Tag Archives: living in japan

Around Koga

The Fourth Day in July

Yesterday, as you may know, was the Fourth of July! Of course, it took me by surprise, as I’d nearly forgotten about this American holiday. I was reminded on Sunday by a fellow American. At which time, we also made plans to get together that night for dinner, drinks, and fun with other friends in Koga.

I arrived late, as it was a long day at school, but we enjoyed a delicious homemade dinner of spaghetti (compliments of Carolyn), and followed that up with wine and ice cream bars. It wasn’t long before the idea of buying fireworks came up. Naturally, nearly everyone was interested. Continue reading →

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Travel

Conquering Tsukuba-san

Another weekend has come and gone, with more adventures to report.

It was very, very rainy on Saturday. Right now, the weather is known as 梅雨 (tsuyu): the rainy season. Our original plan was to climb Mt. Tsukuba that day, but the weather had other plans. So, instead, I hoped in my car and drove to Moriya to meet up with Becky. I would call Moriya the rich suburbs of Tokyo. It’s a city with tons of new and beautiful homes, with quick access to nearly anything you could want. Their Aeon is a full-fledged mall. Complete with a Subway sandwich shop. Lovely!

What do you do on a rainy day? You go shopping, of course. Continue reading →

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Around Koga

A Day in the Life

As life slows to a crawl here in Koga, things have become quite regular for me. I figured it’s time for the quintessential travel blogger post: a day in the life of yours truly. I’ll try to remember to add all the quirks of daily life. We’ll go with a Monday. Usually I wake up bright and early at 6am to the song “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye. Then, I hit the snooze, twice. I’ve been on the planet long enough to know that it’s going to take more than one alarm. At 6:30am, a second alarm goes off with the song “Parks on Fire” by Trifonic. This song has considerably more edge to it, and impossible to sleep through. Thus, my day begins. Continue reading →

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