April and Golden Week 2024

Before I realized it, April was over and we hadn't posted on the blog!気がついたら、4月も終わり、ブログにも更新していなかった！ April is a time of change in Japan. Most workplaces hold a big personnel shuffle where various workers are reassigned or transferred to other departments or even out of town. We had a few changes to the geopark staff and a…

The Devil Comet

Towards the end of March, we had planned a trip to meet up with some friends over the weekend to visit an observatory to see the Pons-Brooks comet. I was surprised to learn that there is an observatory in a tiny Hokkaido town called Rikubetsu. A friend of ours, who is really into night sky…

February Update

February seemed to pass by before we knew it. It seemed rather uneventful, even for a leap year, but after reflecting back on the month as a whole it seems like we had a lot going on. Work Updates Lately at the geopark office, we've been brainstorming new ideas for tourism promotion and international relations.…

Happy New Year 2024

Happy New Year! This year the Bear Family had a fun December with lots of different activities and a good start to 2024. In December we were able to hold the English Club Christmas Cafe again, and we even opened up participation so more people could come. We had 8 participants, plus the three teachers…

Culture Day Mini-Vacation

The national holiday of Culture Day fell on a Friday this year, so we decided to take a mini-vacation to Sapporo. We booked a hotel right along Odori Park in the middle of the city and planned to visit Shiroi Koibito Park and AOAO Aquarium. We went Shiroi Koibito Park once before (read the blog…

Friendly Visit in 2023

Even though this year has been extremely busy at work, I’m so glad we were able to make time for a couple of good friends to come and visit. I was super excited when C and N were able to come and stay with us for a few days during the beginning of their trip…

GGN 2023, Part 2

Friday, September 8 Just after 11 PM I was woken up by strong shaking, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake occurred south of Marrakech in the Atlas Mountains. I remember thinking “Why is there an earthquake here, of all places?” I knew this region doesn’t experience regular earthquakes but I was concerned about the integrity of the…

GGN 2023 – Morocco, Marrakech

This year’s International Geopark Conference was held in Morocco, Marrakech in early September. This was the first in-person international conference since the start of COVID-19, and I’ve been looking forward to it all year. I attended the conference with one other coworker from my office. Traveling there from Hokkaido was a hassle. Our flight path…

51st Apoi Fire Festival

The 51st Apoi Fire Festival was held in Samani over the first weekend of August. I've posted about the festival a few times early on in this blog, but this year was a little different. Instead of attending the festival with the family, enjoying the stage acts and eating delicious festival food, I was actually…

Final Days on the JET Program

As many of you may or may not know, as a participant of the JET Program I was offered a contract to work for the Samani Board of Education with the potential to work up to 5 years. My contract was initially set to end July 2022, but due to difficulties with getting new JETs…