1/2/2026 - 28/2/2026 February in Japan

Compared to January, February was a much calmer month and it was pretty needed after such a busy December and January. I was very much in the groove of things at school: I had connected super well with my students and JTEs so each day was getting more and more fun. The students at this school are pretty crazy and so everyday I would come home with hilarious stories to tell Chloe. My JTE, Tao, and I were getting on really well and I would spend most days with her and her homeroom class. The students all really like spending time with me and, by this point, I was really feeling part of the school community. I was absolutely loving my time at school.

Outside of school, Chloe and I took each day more chill and spent the weekends exploring the local area and spending time with our friends. We still went out for our Friday Night Dinners and with two new additions to our friendship group, Kim and Liam (two JET program teachers based in Isumi), the dinners were a great way to share our funny stories from school that week. I feel so lucky to have such a great group of friends here in Japan and the weekly dinners have been an awesome way for us to stay connected.

Twice in February I went to 'Tokyo German Village' in Chiba prefecture, once with Chloe and another with Tao. The "German Village" is basically a massive park that has strawberry picking, small rides, restaurants, and a petting zoo. But in winter the main event is the massive illuminations that span across the whole park. The lights were honestly AMAZING. There were so many sections of themed lights and then an entire hill slope where the lights made up an art piece! Both times I went were really fun and the lights were spectacular to see. I have honestly never seen anything like it.

In the middle of February it snowed super heavily all weekend and so Chloe, Liam and I took Louise to Mobara Park to experience snow for the first time! We spent hours making snowmen, having snowball fights, and making sure Louise got the perfect snow day. It was so much fun and, as snow is pretty rare here in Chiba, I'm so happy I got to experience it.

Chloe and I spent Valentine's Day at our favourite onsen and February 15th was Chloe's 24th birthday! The weather was perfect! We started off the day with cooked breakfast at Case's house where Nicole and Emily were super excited to see Chloe on her special day. They had decorated for her and even got her a little cake as well. It was a great start to the day! Afterwards, Chloe and I went to Ichihara Sayuri World where we got to feed and pet Capybaras, Kangaroos, and giraffes before getting some delicious ramen for lunch. We then spent the afternoon at the Taito beach before I took Chloe for dinner at our favourite hamburger restaurant, Bikkuri Donki! I organised all of our friends to be there already and it was so fun to lead Chloe into the restaurant where Louise, Liam, Luke, Erin, Kim, and Mackenzie were all waiting to celebrate with her. We finished off the day back at our place where we sang happy birthday, Chloe opened her presents, and we all destroyed an ice cream cake!! I think it's safe to say that Chloe had a pretty good Japanese birthday.

One Saturday, Chloe, Tao, and I took a trip to FujiQ Highlands, a famous Japanese theme park that has some of the most intense roller coasters in the world! We went on some massive roller coasters, including Fujiyama, a ride that is 79m tall and looks out over Mt Fuji. It was a national holiday weekend, so unfortunately the crowds were pretty big, but we had a great time together.

In the middle of February, I reached the peak week of my marathon training: a 28km, 3 hour run in the snow and I spent the last two weeks tapering down my distance as the marathon date got nearer and nearer. All of a sudden, it felt super real and I started to get pretty excited. I remember when I first mentioned running the marathon back at my leaving party last year, and it felt crazy to think that the date was getting closer and closer.

On February 28th, Chloe and I headed into Tokyo and I went to the marathon expo to pick up my bib! The expo was an amazing experience. The energy was electric and I had a great time going round all of the sponsor's stalls and taking pictures. I visited my charities stall, Pride House Tokyo, and picked up my charity runner pack. At this point the marathon suddenly felt all too real and the nerves had started to kick in. I soaked up the expo's atmosphere before Chloe and I checked into our airbnb, grabbed some dinner at Saizeriya (<3), and I went to bed, somewhat gobsmacked that I would actually be running Tokyo Marathon the next day...