by Mike Costanzo | Jan 28, 2007 | Artwork
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...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 27, 2007 | Mike, Teaching
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...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 27, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Friends, Missions
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,...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 24, 2007 | Japanese Food, Teaching
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,...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 20, 2007 | Mike, Teaching, Wakakusa
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...
by Mike Costanzo | Jan 14, 2007 | Day-to-Day, Friends
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,...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 29, 2006 | Friends, Vacation
Greetings from the town of Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture! We’re here for the weekend, visiting our friends Kevin & Rebecca Dingle. They’re missionaries with the Keiyo Mission Team, aka “Chiba Team”–the same team that Jen worked with...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 27, 2006 | Audio, Mike
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...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 27, 2006 | 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...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 27, 2006 | Japanese Food, Mike
A very Merry Post-Christmas to you! When many people think of Christmas day, they not only think about the music and the presents and the company and the real reason for the season and everything, they also think about the food. Indeed, Christmas here in Japan is no...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 10, 2006 | Artwork, Devotion, Jen
For many, many years now, Jen has dreamed of one day writing and illustrating her own original children’s book. In fact, ever since we started dating back in 2000, both of us have been waiting for the day when Jen would finally have the time and energy to...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 9, 2006 | Engrish
One of the funniest things about being here in Japan is all the Wasei-eigo that we see from day to day. In fact, for anyone whose first language is English, Wasei-eigo is a seemingly endless source of amusement and entertainment (just ask any Japanese language...
by Mike Costanzo | Dec 8, 2006 | Missions, Teaching
Today I (Mike) taught at Hirose Elementary School, and before I went into work, I prayed–a lot. Today was a wonderful and perhaps unique opportunity to share a little bit about Jesus– in school . This week’s syllabus requested that I ” talk...
by Mike Costanzo | Nov 19, 2006 | Travel
Let it never be said that the Costanzos can’t wing it with style! This Friday, Mike says to Jen, “Hey Honey, how does a weekend trip to a ryoukan (Japanese-style inn) sound?” Jen says, “Sounds great, but where?” “We’ll find...
by Mike Costanzo | Nov 11, 2006 | Music
After we posted our first blog entry about Mike and the Sugaya P.T.A. Band, we got more than a few incredulous replys. And in fact, there was even one who postulated that the whole thing was an elaborate fabrication on our part! So to set the record straight, we want...
by Mike Costanzo | Nov 11, 2006 | Mike, Scenery
Today excepted, this whole past week here in Tamura has been a week of non-stop wonderful weather. In fact, it was so nice that I (Mike) couldn’t resist taking the digital camera to work and finally climbing up the hundred or so steps to the top of a local park...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 28, 2006 | Holidays/Special Events, Teaching
Last Sunday was Takine Jr. High’s school festival. Apparently, every Japanese school has one of these, and they’re big deals. So we were excited to be able to see what all the hype was about. Jen was allowed to come both days, and got to meet the principal...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 28, 2006 | Friends, Music
And now for one of the coolest and most surprising opportunities to happen to us since we’ve been here in Japan… As you remember, I work at a local Junior High School ( Takine J.H.S. ) four days of the week, and on Friday I teach at some local Elementary...
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 28, 2006 | Japanese Food, Mike
It’s been a whole month and a half since the first installment of the story of Mike and his wonderful discoveries of the different foods of Japan, and when we last left our intrepid hero, he had eaten Nuts and Fish, fried squid, and natto, among other things....
by Mike Costanzo | Oct 11, 2006 | Day-to-Day
Like Jen said in our previous post, this past Monday was Health-Sports Day (a national holiday in Japan), so both of us had off of work. With a whole free day at our disposal, and perfectly gorgeous cool fall weather to boot, we took it as the prime opportunity to...
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