I am a photographer living in Aki-Shi, Kochi-Ken, Japan (the island of Shikoku). I am currently working for JET as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) and go around to seven different schools in the Aki-City area. Inaka Japan can be kind of cold, buggy, and lonely, but the ex-pat community here is warm and a lovely group of people, so life is pretty good~ :)

My major in school was photography, and my minor was Japanese, so as I go from teaching crazy kids, interacting with Japanese hippies and weird firemen, I try to polish up on my language and snap a few photos. Living for a long period of time in a country I'm familiar, and yet, not with is a tiring and straining endeavor. Using my photography as an outlet has really helped in dealing with the day-to-day oddities (that, and blogging).

My hobbies are varied and some can be very short-lived. I go running everyday (to the great amusement of the middle schoolers at Seisuigaoka) and I love studying Japanese. I also really love being crafty, and stamp-making is definitely one of my specialties (as well as doodling boredly in the margins). I like to surf, snowboard, and play rugby (the short-lived hobbies that depend mostly on the weather), even though I don't really consider myself an active/sporty person, I always end up doing a lot more activities than I expect to. I would also consider watching Japanese Dramas as one of my hobbies, considering a good portion of my weeks are dedicated to finishing a variety of series.

よろしくお願いします (please regard me kindly). ;)

My favorite music is Alternative, Indie-Rock, and I really like Japanese music (I'm not going to say J-Pop) although honestly, when it comes to music, whatever gets me moving and excited I love. House and techno are great when clubbing and dancing when you don't mind hopping up and down and waving your arms around for a few hours, while hard punk-rock is awesome when you find a little record-shop venue in Japan that has some awesome energy and life. Music is my life energy and I wouldn't be able to get through a day with out it.

My favorite groups from the English-speaking world include: Muse, The Wombats, The Limousines, The Films, Vampire Weekend, Death Cab for Cutie, The Fratellis, M.I.A, and Cobra Starship.

My favorite artists from the Japanese-speaking world include: Ootsuka Ai, Shiina Ringo (Tokyo Jihen), Ikimono Gakkari, M-Flo, Yuzu, HY, Asian Kung-fu Generation, and Monkey Majik

I have an account on Goodreads: My Profile

But my favorite books include: The Bell Jar, An Abundance of Katherines, Looking for Alaska, Norwegian Wood, Howl's Moving Castle, Sword Point, Good Omens, Devil in the Details, and the Hunger Games trilogy.

My all time favorite movie has to be "Ocean's 11" which I've only seen about 100 times, and never saw the 2nd or 3rd of (why ruin a beautiful thing?).

My other favorite movies include: Crank, Anchor Man, The Transporter, 13 Going on 30, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Devil Wears Prada, Drop (日本), and Super Bad.

When it comes to my favorite TV shows, I usually buy the seasons on DVD and wear out the discs until they start to skip and error due to over-use (yes, this is happening...). I also love Japanese dramas and obsessively watch hours of mind-numbingly cute and exaggerated acting on mysouju.com.

My favorite TV shows of all time, and ones that I'm still keeping up with even while out of the US is "The Office" and "How I Met Your Mother."

My other favorites include "Arrested Development," "Project Runway," "Parks and Recreation," "The West Wing," "Extras" (UK), "Orange Days" (日本), "花より団子” (日本), "花盛りの君達へ” (日本), "Liar Games" (日本), "蛍の光” (日本), "Q10" (日本), and "君はペット” (日本).

I am a lover of languages! Right now, I teach English in Japan while trying to perfect my grasp on the Japanese Language itself (which I studied in University). I've also studied French, Spanish, Korean, and Latin, although I don't have a very good grasp on any of them compared to Japanese. I really want to study Korean and Chinese more because I love the writing systems of Eastern Asian Languages (特に日本語).

I love the color blue, star shapes, Christmas lights, cute pencils/pens, colorful stationary, POSTERS and FLIERS (I LOVE decorating my apartment with posters and event fliers/music fliers I find), and anything to do with cameras/photography. My major was photography, so I love trying out various photo-taking objects (I have 12 different cameras, going from my Nikon DSLR to the 300 yen camera I found in a resale shop, with many lomography cameras and film cameras inbetween). I also love getting new recipes. I cook constantly (and even blog about it) and I'm always trying to find new ways of making something.

I'm also a lover of coffee. My favorite being the almighty Dunken Donuts Vanilla coffee (which I even have my mother send to me out here in Japan). However, trying out different instant coffees is also really fun. Coffee comes in a large variety here in Japan, so I have lots of different kinds to try... but I know other countries and even the US have instant coffees I've never tired before.

Lastly, the thing I love most.... getting new MUSIC. If you like making mix CDs, PLEASE. Especially music from other countries!!! I love getting mixes from people, so the ultimate add-on in a swap would be getting a mix CD. I also LOVE to make them too, so if you ever want my favorite music, or some Japanese music, I'd be happy to share!!

1. bright colors (neons ect)
2. lights
3. night related
4. bands/concerts related (picture from a show)
5. art related (of a piece of art or "artsy" for fun)
6. blue
7. has a foreign language in it (not japanese, seeing as that is where I live)