The Night Typhoon Bart Swept Across Japan

Does anyone recall Typhoon Bart? It swept across Japan back in the late summer/early fall of 1999. At that time, I had just joined the JET program as an Assistant Langauge Teacher (ALT) and moved into a little seaside apartment in the fishing town of Ushibuka, at the southernmost tip of Japan's Amakusa Island chain. A couple of years later, I wrote about the experience for the Record, a central California newspaper. More than ten years later, the article is still archived on the Record's website.

The whole article can be read for free at Recordnet.com. The 20120-13 JET Programme participants are landing in Tokyo about now, so if you are a new JET headed to Kumamoto Prefecture, particularly the Amakusa Islands, I encourage you to read this story. It's a tale of fear (yeah, this California native had never experienced a typhoon before), of truly functional architecture, and of inspiration. I remember feeling completely in awe of the collaborative spirit with which everyone in Ushibuka pitched in to clean up the town after Typhoon Bart churned up the sea and dumped mud all over the roads. It was eye-opening to see how powerful communities of people can be when everyone works together for the common good.

CORE21 in Kumamoto City: Impression Which Happiness

There is some impressively clear English usage in Japan. There is also some that is so convoluted that it begs to be photographed. This billboard in Kumamoto City, Japan is one of the later. The text reads, "This is the story of the impression which happiness in CORE21. The following leading part is you. The story makes impression on the many people, means to receive praise simultaneously, probably, will be. Please to CORE21. Your good fortune is prayed." CORE21 is a pachinko parlor.

Koi and Coins at Dazaifu

Down in the humid and lush south of Japan, on the island of Kyushu, lies the city of Fukuoka. Yes, it is an amusing name, but just outside of town stands Dazaifu, one of my must-stop places whenever I'm in Japan. During a walk through Dazaifu two years ago with a couple of very dear friends, I snapped this photo of one of the many koi ponds.

Here is a brief history of the shrine at Dazaifu, courtesy of Wikipedia: Dazaifu (大宰府), the imperial office governing Kyūshū, corresponding to Tagajō in Tōhoku, was moved from present-day Fukuoka after 663. Dazaifu hosted foreign embassies from China and Korea. Kōrokan, a guesthouse for foreign embassies, was also established. From the Nara period through the Heian period and until the Kamakura period, Dazaifu was one of the military and administrative centers of Japan. In the Heian period, Dazaifu was a place ofexile for high-ranking courtiers. Nobles exiled there include Sugawara no Michizane, who was later deified, and upon whose grave the Dazaifu Tenman-gū shrine stands.