| On 11 January, students at our Fukuoka Japanese language school got to experience the very rare 承天寺一山奉賽式 (じょうてんじ ほうさいしき” – Joutenji Temple Visit). This ceremony is held once a…

| Happy New Year! Or rather, Akemashite Omedeto Gozaimasu! あけましておめでとうございます！ We hope everyone has had some good rest and a chance to freshen up for the new year ahead! New…

| It’s tradition at Genki Japanese’s schools in Tokyo and Fukuoka to have special Japanese culture classes on the first day of the new year, as new year is a…

| It’s the time of the year for Japanese companies to have their year-end parties, or 忘年会 (bounenkai). The kanji for this literally mean “forget year meeting”, and in theory…

| It’s a national holiday in Japan tomorrow, but do you know what day is it? It’s the birthday of Emperor Akihito, so as well as being a national holiday…

| At the end of every year, one kanji is nominated to become the “symbol” of that year. This kanji embodies the spirit of the past year. The official kanji…

| During the last field trip, students from Fukuoka school visited Sasaguri, a small town about two hours from Fukuoka. It was an exciting day of hiking, sight-seeing, and finding…

| Fukuoka City was selected as one of the 国家戦略特区 (kokka senryaku tokku, National Strategic Special Zone) areas for Japan. This means the local government is allowed to apply for…