November 2025
Season's Greetings!
ย ย ย ย ย ย Whether you’re celebrating Thanksgiving, the cool air, the leaves changing, or anything else, there’s plenty to be thankful for this season! This month’s edition of the maga(ZINE) highlights all the things we’re grateful for both in Japan and back home. So, we sat down with CIRs Stephen, Bobo, and Jimin to discuss what makes this time of year special for them. We also delve into the unique blessings and challenges of being an international CIR. The ZINEs are written in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean – so come check it out!

Meet the ALTs



Stephen Moore (he/him)
Ireland —> Matsuyama
โNo man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.โ
HeYuBobo (any/all)ย
China —> Matsuyama
“But you want to remember that below the sea of clouds lies eternity” – Antoine de Saint-Exupรจry, Wind Sand And Stars
Jimin Seo (she/her)
Korea —> Matsuyama
“You only get three chances (on JET) to see the cherry blossoms, three autumn foliage seasons, three summers by the sea.
So work reasonablyโฆ and spend the rest of your energy exploring and having fun!”
Emerald Isles and Rising Suns - Stephen

If you're away from home during holidays like Thanksgiving, how do you stay connected to your family traditions?

ย ย ย ย ย ย Growing up my family placed a lot of emphasis on what I would regard as the big three national holidays in Ireland, those being Christmas, St. Patrickโs Day and Easter. During Easter and Christmas, I would always come back home from Dublin and London (where I was for my Bachelorโs and Masterโs respectively) to celebrate with my family, eat good food and usually exchange some kinds of gifts. St.Patrickโs Day is special for me because my parents would always take me to see the local townโs terrible parade, which I loved. I still keep the love of these holidays with me to this day.
ย ย ย ย ย ย In my last year abroad to Japan I spent Christmas with friends at an AirBnB on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture. We were all various nationalities so we made German glรผhwein, ate French food, drank Korean alcohol and at the end of it all, went for a Christmas Day swim in the freezing cold water (as is Irish tradition). Nowadays,ย Easter and St. Patrickโs day usually results in me calling my parents just to say hello and ask what theyโre doing to celebrate, and treating myself to some good food, an overflow of national pride and time with friends. I hear they have a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Tokyo which I would love to attend one day.
๐ฅWhat are some of your favorite traditional foods from your home country that you think everyone should try at least once?๐ฅ

ย ย ย ย ย ย The obvious answer is Guinness. And I mean a real Guinness with a thick, creamy head which you drink on a winter evening in Dublin within the confines of a dimly-lit pub whose doors have seen every salaryman, farmer and exchange student in a 100 mile radius stumble out at the end of the night. And if that’s not possible, one from the local bar in Matsuyama is probably fine too I guess ยฏ\_(ใ)_/. The real traditional foods are soda bread, Irish stew and crisps like Taytoโs, most of these you can eat at pubs around the country and arenโt tough to find.ย ย ย ย ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย The beauty of Irish food comes from the quality of our ingredients. Ireland has been a mainly agricultural nation for a long time, so in my opinion thereโs some things we just canโt be beat at (milk, meat, potatoes to be precise!). I would also recommend a spice bag. It’s less a โtraditionalโ dish (it has only existed since 2000) and more one with a cult following in Ireland. I guess you could call it Irish, Chinese, Indian fusion? It’s essentially chips (fries for the Americans), chicken, peppers and onions mixed with a metric shit ton of spices in a paper bag, often with curry sauce on the side. Itโs a hangover staple food, but if youโre pulling an all-nighter in the university library it’s not unusual to take a break to get one too.
๐๏ธWhat has your experience been like working as a CIR in the JET Program?๐๏ธ
ย ย ย ย ย Working as a CIR has been a really fun, challenging experience. I have only been in this position for around two months, but Iโve learned a lot about how I can improve myself both inside and outside of work. I get some really fun opportunities like representing Ehime at the Osaka Expo and introducing local Matsuyama people to life in Ireland through different presentations. It’s also a good chance to improve/use my translation and interpreting skills that I studied in university. I think if you like translation/interpreting and also working a lot with people in the community, then this is the perfect job. Iโm looking forward to what the rest of my time as a CIR holds, and hopefully I can collaborate with lots of other JETโs along the way!
๐ฃWhat advice would you give to someone just starting out as a CIR or moving abroad for the first time?๐ฃ
ย ย ย ย ย ย For moving abroad I think two things are important: First, OUTSIDE your home, say yes to literally everything you can, even if you have little experience, think it might be difficult, or are just not in the mood for it, I think you should always give new opportunities a shot when they come your way.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Secondly, make INSIDE your home as comfortable and homely as possible. This space is nobody elseโs but yours and at the end of your time abroad it’s probably where youโre going to have accumulated the most hours, so make sure you enjoy being there. Feel free to fill it with home comforts, if sleeping on a futon on the floor feels the same as sleeping on a coffin ship, then simply donโt do it! When it comes to starting out as a CIR, Iโve only been in this position for around two months so I suppose time will tell, but I guess the most important thing Iโve learned is never underestimate how little you actually know.
๐งHow do you balance staying connected to your cultural identity while integrating into Japanese society?๐ง
ย ย ย ย ย ย Although Japanese and Irish culture are definitely different, I donโt necessarily feel that they conflict. In this way, I donโt feel I ever rub up against a Japanese custom that I canโt just adapt to. However, that doesnโt stop me from missing aspects of Ireland sometimes. One thing that reminds me of home are Irish pubs, a staple industry which seems to exist in every country around the world. Even if itโs not the real thing, no matter which you enter you will almost always find an Irish person sitting at the counter.

ย ย ย ย ย ย Also, as of writing this, this month is Irelandโs presidential election and keeping up with the countryโs politics has been hugely important to keeping up with what my friends and family are talking about. Although I canโt vote from here, I still feel I can contribute to the conversation.
๐ฝ๏ธHow do you usually celebrate family dinners or gatherings back in your home country?๐ฝ๏ธ
ย ย ย ย ย ย Growing up in my household, every dinner was a family dinner. It was a time for us to just sit together, eat and talk without phones or the TV on in the background, and every Sunday was roast dinner night where my mum would make roast chicken, potatoes and vegetables for us. It might sound really simple, but when I look back, those Sundayโs act as markers for the different phases of not only my life, but my families.
ย ย ย ย ย ย From dreading the Monday morning classes the next day at 13 years old, to my final meal before heading off to Kyoto to start my Year Abroad at 21, all major events had that wooden dining table at their center. I was also lucky in that the majority of my Irish extended family all lived within a 15 minute drive of my house, so we made a point to have a family reunion every year to get family photos, eat and just catch up. We also do the same on my Nanaโs birthday every year (95 years going strong lets hit that big 100 girlie).
Bobo Ehime
Your Chinese CIR in her 3rd year
ย ย ย ย ย ย As a CIR, I understand that it can be a bit of a mystery for ALTs to figure out what we actually do, and thatโs why Dillon asked us to spell it out here. We donโt get the fun part of being surrounded by kids, being the strict or lovable teacher, or enjoying tasty kyuushoku on workdays. And to be honest, I donโt really speak English, so hanging out with you guys is always a painful job.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Ehime CIRs work at the Prefectural Office three days a week and at EPIC (Ehime Prefectural International Center) two days a week. Iโm especially assigned to work at EPIC on Saturdays, just because there are more residents need me there, which also means my weekend is Sunday and Monday. CIRs take turns hosting an Oshaberi Culture Salon at EPIC every month for Japanese residents, which is a great chance to give a little culture shock back. Anyway, EPIC is like an oasis for us foreigners, so feel free to drop by and chat with me on a Saturday, Iโll at least serve you a cup of tea.ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย Apart from that, each CIRโs work can be quite different. Depending on the relationships that English-speaking countries, Korea, and China have with Ehime, there are different kinds of movements, secrets, and occasionally a bit of trouble. I wonโt go into detail, but if you know some history and follow the news, you can probably understand my situation. Itโs both exciting and a little scary sometimes.
ย ย ย ย ย ย So obviously, being a Chinese CIR here has been a lot of fun. Iโve definitely grown a lot over these two and a half years. Apart from work, even with a Masterโs degree in Japanese Literature, I still get confused and struggle with daily life sometimes. From now on, Iโll try to express myself more in my other two (and probably better) languages. You can use DeepL, ChatGPT, or worse, automatic website translation anyway.
็งใฎไบ้ข็ๆดป
ย ย ย ย ย ย ็งใฏๆๅชใซไฝใใงใใใ3ๅนด็ฎใซใชใใพใใไปไบใ็ซๅ ดใฎ้ขไฟใใใใ่ซธๅใจ ๆฏในใใจใใใ็ฅ็ง็ใช็ๆดปใ้ใฃใฆใใใใใใใพใใใใใฃใใใใฎ Mikan Zineใซ็ปๅ ดใงใใๆฉไผใใใใ ใใใฎใงใใใใพใง่ชฐใซใ่ฉฑใใใใจใฎใชใใ็ง ใฎใไธก้ข็ๆดปใใๆใๅใฃใฆใ่ฉฑใใใใใจๆใใพใ.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ใพใใCIR๏ผๅฝ้ไบคๆตๅก๏ผใฎไปไบใซใฏใๅ ฌ็ใชๅด้ขใจ็ง็ใชๅด้ขใใใใพใใๅ ฌ็ใชไปไบใงใฏใไธญๅฝๆฟๅบใซๅใๅใใชใใๆๅชใฎ้ญ ๅใ็บไฟกใใใใ่บซๆฏใๆ ๆฏใใงไธ็ๅนณๅใฎใใใซๅฅ่ตฐใใใใใใใจใใใใพใใไธๆนใ็ง็ใชๅด้ขใจใใฆใฏใๆๅชใซๆฎใใๅคๅฝไบบไฝๆฐใฎ็ธ่ซใซ่ณใๅพใใๆฅๆฌ่ชใๅญฆใณใใใๆฅๆฌ็คพไผใซใใฃใจๆบถใ่พผใฟใใใจ้กใไบบใ ใๆฏใใใใจใใใใพใใใฉใกใใๅคงๅใชไปไบใงใใใๆใซใฏไธกๆนใๅๆใซๆผใๅฏใใฆใ้ ญใๆททไนฑใใฆใใพใใใจใใใใพใใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ไพใใฐใใใๆฅใฎ EPIC ๅคๅไธญใฎใใจใงใใไธญๅฝๆฟๅบใฎ่ทๅกใใ็ช็ถ้ป่ฉฑใๅ ฅใใๆฅ้ฑไบๅฎใใใฆใใใใใ่จชๅใฎๆฅ็จใ็ทๆฅใง่ชฟๆดใใฆใใๆไธญใซใ็ชๅฃใซใฏไธญๅฝ่ช็ธ่ซใฎไบ็ดใฎๆนใๆฅใใใพใใใๆฉๅฏๅ ๅฎนใฎ้ป่ฉฑใ็ตใใใจใใใฎใพใพ๏ผๆ้ใฎๅคซๅฉฆๅ้กใฎ็ธ่ซๅฏพๅฟใซ็งปใใใจใซใชใใใพใใงๆผ่ผ็พ ใฎใใใซๆฌกใ ใจๅใใใฆใใๆ่ฆใงใใใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ใใใฆไปไบไปฅๅคใฎ็งใฏใๅๆดๆ่กทใฎๆฅๅธธใ้ใฃใฆใใพใใใ็งใฏไธญๅฝไบบใงใใโฆใใจๆใ ๅฎฃ่จใใใใชใใใจใใใใพใใใไปใฎ็ๆดปใงใฏๅพใ ใซไธญๅฝไบบใจใใฆใฎไธ้ขใ่ใใๅใจๆดใฎ่ฆ็ด ใใพใใพใๆททใใๅใใใใซใชใฃใฆใใพใใๆฅๆฌใซๆฅใฆใๆใใใใๆฐ้ฃใใชใฉใๆฅๆฌไบบใฃใฝใๆ ใพใใใๅชใใใๅญฆใใงใใพใใใใใจใใซใฏใใฎ็ฉใฟ้ใญใในใใฌในใจใชใใๅคๅฝไบบใฃใฝใ่ช็ฑใซๆฏใ่ใใใใจๆใใใจใใใใพใใ
ใย ย ย ย ใใใชๆใALTใฎ็ใใใจ้ฃฒใใ ใ้ใใ ใใใใฎใไธ็ชใฎๅนธใใงใใใใใใ้ใใงใใใ ใใง่ฑ่ชๅใใฉใใฉใไธ้ใใใใใไปฅไธใฎใใใใจใฃใฆใใ๏ผใใจๆใใใใใงใใใจใใใใ่ฑ่ชใไธๆใซใชใใใใฆใใคใใซ่ทๅ ดใซใ็ฅใใใฆใใพใใๆ่ฟใชใใจ่ฑ่ชใฎ้่จณใพใง้ ผใพใใใใใซใชใใพใใใใใใไบบ้ไธไบๅก็ฟใ้ฆฌใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๆๅชใซไฝใ็งใฏใไปใใๆๅชใๆฏใใๅคๅฝไบบใใจใๆๅชใงๆฎใใๅคๅฝไบบใใจใใไบใคใฎ็ซๅ ดใๆใฃใฆใใพใใๅคๅฝไบบใจใใฆใฎ่ฆ็นใๅใ็ใใใฆใๆๅชใฎใในใฆใฎไฝๆฐใฎใใ่ฏใๆชๆฅใๆฏใใไธๆนใงใๆๅชใงๆฎใใไธญใงๆใใๅญค็ฌใ็กๅใใใใใใใใใไปใฎไบบใฎๆฉใฟใซใๅฏใๆทปใใใจใใงใใพใใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ใใพใใพใชๅฐ้ฃใๅบๆฟใไนใ่ถใใใใกใซใๆๅชใงใฎ็ๆดปใซใใใฃใใๆ ฃใใไปใงใฏใใฎๅๅฐใธใฎๆๅฑๆใ่ฆใใๆๆ ใๆทฑใพใฃใฆใใพใใ่ฟ้ ใฏๅคๅฝไบบใใใใ่ฉฑ้กใใใฅใผในใงๅใไธใใใใๆฟๆฒป็ใช่ญฐ่ซใฎๅฏพ่ฑกใซใชใใใจใใใใพใใใ็งใใกใฏใใฎๆใใๅฐๅ ใงๆฎใใใฆใใ้ใใๅคๅฝไบบใจใใฆๆฅๆฌ็คพไผใซๅฐใใงใๆบถใ่พผใฟใใใ่ฏใ้ขไฟใ็ฏใใฆใใๅชๅใ็ถใใฆใใใใใจๆใใพใใ
ๅจ็ฑๅช็ๅคๅฝไบบ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๆๆพ็ปไน ๆฏๅฝโ้ฟๅฏฟๅฑ ๆฐโ๏ผๅจๅไธๆไธญๅญฆๅพ 8ๅนด๏ผๅจๅไธๅบงๅคงๅญฆๅพ 8ๅนด๏ผ็จณ็จณๅฝๅฝๅฎๅ จๅฎๅฟใ2ๅนดๅ็ช็ถๆฅๅฐ็ฑๅช๏ผๅๆฏ่ขซไป็ปไธๆ่ง็่้ๅ็กฌ็็ๅฐๆๆฏๅบๆฅ๏ผไธไธๆฏๆญๅฅฝๅค็บฟใไธบไปไนๆฅ็ฑๅช๏ผๅ จ้ ๅคฉๆณจๅฎใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๆฅไบ็ฑๅชๆ็ฅ้๏ผไปไนๅซไบบๅจๅผไนกไธบๅผๅฎข๏ผๆตทๅคๅไบบๅๆไบฒใๅจๅดๅ จๆฏๅคๅฝไบบ๏ผๅฆไธ๏ผๆๆๆฏ้ฃไธชๅคๅฝไบบใ่ฟ้ไธๅไธไบฌๅคง้ช๏ผไธญๅฝไบบๆฌๆฅไนๆฒกๅคๅฐ๏ผๅๅ ไธๆ็ๅฒไฝๆง่ดจ๏ผ่ฝๆไบค้็ไธญๅฝไบบ่ฝ็ถ้ฝๅพไผ็ง๏ผไฝๆดๆฏๅฑๆๅฏๆฐใๅ่ๆฏๅJET้กน็ฎไธ่ตทๆฅ็่ฑ่ฏญๅๅคๅฝไบบๆด่ฝๅฝๆๅใไบๆฏๆๅจ่ฟ้่ฟไธไบไธ็งๅฅๅฆ็็ๆดป๏ผไธ็ญ่ฎฒๆฅ่ฏญ๏ผไธ็ญ่ฎฒ่ฑ่ฏญใๆฅๆฅๆฌไปฅๅ๏ผ่ฑ่ฏญ่ฝๅ่นญ่นญ่งๆถจ๏ผไปฅ่ณไบ่ฟๅผๅง่ขซๅงๆ่ฑๆๅทฅไฝใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๆไธบๅคๅฝไบบๆฏๅพๅฅๅฆ็ใ็ไบๆ ็่งๅบฆๅไบ๏ผ็ๅฐ็ไบๆ ไนไผๅๅใๆฅๆฅๆฌไปฅๅ๏ผๆๅคง็ๅๅๅบ่ฏฅๆฏๅพ ไบบๆดๆธฉๆไบใๅคๅฝไบบๅฏน็ฐไปฃๆฅๆฌไบบๆๅคง็ๅปๆฟๅฐ่ฑก๏ผๅฐฑๆฏๅพๆ็คผ่ฒ๏ผ็ปๅธธ้ ่บฌใๅฎ้ ไธ๏ผ่ฟๆๅฏนๅจๅดไบบๅๅจๅด็ฏๅข็ๆณจๆ๏ผ้ๆถ็จไฝๅ ่ฏป็ฉบๆฐๅ่ๅ ฅ็ฏๅข็่ฝๅใๆๆๅผๅงๆฏๅพไธไน ๆฏ่ฟไนๅ ณๆณจไปไบบ็ใๅจ็็ๆๆ็ๅๅธ้ฟๅคง๏ผๅจๅด็ไบบๅฝขๅฝข่ฒ่ฒ๏ผๅจๅค็ๅญๆๅฅฝ็ๅๆณๆฏ็ฎไธญๆ ไบบๅฟซ้่ก่ตฐ๏ผๅฏนไปไบบ่ฟๅคๅ ณๆณจๆขไธๆ็ไนไธ็คผ่ฒใไฝๅๆฅ็ปๅๅ ๆฌกๅฐๅฐ้๏ผๆ่ฏๅฐ้ๆถ้ๅฐ้ฝๆๅฏ่ฝๅๅจๅด็้็ไบบๆไธบ็ๆญปไนไบค๏ผไบๆฏๆๅผๅง็่งฃไบๆฅๆฌไบบ็่กไธบๆนๅผ๏ผไฝ ้่ฆ่ฅ้ ไธ็ง้ทๅ ฅๅฐๅขๆถๅจๅดไบบๆฟๆๆไฝ ็ๆฐๅด๏ผไธบๆญคไฝ ่ฆๅฏนๅจๅดไบบๆธฉๆ๏ผ่ฆ้ๆถ่งๅฏ็ฏๅขใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๅฆๅคไธไธชๅๅ๏ผๅฐฑๆฏๆไธบไบๅฐๆฐๆ็พคใๅจๆฅๆฌ๏ผๅพๅฎนๆๅ ไธบไธๅค่ๅ ฅ็ฏๅข่่ขซๆญง่ง๏ผไฝๅฆๆไฝ ๆฏไธไธชไฝฟ็จ่ฑ่ฏญ๏ผ่กไบๅฎๅ จไธๅ็ๅฎๅฎๅ จๅ จ็ๅคๅฝไบบ๏ผๅ่ไผๅพๅฐ็นๅซ็ๅฎฝๅฎน๏ผไนๅฐฑๆฏ่ทๅพๆ่ฐ็โๅคไบบPassโใๆๅๆฅๆฌๅไบ่กๅจๆถ๏ผๅ้ฃๅ ้ฝๅช ่ตฐไพง่พนๆฅผๆขฏ๏ผไฝๅฝๅๅคๅฝๆๅ่กๅจๆถ๏ผๅจๆป้ชๅบๆ้ชไปๆๆถ๏ผ็็ฏฎ็่ตๅฐฝๅ ดๆถ่ตท็ซๅคงๅ๏ผไธ็ฎกๆฒกๆ่ขซๅจๅดๅซๅผ๏ผๅ่่ฟๆถๅฐไธๅฐๅๆ็ๅพฎ็ฌใๆๅจๆฅๆฌไฝไธบไธไธชๅค่งไธโไธๅฎๅ จโ็ๅคๅฝไบบ๏ผๅพๅๆฌขๅๆ็ๅคๅฝๆๅไธ่ตท็ฉ่ใ
ย ย ย ย ย ย ้่ฟJET้กน็ฎ๏ผๆ็ช็ถไปๅพ ไบๅ ซๅนด็ไธๆตทๆฅๅฐ็ฑๅชๅทฅไฝ๏ผๅฆไปไน้ๆธ้ๅบๅๅ็ฑไธไบ่ฟ้็็ๆดปใ็บต็ถๅฏนไบๅคๅฝไบบๆฅ่ฏด๏ผ่ฟๆๅพๅค่ฏธๅฆ้ถ่ก่ดฆๆทๅ็็ญๅถๅบฆๆน้ข็ไธไพฟ๏ผไฝๆไนๅๆฏๅผ่พๆฐ็ๆธธๆๅฐๅพไธๆ ท๏ผ้ๆธๅจ่ฟ้ๅปบ็ซไบ่ชๅทฑ็็คพ็พคๅๅฝๅฑใๅจๆชๆฅ๏ผๆไนๅธๆ่ฝไธบๅจๆฅๆฌ๏ผๅจ็ฑๅช็ๅคๅฝไบบๆไพๆดๅคๅธฎๅฉ๏ผๅธฎๅฉๅคงๅฎถๆดๅฅฝๅฐ้ๅบๅ่ๅ ฅ่ฟ้็็ๆดปใ
What does โhomeโ mean to you now, after living abroad?
If you could invite three peopleโliving or deadโto a family-style dinner, who would they be and what would you serve?
ย ย ย ย ย ย I started living apart from my parents when I was 12 and have never really wanted to go back. Also, โto be like the universal waveโ is literally the meaning of my Chinese name, Yubo (ๅฎๆณข). I think even if I lived in the Moon or Mars, my parents wouldnโt feel much difference.
ย ย ย ย ย ย So, for my family, the concept of โhomeโ means being physically apart but still staying connected online โ like a mother planet to its satellite. My parents send me about ten times as many messages as I send back, transfer me red envelopes during Spring Festival, and can still manage to annoy me sometimes just by words.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Of course, I love my parents and wish to stay with them as long as I can, but my momโs biggest wish these years is for me to establish my own home as soon as possible. For now, my home is in Ehime, with all my besties who have become like family to me.
Mao, Lu Xun, and Li Bai
ย ย ย ย ย ย One of the most famous politicians and revolutionaries in the modern world, who shares the same hometown as me; one of the most famous cultural revolutionaries and my favorite writer in modern China, who also lived in Japan; and one of the most famous poets of ancient China, often called a god-level drinker.
ย ย ย ย ย ย I would serve baijiu (the strong Chinese alcohol that Li Bai would love) and spicy chili dishes, like hot beef stew and chili pork (both would be loved by Mao, who was from the spicy place Hunan, and Lu Xun, who ate raw red peppers to stay awake while writing at midnight.)
ย ย ย ย ย ย I want to drink and talk with them, show them how many of their dreams have been realized today, and ask them to write some good pieces for me to sell ๐
Jimin


Do you celebrate Thanksgiving or a similar holiday that focuses on gratitude and togetherness? How?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๋ฌผ๋ก ์ด์ฃ !
ย ย ย ย ย ย ํ๊ตญ์๋ โ์ถ์โ์ด๋ผ๋ ๋น์ทํ ๋ช ์ ์ด ์์ด์. ํ์๋ก๋ โ็งๅคโ์ด๋ผ๊ณ ์ฐ๊ณ , ์๋ ฅ 8์ ๋ณด๋ฆ๋ ์ด์์. ํ๊ตญ๋ง์ ๋ช ์ ์ฒ๋ผ ์๊ฐ๋์ง๋ง, ์ค๊ตญยท๋ฒ ํธ๋จยท๋๋ง ๋ฑ ๋ค๋ฅธ ์์์ ๊ตญ๊ฐ์์๋ ์ด ์๊ธฐ์ ๋ฉฐ์น ์ฌ๋ฉด์ ๊ฐ์กฑ๊ณผ ์๊ฐ์ ๋ณด๋ด๊ณค ํ์ฃ .
ย ย ย ย ย ย ํ๊ตญ์ ์๋ก๋ถํฐ ํจ๋ฅผ ์ค์ํ๊ฒ ์๊ฐํ๊ณ ๋๊ฒฝ์ฌํ์๊ธฐ ๋๋ฌธ์, ์ถ์์๋ ๊ฐ์กฑ์ด ๋ชจ๋ ๋ชจ์ฌ ์กฐ์๋๊ป ํ๋ ์ ๋ด๋ ค์ฃผ์ ๊ฒ์ ๊ฐ์ฌ๋๋ฆฌ๊ณ , ๋ด๋ ์๋ ํ์์ ๊ธฐ์ํ์ด์. ๊ฐ์กฑ๋ผ๋ฆฌ ์์์ ๋ง๋ค์ด ๋๋ ๋จน๋๋ค๋ ์ ์ ๋ฏธ๊ตญ์ Thanksgiving๊ณผ ๋ฎ์์ง๋ง, ์กฐ์๋๊ป ์ฐจ๋ก๋ฅผ ์ง๋ธ๋ค๋ ๋ถ๋ถ์ ์กฐ๊ธ ๋ค๋ฅด์ฃ . ๋ ์ด๋ ์ ์ ๋ ๋ฐ๊ณ ๋ฅ๊ทผ ๋ณด๋ฆ๋ฌ์ด ๋ ์, ๋ฌ์ ๋ณด๋ฉฐ ์์์ ๋น๋ ๋ฌธํ๋ ์์ด์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์ ๋ฆฌํ์๋ฉด, ์จ ๊ฐ์กฑ์ด ๋ชจ์ฌ ์๋ก ์๋ถ๋ฅผ ์ ํ๊ณ , ๋ช ์ ์๋ง ๋ง๋๋ ์ ํต ์์์ ์๋ฉ ๋ง๋ค๊ณ ๋จน๊ณ , ๊ณผ์ผ๊ณผ ์์์ผ๋ก ์ฐจ๋ก๋ฅผ ์ง๋ด๊ณ , ์ฑ๋ฌ๋ ๊ฐ๊ณ โฆ ๊ทธ๋ฌ๋ค ๋ณด๋ฉด ์์ฐ์ค๋ฝ๊ฒ ์ด๋ ์ฐ๋ ๊ทธ๋ฐ ๋ ์ ๋๋ค. ๐
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์์ฆ์ ์ฐจ๋ก ์ค๋น๊ฐ ๋๋ฌด ํ๋ค๋ค๋ ์ด์ ๋ก ๊ฐ์กฑ ์ฌํ์ ๊ฐ๊ฑฐ๋, ์ถ์ ๋น์ผ์ ๋ฐ๋ก ๋ชจ์ด์ง ์๊ณ ๋ค๋ฅธ ๋ ์ ๋ง๋๋ ๋ฑ, ๊ฐ์ ์คํ์ผ๋๋ก ๋ณด๋ด๋ ๋ชจ์ต๋ ์ ์ ๋๊ณ ์์ด์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Absolutely!
ย ย ย ย ย ย In Korea, we have a very similar holiday called Chuseok, written as โ็งๅคโ in Chinese characters. It falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. Although it feels very โKorean,โ people in countries like China, Vietnam, and Taiwan also celebrate mid-autumn holidays around the same time, spending a few days with their families.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Traditionally, because Korea valued filial piety and was an agricultural society, Chuseok was a time when families gathered to thank their ancestors for a good harvest and to pray for another plentiful year. Sharing special holiday foods with family feels a bit like American Thanksgiving, but the ritual of offering those foods to oneโs ancestors is something unique.
Itโs also the night of the brightest full moon of the year, so many people go out to admire it and make a wish.
ย ย ย ย ย ย In short: everyone gathers, shares updates on life, cooks tons of traditional holiday dishes, performs ancestral rites with beautifully arranged fruit and food, visits ancestral gravesโฆ and inevitably gains a little weight in the process. ๐
ย ย ย ย ย ย These days, more families are choosing to travel instead of preparing the elaborate ancestral table, or meeting on a different day if schedules are difficultโso the ways people celebrate are becoming more flexible.
Chuseokโs Rites & Visiting Ancestral Graves



What are some of your favorite traditional foods from your home country that you think everyone should try at least once?
๊น๋ฐฅ๊ณผ ๋น๋น๋ฐฅ, ๊ทธ๋ฆฌ๊ณ ์ก์ฑ!
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์ด ์ธ ๊ฐ์ง๋ ์ ๋ง ๋๊ตฌ์๊ฒ๋ ์ถ์ฒํ ์ ์๋ ํ๊ตญ ์์์ด์์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๊น๋ฐฅ๊ณผ ๋น๋น๋ฐฅ์ ์ฌ๋ฃ ์ ํ์ ์์ ๋๊ฐ ์์ฒญ ๋์์, ์ข์ํ๋ ๊ฑด ๋ฃ๊ณ ์ซ์ดํ๋ ๊ฑด ๋บ ์ ์๊ฑฐ๋ ์. ์ฑ์์ฃผ์์๋, ์๋ ๋ฅด๊ธฐ๊ฐ ์๋ ์ฌ๋๋, ๋๊ตฌ๋ ์๊ธฐ ์คํ์ผ๋ก ์กฐ์ ํด์ ๋ง์๊ฒ ๋จน์ ์ ์๋ โ์ ์ฐํ ์์โ์ด์ฃ .
์ก์ฑ๋โฆ ์ง๊ธ๊น์ง ์ซ์ดํ๋ ์ฌ๋์ ๋ณธ ์ ์ด ์์ด์. ๊ทธ๋์ ๊ฐ๋ ฅํ๊ฒ ์ถ์ฒํฉ๋๋ค.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๊ทธ๋ฆฌ๊ณ ํน์ ์ฑ์์ฃผ์์๊ฐ ์๋๋ผ๋ฉด ์๋ ๊ฐ๋น ๊ผญ ๋์ ๋ณด์ธ์. ๋ฌ๊ณ ์งญ์งคํ ์๋ ์ด ๊ณ ๊ธฐ์ ์ด์ดํ๊ฒ ๋ฐด ๊ทธ ๋ง์โฆ ๋งํ๋ค ๋ณด๋ ์ ๋ ๊ฐ์๊ธฐ ๋จน๊ณ ์ถ์ด์ก๋ค์. ์ฑ ์์ง์ธ์. ๐
ย ย ย ย ย ย Gimbap, Bibimbap, and Japchae!
ย ย ย ย ย ย Theyโre the safest, most universally loved dishes I can recommend.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Gimbap and Bibimbap are incredibly customizableโyou can add what you like and skip what you donโt. They work for vegetarians, people with allergies, picky eatersโฆ basically anyone. Theyโre โflexible foods,โ which is part of their charm.
And Japchae? Iโve never met anyone who disliked it. So that one is a must-try.
ย ย ย ย ย ย And if youโre not vegetarianโฆ you have to try marinated Korean short ribs, yangnyeom galbi. Sweet, savory, tenderโjust thinking about it is making me hungry. This is on you now. ๐
Have you introduced any of your favorite dishes to your Japanese colleagues or friends? What was their reaction?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๋ค! ๊ฐ์ธ์ ์ผ๋ก๋ ๋๋ ์ค ์ ์๊ณ , ์์
์์๋ ์๊ฐํด ๋ณธ ์ ์์ด์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์๋ฆฌ๋ฅผ ์ข์ํด์ ์ผ๋ณธ์ ์จ ์ฒซํด์ ์ด๊ฒ์ ๊ฒ ์์ฃผ ํด ๋จน์๋๋ฐ, ์์ด ์๋ ์ปค์ ๋ 4์ธ๋ถ ์ด์์ ๋ง๋ค๋๋ผ๊ณ ์ ๐ ๊ทธ๋์ ์ค๊ตญ ๊ตญ์ ๊ต๋ฅ์์ธ ๋ณด๋ณด์๊ฒ ๋๋ ์ฃผ๊ธฐ๋ ํ๊ณ , ์นํด์ง ์ผ๋ณธ ์น๊ตฌ์๊ฒ๋ ๊ฑด๋ค๊ณค ํ์ฃ . ์ง์ฅ์์ ํฌํธ๋ญ ํํฐ๋ฅผ ์ด์ด ํ๊ตญ ์์์ ์๊ฐํ๊ธฐ๋ ํ๊ณ ์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์ํ๋ฉํ์ฒญ CIR์ ํ์ฒญ๊ณผ EPIC(์ํ๋ฉํ ๊ตญ์ ๊ต๋ฅํํ), ๋ ๊ณณ์์ ๊ทผ๋ฌดํ๋๋ฐ, EPIC์์ ๋ง์์ด ์ ๋ง๋ ์ง์๊ณผ ํจ๊ป ๋ช ์ฐจ๋ก ํฌํธ๋ญ ํํฐ๋ฅผ ์ด์์ด์. ์ก์ฑ, ๋น๋น๊ตญ์, ๊ฐ์ง๋ฌด์นจ ๊ฐ์ ์ ํต ์์๋ ๋ง๋ค๊ณ , ๋ค๊ธฐ๋ฆ ํ์คํ์ฒ๋ผ ์กฐ๊ธ์ ํจ์ ์ธ ์๋ฆฌ๋ ๊ฐ์ ธ๊ฐ ๋ดค์ฃ . ๋ EPIC์์ ๋งค๋ ์ด๋ฆฌ๋ โ์ค์ค๋ฒ ๋ฆฌ ๋ฌธํ ์ด๋กฑ ์๋ฆฌ ๊ต์คโ์์๋ ํ๊ตญ ์์์ ์๊ฐํ๊ณ ๊ฐ์ด ๋ง๋ค์ด ๋ณด๊ธฐ๋ ํ์ด์.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ์ฌ๋๋ค ๋ฐ์์ ๋์ฒด์ ์ผ๋ก ์ ๋ง ์ข์ํด์คฌ์ด์. ๋๋ฌด ๋งค์์ ๋ชป ๋จน์ ๊ฒ ๊ฐ์๋ฐ ๊ด์ฐฎ์์ง ๊ณ ๋ฏผํ๋ ๋ฉ๋ด๋ฅผ ์ ์์๊ณผ ๋ค๋ฅด๊ฒ ์คํ๋ ค ํจ์ฌ ๋ ์ข์ํ๊ธฐ๋ ํ๊ณ ์. ํ๊ตญ ์์์ ๋ง์๊ฒ ๋จน๊ณ ์ฆ๊ฑฐ์ํ๋ ๋ชจ์ต์ ๋ณด๋ ๊ฒ ๋๋ฌด ๋ฟ๋ฏํด์, ์ ๋ ๋ ์ด์ฌํ ํ๋ ๊ฒ ๊ฐ์์. ์ฌํด๋ ๋๋ฌด ๋ฐ๋น ์ ํฌํธ๋ญ์์ปค๋ ์ ๋ฐฅ ์ฑ๊ฒจ ๋จน๊ธฐ๋ ์ข ํ๋ค์ง๋งโฆ ์ธ์ ๊ฐ ๋ค์ ์ฌ์ ๊ฐ ์๊ธฐ๋ฉด ๋ ์๋ฉ ๋ง๋ค์ด ๋๋์ด ๋จน๊ณ ์ถ๋ค์!
ย ย ย ย ย ย Yes! Both personally and through classes.
ย ย ย ย ย ย I love cooking, so during my first year in Japan I was constantly making foodโbut because I always cook in huge batches, I ended up with four servings at a time ๐. So Iโd share some with Bobo, a Chinese CIR who lived nearby, and with my Japanese friends. I even hosted potluck parties at work to introduce Korean dishes.
ย ย ย ย ย ย As a CIR in Ehime, I work both at the prefectural office and at EPIC (Ehime Prefectural International Center). At EPIC, I clicked really well with one of the staff members, and we held several potluck gatherings together. Iโd bring dishes like japchae, bibim-guksu, and seasoned eggplant, and sometimes fusion dishes like perilla-oil pasta. I also teach Korean cuisine at EPICโs annual โOshaberi Culture Salon Cooking Class,โ where we cook together and talk about Korean culture.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Peopleโs reactions were varied, but overall very positive. Sometimes they surprised me by loving dishes I thought would be too spicy! Seeing people enjoy the foodโand look genuinely happy about itโmotivated me to cook even more.
This year Iโve been too busy for potlucks (or even proper meals for myselfโฆ), but once life calms down, Iโd love to start cooking and sharing again!
Sharing Korean Food Via Potluck






Have you introduced any of your favorite dishes to your Japanese colleagues or friends? What was their reaction?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ํ ๋ง๋๋ก ๋งํ์๋ฉด~ ์ฌ๋ฐ์ด์! ์ ์ ๊ณต์ ์ ํ ๋ค๋ฅธ ๋ถ์ผ์๊ธฐ ๋๋ฌธ์, ์ทจ๋ฏธ์๋ ์ผ๋ณธ์ด๋ฅผ ์ด๋ ค์ ์ผํ ์ ์๊ฒ ๋ ๊ฒ์ ๋งค์ฐ ๊ฐ์ฌํ๋ฉฐ ์ผํ๊ณ ์์ต๋๋ค. ๋, ์ํ๋ฉ์ ํ๊ตญ ๊ตญ์ ๊ต๋ฅ์์ ์ถ์ฅ์ด ๋ง์ ํธ์ธ๋ฐ, ์ฌํ์ ์ข์ํ๋ ์ ์๊ฒ๋ ์ฌ๋ฌ ์ง์ญ์ ๋์๋ค๋๋ฉฐ ๋ค์ํ ์ผ์ ๊ฒฝํํ ์ ์๋ค๋ ์ ์์๋ ์์ฃผ ๋ง์กฑํ๊ณ ์๊ณ ์. ๋ ์ด์ฉ์๋ก์๋ง ์ ํด์๋ ๊ด๊ดยท์ฌํ์ ๊ณ ๊ฐ์ผ๋ก์๊ฐ ์๋ ์๋น์ค ์ ๊ณต์์ ์ ์ฅ์์ ๋ฐ๋ผ๋ณด๋ ๊ฒฝํ๋ ์๋กญ๊ณ ์. ๋๋ถ์ ๋ด๊ฐ ์ด๋ค ์ผ์ ๋ ์ข์ํ๊ณ ์ด๋ค ์ผ์ ์ ๋ง๋์ง, ์์ผ๋ก ์ด๋ค ๊ธธ์ ๊ฐ๊ณ ์ถ์์ง ์๊ฐํ ๊ธฐํ๋ ๋ง์ด ์ป์์ด์. ๋ฌผ๋ก ์ต๋ 3๋ ~5๋ ๊น์ง๋ฐ์ ํ ์ ์๋ ์ผ์ธ ๋งํผ ๋น์ฅ ์ด ์ผ์ ์๊ธฐ๊ฐ ๋๋๊ฒ ๋๋ฉด ๋ฏธ๋์ ์ด๋ค ์ผ์ ํ ์ ์์์ง ๊ณ ๋ฏผ๋ ๋ง๊ณ ๊ฑฑ์ ๋ ๋ง์ง๋ง, ์ฐ์ ์ ํ์ฌ์ ๋ง์กฑํ๋ฉด์ ๋งค์ผ์ ์ด์ฌํ ์ฌ๋ ์ค!
ย ย ย ย ย ย In one wordโfun!
ย ย ย ย ย ย My academic background is in a completely different field, so being able to work using Japanese, which started as just a hobby, feels like such a gift. In Ehime, CIRs often travel for work, and since I love traveling, Iโve really enjoyed visiting different places while working on various projects.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Experiencing tourism not as a customer but as someone providing the service has been eye-opening, too. It helped me understand what kind of work I enjoy, what doesnโt suit me, and what kind of future I want to build for myself.
Of course, since this job is limited to three to five years, I worry sometimes about what Iโll do afterward. But for now, Iโm trying to focus on the present and enjoy each day.
Korea-Japan Fair, Sports Games Masters, Interpretation, and More!






Have you introduced any of your favorite dishes to your Japanese colleagues or friends? What was their reaction?
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๋น์ ์ด ์ด๊ฒ ๋ ๊ณณ์ ์ฌ๋ํ๋ ค๊ณ ๋ ธ๋ ฅํด ๋ณด์ธ์. ์น๊ตฌ์ ํจ๊ป์ฌ๋ ์ข๊ณ , ํผ์์ฌ๋ ์ข์ผ๋ ๋ง์ ๊ณณ์ ๋์๋ค๋๊ณ ๊ฒฝํํ๋ฉด์ ์ข์ํ๋ ์ฅ์์ ํ๋, ์ฌ๋ ๋ฑ๊ณผ ํจ๊ป ์ ์ฐฉ์ ๊ฐ์ง ์ ์๋๋ก ๋ ธ๋ ฅํ๋ ๊ฑธ ์ถ์ฒํด์.ย
ย ย ย ย ย ย 3๋ ์์ ์ต๋ 5๋ ์ด๋ผ๋ ๊ธฐ๊ฐ์ ์๊ฐ๋ณด๋ค ํจ์ฌ ๋ ์งง์์. ๊ทธ๋ฌ๋ โ๋ด๊ฐ ์ ์ด๋ฐ ์๊ณจ์ ์ค๊ฒ ๋์์งโฆโ ํ๊ณ ํํํ๊ฑฐ๋ โ์ดํ์ ๋ญ ํด์ผ ํ์งโฆโ ๋ผ๊ณ ๊ฑฑ์ ํ๊ณ ๋ถ์ํดํ๊ธฐ๋ณด๋ค๋, ๊ทธ ์๊ฐ ๋์ ํด๋ณผ ์ ์๋ ๋ชจ๋ ๊ฒฝํ์ ์ต๋ํ ๋ค ํด๋ณด๊ธธ ๋ฐ๋ผ์. ์์งํ ๋งํ๋ฉด, ์ด ์ผ์ด ์๋๋ฉด ์ธ์ ๊ทธ ์๊ณจ์ ์ด์๋ณด๊ฒ ์ด์? ๐
ย ย ย ย ย ย ๋ฒ๊ฝ์ ๋ณผ ๊ธฐํ๋, ๋จํ์ ๋ณผ ์ ์๋ ๊ฒ๋, ๋ฐ๋ค์ ๊ฐ ์ ์๋ ๊ฒ๋, ์ ๋ถ ๊ธฐํ๋ 3๋ฒ๋ฐ์ ์์ด์. ๊ทธ๋ฌ๋, ์ผ์ ์ ๋นํ ํ๊ณ ๋ฌด๋ฆฌํด์ ๋๋ฌ๋ค๋์ธ์~!
ย ย ย ย ย ย Try to fall in love with the place youโre going. Explore a lotโalone or with friendsโand find places, activities, and people that make you feel connected to your new home.
ย ย ย ย ย ย Three to five years sound long, but they go by so fast. So instead of regretting โWhy did I move to this countryside townโฆ?โ or stressing about โWhat will I do after thisโฆ?โ I hope youโll fill your limited time with as many experiences as you can. Honestly, when else in your life will you ever get the chance to live in that countryside town? ๐
ย ย ย ย ย ย You only get three chances to see the cherry blossoms, three autumn foliage seasons, three summers by the sea.
So work reasonablyโฆ and spend the rest of your energy exploring and having fun!









Hey, Mikans!
We hope you’re enjoying this month’s ZINE. If you have a story to tell, an idea to share, or just want to contribute we’d love to hear from you!ย
Weโll have a new maga(ZINE) post for you on the first of each month, so keep an eye out!
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