Festival Oct 2004

Sports Day in Japan is one of two major events for Japanese school children. I had a lot of fun on that day. I participated in a teacher-student three-legged race. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of it. The sports day is called either "taiikutaikai" or "undoukai" in Japanese.

Yurie and her friends representing all the students at the official start of the sports day activities. 

All the captains of the teams from 1st year JHS to 3rd years, came to the center to pledge that they would play fair in the games. 

This kid was the official starter. He was getting quite fond of shooting that little pop gun. 

In this game, the kids have to climb up the bamboo pole and put the flag up and then their teammate must bring it back down. 

Bargain Sale game 

This is the "bargain sale" game. All the tires are put in the center. The girls from each team must get as many tires as possible.  

In this game, they have to steal the caps from the heads of as many of the opposite color teams as possible. 

This is the massive 500+ student folk dance.

Mr. Kimura with (from right) Kie, Misa (my girl!) and ?. Kie is in quite a few of my pix b/c she's fond of taking pictures. 

Yumi before she runs the sports club relay in her kendo uniform. They had to pass around their kendo stick. 

The girls' version of the sports club relay was creative! The chorus club were passing a tamborine, band--keyboard, home ec--spatula, baseball girls- baseball, basketball and so on. However, the volleyball club wanted to be different and decided they should tumble on the ground b4 passing on the ball. Cute!  

I loved this relay! It was all the clubs in the school tagging each other. The boys' baseball team had to slide in to tag the next runner. So creative! 

Everybody loves tug-o-war. 

Phase I of the relay... 

This was a cool relay. They had to carry the kids to the next person who had to do an even more difficult task such as balancing balls between each other's backs. 

With this game, all the 3nenseis had to walk with their legs attached. This is a very emotional game for them b/c this is their last Sports Day before they graduate in March. One team fell down and they were crying b/c they had practice so much for it.

Bunkasai!!!

You must understand that Japanese students prepare for Bunkasai (Culture Day Festival) like how we might prepare for homecoming or the prom. They take this seriously. Each club performs during the festival. My English club performed Cinderella in English! They did good, but the pictures turned out a little dark. Enjoy!

The steps leading up to the 3nensei level and my classroom. 

My English Club students performing Cinderella. 

The students after they performed the "soran" dance. It's a traditional dance that has spread like wildfire in schools across Japan. It's a fisherman's dance. The music is kinda funky and upbeat. I wish I could find a recording of it! I'd rock it!

Kawata-sensei. The teacher responsible for guiding all these talented art students.