I've basically been doing three things recently. Working, going to concerts and recovering from a cold.

This month, I went to four concerts. Maybe that seems like a bit much, but it just so happened that a bunch of my favorite groups were holding concerts this month. Three of the concerts were actually in the same week.

On the 8th, I went to see LM.C's 5th Anniversary Concert at Budokan. LM.C is a Japanese rock duo and it was their first time performing at a venue as large as Budokan. They put on a really fun and energetic show. You can check out one of their songs here.

The next day, on the 9th, I went to see exist trace, my favorite all-female rock band. This was my second time seeing them since I arrived in Japan. The show really rocked and the band even did an encore of fan requested songs. If you're curious, you can check out their latest song here.

Then, on the 14th, I went to see my absolute favorite band, the GazettE, perform at Yokohama Arena. All of the concerts that I went to were great, but this one definitely took the cake! I managed to get a 9th row seat directly in the center of the arena because I bought my ticket through the fan club (which I'm a member of). I had a fantastic view of the whole concert and rocked out harder than ever. The show was also being recorded because it was the final show of this tour, so since I was close enough to the stage, there's also a possibility that I might briefly be on the DVD. Either way, I definitely plan on getting the DVD when it's released in a few months. The show was that awesome! Here's a GazettE video.

The last concert that I went to was last weekend, on the 22nd. This concert, unlike all the other concerts I went to, was a K-pop concert. K-pop stands for Korean pop music which is really popular in Japan right now. I went to the YG Family 15th Anniversary Concert at Saitama Super Arena. YG Entertainment is a Korean record label and they held a multi-artist arena concert to celebrate their 15th anniversary. YG Entertainment is home to two of my favorite K-pop groups, Big Bang and 2NE1, so I was excited to get a chance to see them. I also really enjoyed seeing Se7en. In total, six different groups and artists performed at the concert and it lasted for about four hours. It was really fun, like one big party. I definitely had a great time at all of the concerts and can't wait to go to more of them while I'm in Japan!

Unfortunately, going to all of the concerts, combined with the winter weather didn't agree with my immune system. Between the exist trace and GazettE concerts, I came down with a cold. I didn't feel too horrible, but my nose was super stuffy and runny, which made everything really annoying. My school took me to one of the local clinics and they gave me some medicine for my cold. One of the medicines was in the typical pill form, but the other medicine was in powdered form. For whatever reason, powdered medicine is fairly common in Japan. It unfortunately tastes a lot like chalk, so I would take it and quickly drink it down to wash away the taste. Between the medicine and the copious amounts of orange juice I drank, it didn't take too long until I started feeling better. My nose really only stopped being abnormally stuffy this week though.

Everything else that's going on has mostly been work related. I took a small business trip to the Education Center in Gyoda, which takes a couple hours to get to. As a first year JET, I had to complete a mandatory interview as part of the recontracting process for the next year.

I also gave the end of the school year exam to my third year students. The Japanese school year begins in April and ends in March (with some breaks for the students at various points in the year). The third year students actually finish their classes a month before the end of the school year though. This is so they will have time to focus on their university entrance exams and job searching.

This afternoon, I went with another young English teacher from my school and we co-taught a couple special lessons at a local junior high school. We taught two different classes of second year students about globalization. It was fun because the students were excited to have two young teachers visit and teach them. They had a lot of energy in a way that high school students don't have. Not that I don't enjoy teaching my high schoolers, but they tend to be more self conscious and shy, so it was interesting to get to teach students at a different level.

The only pictures I have this time are some shots from before and after the various concerts I went to. There's nothing from during the concerts because Japan tends to be pretty strict about not taking pictures during concerts. Photos are here!