Abigail Drivdahl

How do you “level up” in life? Video games give us all kinds of opportunities to level up; step on a toadstool and get an extra life, throw a banana... keep reading

一期一会。侘び寂び。おもてなし。 Ichigo ichie. Wabisabi. Omotenashi. Tea ceremony encapsulates much of what is central to Japanese culture, and much of what is central to Japanese culture can be difficult to translate... keep reading

One of the cornerstones of the Language and Culture session is the homestay experience. Rather than staying in a hotel, students are welcomed into the homes of a Japanese family... keep reading

清水の舞台から飛び降りる. To take the plunge! The phrase above, kiyomizu no butai kara tobioriru, literally means “to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu dera,” but is really an expression meaning “to... keep reading

Anime has given us some strange notions of the Japanese high school experience. Immensely powerful sorcerer teachers with a dubious moral code, students with the power to create ice with... keep reading

Freedom from fear. On Saturday, Japanese college students met with CIEE students and asked them to consider what “peace” meant to all of them, and nearly every student mentioned that... keep reading

Once, way back in the time of the gods, the sun goddess Amaterasu had locked herself away in a cave. Desperate to bring the sun back to the world, other... keep reading

I love Japanese pudding (プリン). I will wander through every Japanese convenience store looking for my favorites and trying new ones, and it is a neverending source of marvel to... keep reading