Japan

It's been a long time since we last bought a CD album.  With the availability of online music stores that sell by the song, we can select and buy only the songs that we really want, leaving out those that we don't.  But with the new album of Charice, there's nothing you would really want left out!

A few weeks ago, Cerg and I happened to watch the initial episode of the TV comedy-drama series , translated in English as "The Japanese Language Unknown to Even the Japanese".  Many foreigners living in Japan will surely be able to relate to this drama series. The drama depicts the experience of Haruko, a former "charisma" shop assistant who is looking for a teaching position at a regular high school.  Haruko's former teacher who is temporarily admitted in a hospital promised to introduce Haruko such a position on the condition that Haruko would first handle a class for her for three months while she is still in the hospital.  Haruko accepted the deal not knowing that the class consisted of foreign students.

Yesterday, it was again my turn to lead our Department Chorei.  In case you didn't know, chorei is the Japanese term for the morning assembly or ceremony that is popular among many Japanese companies. Basically, chorei is like the flag ceremony in Philippine elementary schools.  There is, however, no flag (and flag-raising, of course), no singing of the national anthem, and no reciting of panatang makabayan.  These are replaced instead by the reciting of the company vision and mission, attendance checking, and countless bowing.

Did you know that for more than 54 years the Japanese Government through its Ministry of Education (Monbusho) has been sponsoring foreign students, including Filipinos, to study in Japan?  Hundreds of Filipinos, including this author, have been sent to Japan for the past several years to study under the following six different scholarship programs.

Yes, we have left Tokyo for good! I mean , not the city. The company I work for has moved its main offices located near the Tokyo station to a new location west of the Imperial palace.

Now is the time to go out for a hanami if you still want to catch those Sakura or Cherry blossoms. For a real visual treat, we recommend going to large parks like , , and . Inokashira Park is highly recommended because it has a large lake where you can ride a boat while enjoying the view of the surrounding Maple and Sakura trees. Cerg and I went there last year. This year, we just went to a small nearby park, the .