Categories: It Happened to Me

Big in Japan

Pictured above is Yours Truly, nearly 8 years ago, checking out a CD vending machine at the train station in Kyoto, Japan, where I was visiting my friend Anne, who was there for a year to teach English. The trip marked the beginning of a big “things are looking up” phase; shortly after it, the Worst Date Ever would take place, I’d pick up the accordion and things would never be the same.

Sarah Marchildon, a Vancouverite who blogs at The Hollywood North Report, relocated in July to a rural town on the island of Shikoku in southern Japan to teach English. Given its small-town-ness and its removal from more cosmopolitan places like Tokyo or Osaka, it’s quite likely that there are locals who’ve never seen a real live white person before. Go visit her blog and see what she’s been up to!

I think I’d better finish the Ireland travel diary before I start recounting my last trip to Japan, but I’ve got a Japanese story or two to tell…

Joey deVilla

Recent Posts

Reading material for November 10, 2026

How Crunchy Moms became “the most dangerous” group on Facebook In March 2025, less than…

10 hours ago

Madhouse Miniatures’ eulogy for the Tesla Cybertruck

Here’s an editorial I wish I wrote, but it appeared as a post on the…

2 days ago

A message for my American friends

Hello from Canada, American friends! Here’s a meme of encouragement for you. As I write…

2 days ago

Sunday picdump for Sunday, November 8

It’s been a couple of Sundays, and the “picdump” is back! After three weeks on…

3 days ago

Maybe don’t vote for the Hitler party this Tuesday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnsBI4YxwIs If you’re voting in the U.S. midterm elections this Tuesday, last week’s Last Week…

1 week ago

I can take “Buy a synthesizer at the Tokyo Roland Store” off my bucket list!

While in Tokyo, I had to make at a stop that I’ve always wanted to…

2 weeks ago