Howdy! How's things? Been a pretty busy week this week. Had band practice on Friday, after three consecutive days at primary school. Was pretty tiring. On Friday, I also got a call from the Board of Education about our parking space. Apparently we were supposed to pay $60 a month for it. This was the first we heard and the Board of Education reckoned we'd probably have to pay for it since we got married. That equals a lot of money... So, we made an arrangement to meet the landlord on Saturday. On Saturday, we had a day time gig at Ippuku, with a bunch of other JETs. It was pretty cool. After that we went to the landlords place. She said that she took over from her dad in October and that though he had told us we could park there for free, she wouldn't let us. Her compromise was that we'd pay for it from October last year. Chie did real well though and said that we wouldn't have parked there if we'd known that, so we'll pay from May. So we did. Paid for May, June, July and that was the end of it. Worked out pretty well, really. After that, we played another gig at a live house in Aridagawa. It was more of a proper gig and it went pretty well. We had a good dance to a reggae band, too.

On Sunday, we went out for rammen and then went to an onsen. We were both pretty tired from Saturday, so it was real nice. After that, we went to Ippuku and talked to Taka and Judy till about 8. Got home, made dinner and watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Also, I've heard a bit of information about the guy who's taking over from me. He hasn't been told yet, so I won't write much here. However, i got an email from the guy going to Yuasa. He seems pretty cool. Speaks Korean and Japanese, and also plays guitar. I'm in the process of fielding some questions from him. Got a bit of the old Mondayitis today. We're also bang on two months away from leaving Japan, so that feels a bit weird. Having got these two gigs out of the way, so we're cleared out a bit of the 'things to do' this weekend. However, it seems Taka has organised a singer/ songwriter gig at a live house, with me performing solo.It's not something I've done in quite a while, so I'm going to have to have a bit of a think about how I'm going to do it. Other than that, we just have the Happy Festival gig. Not much else to say. Haven't got a lot planned for this week as of yet. Think we're having a jam on Tuesday, but it's not really towards anything in particular. Hope all is well. Cheers, James.

Howdy, how's things? Not too exciting around here... Had Happy Festival meeting on Wednesday, band practice on Friday, hung out with Caroline, Andy and Sakura but all at separate times at Ippuku. Did some study, reading, music, cleaning, watched movies and stuff. Studied from a few haiku and a real old song, which was cool. Watched Helter Skelter and for some reason spent quite a bit of time reading about Charles Manson. Saw a pretty sweet solar eclipse or something this morning.

It's all going pretty well at the moment. Mostly just focusing on getting to NZ though. Really great that Chie got the approval-in-principle finally. The next step is to fill in the form that is in the mail to us now, pay and we're done. Bit tired today and my eyes kinda hurt from staring at the sun too much. Might do some work. Chur, J

Two things... So first off, you should check out and 'like' the Things Chie Made facebook page. Just put it together last night. Trying to spread the word a little, which might make it easier for Chie to find like minded people in New Zealand. Who knows where it will go, so I figured I'd give it a try. The other thing is that Chie has been granted Approval-in-principle for her residence visa! Just need to pay the next $400 or so and then we're through. Bit of a weight off the ol' shoulders :-)

Not too much to report, really. Had Sakura's birthday party at an Italian restaurant on Saturday night. Was pretty cool. Other than that, we've been pretty quiet. Played a bit of music, had a Happy Festival meeting, watched a bunch of movies and stuff. We saw Karate Kid (original), Girl who Played with Fire or what ever was the first one, Ikiru (Kurosawa Akira movie-very good), The Last Waltz and La Bamba. I gave up on the book that I was reading in Japanese cause it was way too hard. Got through 100 pages or so, but the language was too old and hard. I'm now reading Murakami Haruki's 1Q84, which is a lot easier and probably more useful for my test. I also started putting together a website for Chie's art. Things Chie Made. You should check it out and like it on facebook and stuff. Not much else to say. I'm working, looking at stuff to do in New Zealand, getting ready to head back, started recording a song, talking to people in NZ a bit more, organising musicians for Happy Festival and that's really about it. It's alright but money is tight and we're both feeling like we are somewhere between NZ and Japan at the moment. It's kind of a weird feeling. That's about that. At work and a tad busy, so I'll catch ya later. Chur Jimmy

Howdy So, been a busy few days. I applied for a job helping exchange students at IPC, the university with heaps of Japanese students in Palmy. No word back yet though. I did, however, get the ejection letter from the teaching students via skype. I don't know if it's what I really wanted to do anyway though, so it's okay. During the interview they said they only had 8 students at the time, which wouldn't have given me the hours I need. In other news, I went to Shiga with Chie's parents over the long weekend. We went to heaps of different temples, which was cool. On the way back, Chie and I had a night in Kyoto. We went to a French indie movie, a Korean restaurant, an Irish pub that had live music and then stayed at an internet cafe. That was all after going to three temples. Was a pretty sweet day but I'm still recovering. School wise - I made a DVD for school and have found that increasingly the Japanese teachers at junior high school are leaving everything up to me. The planning, the prep and the explanation in class. It's alright, but it keeps me pretty busy. Otherwise, I've been getting a bit of reading in, although my current book is really hard. We've been listening to a lot of AC/DC and Cat Stevens. Chie finished her crotchet bag, which is rad. She also finished the poster for the Happy Festival, which looks rad. Oh, and she shortened the sleeves on a shirt for me. It was a long sleeve shirt that was too short for Rowan, so she made it into a short sleeved shirt for me. I'll post photos up at a later date, but here's Chie's poster. She did most of it by hand and then scanned it.

So yeah, it's been pretty busy. I want to get more study done but it's been hard. I think we won't be doing anything too big for a little while, so I'll be able to get on with a bit more. Really need to crack down on more study, as I have less than two months. Should be alright, but I guess we'll see how it goes. Best be getting ready for class next. Hope all is well. Cheers, Jimmy

Hey folks How's things? So, been up to a bit of this and that as of late. First off, I had a job interview. Haven't heard anything back yet, but I think it went pretty well. Only thing is that they are quite a new company, so they don't have a lot of students yet. I really like what they're doing and it would be awesome to keep teaching Japanese students. Might have to see how many classes I can get though. If I pass this interview, I'll have another one at a later date. That's when they'll talk about hours and pay and stuff. On Wednesday, Rowan and Laura came over. It's been real nice having them here. We managed to have a night out in a fishing town called Kada, then went out to an island in the morning. The island was pretty cool. It's called Tomogashima and has the remains of an old army base there. It was kinda cool because although there is some tourism push, there's not much. Means that everything's pretty relaxed and there's not heaps of people around. Down in the tunnels, there's no lights either so it's pitch black. The flash on my camera was how we found our way around. I'll post some photos later, though they are on facebook if you want a sneak peak. As it was a three day weekend, we went for a drive down south and went to Ryujin onsen yesterday. We also went to karaoke on Friday. It's been real good, all in all. They are off to Hiroshima today but I guess I'll be seeing them again in less than three months. Got a bit of planning to catch up on for school, but it's a two day week this week. Thursday and Friday are also public holidays:-) We're going to have a night at a place called Shiga with Chie's parents. Don't know too much about the plans yet, but it should be sweet. Best be getting on with work now. I've also now only got two months before my Japanese test, so I'll be needing to step up the study again. Hope all is well Cheers J

Howdy folks So, been another quiet week or so, but this week looks a bit more promising. First up, on Wednesday Rowan and Laura will be here, so that should be quite awesome. They're finishing up in Cambodia and Vietnam and all those cool places and then they'll be around here for a bit, before rockin' on over to Tokyo. Chie and I are pretty pumped! In other news, I seem to have got myself into the first round of interviews for a job. Will be having it on Tuesday after school via Skype. The job, I managed to stumble upon on Trademe jobs or seek or something. It's a teaching job. However, it's a language school teaching job and it's teaching Japanese students who are in Japan via the internet. I'll hear more of an overview of the job during the interview, but it initially sounds good to me. Hopefully that would mean that I could do it while on the move, or from different towns or whatever. I'm not quite sure. As I have developed a bit of an interest in the Japanese education system and would like to keep up some form of relations with Japan, it could be quite cool. Guess I'll have to see how it goes a bit, but there might be some potential there. It's kinda weird because I've been racking my brains about how to translate my experience in Japan into practical work skills in New Zealand, but this job would match up real well. See how it goes though. Haven't heard back about the translator job, so it's nice to have something chugging along. Especially something that might allow me to study as well. Otherwise, things haven't been too eventful here. Been working, studying, reading, cooking, fixing hole in jeans, playing music and listening to Cat Stevens. Sent the second round of visa application stuff away. Also got a post card from uncle Simon and photos from THomas and Christa, which was real nice! Had band practice on Friday, which went well. Had a meeting for the next Happy Festival on Wednesday. Went to an onsen on Sunday and went for a big walk with Chie on Saturday. Chie has been chugging away at a bag, which she is croqueting. It's almost done and looking pretty cool. She planning on doing some more of the painting and sewing when she's done. She wants to practice up various arty skills, and make a few things, which she could then maybe use to sell stuff. This was her first time having a crack at croquet and it's coming along real well, so she wants to try it again with different materials. Other than that, I made lentil soup and then lasagna yesterday. We also watched a Kurosawa Akira film called Youjimbo. Not much else to report. Just chugging away at various bits and pieces. Will let you know how the job interview goes and what other information crops up about it. Hope all is well Cheers Jim