EbunOmoni.com

Smile

I get my smile from my mother and for as long as I can remember, she's encouraged me to use it. Halfway around the world, I finally understand the power of her advice. More than anything else, smiling has helped me survive here. It supplements my Japanese and speaks more clearly ...

Dancers in Sendai, Japan

One the beauties of the hip hop culture is being able easily find out where the action is. All you have to do is find an "urban" store, people dressed the part, or, in the case of Sendai (as with other big cities in Japan), dancers practicing in public places. I ...

Teaching versus the Software Development Life Cycle

I hadn't been teaching for too long before I realized there was something very familiar about the the way I was working. It later occurred that from a process level, working as an English Teacher (ET) in Japan hasn't been too different than working along the Software Development Life ...

Interview and Photo Shoot with Photographer Peter Tsai

Back in April 2008, I did an impromptu photo shoot with impromptu photo shoot with Peter Tsai, a dope photographer residing in Austin, Texas. I had met up with him and another friend in the middle of a shoot and ended up getting a few shots in myself. Though it ...

A Priceless Summer Vacation

Originally posted on Nipponder 20 blank CD's: 750 Yen. 4 full tanks of gas: 12,000 Yen. Taking a solo, multi-day road trip with only a vague idea of where you're going while blasting your favorite tunes, exploring Northern Tohuku, peeping Nebuta, sessioning with the Akita Lockers, doing all public hygiene in convinis and ...

Google Voice doesn’t like Expats

I'm normally something of a Google fanboy but I have a bone to pick with them regarding Google Voice. More specifically, it's on their sign-up process: they've made it difficult for expats to sign up. Since GV is currently only available for phone numbers in the United States, they've decided to ...

3 month Japan Anniversary

How time flies. Yesterday marked 3 months of me being in Japan. It's been a great experience and I look forward to learning more about the country, culture, language and teaching. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Hanami at Hirosaki Castle, Aomori Prefecture, Japan"][/caption] It's amazing how much you can change in a ...

Choreographing a dance with a language barrier

This was originally posted on my Japan blog. There's a block party coming up in June and Ryohei--the b-boy I met at last month's hip hop show--and I are putting a routine together. Despite the language barrier, things have been coming along pretty smoothly. We put this first part together ...

Shutting down Celebreak.net

After 8 months of blogging, I've decided to shut down my breakdancing blog, Celebreak.net. It was a tough decision but my life in Japan isn't conducive to regular blogging. So I put it to sleep last night. I struggled to really define Celebreak because it was hard to categorize my posts. ...

Springtime in Iwate, Japan

This was originally posted on my Japan blog I was not expecting this at all. This is what the weather was like yesterday: There's something very disturbing about being able to see your breath inside your home. Especially when the heater's on. And especially in the Spring.