Night on Bald Mountain - Wrath of Fuji

Before we start: I made the pictures too big on purpose. I thought it was better to be able to see these things well than for them to fit inside the lines perfectly. One setting lower makes them too small! So, enjoy large photos - begin!

Well howdy buckaroos! Yup you guessed it, its been a week and it's about time for another blog post. WHEW. Ridiculous thing is, SO much happened this week, I'm gonna have to write multiple blog posts. I hope I can get to everything! But, just to save everyone from losing possibly the best one in the fray of all life, we'll save the best for first. Sense, right?

So I've been in Japan just over two weeks now, and make no mistake, I've not wasted any time in running around and seeing stuff. Really, I'm mostly swept away in the current that is cool people are doing this now I guess I'll go. You know what? I don't mind at all. Let's get started.

Fuji Fuji Fuji Fuji. No I'm not inciting some incantation, I'm merely saying a word that will likely just fall short of famy only to drop into the realm of infamy in my mind. It all started innocent, though let's be real, climbing Fuji is not just a walk in the part in any event. The plan was, and as it tends go, that we would climb/hike(not proper rope climbing at all, I'll explain in a second) up to Japan's highest peak, which is actually an active volcano. That's active like you would call a couch potato who hasn't left their couch in 300 years yet is still somehow alive active. Well let's hope Fuji doesn't go for a figurative jog anytime soon, as it's actually overdue for one. Beside the point though, Fuji is, at its peak, 3,776 meters tall ie about 13,000 feet tall. And while the perfectly shaped cone of Fuji does not have anywhere on the main trail up to the top requiring rope climbing, nor oxygen tanks or pick axes, this is still a pretty serious mountaincano - even in a normal scenario. But folks, as luck would so have it, this was NOT a normal scenario. Fuji was not a happy mountain when we climbed it people, not happy enough to make me happy that I'm sitting here able to type this blog post. Long story short we had no idea what we were in for.

Long story long I'll continue this blog post. The thing people usually do with Fuji, most of the time, is start at the 5th station, which is something like 2300 meters up. You think, ohhhh that's a wussy wuss way to go starting there c'mon why don't you start at the bottom? Then at least at the top you won't be singing "started at the fifth station now we're here." Sounds pretty lame right? Well going to the top from the 5th station TAKES 7 HOURS. How about now? Started at the bottom now we passed out before we got to the 4th station? Yup. So what people do is actually start the ascent at night, and try to time it right in order to be at the very top of the mountain when the sun rises. After that you start the between 4 and 5 hour decent back down the mountain and go home tired but full of peaceful and beautiful panoramic memories. Now altitude sickness can be a thing on Fuji, you're way up there, and the air gets very thin. Therefore most reasonable guides will tell you to hike up to about 11,000 feet, stay the night in a hut on the mountain to get acclimated to the lack of air, then go the rest of the way in the middle of the night, making it just before sun up. Many many people just don't take those recommendations, and furthermore ignore the warnings of just starting at night and going all the way to the top in one shot. That increases the likelihood of altitude sickness quite a lot. Well we fell very comfortably into this genius category. Now we weren't completely senseless, not that it helped much, but we gave ourselves 10 hours to do the 7 hour hike which sometimes even takes 6 hours. So, it really seemed like that would be okay. And it was, sorta almost.

People do what we planned to do all the time actually, so if we just take it slower than people who are dumb about it. We should be fine. And really, the first part of the climb was amazing, and innocent enough actually. Really nice!

Fuji from far awayish. It's actually quite up close. Once you get closer you're basically on the mountain and you have no concept of the thing as a whole. For 1.5 hours of the ride that we could see Fuji that cloud on top seemed eerily persistent.......

Here's a picture of the crew at fifth station. Temperatures still in the 50s at least. It was in the 90s at the bottom of the mountain. You basically have to stack on the layers, at the top it can get close to freezing at night. Ahh we all look so happy don't we?

View from 5th station. Already pretty high up, as you can see. 

And so we climbed, got to fifth station at about 7, had dinner, left heading up the mountain at about 8:30PM, hoping to summit at about 4:30. Sunrise at ten til five. And on our way, we got some pretty sweet pictures. 

 We started out in the woods more or less, where there was still some vegetation. Quickly losing the vegetation and taking us though this tunnel.

 Headlamps were a pretty crucial part of this nighttime climb. 

You could see the city below and the trail ahead illuminated by headlamps

Some absolutely astounding views from one of the earlier/lower stations. This one is probably the 7th. It goes up to 9 with an 8.5 thrown in there somewhere because the final stretch takes several times longer than those leading up. 

So I was gonna make this one a two-parter, but I have decided not to rob a great Fuji story of the benefits reaped from narrative continuity like Fuji robbed us of a non-misery infused stroll to the summit. Thus folks, there is no choice but to continue your decent  down the page just like we had no choice but to continue our ascent up the Fuji steep. Here we go.

Last picture for a while here, and you'll understand why soon enough, just to exemplify something that people commonly do. Sleep outside on Fuji. Now there are huts on the ascent that can take people for the night, as well the stations can often accommodate some, but these are usually for "book in advance" because a lot of people climbing the mountain want to stay the night. Also, those things just have people sleeping basically side by side on the floor with a little mat on the ground. This is not to mention that there are WAY more climbers than huts or stations could fit in the first place. Thus those who are not the close touchy feely type, or those who simply didn't book in time but would like to still kill time getting to know the altitude will just post up, like some are doing in this picture(in particular the dude laying on the ground in the yellow), and sleep. 

I'll now take this time to say a few words about altitude sickness. It basically happens when you ascend to a high altitude too fast. Now there are the other more extreme kinds that don't apply here, like trying to walk around on Everest without an oxygen tank. Then we're talking a deadly version of altitude sickness. Nope, in the normal case, and as it goes in our case, altitude sickness only threatens with dizziness, confusion, nausea, vomiting, inability to walk straight, and fatigue. Those forces gain considerable weight when trying to scale a mountain, which is why we arrived an extra 3+ hours early. If we were going to have symptoms, they were going to be mild in any event. 

And mild they were, and relatively unobstructive for the first few hours of the trip. Yes, after the pictures you see here, we did start to feel some of the effects. The hike up Fuji is not a walk in the park, you're hiking up about 5,000 feet, indeed no small feet. Feet feet I'm a genius. Hiking up Fuji is an effort that makes your leg muscles burn, and that burn is your muscles telling you they need air. Well ours needed air we didn't exactly have, so starting up from the 7th station we began having to take semi-frequent rests on the trails. Just a two minute sit would do. You had to remember to walk slow, and breathe deep and quite quickly. A normal walking pace up the sometimes very steep paths would eventually stop you in your tracks, so it was important to pace yourself. As we moved up the symptoms got worse, but not out of hand in any way. Shortness of breath was coming faster after each break at a hut or station we took along the way. You could feel your thought processes changing a bit, as if you short term memory was being munched away. It wasn't helping that it was starting to be about the time we all usually went to bed, thus the onset of sleep deprivation. Yet still, we were taking it slow, eating food, drinking water, and taking breaks at every station. We remembered that many people do this multiple times per year. It hadn't gotten to us yet. 

Eventually we started passing around cans of oxygen on the trail, which we had brought as further preparation for the ascent. It actually really helped. Well me anyways, some others didn't agree, perhaps I'm placebo effect susceptible, but oh well. I really just felt like my thoughts cleared up when I got the oxygen. The trails were becoming steeper and more rocky, sometimes eliciting manual assistance up certain sections. The trails were also narrowing, and often marked by waist level pencil thin metal polls with reflective material affixed. Chains or ropes hang between. 

Happening upon one of the substations, we felt some precipitation, taking only the form of a bit of a thick mist. It was really nothing, barely damping the rocks beneath us. It had been a clear sky up until this point, or more like, any clouds that existed we were above and the sky above that went on for ages. With the mist this had started not to be the case but in general you could still see the sky. The temperature had been dropping, now probably in the mid 40s. I gave the rain pants I brought to one of the more unprepared among us who came with; this poor fellow just wanted to climb Fuji but had been a plus one so late that he had no time to look and see what it means to be prepared for Fuji. AKA, this fellow just had shorts on and a sweat shirt. It was getting kinda cold so I just threw him over my rain pants and an extra sweatshirt I brought. We continued the climb, consuming 2 dollars every time we stopped at a substation because the bathrooms asked for a donation.

It started misting harder. That tiny cloud you can see in the first picture came to all of our minds. Oh well, either it will go away since it's so mild or we'll simply ascend above it like we did all the other clouds and still catch the sunrise. It was still 3 or 4 hours before we reached the top. The outside sleepers had apparently foreseen this moisture, as the deck sleepers started to unanimously curl up under a set up umbrella or plastic sheet. Unfortunately my blue jeans with sponge bob PJs underneath for warmth did not foresee not having rain pants. So they started to take on a bit of a balmy not at all wet but not completely dry feel. Luckily it stopped completely as we finally ascended to the 8th official station.

Then it started POURING. Then backed off a bit, but still raining. Okay, now it was really starting to be a buzzkill. We were all feeling lite headed, and tiring easily from ascending so fast - we really didn't care for a trudge through some rain on top of that. Even more annoying, we were still pretty far away. One thing you gotta understand is, the higher you go, the less common the stations and substations are, and the longer the hike itself takes. Thus, perhaps the time between station 5 and 6 was 30 minutes, but the one between 8 and the 9 is two  or three hours. There are stations along the way, though, but they get less and less inviting and substantial. Many of them at this point are full of sleeping climbers and specially the huts will tell you to be quiet and move along not to wake anyone. There is a station 8.5, so that's nice, and it's middle size. 

We continued ascending. I had bought some more rain pants(cheap cheap quality) at station 8 just to halt the offensive the rain had already waged on the front side of my pants. The back was still okay though, and it was an extra layer, so I bought the two piece suit and gave the top half to unprepared friend Matt. I required an extra large hahaha. I had a rain jacket so I was good there. 

NOPE I WAS SCREWED. We were all screwed. Fuji was through playing around and decided to throw a haymaker. The rain came roaring back much stronger than it had been before, this time accompanied by 60 mile an hour gusts and a 40 mile an hour sustained wind that changed direction every few seconds. Visibility was NOTHING. You were lucky if looking up with your headlamp bore anything beside your hand, the person immediately in front of you, and the next reflector marking the hiking path. I've rarely seen a storm like this one actually, and never actually had been forced to face it if it came. We continued anyways. Even the storm, unrelenting thereafter, had not yet even put thoughts in our mind about turning back. Perhaps it was the fact that we had come so far, spent money, and sacrificed an entire night sleep, all to give up the idea of the sunrise at the top? Not yet. 

We continued up the path, but as we pressed on all of our clothes became completely saturated with water. "Waterproof" clothing had acquiesced to the blitz carried out by the ocean falling out of the sky. My clothes were water resistant only by virtue of the fact that they could hold no more water. Our stops were taking longer, the air was getting thinner, and now we were carrying A LOT of extra water weight. I had a big bag with some of my daytime clothes inside which also got soaked. HIking in wet blue jeans is also a NIGHTMARE. Wheeeew buddy people how did those Duke boys get themselves into this situation this time??

We started to wonder silently what we continued to climb for. Hopes of the sunrise at the top had already set only a few hours after the sun itself had first led the way. The higher we climbed and longer rests we were forced to take we started to realize how much of a pickle we were actually in. It was getting colder. Low 40s now if not high 30s, you can see your breath. Torrential downpour still happening. Hours away from somewhere indoors. The stations were not big enough to accommodate everyone, and some of them were plainly rejecting knocks at the door. The unheated bathrooms felt warm only because you were out of the onslaught from the wind and cold rain. People were standing under the meager awnings of the huts and just staring inside like wet puppies. 

When we got to the next substation we started to have real honest conversations with each other. We couldn't keep hanging out at stations forever, because we were being constantly drenched by sub 40 degree water. Stopping made you feel cold, which gives way to hypothermic conditions. Continued movement staved off any onset of hypothermia. If you took it too fast though, altitude sickness could come, you could even pass out. Then people help you with what?? Nothing was dry. No one could warm you up. We were left with no good option. The storm was hours hike above us and hours hike below us, and those steep rocky trails would not be easy to hike in the rain.

The sunset motivation to keep going had flown out the window and changed forms. We kept going. Now it was no longer to pursue a beautiful view at the top, but a test of will and physical tolerance that none of us had known we signed up for. It was an impromptu challenge. The motivation was now F you Fuji, it's not going down like that. We were still an hour and a half from the top. A 5.5 hour turn back was DAUNTING. Worse yet, someone at a substation told me there was nothing at the top. Thus, from then on, it was even longer before we could find somewhere we could even potentially go inside. Further, there is a different path down than up, and visibility was such that it was in question whether we could even find the(shorter) pathway down.

We pushed on anyways. At this point we were only three of the original seven. Everyone started going different speeds, taking pauses to wait for the wind or decide whether they wanted to go back down or not. Many people were turning back. The effects of the altitude were getting worse. My thoughts were cloudy, everyone was feeling weak, concentration was needed to make sure you were on balance. A few times the feeling of throwing up came but I pushed them down and ignored them. I started to question our ascent, protesting what was happening in that moment. We shouted to hear each other over the wind. I was in an altered state, and a couple times tripping over a rock I didn't see to the ground. I started to say why aren't we turning back??? But the group wanted to press on, and I wasn't about to go by myself hahaha. No way. It was a bad idea to leave anybody at that point, going up or down. I started to oscillate between silence and appeal to turning back. We pressed on. I'm glad we pressed on, that was definitely the right thing to do I'll tell you why in a sec.

People were strung all over the trail to the top. Some sitting down, some laying while their group waited on them, some bent over throwing up, some just sitting there getting rained on as if they had just said forget it Ima give up and stay here. I passed some people who had made their way into a tiny cave and started a fire from who knows what haha. WHAT IN THE WORLD. The path has narrowed and there are a few cliffs now, have to take care. I saw the wind shifting peoples positions during gusts, not the best thing when sleep deprived, dizzy, lite headed and climbhiking on a steep narrow path. I looked over the edge with my headlamp, nothing. At one point I looked behind me and there was no one on the trail. At that point many were turning back or not coming up at all. The path got narrow enough that a line formed because only one person could go at a time. I saw a sign that said we were 200 meters away from the top. That 200 meters took an hour. You would wait in line and feel the cold start to bite, then you would go and feel like you couldn't take a deep enough breath. Too slow, hypothermia, to fast, altitude sickness.

There, we did it.

We finally reached the top.

And wait a friggin minute......THERES A BIG LODGE!!!! Thats......thats IMPOSSIBLE. That's gotta be a Fuji mirage. No it's REAL! And what, they're serving hot noodles there!?!?! She told us wrong, why did she tell us wrong??????? Who cares I just now I can just go sit down and get out of the rain and get in the heat for a second! Am I dreaming??? Nope, already checked coming up the mountain.......but anyways YES this is AMAZING!

It was true. Now, it was a bit of an open air lodge, with a big open front door to just a big room with benches and fairly full of other brave and wet souls, but there was some form of heat! I went in, ordered a hot tea and had a hot bowl of noodle soup. I took off my wet upper body clothing(including a big cotton sweater, perfect in a rainstorm) to try and at least dry my quick dry undershirt. 45 minutes rolled by and it was already almost light outside, visibility better like you can see 10 feet in front of you but still no way in heck you can see the sun. No one gives a s*** anymore, we made it! We were joined by the others, some too cold to speak at first. It was time to go, but not without someone risking life and cellphone to take the one proof picture that we were up there at the top with the quintessential Fuji stone post, and here it is:

Oh we're such cute happy campers, finally figuring we're gonna live and everything

We all started shivering. Better get the heck out to warm back up before we start hitting problems. The decent will at least prove easier with thickening air. We started toward the clearly marked and, thanks to the sunlight, obvious path back down. The wind at the top was the worst. I would fully lean into the wind and be pushed the other way. A rock got picked up and smacked me in the tooth at one point gosh darn it MY TOOTH. Anyways I was fine just kept running down that hill. Down those switchbacks. The trail down was MUCH easier than the train up. No boulders, no steep ledges, wide path. It was a comparative cinch! And fast! The lower we went the better and better I felt. YES! and as we descended....the weather got....better....markedly better. We were going down so fast that....before an hour was up, we were done with the storm and barely getting misted. The mist even stops. Just a little bit of wind. Then the wind goes. It's....quiet.....and just like that we were completely below the storm. It was....a beautiful day.....

 The silence was almost eerie. 

 The peace under the storm left no clue

 And bore no indication of what we had been through just hours before.

 It was breathtaking.

 And even the biggest skeptic gotta suspect that God is alive and well.

There I am, can of warm tea in the inside pocket of my jacket(IT WAS HOT AS HELL ACTUALLY I COULD BARELY TOUCH IT AT FIRST)

As we happily descended, bored, tired, and wet, you could look at people. It's like you could tell which ones went up last night, and which ones were descending from a hut after not even attempting it. The ones who had been through everything had this wow what the F*** look on their face, and just looked at the ground and did what they had to do to get off the mountain while thinking I can't believe this. Those who didn't we faster, had more pep from unspent energy, if not a little bit of confusion written on their face unsure of what happened last night and why everyone else looks like they do. 

I spoke to someone on the way down who didn't go up because they didn't let her go up. They told her conditions at the top were too hazardous, and that they weren't even letting their guides go up last night. What we got was NOT NORMAL. But now that I know I survived, I'm glad I did it. Gotta love that "type 2 fun." The descent took like 4 hours, was boring, and full of just seriously I have no idea how many steepish switchbacks with not soft ground at all. But you know what? Nobody cared. The bottom was that much better because of it. I got down and got directly into my sponge bob PJs, soccer jersey, running shoes without socks and boxers. I spent the rest of the day like that, walking around Tokyo in sponge bob PJs definitely turned some heads. But ya know what? It's among the happiest times I've had in those sponge bob PJs. Relief!

Looks like this long and unrelenting blog post will come to an end now. We got through it together people. Luckily some unrelenting things do end. Until next time folks!

Fireworks R(L?) US

As a quick note before reading this post, if you are impatient or just get bored while looking at pics/reading, then please just skip down to the end to the fireworks finale video. That thing is worth checking out even if you don't look at anything else!

SO. I do believe that I'ma do this thang like this: every week I put up one post with a good ole story/commentary/just a bunch of writing, then another one for those of you who would rather just look at pictures and read a little bit of writing. Thus here we are, and I make the topic of this post a festival I went to this week. It's quite picture/vid worthy.


So fireworks in Japan are a THING. Definitely different than what I'm used to, and I'll give you a little taste of that this very hour(unless you read like sedated molasses). So I went to this festival, which I guess is just called firework festival....I'm pretty sure but anyways if it's wrong don't waste your tar and feathers just yet, cause dem pics goooood. This festival took place in the capital city of the prefecture where I'm placed, and that city is Utsunomiya.

Festival almost got iced because of the typhoon, but thanks to a favorable yet close cutting storm path, we were able to continue with only getting rained on a time or two before the fun started. That "we" is some of the JETs in the prefecture who all met up for this grand occasion. SO we trained to the city, bused to the location and here is what transpired:

Some pictures of the crowd here, not that this was indicative. There were a freaking LOT of people there. Like A LOT.

Ate a little nice food. One was long fried and had some cheese. Savory and awesome. The other with a kinda vanilla pudding in there.

Averted catastrophe by NOT eating that.

Japanese people wait in line to wash their hands after using the portapotty

Luke Macon thought that was curious

Then the fun began, check it!

And now I have some videos to play you out!

I'm pretty sure I'm "that guy" while watching fireworks

Then I noticed something that was strange for the fact that it was an outside festival and there were thousands of people:

Don't know why but anyways...


Here it is, the FINALE!!!!

ENJOY THE FINALE!!!!

First impression or two for your cultural brew

A long time ago in a galaxy far away.....


Psht yeah right I'm not there yet, and you guessed it baby, this time I'm in JAPAN. And ya know what?? It's time to keep that TRAVEL TRAIN A ROLLIN'!

I wish this was a tv show, if this thing ever seems boring or lame, just imagine yours truly orating and you will see the light in my ways. Or maybe you'll just hit the living room with a pack of oreos, I suppose time will tell. So I've recently begun my job at an English teacher in Sano, Tochigi, Japan. I've literally been in Japan for one week now and my has it already been blowing my mind in an irregular fashion. I'll be here for a year so prepare for some blogging in somewhat of a regular one however. So what do you say we crack a few eggs to make the omelet?? Let's get started baby.


I've never been to Japan, nor have a I ever been to the East. Yet the world is continuously shrinking and I stand poised to reap the benefits. What kind of benefits you say? Well they're a secret and I'll never tell you. There's a couple first impressions right off that I can just list in no particular order, which is reflective of my current, yet natural, state.

Forget waving. That was so NEVER HAPPENED ago. Bowing is your non physical, non verbal, yet social weapon of choice. Everybody freaking bows man, and it's WAY more common than I thought. Okay maybe people wave too, the jury is still out on that, but bowing. It takes forms that you wouldn't expect, which makes bowing an off the cuff and convenient way of saying, well, WAY more than hi or pleased to meet you. SURE. It does say those things, and likewise, I'm not very used to that - it's still confusing to know how far down to bow or to know how far I have bowed really. It's like when you're doing push ups and your ass points waayy up in the air and you're like, "heck yeah, I'm doing such a sweet push up right now," but then you're coach or whoever calls you an insignifican't do a push up and you realize wait, I didn't know my butt was just doing it's thang. Gotta watch that but anyways when bowing I have the same feeling. But that's formal bowing, don't have that down, but a kind of more informal bowing, that has caught on like a wildfire in dry wood.

Now this new kind of bow is not exactly from the waist up, and in fact, it's more generally involving the neck or a curving in of the shoulders. You may also have, yet limited, use of the waist as well depending. Really in more formal situations or to communicate a proper thank you or a proper honor - then it comes from the waist and pretty much only the waist. Now I know you're jonesing to know what in the world other situations I'm talking about. Well here it is, and I can only give examples as I don't myself know the full extent yet. If you just see somebody you haven't seen in a while, you bow. If you bump into somebody on the sidewalk and you're sorry, you bow. If you are biking or walking across the street and the car lets you go, or you let the car go, which ever was waved on bows. That's right, people bow while driving, riding a bike, basically any situation which allows them motion in their waist or their neck is a potential bowing situation. It's a way of acknowledging presence, saying you're sorry, or thanking someone, etc ad infinitum. It seems to happen at least once in the majority of conversations for one reason or the next. The person bowed to almost always gets a bow back. I do it now all the time and ITS BEEN A WEEK. It's simply permeating.

I am sensei and you can too. That's right, I'm a freaking sensei, Luke Sensei to be proper about it. That is awesome and kind of surreal, also an honor. You know, it wouldn't be such a mind F if I hadn't started to understand that context of sensei in Japan. In the states, when we think of sensei, there are a handful of people who either know that this means "teacher" or "master." But let's be real, to those who very lightly and almost unknowingly observed the Japanese culture from the US understand only that people who take part in martial arts call their instructor "sensei." But no...no no. It doesn't stop there, not at all. In Japan, sensei is a new title, like Dr. It comes with a high amount of respect and is given to doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Oddly enough, if you have a PhD, but are not a teacher, you do not get this title. Quite interesting. Sensei comes with respect and I come wondering in and just like that, am given this honorific title. Sensei is, if you are one yourself, a title that is always used with your name if someone is familiar with you but are not a close friend. For instance, if you have a neighbor who knows you and knows you are a teacher but does not really know you very well, that person will call you (your surname) Sensei or just Sensei. I've actually experienced this myself in a way which kind of surprised me.

When I was getting settled here at my apartment, my supervisors and I had to have someone come over and hook up the gas so I could use the stove etc. The guy, I'm sure upon some small talk on the way in, had found out that I was here with two other teachers and that I was in Japan to myself, teach English. He and my supervisor were in the kitchen and I was in the living room when I heard from the other room, "Sensei? Sensei?" It took me a second to realize that the gas guy was actually calling ME into the room. When I got in there he just wanted me to sign some papers etc that had to do with setting up the gas. And as I signed I could make out that he was saying over and over something to the tune of, "thank you Sensei," and "Yes, now one more time here, Sensei." He would do mini bows several times while saying this, he was quite tall and probably the tallest Japanese dude I've met to date. Now it's fairly normal to bow more than usual when you are in a position which serves someone(ie a job where you get paid to do things for people who need you or your skills to do something), but this seemed perhaps excessive. Jury is still out as to whether the bowing was more by virtue of the sensei thing, but regardless, an interesting sequence which caught me in a strong cultural exchange that one would only miss if they blinked.

It was just strange to consider my prerequisites. I speak English. This skill, virtually innate, feels at first to fall well short of deserving the honor which is bestowed by the title "sensei." Yet, I suppose when selected for the program I'm on, perhaps they cater to those who they deem more fit for this honor? Who knows? I can imagine that a prereq of a bachelor's and rigorous interview screening could start the attempt to provide Japanese schools only with those which will possibly pay homage to this title. Perhaps. When you get down to brass tax, I suppose prerequisites are the same for those wishing to teach a foreign language in the US. However this honor, bestowed on teachers, respects the borders of those countries that observe it. Oh well, maybe one day guys - U-S-A! U-S-A! Whatever anyways that about wraps up our first cultural corner. Until next time, and oh the many next times there will be!