Inaka Life: New, Unmanned Bakery

It's fairly common to find local, honor system stores here in the inaka. These usually take the form of a little table or stall set up on the side of the road by a farmer's field selling extra veggies, flowers, nuts, etc. There's usually a sign that tells you how much each item costs, and...

Happy Birthday to my umeshu

Today, my homemade umeshu (check out my umeshu making journey here -> Making Umeshu and Ume Syrup) turned a year old! We finally cracked the jar open and it's delicious. I think if I were to make it again, I would put in less sugar, as it is EXTREMELY sweet. It's a liqueur, so that's fine,...

Inaka Life: Sweet Potato Planting

Both of my schools are in rural environments, so part of the curriculum includes some farming and community involvement. Every year, the 5th graders go out to the nearby farms and help plant rice. We also have a school garden and field that students cycle crops through during the year. But by far the largest...

Inaka Life: Daffodils

My town, Higashiagatsuma-machi, is one of the biggest producers of wild daffodils (ラッパ水仙) in Japan. The daffodils are such a big deal to this town, that our mascot is even a daffodil. He's a daffodil fairy creatively named Suisen-chan (his name is literally daffodil c'mon guys). He's adorable and I love him. Anyway, many farmers...

Inaka Life: The Pint-Sized Fire Precaution Patrol

I spend my Mondays working at kindergarten, which generally means that I have no idea what I'm walking into every Monday morning. Sometimes I teach a mini English lesson, sometimes I'm a classroom aide (I'm an expert at 4 year olds into jackets if I do say so myself), sometimes I'm just there to play....

Shiriyaki Onsen – the river of burned bottoms

I don't know how to describe the inaka lifestyle, except for to say that one of the most inaka-y things I've ever done was to drive up into the mountains and find a random river that turns out to be an onsen and hang out with a bunch of naked old men who compliment me...

Making Umeshu and Ume Syrup

Mid to late June in the inaka is plum time. Not because the plums are all lovely and ripe and sweet, but because they're hard, green and bitter. The unripe plums are harvested to make homemade umeshu (plum liqueur). The local grocery store had a display as soon as you walked in of the liquor,...

Back to work, cautiously.

Today is Day 4 of the majority of Japanese public schools being reopened and holding classes. I'm thrilled to be back. I missed my kiddos and deskwarming was making me slowly but steadily lose my mind to exhaustive boredom. Of course, we can't just be running business as usual. There's some fun new adjustments to...

The Story of How I Got my Driver’s License via a Merciful Proctor and a Cranky Volcano

For many foreign residents in Japan, it is necessary to transfer your country's driver's license to a Japanese license. Some countries have a secret handshake with Japan that make this a very easy process, most do not. Because I live in the inaka, it is very important for me to drive. The USA can grant...

My Life in an “Epidemic”

So, I'm sure some of you may have heard, but there's a little thing called coronavirus making it's way around Japan right now. *cough cough* maybe because the Diamond Princess quarantine was horribly bungled *cough* Anyway, I say "epidemic" with a health dose of sarcasm, because the situation is not really as bad as everyone...