This month's issue.

• "Chuuto Hanpo"
• TEACHING GAME
• INTERVIEW x2
• RESTAURANTO REVIEW
• A JOKE (this newsletter)
• CLUBHOUSE
  
  

Hi, I was reading the paper the other day and I came across an interview with Donald Richie, who has had a lot to do with films in Japan and a Zen enthusiast. He is quite an old dude but he's wise. He put the future of Japan quite nicely. So I thought I would show you it if you have not already read it.
Upon asked about the future of Japan, he said: "The country has shown how much can be made of little. The glutted, materialistic, philistine world can learn something from Japan. This has been Japan's traditional role, so now it can go back to it. And indeed it will go back to it because it has nothing else to go back to."
So what he was talking about here was Japans 'poor with pride' culture prior to the opening up of the country. He talked about how wabi sabi and zen style were developed out of having very little but making that very little look very beautiful. For example only owning one chair, but placing that one chair in the room to create as much esthetic appeal as possible.
For me this one comment from him opened my mind to understanding and theorising about so many aspects of Japanese culture. I also watched 'Seven Samurai' the other night and that taught me a lot about the roots of Japanese society and the strong sense of need to belong to a group and the pressure of group thinking. It's good that even though I have been in Japan a while that my mind can still open up and find something interesting and exciting to keep me here.

Neither here nor there. Incomplete. Halfway. Done in halves.

Be careful when you use this phrase as it is used in a negative way to express dissatisfaction with something. If things are done in half measures or without the correct amount of effort people will use this phrase. Please don't use this phrase when talking with your students about their Rhythm Training homework. or the efforts of the F.I.A. Monthly editor.

TEACHING GAME - "Talking Cards" by Michael J. Brown. (Internet TESL Journal, Vol.4, No8, August 1998).

Materials required: One or two packs of cards and the questions sheet.
How to play: You distribute the cards among your students. (especially good for group training or pair training. The student answers the corresponding question to that card. The student is awarded 4 points for a complete answer, 3 points for a reasonable answer , 2 points for an incomplete answer, and 1 point for any answer at all. If your class is up to it, you can get them to award the points.

Spades (describing things)

Ace: Describe your or somebody elses face
King: Describe your clothes.
Queen: Describe your mother.
Jack: Describe your father.
Ten: Describe an apple.
Nine: Describe your bedroom.
Eight: Describe your best friend.
Seven: Describe what you had for breakfast today.
Six: Describe your English teacher.
Five: Describe the difference between dog and a cat.
Four: Describe a pencil.
Three: Describe your favourite hobby.
Two: Describe this game.

Hearts (what questions)

Ace: What did you have for dinner last night?
King: What did you have for lunch today?
Queen: What is your favourite sport?
Jack: What did you do last night?
Ten: What type of music do you like?
Nine: What is your favourite game?
Eight: What does your mother do?
Seven: What does your father do?
Six: What is your favourite lesson?
Five: What did you do last Sunday?
Four: What is your favourite television programme?
Three: What would you do if you could do anything in the world?
Two: What is one thing you would change about yourself?

Clubs (mixed questions)

Ace: What is your address in English?
King: What time do you usually get up?
Queen: Where did you go for your last holiday?
Jack: Where were you born?Ten: Why are you studying English?
Nine: Which do you prefer, summer or winter, and why?
Eight: Which magazines do you like to read?
Seven: How many hours do you usually sleep at night?
Six: Do you like shopping? Why?
Five: How often do you go to the cinema?
Four: What was the last movie you saw?
Three: Would you like to travel to other countries?
Two: How many friends have you got and who are they?

Diamonds (if clause)

Ace: If you could have a pet what would it be?
King: If you had a million dollars what would you spend it on?
Queen: If you could meet any person in the world who would it be? And why?
Ten: If you had to live in another country which one would you choose?
Nine: If you could do anything in the world what would you do?
Eight: If you could speak three languages well, what would they be?
Seven: If you were rich, what would you do?
Six: If you had to spend a day alone at home, what would you do?
Five: If everyone in the world disappeared, what would you do?
Five: If you could choose how old you were, how old would you be and why?
Three: If you could choose any meal you wanted, what would it be?
Two: If you found $100,000 what would you do?

A lot of these questions are pretty unoriginal and boring, how many times have you seen some of those ones before? So make up your own ones.

RESTAURANT REVIEW - Gato Rojo

Steve McFarlane
As most of you know, I enjoy finding a good restaurant and I found one recently. Gato Rojo is a Mexican restaurant in Fujieda, which is about 20 minutes west of Shizuoka on the Tokaido line. The place has one table and a small counter so it only fits 8-10 people and is a little cramped. It has a variety of standard Mexican foods, including tacos (chicken, pork, beef...), burritos, salads and so on that are all 500 yen. The drink menu features beer, either Japanese or Mexican, as well as tequila for 500 yen each so the prices are reasonable. I've never been to Mexico so I'm not the best judge of the cuisine but it tasted good to me. The owner (who is also the chef, waiter, busboy and dishwasher) is friendly and has no problem with foreign diners. There is no table charge and the prices include tax. The menu is in Japanese and Spanish. If you're in the area, it's worth checking out.

Access is about a one-minute walk from Fujieda station. From the north exit, look for the Shizuoka bank directly in front of you. Follow the street north away from the station about 3 doors and look for Gato Rojo on your left.
Gato Rojo

THERE IS A REALLY GOOD WEB SITE FOR RESTAURANTS IN TOKYO CALLED WWW.BENTO.COM - IT'S GOT A REALLY GOOD SEARCH ENGINE!!!

JOKE!!! I took this one from www.avaruusmies.com

Brian decided to go skiing with his buddy, Tony. They loaded up Brian's Mitsubishi and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. They pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night.
"I realize it's terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed," she explained. "I'm afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house."
Don't worry," Brian said. "We'll be happy to sleep in the barn. And if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light."
The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night.
Come morning, the weather had cleared, they got on their way and enjoyed a great weekend of skiing.

About nine months later, Brian got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the ski weekend.
He dropped in on his friend Tony and asked, "Tony, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our ski holiday up North?"
"Yes, I do."
"Did you happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?"
"Yes," Tony said, a little embarrassed about being found out. "I have to admit that I did."
"And did you happen to use my name instead of telling her your name?"
Tony's face turned red and he said, "Yeah, sorry, buddy. I'm afraid I did. Why do you ask?"
"She just died and left me everything."

Ha ha! Well at least it's better than Paul's jokes (which isn't hard to do)

INTERVIEW - Wendy Jones

Home city: Toowoomba
Hobbies/interests: MTB, snowboarding, chocolate.
Best Japanese food: Sushi or senbei
Best restaurant in Japan: Ichigo-ya in Konan (near Nagoya).
Best drinking place: Any! As long as it's in walking distance of my home.
Best Japanese word/phrase: Nani kore?? (when in a Japanese restaurant).
Best place in Japan: Fujimi panorama in summer…MTB season.
Best thing in Japan: Fujimi Panorama in summer…MTB season.
Best thing in Japan: Me…(kidding!!!)…The mountains.
Worst thing about Japan: Feeling like a freak of nature when shopping for clothes/shoes is equivalent to figuring out the recycling system.
Favourite interchange lesson: describing people's appearances, after , I've given students extra adjective.
Best kind of ramen: something with heaps of vegies in it.
Best music: Techno (which is why I suck at Steve and Brad's 80's quiz game).
Best movie: Trainspotting
Best drink: ume chu-hi or Starbucks coffee.
Embarrassing moment: We are not even going to go there…but good try.
Personal goal: Becoming a pro downhill racer or being able to ride my bike off road without once getting off to walk, or the obvious - speaking Japanese.
Prefer futon or bed: either ok…although I do miss my bed.

INTERVIEW - Abe Deyto

Home city: Calgary, Alberta.
Hobbies/interests: Jogging, swimming, shamisen.
Best Japanese food: Hijiki.
Best restaurant in Japan: La GRIFFE, Omotesando, Tokyo.
Best drinking place : 1/ TOOLS, Shinjuku, Tokyo 2/ RED BIKE, Kannai, Yokohama.
Best Japanese word/phrase: "Ore tte iyashi kei? Soretomo iyarashii kei?"
Best place: 1/ on the backstreets of Kamakura 2/ in the middle of the suspended escalator of the SKY Museum 10F, Umeda, Osaka.
Best thing in Japan: The "Wabisabi" and "Shibui" aethetic, very "raku raku".
Worst thing about Japan: Overpackaging
Favourite lesson: Present Perfect.
Best kind of Ramen: I can't stand Ramen! But Ise Ebi Teishoku is a good substitute.
Best music: 1/ "New Asia" - Asian compilations 2/ "Pizzacato Five" 3/ SKA! And of course 4/ "Bjork" with Ottmar Liebert.
Best movie: 1/ "Last Emperor" 2/ all Kurosawa Akira movies.
Best drink: Osake and Korean Shochu (Green and Bidan)
Embarrassing moment in Japan: Confusing the word "Chicken"@ "Chikan".
Personal goal: 1/ Start and complete my masters 2/ becoming proficient at Shamisen.
Prefer futon or bed: Futon.

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From the Clubhouse

Thanks to all for their participation at the recent meetings, the meetings were good and the dinners were great. Bruce Chau has turned himself into a legend at Shimada and rumors are there is a strong push to make him President of Shimada Factory.

Take care everyone

Cheers

Keep up all the good work.