Asahikawa American English Conversation School
for February 2006
NOTE: The OBJECTIVE of this BLOG is to help my students with their study of English.
AND
For all of you, out there, around the world to;
SEE HOKKAIDO
2006 February 28 Tuesday.
Another day of melting snow with freezing
temperatures at night. Very dangerous for both driving and walking.
I didn't have any classes until 15:00, so I did some reading about web development.
A few days ago, I received a letter from the Asahikawa Development Construction
Department of the Chubetsu Dam Construction Office 旭川開発建設部 忠別ダム建設事業所.
A scan of that letter is on the left. Click on the
image to see a larger copy of it. リンクを右クリックで新しいウインドウを開く.
The reason I received this letter is because about 6 weeks ago, I saw a notice
in the Hokkaido Newspaper about a contest to submit ideas for the name of a new
lake. This new lake will form behind the newly constructed Chubetu Dam
during this year as the snow melts. I have driven past the
construction site of this new Chubetsu Dam many times during the past several
years and have seen the progress of the construction project. The one
thing that really struck me as being strange about this dam is that it is very big,
while the upper portion of the Chubetsu River that it is built upon is very
small. Why this dam is necessary? I really don't know, but there it
is. So, I decided to enter the contest and make a name for the new lake
that will be forming behind the dam, along with the melting snow. The
first thing I did was to get out a detailed map of Hokkaido and look at the area
were the dam has been built. There are many mountains of the Taisetsu Mountain Range 大雪山脈 in this area, one of them is called Chubetsu Peak
忠別岳. Coming out from this area is the beginning of the very well
known Chubetsu River 忠別川 which runs right into the new Chubetsu Dam 忠別ダム.
Let's see,.... What would be a good name for the lake that will soon
form here during the spring rains????? Eureka!!!
I've got it. What an inspiration!
Why don't
we call it,..... Chubetsu Lake 忠別湖!!! I used
absolutely no creativity in deciding on my answer. It was pure
logic. As it turned out, I was one of only 57 people among of a
total of 626 people who wanted to call the new lake, Chubetsu Lake. In
other words, only 9% of the participants thought that Chubetsu Lake was the best
name for the new lake. I wonder what the other 91% thought was a good
name? I suppose I will never know, but there must have been some
interesting ideas. Usually, I try to be as creative and
original as possible, but in this case, the lake needs to have name that
gives a very good clue as to it's location. Therefore, Lake Chubetsu seems
to me like the obvious choice. It was a NO BRAINer
考えなくても解るはず. When Mr. T. came for our weekly conversation on
Tuesdays at 15:00, I showed him this letter and we both
had a damn good laugh about it. It's moments like these that
make life so much more enjoyable. Towards the end of the letter, it
says that I will be receiving some type of "gift" with "words engraved upon it"
in about 3 weeks. Neither I nor Mr. T. (who is a native speaker of
Japanese) are quite sure what this last statement in the letter really means.
I guess we will just have to wait and see. Reading this letter
brought back home to me the conviction that I have of the Japanese language
being both vary vague, and also very precise, all at the same time.
(vague in meaning 曖昧) It can also be
used in a manner as to be very clear in meaning, as when it is used to explain
medical or technical terms to specialists in those fields. Maybe
that is one reason why there is so very little overt violence in Japanese
Society. Everybody is trying to be a bit vague while conveying the
essential meaning of their messages. It's just a pet theory that I have,
but I have observed it over and over again, for the past 16 years of
continued residence in this country. Boots on the ground is where
the real intel comes from. SALUTE!
2006 February 27 Monday.
"Happy
birthday to BLOG, happy birthday to BLOG, Happy Birthday Snowman Japan Web Log,
Happy birthday to BLOG." Yes folks, this is the day, exactly one year
ago, when I decided to write a blog every day for the rest of my life. How
long will that last? Only GOD and I know. But as for the mean time,
let's enjoy it as much as possible. Every day for 365 days I wrote
something in this web log. Why? Because I thought that a whole
lot of people would read it and as a result I would become RICH AND FAMOUS?
Ha ha ha. Don't make me laugh out loud LOL. The real reason for this
blog is as stated above at the top of this web
page. But also, it is so that I can become a better writer and write
more essays. How does someone become a better writer? JUST WRITE
EVERY DAY! 継続は力なり That's how. But what if you have nothing to write
about? Think for a moment, there is always something you can say. By
the way, what did I write about in my first blog one year ago? To find
out,
click here. This morning I went out to The Chestnut Tree
Kindergarten くりの木幼稚園 in order to have my picture taken with the students who
will be graduating this year. Smile! After that was finished I
came back to my classroom to eat lunch before going over to the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会
at 13:30. Again today, Mrs. S. brought not only tea for everyone to
drink, but also a freshly baked cheese cake, and many loaves of freshly baked
bread. They were both very delicious. She says that baking is
her hobby. I believe her. When that class was finished at
14:30, I came back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00.
Then, it was time to make and print out 37 birthday cards for my current and
former students who have a birthday in March. My wife's birthday and my
sister's birthday are also in March. Why do I know so many people who were
born in March? I'm not quite sure. Lights out at 24:00.
2006 February 26 Sunday.
One
look at the photo on the left, and you already know what I'm gonna talk about
today. The snow melt 雪解け. Helping the situation along was the
constant drizzle of light rain for most of the evening. How does
this kind of weather make me feel? It makes me feel the power of
living things waking up from a long winter's slumber. I was inspired
enough to go take a walk for the first time in a long time. I walked on down to
the book store which is now called ZONE right across the road of Route 237 from
the Tsuruha Drug Store in Kagura. As you can see from the photo, the
main road is clear of snow and wet. The sidewalks along the way had some
clear spots, but a lot of slushy snow with sheets of ice underneath was the
norm for most of them as well as the side streets . Walking was
a challenge to say the least. After I finished my business at the
book store, I slip-slided my way over to a liquor store called RABBIT らびっと
because I saw a flyer ちらし in the Hokkaido Newspaper that showed an advertisement
for
Samuel Adams Boston Lager an American beer that is being sold at their
store. I have tasted this beer before, and I like it.
Therefore, since I was already half way to the liquor store, I decided to drop
in and make a purchase. They had the beer I was looking for, so I
bought two bottles. I and my wife have been to this store many times
before over the years. It is a family owned business that knows how
to treat their customers right. That is the secret to longevity.
What you send out, is what you get back.
2006 February 25 Saturday.
Another
warmer day with melting snow all around. The perfect day to drive around
and get your car really dirty. I had a private lesson today at 11:00 with
a young lady who will be starting her third year in high school this April.
Her elder sister, who also comes to my classroom from time to time will be
starting her first year in college at the same time. I have known these
girls since they were in elementary school. How time flies.
When that lesson was finished at 12:00, I waited around for my wife's friend to
come by our classroom. Today, they will be taking the train all the way to
Sapporo to see
Aska Live in Concert. Not
Chage and Aska, just Aska. I didn't really want to go so I just
drove them over to the JR train station at about 13:30. Have a nice time
girls! Since I was already on the road, I decided to drive out to
the the big Western Supermarket in Nagayama Powers to buy some brown rice 玄米 and
other foodstuffs. It was a very sloppy drive with mud puddles 水溜り
and slushy snow ぬかるみの雪 everywhere. What a mess. The only appropriate
footwear in this type of weather are waterproof rubber boots 防水ゴム製長靴. That
is exactly what I wore. By the way, the photo on the left is one
that I took of a gift that was handmade and given to me on Friday by one of my
students, a boy in the 3rd grade of elementary school. He has been
coming to my classroom for about 4 years and now must stop for a while so that
he can join the soccer club at school. This handmade gift must have
taken him at least 2 or 3 hours to make. It was made from colored
plastic drinking straws that were cut into short lengths and then glued to a
hand drawn picture of a snowman, placed in the bottom of a shallow box. I
was very impressed to see what this little guy had made for me as a thank you
gift. I really appreciate his efforts to make something new and original.
In the past, I have also received various hand made gifts from other students.
Such as calendars, post cards etc. An original hand made gift of any
kind contains the love and intentions of the maker of that gift. This is
why they are so important. Most people however, will spend about 10
seconds at a store looking for something and then just buy it off of the self as
is. It certainly is better than nothing but it doesn't have the same
meaning as an original self-made gift. Thank you Shin!!!! 伸君、ありがとう！
2006 February 24 Friday.
My
first order of business today was to give a final exam to the second half of
the second year students at the Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing Academy of Asahikawa
北海道立旭川高等看護学院. The students at this school, are in general, very bright and
friendly. This will be our last class together. Next year, at
about this same time, I will meet them again at their graduation party 謝恩会.
As for today, it was test time. A mere formality that must be
followed
in order to set some "number",... some "standard" for their academic records.
This is all well and good, and very important for the school record keepers, and
the school record evaluators, but as far as the real test of learning goes,
and the real ability to use learned knowledge goes, it is right here and now, in the classroom, each and every lesson.
And of course, if the student suddenly finds him or herself in an English speaking
country, the REAL TEST will begin. When that "test" was finished at
10:30, I took a taxi back to my classroom to eat lunch and get ready for my next
class, a private lesson with the two lovely ladies who come every Friday at 13:30.
Again today, the discussion was lively, and full of laughter. A truly
enjoyable 50 minutes. After that, it was straight classes from 15:00 until
18:00. I cancelled the last two classes of the day so that my wife and I
could go and listen to a free lecture at the Taisetsu Crystal Hall which is just a
short 5 minute walk from our classroom. I am glad we went.
This event was first advertised in the Hokkaido Newspaper just one week ago from
yesterday. When I first saw the article in the morning edition of the
Hokkaido Shimbun, I decided immediately to go and asked Ikuko to get the necessary
entrance passes 整理券, free of charge 無料 via the web インターネット経由. She did
so and we went today.
The first speaker of the evening
was the curator of the Asahiyama Zoo
旭山動物園園長. This
is the first and/or second
most popular zoo in all of Japan. Pretty damn impressive considering
the other zoo in question is the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Enough said
about the size of each city. Mr. Kosuge Masao 小菅正夫氏 talked about the philosophy
of the Asahiyama Zoo, and how the zoo has 4 main pillars upon which it operates.
I would like to write about his lecture in detail here and now, but I do not have enough time
to do so today. One thing that I would like to mention is the ongoing attempt of the Asahiyama Zoo to
artificially inseminate 人工受精する a female tiger in order to produce
tiger cubs. If their third attempt is successful this year, it will be
only the forth time in recorded history that this has been accomplished.
That is a VERY BIG DEAL! Think about it for a moment. Tigers
are a dying species 全滅直前 of mammal 哺乳類. This beautiful animal is the stuff
of legends and stories from long long ago and even up to and including the
present day. It would be a
shame,... No, a tragedy if these beautiful felines were to disappear from the face
of the earth.
In colloquial American English 米語口語表現 it would
suck big time 最低. Therefore, I am a full supporter of the Asahiyama
Zoo in their efforts to increase the number of endangered tigers on this planet. After that very interesting presentation by Mr. Kosuge, he and Mr. Kuramoto Soh
倉本聰 had a discussion about the importance of the protection of nature as it
relates to the survival of all living things on this planet. This
discussion was moderated 聞き手 by Professor Ohno 大野教授 of the Life Design Program
at the Hokkaido Tokai University in the Art and Engineering Department
北海道東海大学芸術工学部くらしデザイン学科教授. I have met Kuramoto Sensei on
several occasions. In fact, I liked one of
his stage plays so much, that I bought the script for 1,000 yen and
translated it into English.
You can read my translation of this stage play for free, right here on this
website. The play is called HASHIRU 走る in Japanese. The English
title is, RUN. It is the story of the 2 year course for actor trainees , at the Furano Juku
ふらの塾.
This discussion lasted for over an hour and I could understand most of it.
However, the volume of the sound coming from the microphones was rather low, and
they all talked very fast so some of what they said, I couldn't understand.
The whole presentation was finished at about 20:30.
2006 February 23 Thursday.
More sunshine and more melting snow. I had a very slack day today so I spent most of my time reading about website development, especially in the area of getting your website to show up among the top spots on search engines. This is really not all that difficult, but there are certain key facts that you need to be aware of. I won't discuss them here. You can do your own research and figure it out for yourself. Just like I had to do. That's what makes it even more interesting. And that way, you won't soon forget it. The more I learn about web design, the more I want to learn about it. Is it an obsession? Well, not quite yet, but it is getting close. I am interested in a lot of other things as well, so I need to decide how to best spend the time of my life. So do you. Along with everybody else on this planet. The saddest life of all, is the life which was not thought about every day while the living was going on.,,, and therefore, not activated. In philosophy, there is a famous saying; "The unexamined life, is not worth living." I don't go quite that far, but therein contains a very basic truth about life. Have you ever asked your self these questions?,,,, "Why am I here? What must I do? What is the purpose of my life?" These are philosophical questions that only you can answer for yourself. I have found my reason for being and continue to redesign my style of being. I do this by faithfully living it, DOing IT! Every Day. Without fail. I know that you can and will DO IT too. Everybody needs to find themselves. That is the reason for being.
2006 February 22 Wednesday.
Again today, the sun is shining, the snow is melting, and it is sloppy getting
around. This is the season for waterproof boots. A best seller every
year at this time. My first class of the day was at 15:00 so I had a
lot of time to read about website development during the late morning and early
afternoon hours. When all classes were finished at 20:00. It
was time to play the bass guitar, unplugged for about an hour or two.
Tomorrow may be another snow melting day. Let's hope so.
2006 February 21 Tuesday.
Is it springtime or what??? No, it's not quite springtime, but it is rather warm and sunny today with the many big piles of snow, melting all around. Even the air had a slight scent of springtime floating in it. I was ready to put away my winter clothes and get dressed for the warmer days ahead. But, it is still too early for that in Hokkaido. When the late winter weather in Asahikawa becomes a day of weather like today, many people, including myself are easily fooled into believing that spring is just around the corner. It is not. It will be at least one more month, or maybe up to 6 more weeks before we launch into the real springtime temperatures that will melt all of the snow in and around this basin city. It is easy to catch a cold on days such as today, because the sun is shining, it is warmer today than it has been on any day since someday during November of last year. This is the trick played on the human mind by mother nature. Go for the bait, get hooked in the jaw. Or hooked in the heart. Maybe both. The biggest problem is in moving your body around a lot as in physical labor, sports or an exercise of any type. Then is when the sweat comes out of your pores and soaks your clothes. This situation is all fine and dandy until the sun goes down. That's the time when any living mammal will realize that it is getting colder and getting colder quickly. Water turns to ice when it is below freezing. This also applies to any water, moisture, wetness in your clothing. That is when the skin starts to feel a chill. To feel a NIP in the air. (not intended as a racial slur). If you can get back to a warm room within the next few minutes, you will be OK. No problem. However, if you can't take shelter immediately, and warm up at the touch of a button, you may become "Chilled to the Bone." It is times like these that cause the human water bag body to weaken its resistance to bacteria or much worse, viruses. I know this very intimately because this same type of situation was the beginning of the end of My Father's Life. That is another very long and very sad story so I will write an essay about it some other day. But as for today, the sun is shining and the air is warm and fresh. This good feeling will be remembered, forever.
2006 February 20 Monday.
A rather nice, somewhat warm and very sunny day. It was a pleasure to drive over to the Young Buds Kindergarten めばえ幼稚園 for my first 3 classes of the day at 10:00. Today was the last English Friendship Class 英語ふれあい for this school year. So, I gave the students a quiz to see how much they remembered from our previous lessons together. Because the classes are divided according to the age of the students 年長、年中、年少、 it was easy for me, to see the difference in progress among the age levels. Of course, the kids that remembered the most, are the ones who will be graduating 卒園 this March, and starting Elementary School in April. This group of kids has been participating in my English Friendship Class for about three years. Therefore, most of them remember almost every word or phrase that we have used repeatedly during our time together. I was very favorably impressed by their progress. After all three lessons were finished, I sat down with the Kindergarten Principle 園長先生 to talk about various things related to the education of young children in Japan Today. EDUCATION. One of the things that he told me, surprised me a little bit, and also caused me to think very deeply. A certain Elementary School on the outskirts of Asahikawa, had absolutely NO NEW STUDENTS FOR THE COMING SCHOOL YEAR! ZERO! !0! !NADA! It is no big secret that the population of Japan is aging, and aging fast. One can read about it in the newspapers and magazines every day. But when the National News Nippon hits home, in your town, or in your city, you can't help but get a gut feeling for what it really means to the future of Japan as a nation. That is the reality of the current situation here, folks. How do we survive as teachers in this education/teaching/guidance/day care type of business? That is another story and a rather long one at that. After the Kindergarten thing was finished for today, I came back to my classroom to eat some food and get ready for my next class at the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会 for my forth lesson of the day at 13:30. Only about half of the people showed up today, so each and everyone of them had a chance to talk for longer than usual. Ms. K. talked about an article in the Hokkaido Newspaper that she had cut out and brought with her to class. The story was about a man who had worked at a big transportation company for 30 years, and then when he retired during his 31st year at the same company, he filed a lawsuit against that company alleging that he had been discriminated against by being; put in his own private office far away from the other workers, being given nothing to do but menial jobs around the place; like pulling weeds, taking out the trash, etc. etc. I took a quick look at the newspaper article in the original Japanese, but I didn't read it in great detail. As a result of his lawsuit against the company, the man won an award of about 30,000,000 yen. Not a bad payoff, but the thing that struck me as being odd about this situation is that the man allowed this company to belittle him and treat him like dirt for 30 years! There was a photo of the man in the newspaper article. He did not look at all happy. He didn't even smile. His eyes looked sad and dull. He is almost 70 years old now. His life is almost over. What did he gain by not quitting that awful company about 29 years ago, and not going out into The BIG PICTURE to look for a better life? He got about 30,000,000 yen. That's all. Was it worth it? You will have to ask him. As for me, if I had been in the exact same situation, I would not have subjected myself to taking any meaningless, waste of my time, orders and/or directives, from any phuckin' morons. I would have been, out the door, and ON THE ROAD, searching for a hint of a more intelligent life form, on this planet, EARTH. My Management Philosophy is Very Simple and Straight Forward. It has only 3 Commandments. 1: LEAD! 2: FOLLOW? OR 3: Get Out Of The Way! That's it. One, Two. Plus one conditional. Life is too short to live for the sole purpose of revenge. Life is also too short to live for the sole purpose of making as much money as you possibly can. Have a nice life Mr. 30 millionyenaire. Maybe, he should use some of that money to take an overseas vacation. Perhaps, he will see that the Whole Wide World is much larger than one person and his/her family, just working at only one company for an entire lifetime. By the way, what is "job security" nowadays anyway??? Other people talked about various things. Two of the men in this English Conversation Circle talked about how they will be going to Seattle for a one week visit starting next Monday. I lived in Seattle for about 6 years, so I told them to take along an umbrella, one each. After that class was finished at about 14:35, I came back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. After that, it was time for some photo editing and web page design practice. I even managed to play the bass guitar unplugged for about 50 minutes. Lights out at 26:00.
At about 13:00 today, Mr. T. and I drove out to Takasu Town 鷹栖町 to see a swing jazz performance by the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra at the Takasu Melody Hall たかすメロディーホール which started at 14:00. I have been to Takasu many times before, but I have never been to nor gone inside of the Melody Hall before. Therefore, the place was a little bit hard to find for a few brief minutes. Another factor that made the place hard to find was the abundance of big high snow banks along each and every road in the town. The solid white barriers to the field of vision were all about 5 or 6 meters high making it impossible to see over them. We caught glimpses of various large buildings as we drove around aimlessly looking for the entrance to the parking lot. We finally found it. The parking lot was about half full. I first saw the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra play on February 4 at the Asahi Elementary School 朝日小学校. I was very impressed by their skill on the musical instruments as well as the coordination of the timing and rhythm. Very Impressive. The reason these young kids aged 10 to 12 years old are so damn good, is because their teacher/director is a very good musician as well. She is an accomplished piano player and is a regular with the Swing Jazz Orchestra; A flat ア・フラット. I have seen her play piano for them on several occasions both at the Taisetsu Crystal Hall and also at the Citizens Cultural Hall 市民文化会館大ホール. Her band has even had the Sax Player MALTA come to Asahikawa to play with them live. It was a very hot jazz session to say the least. Anyway, the point I want to make is that even though these young kids have only been playing their instruments since from about 6 months ago up to about 6 years ago, they can all get it together, because they have such a good teacher in the person of Shibata Akiko. She is what makes all the difference. I know, because she used to come to my classroom for English Conversation Lessons several years ago. At that time, she was working at Wassamu Elementary school 和寒小学校. From time to time in her job as an elementary school teacher, she would need to speak English with a visiting AET Assistant English Teacher who is always from an English speaking country, and may not be able to speak any Japanese at all upon arrival in Japan. She took lessons for about a year and learned enough to do what she needed to get done. It is that kind of determination that rubs off on her students. That is why they are so together and so tight with their music. This Sunrise Cherry Orchestra project is getting bigger and better every year. I for one, will be a solid and loyal supporter in any way that I can. Go SCO! By the way, not only did the SCO give a mighty rendition of some Swing Jazz Classics like: In The Mood, Moon Light Serenade, Autumn Leaves (to see my photo slide show with this as BGM click here), Misty, Over the Rainbow and I Got Rhythm. Good stuff, and very well done. There was also a special guest stage with the Honma Kouji Quartet 本間幸治カルテット. This is a group of 4 professional musicians, two of whom I have known for almost 15 years. They are 平間英治 an excellent piano player and his son, an excellent drummer 平間哲治. The other 2 members I have never meet before. They were the bass player 戸田正彦 and the main guy, the trumpet player 本間幸治. This quartet did 3 songs by themselves. The songs were: Days of Wine and Roses, A Night in Tunisia, Everything. Of course, it sounded excellent! Then, the kids and the pros got together for a rousing finale of 5 songs, plus 2 encores. The five songs on the program were: Take the A Train, Tequila, Fantasy, I Got Rhythm, Sing sing sing. All in all, it was a very enjoyable two hour performance that ended just before 16:00. Oh!!! By the way. Did forget to mention that it was absolutely FREE?!! For the price of gasoline, Mr. T. and I were able to enjoy 2 hours of swing jazz in a very comfortable auditorium. It doesn't get much better than this folks. ＊＊＊愛Y北海道＊＊＊ You would too, if you lived here, as I do.
2006 February 18 Saturday.
Another snowy and blowy day. No classes today, so I spent a lot of time reading and taking hot baths. It might be winter outside, but it is springtime in my heart. I would like to continue the story I started in yesterday's blog about my introduction to Japanese Popular Music. As I mentioned yesterday, I was on a 3 week vacation from the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Kodiak Alaska. I took a free "Space A" (space available) flight on an Air Force HC-130 cargo plane from Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage Alaska. to Yokota Air Force Base near Hanada Airport in Tokyo Japan. In those days, a service member on leave could ride on almost any military aircraft to almost anywhere in the world, as long as there was an open seat. This is what I did in August of 1979. I had been studying the Japanese Language on my own every day since about July of 1975, and I could speak and read the language much better than before. In fact, I had enough confidence to buy a Youth Hostel Japan Guidebook, written entirely in Japanese and was using it to find a place to stay almost every night. Anyway, to make a very long story short, during my travels from Tokyo up north all the way to Sapporo and back, I stopped in at a department store to buy some contemporary Japanese Music. Since I had no clue as to what was selling in the Japanese market, I asked one of the store clerks for about 6 or 7 recommendations. The ones she recommended can be seen in the photos below. There were some others as well. Out of all the music that she recommend, I liked 井上陽水、風 and アリス the best. Also included were some cassette tapes that were a compilation of various artists, and these songs I liked very much as well. After I got back to Kodiak from my big adventure in northern Japan, I listened to this music almost every day after work. Many of my fellow Coasties thought I had lost my mind, but in reality, I had found a new mind to explore. I still like this music to this day. That is why I am dubbing it all onto MDs for preservation. Lights out at 24:00
2006 February 17 Friday.
If
yesterday was getting warmer, today it was getting colder with quite a bit of
wind and snow. My first order of business for today was to go to the
Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing Academy of Asahikawa 北海道立旭川高等看護学院. As
you may remember, if you read last week's blog on Friday, I caught a bad cold
and had a slight fever on that day so I couldn't go teach my class.
Today, I was feeling much better and I was able to get to
the school on time. Today was not a regular lesson, but it was the
day of the final exam in English. I made a rather simple test based
mostly on the 6W1H interrogatives. It was similar to the test that I gave
at Asahikawa University a few weeks ago, but today's test had more questions,
and required more time to complete. One of the
questions towards the end of the exam was as follows: "Was this test easy
or difficult?" Most of the students replied: "It was very difficult."
Really??? I find that rather hard to believe considering the many
other and much more complicated subjects that you all must study in order to
graduate from this nursing academy. In spite of this humble
denial of their own good results, most of the students did very well on their
exams. They did so, by using the proper vocabulary and sentence patterns
in their written answers. Maybe they were just
toying with me. I toy with them too. Each and every lesson.
When they start to catch onto my right in yer face
sense of humor, and begin to comprehend what I am
talking about, I can know how fast they can learn something new. Most of
them are very quick learners. As they well should be.
When that 90 minute session was finished, I rode back to my classroom in a taxi
and arrived at about 11:00 to eat some grub, and take a rest.
Starting again at 15:00 I had straight classes until 20:00. And once
again this evening, I am dubbing my priceless J-Pop Music from the original
cassette tapes onto MDs for the sake of heritage. The photo you can see on
the left is of Inoue Yosui and his 1979 album: Best
Collection. Why did I buy this
particular tape out of the many hundreds and hundreds of tapes on sale at that
Seibu department store so many years ago? It's a rather long story,
but I will make it as brief as possible. On my second trip to
Japan since the day I was born, I started in Tokyo and made my way up north to
as far as Sapporo. It was an excellent vacation, and when I stepped off of
the Ferry Boat from Aomori to Hakodate, I noticed a new freshness in the air.
I had arrived in Hokkaido. The air was different up here.
It was an air that I had breathed before. The air of my
birthplace. I had come back to my home again.
But, for how long? I had no idea at that time in
the August of 1979. But, I do have a crystal clear idea of for
how long and of why I am here now.
2006 February 16 Thursday.
Another
warmer than usual day with the snow melted off of the main streets and even the
parking lot in from of my classroom. The next big event in Asahikawa will
be on March 21 when the Vasa Cross Country skiing competition will be held.
I hope they have enough snow for the event! Again today, I had
classes from 15:00 until 20:00. After that, I continued dubbing my old
cassette tapes onto MD. The photo on the left is of the Complete
Collection of Fuse Akira tape that I bought in 1979. This type of music is
what the Japanese call Enka 演歌. I called it the Japanese Blues.
In general, I like this style of music very much, but I don't like to listen to
it very often. The words to the songs are a bit sad and depressing.
One of my favorite songs on this tape is called Shikuramen no Kahori シクラメンのかほり.
This is a very famous song in Japan and anyone who is my age or older, will
surely know it. In fact, if I am with a group of people about the
same age as I, and they ask me to sing a song for Karaoke カラオケ, I will be sure
to sing this song. It is a beautiful song and I can sing it quite well
after practicing it for so many years. It always makes a good impression
on the people listening. By the way, in the USA they also have
Karaoke but they pronounce the word like "carry oh key". When I
first heard an American say it this way, I didn't know what they were talking
about. Of course in the USA, most, if not all of the songs in the Karaoke
Song Book are in English. The word Karaoke itself has a rather interesting
history. It is was born from two words, one Japanese word "kara" 空 meaning
"empty" and the English word "orchestra" which the Japanese language renders as
"ookesutora" オーケストラ. As is common practice when taking words from
foreign languages, the word was abbreviated to "oke" オケ. Such was
born the word Karaoke カラオケ. In other words, it means an orchestra with no
singer. You must become the singer and sing along with the background
music. Many Americans seem to enjoy singing Karaoke, as do I, but
one American once told me that they will never sing Karaoke. When I
asked why, they said; "Because I don't want to make a fool of myself in
front of other people." An interesting theory. This is a clear
indication of one of the main cultural differences between Japanese people and
American people. In Japan, everyone is EXPECTED TO perform some type
of "ART OR SKILL" 芸 at a big party. The easiest way to do this for
most people is to sing Karaoke. Other people, myself included, can play
musical instruments and often do so if the musical instrument is on hand at the
party location. Is everybody in Japan a really good singer? Of
course not. I have heard some very very bad singing during my 15 years in
this country, but nobody seems to care. Just do the best you can, and
everyone will give you polite applause at the end of your song. It is a very polite
and civilized custom. On the other hand, I have heard some people sing who
sounded like professional singers. Really good stuff. In that case,
people will clap their hands during breaks in the song, or even throughout the
entire song if that song has a steady beat that people can clap along to.
Music is the language of the universe. Let's use it more often. Lights out at 24:00
2006 February 15 Wednesday.
No
classes until 15:00 today so I had a lot of time to read some books about web
design. The weather is getting warmer and the snow is beginning to melt.
I know it won't be long before the next big snowfall, but at least it is a sign
that winter will not last forever. After all classes were finished
at 20:00 I started dubbing some music from old cassette tapes onto MDs so that I
can listen to them while I am driving, and also to preserve the music in case
the cassette tapes go bad one day, which they certainly will. The music I
am talking about is some stuff that I bought in Japan when I visited here from
Kodiak Alaska in 1979. It is all Japanese popular music of the time.
I still like these songs very much today. When I first heard this music, I
liked it enough to learn how to sing most of the songs on the tapes. This
was one way that I learned the Japanese Language. The photo on the left is
of a cassette album cover for a group called "KAZE" which means "wind."
This music group is no longer in existence as far a I know, but the music on
this album still sounds good today. It is a folk, folk-rock kind of music
with excellent melodies and harmonies. Also, the back up work on folk
guitar and electric guitars is very good as well. It might be hard to
believe today, but this album cost me 3,800 yen in 1979 when it first came out!
Most CDs today cost much less than that. However, nowadays this
album may not be available anywhere except on an internet auction site, so the
music on it is priceless. Hence my idea of dubbing it onto an MD for
safekeeping. This cassette has 24 songs on it and only 20 of them will fit
on an 80 minute MD. Therefore, I needed to use two MDs to record all of
the songs. I also have other cassette tapes from the same year by such
artists as 井上陽水、布施明、都はるみ、アリス、岩崎宏美、ピンク・レディー etc. Talk about a blast
from the past!!! Most of these artists are still active in the music
business in some way today. My over all favorite among these musicians is
井上陽水.
He is still putting out albums even though he is nearly 60 years old now.
Go Yosui!!!
2006 February 14 Tuesday.
Today
is Saint Valentine's Day. Not just here in Japan but also in many other
countries around the world. In the USA, it is the traditional custom for
men to give gifts to women. Here in Japan, it is just the opposite.
Women give gifts to men. Which do I like better? Well, the later of
course! The photo you can see on the left shows most of the Valentine Day
Gifts that I received from my family and friends. In Japan they have
another similar day called White Day, which falls on March 14. This
is the day when men give gifts to the women who gave them gifts on Valentine's
Day. They don't have White Day in the USA, and I had never heard of
it before I came to live and work in Japan. I'm not sure how or when White
Day was started, but I suspect that it was dreamed up by the candy makers in
order to increase sales of their products. Of course candy is not the only
gift that men give to women, there are also flowers, underwear, liquor and many
other things. During the first week of March you will begin to see special
displays in stores that have a variety of gifts all wrapped up for White Day.
It is important to keep a list of who you received a Valentine's Day gift from
so that you can be sure to return a gift to that person on White Day.
I wonder if they will ever start this custom in the USA?
2006 February 13 Monday.
Today
was another
big disappointment for me and the kids at Kuri no Ki Kindergarten くりの木幼稚園.
I was scheduled to go there and conduct the 英語ふれあい lesson at 10:00, but
when I woke up this morning at 7:30, my big long nose was totally stuffed up in
the left nostril, and the right nostril of the same big long nose was leaking
snot like Niagara Falls. Plus, I had a sore throat that was too weak to sing or
speak in a big loud voice. Therefore, I decided to send a FAX and
request a leave of absence. The show was supposed to begin at 10:00
this morning. I think I gave them enough of an advance notice in order for them
to make other plans for that one hour time slot. Sorry about that kids!!!
I'LL BE BACK!!! Then, I went back to sleep until 11:30. When I
got up again, I had to get ready for a class at the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会 starting at 13:30.
Before I left for that class, I noticed that there were 3 messages on my
answering machine 留守番電話. Two of them I couldn't understand.
When I arrived at the Kagura Citizens Hall about 10 minutes later, Mrs. K. asked
me if I had gotten a phone call from Mrs. S. I said, "No, I don't
think so." and sat down. It was only later when I
returned to my classroom at about 14:40 that Ikuko told me there had been two
messages from Mrs. S. who comes to the class at the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会 that I had just returned
from. Duh!!! DOPE SLAP. MORON!!!!
I finally understood what everybody had been trying to tell me. Anyway,
the gist of the message was that Mrs. S. and her current home stay high school
student from Asahikawa's sister city in the USA, were coming to today's class.
I finally figured that out when they walked in the door at about 13:45.
Not only did Mrs. S. bring along Sara, but they also brought with them a very
delicious homemade white sponge cake with a side dish of fresh whipped raw cream. Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuummy!!! It tasted like
a
TWINKIE ON
STEROIDS. It was angelically appetizing. What a nice treat for
lunch. Sara took some Q and A from the regular members of this
English Conversation Circle and answered them all very well. In fact, she has
a keen sense of humor, which I greatly enjoyed, and played off of up to the
socially acceptable limits of good taste. After that
class was finished at 14:40, I came back to my classroom for straight classes
from 15:00 until 20:00. The nice lady who comes to the 19:00 class every
Monday, gave me some very nice Valentine Gifts. Thank you so much
Ms. S! Lights out at 24:00
2006 February 12 Sunday.
I
spent some time today looking over the photos that I took yesterday at the
Asahikawa Winter Festival. The one you can see on the left was taken
of the Snow Stage. A place were hapless
performers have to throw caution to the wind in the name of fashion.
You can't see it in this photo, but there is a river called the Ishikari 石狩川
flowing right behind the big frozen stage. Did I mention
that it is very cold and windy? It is. Since this photo
shows you only THE BIG PICTURE, it might be hard to see what the people on stage
are wearing and doing. Most important note, they are not wearing
hats. Not even winter coats. They are pretending to play the
Shamisen by holding aluminum snow shovels in the same position. Even
the professional video cameraman who was filming the cruelty, ran for cover
before the song they were pretending to play had ended. It's a true
story. Mr. T and I both laughed out loud at the absurdity of it all.
It certainly was good entertainment, however. At
about 17:00 I went outside to clean off the 0.5 meters of snow that had
accumulated on top of my van. I haven't driven my van for about 5 days,
and the amount of snow piled on top was truly a chore to remove. Not just
because there was a lot of it, but it was also laid down in layers with sheets
of ice in between. Kind of like a layer cake. It took me a good 20
minutes to get it all cleaned off and get on the road. Destination?
My wife's family's house in Chuwa. As I mentioned in a previous blog,
my wife's younger sister is in town until Monday evening. She lives and
works in Tokyo, and has done so for many years. She has to ride the trains
for about 1 hour and 20 minutes one way with two changes of trains
in the morning just to get to work and then again in the evening just to get
back home again after work! That is almost three hours spent using mass
transportation every day! It would be very hard for me to adjust to
a lifestyle like that. I suppose when you get used to it, it is not
so bad. But then again,.... Lights out at 25:00.
Mr.
T. and I went to the
Asahikawa Winter Festival at about 16:30 instead of the original plan of
15:00. The reason being that there was almost no sunlight during the day.
It was cloudy and overcast, and the snow was coming down BIG TIME.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!!!
It was a windy and snowy day when we arrived at the main entrance of Tokiwa Park
where the bronze statue of Mr. Nagayama, an original pioneer of the Kamikawa
Region of Hokkaido, as well as the Nagayama District of Asahikawa City is on
prominent display. It was snowing hard, and the wind was blowing our asses all over
the place. Maybe we had chosen the worst weather of the day to visit
this winter festival site. But then again, it had been snowing and
blowing this way all day every day for about 3 or 4 days. Why would the
majority of today be any different? It wasn't. Until about 18:00.
Then it was without wind and much easier to operate a DigiCam. And operate
it I did. To fight off the cold, which was much less severe than last year
at this festival, I had chemical heating pads pasted to the outside of both my hands.
It really did make a big difference as far as mobility of the trigger finger
during the actual shooting of the photos. These heating pads are essential
to good winter photography. The photo you can see on the left, is one of
the worst photos of the day. Notice how the camera tried to focus on the
snowflakes instead of the snowman which I was attempting to take a picture of.
I put it in today's blog so that you can get a feel for how much snow was
falling out of the sky today. Of course, with this much of the white
fluffy stuff coming down relentlessly, it didn't take long for all of our
clothes to become covered with it as well, from head to toe. Despite
this fact, I did manage to get some very good photos which I will put in a photo
gallery or a slide show in the very near future. After we finished
looking around the Tokiwa Park and Ishikari riverside area, we walked over to
the main pedestrian mall known as Kaimono Koen 買物公園 to look at the ice
sculptures lined up along the way. I continued to take photos until
my fingers were too cold to go on. Then we both decided to eat some
yakitori やきとり at a famous place called
梁山泊 on ３条６丁目 very close to the 花月会館. We had a very delicious meal
there along with some beer and shochu to drink. After that, we
decided to go to the ぴあの in Pub for some more drinks and singing. We had a
very nice time there as well. At about 11:00 we were both very tired
from our big adventure and decided to call it a night. Asahikawa is a very
cold place in February, but it is also very beautiful with the glistening snow
and the warm hearts of the townspeople. Come on up and visit us
sometime.
2006 February 10 Friday.
I was supposed to go to the Hokkaido Prefecture Nursing Academy of Asahikawa 北海道立旭川高等看護学院 for a class at 9:00 this morning but when I woke up at 6:30, I knew I wasn't going to make it. I was sneezing, coughing and I also had a slight fever. I felt like crap. So, I quickly wrote a FAX to the school and told them I was not able to do my job today. Sorry about that. Then I went back to bed until about 12:00 noon. Still not feeling 100% up to my job, I took a long hot bath and was ready for my first class at 15:00. During that first class, a group of 3 high school girls came to take a look at my classroom. I only had time to shake their hands and learn their names, because I was holding a class with 2 of the 4 elementary school students who come to my classroom every week at this time. Ikuko talked to the high school girls for about 20 minutes explaining the classroom system to them. I hope to see you young ladies again soon! After that first class, I had a class every hour until 20:00. Then I laid down again and took a rest for about an hour. After that, I got up and ate dinner while watching various show on TV. It's days like today that I very much appreciate the times when I feel really good and full of energy. Most people take good health for granted, as do I, but it really is a precious gift to have good health most of the time. Again today, it was very cold with night time temperatures hovering at about - 16 degress C. February is by far the coldest month of the year in Hokkaido. I'm beginning to look forward to March and April.
2006 February 9 Thursday.
The Asahikawa Winter Festival started yesterday morning at about 10:00. I was not inclined to go see the opening ceremonies, but I did hear the sound of the fireworks display that started at about 19:00. Unfortunately, I couldn't see the colorful display of exploding lights in the sky from my classroom windows. The weather yesterday was rather mild, but the weather today was very harsh. Very cold at around -5 degrees C in the daytime to -14 degrees C in the evening. On top of that, there was wind and new falling snow. Not a very good day to take photos. I am hoping the weather will be nicer on Saturday when I and Mr. T. plan to go to the winter festival. If the weather on Saturday, is like it was today, it will be impossible to take any really good photos. We may have to cancel our outing and go on Sunday instead. According to the weather forecasts that I have seen, Sunday looks to be the best day during the festival. Weather forecasts can be wrong. We will just have to play it by ear and see what happens. Today was a very slack day at the classroom. Only one class with three students showed up. The rest of the classes didn't happen because the students either caught a cold, or they were busy with other activities. Tomorrow will be a full and busy day. Lights out at 24:00
2006 February 8 Wednesday.
No classes until 15:00 today, so I had a lot of time read about web development. I first opened this website about 6 years ago. At that time it was a very simple-minded, hard to navigate piece of junk which nobody wanted to look at more than once. For five years, this website remained just that way with no changes at all! Well, I finally wised up and exactly one year ago this week, I re-launched this web site in it's current form. It is much better than the old website, but I still have a lot of room for improvement. That is why I spend a lot of my free time reading about and then trying to create new aspects of website development. It is something I have to do on my own through self-study, because I don't know anybody who is a real whiz of a webmaster to ask questions of. If I did, I could learn a lot faster, but I don't so, I'm on my own. The good news is that everything I make is 100% original. The bad news is I spend a lot more time making it than a professional web developer would spend making the same type of thing. Yeah, well,..... Live and learn.
2006 February 7 Tuesday.
I
had no classes until 15:00 today so I used my free time to do a major clean up
of the living room. It looks much better now. At 15:00, Mr. T. came
for coffee and conversation. One of the things we talked about was the
upcoming
Asahikawa Winter Festival. I go every year to enjoy the light show and
take photos. My wife usually goes with me, but this year, her younger
sister is coming back to visit Asahikawa from Tokyo where she lives and works.
It is her much delayed winter vacation. Therefore, I would be going alone
this year except for the fact that Mr. T. wants to go with me this time.
He told me in the past that he used to live very near to Tokiwa Park but had
never gone to the the winter festival before. What? Will this
year be the very first year for Mr. T. to get out and about at the winter
festival? Maybe so. We will get together at about 15:00
on Saturday and ride over to Tokiwa Park by taxi. I will take lots of
photos with the evening sun, and then some more of the night time illumination.
It will be very cold, so we must dress very warmly and carry some of those
chemical hot pads with us that many people buy and use during this time every
year. This is especially important if you are taking photos. Gotta
keep them thar fingers warm and limber ya know. After that class was
finished at 16:00, I had straight lessons until 20:00. The 17:00
lesson today was with a college girl whom I have known ever since she was in
elementary school. She and her twin brother (fraternal twins) came to my
classroom for many years before they started at East High School about 5 years
ago. Now they are both attending separate universities in Honshu.
She is majoring in psychology 心理学 at a university in Kyoto. Living in
Kyoto for several years would be a good experience for anyone.
She will be going to
California State University at Chico for two months starting in March of
this year to study at the
American Language and Culture Institute. Therefore, she has come
back to my classroom for some intensive training in
spoken English before her departure. She is a bright girl and very
enjoyable to be with. She will have a great time while in the USA and will
make a lot of new friends. I am very happy that I can play a small role in
getting her ready for her big adventure. See you again on Friday!
走る遥か、この地球（ほし）の果てまで、 Lights out at 24:00.
2006 February 6 Monday.
Silly me, I didn't set my alarm clock, and I didn't wake up until 10:30 a.m. Japan Standard Time. As soon as I aroused from my slumber and got my wits about me, I realized that I was missing the biggest event in the USA during this time of the year. The Super Bowl!!! I rushed towards the TV set and clicked it on. The second half of the game had just started. Good timing, I thought to myself. I missed all of the pre-game hype, I can see highlights of the first half later, and the most important part of the game is just getting started. So, I sat down and watched it. It wasn't The Super Bore, as some people have called it in the past, but I wasn't a very evenly matched game either. The Seahawks went on to lose by a score of 21 to 10. Nice try Hawks. Maybe you ruff and tuff guys can make this thing fly next year. I wish you the best of luck. When the final outcome of the game was obvious just after 11:30 a.m. local time, I quit watching the post-game hype and started rushing around in order to get my classroom cleaned up before I departed for the 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会 to moderate my first class of the day at 13:30. As usual, I took a football shaped marker pen out of my writing tools bag, and spun it around like a Roulette Wheel (The Wheel of Fortune) to see who would be the first speaker of the day. It turned out to Ms. T. She told us how she had helped make a snow sculpture along with the other members of AIC and some other non-Japanese people who are currently living in Asahikawa. She told us the name of the Animation Character whose likeness they had created in a frozen block of snow, but I can't remember what she said because I had never heard of it before. I guess I will just have to go and see it for myself on Saturday. The next person seated at the table clockwise from Ms. T. was Mr. Miyaguchi whom I wrote about in last Thursday's blog. He told everyone about our mutual experience at the Asahi Elementary School 朝日小学校 on Thursday. He praised me so highly, that I was beginning to wonder if he was talking about me, or if he was talking about Robin Williams. Maybe it was the latter. I agree with Mr. Miyaguchi's assessment of my performance on that day. I would be talking fast about something, and then I would go off on a tangent about something else that was related to what I had just been talking about. After taking that related topic out to it's logical limit, I returned to the starting point and tied everything together in a specific point. To be more specific. When I and the other teachers walked into the room, they sat down to watch, and I remained standing to make my presentation. There were two blackboards with chalk and erasers so I began to use these tools right away. First I said, "Hello Everybody!!! My name is スっ ノーマン. I am from Seattle Washington in the USA. It rains a lot in Seattle." Then, I took out some of the flash cards that I have made, printed in color and laminated in plastic for durability, and taught the students some WEATHER WORDS. Then I came back to the map on the blackboard, and asked the students questions about it while pointing my index finger to different locations on the map. "Is this New York? How many people think so? Raise your hands please." Etc. etc. etc. That's what I mean by the stand up comedy style of Robin Williams. Mr. Miyaguchi recognized it too. A very keen observation my friend. While saying that the show moves fast and goes off onto a lot of side roads is accurate and so very true, it always comes back to the point of origin. Back to the very start of the show, in order to tie everything together and make a specific point that will be remembered by the people who watched the show. In this case, the point of the show was to show the 6th grade students that if they listened very carefully while watching my gestures and facial expressions with a keen eye, they could understand the meaning of the words that I was saying to them. I was speaking at a normal speed which is typical for native speakers of American English. (New Yorkers speak faster then west coasters). Could the students understand every word I said? Of course not. But the topics that I was talking about were clear to them. A good first step. Other people at today's 神楽公民館で英会話を楽しむ会 talked about various things and the class ran overtime again as it usually does. One student, Ms. K was not able to speak today because the time was too short when it came to her turn. You can go first next week Ms. K! After that class was finished at 14:45, I rushed back to my classroom for straight classes from 15:00 until 20:00. When the last class of the day was over, it was time to sit down, and do some more work on this website. First of all I started writing today's blog. I am still thinking about how to best use the photos I took of the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra at the Asahi Elementary School on Saturday . I want to include their music with the photos too so,...... What to do? What to do indeed.
2006 February 5 Sunday.
In the USA, today is Super Bowl Sunday. In Japan, it is just another day. I know that there are a lot of American Football アメフト fans in Japan, and Japan even has some of its own teams. However, the game is no where near as popular here in Japan as it is in the USA. This year will be the 40th year Super Bowl XL for the National Championship Game. The two teams will be the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Seattle Seahawks. Because I am from Seattle, I am cheering for the Seahawks, but I really doubt if they will be able to beat the Steelers who have been to the the Super Bowl 5 times before and lost only once. If the Steelers can win this year's game, they will become one of only a very few teams in NFL history to win the big game five times. In other words, they will have a fist full 拳 of Super Bowl rings. The Seattle Seahawks have never been to the Super Bowl before. In fact, they haven't won very many playoff games before either. If they lose this game, it will still be a new record for the team. If the Steelers win this game, it will be a very big deal for that team. Because of a difference in time zones, I will not be able to watch the live broadcast of this game until tomorrow morning at about 8:00 or 9:00. Since I don't have any classes in the morning tomorrow, I think I will tune in to the broadcast and see what happens. GO HAWKS!
As I mentioned I was planning to do in my blog of last Thursday, I did indeed go to see the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra today at 13:00 in the large gymnasium of the Asahi Elementary School. I got there at about 12:45 and was lucky enough to find the last parking space right beside the gym. I walked around the building to the main entrance of the school and was greeted by some of the parents whose children are in the band. This Swing Jazz band consists of 23 children aged between 10 and 12 years old. The teacher in charge of the band is Akiko Shibata who is an accomplished piano player and has much experience with live performance. Today as I watched and listened to the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra, I was very impressed with the sounds I was hearing. They played jazz standards, and they sounded just the way they should sound. Up to and including a well controlled raising and lowering of the music volume in unison at key points in the songs. Very well done indeed!!! They played seven songs during their performance and then two songs for an encore. The seven songs were: In The Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Autumn Leaves, Misty, Take the 'A' Train, I Got Rhythm and Over the Rainbow. I also recognized the two songs played for the encore, but I can't remember their names. It was a very nice music event. They will be playing again at the Takasu Melody Hall たかす メロディーホール on Sunday February 19 starting at 14:00. Also, appearing on stage that same day will be the Koji Honma Quartet 本間幸治カルテット. I am planning to be there for this show as well. How about you? By the way, admission is free! Why would you not want to go see it?
2006 February 3 Friday.
Today is
not a National Holiday in Japan, but it is a very important day none the less.
It is known as Setsu Bun 節分. According to the traditional Japanese lunar calendar, this is the
day before the first day of spring, a day that will come tomorrow, which is called Risshun 立春. I am
not sure who thought up this calendar, but they certainly did not live in
Hokkaido. It is mid-winter up here! One of the rituals
performed on Setsu Bun is the "bean scattering" 豆まき ceremony. In the
old days, most people used roasted soy beans for this, but nowadays, almost
everyone
uses unshelled peanuts. Maybe that is because,
if the peanuts are protected by their shell, you can pick them up off of the
floor and still eat them in a sanitary manner. The photo on the left shows me wearing the
mask of the Red Devil and being pummeled by peanuts thrown at me by my wife. As
she was targeting me with the soft projectiles, she was saying
"Oni wa Soto.
Fuku wa Uchi." 鬼は外、福は内。 Out with the Devil, In with Good Fortune.
What does this really mean? It has something to do with the historical
practice of driving out evil spirits before the start of spring. In the
very old days, people used to burn dried sardine heads to create an obnoxious
odor that would drive away the demons. It would also drive everyone else
away if it were still done that way nowadays.
Yuck! What a stench that
must have been. After the beans have been thrown around the house,
everyone who lives in that house must pick up and eat the same number of beans
that correspond to their age. In my case, I need to un-shell and eat 49
peanuts. Wait a minute! Every
peanut shell has two beans inside so, do I need to eat 49 beans, or 49 shelled
peanuts worth of beans? Either way is OK with me. Maybe I'll save
them until Sunday evening USA time, and eat them while I watch
Super Bowl XL (40). Speaking of the Super Bowl, this is the very first
time in the 39 year history of the BIG EVENT that the
Seattle Seahawks have ever advanced all the way to the Super Bowl.
They have gotten very close in years past, but they were always defeated in the
final round of playoffs. Fortunately, this year, they made it to THE BIG
SHOW for the very first time. Their opponent will be the
Pittsburgh Steelers . A team with a long history. They have
been to the Super Bowl 5 times before and have been THE CHAMPIONS of it 4 times.
The Steelers have been a very powerful team for many years.
Especially during the years between 1975 and 1980. They were the most
powerful team in the NFL. They had a dynasty during that time. If
the Seattle Seahawks can win this 40th Super Bowl game on their very first time
IN THE BIG GAME, they will create an enormous swell of CELEBRATION among all
Seahawk Fans. Both in Seattle, and all around the world.
Me included. Go Hawks!
As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, my first gig of the day was at the Asahi Elementary School 朝日小学校. I met Mr. Miyaguchi in the parking lot at about 10:25 and he took me into the school and introduced me to the principal, Mr. Sudoh, and the head teacher, Mr. Mito. Also present was my former student and accomplished piano player Ms. Shibata who is now a 6th grade teacher at this school. Also, there was Ms. Kasahara whom I had met many years ago at an event called International Day in Asahikawa. It was nice to see you again! After about 10 minutes of chatting in the principle's office, we all headed up to a classroom on the third floor where the 6 graders have their lessons. For about an hour and 15 minutes, I talked, played the guitar, sang some songs and danced around like a clown. The kids enjoyed it, and so did I. I was completely prepared for today's lesson (performance) because I have been doing this type of lesson at the kindergartens for the past 12 years. I have a lot of experience at it and I know what works, and what doesn't. Of course I am learning something new every time I do it, and the more I do it, the more I enjoy it. It is an iterative process. The best kind of process have. The more you do it, the better you get. This goes with any field of study. Just do it. When that bit of fun was finished at about 11:55, the students sang a very nice song for me. I will be going back to Asahi Elementary School again this Saturday to watch and listen to Shibata Sensei's students play Swing Jazz in a young folks band called the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra. I might even make a movie about it for Snow TV. Stay tuned.
2006 February 1 Wednesday.
Today
is the first day of the second month of this year. The coldest month of
the year, every year, in Asahikawa. How cold
does it get? It gets so cold, that the penguins come knocking on
your door! That's how cold it gets. See the photo on
the left for proof of this fact. Speaking of cold, the Asahikawa
Winter Festival will begin on February 8 and run through the 12th. I
go every year. You should too. Of course I take a lot of
photos with my DigiCam. For the cost of batteries and a song, I can
have a very nice time with lots of memographs. My first class of the day
was at 15:00 with a little guy who is a first grader at
Fuzoku Elementary School. He has been coming here with his mother
every week for about 3 years. He is making good progress. If
he stays with it, by the time he gets to junior high school, his English will
already be at the high school level. In other words, he will be able
to sleep during his junior high school English classes and still ace every test.
I know he won't sleep during class, but he may become very bored and sleepy none
the less. With straight classes through 20:00, I was ready to eat dinner
right away after the last class was finished. Tomorrow, I will go to
Asahi Elementary School for about one hour and do some English Friendship
Activities. I know a teacher who works at this school. She is a very
accomplished piano player and is currently directing a jazz band of elementary
school students called the Sunrise Cherry Orchestra.
She came to my classroom for training in spoken English a few years ago.
It will be nice to meet her again tomorrow. I am looking forward to it.
Lights out at 24:00.
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