It comes in threes...

What comes in threes? In Japan, everything does. The top three gardens, the top three waterfalls, the top three scenic views... and of course, it is never known which of the three is actually the best. So, keeping with tradition, here's a reflection of the best and worst of these past two years, in sets of three.

3 Great Parties

1. Sayonara 2007, Jibutei

2. Julia’s farewell party: yukata, purikura, Thai food, karaoke, Aussie Bar, lotus-opening at Korakuen, breakfast at Macca’s.

3. San-In Beach Party, 2006 and 2007.

3 Great Domestic Trips

1. Kyoto and Nara with Mum and Dad

2. Iya Valley with Amyko and Herbsuke.

3. Tokyo long weekend with Daniko.

3 Cases of Glasses Abuse

1. Thrust down my fundoshi during the Naked Man Festival, 2006.

2. Worn whilst jumping off a 20 foot rock into a lake, Iya Valley

3. Lost in the mosh at a Regurgitator concert, 2001 (not Japan, but still noteworthy).

3 Non-Japanese Cultural Experiences

1. Halloween

2. Thanksgiving

3. Whangi

3 Ways to Kill Time at Work

1. Write this blog

2. Plan trips

3. AJET business (including Fuzzy)

3 Miserable Rains

1. Descending Fuji-san, 2006.

2. Naked Man, 2007.

3. The Big Rain of Takebe, 2006; the one that washed away my bridge.

3 Kickarse Towns

1. Takahashi

2. Katsuyama

3. Takebe

3 Cool Kanji

1. 薬: medicine, drug; the radicals are “plant” and “enjoy,” so that’s just perfect.

2. 鏡: mirror; the radicals are gold, stand and see.

3. 苺: strawberry; the radicals are plant and mother, so strawberries are the mother-plant, I guess.

3 Great Fuzzy Articles

1. Interview With an English Teacher by Tiffany Tse

2. Getting the Most Out of It by Chris Cooper (ie the one with the anti-Pocky rant)

3. The Inaka Factor by Phil Jones

3 Regrettable Elementary School Lessons

1. Halloween: I did a terrible job of feigning interest in the topic.

2. Animal noises: I should point out, not my idea. Who would think teaching 12 year-olds “woof woof, meow meow” would be a good idea?

3. Maths: also not my idea. By someone else’s plan, I spent 45 minutes reciting sums for the children to answer.

3 Great Teachers

1. Ms Tsuuchi. JTE Extraordinaire.

2. Ms Fujiwara. Super-cool PE teacher; actually talks to me; kids call her Junko-sensei.

3. Mr Ando. Best elementary teacher I’ve worked with. Gets involved in the lessons and wears funky golf pants.

3 Great Students

1. Kuroda-sensei. The 88 year-old scholar of my eikaiwa class.

2. Haruka Hino. The best junior high student I ever had.

3. Nao Atsuta. Now in year 4, she came to my kid’s eikaiwa class religiously and tried so hard to get me to teach her the word “poo.”

3 Ways To Get Stares

1. Playing rounders in the front yard of a school in Fukiya.

2. Playing cricket on the Asahi River in the city.

3. Walking in a group from Champclair, all dressed in yukatas.

3 Stolen Items

1. My bike

2. Countless umbrellas, lost, stolen, abandoned.

3. DVDs and Tim Tams accidentally stolen by birthday party attendees at Red Moon (I had put my stuff down too close to the birthday presents, which were all gathered up and taken together).

3 Nightspots That Suck

1. Friends

2. Desperadoes

3. Mars