Japan <- Home

Japan 1999 - 2001

Dolphins in Amakusa
Dolphins in Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture  

From July, 1999 until July, 2001 I was an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Saga Prefecture, Japan. This came about through something called the JET Program, a program administered by the Japanese government which allows basically anyone with the inclination and a college degree to come to Japan and teach English in the state-run schools. I taught at the high school level, and over the course of two years visited six different schools, each very distinct. This web page and the links contained tries to be a compendium of my years in Japan. Enjoy!

Photos

Photos are (somewhat) arranged by date:

Balloon Fiesta
The Saga Balloon Fiesta Night Program  
Photos from 1999
Photos from 2000
Photos from 2001

Random Shots
People Photos

Stories

Some of these are definitely better than others. In semi-chronological order, stories include: a trip to Yakushima, which is a UNESCO world heritage area; a commentary on cleaning time; my winter 2000 trip to Thailand and Cambodia; a September 2000 trip to Shikoku, the May 2000 Kobe conference; the weekend that followed; my May 2000 trip to Thailand; one week of my life as a JET, a visit to a local shrine to view the plum blossoms, a February 2000 trip to Korea (written by Kim), a quick take on Aso, a christmas trip to Kyoto, Nara and Osaka; my visit to Tosu, my Thanksgiving weekend; horseback archery (called Yabusame), a trip to kagoshima, and some explanations of Sports Days. The first story I wrote was about an interesting week in September, 1999.

Becky and I
Becky's succint description of life in Saga Ken: "I feel like a three year old trapped in a place full of sex offenders"  

News and Links

Recent news stories may be found on my local news page.
Links to other JETs, as well as various other JET related things, may be found here.
Photos of all of us in a drunken stupor may be found here.

If you have comments or suggestions, please email them to me.

My massive Computing In Japan document may be found here.