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During Golden Week, I was able to visit Korea! One of the things that I did was visit Samgwangsa Temple in Busan. This year, Koreans celebrate the birthday of Buddha on May 15, and in the weeks leading up to this day, the Samgwangsa Temple has a lantern festival. The grounds of the temple are filled with thousands of beautiful, glowing lanterns all day and night. I felt so lucky to be able to visit at such a special time and to see the temple celebrating such a joyous occasion.  

Hello Everyone! It's Sensei Bear


Last time I went to the park I saw a familiar face of an anime character. I saw "Cat Bus" from "My Neighbor Totoro" movie around Manno Lake and it was awesome! If you have a chance don't miss it it's a bit hidden but well worth it. See you all later!




  

  

Hello Everyone! It's Sensei Bear here.



When you are out and about make sure to stop for a moment, count your blessings, give thanks to the people and to the country you are in. You will not regret stopping for a moment to take a breath of fresh air in the most beautiful country in the world JAPAN

  

I’ve been really enjoying trying all the new foods that Takamatsu has to offer! This is a dish I tried at one of the food courts and it was delicious! I will definitely be ordering again.

  

Nishiki Market in Kyoto opened it’s first street stall around 1310. So, the area has been in operation for a long, long time. The market is a covered, narrow, five-block shopping street with over 100 shops and stores. It is a major tourist attraction for the city.
They market sells a wide variety of foods, cookware, and Kyoto souvenirs.

There are also many food stalls which allow customers to sample the foods that they sell. This is a pure delight. You can wander through the market tasting samples for hours!
  

Over golden week I visited Kanonji High Staff Hall for the first time. This was exciting because I always gaze at it from my apartment and I’ve always wondered what it looks like inside! Unsurprisingly it’s a beautiful building with really nice facilities.

I attended a ballet rendition of The Little Mermaid, and it was truly incredible. All of the talented dancers put on an impressive show, complete with elaborate sets and lighting, and effects. Other than the dance, the most interesting part was hearing the songs I grew up with from The Little Mermaid in Japanese. "Under the Sea" and "Part of Your World" were performed excellently. It was amazing to see my community come together and celebrate their family and friends on stage.

Although I don’t look it, I am a big fan of dance. As a young adult, I took ballet classes and hip-hop and did some photography for dance companies. I’ve always enjoyed being in that environment. Even though I don’t dance well, I love to dance and I love music!

If there’s a hobby or interest you want to pursue, but your fear of not fitting in is holding you back, I encourage you to put your fears aside and follow your heart. Life is short and we should all strive to overcome our fears and live life to the fullest.   

Here's another TV show from when I was a kid. It's called Reading Rainbow. This is also a pretty well-known show! If you ask most adults of a certain age in America, I think they could probably sing you the theme song from this show.



This show was made to help children get interested in reading books. The host of the show, LeVar Burton, would read books and then go places relating to that episode's theme.

This is another show that everyone has fond nostalgia about. Except for me. When I was a kid, I didn't like the show much at all. I didn't like it since LeVar read the books so slowly. I could read much faster than that! Maybe I was a little too active as a child...  

Thanks to a solar storm, several parts of the world were able to witness an aurora borealis, or the northern lights. Places like Finland and Iceland are famous spots for seeing this weather phenomenon. I did not expect my state to be able to see it too! I've only known for the lights to be green, but these were pink and purple! My brother in law took this photo. He was amazed! A lot of my friends and family could see it. It went on for 2 nights. Some of my friends had a hard time getting to a place that was dark enough.   

Hello everyone, Benson here. Halfway through May already, how is everyone doing? Last month, I briefly mentioned birds, specifically what kinds of birds are in Japan and if birdwatching is popular in Japan. Today, I was pondering about migratory birds and if there were any such birds in Japan.

It’s amazing that there are birds that will migrate to entirely new places every year. Back in Canada, I was most familiar with the geese. Before winter, the geese in Canada will migrate south to warmer weather. I always found it interesting to watch the geese migrating for the winter season. It was mesmerizing for me to see the geese fly in a ‘V’ formation, I would often look up and watch until the flock of geese was out of sight. I think it is mesmerizing because it’s a unique formation to fly in and from what I understand, it’s a more efficient way to travel for geese, specifically in terms of conserving energy. But geese are huge, relatively speaking, so I would imagine they are well-built for such migratory journeys. Geese are also fiercely protective of their eggs and locals are often warned not to engage or even walk too close to geese that were nursing young (there are many hilarious stories regarding this). But what about Japan? Are there known migratory birds here? What kinds of birds are they? And where do they travel to? Have a good week everyone and please enjoy your time.



  

On my way back home, I bought a box of Yamagata Eijudo kibidango, a specialty from Okayama. I'm always thrilled to discover new seasonal packaging from this company. They never fail to impress me with their clever and playful designs on the box art and wrappers, which often feature traditional cultural stories. I'm a big fan of their visual gimmicks and omake, and I always make it a point to pick up a box or two.

  

During golden week I was in Matsuyama and decided to visit Isaniwa Shrine. It was truly awesome and seeing the architecture never gets old! Even better was that it was a nice rainy day! It made this cool relaxing feeling while there. I'm looking forward to many more shrine visits in the future!  

I was driving around Tokushima with a friend when I randomly stumbled across a river with hundreds of fish flags hung across it. These flags, koinobori, or in English carp streamers, are hung around Children's Day. They were massive! Each of them was bigger than me! It was incredible to see them swimming in the wind- a sight I'll truly never forget.
  

I’m someone who likes to constantly continue learning! I often like to go to a Starbucks and enjoy some coffee while I study, whether it’s Japanese or a certification class!

  

It was so lovely to go out and see the cherry blossoms this year. This picture was taken down by the Kokuryo River. It is truly love during the cherry blossom season.
  

March to April is typically cherry blossom-viewing time in Japan. Although there are blossoms everywhere in Japan, Kyoto offers some of the best viewing in the country. So, when I recently went to view the blossoms in Kyoto, I first stopped by Higashi Honganji Temple (very close to Kyoto Station). While visiting the temple, I learned that there was a garden connected to the temple called Shosei-en. It is about a 3-minute walk from the temple.

The garden was small and not very crowded, but the blossoms did not disappoint. The garden was simple but beautiful, and the blossoms surrounded the park all around. The more popular spots for blossom viewing in Kyoto are very crowded, and you will likely have to wait in long lines. Shosei-en was a better option for me. I really enjoyed it!
  

Hello Everyone It's Sensei Bear!!


Do you like anime? I love anime! Here in Japan, we see it everywhere and anywhere. From buildings to snacks, vehicles, and businesses. Anime has taken everything by storm including our mailing post take a look at the awesome postcard I found. Isn't it amazing? The artist is very talented and drew one of my favorite anime characters Tomioka Giyu from Demon Slayer. Well, I'll see you all later and take care. bye bye!!





  

Another TV show that is very famous in American culture is Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. Have you heard of it before?



It's another fairly old show. When the show started, Mr. Rogers was a much younger man, but when I started watching, his hair was already gray.

Mr. Rogers helped children learn about feelings and occupations. He had a puppet village where the puppets would act out the lessons of that episode.

Everyone remembers Mr. Rogers fondly, as he was a very caring man and his show helped many children over the years. But when I was a kid, I didn't watch his show very often. He moves and talks slowly, and I was a very impatient child! But since he talks slowly, I think it might be a good show for helping with listening to English.  

I went shopping during Golden week. I visited the new building called Orne, which I don't know how to pronounce. I think it's French. OR-NAY?

I was surprised to see lots of musicians and singers in the shotengai. I think I even heard some operatic singing. It was cool to shop and hear such nice music. There were big crowds for them and I was happy for them. I didn't find any clothes that I wanted or second hand goods, so I took a train to a Book-off. It was a great idea and I got a good deal on some manga. My feet hurt pretty bad by the end of the day, but Takamatsu shopping was fun!  

I was quite busy over Golden Week taking care of responsibilities I had let slide. My apartment needed some major organizing, and my MFA masters degree coursework took up most of my week. However, on Tony’s birthday, we visited a local hobby shop for the first time, Fujicame Hobby.



I knew we had discovered something special when we entered the shop. The gentleman who has owned the shop for over 20 years was incredibly kind and open to using Google Translate to communicate with us. We learned a lot about him, even that he used to do some work for Gem School many years ago. If you are ever in the Kanonji/Toyohama area and enjoy building model kits, I highly encourage you to check out Fujicame Hobby. The owner is very kind and his prices are great too. While I will always love secondhand stores like Second Street and HardOff, There was something very special about shopping at a locally owned business and making a new connection here in my new home. Please visit the hobby shop if you get a chance!
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