I drove about in a dog today
by joostay
This was my day. How was yours?
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: japan, japanese, photography, teaching, travel
Category Archives: Kindergarten Life
Spring Update 2017 / IKIMASHO!
by joostay
When I first started this blog in March 2012, it was more a collection of daily photos – a diary for myself more than anything – of all the new things I was seeing and doing in Tokyo. As the years went on, these daily things of course became (somewhat) normal to me and so IKIMASHO! matured (is that the right word?) into a site with more specific articles about traditional festivals, certain neighbourhoods in the city and other stuff […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: design, japan, justin egli, living in japan, photography, Teaching in Japan, tokyo, travel, travel writer, writing
Setsubun at a Japanese Kindergarten
by joostay
Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi! / Demons out! Luck in!
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: 2017, asia, blog, educatin, festival, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, photography, school, setsubun, teaching english, tradition, traditional, travel, writing
UNDOKAI! DRAWINGS FROM SPORTS DAY IN A JAPANESE KINDERGARTEN
by joostay
A few weeks back was my school’s undokai, or Sports Day. It’s always a big, big deal for the parents – with families usually queuing outside the gates of the school from 6am in order to get the best viewing spot. The day consists of all the usual stuff you would expect, such as races and relays – but also lots of gymnastic and music performances that the kids have been practicing for about two months prior. As is the […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, cute, drawings, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, photography, sports day, tokyo, travel
LUNCH TIME IN A JAPANESE KINDERGARTEN: HYPER KAWAII BENTOS!
by joostay
❤ ハイパーかわいいです！❤ While some schools offer kyushoku (prepared school lunches), my school is primarily bento-based – ie. the kids bring in their own packed lunch made by their parents that morning. These Japanese bentos are usually pretty healthy and super cute – with the kids all having little chopstick sets and table cloths featuring their favourite cartoon characters.
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, kindergarten, photography, school, teaching, tefl, travel
IKIMASHO! Randomness from Space & beyond…
by joostay
It’s been a week since I last wrote anything on here, but if you follow IKIMASHO! on Facebook you’ll have read that I’ve been super busy in work. Right now is ‘Summer School’ for our kindergarten students, a special programme where they do two full days of games and learning with us. This year’s theme is ‘Space Adventure’ and so we’re making rocket crafts, playing games featuring aliens and learning about stars, astronauts and other space-related stuff. It’s completely different from the normal […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, blogging, CREATIVITY, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, kindergarten, tokyo, writing
Full Moons & Full Stomachs
by joostay
Ahhh, Blogger’s Guilt… I wonder if anyone else gets it or just me? In the same way that if I go a week without the gym, if I don’t post at least once a week on here I get edgy. Amazingly, I’ve been running IKIMASHO! for four years now – with an average of two posts a week. But now with more writing gigs for other magazines and publications – as well as kindergartening full time – I’m busier than ever. And so, a […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, blog, daily life, design, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, photography, tokyo, video
Spring is nearly here, finally.
by joostay
This was the last week of the school year in Japan. One of my four-year old kids drew me this. I had previously told her mum I was from Northern Ireland, and religious/political flag squabbles aside, fair play to her for even knowing what part of the world it is in. Coming from Northern Ireland, it’s always very difficult to explain to people about my country – some don’t even know it exists. And I’m not just talking about Japanese […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Uncategorized • Tags: asia, blog, japan, justin egli, kindergarten, photography, TEACHER, teaching, tokyo, travel
Tōryanse / 通りゃんせ
by joostay
Let me pass. Let me pass.
How a sinister-sounding children’s tune can help you cross the road in Japan.
Categories: Art Music & Culture, Kindergarten Life • Tags: culture, japan, justin egli, kids, lullaby, school, tokyo, tradional music
HANG ON, ISN’T THIS SITE SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT JAPAN?
by joostay
Many first-time visitors to this site stumble upon it via Google while looking for information on Tokyo, or how to become a kindergarten teacher in Japan. You may be wondering then why essentially all the posts since April have been non-Japan related. Well, for the last six months I have pretty much been travelling non-stop. I had always toyed with the idea of setting up a sister site to IKIMASHO! – one for my travels outside of Japan, but the truth is […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days, Travel: Inside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, blogging, design, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, photography, tokyo, travel, wordpress, writing
Graduation Day at a Japanese Kindergarten
by joostay
Sayonara to the future dropouts and leaders of tomorrow. If there’s one thing my time in Japan has taught me, it’s this: graduation ceremonies in Japanese kindergartens are designed to do one thing, and one thing only – make you cry. From the very moment you set foot inside the gates, teachers are seemingly conspiring to make sure every one in the building is weeping by the end of the day. I’ve attended three over the years, and they are hard going. Kindergarten graduation ceremonies in Japan […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, becoming a kindergarten teacher in japan, blog, efl, english, esl, graduation ceremony, ikimasho, japan, japanese, justin egli, kindergarten, kindergarten teacher, teaching, tokyo, uk
HELP ME I AM IN HELL
by joostay
Delving deep into the soul of a three-year-old
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, culture, david lynch, hell, horror, japan, kindergarten, lynch, nin, nine inch nails, surreal, teaching, tokyo, weird
Ongakukai / Music Festival at Japanese Kindergarten 2015
by joostay
For the last two months the kids at my school have been practicing for their annual ongakukai (music festival). Last year, one particular class blew everyone away by doing a rendition of the Jurassic Park theme tune. This, year each class seemed determined to top that in terms of difficulty, time signatures and overall performance. The school rented out a huge auditorium for the festival – and as each class performed their piece in turn, you would have been forgiven for forgetting […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, blog, ikimasho, japan, kindergarten, music, pre school, TEACHER, teaching, teaching english, tefl, tokyo
COOKING WITH SUMO WRESTLERS. TOKYO, JAPAN.
by joostay
How do sumo wrestlers get so fat? Learning how to make Japanese stew and rice cakes with the big boys. CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE IKIMASHO! PARTY ON FACEBOOK
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: blog, culture, food, ikimasho, japan, japanese, mochi, Omochitsuki, se asia, sumo, sumo wrestling, sweets, teaching, tokyo
The Smallest Drum Major
by joostay
It’s a small world. Marching Performance at a Japanese kindergarten. Earlier in the year I posted about my class of five-year-olds performing the Jurassic Park theme tune for the ongakukai (Music Festival). Those particular kids have long since moved on to Elementary School, having been replaced with this year’s batch of nen-cho students. Not to be outdone by their predecessors, these new kids did a marching performance for our annual undōkai (Sports Day) that once again showed how amazingly talented these little guys and girls are.
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, blog, drums, english, festival, ikimasho, japan, japanese, keyboards, kindergarten, music, sports day, talent, teaching, tefl, tokyo, undokai
Confessions of a ten-year-old
by joostay
The Hat One day when I was nine years old I was walking to school with my bag and my lunchbox. I looked inside the lunchbox and didn’t like what my mum had made me so I threw it in the bin. For some reason I replaced the contents with the wooly hat I was wearing. Any way, I got to school and when lunchtime came I opened up my lunchbox in front of everybody revealing the hat. Everybody laughed, […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days, Uncategorized • Tags: blog, ikimasho, japan, justin egli, memories, school, story, tokyo
Becoming a kindergarten teacher in Japan
by joostay
Love it or hate it. Please read this before applying for a kindergarten job in Japan. Between monitoring stats, comments and emails, one of the most popular topics it seems for people who stumble across this site is information on how to become a kindergarten teacher in Japan and what it entails. So I thought I’d write a bunch of stuff here to give people an idea of what my life’s like on a daily basis. I really like my […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, backpacking, blog, career, culture, english, ikimasho, japan, japanese, job, kindergarten, se asia, teaching, tefl, tokyo
Hell: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Be a bad boy or girl and you’ll be stabbed, burned and cut into little pieces. Okay? “Excuse me. What does chinoike jigoku mean?” I ask one of my Japanese female colleagues at work. She can’t tell me in English so gets out her phone and translates. “Ahhh. It means Blood Pond Hell.” Hmm OK. What about katsu jigoku? “That”s Thirst-Hell, where red-hot iron pills are administered.” Hinokuruma? “A fiery chariot which carries the souls of sinners into hell.” What about Harinoyama? “Hell’s mountain […]
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, backpacking, bizarre, blog, book, buddhism, culture, devil, drawing, evil, hell, japan, japanese, jigoku, kids, kindergarten, surreal, tokyo, weird, Zen
From Belfast to Tokyo. Murals of a different kind.
by joostay
If only we could paint happiness instead of hatred. My country could learn a thing or two from my Tokyo kindergarten. I remember about four years ago, I was working as a creative in an advertising agency just behind Great Victoria Street in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Every day on my way to work I would pass a sectarian mural plastered on the side of a building. It depicted a man in a balaclava holding an automatic rifle: a warning to […]
Categories: Art: stuff I've drawn, Kindergarten Life • Tags: belfast, crafts, CREATIVITY, fun, japan, murals, northern ireland, peace, sectarian, tokyo, violence
Oni wa soto! Setsubun at a Japanese kindergarten.
by joostay
“The children were crying with fear. It was a success.” These were the first words my coworker said to me as we took off our crudely made demon masks in a storeroom hidden in the back of the school. Half an hour before we had silently descended upon the kindergarten: bursting into classrooms and purposely trying to frighten the kids. This is Setsubun, a festival held the day before the beginning of Spring in Japan. It’s accompanied by a special ritual […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: demons, festival, japan, kindergarten, matsuri, ogres, oni, spring, teaching, tefl, tokyo, travel
Ongakukai / Music Festival at Japanese Kindergarten
by joostay
I can’t remember what I was doing at school when I was five years old but it sure as hell wasn’t as good as this. Friday was the annual ongakukai, or music festival, at my school. Every class had to perform a piece – and just like for the happyokai (performance festival) and undokai (sports festival) the kids practiced every single day for about a month. On the day itself, the homeroom teachers were a mess of nerves, but the […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, japan, kindergarten, music festival, ongakukai, TEACHER, teaching, tefl, tokyo
The day I fought a sumo wrestler and won
by joostay
A supersized Omochisuki: one of Japan’s favourite festivals just got BIGGER! I’ve had some amazing experiences since moving back to Japan nearly two years ago. Most have actually been related to my job as a kindergarten teacher here in Tokyo. My job is hard work, but it doesn’t feel like work. I guess that’s what being a parent feels like too. I’m very lucky in the sense that my school tries its best to teach not only the foundations for […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: chankonabe, japan, kindergarten, ryogoko, sumo, sumo wrestlers, teaching, tokyo, wrestlers
Using a Japanese Squat Toilet: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Taking a Shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide Taking a Piss in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide Tits in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, bizarre, book, funny, japan, kindergarten, potty training, squat, surreal, toilet, tokyo, travel
The High-Flyers of Tomorrow
by joostay
Work hard. Play hard. A field trip to the airport – with schoolbags visible from space. My Japanese kindergarten doesn’t do things by halves. Right now the nen-chos are getting ready for their happyokai or ‘performance festival’: an all-day affair that will see each class perform a 30-minute play – in English. These kids are five and six years old. Some might say it’s a lot of pressure, and I guess it is – but moreso on all the teachers who […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: airport, asia, english, field trip, happyokai, japan, kindergarten, museum, narita, performance festival, teaching, tefl, tokyo, travel
Taking a Piss in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Taking a Shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide Tits in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: bizarre, book, kids, kindergarten, surreal, teaching, tokyo. japan
Why I love being a kindergarten teacher in Japan
by joostay
Your job isn’t any more important than mine, asshole. “When are you going to get a real job?” is something that has been said to me a few times in the past. Last night I was in a bar and I got talking to a guy who was a TEFL university lecturer. When I told him I was a kindergarten teacher he replied “oh well.” This kind of response really pisses me off, especially since he had just spent the […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: asia, english, japan, kindergarten teacher, teaching, tefl, tesol, tokyo
‘Take a Shit Man’
by joostay
A superhero called ‘Take a Shit Man’ and little pieces of crap that want to escape… The books I find in my kindergarten keep getting weirder. Have you read… Unco the Unwanted Shit Taking a Shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, book, culture, gaijin, japan, kindergarten, shit, south east asia, surreal, teaching, tokyo, unko, weird
The Sacred Substitute
by joostay
Teaching purity and peace, for one day only. The Shinto shrine that shares its grounds with a kindergarten. On Tuesday I am the guy on call. If someone gets sick, I get a phonecall. On Monday night it came at 9pm, the apologetic voice of my boss asking (telling) me to go sub at a school Id never been to before the next day. After initially declaring him a bastard, I soon warmed to the idea when I realised it’d […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: asia, culture, english, gaijin, guidebook, japan, kindergarten, shinto, shrine, south east asia, teaching, torii, train, travel, urban
Never a dull moment…
by joostay
April is a time of change in Japan. It’s the month that marks the start of the new school year, with many people changing jobs and others leaving the country for good. It’s been a very busy period for me: new schools, new responsibilities and new friends. But in between teaching, writing and drawing I’ve also managed to pack in so much stuff over the last few weeks in Tokyo.
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: art, asia, backpacking, bar, Chim↑Pom, culture, exhibition, fashion, food, gaijin, harajuku, hello kitty, inaka, japan, kindergarten, louis vuitton, omotesando, saitama, shimokitazawa, south east asia, street, surreal, Taro Okamoto, teaching, tokyo, travel, urban, weird
Unco: The Unwanted Shit
by joostay
Hello children. Once upon a time there was a little crap called Unco that came out of a dog’s ass. He was happy until his owner ran away. All alone, he tried to make some new friends. He tried to make friends with a mouse but the mouse ran away shouting “You stink!” He tried to make friends with a snake but the snake slithered away shouting “You stink!” He tried to make friends with a bunch of rabbits but […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: art, asia, bizarre, culture, drawing, english, japan, kindergarten, shit, surreal, teaching, tokyo, unco, weird
KAMEN RIDER
by joostay
“The pair became known as the Double Riders who managed to put an end to Shocker with what remained of the group forming into Gel-Shocker.” If you want to know what the hell I’m talking about, read on… Being a kid in Japan must be tough. You basically start full-time education while still covered in placenta, and there is no such thing as the tooth fairy. That means you can’t go and buy sweets with the money you have just […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: anime, bizarre, graffiti, japan, kamen rider, kindergarten, manga, surreal, teaching, tokyo, weird
This is why I live in Japan
by joostay
Today is Tuesday. It was also Graduation Day at my Tokyo kindergarten. All day I was surrounded by beautiful girls in kimonos. The sakuras were in bloom. I saw Mount Fuji from my train in the morning, ate expensive sushi for lunch and delivered a speech to my colleagues, and friends, in Japanese to say goodbye. Is it possible to be happy and sad at the same time? Of course it is. Today proved that. If there had been a […]
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Tokyo Days • Tags: culture, electronica, english, graduation, helios, japan, kindergarten, sakura, sushi, teaching, tokyo
Bones: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Learn more: Taking a shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide Tits: A Beginner’s Guide
Categories: Kindergarten Life • Tags: bizarre, bones, culture, health, japan, kindergarten, surreal, teaching, tokyo
Tits in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Once you’ve mastered this guide, you are qualified to take the next step. Taking a shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide.
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: fetish, japan, kindergarten, sex, tits, tokyo, weird
Taking a shit in Japan: A Beginner’s Guide
by joostay
Categories: Bizarre/Unique, Kindergarten Life • Tags: bizarre, japan, kindergarten, tokyo, weird
Little Miss Cheeseburger
by joostay
Once upon a time there was a little cheeseburger who lived in a bento shop near Hachimanyama Station in Tokyo, Japan. She shared her small yet adequate living space with some rice and potato salad and was carefully packaged for me to have for my l…
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Uncategorized
Sports for breakfast. Silence for lunch.
by joostay
This weekend was my school’s Undokai, or Sports Day. OON-DO-KAI… It’s kind of a big deal – not like back home where you partake in a shitty egg-and-spoon race in front of X amount of parents who can be bothered to show up. The kindergarten I tea…
Categories: Kindergarten Life, Uncategorized
