As it warms

Just when I thought there was finally a lull in the crazy goings on, and I thought you might get stuck with a boring post on everyday happenings around school and life here, more stuff happened! Well, OK, so in actuality I made stuff happen :) It's never ending adventure just the way I like it.

So as March rolls around, the school year in Japan ends, and the kids graduate from each level of school, then they all head into spring break. Junior high is closer to what we would call high school back home, since the students choose high schools based on desired careers, like agriculture or computer science, and high school isn't mandatory (though most people go). The junior high graduation is regarded as more important, and the tests more rigorous than high school. So the graduation was a pretty big ceremony, and quite touching, even though they're only 15. So now the kids are on break and the teachers are all at our desks. So here's a few pics of the graduation/graduates.

But you know me, was I about to hang around? Of course not. With the warming weather and a three day weekend, I took off rather last minute to the neighboring prefecture of Kumamoto. There I stopped by the rather impressive castle in the city before heading up into the mountains. Just a couple hours drive up away from the city is one of the largest volcanic craters in the world, Mt Aso. It's a huge valley with what looks to be a mountain range surrounding it (which are actually the walls of the volcano which erupted back about 900,000 years ago) and several towns nestled in it. I stayed in one such town for the weekend with nearby good eat spots and plenty of Onsen (your Japanese word of the day, meaning public bath, often fed by hotsprings). I also went into the national park at the very center of the huge crater, where a relatively newer series of mountains has been built by the still active part of the volcano. I got to see the smoking sulfuric-smelling cone and hike the surrounding mountain ranges, which was excellent! I also tasted the natural spring water at the shrine, which is claimed as the purest in Japan. Here's a few pics of the castle, and the scenery around Mt. Aso's crater (the bunkers) and the peak of Takadake which I climbed (the highest point in the park).



Though the weather has been up and down recently, it has warmed up enough to cause the Sakura blossoms to bloom, which is of course a highlight event all over Japan. So this weekend a group of JETs got together and had a picnic under the trees in a nearby park and we had a haiku poetry writing contest in the spirit of the season. People were out in force drinking sake happily under the blossoms. So lastly, I'll leave a few pics of the park we picnicked at with the blossoms.
It's crazy to think that I've been here for 9 months already, and I already have plenty more fun to look forward to in the very near future! First up is Golden Week at the end of April, where I'll be spending a few days off, along with the national holiday time, to travel for a little over a week. Not sure yet where, possibly out of the country (Vietnam? Bali?), or around some places in Japan if that's too expensive to plan last minute. Then, starting that same week after I get back, I'll be hosting a flurry of much missed visitors to my little part of Japan here! This actually has me perhaps even a little more excited than the prospect of my own coming vacation : )