Now begins the only time of year when no one in Japan complains about the weather: the clear, warm days of mid- to late-spring. Though the complaints die down temporarily, the topic of the weather never ends.

Yes, the Japanese like to talk about the weather, and they like to be ever so precise about it.

Consider, for example, the seasons. Like much of the world, Japan has four official seasons:

But, the detail-minded Japanese don't leave it at that. Each of the official seasons divides into six "mini-seasons," each heralded in by a particular 節句 sekku (in all, 二十四節気 ni-juu-shi-sekki), giving us all a new "season" to talk about every couple of weeks! (That said, most of the younger generation would have trouble naming all 24 sekku, let alone know the exact dates.)

Momii sensei offers a JLPT Level 2 class in the mornings and afternoons (Japan time). His distinguished corporate career and multitude of life experience make him a wealth of information. If you're thinking about tackling the JLPT, it's worth paying his class a visit.

Okazaki sensei has started a new Intermediate FlexLessons class at 10:00 p.m. (Japan time). He is a true JOI veteran, and his classes are unique and useful, with topics including intermediate grammar, keigo (honorific language), and situational phrases. If you're looking for hands-on Japanese, Okazaki sensei's class is the place to go.

You're probably aware by now that we have split our private lessons into two levels: PrivateSilver (our existing service) and PrivateGold (a higher level of service and features). The split came about due to a couple of issues with the PrivateSilver packages.

First—and I know some of your private-lesson students can attest to this—you cannot guarantee that you get the same time slot every week with PrivateSilver lessons. If you had enrolled in a private lesson and asked the teacher for a certain day of the week, at a certain time—but another student was already signed up with the same teacher but with no specific day or time— you could wind up in a "first-come, first-served" battle over the time slots in the reservation system.

We didn't have a way to give preference to one student over another (even in those cases where one student didn't particularly care when he/she took private lessons). But now with PrivateGold lessons, priority reservations solve that problem. A Gold student can guarantee his/her preferred time slots up to 30 days in advance. (The Silver student is limited to 7-day advance reservations.)

The other issue with private lessons was the follow-up email that many teachers send after each private lesson. Follow-up emails were never an official part of JOI private-lesson service, but many of our teachers have gone above and beyond to help their students. I think it shows an amazing level of commitment and hard work on the part of our teachers.

As the number of private-lesson students has increased, however, teachers have had a harder time sending all the follow-up emails. We realize many students benefit from the emails, and that's why we include the service in the Gold packages: We're able to financially compensate the teachers for their extra effort and guarantee the service to students who choose it.