A man making wood carvings. He was selling handmade bowls and chopsticks and dolls and giving small demonstrations on his art.

At a stop not too much further down the line, we could see some kind of festival taking place when the train doors opened. So we decided to hop off at that station and check it out. We ended up staying a few hours. Here's a street crossing where people were waiting for a parade to start.

One day in mid-October, Jonathan and I decided to take a train line we'd never used before and see where it took us. It's kind of a small line that services country towns. Here's our view out the doors at one of the stops we made.

Mizuho. What a doll face. She adores me. Once I ran into her while she was walking home from school, and she ran across the street to me shouting "sensei, sensei." I'm starting to love these kids a lot.

Here are the kids in my Tuesday evening class. L to R: Masaki (he's a good kid, but likes to push his limit. arrgh.), Masaya (he's behind Masaki's head), Go, and Mizuho.

Naoya, Takayuki, and Sayaka, another student in the class. They're practicing how to write their names.

This is Naoya (left) and Takayuki, two of the 4-year-olds in my Tuesday afternoon class. Needles to say, they make me laugh quite a bit.

The autumn leaves are falling

Well, well, well...the late autumn season is upon us here in Japan. Which means not much more than that the air is cooler and most days one needs a jacket of some kind. So no one ever dreams of a white christmas here. So I decided to go home for the holiday season!! Yahoo! Both Jonathan and I will be returning December 19th. I am very excited. I have a lot to do before I make my departure in a week and a half, and adding some photos from the last month was on that list. So, without further ado....