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This month's issue:
- Pat
let's us in on his Halloween memories
- Ponderings
, by the IEP staff
- Tracy's
"Cycling Adventures"
- Julian
Giiles takes us on a tour of his home turf
- Caroline
on new bookstores in Tokyo, pt.2
- Van
Hutchinson "At the Driving Range "
- Steve
Mcfarlane's Webwatch
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Greetings from the editors
Well, we made it through our first edition as
editors for the FIA Monthly..whew!, it's a miracle!! And being
in our predecessors shoes now, appreciate all the more, all the
work that went into making this newsletter a success by the P&P
staff and contributors. Hats off to Alistair, Lorna, Tracy and
youz guys who submitted stories Great job, well done. And, last
but not least, a big thank you to all the contributors to the
October issue. Happy Halloween !
Aow Aow Aow AaaaaUUUUOOooowww!
- Dave D
Hello everyone! I'd just like to take the chance
to thank the previous committee for all their hard work. I hope
that the three of us can successfully follow in their footsteps.
Please don't be shy over sending something (anything) in for us,
remember that the alternative is being subjected to my incoherent
ramblings every month. A frightening thought I know, but with
a little help from you, all too easily avoidable (hint!)
Enjoy this, the "Under New Management"
edition.
Cheers,
Jules
Hey All,
I look forward to disturbing the comfortable and comforted the
disturbed during my tenure as editor. Or not.
Cheers,
Larry
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The few remaining
Halloween memories of HIB-no Pato desu
Will says
that Dave says that he wanted me to write about an interesting
Halloween story, so I'm writing to let them and you know that
I don't really have any interesting Halloween stories. In fact,
this time of year has for the last 2/3 of my life thus far been
mostly devoted to lightproofing whatever dump I'm living in, to
totally seal off the blue glow from the TV in an attempt to ward
off the throngs of deserving children sure to be disappointed
by my humble offering of a single sunflower or pumpkin seed (their
choice) treat because I forgot to buy candy again this year, who
would trick me as I would have tricked as a young 'un.
The closest
thing I can offer to the requested interesting story is the Halloween
of my 16th year, when my buddy Greg's girlfreind Peggy's brother
Rusty, who I had theretofore only suspected of cretinism, dropped
a lit M-80 (one-eighth of a stick of dynamite) between his feet
in the back seat of Greg's Chevy Vega instead of the randomly
targeted innocent farmer's mailbox. I was sitting next to him,
remember only a flash, concussion and that test signal sine tone
you hear on late night TV which drowned out the torrent of abuse
I was pouring onto the head of the hapless would-be cow terrorist.
That was the end of a promising career as mailbox bomb craftsman.
The next year,
a different group was heading out for Halloween mayhem
when Stan that year's designated driver went into a 4-wheel slide
at the puddle at the bottom of our hill in the general direction
of a group of children who were a safe distance, yet being observed
closely by their patrolling sherriff's father. Six month's suspended
license for Stan, and $400 fine, a lot back then to a high school
junior. Mostly I just stayed home after that on Halloweeen.
Except this
one time, in Thailand when a few other foreign teachers decided
to put on a "haunted house" at an English camp were
happened to be conducting at that time. It was innocent enough
to us, but we learned later that the temple monks were called
in to exorcise the school wing we held it at, and one kid was
so scared she refused to go to school for a week, not the intended
cross-cultural outcome.
Almost all
the other kids just hit us with their shoes when they
recognized us. Anyway, BOO!!(m) Scare ya?
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The Great Ponderables - by The IEP Staff
Working in Intensives definitely has its advantages: satellite
radio, a full size refrigerator, and a microwave. (I might be
forgetting a few of the more minor advantages.)
Another advantage is the working environment: we are stationed
literally within spitting distance of each other (yes, it's been
proven) around a rectangular grouping of desks much similar to
the situation in any of the Yazaki offices outside your average
OJT Room. Sure it's not always a pretty sight, but being face
to face with each other does allow for a free and easy exchange
of information, opinions, and, on the very rarest of occasions,
matters related to teaching English.
Thankfully this article will have nothing to do with any of those
things. We'd just like to share with you some of the questions
we, as a threesome, have been pondering over the last month.
- " Why do we always do the exact opposite of what it
says on the door? Push? We pull!
- " Why can't we just go home? (Asked at 10:35 a.m.)
- " How do you write "Caution: Hot. Don't Touch!"
in Braille?
- " Do dogs yawn when they see other dogs yawn?
- " Are we the only people that think it's not a good
idea to "test the Fuji fault line" by detonating 2.5
tons of dynamite under Mt. Fuji (on September 11th no less)? (Actually
happened!)
" Is everyone aware that 111,111,1112 = 12,345,678,987,654,321?
- " Does Steve's brain actually work?
" Does Steve actually have a brain?
- " Hey, wait! I'm Steve! Why did I type those last 2
questions? Wendy!!!
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What did you do this summer? - Tracy Olsen
What
did you do this summer? Probably, like the rest of us, you took
shelter from the rain. I heard that the Official Rain People
declared rainy season over only because they were under pressure
to do so; they then recanted and admitted that rainy season, indeed,
was not over. But now autumn is here, bringing clear air and drier
days. Wanting to take advantage of the fine weather, to see a
bit more of Japan, and to get a little exercise in the deal, six
FIA trainers (Rob Y., Wendy, Chris, Al, Tracy and Brian), loaded
our mountain bikes with camping gear and warm clothes, and road
71 kilometers from Susono to Lake Motosuko.
We
rode to Motosuko on Saturday, camped that night, and returned
to Susono on Sunday. Although the ride was not an easy one - uphill
most of the way on the first day, and uphill at least part way
on day two, it was, overall, a very rewarding experience.
 Motosuko
is one of the Fuji five lakes and it affords some fabulous views
of the countryside. It also affords a chance to get away from
the hectic, stressful life of the big city, and getting there
by bicycle gave our group the opportunity to ride through some
scenic places, enjoying the fresh country air, and seeing parts
of Japan that cannot be enjoyed by train. We left at about 7 am
on Saturday morning and arrived at Motosuko to set up camp by
3:00 pm. The only problem: wanting to travel light, I did not
buy beer at the convenience store we passed. The campsite shop
did sell beer, although they only carried Asahi Super Dry. So
I bought two six packs of tall cans - and it only cost 6, 000
yen!! Yes - it was expensive; however, after riding 71 kilometers
through hilly terrain, I considered my choices: a) ride 1.5 kilometers
to get cheaper beer; b) pay 6000 yen for 12 cans of beer; c) do
without beer. Choice B was, as you can see, the only truly viable
option. 
Riding
home was more tiring - an indication that my body had not recovered
from the exceptionally tough ride (and the tall cans of beer!)
the day before. But once we had gotten up to Children's World,
it was all downhill from there, and what an amazingly fast downhill
ride it was. There was a bit more car traffic than I would have
liked, and having my bicycle oddly balanced with 10 extra kilos
on the back made handling the curves a bit hairy - and all the
more thrilling. Brian and I got home by about 4 pm, feeling well-ridden
and, yes, edified by our adventure. We then ordered a large pizza
and opened a bottle of wine- a lovely way to celebrate the completion
of our epic journey!
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My Japan - by Julian Giles
I'm hoping that this will be the start of a regular section.
It's a chance for you to introduce a favorite place in Japan,
or failing that, where you live now. I'm going to start things
off, but then it's up to you, unless you really want to be subjected
to my incoherent ramblings each month. You have been warned.
Okazaki
Seeing as most of you have yet to enjoy the varied delights of
team teaching out here in Aichi, I thought I'd take a moment to
introduce my current stomping grounds.
Okazaki is a city of about 300,000 about halfway between Toyohashi
and Nagoya. There are 3 cities that pretty much merge into one;
industrial Toyota, urban Okazaki and rural Anjo (which has Mikawa-anjo
shinkansen station).
Toyota is pretty easy to sum up: Cars, pears and pigs, but mostly
cars. There are A LOT of car factories and the Toyota Motor Corporation
head office, which includes a small museum and visitors centre.
Okazaki, on the other hand, is a little more interesting. There
aren't any major multinational automotive industry powerhouse's
headquarters, but there is the ubiquitous castle, only this time
it's actually quite famous. It's not exactly an imposing architectural
masterpiece like Himeji, but it was the birthplace of Tokugawa
Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo period.
It is especially pretty at night when it's floodlit, and during
the cherry blossom season. The annual fireworks festival is held
in the riverside park in front of the castle here on the first
Saturday in August. It is actually a competition and averages
20,000 fireworks over about 1.5 hours. The population of Okazaki
roughly doubles for the day!
On the same weekend the neighboring city of Anjo holds the Tanabata
festival (yes, in August). Anjo is also home to Denpark, a small
theme park noted for its flowers, sausages and on site Danish
brewery. Oh yes, and a windmill. Other than that, it's rice fields
and wheat all around.
This wouldn't be Japan if there wasn't a famous local food. In
Okazaki it's red miso. It is used in everything, including ice
cream, but the most famous dishes would be miso katsu and miso
nikomi udon. The oldest and most famous factory (Hatcho Miso Factory)
is not far from the castle (20 minutes walk or 1 stop on the Meitetsu
train line) and you can take a free 30 minute tour between 9am
and 4pm. The top quality miso is made using only Hokkaido soy
beans, salt and water. It's very healthy and is exported worldwide
(most notably Chernobyl, where its medicinal properties were thought
to be useful in warding off the effects of radiation). The area
is also, apparently, famous for its pigs and chickens. Anjo has
a number of noodle factories, particularly somen. Toyota's culinary
contribution is pears.
So, what else is there? Well, there is a nice big shopping mall
for that lovely "back home" feeling. It comes with a
large Gap, Tower Records, Cappricciosa and that yardstick of western
civilization; Starbucks!
In the surrounding area
A couple of stops away on the Tokaido line is Gamagori, which
has a small water slide theme park and outlet mall with the requisite
Ferris wheel. It's also home to a famous boat racing arena. The
gamblers among us will also be interested in the large horse racing
track between Okazaki and Nagoya.
If instead you go inland a little, you will find Seto city, famous
for its ceramics. It's also not too far to a few famous civil
war period battlefields, the most notable being Sekigahara.
Of course, if all the excitement of car factories and miso ice
cream gets too much for you, it's only 30 minutes to Nagoya.
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 LOOKING
FOR NEW BOOKS IN TOKYO? by Caroline Bertorelli
As a complement
to last month's write-up on secondhand bookstores in Tokyo, here
is a shortlist of stores for new books near main JR stations.
Up-to-date info. on these and others is available here: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4824/jp-tokyo.htm
Junkudo
(Ikebukuro)
Some magazines, books on Japan/Japanese, paperbacks.
Address: 2-15-5 Minami-Ikebukuro
Tel.: 03-5956-6111 Fax.: 03-5956-6100
Directions: South of JR East Exit. Along Meiji-dori, near entrance
of Azuma Arcade.
Kinokuniya
(Shinjuku)
Extensive range on many topics including ESL/EFL textbooks. French
& German books, too.
Opening hours: 10:00am-8:00pm.
Address: Takashimaya Times Square Annex Bldg, 5-24-2 Sendagaya,
Shibuya-ku
Tel.: 03-5361 3301 E-mail: shinjuku@kinokuniya.co.jp
Web
site: http://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/english/
Directions: Beyond Takashimaya Times Square and next to Tokyu
Hands store (very visible from Shinjuku JR Station, South Exit).
Foreign Books: 5th floor.
Maruzen (Nihombashi/not too far from Tokyo Station)
Good collection of paperbacks, ESL/EFL books and books on special
topics, Japan/Japanese and travel, but not as extensive as Kinokuniya.
Opening hours: 10:00am-8:00pm (7:00pm on Sundays & holidays;
sometimes closed on Sundays)
Address: 2-3-10, Nihombashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8245
Tel.: (Gen. store).: 03-3272-7211 Tel.: (Foreign books): 03-3273-3315
Fax: 03-3295-6036
Directions: Follow the signs at Nihombashi station on the Ginza
subway line. Alternatively, you can walk there from Tokyo station.
Take the Yaesu Central Exit, go to Chou-dori (there's a lovely
giraffe statue at the corner there). Turn right. Walk along. Maruzen
is on the left (with Takashimaya Department Store opposite on
the right). Foreign books section: 4th floor.
Tower
Records (Shibuya/main store)
Some magazines tend to be cheaper here. Lots of art, new age and
hobby books as well as some travel books and popular fiction.
Opening hours: 10:00am-11:00pm.
Address: 1-22-14 Jinnan, Shibuya
Tel.: 3496-3661
Directions: Take the Hachiko Exit at Shibuya JR station. Cross
the road junction towards "109-2" (i.e. the road parallel
to the JR tracks in the direction of Shinjuku). Walk past a MacDonalds
and a Haagen Dasz shop. You can't miss the big yellow building.
Books are on the 7th floor.
Tower
Records (Shinjuku/small branch)
Mainly art and music books and a large selection of world magazines.
Directions: At Shinjuku JR station, file out to the South Exit,
but instead of going out of the South Exit, take the small exit
(Shinjuku Gyoen Koen Exit) on the left. Tower Records book section
is on the 10th floor in the tall building in front of you (Gap
occupies the lower floors).
Yaesu
(Tokyo Station)
Limited collection of Japan/Japanese, ESL/EFL and fiction/non-fiction
books and magazines.
Directions: It's a bit to the south of JR Tokyo Yaesu South Exit.
You should be able to see Yaesu bookstore ahead of you. The foreign
books and magazines are on the 7th floor.
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Miracle in the Land of Tee - (A True Story) By Van Hutchinson
"Watashi? Golfu o suru? Iie, heta, heta, heta!"
This was my reply in broken Japanese to a friend's innocent
question. She may have thought I over-reacted but years before
my father, an expert golfer, had spent hours with me at a driving
range. No matter what he said or how often he showed me, I couldn't
hit the ball in the air! Every attempt was a grounder. So, I gave
up on golf and went back to other activities. When asked about
sports, I would give answers like Sure, I can swim," "
I can play tennis," "I can play softball." The
words "golf " and "I can" were never in the
same sentence. Which is why it was a complete shock to my mind,
body and senses to find myself on the second floor of a Japanese
driving range nervously pulling a club out of a small red golf
bag someone from my group had thrust in my arms.
Slowly, I put a ball on a white stripe that ran length-wise in
the center of a green carpet strip. Dredging up memories of my
father's instructions and hoping no one was looking, I swungcand
missed. Taking a deep breath and really hoping no one was looking,
I tried again. Same result. Getting a bit angry - hey, I'm coordinated
- I swung, this time with determination and missed again.
"Uh, sumimasen." I turned towards the voice. A stranger
was speaking. "Sore wa putter desu."
Could things possibly get worse?
With a red face and looking carefully, I grabbed the eight iron
from my bag.
Swing!
(dink, dink, dink)
The ball hopped four feet and stopped on the green metal roof
giving shade to the just- gotta- be better golfers below.
Swing!
(fwoof, wumpf)
The ball AND the green carpet strip landed together on the green
metal roof. The helpful stranger from before walked out to get
them as I stood frozen in place and carefully laid them back down
at the foot of my now beet red body.
Swing!
(kuwack)
A miracle happened. The ball flew in the air. No, not flew, soared
- as surprised as I was - going so high, so far that it disappeared
into the morning sun. All right. Maybe that was a slight exaggeration.
But, as I
watched it go with squinting eyes all I could think of was my
father, who had been so disappointed that none of his three children
could hit a golf ball off the ground, and how happy he was going
to be to know one of us finally understands his passion. Because
this miracle didn't happen just once or even just twice, it happened
again and again both at the driving range and on the golf course
next to it where I played my first ever round of golf immediately
afterwards.
Now I'm not claiming to be the latest phenom or an instant expert.
But, in spite of the occasional grounder, my ball had an almost
magnetic attraction to trees and some absolutely hair-pulling
putting (stop, stop,
stop, stop!"), I had enough Tiger Woods" moments (the
ball went in the air!!!) to feed my newly born affection for the
game. I finished that course with putter and head held high to
the applause (really!) of my
friends. Finally, I can say it.
"I can play golf!"
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Steve's Web Watch
Well, this is probably Steve McFarlanes's last issue
of WebWatch. Thanks again Steve for your efforts to keep us entertained
and informed about what's on the World Wide Web.
ESL site: IBC is the International Business
Communicators site and is aimed at people who teach business English
in Japan. They have meetings and a mailing list for discussing
questions people might have.
http://www. ibcjapan.org/
Japan site: The next sumo tournament comes
up in early November. This is the official site of the Japan Sumo
Association and has information in English on the wrestlers and
tickets.
http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/index.php/
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