Events

On Sunday, July 14 organizations of the Japanese Community teamed up and presented “The Boat Cruise”. As the temperature heated up with the onset of the heat wave, members of JETAA, JAVA, Japanada, JCSA, and CJS were all present for this epic voyage around the Toronto Islands. Future JETs were also present and surprisingly many were flashing their fashionable Yukata’s or Ginbei’s.

There was drinking, there was dancing, there were hot dogs. The DJ was on fire and pumping hot hits for the duration of the 4-hour Pioneer Queen Boat Cruise. (more…)

The JETAA Pre-departure cooking class for new JETs is famed for its heat.

The recipe starts with a balmy base of a July afternoon. We eliminate any hope of a cross-breeze by renting out a closet-sized kitchen in the back corner of Trinity St. Paul’s Church, with only two very small windows and a snugly closed door to restrict airflow. (more…)

A lovely American couple moved into the region this past year and they include me in their mailing list of updates home to family and friends. I love reading them, not just because they are funny and honest, but because it reminds me of what it was like my first year here as well. Everything was exciting, fresh, a new discovery. If I go through my photo album from that time there are exponentially more images of me doing mid-air jump shots in front of random Japanese tourist sites and flashing two-fingered peace signs like Winston Churchill was in town. If you flip forward in my album you’ll notice that pictures these days rarely have me in them, cause I spend most of my time trying to digitally immortalize Noah rather than keep an enduring record of my own stark aging process. Times change.

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Jonesing for some sweet summer matsuri action? Can't afford a flight back to Japan for your town's local festival? You're in luck. This year the summer matsuri is coming to…