Thanks

Flowers say thanks,
As do some sweets,
But a poem 
Does them better...

For the flowers will die,
And the sweets will be eaten,
But a poem is immortal,
To all forms of death,
And may only be consumed
By the heart...

So thus is my thanks,
Hereby written,
In hopes that your hearts,
May be filled
By my thanks.

What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?

I’m Terrence Michael Gardiner. I was a JET in 1993 in Japan, Ehime prefecture, working in high schools, and I lived in Yawatahama city . I’m originally from Corcoran, Minnesota, USA.

What’s your name, when and where was your placement, and where are you from originally?

My name is Sara Armstrong, I’m originally from West Virginia, USA. I was placed with the Matsuyama-shi BOE from 2005-2008 and worked at Asahi-chu my first year, Yushin and Nishi during my second, and I was in the BOE working only elementary schools for my third year.

Editor’s note: Welcome to the first edition of Backtrack, a hopefully interesting project I’m pursuing as the newly re-elected Mikan editor! This year presents a few challenges to the blog. Firstly, we have a much smaller group of JETs to draw from than usual, even including the incoming JETs currently stuck in limbo. Secondly, these same JETs are restricted in what they have been doing in the last year or so. There haven’t been any festivals or large JET gatherings to write about. Although there are stories to be told about being a JET during covid, I think it’s fair to say that it will be a little easier to write those articles when we are completely out of the pandemic, and have some more perspective.