Happy March! I am so excited for the upcoming break, although I’ll be sad to let go of my students. The last day of the term will be tough, but luckily I have I lot to look forward to!
1. Trip to Tokyo– the last time we went to Tokyo, we couldn’t go to the Studio Ghibli museum because tickets were sold out, and we didn’t get a chance to go to the famous Tsukiji Fish market because we were with a close friend who has a serious aversion to fish. Ever since I read this post from justhungry.com, I’ve really wanted to visit the Ghibli museum (and then there’s also my love of the sweet film Totoro). Hopefully both plans work out this time around!
2. Trip to Mie– I always love meeting up with our friends from the area we used to live in Japan, and to top it off, there are some amazing ramen shops out that way.
3. Trip to Pocky Factory in Hyogo– Pocky is involved. Need I say more?
4. Cherry Blossom Viewing– Absolutely one of my favorite parts of Japanese culture. Picnics, day or night, under the blossoms with friends…it doesn’t get much better than that!
5. Coursera Classes, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Fitness, RELAXING– I am so excited to be taking some really interesting-looking courses for free via Coursera, including a philosophy class called Know Thyself, and an Intro to Art class that is hands-on. The art class doesn’t start in March, so I’m going to try and get an extra fix by finally trying to do the entire Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
Of course in between all of my studies I’ll need to get up and get some exercise, and without the stress of work and quite as many to-do’s, hopefully I’ll have more energy to do so! Ultimately all of the things on my list will lead to a very relaxing, fruitful month.
What kind of fun are you planning this month?
*Note: Once again, I worked late and couldn’t actually post this on a Friday! We went out for Chinese, and then pretty much drank tea and went to bed. The end is in sight, the end is in sight!
Little Snail 
OMG there is a Pocky Factory?! I love Pocky….once you have one, you can never stop eating them. Must go next time I’m in Japan.
Yes! It’s in Kobe. I’ve been meaning to go for some time, but since we’re leaving in a couple months I figured I should make it a priority! 🙂
The life-size neko bus at the Ghibli museum is a must-see! unfortunately only children are allowed to go and play in it though 😦
Yes! I read that and was disappointed. Is there close supervision in that area?
i can’t believe you’ve lived in japan for almost 5 years and you’ve never been to the tsukiji fish market! that would have been one of my first trips if i was there. have fun! it sounds like march is going to be awesome!
Tokyo is quite far from both of the places we’ve lived and pretty expensive to get to. That’s why I’ve only been there once. When we went last time we were supposed to go to Tsukiji, but we were with a friend who will get nauseas just talking about fish. One time we were talking about frog legs and he had to pull over and throw up. If I can get through this crazy work week, I think March will be pretty awesome, too!