Category: Japan

Teaching English in Taiwan and Japan

Posted on by Carol

My first experience in language teaching was in 1966, when I taught German with the Audio-lingual Method of repetition drills, substitution drills and communication exercises—a close relative of the Direct Method or Berlitz Method—all conducted in the target language and reinforced in the language laboratory. It can be extremely effective with most beginning language learners, so that students can produce a few short sentences after the first hour of instruction.

John’s experience with language teaching includes classic novice mistakes followed by proper training, success, administrative duties and finally the frustration of apathy and “chalk and talk.”

John and I spoke … Read More

Finding Contentment in Japan—and Once in Korea

Posted on by Carol

I first met Mark in the early 1990s at the Lotus Lantern Buddhist Center in Seoul. I was teaching English at Dongguk University, the Buddhist school, and he was studying philosophy at Seoul National University, the country’s top university.  It was a time of intense student activism which greatly affected the climate on university campuses and in the country as a whole. Mark had some decided views on the subject, as he told me in an interview, (Link) After graduating from SNU in 1992, Mark stayed in various Buddhist temples in SE Asia, then returned to Korea to … Read More

“Trailblasian,” Black Women in Asia, Part 1

Posted on by Carol

The title of Trailblasian is a coinage of ‘trailblazers + black + Asians. The book is an anthology of personal experience stories written by black women living and working in Asia. The editor, T.K. McLennon, Trecia, found most of the contributors online. She was inspired by the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who in a TED talk warned against “the danger of a single story.” Trecia explains, “When you only hear one story or a narrow set of stereotypical stories about a group of people, it keeps you from knowing or having a better balanced understanding of that group.” Trailblasian … Read More

Having a Baby in Japan

Posted on by Carol

About five years ago I posted “Almost a Japanese Housewife,” the story of an Australian friend. (Link) We called her “Ruth” to protect her privacy. Recently she talked via Skype about the birth of her first child. Thanks to Ruth for the photos.

Ruth’s story

In Australia my friends went to any doctor for a blood test or a urine test, but in Japan you go to an obstetrician who gives you an internal examination, a vaginal ultrasound. The chair used for the examination—also for Pap smears—is like a dentist’s chair with stirrups. It lifts you up and … Read More

From Japan to North America, Reverse Culture Shock

Posted on by Carol

 Nik is a Canadian who had three stints working in Japan for a total of twelve years: 1992-94, 1997-2003 and 2007-11. He is now living just outside New York City, where he’s working in IT. It’s a two-hour flight from his childhood home in Nova Scotia. I reached him from the Philippines via Skype. (Thanks to Nik for the photos.)

Nik’s story

In 1992, I went to Japan on a working holiday visa. The idea with this international exchange program was that young people could work abroad for a year in order to supplement travel costs and experience the … Read More

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