Cannot imagine what this must have felt like! The Chris Broad video of it absolutely cracks me up but I would have felt much more how you described than how he reacted.
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I was there for the 2017 one that flew over Hokkaido 2017 North Korean missile tests - Wikipedia (August one). Was in Sapporo at that time. I remember being pretty sleepy and all alarms going off. At that time, I knew what ミサイル発射しました meant, but honestly everything felt way too surreal at that moment. I was sitting in my bed and thinking to myself: And what now? What should I do?
I had some other foreigners with me and after some strange looks between ourselves and more puzzling about, everything resolved itself when it was clear the missile flew over Hokkaido and not on our heads.
Since it was so early in the morning and I was a little sleep-deprived, I remember going back to sleep after again.
But it is certainly a memory I will never forget (as well as the words ^^). And I can confirm that a lot of stuff goes through your head at that time.
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A lot of people here in Japan just find the J-alerts annoying but as someone from a country that doesn’t have missile alarms, it is terrifying! What they don’t tell you is the sirens go off for 10 minutes and in the countryside we have these things called テレビ電話 which is basically the announcement system but inside your house. So, I quite literally had a missile siren in my house plus the eerie echoing sirens outside. They also turned the sirens back on for 10 minutes after they announced the all clear, which seems a little unnecessary to me.
I got what I thought was a earthquake alert a few seconds before the sirens started. It was a bit before 8am so I was awake but still in bed futon. In your case the missile went over the country, which is pretty scary, but in my case the reason it triggered a full alarm was because they lost track of the missile, so they set off the sirens in the area it was aimed at. The announcement told us to hide underground but my place has no basement so I just stayed inside and hoped for the best. My then boyfriend thought the whole thing was super annoying but I was scared out of my wits 
. Generally speaking North Korea doesn’t want to hit Japan but I also don’t exactly trust the aiming or construction of missiles made by a country that can’t even feed its people.
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Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll look for them in the bookstore. I have a couple Newton Press books with the same idea, science books for kids. If everything goes to plan, I will be learning how to do gene editing fully in Japanese by the summer so I need to figure out my biology vocab to a pretty high level pretty fast 
. My intention of reading those books was so I could email professors about their research but it actually ended up being the most helpful to me on my recent N2 attempt.
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November 20th/21st/22nd
2 lessons and 150 reviews
appeased the owl
Bunpro N2 Vocab and grammar test section
random life stuff in Japanese
Anime with English subtitles
Finished a chapter while waiting for my tire change
The head teacher at my workplace has this on his mug. Cracks me up that Japanese teachers have the same sense of coffee mug humor as Americans.
Not sure Bunpro is going to work out for me but the tests are great! Decided to try for one of the N2 sections between classes and it wasn’t too bad honestly, but I think my score says otherwise lol.
Looking more closely, it seems like I definitely have a grammar/vocabulary problem. Generally speaking my reading comprehension is okay but I often don’t know which grammar to use. Spoken Japanese is for the most part the same grammar over and over, so my brain just defaults to that. A lot of people are surprised at how well I get around in daily life but struggle to pass the N2, and I think this is the key. The only way to improve is to keep studying, which is a long road ahead. Unfortunately I only have 10 days, so just going do test prep and hope for the best. I was looking at visa change paperwork yesterday and for student visas you have to put down any JLPT tests you passed, so putting down my N3 pass from 3 years ago isn’t exactly the best look lol.
After work I got my tires switched to winter tires and drove to Mr. Engineer’s house. Definitely glad I switched my tires because I saw snow in the mountains on the way there. It only took me 6 hours this time which is pretty fast in the scheme of things (only an American could say something like that hahahaha).
Mr. Engineer is showing me another one of his childhood favorites and it is actually by an Australian author (Deltora Quest). It’s funny because I can predict how all the monsters are going to act because I am familiar with European fairy tales. Like to me this is all very standard but unexpected for him. Troll at the bridge is definitely going to tell riddles, hut in the woods means you are going to get eaten, etc. The premise is also VERY similar to The Dark is Rising, which is a book my sister recommended to me this summer. Same deal of blacksmith gives you a belt to collect the seven circular objects scattered across the kingdom to defeat the darkness.
Today I want to go to a bookstore because I am in civilization for once. Looking for a Yona of the Dawn art book my sister requested and maybe something fun for me to read (not that I need more books lol).
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Oh, The Dark is Rising is some solid children’s literature! I’ve always really liked that book. I keep meaning to get around to the later books in the series, but haven’t read them yet I don’t think.
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When I was living in London, we went out to the pub with our downstairs neighbor one year right before he was set to drive to his family for Christmas. He was complaining about how long the drive would be, and we asked him how long it was. Two hours. I’ve taken day trips places farther than 2 hours away!
We casually told him that we have family who routinely drive 10+ hours to visit each other, and that multi day car trips weren’t weird. I think we blew his mind.
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Isn’t The Dark is Rising the second book in the series? I didn’t find this out until after I finished the book and also haven’t read any of the others in the series. It felt pretty self contained and complete but there is definitely space for more adventures.
Found a midwesterner lol
I grew up in the PNW so we typically fly to visit family, but definitely did some 4-7 hour drives throughout my childhood. My “I’ll just drive there” spirit really came into its own since moving to Japan and realizing that I can sleep in the back of my car. I have driven my car everywhere Shikoku (smallest of the four main islands) to Shiretoko (the eastern peninsula of Hokkaido). In Japan people are split between “that’s insane” and “oh yeah that sounds fun!” Japan is very much a car country and many people like driving, especially those in Nagoya and Omiya. I see their license plates everywhere. Last summer I played license plate bingo to try to spot every license plate in the country and by the end of 10 days my sheet was basically blackout bingo.
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Yep, I’ve read the first book (Over Sea, Under Stone) but it’s not as good as Dark is Rising and doesn’t add much to the mythology. I know I’ve read Greenwitch which is book 3 but I don’t think I’ve read the last two.
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November 23rd/24th
20 reviews
appeased the owl
10 episodes of subbed anime
6ish pages of Prisoner of Azkaban
so many phone calls
This is what I applied to back in October
. Definitely didn’t have that in mind when I first learned this.
Well, let’s just say that things didn’t go to plan lol.
My car started smoking so I had to abandon all plans, take one of the most terrifying 30min rides of my life, and take the train all the way back my house.
Now I had actually noticed a weird smell for a couple days, especially yesterday, but thought it was just the heater vents and kept driving. The car drove just fine and I didn’t see smoke until I decided to stop for coffee 
.
Broken car required a lot of phone calls: to my mechanic, the insurance company, and the tow truck company. Mr. Engineer was with me but I did most of the talking. Actually, I hate phone calls in any language but Japan requires so many phone calls I have gotten somewhat used to it. Hilariously all of them where asking me “so, can you drive it?” because I was in the middle of nowhere in a Seicomart parking lot, but when the tow truck driver turned on my car and blue smoke started pouring out of the exhaust pipe he said 「乗らない方がいいよ」 and 「絶対ダメ」. According to Mr. Engineer, the tow truck guy (and Mr. Engineer himself earlier that day, actually) didn’t believe me but I think the car put on a good show proving otherwise lol.
Here is where it gets crazy: so we had to wait a couple hours for the tow truck (watched anime in the meantime XD) and by that time the last bus of the night drove right past us down the mountain, leaving us with no transportation back to civilization. Tow truck guy told us to sit in the back of the car “because it is cold” then got in the driver’s seat to drive my car up to the tow truck. He then drove us onto the lift and LEFT US IN THE CAR. Mr. Engineer was bamboozled by this too so it wasn’t just a listening comprehension error on my part lol.
Tow trucks, or レッカー車 in Japanese, are not the pulling type that we use in the US but the flatbed type, so while inside the car we were hoisted into the back of a flatbed and tow truck man started driving us…somewhere lol. Let me tell you riding in a car on the back of a manual transmission flatbed truck on mountain roads is the roller coaster you never knew existed. This seems highly illegal, but actually is allowed under certain extenuating circumstances. For example, when it is not safe to leave passengers on the side of the road, such as half way up a mountain at night with no buses down.
Anyhow, me and my car are safely back home. Some of the most crowded trains I’ve seen in my neck of the woods, though. I guess the entirety of the population of Niigata and Akita were taking the train home today. I had to stand for 2 hours and when I finally got to sit a 2 year old in the row behind me said 見つかった. I guess she was really invested in me finally getting a seat .
Also, this was my last stop before the car started smoking . Should I be concerned or grateful? Myself and Mr. Engineer are fine so that’s safe 交通 isn’t it?
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hope it doesnt get cancer 
im not surprised, would’ve blamed my listening immediately as well, lmao what a story xdddd
wait, it’s printed, right? it’s not an actual brush painting over a stamp?
the stamps look really cool though, the horsey is pretty C:
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It did not get cancer but it did get a broken turbocharger.
Nope not printed! I handed over my book to the nice lady at the shrine office and she did the stamps and caligraphy by hand. Writing/stamping the 御朱印(ごしゅいん）directly into the book is referred to as 直置き and printed or pre-written/stamped are referred to as 書置き. I have a strong personal preference for 直置き given it sits better in the books and has a level of unique artistry to it, since each piece is done by hand while you are waiting. Obviously you can achieve more impressive results with a graphic design program and a printer but personally I like to see what people can achieve with stamps and caligraphy skills. These days papercut 御朱印 are popular which are printed of course and impressive but they are hard to put into books. I only have one of those, which is from an Inari shrine that starts blasting “What does the fox say?” from a motion activated speaker loool.
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Hark. Did somebody say goshuin? 
Just finished my third book on the weekend. Was on the lookout for a new book I liked, but I was unsuccessful - just gonna have to hope that the next temple or shrine I visit has good ones.
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Why yes indeed I did.
I’m on my 15th book . Hit me up if you need any recommendations. If you are looking for something to purchase for ふるさと納税 this year, I recommend this one. I got one a couple years ago and it is gorgeous.
Edit: if you are in Tokyo, I have some recommendations for books from shrines in Ibaraki. If elsewhere, I also have recommendations from everywhere Shiretoko to Shikoku lol
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Alas, I’m back home now. Further goshuin will have to wait for next trip…
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Ohhhh I see I see. Goshuin collecting is a somewhat rare tourist activity but I’m glad you like it! Personally I think Gumma has the best goshuin, but you need a car for most of them. You can also get a pretty good selection in just one day in Niigata city. Smaller shrines have the monthly colorful goshuin which is a ton of fun.
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November 25th/26th
13 lessons and 350 reviews
appeased the owl
Prefaces of my goshuin collecting books
Good lord this never ends
Back to normal life now. Just the usual going to work and studying between classes. Still knitting my scarf for Mr. Engineer after work. I reached the half way point! How exciting. My plan was to get a jump start on my Christmas shopping over the weekend but that didn’t work out very well so going to try again this weekend.
I said hi to the cats on the way back from taking my trash out and OMG KITTENS!!! Very very cute, but one was sneezing a lot so they are probably sick :(. Might need to catnap them for the vet I think.
This is Orange Boy (or Silly Goose or Doofus), last year’s kitten that decided I was a friend after I saved him from the big scary mean cat in the settlement. He got his head stuck in my recycling bag about a month ago and has been avoiding me ever since. However today he followed me home and I gave him a chuuru and now we are friends again. Sat outside with him and his mom for about an hour today. Unlike her son, Chibi-chan is highly intelligent and even recognizes my car and knows the time I get home from work to come get food. Recently she has expressed a lot of interest in coming into my house.
My neighbor called me to come over so she could give me some rice and tofu. The rice is from her family rice fields and the tofu is from a local tofu maker. Living in a little community like this is so nice
For some student nonsense:
六十七は英語で？
Sixty seven
違う、six seven笑笑
それは六七。勉強しぞう。
My older grades had testing all day so when student council wrote the morning message, the vice president wrote “first years, please be quiet” The sass is amazing lol.
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I swear, if there were that many cats running around my neighborhood I wouldn’t get anything done. I’d just be visiting cats all day.
Oh lord it’s breached the language barrier!?!?
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November 27th
2 lessons and 243 reviews
appeased the owl
Japanese typing practice
Game festival at school
Also have 188 reviews coming in the next 24 hours so that is fantastic.
Today was the games festival at school so I got to play silly games the kids made. For example, racing through an obstacle course while holding a balloon with various objects, trying to shoot a picture of a labubu with a straw, trying to answer the same as other groups, etc. This is a challenge because all the instructions are in Japanese and kid Japanese is harder than regular Japanese at times so I had to ask for some clarification for some games. The kids are all patient with me and yelled at me to come to their booths . One of the funniest rules I saw was “no complaining” which makes sense when trying to teach kids how to be good sports but the vice principal started complaining, so we could see why the rule was added hahaha. Watching a couple dads make absolute fools of themselves trying to run an obstacle course with a balloon in a tray was absolutely gold. I similarly made a fool of myself trying to run with a balloon and a fan and cooking chopsticks respectively. One thing about teaching kids is you lose all shame so I am never afraid to make an absolute fool of myself, especially if it makes the kids laugh.
So you know how for English language typing we have TypeRacer? Well, in Japan they have Sushida which is a kaitenzushi themed typing game.
Now I want next week’s English board to be about typing games and challenge my students to some races
*note: Sushida shows the weird way of typing Japanese (ちゃ=tya, etc) but does accept the one we usually use.
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Yes it has. They say it in English, so can’t exactly be mad because it is getting them to speak more English. I do still wonder how the hell they know it considering I am their English teacher and know they hardly know any English (which is fine, no judgement). A lot of my kids are also Mr. Beast fans so clearly that made the jump too. Honestly I have no idea how this is happening. One (Brazilian) kiddo was clearly learning English off Tik Tok but he could speak quite well so while I don’t think 5th graders should be on Tik Tok, it was definitely helping his English. He called me “bro” all the time which is hilarious. Miss that kid.
Kids also get really giggly over any variation of the word six because it sounds like sex I guess, which I don’t remember being a thing when I was in school. I also swear to god there was a purposeful sex joke or just complete incompetence in the writers of the 3rd grade book because the counting song has you singing about counting balls and counting strokes. Like ball is ボール so that makes sense but “strokes” (of a kanji) is not a word any 3rd grader would reasonably learn. Like maybe I am just dirty minded but I know I am not the only ALT who is thinking “wtf???” as they have to sing “balls, balls, how many balls?” and “strokes, strokes, how many strokes?” over and over again.
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