Hello!  This is me.  I'm from Ilkley in England.  I'm 24 years old and came to Japan after graduating in English Language and Literature from Edinburgh University.  I'm the ALT at Sakata Commercial High School and Sakata East High School.  I actually quite like it here.

  My hobbies include sport, which has so far given me a reasonable knowledge of the local hospital services.  I hope to be playing football again by the end of the summer.  I also like the outdoors, which is lucky because that is Shonai's main (and some might say it's only) attraction.  I think that would be a bit harsh because I enjoy various other things, such as my weekly shodou (Japanese calligraphy) class.  I've also met lots of friendly people here.  Another hobby is food, since I injured my shoulder in winter and couldn't cook I started eating out all the time, so I now know a lot of restaurants.  I still eat out a lot because it's really cheap and I can't be bothered shopping and cooking every night on my own.

  I also enjoy travelling.  Since I came to Japan I have been on various trips.  I have visited Kyoto, Tokyo, Nikko, Aizu and went north last summer through Akita and Aomori to Hokkaido, taking in the Kanto and Nebuta festivals on the way.  I also went to Vietnam over Christmas and to Seoul last September.  In February I went to the Snow Festival in Sapporo.  At weekends I do a variety of different things, but will nearly always be found with my girlfriend Christine, who lives in Kaneyama.

I am member of the prefectural conference organising committee, which has been fun, and help to edit Bang the Drum, a 'publication' for ALTs in Yamagata-ken.  I also run this website.