Linking Maine and Japan

Konnichiwa from Himeji, Japan!
I arrived in Himeji yesterday, mid-afternoon. I rode with the 19 other teachers assigned to this town on the Shinkasen Nozomi “bullet” train. This train travels really fast (faster than any we have in the US). Our guide and translator told us Nozomi means “hope.” We saw Mt. […]

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After having been here less than an hour, a group of teachers went to the annual Lantern Festival near Himeji. We had to take 2 trains to get there. Children and teenagers and adults all took part in parades and lantern displays. It was a lot like a carnival or county fair […]

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Yesterday was another beautiful day in Tokyo. My last day here for a week. We head off to Himeji on the Seto Inland Sea stay for our visit to a prefecture (state) and ultimately our home stay with a family. Yesterday I spent the day with another JFMF-er — from Minnesota. It […]

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Konnichiwa!
It’s raining down hard tonight in Tokyo. But it didn’t ruin my evening plans, because I saw a Giants/Dragons baseball game in Tokyo Dome, and it’s covered. What an experience going to a baseball game in Tokyo! The fans are so orderly and organized, they all chant the same chant in unison! […]

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Today we had a day of lectures from education and government officials. We leaned about Japanese education and issues they are working on, as well as their view of their economic place in the world. The JFMF program booked really outstanding and important people for our seminars. Two members of their Diet […]

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Today we had a both a Japanese style breakfast and American style breakfast buffet. The Japanese breakfast included a yummy green salad! I could get used to that.
We went out to lunch today to a traditional restaurant in the Asakusa district of Tokyo. We had to remove our shoes before entering the dining […]

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In my last note I mentioned I crossed the International date line on Monday, and came out on Tuesday!  Here is a picture from the plane’s tv screen, showing out flight plan as we crossed into a new day. 
Why is our route such a curved arc?  We flew over Alaska and the Bering Sea […]

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Greetings to all from Tokyo.
We left from San Francisco on Monday Oct. 15th mid-day, crossed the international date line mid-flight, and it is now 10:50 p.m. in Tokyo. The flight, itself, was 9-3/4 hours. Try out the math!
I’ve been in the hotel since 6:30, had a meeting, and a college student named Eri took […]

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Good morning. It is just after sunrise in San Francisco. I took a photo from my hotel window. I leave shortly for my 10 hour flight to Tokyo. Last night we met the teachers from all over the US, including Alaska and Hawaii, who have been selected to be part of this […]

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