A Special Interview and Nagoya

Well, I had an interesting weekend. Last Friday was national Foundation day, so I had a three day weekend, which I decided to spend visiting Amelia. I had planned to go to Nagoya on Thursday night in order to get the full benefit of the holiday. However I got a call on Thursday which made me change my plans.

I need to backtrack here a little. Last Wednesday, I received a call from the Yamanashi City Board of Education. They had received my application and wanted to interview me on the morning of Thursday the 17th. I told them that this was impossible as I'd be at work. Then, they explained that they had been chosen by NHK (Japan's public broadcasting station) as the subject of a piece comparing Boards of Education that hire through dispatch companies and those that do direct hire. They wanted to film an interview, and the Yamanashi-shi BoE wanted to interview me. I explained that I would love to, but can't take personal days because I'm not allowed any by my current company, as they have already chosen all my days off for me. I said I would be more than willing to do the interview any weekend of their choosing.

Back to last Thursday, I got a call at lunch asking if I could interview the following morning. I accepted after getting the impression that it was then or never. So, I will apparently appear on national television in Japan on February 22nd between 7:45 and 8something local time. I'm not sure if my face will appear or if it will just be the back of my head. Apparently there was some confusion about the BoE's stance on that. Regardless, the interview went pretty well and I got the impression they weren't really considering anyone else at this point. I may not need to continue looking for jobs, but I guess time will tell.

Anyway, I went to Nagoya on Friday after all the business in the morning accompanied by Lana and a good time was had by all. We went to Nagoya Castle and a place called Osu Kanon which was a temple that ran opened into a "shopping arcade" on Saturday. Then on Sunday we went to Atsuda Shrine, one of the most famous shrines in the country.

Osu Kannon. Temple on the left and on the right...


...the shopping arcade. It's a covered stretch of tiny shops and eateries.

Lana and Amelia in front of an entrance to Atsuda Shrine.


A nice old tree at Atsuda Shrine.

A more recent building at Atsuda Shrine. There were a lot of things going on the day we were there, including a wedding and some ceremonies for babies who were one month old.

I neglected to take my camera to Nagoya castle, but I did take some pictures on Amelia's camera, so maybe I can add some of those to this post at a later day. We had planned to go to Ise , maybe the most famous shrine in the country, but we didn't end up having time for it as it's kind of out of the way. Anyway, that's it for now. I'll say morea bout the interview/job/tv appearance when I know more.