Old Friends in New Places As far as I can remember, the Hippo Office in Cambridge was always bustling with people from around the world – interns from Mexico and Japan, members from Taiwan and Italy, and visitors either coming with their friends or simply following the curious call of language and music. By the time I had to say goodbye to that little office on Sherman Street, I had made pockets of friends from around the world. However, with the way LEX Hippo is, farewells are never final, and by some incredible stroke of luck, I’ve had the chance to meet some old friends more than 7000 miles away from where we first met. The Home Base! 1. Let’s zai jian , Boston Style! At the beginning of November last year, I found myself on a plane to Saga, a small prefecture on the island of Kyushu. Given that it was my first time traveling alone on a Japanese domestic flight, I had spent the previous week worrying – what if I misunderstood the instructions and missed...

Being Onii-chan! Growing up I was always the little brother to my wonderful brother Richard. From what I understand from him now I was an absolute pain. Though, despite how big of a pain I was he always cared about me and was overall a great big brother. Before I came to Japan I always wondered how he ever dealt with me.  For three months I lived with my previous host family, which consisted of my three little brothers Shoji, Seiji, Takeshi, and my host mother and father, Nene and Takuji. When I first moved in with them it was a completely different experience that I was used to as my host family before had no small children. Then here I was, with three of the most Genki children known to man.  I very quickly learned how to say the Japanese words you must need to be able to live with three small boys; Yamete (Don't do that!), Abunai (That's dangerous!), and Kyoskete (Please be Careful!). I probably ended up saying these words each about twenty ti...

¡Es la primavera! It's spring, and the cherry blossoms have been working on their peaceful domination of Japan. There's a good amount of updates waiting in the wings, but for this post I think I'd like to let the flowers speak for a little bit.  Of course, it's always beautiful to see the branches swaying pink and white, but my personal favourite blossoms are the ones that poke their way straight out of the trunk, as if they couldn't possibly wait to clamber out. Whenever I see them I always think,  "あぁ、良く頑張ってるなー！" They're all doing their best, so I should too! Happy Spring everyone!

You Are '16 Going On '17: The First Thoughts of the New Year The Saitama Sky あけましておめでとうございます！皆んなさん、久しぶりだね？この四ヶ月に、本当にいっぱい事が有ったー楽しい事、面白い事、嬉しい事、悲しい事、全部も経験した。この新年、何の冒険があるかなー？ Happy New Year everyone! It's been a while, but what a while it's been – it's a little difficult to believe that four months have zipped by, and that the buds of 2017 are slowly opening, but the months ahead promise to be filled with light and laughter. The pocket of time since my last post has been packed with adventures, ranging from my first solo Japanese flight, a shot at playing taiko, numerous failed attempts at making okonomiyaki and a number of successes at making Hainanese chicken rice, a slew of temporary host families and a shift to Yokohama. My farewell card, also known as the board that launched a thousand tears Saying goodbye to 2016 was tied up with saying goodbye to Saitama – a place which had, rather unsuspectingly, become home to me in the short span of a few month...

Some Japanese Food for Thought Japanese food, oh how I love thou; at least most of thou. I loved almost all of the Japanese food that I ate in America, and for good reason, a lot of it wasn't really Japanese food. It was Japanese food made for American people. However Japanese food in Japan is a bit different. Here are some Japanese foods eaten by real Japanese people, some tasty, some not so tasty.  Ouishi!  (Photo credit:  Luke Chan )    Lets begin with my favorite Japanese food, okonomiyaki. Have you never heard of okonomiyaki before? Well, if you haven’t, I’m sorry that you're missing out on one of life's greatest mayonnaise topped joys. The are of cooking okonomiyaki has two predominate schools of thought, Hiroshima style and Osaka style. Both are made with batter and whatever the person in the kitchen can find to throw into the mix. Ok, well maybe that's not entirely true but generally some octopus, shrimp, and/or beef is thrown into the mix a...

60ft Up and Screaming: Joy's First Adventures in Japan I had been in Japan for approximately four days. I had prepared myself for a slew of situations, but somehow I never expected to be twenty meters in the air, wobbling my way across a rope bridge and hanging onto my harness for dear life. My host sister’s reassuring voice came floating from ahead, “大丈夫、Joy? Are you okay?” My legs were shaking and my head was spinning, but somehow I managed to squeak back, “大丈夫です！頑張ります！” With another three shaky steps, I stumbled onto the platform, and immediately my host dad and brother erupted into cheers behind me. Up ahead, my host sister broke into a wide grin, while my host mom gave us all a round of applause from below. As my heartbeat gradually slowed, I looked up and took a deep breath. In front of me, the lush forest of Tsukuba rolled against a bright blue sky. My adventure in Japan had just begun. I look like I'm smiling but deep down I'm screeching As I write this ...