Yuko and Maki

Last week two former students came to JIU and it was great seeing them. Yuko came on Thursday and Maki on Friday. They are both working hard and look really great. Maki was teaching in Tokyo , but she passed the test in Shizuoka and will be a high school teacher in that prefecture from April. We are very happy for her. I am sorry I forgot to take photos. 

Watermelon?!?

Look at what I found in Kisarazu the other day! I went to this Marche and grabbed a bag to the lemon biscuits and quickly realized they also had watermelon crisps! I can't tell you if they are good or not yet because I haven't had any, but I will report one of these days. If you are a big fan of watermelon as well, these are available at the outlet mall.

Barbacoa with graduate school students

Saturday was the day that graduate students planning to get their diplomas on March 14 had an oral exam on their dissertation. We went out for some Brazilian food to celebrate with Miyuki who's been my TA for two years. I ate so much I wasn't able to have breakfast and lunch the following day....

Tokyo Doitsu Mura

Have you ever been to the Tokyo Doitsu Mura located in Chiba? I went there for the first time on Sunday and was surprised at the numbers of buses and people that were enjoying the illumination that evening. Apparently the decoration theme this year is Shangri-La and I found everything to be extremely bright and colorful. Now, as for the name, I really can't explain it as the location is quite far from Tokyo. There weren't a lot of things from Germany for us to buy, but we got some pickles and bread. 

Back from Disney World

Koichiro and Mayu are back from Florida where they participated in the UCR/Disney internship program. They successfully completed the program and returned stronger! Congratulations to both of you!