Vinnk.com

It’s nearly test season in Japan and many students in their third year of Jr. high School and third year of high school, are preparing for “Exam Hell”. They will soon be taking a test that will determine what high school or university (if any) they can enter next year. Some students need all the help they can get, so in addition to studying night after night and going to a special juku (cram school), there are other less painful options for improving thier scores.

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This year I spent my second Christmas in Nakatsu. I suppose I could talk about all the negatives of celebrating Christmas in Japan. I could moan about being far away from my family, how most Japanese people still work on Christmas, how I will be back at work on the 26th, or the fact that most Japanese have never tasted turkey, etc. But instead I am going to talk about the good things I have found this year. Christmas is certainly different here, but if you look hard enough you can find the Christmas spirit anywhere.

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Yesterday I arrived 10 minutes late for Church, as I usually do. And I was slightly more embarrassed than usual because all the nice seats at the back were full and I had to walk to the front, as I did I noticed that people were dressed in more formal clothes than usual. Then I saw my first Japanese bishop. He looked just like his namesake chess piece. I sat down and watched one of my students become a full member of the Church.

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