Let’s Walking
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the award-winning YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). Sanpo is Japanese for a ‘walk,’ and it’s a popular pastime here. From the bureaucratic samurai of the Tokugawa period who would wander among the cherry trees and write […]
Meet Kitadaito Island
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the award-winning YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). Your first question is probably a lot like mine when I got my placement in Kitadaito. Where? A lot of us on the JET programme end up in interesting […]
Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). By far my most popular post on More Things Japanese is my easy recipe for Chahan. This time around, I wanted to share a slightly more time-consuming, but even tastier […]
2013 Nakasato Exchange (Kumejima and Tokamachi)
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). Japan is _____________. Japanese people eat ____________. In Japan, everyone wears ___________. When you hear “Japan” what do you think of? What images come to your mind? Before I began […]
2013 Tokamachi Snow Festival
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). With its tall mountains and island geography, Japan has areas with heavy rain throughout the year and snowfall in the winter. Over the years, in many areas the snow has been […]
2013 Sakura Festival in Kumejima
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). January 26th marked the beginning of the 2013 Kumejima Sakura Festival. Sakura (Cherry Blossoms) are an important symbol marking the change of seasons in Japan. As the weather begins to […]
How Miso is Made – A Visit to a Local Factory
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET on Kume Island in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy series Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). Ever wonder what miso is? If you’ve been to Japan or eaten at a Japanese restaurant, you’ve likely had or at least seen miso. I remember my first time having […]
Mochi Making
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). It’s the New Year, and in Japan that means its time for mochi! Mochi is a Japanese treat made from pounded rice. While mochi is now eaten throughout the year, it’s a favorite tradition during the New […]
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘Samurai Awakening’
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By Rashaad Jorden (Yamagata-ken, 2008-2010) for JQ magazine. Rashaad worked at four elementary schools and three junior high schools on JET, and taught a weekly conversion class in Haguro (his village) to adults. He completed the Tokyo Marathon in 2010, and was also a member of a taiko group in Haguro. For those who have lived in Japan, there […]
An Emperor’s Visit
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). On November 20, 2012 The Emperor of Japan Akihito and Empress Michiko visited Kumejima as part of a four-day visit to Okinawa. Preparations were long in the making, but it was still extraordinary to see […]
Isn’t Japan Supposed to be Polite?
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the YA fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). For those of you who don’t know, I spent my first three years in Japan living on Kitadaito Island. Kitadaito is a small island 320km east of the mainland of Okinawa. While I was there, I […]
2012 Kitadaito Festival Day Two
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRGDpNCFRrw&w=400&h=225] The 2012 Kitadaito Festival was a two-day event in September marking an important time of community inclusion and tradition. The second day of the Festival was on the 23rd and, as in years past, featured […]
JQ Magazine: Book Review – ‘Salvation of a Saint’
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By Sharona Moskowitz (Fukuoka-ken, 2000-01) for JQ magazine. Sharona is interested in fresh, new voices in fiction and creative nonfiction. (Click image for an exclusive sample from the audiobook) With more twists and turns than a mountain route through the Japanese Alps, Keigo Higashino’s latest murder mystery Salvation of a Saint is a seamless, well-constructed suspense novel with all the […]
2012 Kitadaito Festival Day 1
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Posted by Benjamin Martin, a 5th year JET in Okinawa, publisher of the blog MoreThingsJapanese.com and author of the fantasy novel Samurai Awakening (Tuttle). Every year on September 22 and 23 Kitadaito Village celebrates its largest Festival. These dates mark the beginning of autumn. Kitadaito, also known as north Borodino island, is a place of 12sq kilometers 320 […]
JET Author Beat: Current Okinawa JET debuts with new book “Samurai Awakening”
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******************** Benjamin Martin is a fifth-year JET ALT in Okinawa Prefecture. He spent three years on Kitadaito Island, a place of 12 sq km and 550 people before moving across the prefecture to another island called Kumejima. His debut novel Samurai Awakening is out now on online retailers and hits bookstores October 10, 2012. Benjamin competes in Okinawan Sumo, is co-host […]
