ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

The picture is a cityscape view of Sao Paolo, Brazil, this city having the largest population of people with Japanese heritage outside of Japan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, near the end of the Meiji Era, and also during the Taisho Era, there was a movement of Japanese people to South America. Most Japanese immigrated to Brazil, but some also went to other countries such as Peru and other Spanish-speaking countries. During this time, most people left Japan for reasons of money. They thought they could become rich in Brazil, and then return home, but this was not the case and most people had to stay living in Brazil.

In our modern times, with cheaper airplane flights among many other factors, more and more Japanese people living in Brazil have found a way to come back to Japan. On the other hand, many Japanese Brazilians who remain in Brazil do not speak Japanese; about 90% only speak Portuguese. Nevertheless, from these two immigration movements, a unique relationship of sorts remains between Japan and Brazil. Maybe, more Brazilians will come to Japan to fill labor shortages in the near future, further perpetuating this connection.  

Yesterday, while driving on the highway, I saw a group of three monkeys hanging out in a tree whose branches arched slightly over the edge of the road. This was my second time seeing monkeys in Japan. The first time I saw monkeys was way back in November when I first arrived in Niihama. I'm guessing they don't go out much during the winter months.

Coming from the northern part of the USA, the nature in Japan seems kind of like a mixed bag from my narrow point of view. Sometimes, I'll see part of a forest that looks just like a forest back home. Other times, the sides of some hills look like a jungle to me, and then I see monkeys. I enjoy it. It's nice to see lots of different plants and animals.  

When is the first day of Spring here on Shikoku? Asking this question to many students, I got many different answers.

Back at home in Wisconsin (USA), the answer is simple: It's March 20th, the day of this year's spring equinox. It's too cold in my hometown to call any day before the equinox spring, but here on Shikoku it's not so cold. While some of my students also said March 20th would be the first day of spring, most did not.

The earliest first day of spring, as quoted by my students, would have been the day after Setsubun, which this year was on February 4th. Many of these students agreed however that maybe that was a little too early to really call it spring. Some students said simply that spring started on the first day of March, because March, April, and May are considered the spring months. Others said Girl's Day on March 3rd was the first day of spring, and having some connection to youth and future prosperity, I do agree that this might be a fitting day. Of course, it goes without saying that many students also proposed that the blooming of cherry blossoms marks the true arrival of Spring.

With that, I believe we, in all cases, are now undisputedly moving full speed ahead into this year's spring--I, for one, am looking forward to slightly warmer weather.   

I enjoy going to bookstores and I'm happy to see that bookstores are still quite popular here in Japan. In America, used books stores are still somewhat popular, but many other bookstores have been forced to closed. Many people buy their books on Amazon for a much cheaper price or simply use an electronic reader.

Here in Japan, at least for comics, I have noticed that the Amazon price is the same as the price at the bookstores. I like this, because instead of just ordering the books off of Amazon, I instead make a trip to my local bookstore and I have a lot of fun browsing through the amazing selection of colorful comics.  

Actually, I can hear a cat meowing outside my window right now.

I was surprised to see so many cats outdoors and running around in the streets and the fields here in Niihama. Everytime I take a walk I will always pass by a few cats roaming around outside. In fact, the other day, I saw a pack of six white cats running through the tall grass off the side of the path I was walking on. I wonder how many of these cats have a human home with an owner who feeds them, and how many are stray and roam free around Niihama with no definite home.

If I ever go to Tokyo, I'm wondering how many cats I will see outside there as opposed to here in Niihama.  

One thing I love about Japanese fruits and vegetables (and rice) is that you always know where they are coming from, and every region (or Prefecture) seems to have it's own special agricultural products. One of these products is the Iyokan, which I recently discovered and I think they are so delicious. They are like a slightly more sour version of an orange.

While apparently the Iyokan was discovered in Yamaguchi, Iyokan is named after Iyo Province, the former name of Ehime Prefecture, because they were grown in large quantities here after their discovery. In the United States, to many people an orange fruit is just an orange, but here in Japan, I love the variety of orange citrus and their association with the various regions. I can't wait to try more orange fruits while they are still in season this winter.  

Here in Niihama, it surprises me that while some trees' leaves are now falling off, most trees and other plants are still full of their usual green leaves. I haven't seen how it is up in the mountains, but here in the city there's still plenty of green to enjoy even though it's the middle of winter.

Where I'm from in the USA, Wisconsin, it's colder and all the leaves fall off of the trees much earlier. The leaves start changing color in October, and by the middle of November, there are no trees with any leaves at all! The pine trees still keep their pine needles though.  

A shark in the pond?! No, as you can see, it's only a spider!

On some of my very first visits to Takinomiya Park in Niihama, I was surpirsed to find LITERALLY HUNDREDS of these GIANT yellow and black spiders EVERYWHERE. I thought they were so scary at first, but now I am getting used to them. Why do I call them "GIANT"? Well, where I'm from in the North of the United States we usually only see little spiders. I've never seen a spider as big as these in Niihama back at my home in the United States. But here in Niihama, there's even some of these big yellow and black spiders in the stairwell at my apartment!

Have you seen these spiders around your home or at the park? Do you think they are scary?

P.S. I saw wild boars again at the park, but this time I saw two of them in the same spot as last time. I made a whistling noise and they ran away, so maybe they are not so scary after all. However, we should all continue to be careful!  

The other day I was taking a walk around the pond at the wonderful Takinomiya Park in Niihama. There are many signs around the park that say, "Caution! Wild Boars!", but I never thought I'd actually run into one myself!.

Well, I was almost done walking around the whole pond when I heard a rustling in the bushes, and then an a loud snorting sound–*SNORT*. I stopped in my tracks. Maybe it was just that goose that flew into the pond? So I kept walking forward, but I heard more rustling in the bushes, and then I SAW IT! To my left was a big ol' wild boar sniffing in the grass about 50 meters away!

I was scared the boar would charge at me to I carefully walked out of sight and then ran the short rest of the way out of the park.

Have any of you had an encounter with a wild boar? Was it scary or not so scary?

  

I love walking places and taking walks for exercise, so of course I have been doing a lot of walking since I arrived in Japan. Today, I will share with you one upside (good thing) and one downside (bad thing) I've found about walking in Japan (and specifically, I live in Niihama).

One bad thing I've found about walking here in Japan is that when you are on a narrow street, you are usually the only person walking while many cars pass you by. I was surprised to find that driving cars seems to be as popular in Shikoku as it is in America. I thought more people would be walking here (although biking seems fairly popular).

On the other hand, I love these long wide paths made specifically for bikes and pedestrians (walkers) that go on for kilometers and kilometers. I took a picture while walking on one of these wonderful paths. They are so peaceful and you get to see a bit of nature and everybody's beautiful gardens as you walk by. I wish we had more paths like this in the United States.  

Hello Everyone,

I look forward to meeting you all! My name is Jordan and I am a new Gem School teacher who will be arriving in Kanonji in about a week.

You might be surprised to hear one of the desserts I was looking forward to trying once I arrived in Japan. It’s the tiramisu! The tiramisu is an Italian dessert, but I think it might be more popular here in Japan than anywhere else. I was surprised when I even found pieces of tiramisu at the local convenience store. Do you know anybody who loves to eat tiramisu? You will have to let me know.

Above, I have a bite of tiramisu on a spoon so you can see all the layers. First, you have a cake layer with coffee, then a soft cheese layer with cocoa powder on top. Don’t worry if you don’t like to eat cheese or drink coffee, the tastes of cheese and coffee in tiramisu are not strong. Overall, the tiramisu is a sweet and yummy dessert. I look forward to trying more of them!