Asahikawa American English Conversation School
for June 2009
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
2009 June 27 Saturday thru June 30 Tuesday.
The
last days of June wind down in a musical way.
On Saturday night, I went to Live House Good Luck at about 19:00 and stayed until about 25:00.
The first band to play was the official house band called NOSIDE.
You can see them in the photo on the left.
They played some rock and roll cover songs, and they sounded good.
So good in fact, that I and the young lady sitting next to me, got up from our bar stools and started dancing on the wooden floor.
The young lady in question is a high school teacher who now lives in Kushiro. She came all the way back to Asahikawa, just to get down and boogie, at Good Luck.
After NOSIDE played their songs, there was a break in the music while the next headliner band, LIBERTY, set up their equipment.
After LIBERTY was finished with their sound check, it was time for me to get up with my acoustic guitar and portable amp, and play my set of six songs.
You can see my set list for that evening and see a video of each song that I played by clicking here.
After
I was finished,
LIBERTY got up on stage and rocked the house.
It was really good. I especially enjoyed watching the bass guitar player, and I learned a lot about how to play it better by observing his technique.
I think he is the youngest member of the band.
Anyway, after LIBERTY was finished, various people got together in an impromptu way, and played music together until about 25:00.
It was a great way to rock out the month of June.
There will be more coming in July and August.
Stay tuned.
2009 June 22 Monday thru June 26 Friday.
A
week of warm to hot and sunny days, mixed with days of thunder and lightning
including violent and sudden rain storms.
Don't leave home without an umbrella.
In addition to teaching all of my regular classes as usual, I have been spending many hours learning some new songs on the guitar.
In fact, I will be back up on stage tomorrow night, a bit earlier than expected, playing them in 100% finger picking style. Click here for set list.
I will leave the flat pick at home.
The gig is at Live House Good Luck, starting at about 8:30 pm. The headliners will be NOSIDE and LIBERTY. I am sort of a fill in between the two main performers.
After LIBERTY is finished playing, there will be a free-for-all, where any and all musicians in attendance, can get together for some spontaneous jamming.
If you play music, bring your instrument and join us. Click here for details.
Hope to see you there.
2009 June 16 Tuesday thru June 21 Sunday.
Today
is the Summer Solstice 夏至. The longest daylight and the shortest nighttime
darkness of the year.
It is a beautiful sunny day in Asahikawa with a partly cloudy sky, even though most of the week had been rainy and cool.
My wife went off to Sapporo with her friend Yumiko to see ASKA live in concert for two days. Saturday and Sunday! Wow! talk about a loyal fan club member!
I was content to stay at home and spend most of my time re-learning how to fingerpick the acoustic guitar, with some good results.
While I was looking around on YOU TUBE for guitar lesson videos, I stumbled upon a website called "Totally Guitars dot COM. If you sign up as a member, you can access a bunch of video guitar lessons, totally free! They also have some paid membership options which allow you to access the "premium content" for a reasonable price. This is a good example of a real website that offers the users something of real value, and it also makes the webmaster some money on the side. You can visit the website by clicking here.
From this website I learned how to play the intro to "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor, and also the intro to "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas. I've never had any trouble learning the main part of a song, just from listening by ear to the recording, but I've always had trouble learning the intros and lead guitar parts of those songs. This and other websites like it, are a big help to me and a lot of other amateur guitar players, all around the world.
I'd like to write more in today's blog, but I'd rather get back to practicing some new songs on the acoustic guitar. After all, I will be doing another live performance in July, with all new songs and all finger picking, all the time. Practice, practice, practice.
2009 June 15 Monday.
A
blast from the past.
In today's blog photo, you can see me and 3 other people whom I haven't met in over 20 years.
I first met this family in about 1982 or 1983 when I and the guy with the beard, were both students at Washington State University.
He was working on his Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering, and I was working on my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration.
Since we were both in completely different study departments, we never would have met, except for the fact that we both took a summer session intensive class in the Japanese Language.
His wife is Japanese, and I used to practice speaking Japanese with her when ever I could. The gorgeous young woman on the right side of the photo is their daughter.
The last time I saw her, she was about 3 or 4 years old.
Imagine my surprise when I saw her again today.
Wow! I was blown away. Her grandmother lives in Sapporo so I told her she should come back to Japan and work as an English teacher for one of the big chain schools for a couple of years while working on becoming a model for television and the print media.
I am 100% serious about this. She is tall and slim as you can see, and she has perfect teeth. What else does she need, except a bit more self confidence. You can do it babe!!!
Her mother has been married to the bearded guy for about 28 years, and they have lived in the USA for most of that time. Of course they all speak perfect English and the mother speaks perfect Japanese.
The bearded guy and I talked for about 2 hours today, about various things. He told me that the USA is a lot different than it used to be, especially after 9 11. He said that society was a lot more nasty than it used to be. I was not surprised to hear this.
At about 11:20 a.m., they got back on the JR train and continued their journey towards the Shiretoko Penninsula where they will be staying for two nights. Then they will go to Lake Akan and a few other locations before heading back the the USA.
Have a great trip guys!!! I hope to see you all again soon, right here in God's Country. HOKKAIDO.
2009 June 8 Monday thru June 14 Sunday.
Don't
like the weather today? Wait for about 24 hours and it will be different.
The annual Flower Festival, 花 Festa, was held at the Taisetsu Arena from Wednesday thru Sunday this week.
Unfortunately, the weather was only hot and sunny for about 2 and one half of those days.
I went on Wednesday afternoon, and watched one of my students sing with a women's chorus group called "SOLEIL" which means "sunflower" in the French Language.
In today's photo, you can see that all of the ladies in the chorus group have sunflowers on their lapels.
The Flower Festival attracts a lot of older people who are enthusiastic about flower gardening. They can buy nice plants at the festival and replant them in their own gardens at home.
Also, they have a lot of other arts and crafts on display and for sale inside the Taisetsu Arena.
Everything from woodworking products, to original jewelry and even Bonsai Miniature Trees.
Because the weather was cold and rainy for about half of the days, not as many people came to the Flower Festival this year, as usually come.
This was bad news for the merchants who were trying to sell their products.
It was bad news for me too, because I had been planning to go to the Asahiyama Zoo on either Saturday or Sunday, but it was cold and rainy during the afternoon on both days. Maybe next week?
2009 June 1 Monday thru June 7 Sunday.
Welcome
to the "rainy season" in Hokkaido. Unlike the rest of Japan, Hokkaido
doesn't really have a Rainy Season 梅雨, but it does rain more in June than during
most of the other warm months.
As such, it always rains for a least one day during the 3 day GoKoku JinJa Sai 護国神社祭 meaning "protect the country shrine festival". This festival was held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week.
When it rains during this festival, it is called "Namida Ame" 涙雨 meaning "rain of tears". This refers to the tears of sorrow caused by the many deaths that occurred during the wars throughout Japanese history.
On Saturday was held the annual Marching Band Music Parade, in which everyone from kindergartens, elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and various other groups, participate in a day long march, through the main streets of downtown Asahikawa. The police were out in force to control traffic during this event.
On Saturday evening, Ikuko and I left our home at about 17:00, and walked on over to Tokiwa Park where the carnival was happening.
Along the way, we stopped in at a Yaki Tori restaurant to eat dinner and drink a few beers. The place is called ToriChuu 鳥忠 and is located at 旭川市2条2丁目・TEL（0166）29 - 2911. This place used to be a restaurant called Aroi アロイ which is the Thai word for "delicious". However it went out of business after about two or three years.
When ToriChuu took over the building, they did a very smart thing. They put windows into the wall that faces the street, allowing passersby to see inside the restaurant and thus, become more likely to open the new glass sliding doors, and step inside the place.
Small simple ideas such as this, can make a very big difference in the number of new customers that a business gets. You don't need an MBA to figure it out.
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