It's my birthday (well, my birthday in Japan anyways)!!!

Today, I just felt like yapping. So, if you're interested in hearing my reflections about the past and future, my thoughts about how cool Irish and Korean are, or you want to hear about my recent Netflix obsession, please give this episode.

Last weekend I had the wonderful experience of carrying a Mikoshi (portable shrine) along with fellow ALTs and Japanese community members). In this episode, I talk about that experience and more!

Last Friday was graduation for junior high school students all over my placement and it was my first ever junior high school graduation ceremony in Japan so of course I had to talk about it. But, before I talk about the ceremony, I had to talk about something that happened over the weekend. It was just too fun not too share!

There was a three day weekend in Japan and my friends and I took advantage of it. We went to Kusatsu, a famous onsen town in Gunma, and other surrounding locations. Hear about my travels in this unscripted episode!

Today, Two Shores One Story welcomes its first guest, Callum!

Callum is an ALT who hails from Ireland and its' his first time living in Japan. He has quite a lot of experiences that are quite funny but also full of wisdom. I always love reading his blog since he has such an interesting perspective (you can check it out here https://www.callumeaglehendrick.com/blog) and I'm so glad to have his same viewpoints on the podcast! I hope you all enjoy!

When going to another country, one may not expect the holiday traditions to be that different from their own country. However, this is not usually the case. In this episode, I talk about just that in regards to Valentine's Day.

Who knew that watching Netflix could improve your language skills? In my case, I learned a lot (and I a lot) of surgical terms thanks to a show on Netflix called Doctor X. I could easily create connections because I was watching what was happening as I heard the words. Context is so important in language learning and I often forgot that I should really use it to learn Japanese rather than a textbook.

Beep beep!

What's that?

It's the sound of my new car!

How did I buy a car? I'll tell you everything; from from what what service I used to find used cars to when I picked my car up.

You may think that being a J-Pop fan is nothing but amazing, but that is not just the case. I've had my fair share of experiences and have realized a common negative theme of being a J-pop fan.

It's January so that means it has been approximately four months since I started my job as an ALT. In today's episode, I share my reflections of what it's been like being an English teacher in Japan (both work and non-work aspects). Give it a listen!