image from shutterstock.com inside October, 2011 04 The Prez 06 AJET Events 10 JET Effect 14 Life After JET 19 Culture Corner 30 Volunteering Japan 34 Volunteering Japan 38 Travel 48 Food 58 Workplace Tips 64 Haiku 68 Fashion and Beauty 72 Games & Hardward 76 The Art of Manliness 82 Japanese Study Tips photo via shutterstock.com 86 Photo Contest

Welcome to Connect The monthly e-zine produced for JETs, by JETs, featuring the best news and articles from all over Japan. We are currently looking for writers, editors, photographers, and artists who want to create con- tent for this national publication! We need YOU, the JET community, to get involved. Send us your short stories, news articles, photographs, comics… whatever it is that you do best…to [email protected]. We’re waiting to see what you’ve got! Make your voice heard!

CEO Matthew Cook PR/MEDIA Cailin Arena ART DIRECTOR Rob Maxwell EDITORIAL Sarah Blenkhorn CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Cailin Arena (News) Annabella Massey (Fashion & Beauty) Amelia Hagen (Travel) Simon Daly (Food) Anna Engle (Entertainment) Adam Chludzinski (Sports) Lisa Cross & Sarah Blenkhorn (Events) Bryan Darr & Sarah Blenkhorn (Education) Sarah Blenkhorn (Culture) Simon Bender (Short Stories) Miriam Rollason (Volunteering) ADVERTISING Amelia Hagen & Miriam Rollason ADMINISTRATION/ ACCOUNTING Mark Noizumi IT Kevin Mitchell www.ajet.net [email protected] photo via shutterstock.com 3 Welcome to the October are sometimes overlooked. However, this made Edition of AJET connect! me question.... is everyone else? It’s been a significant month in the world of the JET Programme. How do we as JETs promote the On September 8th, the ministries hosted a com- value of what we do and the return memorative symposium at the University of Tokyo on investment that we provide to discuss 25 years of the JET Programme; what to the communities we serve? it has accomplished, and what challenges it faces today. The symposium featured many notable speakers, such as United States ambassador to For example, did you know that over 20 of the Japan, John Roos, and Ms. Yoko Kimura, the Chair employees at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo are of the Board of Directors of CLAIR. former JETs? Did you know that after the March 11th disasters, current JETs raised an estimated On behalf of AJET, myself and AJET council mem- ¥140,000,000 yen towards the relief efforts? These bers Mark Noizumi (treasurer) and Amelia Hagen are only two examples of ways that JETs have (Block 10 rep) attended. After brief opening state- given back to Japan. The benefits of JET are vast, ments by the ministry heads, and the elimination of the program would have far reaching consequences. many speakers were given the chance to spotlight JETs’ achievements, and voice issues pertinent to Toward the end of the day, the governor of Kyoto Symposium the program. made an interesting point that stuck in my mind. Speakers He said that he believes the competition of pri- vately hired JETs and the decrease of requests for 1. Jim Gannon JETs is actually a good thing! He reasoned that this Former JET and Executive Director of the U.S. We ARE the future of JET. competition would serve as a stimulus for positive change in our programme to become better and to based Japan Center for International Exchange. Current JETs lay the groundwork show more quality than it ever has in the past. for our successors who come 2. Keiji Yamada next to fill our shoes. That’s when I realized…. We ARE the positive Governor of Kyoto change in the system now. As we speak, AJET has Prefecture, President of been working on more ways to provide resources the National Governors to make JETs better teachers. Ways to learn Japa- Association One issue, for Japan as a country, that repeatedly nese more fluently. Opportunities to develop our- 3. Masao Niisato came up was the fact that the number of Japa- selves professionally in the field of education. Professor at Tokyo nese students who study abroad or attend univer- International University sities in foreign countries has been on a steady Not only that, but we’re finding better ways to con- decline for years. This is particularly troubling nect to each other online and in person via social 4. Angus Lockyer in light of Japan’s efforts to globalize as more media and larger scale, better planned volunteer Chair of Japan’s Research Centre, University of and more businesses are enforcing English as a efforts! We’re finding better ways to let JETs London required standard. VOICE their opinions and concerns to the not only the ministries, but to the people we interact with in 5. Jin Ah Kim A highlighted concern for the JET Programme itself our communities and workplaces everyday! Director of International was the increasing number of Boards of Education Cooperation Department, who hire ALTs privately, or through recruiting com- So, do we need to wait for the ministries to “save Governors Association of panies other than JET. One of the many challenges JET”? Should we wait for JET Alumni to prove that Korea the programme faces is how to best promote the the Programme is a world-renowned program, that 6. Yoko Kimura value of what we do, and the return on investment should be held in the highest regard so that we The Chair of the Board of that we can provide to the communities we serve. have luck with future employers? Directors, CLAIR

As the Chair of AJET, I am fortunate enough to No. 7. Akira Nakamura Emeritus Professor at work with many people who have done amazing Meiji Univeristy. things with their time on JET. As such, I am aware We need look no farther than to ourselves for this. We of the many benefits of the JET programme that ARE the future of JET. Current JETs lay the ground-

4 5 work for our successors who come AJET Events ran into were because this is fee to two clubs, including one next to fill our shoes. the first time an event like this drink at each place. FUBAR is Hot Days, Cool Nights has ever been done.” He contin- owned and run by a former Fuku- I feel honored to have attended – Kyushu in October ued on an optimistic note, “It’s oka JET and is a popular club a symposium of so many people our sincere hope that this can playing primarily hip-hop music who have made amazing contribu- Even as the days get cooler, become an annual event, as it on the weekends. Dark Room is tions to the JET Programme, and Kyushu is heating up! AJET is will be a lot easier to get sup- just down the road from FUBAR who all have a stake in its survival. hosting two big events in Kyushu port and plan for an event that and plays more alternative music. I think we should take this sym- this month. has been done in the past. Also, Dark Room has a pool table and posium as a reminder that now we will get to call future events foosball table in addition to the is the time for us to make more The Ichi Kyu Bee! Mixed Kyushu things like Ni Kyu Bee, which regular dance floor. of this experience. The time is Beach Frisbee Tournament is tak- sounds like ‘niku’, and San Kyu, now for us to work together to be ing place over two days, on Octo- or ‘Thank you’ bee!” Unfortunately, reservations for something MORE. ber 1-2nd, 2011, in Otachimisaki the game and the beer garden Park, Ashikita. Ichi Kyu Bee is On Saturday there will be about are no longer being accepted, I personally can’t wait to get the First (Ichi) Annual All-Kyushu 65 people for the hat tournament but RSVPs will be taken for the started making that happen. I (Kyu) Mixed Beach (Bee) Ulti- and barbecue. There are about clubbing event until Oct 10th. hope you’ll join us. mate Tournament. 135 people confirmed for the Sunday games. All expectations Amelia Hagen, the event organ- Connect with you next month, Ichi Kyu Bee is the first ALT- are for a fully filled, Frisbee-fling- izer, gives her predictions and hosted co-ed Ultimate Frisbee ing day of fun. Fingers crossed hopes for Fukuoka Day Out: Matthew Cook tournament in Kyushu. ALTs and that it won’t rain! “First off, I'm predicting a Soft- National AJET Chair their friends, all Ultimate Frisbee bank Hawks victory over the lovers, are gathering from all over After the Frisbee Tournament, Chiba Lotte! Second, I hope Kyushu and beyond. In the gen- you have about two weeks to JETs from various prefectures erous spirit of Ultimate Frisbee, recover for the Block 10 Fuku- will leave with many new friends beginners are welcome to play. oka Day Out on October 15th and an appreciation for Fukuoka The first day will be a Hat tourna- and 16th. This will be the first City. We wanted to provide some ment of randomized teams, while Block 10 event in at least four variety in terms of events for CONNECT 2011, able. Tickets are 3,000 yen per the second will follow a regular years. Block 10 consists of Fuku- people coming from outside of which is not affiliated person, 8,000 yen for a party of format. An evening barbeque will oka, Oita, Saga, and Nagasaki. Fukuoka prefecture, so we came with CONNECT mag- three and 12,000 yen for a party be hosted by KumAJET on the up with several activities so that azine, is a grassroots of five. Camping spots are avail- first night, and accommodations Fukuoka Day Out begins with people could pick and choose local festival taking able for 1,000 yen a tent. have been booked at nearby cab- baseball at the Yahoo! Dome! what they wanted to partake in, place in Yamagata ins, so come prepared to have a The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks and explore Fukuoka during the prefecture. This great For more information, check the great time and meet a lot of new are playing Chiba Lotte.106 JETS rest of the weekend. My goal ALT-friendly event blog and map provided: people. and their friends are attend- is to get JETs excited about all has been growing Blog: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/con- ing from seven prefectures and that Block 10 has to offer. Hope- in size for the past nectoguni (Japanese only) As event coordinator Adam miraculously sitting in the same fully this will lead to future block four years and last Map: http://g.co/maps/y2p4 Chludzinski says, “This is hap- section together! Cheering for events around northern Kyushu.” year, JETs from as far pening! Planning for Ichi Kyu the home team is expected, of away as Gunma and Bee has been a lot of work, but course… Amelia has some props, too, for CONNECT 2011 in Sendai attended. The great thing thanks to the help of KumAJET the prefectural AJET chapters. Oguni, Yamagata about this event is the commu- and our sponsors, the event is After the game, organizers are “”We’ve received some awe- nity feeling you get from it. It's coming together nicely. T-shirts expecting around 120-150 peo- some support from organizers in “Walk on a 150 year old pave- about people coming together have been ordered, field and ple for the Asahi Beer Garden Saga, Fukuoka, Oita, and Miya- ment in forest, wake up in the and enjoying being with nature. cabin reservations made, and event. Beer garden goers will zaki. I really appreciate everyone air of the earth. Move your body the game schedule is nearing be chowing down on all-you- being on board and helping to with Taiko Rhythm, dance in a The mix of music is very eclectic completion! I can’t wait!” can-eat Genghis Khan yakiniku organize the event – we couldn’t circle around the fire. and there's something for eve- and gulping Asahi beer. have done it without them!” ryone. This year, there are art- It’s always a huge team effort to We bless the nature in Oguni ists coming from all over Japan organize an event like this, and A night out at clubs along Ten- Kyushu has something for every- town, people get connected and even the United Kingdom. problems are bound to occur, jin's Oyafuko-dori in Fukuoka will one in October, so make a visit from all around.” Like all festivals, there will be a Adam acknowledged, “A lot of wrap up the day out. Clubbing part of your plans! variety of food and drink avail- the logistical problems that we begins with a single 1,000 yen

6 7 Events by Region Hokkaido Osaka Language Exchange Meetup is October 1st in Namba. Hokkaido Hokkaido JETs are going to Hike Mount Rausu on October 1st! Osaka (Block6/7) Halloween Event on October 29th Tohoku Region Osaka AJET will have its fourth meeting on October 12th. Iwate Iwate AJET will be climbing Mt. Iwate on October 8th on the Umagaeshi trail. Wakayama Lots of Wakayama JETs are attending a birthday dinner party on October 1st. Yamagata Connect 2011 is happening October 8th-10th at Kurosawa in Oguni, Yamagata. Wakayama JETs are going camping on Friend Island, October 15th. Fukushima Halloween SHINE is October 22nd in Aizu Wakamatsu City. Shikoku Region The 2011 International Festival Aizu is October 29th! Shikoku Field Day will be held in Shikoku Saburo no Sato, in Mima City, Tokushima on November 26th and 27th. Fukushima ALTs are doing a Home Visit Program in Aizu on November 5th. Ehime October 1st-2nd is the Niihama Welcome Party, held on the beach in Niihama. Kantou Region October 15th Ehime JETs will climb Mt. Ishizuchi, tallest mountain on Shikoku. Chiba Chiba AJET Baseball Game trip goes to see the Chiba Marines on October 1st. Ehime JETs assist with the Yoshida International Association’s Halloween party Chiba JETs go Camping in Otaki October 8th-9th! for the local elementary and junior high school students on October 15th. Chiba JETs are prepping for the Tokyo Yamathon 2011. October 23rd is the Matsuyama Orphanage Visit. Gunma Gunma JETs join the football tourney in Nagano on October 1st. Kochi JETs will make an excursion to Nahari Hotel Beer Garden on Friday 30th Kochi Chubu Region September. Shizuoka Shizuoka JETs go to Costume Karaoke on October 1st! October 8th-10th is Surf Camp in Kuroshio-cho for Kochi JETs. Shizuoka AJET makes an excursion to Fuji-Q Highland on October 15th. Kochi JETs are getting artsy at Mouth to Mouth: a meeting of makings on Octo- ber 23rd in Kochi City. Shizuoka JETs are invited to the 2011 Halloween Party on October 30th. Kochi-JETs are helping with Halloween Party in an abandoned school building Nagano will host the all-Japan JET soccer tournament on October 1st and 2nd on October 28th. Nagano at Sugadaira Sania Park. Kyushu Region Nagano JETs are going camping October 8th-10th in Kamikouchi. The Notsu City’s annual Halloween Party will be October 8th, and Oita JETs are Oita Cricket Game: Nagano vs. Hakuba, October 19th. helping out! October 16th, the Ina English Guide Club will present Zazen Meditation. Fukuoka October 15th 'Block 10 Fukuoka Day Out' Toyama Toyama JETs are going on a Kyoto Trip, October 7th-10th. KumAJET and DiscSports Japan present Ichi Kyuu Bee on October 1st, featur- Kumamoto ing 4 ALT Teams (Saga, Oita, Miyazaki, and Kumamoto) and 9 Japanese Teams Toyama AJET is holding a Cheesecake Bakeoff on Sunday, October 16th, in (Shakaijin and college students from all over Kyushu). Nanto city. Kumamoto JETs will be rafting down the Kuma River on Saturday, 15th October Kansai Region with LandEarth. Kyoto Kyoto AJET takes part in the Mikoshi Challenge, October 9th. Nara Nara JETs will make a trip to Hiroshima‘s Sake Festival, October 7th-10th. The Nara AJET Halloween Party will be at the Wormwood Café on October 29th. Hyogo Hyogo JETs Rant and Rave at the Lock Up in Kobe, September 30th. 'Don't see your event here? There will be an art event (dance, music, theater, visual arts, performance art, sculpture, installation, etc.) in the Fukuchiyama abandoned train tunnel on October 1st. Let us know about your Akashi Disc Summit, featuring Beach Ultimate, will be October 2nd at Okura Beach in Akashi. upcoming events! Send your info Hyogo JETs go rafting and canyoning in Shikoku, October 9th and 10th. to [email protected]') The Tajima Halloween Party will be October 29th in Yabu.

8 9 Choshu (Yamaguchi), and Sat- suma (Nagasaki). “I share my enthusiasm by going to these places, learning the history, and then finally reporting on what I learned. I did have to strengthen my Japanese proficiency in order to get the information I needed from Japanese descriptions at museums.”

Haruko’s reports started as notes on her Facebook page. She also told her students about her trav- els, and they started gaining an interest in the places she went and the pictures that she took. “This year I started ‘Ms. Rhoads's Travel Diary’. Each diary entry is a page long on B4 paper posted Haruko Rhoads in the English room, and gives Sarah Jane Blenkhorn highlights of my trip in English, including a couple of pictures. Her legal name is Carol Ann My students have learned about Rhoads. However, now she intro- swordsmithing in Nara, a fun day Jet Effect duces herself as Haruko Rhoads. in Kyoto wearing kimono, histori- She lives in Tondabayashi, Osaka, cal landmarks in Fushimi, Kyoto, which she proudly describes climbing Mt. Konpira in Kagawa as "home of the Perfect Lib- Prefecture, and of many histori- erty Fireworks Display, the big- cal landmarks in Kochi Prefecture. gest of Japan's displays boast- I hope that this lights that spark ing 120,000 rockets fired, and that the students may pounce on Jinaimachi, which is a preserved later in their life. While presently Edo-style neighborhood known my introductions are just a paper for being a religious sanctuary as on a wall written up in a strange well as home to a few success- language, I believe it takes just ful sake breweries.” She is in that, just a little push on one her fifth and last year on JET. domino to get the others going. It takes just one child to look at Haruko loves the history of Japan, the wall and be totally inspired.” and the fact that you can expe- rience it no more than a train or Haruko realized that she could bus ride away. She has been to only understand Japanese cul- 22 of 47 prefectures, extending ture up to a certain point from her feet as far northeast as Nii- museums. She couldn’t literally gata and as far west as Naga- put her hands on most things saki. Haruko’s current focus is relating to the past, nor could the Edo Period (1603-1868) and she see with her own eyes what the Bakumatsu Period, which life really must have been like. ended the Edo Period and con- So she decided to take up tradi- tinued into the Meiji Restoration. tional arts that have survived into She focuses mostly on revolu- the modern day, starting with the tionary samurai such as Ryoma Japanese sword. This February, Sakamoto, and key characters she joined a small iaido group in from the domains of Tosa (Kochi), Osaka; the next step into a more

11 photo from shutterstock.com interactive approach to culture, Through her pictures, video, dia- least try it so that you can share history, and how present customs ries, and reports, Haruko hopes this with your coworkers and derived from the customs of old. to generate more understand- build better relations with them. “Japan's culture evolved around ing about this mysterious but the sword, so it was only natural extremely interesting country to “Finally, knowing the Japanese to go in that direction. Ever since others. Her scope does not stop language is a big part of what I then, completely new doors have with those living overseas, but do. With this skill under my belt, opened up. I had direct access with coworkers and students at I have learned more things than that gave me more perspective school, and with the community, I have ever read from any Eng- on how Japanese live their daily both with the members of her lish text. The stories that come lives.” It was further exposure iaido group and the population straight from those who live for the members of her group to that sees her perform or sees here are priceless. I can say that learn about a foreigner who really her wearing traditional clothing. the Japanese language was not loved their country and could something I learned overnight. I get into meaningful conversa- To JETs, Haruko says, “Traveling started it with 4 years of college tions about history, culture, and is so easy in Japan. Even in just and 8 years of off and on self- the sword, Haruko also exposed a weekend, there is so much study after that, with 5 of those a relatively unknown martial art ground that could be covered. years here in Japan. It's hard, with a 500-year history overseas I normally travel by night bus but it is so worth it if you man- as well as to other Japanese here or by overnight ferry. They are age to get a workable communi- in Japan, showing her audience the cheapest forms of transpor- cation going. The bond between what samurai of old might have tation here and you can spend you and your community will looked like through pictures and an extra whole day at your des- become stronger should you video of iaido at practices, dem- tination rather than wasting the choose to meet the challenge.” onstrations, festivals, and com- waking hours traveling and being petitions. exhausted when you get there. Haruko is making the most, and Big trips can be quite expen- then some, of her experience History, culture, and swords is sive, especially if you are like me here in Japan, and pursuing a only one aspect of what Haruko and only stay at Japanese Inns. life-long dream. Here’s hop- does. The second traditional art If you're not picky, Japanese ing you will be inspired by her she practices is kimono kitsuke websites such as jalan.net and example, and take the plunge (kimono dressing). She took Rakuten provide excellent deals yourself! a 10-day course, and now she on hotel fares.” wears kimono with confidence. “I share this skill mostly with Jap- “As far as getting into martial anese friends and coworkers as arts, for me it was who I knew well as students. I think Japa- that got me introduced. Your fel- nese people are interested in low JETs may have ways to get kimono kitsuke, but are not quite you connected, while other ven- sure how to get involved or think ues such as work and commu- it is too difficult. I have dressed nity have theirs. There is really a my friends in kimono and we go lot of opportunity for martial arts out for a walk through historical around your community or your Kyoto or to go watch fireworks prefecture. The point is all you or enjoy small festivals. I have have to do is ask, and that is just Who will be the next also inspired Japanese members what I did. It changed my life.” JET featured in JET of my iaido group to take kitsuke Effect? We're looking for classes, so that they can wear “For those interested in kimono outstanding JETs who are kimono themselves and go out kitsuke, I got involved through a making a positive impact with me for a day. I also dress local kimono shop. After I bought in their communities. in kimono for formal events such an obi from them, they asked Send us the name of a as my school's formal drinking me if I could put it on, and that's JET you think is making parties and my students’ gradua- when they introduced me to a a difference, and include tion ceremony.” class that they offer to their cus- a short explanation why. tomers. I encourage JETs to at [email protected].

12 13 ber Kariya being 17 minutes away from Nagoya by express train and Life right next to Toy- ota-shi. I was in the heart of the after auto industry, kind of the Detroit of Japan (but Detroit JET in the 1940s and 50s :-). And apparently Toy- ota was founded in Kariya. It was home to two large Toyota sub- sidiaries--Nippon Denso and Toyota Aishin--and lots of smaller auto man- ufacturers and suppliers. I lived This month we talk right across the street from the to Steven Horowitz Nippon Denso factory which was huge, like a city unto itself. Kar- Steven Horowitz is a notable iya's sister city is Mississauga, JET alumni who is the creator Ontario and one of the two JETs of JETWit (a resource and news always had a Mississauga con- site for both current and past nection. JETs) as well as the founder of the Writers Interpreters Trans- How did JET- lators Group. In addition to the wit come about? JetWit site, Steven has initiated JETwit evolved from my 6 years a number of creative approaches as JETAA New York's Newslet- to strengthening and connect- ter Editor. I grew the Newsletter ing the JET alumni community into more of an alumni magazine worldwide, including the first- and a sort of de facto national ever JET Alumni Author Show- publication for JETAA USA. I case in March 2009, the JetWit wanted to be able to gather Jobs Google Group and the JET more writers from other chap- ROI series intended to demon- ters, to generate content that all strate the “return on investment” chapter newsletters could use as that JET alumni have provided a way to engage and strengthen to Japan in response to potential the JET alum community. I cre- budget cuts to JET and JETAA ated an email list called the Writ- ers Interpreters Translators (WIT) Can you tell us about Group that became a way to iden- your time on JET, tify and gather good writers as placement, etc? well as established authors like I was in Aichi-ken, Kariya-shi from Roland Kelts who wrote Japana- 1992-94. I and another JET both merica. worked for the town and rotated among 6 junior high schools I rolled translators and interpret- on a weekly basis. I remem- ers in as well because I realized

15 photo from shutterstock.com community could be playing. So I started gather- What would you tell a JET who What are you hoping to see come ing and posting relevant job listings based on what just arrived in Japan? from JETs in the future? I knew JETs tended to look for: translation, writing, Well, I was in Japan before email and the Inter- More authors, more translators, more JETs in lead- international education, etc. And I've done what I net were available, so I don't have too much practi- ership positions in both the Japan-related world can to try and connect JETs with other alums who cal advice. But I would want to convey to a newly as well as areas that have nothing to do with might be able to be helpful. I also regularly encour- arrived JET how they're part of something bigger Japan. Three JET alums ran for Congress this past age alums to write posts that will be engaging for and something that will be part of them for the rest year in the U.S. It's only a matter of time before readers but also professionally beneficial in some of their lives to the extent they want it to be. But JET alums become even more prevalent and prom- way to them. for the time being, just absorb the culture and the inent in politics, academia, business and other experience. Because that experience is what will fields. What is the JET ROI initiative? connect you with other alums the rest of your life JET ROI, aka "Return on JET-vestment," is a direct in a way very different from university or other Steven can be contacted at [email protected], and response to the threat to the future of the JET Pro- shared experiences. also has a LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin. gram posed by jigyo shiwake last year. I realized com/in/stevenwaseda. He currently lives in Brook- there were misguided and misinformed criticisms lyn with his family, and is a bankruptcy lawyer in of the JET Program floating around. And no one training. was making the case for all of the ways that the JET Program was providing benefits to Japan. Through JETwit and the Newsletter, I'd essentially been the only one tracking and documenting the activities and accomplishments of JET alums in an organ- ized way, though my intended audience had been primarily the alumni community. The JET ROI ini- there was a need to occasionally reach out and iden- tiative is intended in a sense for the Japanese gov- tify alums with good Japanese skills. I remember ernment, media and taxpayers. It's a way to give that George Rose, former JETAANY President and JET alumni as well as Japanese government agen- former interpreter for Hideki Irabu, had contacted cies and media an archive of examples they can me and a few other JETAANY officers because the point to do demonstrate the return on investment Yankees were searching for an interpreter for Kei that JETs have provided for Japan. Igawa and George thought there might be a good candidate in the JET alum community. Because of What is the goal for JETwit in the future? my Newsletter work, I had a sort of mental rolo- My goal for JETwit is to keep using it as a way dex I could tap. But I saw the need for a central for connecting, strengthening and tapping the email list that could quickly disseminate opportuni- alumni community and make it something that we ties that would be helpful to work-seeking alums all want to be connected to. Our community is a as well as demonstrate the value of the JET alum pretty amazing resource and array of people. And community to others. we're the next generation of Japan hands, so to speak. There was the World War II generation At a certain point, I realized it would make sense followed by the 1980s economic boom genera- for the WIT Group to have a public presence and I tion. By helping people stay connected, by helping turned it into the JETwit blog. I uploaded a lot of alums with career paths and finding work oppor- the content from the Newsletters I'd published and tunities, by keeping people connected to what's tried to make it a useful central source of informa- going on, we will have a stronger community. And tion for the JET alum community in the U.S. and that means you can go anywhere in the world, worldwide since there was no central informa- track down the local JETAA chapter and find com- tion channel at the time other than an email list for munity. chapter presidents. JETwit was my attempt to sort of fill a need without being asked. My other goal is to just keep helping JETs find work opportunities. The more JETs working and One other component or motivation behind JETwit doing interesting things, the more benefit to the was to help JETs find jobs. I was working in bank- community as a whole. Also, I think helping alums ruptcy law where we were just waiting for down- find jobs helps build loyalty and connection. In turn to come, and it occurred to me that JETs would this economy there's a need for more creative and soon be facing a tougher employment market and proactive approaches to finding work, and that's that there was a more proactive role the JET alum one way I can help.

16 17 Kami and Kannazuki it is bad luck for a couple to go Sarah Jane Blenkhorn to Izumo Taisha together before they are married.) In the Shinto tradition, it is believed that kami inhabit natu- The eight million gods of Japan, ral phenomena, and are present in the Shinto tradition, meet in such objects as trees, stones, in council in this month, ‘the water, mountains, and the heav- month of no gods’, which in Shi- enly bodies. Kami is a word mane prefecture is called Kami- which is difficult to translate, but aritsuki, or ‘the month when roughly means ‘gods’, ‘spirits’ or gods are present’. The gods con- ‘spiritual force’. These kami have vene at Izumo Taisha Shrine to divine power and can assist or discuss the fortunes of mortals thwart human fortunes. Some in the coming year, particularly places, too, have spiritual energy marriages, births and deaths. and are worshipped like kami. The priests at Izumo Taisha wel- People, when they die, also come the gods and perform become kami of varying power. rites over seven days during the council of the gods before finally In the old calendar of Japan, the seeing them off with great cer- tenth month of the year was emony. During that time, Izumo called Kannazuki, or Kaminat- Taisha is believed to have great suki; “the month of no gods.” spiritual energy. In that month, the sacred trees, encircled with rice-straw ropes There are, in fact, at least two and girded with fluttering white gods who do not attend the paper, sat hollow for a time, their council at Izumo Taisha. One of spirits flown. The sea-bound these gods is Ebisu, the mirth- islands, marked by lonely torii, ful god of fishermen, luck and were abandoned by their keep- labourers. Legends conflict as ers. The humble, moss-wrapped to why he does not attend the stone monuments deep in the council. Some legends say he forests were left empty, and doesn’t hear or ignores the sum- prayers would be made in vain mons, choosing to attend his to empty boxes. Every shrine in own festival. Others say he acts Japan, whether it was the grand as a self-appointed guardian, red-striped passages of Itsuku- protecting Japan while the other shima or the broad cobbled walk- gods are absent. ways of holy Ise, could offer no consolation or aid to the pilgrims The other notable god not in who came there. attendance is Namazu, the god of earthquakes. In the shape of a Every shrine but one. giant catfish, he thrashes through the earth, causing it to shake. He culture corner Shimane, which long ago was is unable to attend the meeting Izumo Province, is home to many because the other gods have of the oldest myths of Japan, pinned his head in place to pre- including the creation myths. vent his destructive movements. Izumo Taisha, over a thousand years old and considered one If you are thinking of visiting a of the three most important shrine soon, I’d advise you to shrines in Japan, is the mythic wait until November. Unless, centre of Shimane, and home to that is, you live in Shimane, in Okuninushi, the god of marriage. which case your wishes are sure (According to local superstition, to be heard!

19 photo from shutterstock.com Calendar of Cutural Events in October 2011

Marimo Matsuri (Spherical This is an event which began with activities to conserve the Algae Festival), Akan-cho, endangered marimo algae of Lake Akanko. This unique festival Kushiro City, Hokkaido featuring marimo has developed into a major event of Hokkaido. For 3 days in early October

This is an autumn festival held at Suwa Shrine which has a history Nagasaki Kunchi Festival, of 370 years. The greatest highlight is the Hono-Odori in which the Nagasaki City, Nagasaki towns in charge, called Odori-cho, take turns every year to perform October 7th-8th dances. Each Odori-cho takes charge once every 7 years.

Suzuka Circuit is a race circuit in Mie Prefecture 0 kilometers Formula One Grand Prix, south of Nagoya, and one of the two venues, which staged the Suzuka, Mie Formula One Japanese Grand Prix in recent years. The other is Fuji October 9th Speedway in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Takayama Matsuri Autum The Autumn Hachiman Matsuri, prompts the local inhabitants to start Festival, Sakurayama their winter preparations. The greatest attractions are the eleven Hachiman Shrine, yatai floats which are designated as significant intangible folk cultural Takayama City, Gifu assets. October 9th-10th

O-eshiki refers to a Buddhist service commemorating a death, which Ikegami Honmonji is conducted on October 13th, the anniversary of Nichiren's death. O-Eshiki, Ikegami Honmon Although similar O-eshiki rituals are held at temples throughout the Temple,Ota-ku, Tokyo: country, the memorial service held at the Ikegami Honmon Temple October 11th-13th over three days is of the grandest scale.

Nada no Kenka Matsuri (Nada Fighting Festival), This festival was called by the name, Kenka Matsuri or 'Fighting Matsubara Hachiman Festival' because the mikoshi (portable shrines) are jolted against one Shrine, Himeji City, Hyogo another when carried on the shoulders of the men in the parade. October 14th and 15th

Shuki Taisai Grand Autumn This is the autumn festival of Nikko Toshogu, a registered World Festival, Nikko Toshogu Heritage Site. The Grand Autumn Festival is the grand procession Shrine, Nikko City, Tochigi of men dressed in samurai costumes (known as Hyakumono-Zoroe October 17th Sennin Gyoretsu or the Parade of 1,000 Samurai Warriors).

Jidai Matsuri (Festival of The highlight of the festival is the Jidai Gyoretsu (Historic Pageant): a the Ages), Heian Jingu mikoshi (a portable shrine) and a suite of some 2,000 people dressed Shrine, Kyoto City, Kyoto in costumes representing various eras of Kyoto's 1,200-year history October 22nd parade through the city.

Kurama no Hi-Matsuri (Kurama Fire Festival), This festival held at Yuki-jinja Shrine reproduces the scene of Yuki-jinja Shrine and the receiving the deity in Kurama. The Kurama Fire Festival is known as town of Kurama, Kyoto City, one of the three most eccentric festivals in Kyoto. Kyoto October 22nd

20 Buddha Statue - Chiba - photo from shutterstock.com 21 by local shopkeepers, and the and pose for end result was not-for-profit, but photos. rather, as a monument to the power of the imagination. See- The life-sized ing the huge life-sized robot Gundam is the made my son an instant fan. stuff of dreams, and the stuff The infamous life-sized Gundam, of reality. Gun- which was first erected in 2009 dam figures and in Tokyo's Odaiba, was for profit, models were backed by corporate Gundam originally cre- interests, and it wasn't the first ated so that life-sized Gundam Mobile Suit fans could own (a few years earlier, a reclining and build the Mobile Suits; they large mechas, exist across the 1/1 scale Gundam was built at a were at an attainable scale. You country. Japanese theme park). could hold these mechas in your hands. Holding them in your There is a religious connection The standing Gundam was hands did allow them to popu- too; though it is an abstract one, moved to the Bandai Namco late bookshelves, but didn't pro- and even a somewhat super- toy factory in Shizuoka where vide a concrete representation ficial one. Japan has a hand- Gundam plastic models and fig- of their true scale. ful of extremely large Buddhist ures are made, but returned to statues across the country as Tokyo this month in pieces (pos- By making the mecha figures well as large scale Nio guard- Why Big, Badass The statues of these robots and thanks in large part to Astro Boy sibly as a result of being dam- life-sized, that took them out ians at Buddhist temples. These mechas are the landmarks that in 1952. While Astro Boy wasn't aged during the March 11 earth- of the bedroom and put them do provide an artist tradition Robots & Mecha proudly scream, this is what we a giant robot, 1956's Tetsujin-28 quake). For ¥500 (US$6.50), in the real world. These life- for sculpting and figure making, Rule Japan dreamed, this is what we did, was. The manga was inspired visitors could view the enor- sized mecha statues are not but also fascination with sheer and this is what we can do. by the U.S. firebombing of Kobe mous 1/1 scale mecha up close true mechas—are don't walk size. The big Buddhas are over- By Brian Ashcraft via Kotaku.com and the notion of top secret and sit in the Mobile Suit's hand around and swing their weap- whelming and remain a marvel In Japan, it's important super weapons. Tetsujin-28 was ons. But they are real even today. The heat was unbearable. A to note that the words a modern take on the Franken- representations of the group of kids scurried to find "robot" and "mecha" are stein monster, with a little boy Mobile Suits' immen- Likewise, the huge robot and shade, but they did't find it sometimes used inter- able to control the enormous sity, bringing them mecha statues, while devoid of under trees. changeably by fans robot's every move. It was, in a one planted step the same religious meaning, do and creators as well. way, a fantasy version of a real closer to reality. intrinsically carrying that same A 59-foot robot statue tow- Metal Gear. sense of enormity. And like the ered over the people and In English, there's a clear dis- These are not the huge Buddhas, they do beckon shops below. Made of steel, tinction. "In a Western sense at The robot, with its round curves, first huge robot stat- followers (here, fans) to come it's far larger than the inflat- least, robots are normally arti- looks different from the origami ues in Japan. The and visit from far and wide, peo- able 26-foot Gigantor erected ficially intelligent machines," folded-paper mecha designs first include fan- ple like my brother-in-law, who in Tokyo's Shinjuku earlier this doublesix game designer made popular in the late 70s made creations. Most grew up building Gundam mod- month. That Gigantor, née Tet- Ollie Barder, currently work- and throughout the 1980s. Yet, notably, there is an els. He drove half a day to Tokyo, sujin-28, might be filled with ing on Strike Suit Zero, told me. it remains an iconic Post War unofficial 1/3 scale, visited the giant Gundam, and hot air, but its brethren are "Whereas mecha, as a term at robot, today inspiring a whole MSZ-006 Zeta Gun- them promptly returned home. made of steel. Both types join least, is broader and normally new generation of kids, like my dam inspired "Giant "I just had to see it," he told me. a laundry list of giant robots encompasses vehicles piloted son who visited a 1/1 scale ver- Mobile Suit" that was This wasn't merely paying one's that tower over Japan. by people." In Japanese, "robot" sion after it was erected two designed and created respects, but wrapping your is often used for both machines years ago. in 1999 by a Gundam head around the idea of some- Japan is crazy about robots and that move and also humanoid maniac. The robot, thing that existed only in pic- mecha—the bigger, the better. machines, which is why it's not My son and his grandfather located in the sleepy tures and small statues making If there's another thing Japan's uncommon to see the word packed a lunch and took the town of Tsuyama, the leap to life-sized reality. gaga for, it's actually build- "robot" slapped on mecha toys. train out to Hyogo Prefecture to even appears on the ing them. And not just to look see the 59-foot statue that cost city's website as a Large monsters, large superhe- at, but actual, operational giant The 1950s saw the rise in over a million and half dollars local tourist attraction. roes, and large robots became mechas—for children, even! popularity of robots in comics, to build. The money was raised These, among other huge in the years following the

22 23 war. Godzilla was, yes, influ- nese company from not only Earlier this summer, a group A Word to the Wise enced by King Kong, but its making working mechas, but of young people in Mibu, what Rosie size became a metaphor for selling them. was formerly Japan's toy capi- the enormity and destructive tal—a capital since diminished Dear readers of Connect, power of nuclear war. When the "I grew up reading robot com- by increased toy production in character captured the public's ics and watching robot anime," China—decided that the one Let’s bring back the neglected and long-forgot- imagination, you started to see 38-year-old Masaaki Nagumo thing it need to energize its ten “ADVICE COLUMN!” big for the sake of being big. told Kotaku. Nagumo heads town was a life-sized Gundma up the Landwalker project at Zaku. Can you really blame If you have a goal, a dream, a question, a prob- Robots have a long history in Japan's Sakakibara Machin- them? These life-sized robots lem, - anything at all -and you need some advice, Japan, with the karakuri mech- ery Works Co. "Why make a and these life-sized mechas, please send it to [email protected] by anized puppets from the 17th working mecha?" said Nagumo. with their feet on the ground the 15th of the month. I will try to address 2 or 3 century onward. The Japanese- "Why not?" The Landwalker is and their heads in the sky, are questions each month. Check for the answer to ness, or "wafuu" as it's called a 12-foot high, gasoline pow- metaphors for more than the your questions in the next issue of Connect. here, of mechas resides in their ered mecha, controlled by ped- desire to dream, but also the design. "What with the dissolu- als that is able to fire rubber desire to make those dreams tion of the samurai during the balls from its air cannon. You reality. Meiji Restoration, mecha were can buy this. For ¥36 million or Dear Rosie, partly birthed from that cultural US$467,000 (without tax). Top photo: Koji Sasahara | AP, vacuum," said game designer Idzuhiko Ueda, Katsumi Kasahara Every morning at work the teachers serve me Barder, who also writes the It will take about a year and ten | AP, Shuji Kajiyama | AP tea even though I have asked them not to. What mecha blog Mecha Damashii. "I months for Sakakibara Machin- A large Gundam model poses do I do? >.< think this is also why for Jap- ery Works to make one for with a female model. (Bandai anese mecha they are often you. And Sakakibara Machin- Namco) Signed, ciphers for the human pilots, ery Works has sold Landwalk- A life-sized Gundam towers over Sick of cultural barriers like armor, and a means to help ers, two of them to be exact. If Tokyo trees. (Koji Sasahara | AP) them attain a form of spirit- you can't afford the half a mil- The Landwalker. (Katsumi Kasa- ual redemption." Not to men- lion bucks required for your own hara | AP) tion, continued Barder, the huge rubber-ball-shooting and stomp- Dear Sick of cultural barriers, swords they carry. "To me at ing-about real mecha, least, there's definitely a strong then you can always It can definitely be difficult at times to get element of bushido when it inquire with Sakak- thoughts and feelings accurately expressed comes to mecha in Japan." ibara Kikai about rent- across language and cultural barriers. In Japa- ing one. nese, there is a “rule of three.” One is expected These life-sized statues become to politely refuse something once or twice a physical embodiment of that There's something before accepting it. Therefore, the host will bushido manifestation, and also about these large offer three times. After the three times, they a monument to what can be robots and mechas. should stop. Perhaps the teachers simply think achieved and what might be They touch a nerve you are trying to be polite in refusing the tea? possible, which is why there in the deep recesses are always geeks talking about of the mind, sparking Also, have you tried speaking to the tea pourer and trying to calculate the an immediate emo- directly? You should first thank him or her for the cost of building a real, working tional response (usu- trouble, but politely explain that you won’t need 60-foot mecha. Even the guy ally a "holy shit"), but any tea in the morning. If this doesn’t work, sim- who made the Gundam inspired also showing both ply let them give you tea and just leave the tea statue in Okayama Prefecture is what is possible and untouched. It is polite for a host to give you tea keen to have it eventually move. what is not. While or food even if you say no. If you continue to Japan hasn't devel- leave your tea untouched, they will hopefully get Building life-sized working oped real 59-foot the idea eventually. In the case that they don’t, mechas are not cost effective mechas that can run, just continue to leave it there. No harm no foul. right now—maybe they will fly, and attack, these be in the future when we're all statues are more Best, wearing groovy space pants than dreams, they're Rosie and floating in the cosmos. But pick me ups for the that isn't stopping one Japa- human spirit.

24 25 compressed cotton. Except old and have no smell. They are soft and slightly the wind, heat and cold. The older houses here for the front door, all of the giving underfoot, and feel good. You never, ever are made of natural things – wood, stone, paper, doors are sliding doors, either wear shoes or even slippers on a tatami mat floor. glass. I see families that have lived here for centu- of stippled, translucent glass ries. Ishibashi is fenced in to the north by a bank (between the kitchen and With the exception of the stool and table I’m sitting of hills covered with graceful bamboo forests. Nes- living room) or paper over at, all of my furniture is very low, suited to people tled in the woods on one of those hills is Senjuin, wood (the bedroom and who are used to sitting or kneeling on the floor. The one of my favorite temples because of the aged closet doors). My predeces- bedroom closet is very deep, since it’s designed to and honoured weeping cherry tree there. To the sor Nicola left me well sup- hold the futon and all of the bedding during the day, east Ishibashi fades into the slightly more modern plied with furniture, bedding so there is lots of storage. I’m pondering cheap neighbourhood of Dairin-cho. The south and west and cooking instruments. ways to decorate my place and make it my own. I boundaries are marked by the curving line of the She also left evidence of her reclaimed my lamps from my old apartment. castle moat, and stepping out onto the street from penchant for cartoon charac- my parking lot, I can see the glowering eaves of ters – the shower room was I knew, or knew of, the last four people who lived the castle standing watchful guard over us. This partly decorated in Sponge- in this apartment – Nicola, and Tiffany (another is the original castle town, and three hundred and bob Squarepants parapherna- Nova Scotian), Anton, and Nigel (whom I never met, fifty or four hundred years ago, this was the bus- lia, including a sponge (natu- but who was a close friend of Seiji’s). But JETs tling heart of Matsue. rally) and Spongebob slippers have been living here for at least fourteen years (I grinning goofily up at me. base my evidence on the old coffee mug I’m using, Walking or cycling along the streets is an adventure, The bathroom, separate from which reads ‘In Memory of Your High School Life in that they are very narrow, with unevenly covered the shower, has a Winnie the – Matsue Higashi ‘96’). That explains some of the gutters along them, and organized in a – what’s the Pooh and Tigger theme. “Not wear-and-tear. word… higgledy-piggledy manner. Someone once Letters to Canada your style,” my friend Seiji pronounced on his visit told me the streets were deliberately designed to Notes From an ALT’s Journal to my place. He was right. Also, there were way The neighbourhood curve and confuse, at a time when castles might Sarah Jane Blenkhorn is beginning her second year as an ALT too many scented things in the apartment when I One of the pluses of returning to Matsue is my new be attacked by enemies. Well, Ishibashi’s streets in Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. She formerly worked for three got here – room fresheners in every room, scented neighbourhood, Ishibashi-cho. Ishibashi means haven’t changed much since then. Three vehicles, years in an English language school in the same city. sprays, candles, floral soaps… I spent the first ‘stone bridge.’ It does have a number of small or two vehicles and a pedestrian, or –Oh my God! week fighting allergies. Spongebob and his smelly bridges, but most of them are wooden. (My old a bus and a truck! - constitutes a traffic jam. We Excerpt from October 2011 friends had to go. Pooh Bear and Piglet still brighten neighbourhood was Gakuen-minami, or ‘University also have the homeliest Mishimaya grocery store up the bathroom, though. Park South.’) Walking or cycling home on a quiet in the city, in any sense of the word, a minute from My new home night after sunset, as I did tonight, it’s not hard to my home. Even closer is the newly renovated bak- I’ve been back in Japan for two months – it’s hard The kitchen walls are a little the worse for wear, imagine these streets looking much the same a ery, Pain et Beurre. With its buttery yellow walls, it to believe. I’ve been getting settled into my new and pockmarked with holes where former tenants hundred years ago or more. Pale apartment in Ishibashi-cho. It’s pretty big for a Jap- – JETs like me – hung posters, shelves, hooks, et yellow light brightened the paper anese apartment – so far, I’ve been very lucky in cetera. The kitchen is big, though, and so is the windows on the second floor, my living quarters in Japan size-wise. The building, fridge. I have a rice cooker that Seiji dropped off (it and age-pocked glass doors set Kopo Ishibashi, is a rather unattractive, sand-col- belonged to a long-gone friend – what goes around into dark wooden frames rat- oured, boxy building, maybe about twenty-five or comes around), the standard two-burner range tled as a man, likewise bent and thirty years old. My apartment is on the first floor, with broiler and a microwave. Nicola also sold me weathered, stepped out onto opposite a thick bush of brownish ajisai (hydrangea) her oven, as she was quite the dedicated baker. the street on some errand. An blooms well past their prime. When I first got here, I’m looking forward to using it in cooler days. There impossibly old woman sat on the bush was occupied by a shrinking congregation is no way I’m turning it on in the present heat! the stoop in front of her house, of aged cicadas, who worshipped loudly at sunrise, enjoying the cool of the evening again at sundown and sporadically throughout the The living room and bedroom have tatami mats on and waiting for a neighbour to day. But their time is past. Every day on the road in the floor. I coveted these long before I moved in. A chat with. The narrow streets early September, I saw their thick, moth-like brown tatami mat is a straw mat, roughly 6 feet by three and dark alleys leading to peace- bodies scattered under the trees in which they feet, with the long edges lined with embroidered ful night gardens where evening sang their lives out. I’ve been told that they live cloth in various patterns (mine are blue with a gold insects sing seemed ageless. for seven years underground, but for only a week flower-and-diamond pattern). They are about one once they emerge and start to sing. or two inches thick and fit together like a simple Someone else might look at puzzle. These are always a uniform size, so room this neighbourhood and see The apartment itself is darker than my old one, and sizes are measured by how many tatami mats are just a lot of old, run-down build- I miss waking up in a warm wash of morning sun- in them. My rooms are 6 tatami mats each (there’s ings, but I see history and tradi- shine. However, I have a bed instead of a futon, some math for you to do!). New mats have a fresh tion. I see real wood, darkened with a thick mattress instead of two inches of smell of sun-lit summer fields, but mine are rather and weathered by time and

26 27 stands out on the street, and it has beautiful, soft, times that may or may not have been. That was (APS) fresh French bread. Just past the bakery is the little the Showa period, or the period when Hirohito AJET Peer Support family vegetable market, Watanabe-ya. I just caught was emperor. When Hirohito died, he was given a the end of peach season – they were unbelievably new name – Showa – as is the tradition in Japan, 050-5534-5566, is an English listening & referral service which operates on juicy and fragrant. The other way, towards the cas- and his reign is called the Showa period. Although the principles of confidentiality and anonymity. We are open to all JET Pro- tle, in probably the oldest building on the street, is technically the Showa period covers the forties to gramme participants every night of the year, from 8PM to 7AM. Our vol- Ishikawa-ya’s fish market. The family there – the the eighties, when people here think of the Showa unteers are all current JET Programme participants, trained for APS. Kano’s, not the Ishikawa’s, who no longer have period, they tend to picture the family stores, music the shop - has been very warm and friendly to me, and styles of the fifties and sixties. And the candy! and the son and his wife, speak English quite well Just as I think of penny candies and Popeye candy and are very welcoming. I have passed many other cigarettes as retro candy, the Showa period had shops, their goods or services not quite clear to scads of brightly-coloured, distinctive candies. me from their old, worn signs lettered in faded Chi- nese characters. You might see some English on And me? How do I fit in here, in Ishibashi? I don’t signs near the station, but not here. There are a know yet. I’ll be making an effort to take part in few barbershops, a drycleaners, a futon store and local events, but communication is difficult. The an ancient and neighbours tiny stationery are generally shop (this last older, and that owned by my usually means neighbours, the an older form Tadano's), among of the Japa- others. nese language, which I don’t I think one of the understand. things I like is the Younger peo- humbleness of ple, under fifty, this neighbour- speak in a way hood. It is a very I’m more famil- Japanese place. iar with, and Looking through honestly will windows, I see make more of cubbyholes at an effort to be Regardless of what’s trou- the entryways understood. I bling you - whether you’ve housing the fam- spoke with my had a bad day at work, ily shoes. There elderly neigh- need to see a doctor at are tools, (rakes, bour, Mrs. 3AM or just want to speak brooms), bicycles, aprons hanging on hooks. The Tadano, at twilight two nights ago, and I believe we English with someone plain homes and storefronts, with their bamboo chatted briefly about me, about Nicola and about - the volunteers at APS screens and tiny high-walled gardens over which Mrs. Tadano’s family. Mrs. Tadano knew Nicola are available to listen. gnarled pine boughs droop, hide warm, bright kitch- quite well, and said Nicola brought her mother to ens smelling of fresh-steamed rice, earthy miso visit the Tadano’s when she came to Japan, but soup and sharp, leafy green tea. They hide families then again Nicola was fluent in Japanese, and had watching TV in the evening, drinking beer, or doing taught Japanese in New Zealand before she joined laundry. The home is a very private place here. the JET Programme. I couldn’t help feeling that I was a disappointment to dear Mrs. Tadano. So Today, as I drove home through the back streets we’ll see what the year brings. of northern Matsue just after watching a spectac- ular purple and orange sunset cutting warm, hazy rays through cookie-cutter clouds, I realized that these streets remind me also of the fifties. Just as we tend to look back at the fifties in North Amer- ica with rose-tinted lenses (especially those who weren’t there the first time around), Japan remem- bers the post-war years with nostalgia for simpler

28 Idea to success, something unique; so we set out to build a boat using only 500ml $8,500 later PET bottles and plastic rope and then paddle it across Japan's larg- Following the Great East Japan est lake, Biwako. The Biwa Bot- Earthquake, two JETs in Shiga tle Boat Challenge was borne and Prefecture started a project to we asked our closest friends and raise money for the Tohoku Kids families to sponsor us in our chal- Project. Using their creativity and lenge. Word of our event spread engineering skills, they designed quickly and soon we had nearly a boat out of PET bottles and all of our $5,000 goal raised by created a fundraiser centered the day of the event. On July around paddling this small craft 16th, a crowd was gathered to across Lake Biwako. This is their see if we could fulfill our end story. To find out more about the of our challenge. With perfect JETs, Dusty Wittman and Rox- weather and an endless supply ane Borowska and their project, of determination, we set off on visit http://ilovenihon.com our voyage. One hour and twenty minutes later, we arrived safely It's been nearly seven months on the opposite side of the lake. since the great earthquake and Our course took us from PIERI tsunami hit the Tohuku area, but Mall in Moriyama City to Mano no one can forget that tragic day. Beach in Otsu City. We landed On that day, and the days fol- with the smiles and cheers of lowing, hundreds of children lost many; also there were the Kyoto, their mothers and fathers. In an Yomiuri, and Asahi newspapers effort to ease their mental and as well as an NHK News team. physical stress, we created a fun- We were overwhelmed and for- draising event like no other. All ever grateful for the amount of the money raised would be sent support from our friends, families, to the Tohoku Kids Project whose and complete strangers. What sole purpose is caring for orphans started as an idea in two people's by providing orphanages with heads transformed through many all things necessary to give chil- hours of planning into an intercul- volunteering Japan dren a comfortable life. We knew tural success. To date, the BBBC we needed to do something big, has raised $8,500 thanks to all

31 photo from shutterstock.com the wonderful people who donated. We will continue to accept donations and continue to raise awareness for the tsunami orphans. We ask everyone to never forget the people of Tohoku; please continue to support them and keep them in your thoughts. がんばろう東北 、がんばろう日本！

32 33 Building Houses, have stopped being an abstract place and issue and tugged at Building your heart strings more than you Communities: thought humanly possible. A JET in India Where Longitude starts, however, is with survival. In India, discrimi- nation based on the caste system Late in December, 2010, 11 Lon- has been legally abolished, but gitude JET volunteers were the reality is that millions of peo- rumbling down a winding road ple every day are denied basic in the southern Indian country- human rights such as food, clean side on their way to a tiny vil- water, and employment because lage called Chevuru. This was they were born as Dalits, for- the first day of the 2010 Winter merly known as Untouchables. work camp, and most of the vol- For this reason they are forced unteers were doing everything into the most menial of jobs such for the first time. Everyone was as cleaning streets, latrines, or equal parts excitement, nervous- bonded labor. They are also sys- ness, and anticipation—we were tematically denied access to the about to start! Of course, if you basics of education, medicine, had asked us how to start, we and housing. In fact, many Dal- would have each given differ- its in villages like Chevuru, get- ent answers: you start by taking ting by on subsistence wages, the hands of the children wait- live in thatch houses that have lit- ing for you as everyone arrives tle resistance to storms and mon- in the village on the first day; soons that frequent southern you start by teaming up with the India. Taking a day off to repair masons and learning the Telegu their makeshift homes means words for “cement” and “water” loosing a day’s wages and going and “bricks”; you start by being hungry. By moving into houses showered with love from the vil- of brick and cement, they focus lagers in the form of tea, bananas, on more permanent livelihoods smiles, and hugs to; you start by while gaining the self-confidence realizing that the people you’re needed to break free of the bonds volunteering meeting are the faces of what of the caste system. 35 photo from shutterstock.com JET volunteers play no minor role in this effort. In ARV and covers all food, water, and transportation VOLUNTEER IN THAI- from Hiroshima prefecture will Bangkok, 7 days lodging, joining hands with the villagers, they not only help in the country. This winters group leader is Denise head up this team. 3 meals per day, and a to build the homes of these beautiful villagers but Schlickbernd, a 4th-year Jet in Saitama and volun- LAND with Go M.A.D. volunteer contribution to the also raise awareness of Dalit issues in the wider teer from the Winter 2010 group; to find out more, It’s about that time of the year Both orphanages are projects of homes). global community. JET volunteer’s very presence send an email to: [email protected]. You when you start asking yourself, the Neo Humanist Foundation. > Enrollment is open for 30-40 in places like Chevuru shows the Dalits who live can also learn more about Longitude and other vol- "What am I going to do this win- Neo Humanist philosophy, sim- people. there—people who have been told by wider society unteer trips during Spring Break and Golden Week ter"? If you can't answer that ply stated, is “love for all created that they deserve no respect from the world around at: http://golongitude.org. question then this email is for beings in this world.” Part of this All trip-goers are expected to pay them—that their presence and existence is valued. you. How about spending your belief is living as vegetarians and a trip deposit of 15,000 yen (will In return, volunteers gain an amazing experience. We hope to hear from you! In the Telugu language winter vacation doing something all meals will be 100% vegetar- be included in trip fee) as well as Throughout the duration of the work camp, some- of words of the people of Chevuru, wandanamuru— AMAZING; volunteering at an ian and truly some of the best raise an additional 15,000 yen thing else happens: the distance between everyone thank you! orphanage in rural Thailand. food you will ever eat! as a donation to the children’s that at first seemed so great instead grows smaller. homes by whatever means you The steps may be small, but brick by brick, hand- This year Go M.A.D. (Go Make Activities at each of the orphan- wish, be creative! shake by handshake, a spirit born of teamwork and A Difference, an AJET affiliated ages will be slightly different, but camaraderie forms to bring change to the ideas that NGO), is offering you a wonder- both will include: Interested? create divisions between people. ful opportunity to make a real Send an email to baanunrak11@ difference in the lives of many > Teaching (English as well as gmail.com with the following, by This December, another JET group is scheduled children. We have been work- other skills) October 22nd: to go to Chevuru to continue the house-build- ing with two orphanages near > Painting 1_ Your name and current ing project and volunteers are wanted! The camp the Thai/Burma border and they > Building/decoration/ location begins December 25, 2011 and continues through have asked for our help over the maintenance projects 2_ Why are you interested in January 3, 2012. Volunteers must pay for their trans- Christmas holiday. > Christmas party (non- this trip? portation to and from India, and the volunteer fee religious themed) 3_ Have you ever volunteered (about ¥55,000, or USD$700) includes the fee to Two teams of volunteers will > LOTS of playing time with before? Where? For how travel together from Bangkok to the children long? the rural border town of Sang- 4_ How serious are you about khlaburi. Upon arrival, the teams At Baan Unrak, other being able to join this trip? will separate to their respective activities include: 5_ Will you be participating with destinations, joining up again after > Environment Day and/or a friend/partner? a week to return to Bangkok. town clean-up 6_ Do you have vocational, > Yoga and meditation technical or any other Baan Unrak Children’s Home sessions with the kids skills to share? (this is not is located in Sangklaburi. It is > Sports Day necessary to volunteer, but home to about 130 children from we encourage you to think Burma, Thailand and the neigh- At Baan Dada, other creatively about how you can boring Mon and Karen States. It activities include: uniquely contribute.) also operates a primary school. > Local market visit and craft 7_ Do you have a volunteer The home is located on a hill selling with the kids team preference or may we overlooking the village and vol- > An outing visiting local place you? unteers will be staying on their attractions property in share houses. Dusty > Technical projects (video --Your dedicated leaders-- Wittman from Shiga prefecture editing, song recording, Dusty Wittman and Dave Revere will lead this team. engine/bicycle repair) [email protected]

Baan Dada Children’s Home Dates and Costs If you can't attend the trip, but is a smaller and more remote > Tentative dates are would still like to help fundraise, orphanage and community eco- December 19 - 26, 2011. please contact the trip coordi- nomic development center in the > You will need to arrange your nator or visit the following web- village of Huay Ma Lai, about 13 own flight to Bangkok. sites: km northwest of Baan Unrak. It > Trip fee will range from Baan Unrak: http://baanunrak.org/ is home to over 60 Karen and approximately 35,000 - Baan Dada: http://baandada.org/ Mon children. Volunteers will 40,000 yen for the entire also stay on their property in week (including round-trip share houses. Dave Revere van/bus transport to/from

36 37 Onsen I live in a spa town where there’s a huge variety of onsen available, Annabella Massey from elaborate, oasis-like hotels with quality products to pools I was freezing when I woke up which the general public can just this morning, for the first time drop in and use for forty minutes since I arrived in Japan. I was or so with their own towels and delighted: no humidity and sun shampoo. But most JETs will be to make me feel sluggish and within striking distance of a hot dull anymore. Over here in Yama- spring cluster: there are about nashi, oranges are now starting 3000 onsen in Japan, all busy, all to appear on the branches and with their minor (or otherwise) we’re getting a new kind of red claims to fame, and all exqui- grape: much paler and lighter site in their own way. Onsen are than what was growing before. a mainstay of Japanese culture The heaviness of the summer and tradition: Soseki Natsume’s is starting to slide away, leav- famous novel Botchan was cen- ing the senses much more alert tered around a depiction of Dogo and acute. Onsen and hot springs also pro- vide the backdrop to various I don’t know about you but I’m pieces of art and film (for exam- already planning on spending ple, Spirited Away and Yoshishige the vast majority of winter in an Yoshida’s Akitsu Springs). onsen. In fact, I went to the Mis- aka Rose Garden hot springs just It’s not hard to realise why this afternoon, where the out- they’ve been a such cultural door pools are churning with pet- draw. An onsen is a zone where TRAVEL als collected from the bushes at you can find some very real and the front – mauve, cream, yellow, rich headspace. They don’t inad- pink; petals the size of a fingernail. vertently stress the user out by

39 photo from shutterstock.com and mull in the charged pools can bring to a potentially Xmas Holiday Offer from STA Travel water. Try all the differ- homesick and wandering mind. ent temperatures, the This kind of treatment would be STA TRAVEL is the world’s largest travel company for all people who love to travel steam rooms and sau- expensive back home and JETs nas. Take time condi- should take advantage of it while tioning your hair and they’re here. DESTINATION PRICE (from) DATES (2011) VIA bring all your favourite NEW YORK (DIRECT) 51,000~ 04 DEC - 21 DEC NARITA products from home: The fact that you have to be We Love AJETs! you don’t have to use naked to enjoy an onsen may Of course we are here in VANCOUVER 46,000~ 01 DEC - 15 DEC NARITA Japan with 2 branches what they’ve put out seem a little daunting to some. LONDON 50,000~ 01 NOV - 22 DEC NARITA if you have a partic- Admittedly, this wasn’t an in Tokyo. Our friendly ular beauty routine. entirely new experience for me bilingual Japanese staff SYDNEY 103,000~ 01 OCT - 16 DEC NARITA constantly reminding you that Chances are, you’ll – I used the locals hammans love to take care of AJETs BANGKOK 28,000~ 01 NOV - 27 DEC NARITA you’ve paid a lot of money to come back feeling rejuvenated, when I visited Morocco (initially, members! We will give be there, unlike the majority your lungs newly clear, and your out of sheer desperation when I you a 1,000yen discount! BEIJING 46,000~ 01 DEC - 21 DEC NARITA of Western spas where, what- skin coated with a fine, natural discovered that the showers in http://en.statravel.co.jp ever you do, you have to make layer of minerals which leave it my cheap guesthouse weren’t *We can also arrange except Narita departure. Please ask us! *Fuel surcharge and taxes are not included in all the above airfares. sure you relax, despite the time uniquely moisturised, silk-like working). But being in a foreign limit set on your treatment and and even. country is a perfect opportunity the (so you suspect) overhyped to get past those reservations, products, etcetera etcetera. In an Each onsen has its own particu- and really, the atmosphere isn’t onsen, you can take just as long lar mineral content (a certificate juvenile or awkward if you relax as you like, soaking in the blend should be on display in the bath and focus on the hot spring itself. of minerals and letting your skin house), aroma and style: doro- ...besides, if you’re truly adamant take on the kind of glow which yu (mud water), suna-yu (here, about not stripping in public, no man-made toner or lotion can you’re packed in the pressure of you can buy some little mineral truly replicate. With the onset hot, wet sand) and taki-yu (cen- sachets from any local drugstore of autumn, many new JETs will tered around a steaming water- to use in your bath back home. be shaking off the feeling that fall and especially good for mas- Personally though, I wouldn’t go this whole experience is just an sage). You can even drink the for this cheat’s option: the fact extended holiday and start really waters in certain hot springs – that you’ve portioned time aside registering that they’re in Japan look out for the cups on the side. just to sit and contemplate in hot, for good. So: if coming back It’s easy to be skeptical about potent water is everything. from work in the dark and sit- the reputed properties and ail- ting in a empty apartment with- ments the waters are meant to out any insulation doesn’t exactly cure, but there’s no denying the appeal to you this winter, leave therapeutic benefits that just your house, go to the local onsen reflecting and soaking in the Extend your personal journey by taking the long way home from Japan. >> Creative journeys with multiple international destinations! >> Small group adventures -value, fun, camaradie! Get started early with Golden week program to China 2012 exclusively for JETS, friends and family, Apr 29-08May 2012! Visit http://aviatravel.com/journeys.html

40 41 cated to. At these festivals, the local men dress as namahage and essentially terrify the local children into agreeing to do their homework and chores for the following year. There’s even a museum where you can learn more of the folklore surround- ing namahage further north in Oga. At Akita Citi- zens’ Market, you can marvel at the freshest local produce and fish and exchange banter with the friendly stall-owners. The market also doubles as one of the many filming locations for ‘Iris’, the pop- ular Korean soap-opera that was partly filmed in Akita City.

From there, we ventured just across the prefec- tural border into Yamagata Prefecture to Sakata, best known for being the location of Oscar-win- ning movie, ‘Departures’. Perhaps less well-known is that a Sakata temple is home to two self-mum- mified Buddhist monks of the 18th and 19th cen- turies. Some prior reading about the mummifica- tion process will make your visit here even more morbidly fascinating. Farther south and only a short train ride from Yamagata City is the mag- Ogres, mummies and hundreds until you utter a specific phrase in Japanese and nificent Yamadera, or ‘mountain temple’. Precari- replace the lid. “Are you scared?” our waitress ously perched on a mountain top, it is well worth of bowls of soba asked after she’d explained the rules. We admitted the 1,100 step ascent for the breath-taking views Fay Sandford we were. I managed a mere 74 bowls, my friend 81; across the valley. both put to shame by the standing record of 540. Aside from the tragedies of March 11th, I did not Sendai, Miyagi, 70 minutes by bus or train from know much about Tohoku until a trip this summer. Approximately three hours away by highway bus is Yamagata City, is the biggest city in Tohoku. A I knew they got a decent bit of snow in winter, but Hirosaki, Aomori. Set against the impressive back- lively and vibrant city, it has a good shopping and somewhat embarrassingly, that was pretty much it. drop of Mt. Iwaki, the city is famous for its beau- even better restaurants. Matsushima, one of ‘The Keen to improve our knowledge and see more of tiful castle, magnificent cherry blossoms, and er, Three Great Views’ is within easy reach of Sendai. Japan, a friend and I set off on a 9-day trip around fine apples. A JET friend in the region kindly took The 200+ pine tree covered islands in the bay for- Tohoku, visiting friends, sightseeing and volunteer- us around in her car, though you can borrow bikes tunately protected the town from the worst of the ing. Five prefectures later and with a new fondness from the tourist office for free and reach most sites damage of the tsunami. Interesting and beauti- for Northeastern Japan, here is my short guide to too. Our first stop was Hirosaki Apple Park where ful, you can currently cross vermillion bridges to some of the region’s highlights. you can pick your own apple for 100yen (bargain!), two of the islands. Sendai is well-connected to the wander through the hundreds of apple trees or rest of Japan through its sea, air, rail and bus links A good starting point for a tour of Tohoku is Mori- try some delicious ringo soft cream. Just out- so from here we made our trek home, though you oka – a small, sleepy city in Iwate Prefecture. While side of Hirosaki is the ‘tanbo art’, or rice field art, may wish to continue exploring further! Morioka is hardly bursting at the seams with tour- of Inakadate. Every year careful planning ensues ist sights, it still boasts some interesting attractions. that a detailed mural is grown in the rice paddies Remote, relaxed yet fascinating, Tohoku is mark- The legendary rock-split- using different kinds of edly different to the rest of Japan and certainly ting cherry tree is a worth coloured rice to create a a change of pace from my stomping grounds of a look, though I’m sure it’s stunning effect. Back in Western Japan. The kind people, the original food, more spectacular in sakura the city, Yoshitomo Nara’s and stunning countryside all helped to make this season. One thing I abso- (HUGE!) A to Z Memorial one of my favourite trips to date. I hope that lutely recommend in Mori- Dog is worth a visit too. many more JETs will be able to make the trek to oka is the 100 bowl wanko this distant corner and enjoy as much I did. Sev- soba challenge. The rules Our next stop was Akita eral Tohoku residents warmly greeted us in their are simple; when you start City. All over the city are shops and asked us to return soon. I have already eating, you cannot stop. depictions of ‘namahage’ begun thinking about my return trip. The server will continue to (ogres) to whom several refill your bowl with soba local matsuri are dedi-

42 43 days revolve around milking them for drink and food. Their lives were centered despite no permanent address.

I laid there in a felt cocoon reminded of my grandmoth- er’s house, the one that no longer exists. There was nothing different in the sense of nurture, but this was not her house. It was not even a house. I was lying in a tent on a field surrounded by beasts. The only separation between the grass below was a thin vinyl sheet. In the warmth of the stove, the car- pet and the blankets, I fell LONESOME WARMTH shocked to see so unimaginably into memories. far across the grasslands. Then Wenson Tsai you notice that wherever your There was a time where I rarely eye grasps, there are no people returned anymore to my mother’s Preface in sight. house, but when I did, I found the In August of 2011, I traveled to plushest paper towels waiting for Mongolia to understand the heart Mongolia is the least densely pop- my hands. These were much bet- of the Mongolian people. In doing ulated country on the entire planet, ter than the bargain brand I pur- so, I ended up eating, drinking, but it is not desolate. The peo- chased for my own house. Envel- resting, playing, laughing, work- ple you do meet are the famously oping and decorated with art, ing, listening and learning with hospitable nomads living in their the words “Home is where the the nomads on the vast steppes. sporadic white gers. Almost half heart is” stood center. In those I herded yaks, helped build a ger of Mongolia’s population may live years, we constantly fought, but I (nomad tent), and almost got in the capital, but the nation’s tra- understood her message. For my trampled by a baby horse. I was ditions and values remain stead- mother, my home would always surprised by how stable their fast with these pastoral nomads be somewhere within reach of lives were despite having no reli- – a homeless people. her love. able address. Their days were not ruled by minutes or appoint- Or so I thought. A house is not the same as a ments but instead were repeated home. in a decided routine. This allowed much free time, but simultane- Wenson Tsai wanders the streets ously, lulled one into a comfort- like the homeless man you've able yet seamless sense of float- always wanted to know, and wan- ing existence. At the end of my ders the world for the finest in experience, my image of the cold, potentially bubonically-plagued wandering and placeless nomad hot-stone-cooked marmot cui- would be replaced forever by my sine. Presently, he is dealing encounters with the warmth and with his own aging, and ponder- very tangible humanity of the ing the irony of how aware he is nomads I met in Mongolia. The stove, the same one in every that one day he will get hit by a car ger, crackled friendly with horse because he's too busy checking Lonesome Warmth dung. Even for heat, the nomads out beautiful women, all while he Once you leave the capital Ulaan- depend on their animals. They continues on blindly almost get- baatar, the carpet of rolling green move locations so their animals ting hit by cars checking out beau- unfolds endlessly. You may be can graze in lush grass, and the tiful women. It's very existential.

44 45

Entries Close 25 OctoberWelcome 2011 to AJET Connect's monthly photography contest! Submissions relevant to the JET experience are welcomed from current JET Programme participants. Your submission will be featured in the NEXT issue where our readers can vote on their choice for the best photograph. The winning entries will be entered in the yearly AJET Photography Contest.

To Enter 1_your name 2_ your mailing address (this will not be published) 3_ your JET number (this will not be published) 4_ a title and brief caption describing the scene

Submissions should be original, high quality JPG files. Contestants may submit one photo each month. This contest is for JET participants only. Send your entries to [email protected], Current National AJET council members are not eligible to enter. In the case that you submit photographs where people are clearly Ownership/ Use Rights featured, you must get permission from those featured before 46Photographers retain the rights to their photograph. By entering the contest, photographers agree to have their submitted photograph published in the AJET you submit their image. 47 Connect magazine, displayed on the AJET website and posted on AJET Facebook sites. Photos will be credited to the author named in the entry form. The Flavours of fall to eat when it was too cold for any- Simon Daly thing new to grow. While preserva- Food tion is usually no longer a necessity The harvest of autumn has been a the flavours of our pasts still perme- point in the year for celebration since ate our lives subconsciously. time immemorial. For the second year in a row my family and I have That may seem like a strange state- tended a very successful garden ment, but this month’s cooking sec- and it has made me acutely aware tions is a good example of exactly of the passing seasons. It was with the point I was trying to make. I baited breathe that we awaited the gave very little direction to the con- first shoots of spring after the snow tributors whatsoever and for the melt and now it is nearly upon us most part what they sent me is again. Winter is coming. I should what you see printed here. Collec- add a note here that I live in what tively on the food front we came up is just about the coldest region of with a quick way to use the end of Japan where it is already getting your summer tomatoes, traditional cool overnight and we usually have dry-cured fish and a novel yet tra- our first snow before November. ditionally flavoured sweet potato Thus, my experiences will not line recipe, while the drinks are warm- up with those of you in Kyushu for ing and fortifying. We may all come instance, but perhaps what I write from different backgrounds and live now will be more pertinent to you in modern lives where disconnected- a month or so. ness can feel like the only thing we have in common. Yet here we are Reflecting on the abundance of on the same page both literally and summer and making use of the end metaphorically. of this period of profuse produce was a necessity before it was pos- If you have not yet done so yet, go sible to source ingredients from the out and see what locals in your area far side of the world all year around. of Japan are doing with their autumn True to form our garden grown bell harvests; at the same time endeav- peppers and cucumbers are on their our to share with them your ideas. last legs, the zucchinis have slowed There will undoubtedly be flavour their once exponential growth and combinations and methods of prep- the tomatoes still on the vine are aration you would never considered, taking longer to ripen. The pump- but there will be similarities too. A kins are the one thing thriving in balanced outlook will help you find our garden now, but this is nature joy in both the commonalities and of nature. divergences in the world we live in and n my experience there is no Your great grandparents knew it all easier inroad to insight than through too well and probably would have the stomach. spent the month of October pick- ling and preserving everything they About the Editor: could find while hoping that their late Simon Daly is a third year ALT in harvesting vegetables grew as big Engaru, near the Okhotsk coast of as possible before the daylight hours Hokkaido where he lives with his become shorter than the oncoming wife and children. Simon attended darkness. In the twenty-first cen- culinary school and has worked in tury salted or vinegared pickles are award winning hotels and restau- often thought to taste the way they rants in his home country of New do to act as a condiment, where in Zealand as well as in the UK. He is fact their strong and sharp flavours the former president of the Hokkaido come from being pickled and pre- chapter of AJET. served so that there was something 49 photo from shutterstock.com The only ingredient in this rec- For both methods, next and fold together to coat. I say ipe that you may not have come heat oil in a tempura fold rather than toss because across before is mizuame 水飴 pot to 180ºC. You can liquid sugar gets incredibly hot which is a form of thick sugar buy such pots com- incredibly fast and there is a syrup. I have to be honest I am plete with thermome- need to be careful at this point. not quite sure of its composi- ters and lids relatively Before the sugar sets sprinkle tion. The internet reports that it cheaply. Mine is from over your sesame seeds and is a syrup made through the con- Nitori, but they are optional chilli. version of starch to sugar, but widely available. Once how that is achieved is a still a the oil is at temperature Now coated and sticky, spoon mystery to me. Whatever it is, it carefully fry the part- the finished sweet potato onto should be available at any decent Place the sweet potatoes into cooked sweet potato the plate you intend to serve it size local supermarket. At one a large pot and cover with cold until the outside is golden and on making an eye-pleasing pile. festival I attended it was being water. Place over a high heat and crisp. Dry your colander and line A fact I realized after making given out simply as a viscous bring to the boil. Once at the boil it with a paper towel. With long mine is that you should probably lump on a popsicle stick. The turn of the pot off and immedi- handled tongs, a slotted metal put a squared of baking paper resulting sticky fingers, faces ately drain the potatoes in a large spoon or a metal sieve removed under you chips when you serve and clothing of the children that colander. While the sweet pota- the chips from the oil and place them. Garnish with a few more ate it made me wary of it. After toes will be barely par-cooked at them into the back into your col- black sesame seeds and season a trial run making the potatoes this point the residual heat will ander. The paper will soak up with a pinch of sea salt. If you using a conventional formula for continue to cook them nicely. If any excess oil. like spicy food or if you just want toffee, for time and the sake of you are not at all worried about to go with the hearty warming simplicity see if you can find it the fat content of this recipe then In the pot you boiled the pota- nature of this snack I suggest the classic way to make the per- toes in over a low flame add the topping it all off also with a lit- Ingredients fect Belgian fries is to blanch your sugar, mizuame and soy sauce. tle extra finely sliced fresh chilli. Ivy League bloodstream and that in theory > 2 medium sweet potatoes chips in oil at 160ºC (degrees Cel- Stir until the sugar dissolved, Serves to friends, sit back and Daigaku Imo the energy they provide should > Water for boiling sius) until cooked through but then add the cinnamon, nutmeg enjoy yourself as the compli- last you longer. The health bene- > Oil for frying uncoloured, then to fry at a higher and ginger. Once combined tip ments flow. Simon Daly fits end there however, as in this > 2 tablespoons sugar temperature to crisp. the chips in to the sugar syrup recipe I am suggesting deep- > 2 tablespoons mizuame 水飴 Serves? frying and sugar coating them, > 1 tablespoon soy sauce (snack food = irrelevant) which would undoubtedly more > 2 teaspoons cinnamon tered in my life. But Japan remains unequivocally than outweigh any positive die- > 1 teaspoon nutmeg lacking in certain ingredients, appliances (ahem, Sweet potatoes are a food I love. tary attributes. > ½ teaspoon ginger ovens), and often the kitchen space to create the New Zealand has its own variety > 1 teaspoon of black sesame things that we crave the most. called a kumara of which I have The story that I have heard from seeds the fondest memories. It is so multiple sources is that Daigaku > pinch of sea salt Cue the in flight entertainment. On a recent trip commonplace that you can in Imo or University Sweet Pota- > chopped red chilli (optional) back to Sapporo, I found myself watching “Jamie fact buy kumara chips as a sub- toes probably came into exist- Does ----,” a TV series in which British culinary stitute for regular fries at most ence as a cheap fast food for Wash your sweet potatoes well sensation Jamie Oliver travels the world to cook Fish and Chip shops. An inter- students. I myself have mainly in cold water. By all means peel and eat. Oliver brings a certain effortlessness esting health benefit I came come across them at festivals. I the sweet potatoes at this point and enjoyment to the idea of cuisine: it’s simple, across a couple of years ago is tried a similar dish in Korea but if you so desire, but I for one uncomplicated, and all about making messes and that, despite my assumptions to never bothered to ask what they quite like the colour and texture putting good things in your mouth. the contrary, sweet potatoes are were called. This is the down- variation they add. Cut them into considered better for you than side of street food being so easy 2-3cm cubes. You do not have to Silly as it may sound, I found myself inspired. If that regular potatoes for many diets. to point at. Either way they are be too exact, but keeping pieces guy can make a tart on a log over a campfire, cer- In terms of GI (Glycemic Index) something I have enjoyed in the roughly uniform will ensure that Homage to the Naked Chef tainly I am capable of whipping up some coveted sweet potatoes are considered past and which I decided to try all pieces have a similar cook- Kelly Britton with photographs by Nat Andreini taste of home in my Japanese kitchen. The result low GI, whereas potatoes fall to update. With Thanksgiving in ing time. As a general rule larger was, in my humble opinion, the long-lost breakfast into the medium range. Without the air I hit on the idea of adding things take longer to cook so if Shepherd’s pie, milkshakes, couscous, Doritos: part of champions. Whether as a result of being made too much quackery this means the warming aromatic spices of you choose you cut your chips of life in Japan is having a list of foods that we des- from scratch, the famously high-quality Japanese that the carbohydrates and sug- a classic American sweet potato bigger then remember to adjust perately miss from home. We are fortunate in Sap- ingredients, or simply the elapsed time and dis- ars in a sweet potatoes are pie to give this Asian snack a your cooking times accordingly. poro to have access to a wide variety of foreign tance, I’m pretty sure this breakfast tastes even absorbed more slowly into the new and novel twist. foods and ingredients; in fact, across from our apart- better than it did back home. ment is one of the best boulangeries I’ve encoun- 50 51 Homemade Bagels longer if you are kneading by After resting, turn the heat up hand - it helps to have a buddy or a little on the pot of water and 45 minutes active time, strong biceps.) The dough should boil the bagels a few at a time 2.5 hours total time. be smooth and dry, not sticky. (they need space to bob around). Makes about 8 bagels. Cook for about 30 seconds on Shape the dough into a ball, place each side until the bagels have These bagels are New York style, it in a large oiled bowl, turning a shriveled look, then place on a not squishy and soft. Serve the ball to coat it in oil. Cover the rack to drain the water. with gravlax, cucumber slices, bowl with a damp towel and let and capers. Also accompanied the dough rise in a warm place, Whisk together 1 tbs water and well by the season’s last toma- until it’s bigger and springs back the egg white. Brush the egg toes, pureed into a Bloody Mary. when you poke it, about 30 min- wash all over the bagels and These are best if served straight utes. (The dough will not double.) sprinkle them with your chosen away but will keep for a couple toppings. Arrange the bagels on of days in a paper bag. You can Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven the lined baking sheet about 1 also slice and freeze them. to 425°F (220°C you can also try inch apart and bake for 15 min- the toaster oven). Fill a large pot utes. Rotate the pan and bake Ingredients with water, bring to a boil, then about 12 minutes more, until the > 1 1/2 cups tepid water plus 1 reduce heat to low and let sim- bagels are a caramel color and tbs for the egg wash mer. Cover until you’re ready to have formed a crust on top and > 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active boil the bagels. Line a baking bottom. Remove from the oven dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp) or sheet with parchment paper. and let cool for 30 minutes to a little more form a chewy exterior. > 4 cups bread flour (bread flour Turn the dough out onto a dry contains about 12g of protein surface. Carefully divide the Kelly Britton is a 3rd year ALT to regular flour’s 8g) dough into 8 equal pieces. Gen- in Sapporo, Hokkaido. She likes > 2 tablespoons honey tly form each piece into a fat eating, 90's R&B, and when cou- Gravlax with erator, wrapped in plastic wrap, for zle the alcohol over the top and > 2 teaspoons kosher or course rope. Try not to handle or squish ples wear matching clothes. Her a couple of weeks after curing. sprinkle the dill and lemon zest. ground salt the dough too much or it will husband has ridiculously great Horseradish > 4 teaspoons sugar deflate. Lightly moisten the ends hair. (adapted from Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie Ingredients Wrap the fish in the cling wrap > 1 large egg white with water and press together Does Sweden”) > 1 large salmon fillet, skin on and lay it flat in a shallow dish. > Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, so you’ve created a bagel (over- > 4 tablespoons rock salt Place a weight of some kind coarse salt or your preferred lap about 1"). Cover the bagels 30 minutes active time, (reduce if using sea or kosher (another tray filled with a couple topping with a damp towel and let rest 2-4 days curing time. salt, which are less course) of cans or a bottle wrapped in for 30-60 minutes. > 2-2.5 tablespoons sugar tinfoil) over the fish so that it’s Place 1 1/2 cups of Gravlax is the Scandinavian origi- > 3 or more tablespoons grated being pressed down upon. This water in a bowl and nal to our American misnomer lox. fresh horseradish (jarred will is critical for the curing process. dissolve the yeast It comes from the Scandinavian work, but not creamed) completely; set aside. word grav, meaning “grave” or > 1 oz of high proof alcohol, After 2-4 days, pour the juices Combine flour, honey, “to dig,” and lax, meaning salmon. such as vodka (shochu might from the pan while pressing the salt, and sugar in a It originated in the Middle Ages work too) fish firmly to prevent them from bowl. Add yeast mix- with fisherman salting and bury- > 5 tablespoons chopped fresh soaking back in. Unwrap the fish ture making sure to ing salmon on the beach to cure dill (This is a tough one to find, and wipe away all of the top- scrape out any cling- it. For this recipe, the salmon is use an herb you like) pings (rinse lightly if necessary, ing to the bowl. “buried” under a brick or a jar of > zest of 1 lemon and pat dry). The fish should feel pasta sauce in your refrigerator, drier and look opaque. Skin side Mix with a standing but as winter draws nearer, you Place the fish on a large sheet down, carefully remove the skin mixer or by hand until might try putting it under a stone of plastic wrap, skin side down. by cutting the fillet away from loose flour is com- somewhere outside (do watch Spoon rock salt evenly over the the skin using a sharp knife. Cut bined and the dough out for crows). fish (this is the curing element, off any brown parts. Slice the fil- looks shredded. Con- it will draw out the moisture). let thinly and serve with cream tinue mixing until the Salmon is at its best this time of Scatter the sugar over the salt. cheese or a sauce made from dough is stiff and year so enjoy it while it’s fresh! Spread the horseradish over the a mixture of sour cream, whole elastic, about 10-15 Gravlax can be stored in the refrig- fish and pat it down gently. Driz- grain mustard, and lemon juice. minutes. (This takes

52 53 Sugar, the amount depends on The Brewing Process – from ket- personal preference and which tle to cup in less than a month! chocolate bar you chose, so go I know this may seem a bit daunting at slow and add to taste. When first, but don’t get discouraged. If you I made this with Meiji black I can follow a recipe then you can brew didn’t add any, but it wasn’t a beer. Brewing can be broken down into very sweet cocoa. You could four essential steps and two basic meth- alternately exclude the choco- ods. late bar and use cocoa powder – in that scenario you would defi- The two methods for making beer at nitely need sugar. . home are known as extract and all-grain, the easier of the two being the extract Process method. The all-grain method is more In a saucepan, slowly heat the technical, requires more equipment and milk, orange zest, and lavender takes longer; but usually gives you a bet- over medium-low flame, being ter tasting beer. If you are a beginner I careful not to scorch the milk. would highly suggest starting out with When bubbles start to form extract before tackling all-grain. Although around the edge of the pan, stir it is not truly “from scratch” it allows you in your chocolate (and option- to get the basics down while still making ally cocoa and sugar) until fully Home Brewing in Japan really good beer. In extract brewing you melted. Then stir in your salt skip the first and most difficult stage in brewing - and remove from heat. Add the Brian Laggis mashing. In this stage malted barley is soaked in vanilla and serve in large mugs. hot water and a sweet liquid is collected, known Toasted marshmallows (the little Believe it or not, Japan is a great place to delve as wort, which eventually becomes beer. To sim- Japanese toaster ovens do this into the art of home brewing. If you yearn for plify this for homebrewers, companies offer malt very well) are a great topping but your favorite Stout, IPA or Belgian Triple and can’t extract (used solely for extract brewing). This con- make for less beautiful photos. get it here, then why not make it yourself? It is centrated wort is diluted with hot water. No mat- If you’re being fancy, top with a pretty simple to set up your very own small-scale ter which method you choose, once you have your Lavender & Orange flavored bread (after chopping sliver of orange peel and bit of brewery and even employ the same techniques wort everything else is basically the same. into the tiniest little bits you lavender flower for effect. that larger breweries use. You save money and Hot Cocoa can manage). drink beer abounding in flavor whilst also gaining The boiling stage is next and you typically boil your Jess Laggis FYI a greater appreciation for the delicious beverage wort for at least an hour. The most important part Lastly, be sure to wash the Lavender contains a chemical we call beer. of this stage is the addition of hops to your beer. Some hints before you get oranges well because odds are called linalool that according to Hops thrown in at different times add bitterness started. there is a tumor causing buildup both folk medicine and clinical Beer – beautiful simplicity (beginning), flavor (middle) and aroma (end) to the 1_You can use the flowers and/ of pesticides on the surface. studies alleviates anxiety and Most beer, from the lightest straw colored pilsner beer. The beer is then cooled down as quickly or leaves of lavender. ameliorates sleep disturbances. to the darkest dry stout, is made with only four as possible. Makes 2 mugs in about So drinking hot milk (loaded with ingredients: water, barley, hops and yeast. I know 2_In this recipe you don`t want 10 minutes tryptophan, a precursor to mela- it doesn’t sound like much, but by using differ- After the beer has been cooled down to room gritty bits of orange zest, so All of these amounts can be tonin which induces sleep) laced ent combinations and varieties of those key con- temperature, yeast is added and the fermentation use a vegetable peeler on adjusted to taste. with lavender, as per this rec- stituents an amazing variety of tastes, textures stage begins. This takes anywhere from 5 days to the oranges and then roughly ipe, may help you get to sleep and smells can be created. Flavors like choco- 2 weeks (or sometimes longer). During this stage, chop the peel. Larger pieces Ingredients at night. late, coffee, caramel, pine, citrus, sour apple and the yeast eat simple sugars in the wort and excrete are much faster easier to > 2 1/4 cups / 550 ml of milk banana can all be accomplished with nothing but carbon dioxide and alcohol (now that’s delicious strain out. Avoid completely > The zest of 1 orange Jess Laggis is a 2nd year ALT in those four simple elements. With that said, it poo!). These little guys also release chemicals that peeling the orange as the (prepared as described) Sapporo where she lives with is getting more and more common for brewers give flavor to the beer (the banana or clove like fla- white pith closest to the fruit > 1.5 teaspoons roughly her husband, Brian, and all of to toss in other things to create truly unique fla- vors in some beer comes from esters released by is rather bitter. chopped lavender (leaves or his microbes. Suffice it to say vors. This can be a lot of fun, especially when the yeast). During this stage temperature is critical. flowers, though I used leaves) that she spends large amounts you have interesting Japanese ingredients to play The same yeast has the potential to totally change 3_Save orange peel/lavender/ > 1.5 bars Ghana / Meiji dark/ of time roaming the Hokkaido with. Imagine concocting Yuzu Pale Ale or a Jap- the flavor, mouth feel, alcohol content and aroma chocolate goop that you strain black chocolate mountains, playing the banjo, anese Pumpkin Porter. of the final product depending on the fermentation out of your finished hot choco- > 1 pinch of salt and experimenting with various temperature. The term dry hopping refers to hops late to bake into banana bread > 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract edible and non-edible concoc- added during this stage. Employing this technique or other mildly sweet, simply (optional) tions in the kitchen. will give your beer a strong hoppy aroma.

54 55 drinking a bad tasting beer out of plastic bottles available online – many of them for free. Step by that gives you a severe hangover probably won’t step instructions for any recipe can easily be found encourage you to brew again. Go ahead and pick so don’t freak out if your first beer kit comes with up a decent kit. Some of the essentials include an indiscernible page of kanji and katakana. a food grade plastic or glass fermenter, bottling bucket, large brew kettle (at least 15 liters), hoses, The most important thing that separates a good bottle filler, bottle capper, sanitizing solution, stir- beer from a great beer is the way it was brewed. It ring utensil, air-lock (for fermenter), hydrometer (for doesn’t take a lot of knowledge to get started, but calculating alcohol), thermometer, bottle caps and to make truly great beer you will need both experi- bottles (start saving up). Most retailers sell all of ence and know-how. this as a package which takes a lot of stress out of buying equipment. The best kit I have come across The most common problem in homebrewing is is available via AdvancedBrewing (see resources). probably contamination caused by improper sanita- Tokyu hands has kits available, but they aren’t tion, so when starting out pay close attention and nearly as good as those available online. In addi- make sure everything is sanitized. That said, try tion, if you want to go all-grain you’ll need some Using high quality fresh ingredients is key to mak- not too worry too much. It is very hard to mess up extra equipment – namely a very large brew pot ing good beer. Always try to get your ingredients an entire batch so always remember to relax and (30-40 liters) and a container to mash your grains in from a reliable source and if you are brewing with have fun. I promise you and your friends will be (mash tun). These items can be procured relatively extract be sure to check the expiration date on pleasantly surprised with the results. cheaply and inexpensively by snagging a cooler at the can to make sure you’re not using something a second hand store (mash tun) and a large pot that’s been collecting dust for 5 years. The same Happy Brewing from a used kitchen supply store. The standard goes for your yeast and hops. If you are doing all- equipment will allow you to make about 22 liters of grain make sure that your malt is ground when you Resources: beer per batch (about 45 bottles) and can be pur- order it. www.howtobrew.com – an online book written After fermentation has finished chased for less than 20,000yen. by world famous homebrewer (ok so that doesn’t the final stage begins – bottling Getting shafted with old ingredients is especially really make him famous) John Palmer. Everything During this stage you add a little extra sugar to the Maintaining proper fermentation temperatures in problematic when buying pre-packaged kits. For you need to know. beer and bottle it up. The sugar provides the yeast the winter and summer can be difficult in most this reason, finding a recipe and ordering individual with a little extra food and as they chow down places in Japan. In Hokkaido, where I live, keep- ingredients is usually a safer bet. In addition, know- Advanced brewing (www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/brew) they poop out a little extra CO2 which is trapped ing a heater running all winter long just to keep the ing exactly what types of ingredients are going into perhaps the best Japanese homebrewing online inside the capped bottle. This natural method of yeast happy is not very practical. Placing the fer- your beer will help you learn. retailer. Lots of ingredients, best equipment and carbonating beer is known as bottle conditioning menter in a cooler filled with water and using an good kit packages. and is still used by some commercial breweries, aquarium heater to maintain a constant tempera- From American malt to European hops to Belgian although nowadays most of them add CO2 from ture is an inexpensive solution (1,000 Yen) to deal- yeast, the ingredients for making any style you can Sakeland (www.sakeland.net) another good online other sources. This process usually takes about 2 ing with cold winter temperatures. In the sum- think of can be found in Japan. If you can’t find homebrewing store. weeks – after that, drink up! mer tossing a bottle of frozen water into that same exactly what you’re looking for, acceptable substi- cooler before heading off to work in the morning tutes are usually available. Ingredients for most http://beerinjapan.com/bij/486/homebrewing-in- Homebrew will stay good for a long time and usually does the trick. beers average around 4 thousand yen (that’s less japan/ - a nice blog post about homebrewing in many styles, like fine wine, will improve with age. than 100 yen/beer!). japan. Stronger beers with lots of flavor and high alcohol Ingredients – what you need content tend to age better. Some beer will change to make delicious beer Friends: key ingredient number 5 http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/The-Jamil- dramatically in a few months time, so if you make When choosing a style to brew it is best to make Not only does inviting friends offset the cost of Show - Jamil show - excellent podcast. I would something that you aren’t too fond of at first try beer that you are familiar with. If you want to try brewing and make everything less stressful, but highly recommend listening to a show about the aging it a bit. It is good to keep in mind that hops something new, buy a commercial version to try it’s a good excuse to get together and hang out. beer you want to brew before you brew it. typically get weaker as your beer gets older, so if before you brew an entire batch. This way you (Not to mention that its hard to dump 5 gallons of you plan on aging that Imperial Pale Ale for 3 years avoid being stuck with two cases of beer you wort into the fermenter by yourself.) Besides, who make sure you add plenty of hops! don’t like. wants to sit around drinking delicious homemade, hand crafted beer all by themselves? So don't be Brian Laggis is a second year ALT in Sapporo, Equipment – it doesn’t take much Always use a recipe when starting out. Concoct- stingy - share the wealth. Hokkaido where he lives with his wife Jess. He is There are several kits available online and in retail ing your own will most often lead to sub-par beer, obsessed with all things fermentable and employs stores around Japan and they come in a number of even for experienced brewers. Most retailers sell Beer 101 around ten billion microbes who, among other varieties. Most are decent, but I would stay away kits with pre-packaged ingredients for most styles. This article is by no means a “how to” article on things, ferment his beer, fertilize his garden and from anything that skips any of the above steps or If you have a specific recipe most suppliers will homebrewing. If you want to make beer you’ve keep him in good physical condition. Brian has asks you to add more than 10% sugar. I know that allow you to pick and choose specific ingredients. got to know more information than is provided fully embraced his nerd-ism. Mr. Beer kit may seem cheap and look cute, but here. There are very informative books and videos

56 57 Classy vs. humidity of the summer, but as the sun thankfully recedes the Classroom into the distance, this will soon Christopher Chong be replaced by Warm Biz (iron- ically, much cooler). We’ll still So: smart hair, fitted shirt, tai- be restricted to the usual sub- workplace lored suit… and trainers. For dued pastel shades, but it’s cer- men, the Japanese school office tainly possible to retain some is the scene of many a fashion semblance of style if you follow crime. We’ve all seen guys who these simple rules when suiting tips try sporting the short-sleeved up for the transition to winter. shirt (tucked in, naturally) and tie combination while simultane- Hair ously strolling around in socks It’s not easy to keep your Hara- and lurid Crocs. As the new JET juku haircut in perfect shape as and in a desperate bid to fit in, you cycle to work wearing a hel- you may be tempted into try- met and peddling in the blister- ing out this look yourself. Don’t ing sun. However, if you sham- panic: you needn’t give in so eas- ble up to the classroom looking ily. Cool Biz – the culprit behind this scruffy, then prepare to be it all – certainly makes it difficult outdone by your own students – to stay sharp during the intense some of whom will be sporting

59 photo from shutterstock.com hairdos not unlike the chaps from Arashi. Further- I’m a fan of tie pins and they’re good for creating more, a teacher who doesn’t look alert is hardly a little variety. Mickey Mouse ties don’t break any going to be successful in keeping their class atten- rules, but if your JTE’s say it’s ‘omoshiroi’, it’s prob- tive for fifty minutes. Store a pot of Gatsby or some ably best to leave that particular favourite languish- other hairwax in your locker for when you arrive. At ing back home. By the way, plain black ties are the very least, make a quick effort to tidy yourself reserved for funerals only and I don’t care how up before you strut in with your “ohayou gozaim- alternative rock you are. If you really must wear a asu”. In terms of dye, simple highlights are some- black tie, make sure there’s some sort of striped times okay, but it’s definitely worth checking first. pattern or white color on there. Skinny ties don’t And by the way, if you’re really trying to fit in, Jap- work unless you know how to make a large knot anese hair is black – despite what you may have with them. And please: never wear a tie with a seen in Dragonball Z. short-sleeved shirt. Ever.

Trousers Jumpers and Jacket Assuming you were able to find a pair that actually Was the Warm Biz campaign just a ploy to increase fit, you probably got away with casual garments clothes sales? You can enter this debate some other like shorts or chinos in the summer. As it gets a time, and instead, take advantage of what it can little colder, you’ll want to find trousers which are offer you in terms of style: it’s a great way to mix smarter and thicker. Wearing khakis, light coloured up your wardrobe and make the shirt and sweater slacks or even dark denim with a good belt works look cool again. You don’t have to buy cashmere, well (and no, this does not include belts with the but get something warm that won’t cover you in Harley-Davidson logo or massive Batman buckles). cheap fluff. Try a V-neck over a shirt, either with a tie or the top button undone. Sure, it’s preppy, Shirts but it works well – especially for young, style-con- If you can, avoid the white short-sleeved shirt. Yes, scious ALTs. If you’re not wearing a suit every day, it’s technically acceptable clothing and some of consider a velvet (or even corduroy) jacket which your colleagues may wear them – but so do your is suitable for wearing indoors. Adding layers is students. You’re now a teacher of English, so you’ll more efficient than a single bulky item, and as the need to come across as a lively and vibrant charac- weather gradually warms up while we edge into ter. Definitely get various colors, but avoid brightly spring, you can remove them one by one. hued shirts: you’ll come off as garish and distract- ing as opposed to fun and exciting. Underwear Heat-tech may not normally be your thing, but it’s Suits necessary if you’re in a particularly chilly prefecture. The great thing about suits is that they always You can get undershirts and tights. match. Women have more flexibility than men when putting an ensemble together, but it’s also far eas- Accessories ier for them to run into awkward problems regard- Rules may differ between schools, but watches ing skirt lengths and the degree of chest/shoulder and rings should be allowed. A good timepiece exposure. That said, a suit is in no way an excuse shows you’re an alert and punctual guy. Piercings to be lazy. Find one that actually fits and wear a and tattoos are definitely out, so avoid displaying shirt which matches. Bear this in mind: you want any at all costs. Mobile phones are usually not per- to look sharp, not like you’re selling phones at the mitted in school, so if you’ve got a Hello Kitty daisy shopping center just off your local high street back chain or One Piece straps on your cell, tuck them home. Color is great, but stick with grey or darker in – or better yet, don’t bring your phone to class shades of blue or brown. Jacket sleeves should at all. stop with just enough room for your shirt cuffs to be visible (unless you want to look like the dweeb It is entirely possible to be a stylish ALT or CIR. son of Marty McFly in Back to the Future II). Being a JET often means finding a delicate balance between friendliness and professionalism. Putting Ties an outfit together which manages to project your- When you’re trying to inject a little personality into self as serious about the job while still remaining your work look, a tie is your friend. Silk or wool friendly and approachable requires consideration ties are excellent. Ideally, you should have a good from you, but it is very much worth the extra effort. selection: aim for between five or ten. Personally, Shop around and enjoy.

60 61 My JTE, a young woman who is bubbly in the Grave Topics ing himself an idiot for riding It’s a possibility and if so, under- office and steely in the classroom, said, “I think of Jennifer Ann Garcia with the windows down close to standing them brings about less costumes. Children wear the costumes and walk the power plant because it was fear and uncertainty. I applaud around. They get candy in their costumes.” But This past month marked two just too hot. I could also tell the my JTEs for taking time out of she went on to say, “In Japan, we don’t do that. important anniversaries. In Japan, other lesson went well because their strict academic schedules We don’t put on costumes.” But they have tradi- it has been six months since the even some of my more rambunc- to mark these occasions and edu- tional costumes don’t they? “Yes. But we don’t put March 11th tragedies. In Amer- tious students sat still and were cate these young minds beyond on silly costumes.” Again with the anti-silliness? ica, ten years have passed since respectful of the topic at hand. what is expected of them. The phrase sounded familiar because two weeks the September 11th attacks. At the end of this lesson, I read before, she had alluded to the same idea. aloud two poems, one for each In my opinion, as much as both of These can be sensitive and scary event, that emphasized how the these attacks have affected these I had been explaining the rules to a timed flashcard subjects for kids, even the high spirits of those lost, still live on specific countries, I classify them game called Whammy. During the game, if a stu- school kids I have, as the ram- in our hearts. more as world events. At differ- dent flips over a Whammy card, they have to do ifications of these events are ent times, these circumstances a silly dance. My JTE laughed, but then she said, still evident today. I remember With Halloween coming up, I brought the world together for a “This game sounds very fun, but the students are reading articles about how dif- wonder if the possibility of these time and showed the greatness not silly. They will not be able to be silly.” Not ficult it can be to explain these kinds of disasters happening of human compassion. able to be silly? No public displays of silliness? I topics to kids as they often again has taken the place of the do understand that some students are shy—I was times burden themselves with monsters in their nightmares. shy—but I was able to be silly. a myriad of concerns. Thus, I was surprised when two of my Fast forward a week and here it is again. No silli- JTEs approached me on sepa- ness? Silliness and mischief are the heart and soul rate occasions to discuss lesson of Halloween! It’s the one night of the year when plans about these topics. One it is totally acceptable to look ridiculous (or awe- teacher had planned to talk about Banana Rules some—shout out to the Box of Crayons I saw on his recent trip up to Tohoku to Shara Tonn Halloween in college) and be ridiculous. The one see the recovery for himself night when you know crazy things will happen and while the other teacher used On the first day at my junior high school, the resi- you will be a part of it. Kids run around and are the lesson as an opportunity to dent librarian approached my desk. Turning her lap- encouraged to scream as loudly as they can when teach about the two incidents top towards me, she showed me an elegant Hal- their neighbor, who is dressed as a ghost, reaches using inquisitive words such as loween pumpkin craft that could have been made out to grab their arms when they go for the candy “when, where, why,” etc. by Martha Stewart herself. She asked me, through bowl. When you are an adult, you dress up, dance my JTE, “Will you make some Halloween decora- crazy, play pranks and make-out. If only a little bit, When it came time for the les- tions for the library?” I agreed, and though I turned I wanted my junior high school to understand that sons, I was given the oppor- out not to be as talented as Martha Stewart, I did on Halloween you can—you MUST—be silly. tunity to share my experience have a determination to show Japan the true spirit of where I was and how I felt of Halloween. The next Thursday, I abandoned crafts and I brought about both occasions. This is my banana suit (the best birthday present I have something I had never imagined In the days following the librarian’s request, I ever received) to the junior high to execute my Hal- that I would be talking about attempted to find instructions on how to make loween Display Plan. With the help of the librarian, to these Japanese kids. I felt Halloween crafts. To get a sense of which ones I a lady with a mischievous streak, I took a picture a real connection with them at should focus on, I talked to a few teachers about of every teacher posing in the banana suit and for this moment because although their impressions of Halloween. the short time they were dressed in the banana they may be too young to clearly suit, the teachers showed me their silly side. They remember 9/11, I know they will Walking around, I asked “What do you think of posed as running bananas, peace bananas, sign- always remember where they when I say Halloween?” The school nutrition- holding bananas, hygienic hand-washing bananas, were on 3/11. ist, wearing her white coat, touched a Hallow- drinking bananas, bananas being bananas. And een Mickey Mouse figurine on her desk and said, while I watched them pose and laugh, I felt that The lessons themselves went “Pumpkins.” Beside her, the Special Education the banana suit gave them a touch of the Hallow- over well. The JTE who taught teacher, thinking with his hands on his lower back, een feeling—the feeling of ignoring the rules for a using his experience in Tohoku nodded his head and then said, “Costumes. Scary while and being silly. spoke openly of his concerns things.” Most enlightening though turned out to be about radiation. He apologized my JTE’s answer. for frightening any of them, but then quickly got a laugh by call-

62 63 Which is the best Haiku? YOU decide! Send the writers name AJET to [email protected] by Haiku October 20th. The winning Haiku will be entered in Contest the yearly AJET Haiku contest, and will be eligible to win a prize.

furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto an ancient pond a frog jumps in the splash of water – Matsuo Basho, 1686

Haiku are a very short form of poetry. Originally they were to break the rules of haiku when it suited him. Techniques credited to the author named in the entry form. the opening stanza of a longer collaborative poem, written such as comparison, contrast, association, riddles, metaphor by two or more people, called renga, and they were called (a hotly-contested technique, one not permitted by haiku hokku. In the seventeenth century, however, the haiku purists), simile and double entendres and word-plays are all shutterstock.comphoto from acquired a life of its own at the hands of haiku masters like used in haiku. To enter - Due Oct 25 Matsuo Basho. Its modern name, haiku, was given to it by Submissions should be original Masaoka Shiki in the late 1800’s. Join the AJET Connect monthly Haiku contest! Submissions haiku accompanied by: relevant to the JET experience are welcomed from current A Japanese haiku has 17 on, roughly corresponding to syl- JET Programme participants. There are two categories: Eng- 1_ your name lables, in a pattern of three lines of 5, 7, and 5 on. The haiku lish Haiku and Japanese Haiku. Your submission will be fea- 2_ your mailing address (this will not be published) should contain a seasonal word (kigo), and also a ‘cutting tured in the October issue, where our readers can vote on 3_ your JET number (ditto) word’ (kireji) which separates the different images in the their choice for the best haiku. The winning entries will be 4_ written in English or Japanese (if written in Japanese, poem. English haiku generally follow the same pattern, but entered in the yearly AJET Haiku Contest. We encourage you your haiku must be accompanied by furigana and an are sometimes shorter than their Japanese cousins. to start counting out the words and composing! English translation)

Jane Reichhold, on her informative website devoted to haiku Ownership/ Use Rights: Contestants may submit one haiku (per category) (http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiku.htm), says that although Haiku authors retain the rights to their haiku. By entering the each month. This contest is for JET participants only. haiku have an ‘astounding’ number of rules, you can pick and contest, the authors agree to have their submitted haiku pub- Send your entries to [email protected], Current National AJET choose which rules you will follow. In fact, you have to, since lished in the AJET Connect magazine, displayed on the AJET council members are not eligible to enter. 64 some rules contradict each other. Even Basho was known website and posted on AJET Facebook sites. Haiku will be This Months Haiku To VOTE, go to ajet.net/haiku Japanese Haiku 心には こころには 周りとともに まわりとともに 変化する へんかする One's heart along with it's surroundings transforms By Nathan Lysne

東山 higashiyama, 風流だな fuuryuu da na, 花盛り hanazakari. Eastern mountain, How elegant, In bloom. By Nick Hallsworth

地下鉄か ちかてつか 建物見える たてものみえる 地下は嘘 ちかはうそ Subway, eh I can see buildings subway my ass By Lena LeRay

66 the dolls that were the most Asian in appear- ance were the baby dolls. This is good for the little girls, but what about the pre-teen girls struggling with their self-image and develop- ing their idea of beauty? What does it mean that a country which is 99% Asian doesn’t have any Asian Barbie dolls Where’s the Asian among the dozens of Barbies in Yodobashi Camera’s toy sec- Barbie? tion? Anna E. Engle I have also noticed the overrep- Enjoying myself one Saturday resentation of Caucasians in Jap- afternoon at a toy store in Sap- anese advertisements. Adver- poro, I meandered into the doll tisements with Caucasians in section. There was Barbie, with non-Caucasian nations are com- her same svelte shape, but some- mon in other countries as well, thing felt off. Barbie’s eyes were such as Guatemala, where I not shaped like Japanese eyes. lived for 2 months. In Guate- Barbie’s hair was blonde, red, or mala, like in Japan, blonde and brown, but not black, except for brunette Caucasians are plen- the hair on the black-skinned Bar- tiful on billboards and on post- bie. In a country where almost ers in the malls. As a Caucasian everyone has almond eyes and minority in Japan, the surplus of black hair, I found this puzzling advertisements broadcasting my and disturbing. On the bus I find race makes me feel a bit uncom- myself longing for black hair and fortable. It feels weird that I can almond eyes to fit in, but Barbie go days without seeing another must not feel that pressure. Caucasian female, but if I turn on the TV or head to the AEON mall Despite my discomfort at looking I will see pictures of them eve- and feeling so different, I know it rywhere. is good that I bring a little diver- sity to Japan. Maybe that’s the I believe the demographics of a intention behind Barbie’s Cau- country should be reflected in casian appearance, but I doubt their advertising. Yes, American it. Barbie has never served to advertising is far from perfect fashion help girls feel better about their and should show more realis- appearance. Is my belief that a tic and varying body shapes and & beauty girl should be able to buy a doll sizes, but there is big a differ- that looks like her that unrealis- ence between weight and race. tic? I think not, but unfortunately Your race is part of your culture

69 photo from shutterstock.com and identity, and classifying or portraying one race looked like me, but I still struggled with my self- as superior to another in terms of beauty is racist image. Japanese women are beautiful, and I want and creates unattainable standards. them to see themselves that way.

Many surveys show that Japanese women have low self-image, like the Dove (Unilever Corp) Cam- paign for Real Beauty, which showed that 42% * http://news.3yen.com/2006-04-13/bad-hair-day-vs- of Japanese woman have never felt beautiful or self-esteem-japanese-woman/ could not remember feeling beautiful*. Respond- ** www.easterwood.org/hmmn/2006/06/japanese-wom- ing to the question “How satisfied would you say ens-attitudes-to-beauty/ you are with your own beauty?”, only 23% of Japa- nese women answered “very satisfied” or “some- what satisfied.” Eighty-six percent of Argentinean women and 82% of Portuguese women, however, answered “very satisfied” or “somewhat satis- fied”**. What a huge discrepancy!

I’ve lived in Japan for less than two months and I don’t pretend to be an expert on how the Japa- nese perceive beauty. Still, during my short time here I’ve read the self-esteem statistics and I’ve observed the lack of Asian dolls and the overrep- resentation of Caucasians in Japanese advertise- ments. What does this mean for my students? When I was in high school, I saw my race rep- resented in advertising and I could buy dolls that

70 photo from shutterstock.com 71 GAMES & hardware Hell Yeah!!! Windows PCs and should be available for download right now The Diablo III Bet if you were selected. Is A Go! "This closed beta test is an By Michael McWhertor via kotaku.com important milestone for us as we enter the final stages of Hurry! To the Battle.net account! development on Diablo III," said Blizzard Entertainment has just Mike Morhaime, CEO and co- dropped word that the long- founder of Blizzard Entertain- awaited closed beta for Diablo ment. "Our goal is to create the III has begun and that the devel- best action role-playing game oper has "started issuing the experience to date, building on first wave of invitations to par- everything we've learned since ticipate in the testing process." the release of Diablo II and incorporating the powerful fea- If you registered for the Dia- tures of the new Battle.net plat- blo III beta, log into your Bat- form. We hope players enjoy tle.net account, then click on participating in the beta test and the "ACCOUNT" tab to find out we look forward to hearing their if you're one of the lucky few. feedback." Even if you aren't in today, don't lose hope. Blizzard also says So... did you get in? it's "planning to add more par- ticipants over the course of the You can contact Michael beta test." McWhertor, the author of this post, at [email protected]. The closed beta lets players explore part of Act I from Dia- blo III, experimenting with the game's five classes—barbar- ian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, and demon hunter—and the game's skill and crafting sys- tems. It's largely the same con- tent we played a couple months ago at Blizzard HQ. The beta cli- ent (which runs approximately 2.7 GB) is available for Mac and

73 What This Man Really Wanted For a Game With Big Boobs, You Was To See Breasts In 3D Need a Girl with… By Brian Ashcraft via Kotaku.com By Brian Ashcraft via Kotaku.com

Senran Kagura aims to please. So does game Nintendo 3DS game Senran Kagura unabashedly designer Kenichiro Takaki. According to Takakai, features boobs. Which is exactly why the game's what inspired the game is probably what will advertising campaign also features, you guessed inspired players to buy it: boobs. it, boobs.

In a post over on the game's official site, Takaki, Ample pin-ups like baby-faced Chiaki Kyan are play- who also developed PSP game Half-Minute Hero, ing through the game in promotional clips. Kyan is talks about how this is the age of 3D games. Takaki part of the busty idol troupe created for the game. recalls back to last spring when he first began work on his new project. Kyan is famous for her love of video games and anime. She's appeared on Japan's Inside Xbox and "I started to think about what I wanted to see in a is apparently very into first-person shooters, espe- game on the Nintendo 3DS and within thirty sec- cially Halo. She even pens regular game columns onds, I came up with it," he writes. "It was boobs." for Japanese mags.

This shouldn't be surprising as Takaki refers to Today, however, she's playing through Senran himself as the "Bakunyu producer" with "bakunyu" Kagura. Dressed as a schoolgirl. Halo, this ain't. meaning "huge boobs" or literally "exploding breasts". This moniker is due to all the chesty char- acters that appear in his games.

This now makes me wonder where where the title Half-Minute Hero came from...

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74 75 A Treatise on the dle the art of manliness through a reawakening of the mustache. At the core of this movement lays the belief that within every Mustache mustache lies ancient tradition, By Abdul R. Chaballout virtuous character, and reso- The Art of via artofmanliness.com nant fellowship. For those of us who have for- On Male Tradition gotten life in the United States Every strand of hair found Manliness before the 1980's, the sudden above a man’s lips serves as a appearance of Brad Pitt and tribute to the pantheon of mus- Yankees first baseman Jason tache holders throughout his- Giambi, parading with freshly tory, an ode to the testosterone blossomed mustaches may that has driven every strand of seem random and unorthodox. Having spent the past year in the Middle East, where this particular expression of facial hair is very much a conventional display, I began to question whether we as Americans have forgotten an important element of human nature that many cul- tures globally have preserved. It was only after I embraced life with a mustache myself that I have come to transcend my ini- tial prejudices on the matter.

I have found in this current age, men generally fall into two camps: those who tote and understand the mustache, and those who do not tote and do not understand the “hirsute appendage of the upper lip.” The latter community perceives the mustache to be an arcane ornament, a male accessory every male’s facial hair since that is often displeasing to the the first man roamed Planet common eye. This is a group Earth. Historically speaking, that also believes in the clean- the first record of man’s extrav- shaven status quo of modernity, agant display of his mustache subsequently casting the mus- goes back to a painting of a tache into the dark abyss of the Scythian horseman from 300 past. The former community, BC. Fast forward to the cur- however, can naturally deline- rent age, where societies by ate the je ne sais quoi impor- and large have maintained their tance of the mustache, which bond to the mustache, as evi- has everything to do with man- dent in Egyptian society today, hood, and nothing to do with where a man’s honor is meas- fashion. This is a group that fully ured by the size of his mus- apprehends the dying state of tache. Truth be told, an Egyp- masculinity and seeks to rekin- tian clan elder was stripped of

77 photo from shutterstock.com his honor in recent years when cleanest mustaches are most On Male Fellowship an unfortunate scuffle led to likely to share their lives with Unlike women, who bond prima- his kidnapping and the subse- women of the highest caliber. rily through face to face discus- quent humiliation of seeing his sions, males bond best through mustache shaved, packaged, Upstanding character in males shared activities, namely and sent home. holds honor as its nucleus. through those performed side Only with strong honor can by side. Two men embarking It is only in recent times that other positive attributes such on the road to friendship do so the mustache has become a as integrity, loyalty, and sincer- with a mutual appreciation of ubiquitous trademark of villains, ity surface to the exterior of any one another’s machismo. Such pimps, and scalawags. One can man. That said, many societies activities include logging, hunt- easily find himself perplexed at hinge the honor of their males ing, war, etc. At a more primor- how such a bona fide expres- on the mustaches on their face. dial stage however, the proc- sion of man can so ess begins with the suddenly find itself most fundamental ele- disparaged. While it is ment of human bond- difficult to pinpoint the ing: similarity. When exact source of this two men meet, bond- evolution, one must ing prospects are sig- remember we live in a nificantly enhanced time where manhood when both tote a itself has become a well groomed mus- trivial matter. As such, tache. The reason for it is up to the vigilant this goes back to the and the wise to bring ancestral nature of this the youth of today patch of hair, as it inte- back to the straight grates both tradition path. and character, which provides an invariably On Male solid foundation any Character two men can find rel- The outward display of evant. any mustache ostensi- bly indicates the pres- The proverbial mus- ence of attributes tache is not only a that have most effec- male prerogative, but tively driven the sur- a bastion of the male vival of the male presence. Pushing for race: virility and mas- its elimination from culinity. Biologically the zeitgeist of any era speaking, release of carries no meaning but testosterone in the a denial of the source development of all of manhood itself. Tot- males drives the development In Syrian society today, men ing the mustache with the right of secondary sex characteris- build trust by swearing by their intentions is a God-given right tics, physical features that even- mustache and even go as far as that even the English recog- tually sustain the holy blessing offering their mustache as ran- nized when they declared: “a of procreation. One can appro- som in the event their integrity man without a mustache is like priately compare the mustache is compromised. And old Arab a cup of tea without sugar.” to the feathers of a male pea- proverb once professed “every cock. Those peacocks that can mustache has its scissors,” an flaunt the most impressive indication that behind every feathers are most likely to pro- mustache is a respectable duce robust offspring. Similarly, male deserving of the utmost those men with the fullest and respect.

78 79 About the Campaign During November each year, Movember is respon- sible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces in Australia and around the world. style guide The aim of which is to raise vital funds and aware- Movember ness for men’s health, specifically prostate cancer and depression in men.

On Movember 1st, guys register at Movember. com with a clean-shaven face and then for the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo growing efforts.

Mo Bros effectively become walking, talking bill- boards for the 30 days of November and through their actions and words raise awareness by prompt- ing private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health.

At the end of the month, Mo Bros and their female Movember supporters (known as Mo Sistas) celebrate their a global movement gallantry and valor by either throwing their own Since its humble beginnings in Melbourne Aus- Movember party or attending one of the infamous tralia, Movember has grown to become a truly Gala Partés held around the world by Movember, global movement inspiring more than 1.1 Million for Movember. Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate, with for- mal campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, the US, The Movember Effect: Awareness & Canada, the UK, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, Education, Survivorship, Research South Africa and Ireland. In addition, Movember The funds raised in Australia support equally the is aware of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas supporting the two biggest health issues men face – prostate can- campaign and men’s health cause right across the cer and depression. The funds raised are directed globe, from Russia to Dubai, Hong Kong to Antarc- to programs run directly by Movember and our tica, Rio de Janeiro to Mumbai, and everywhere in men’s health partners, the Prostate Cancer Foun- between. dation of Australia and beyondblue: the national depression initiative. Together, the three channels No matter the country or city, Movember will con- work together to ensure that Movember funds tinue to work to change established habits and are supporting a broad range of innovative, world- attitudes men have about their health, to educate class programs in line with our strategic goals, in men about the health risks they face, getting them the areas of awareness and education, survivorship to act on that knowledge, thereby increasing the and research. chances of early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment. For more information about how to get involved contact your local AJET Chapter or visit: Big steps have been taken towards changing atti- tudes and habits relating to men’s health around the www.movember.com world but there is still much to be done to catch up with the women’s health movement. Via the mous- tache, Movember aims to fulfill its vision of having an everlasting impact on the face of men’s health, by continuing to spark conversation and spread awareness of men’s health each year.

80 81 10 Fun Ways to 8 Church Going to church is a great place to Learn Japanese make Japanese friends, because Anna E. Engle people at church are supposed to be friendly. You can also talk Other than buying half a dozen to the little kids, who are cute Japanese language study books and fun to talk to. Services are and feeling guilty for not open- either in Japanese or bilingual, ing them, I didn’t study Japa- and singing the songs is great nese before I came to Japan two language practice. months ago. However, I believe firmly in learning the language of 7 Sing along the country you are living in, and Speaking of singing, find some living in Japan has dramatically Japanese musicians you like and improved both my Japanese and check out a website like www. my motivation to study Japa- jpopasia.com for their lyrics in nese. Still, I’m not getting graded romanji (or kanji, if you can han- for my studying, so it’s important dle that). Then play the music that I learn through fun ways and and sing along! Great practice keep my motivation up. Here are for karaoke, and so much fun! Japanese study tips 10 of my favorite ways to use Ask your students for music rec- Japanese. ommendations- they introduced me to Bump of Chicken, and I 10 Facebook comments am now such a fan! Even if you don’t know kanji, writing in katakana or hiragana on 6 Make kid friends facebook will really impress your If you like kids and you can find friends back home and make you some (church is a good place), feel cool. Even if you can’t figure play games with them and read out how to type in hiragana, just with them. You can buy kiddie copy and paste from a diction- books that are just in hiragana ary website like http://jisho.org. I and katakana, and you can have have an Office Word document the kids read to you! There are filled with the hiragana and kanji also lots of fun games with hira- words and phrases I like to use gana and katakana, and adorable on facebook, so it’s just a quick flashcards. copy and paste! 5 Remember your 9 Language partner mind is growing Speaking the language is way Sometimes I pessimistically think more fun than studying, so try that it’s not very practical for me to find a language partner. You to know Japanese when I return can teach them English for a half to my home country, so why hour, and then they can teach should I put the effort in? The you Japanese for a half hour. Or truth is, though, you never know you can speak in Japanese and when a foreign language can they can speak in English. How- come in handy back home, and ever you do it, it’s a great mutu- it is undeniably practical to know ally beneficial relationship, and it now. Besides all that, learning it’s free! Find someone by asking a new language is good for your around, checking out a website brain. like couchsurfing.org, or adver- tising at your city’s international center.

83 photo from shutterstock.com 4 Befriend the cashiers 2 Listen to Japanese Understanding Japanese If you go to the same stores especially, the cash- I know it sounds basic, but as someone who has iers can be great people to practice Japanese with. learned a foreign language before, I know the value Gestures They are required to be polite, so hopefully they in deliberately listening to the sounds of the lan- Rob Maxwell won’t make fun of your Japanese too much. The guage, whether at teacher meetings or out in the manager at my grocery store loves to talk to me street. Even though my vocabulary is very, very After a particularly entertaining class, and his English is pretty broken, so I manage to limited, if I concentrate while listening and can pick where we discussed various Japanese ges- throw in some broken Japanese. Plus, he showed out the syllables, I know this will help me under- tures and how they differ from the west, me where the imitation crab meat is. stand more in the future. I thought it may be worthwhile tackling a few of them over the next few issues. 3 Read hiragana out loud 1 Motivation I’ve memorized the kanas, but I’m still far from a The most important thing with learning Japanese Although before coming to Japan, one would be fluid reader, so it’s always good for me to practice is to keep up your motivation. The number 1 cause led to believe that Japanese keep body movements reading everything I see when I’m out and about, of failure is discouragement. Yes, sometimes it is to a minimum when speaking, standing virtually Kotchi ni oide こっち に お いで Come over here especially on the bus. I live in a big enough city that overwhelming and so difficult to learn a foreign lan- motionless as they talk. In reality, after arriving in Holding you hand out in front of you with your fin- I don’t care if people hear me muttering under my guage. But set little goals that you can meet and Japan we find this is far from the truth. Japanese gers out straight and your palm facing down, bend breath, because I probably won’t see them again. keep going! Ganbatte ne! commonly use up to 120 gestures, although many your fingers like you are grabbing the handle of a You can also read inside your head, too! of these (about 50 or so) being mainly used by the bag and repeat the motion, moving the fingers for- older generation. Some are slowly being replaced wards and backwards. Make sure to pay attention by newer ones from the younger generation or sim- to the eye contact. If they are looking at you, it’s a ply left to disappear with time. good indication they want your attention. If a per- son is saying “Go away” they will most likely not Most of you have been in Japan now for over 6 make eye contact. months and are sure to have encountered situa- tions where a co-worker or friend has gestured to you or you to them and you both had no idea what the other was asking (or gesturing). This is where we hope to help, by de-mystifying the world of Japanese gestures. 2011 AMICA YEAR-END INTENSIVE COURSES

WHEN December 26th 30th, 2011 Morning session - 9:00am-1:00pm or Afternoon - 1:30-5:30pm 5 days: 4 hours/day (total 20 hours) * Please see note below. Atchi ike! あっちいけ! Go away! HOW MUCH ¥33,000yen + tax = ¥34,650 AJET members (all courses) SAVING ¥2,000 This gesture looks almost the same as come here and can be easily confused when you first see HOW TO Contact us TODAY for an application form. it, heck the first few dozen times for me. The ENROLL Once complete you can send it back via fax or e-mail. main difference is with this gesture you keep the Limited fingers straight and bend the wrist in a forwards space, enroll now, brushing movement, kind of like the “shoo, shoo” MORE INFO Contact us anytime and enjoy our gesture we use in the West for scaring away birds Phone (03)-5484-0963 Fax (03)-5444-2938 teaching Ochi tsuite! 落ち着いて Calm down! and animals. Or by e-mail at [email protected] technique! With both hands out in front of the body, palms fac- ing down and keeping them level, move them up As stated earlier, make sure to pay attention to the and down in a “higher/lower” fashion. At the same eye contact. If they are looking at you, it’s a good time saying “maaah, maaah, maaah” shows you indication they want your attention. If a person is www.amica.ac.jp want the person/s to cool it or calm down. Without saying “Go away” they will most likely not make saying this they might not know what you are try- eye contact. ing to convey.

Maison84 de Hijirizaka #302, 4-15-36, Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0073 85 Greg Ferguson Soon Lai Teoh

Which is the best picture? YOU decide! Send the photographer's name to contest@ajet. net by October 20th. The winning picture will be entered in the yearly AJET photo contest, and will be eligible to win a prize.

87 Josh Del Pino Harry Stoneley Jonathan Menary

89 Monika Slupnicki Areej Obeid

Lena LeRay Sean Kenney 91 Lana Kitcher Allison Acosta

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