Mike’s Sunset Escapade

I’m sure that many of you out there, especially our regular readers, are familiar with the Digicamblog Theorum. It goes something like so: Digital Camera + Thirst For Adventure + Random Opportunity = Good Blog Entry Material. This theorum is, of course, the...

Tech Support Hotline

As many of you know, last year was the season of innumerable battles with a big computer company. We spent hours and hours on the phone with tech support and customer service, trying to get our problems solved. Well, amazingly enough, we actually discovered an old...

Takine In Winter

So far, Jen and I have been pretty lucky weather-wise this winter–this has been an unusually warm season. All the locals have been going on and on about how much warmer it’s been than it last year (which was one of the coldest winters for years). So our...

SPECIAL REPORT: Traveling in Japan

So here’s something you may have been wondering about–how exactly does one get from point A to point B in Japan? I bet you could see this answer coming a mile away, but, well—it depends. When I was in school studying Japan, I got the impression...

Setsubun

It’s hard to know what to do as Christian in Japan sometimes. Of course, it’s always hard to be a Christian in any culture, because that culture will be a mix of good and bad. Plus, even committed Christians will often disagree on what is the right thing...

A Few Little Chips–WMAC Traffic & Weather

Okay. I know that many of you are often tempted to check the traffic and weather from larger, more “real” radio stations. And I can understand that–mostly. But I’m here to tell you that  WMAC Radio is the best, most reliable source out there...

Lessons on Art and Artists from Miyazaki

As many of you know, I (Mike) am a huge fan of the movies of animator Miyazaki Hayao. In fact, although I first came to develop an interest in Japanese culture through Japanese animation ( anime ), the only anime I now have any interest in are the movies of Miyazaki...

Mike’s Day Yesterday

Hello, world. Mike here. Thought I would take you on a little mini-tour of my day yesterday. Come along, now, come along… The day started with an unexpected trip to the Wakakusa English School to pick up teaching materials. After said materials were in hand, I...

Welcome to Koriyama Baptist Church!

As many of you know from reading our email updates, we’ve been wanting to visit some new churches recently, and on Christmas Eve of last year we decided to try out Koriyama Baptist Church. From the very first day, we fell in love with this church. For starters,...

Whale Sighting—In My Belly

One of the perks of working at a public Junior High School is the school lunch. In America, from what I remember, public school lunches were nothing special, just the same old mass-produced, high-fat content stuff over and over again (pizza, corn dogs, fries,...

More on Teaching English

Today I (Mike) would like to share a few random snapshots from the wild and occasionally wonderful world of Teaching English In Japan. Firstly, I’d like to take you on a brief multimedia whirlwind tour what it’s like to teach in Mike’s school. To...

Snapshots From The Past Couple Of Weeks

It’s been a while, hasn’t it??? For avid bloggers like us, going a full two weeks without any updates feels a lot like going two weeks without doing any homework, and then trying to catch up all in one night!!! But thankfully, we’re not being graded,...

DJ Mike in Full Effect (TM)

Ladies and Gentlemen, We have some big news. We mean BIG. Not every day do we have news this big, this profound, this crazy. You see, Mike is a different man, a changed man, a much more creative and energetic man. And all because of the purchase of a $20 headset from...

SPECIAL REPORT: Extra-Credit Engrish

Many of you have commented that you enjoyed our post on “Engrish” earlier this month, so I figured I would add another quick note of cross-linguistic joviality while I have the time. Enjoy! Just two things today… First, this is my new favorite...