Japan Diaries 4: Week 34

Week 34: June 20 - 24, 2022

Day 231: June 20, 2022

Monday - Rumoi

Rumoi High School 6/20/2022

It's the start of another week here in Japan. Like all Mondays, I'm reporting back to Rumoi High School. After the morning announcements in the faculty room, I was briefed by my JTE that starting today until next week, we will use the shortened schedule due to the ongoing club activities and competitions and also in preparation for the upcoming School Festival.

Here's my workload for today:


Ideal English Class @ 3-46 of Matsuda-sensei

Sharing Grammar Points @ 3-11 of Matsuda-sensei

1st period - Ideal English Class @ 3-46 of Matsuda-sensei
3rd period - Ideal English Class @ 3-35 of Matsuda-sensei
5th period - Sharing Grammar Points @ 3-11 of Matsuda-sensei

I received a gift from a member of the broadcaster club who I trained and won a competition

We had the English Club after the 6th period. We talked about the upcoming school festival and also updated on what our club will do during the festival. 

Time to go window shopping

When I got back home, I accompanied my wife and daughter on our afternoon stroll. We went on a short visit to Homac and MaxValu.

That night, Mr. Toshi called and talked to us about their plan to visit Hokkaido this coming August. We discussed the itinerary and when we'd meet them. This one is something we're looking forward to doing in the future. 


Day 232: June 21, 2022

Tuesday - Rumoi x Taishi Festival

Rumoi High School 6/21/2022

It's another sunny day in Rumoi City. It's my second day here at Rumoi High School this week. 

Here's my workload for today:

Listening Task @ 3-11 of Matsuda-sensei

Japanese Culture @ 2-345 of Sato-sensei

1st period - English Grammar in Japanese @ 3-F1 of Matsuda-sensei
2nd period - Listening Task @ 3-11 of Matsuda-sensei
3rd period - Japanese Culture @ 2-345 of Sato-sensei
5th period - My Favorite Animal @ 1-1 of Motoyama-sensei
6th period - My Ideal English Class Presentation @ 3-46 of Matsuda-sensei

I got my Notice of Reappointment today. Yey! 😌

During Sato-sensei's class, I discovered that Rumoi City is celebrating the 2-day Rumoi Shotoku Taishi Festival or simply Taishi Festival. According to one of the students that I asked, stalls are set up along Jinjyashita dori and many of the students are planning to visit after school.  

I didn't want to miss it so my family and I went to Jinjyashita dori to check it out after work. 
However, before we went there, we first visited the Rumoi City Library to spend some quiet time.

Hokoku-ji is the center of the festival and most locals visit it and offer a prayer

Team Nicerio checks out Rumoi City's Taishi Festival


From there, we went to Jinjyashita dori to experience our first Taishi Festival here in Rumoi City. There were more than a dozen stalls that lined up both sides of the street. There were food, drink, and even game stalls. Of course, we didn't miss trying out the food there. 

Rumoi English Chat Club

The Rumoi English Chat Club went to check out the Taishi Festival

After about an hour, my family went back home as I needed to attend our bi-weekly Rumoi English Chat Club. It was a "Free Speech Day" so we had many topics. The chat club members also wanted to see the festival hence, we decided to go there as a group before calling it a day. 

Day 233: June 22, 2022

Wednesday - Teshio

Teshio High School 6/22/2022

It has been 3 weeks since I last visited Teshio High School. Today is my 4th time visiting this school for the school year 2022 - 2023. For this visit, I used my 2-day Moekko Free Ticket.

Here's my workload for today:

2nd period - School Festival in the Philippines @ 3A and 3B of Miyakoshi-sensei
3rd period - School Festival in the Philippines @ 2A of Miyakoshi-sensei


After the 3rd period, the 3rd year classes including most of the teachers had an outdoor activity so I was allowed to go home earlier. I managed to catch the 12:51 PM Engan Bus back to Rumoi. 

Day 2 of the Rumoi Taishi Festival

Ella met some of my students attending the Taishi Festival



I got home at around 3:55 PM. This means, my family and I have an opportunity to attend the second day of the Taishi Festival. As expected, there were a lot of my students there as well. It was heartwarming to be greeted left and right. In a way, I felt like a VIP during this visit. 

Dinner at Rumoi Sukiya

Here's my order for today

We didn't stay long though, I brought my wife and daughter to Sukiya for dinner so that my wife wouldn't cook anymore when we got back home and also so that we could rest early. 

Overall, I got to attend the 2-day Taishi Festival this year. I hope that the pandemic ends before the festival next year so that there will be more stalls like how it was years before. 

Day  234: June 23, 2022

Thursday - Embetsu

Embetsu Agricultural High School 6/23/2022

Today is my 7th time visiting Embetsu Agricultural High School for the school year 2022 - 2023. For this trip, I'll be using my 2-day Moekko Free Ticket. 

Here's my workload for today: 

4th period - Past tense review @ 1st year Advanced of Sasaki-sensei
5th period - Past tense review @ 1st year Basic of Sasaki-sensei

Day 235: June 24, 2022

Friday - Tomamae

Tomamae Commercial High School 6/24/2022

It's a rainy Friday. Today, I'm heading to Tomamae Commercial High School. It's my 9th visit to this school for the school year 2022 - 2023. For this trip, I used my 1-day Moekko Free Ticket. 

Here's my workload for today:

Amazing Grace @ 1st year of Hasegawa-sensei

2nd period - Amazing Grace @ 1st year of Hasegawa-sensei
3rd period - Guessing Game @ Elective of Hasegawa-sensei

Overall, it was another productive week. I'm really happy to see and work with my JTEs from my visit schools again.  It's also our first time attending the Rumoi Taishi Festival.
We look forward to the Rumoi Dontou Festival next week. Aside from that, we are looking forward to a fantastic weekend. 

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Location: Rumoi, Hokkaido, Japan

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