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Japan

Koyasan – May 20th, 2023

A lot of exploring occurred in the 2nd half of May, and I’ve taken longer than I like to post this, but as you can see, I’ve had a busy 2 weeks. Koyasan is the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, a form of Vajrayana Buddhism. The founder,…

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Japan

Greenery Day, Ginza, Tokyo – 2023

We had to run through the crowds at Ginza to make the 11 o’clock showing at Kabuki-Za theater. We left Nerima-Ku for the theater over an hour in advance, yet the actors had already entered the stage when we sat. The theater doesn’t allow people to take pictures during the…

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Education

John McWhorter — Why Schools Don’t Teach Grammar

When I came to Kansai Gaidai last month, I had to start teaching TOEFL again, which I hadn’t taught since prior to joining USC, and when my director raised the question of adapting the curriculum to a hybrid class that also includes “structure,” I questioned whether the TOEFL still limited…

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Japan

Golden Week – 2023

Today I’m in Tokyo visiting my in-laws. I had a Zoom conference this morning with my director, and I managed to get some grading done. We left Hirakata before 4:30 PM last night and arrived in Tokyo around 10 PM. The bus from Kansai Gaidai to Hirakata station was the…

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Japan

April in Japan

Despite a cloudier, wetter spring than most, we managed to do a lot in April. Cherry Blossoms I’ll start at the end of March, when we visited Osaka Castle to see the cherry blossoms. I’ve uploaded highlights from that trip below. The weather cleared up a bit that night, and…

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Linguistics

Rhythm and Language

The following came to me courtesy of Ben Norman, a music educator for the Clay County school district in Florida, who I’ve known since my undergraduate days at Jacksonville University. It’s a great read that covers a lot of topics related to rhythm, but below is the part on language:

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Journal Entries

The Pre-Semester Weekend

This is the final weekend before the semester begins at Kansai Gaidai, and today we participated in the new faculty appointment ceremony. Tomorrow, there’s a new student reception, which new teachers will attend. Monday things kick off. As of today, I am covered in the Japanese health system, which is…

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