Sayonarra Interview with Will

• What is your most treasured memory of your time in Japan? The friends I've made and the band I played in. There are many many good memories.
• What is your funniest memory? Too many to recount. (Most involve alcohol and a certain Kiwi named Kelly.)
• What’s your most embarrassing moment in Japan? Any of the many times I've bashed my head in these Japanese sized rooms.
• Do you have a “warm fuzzy” memory? Eating cake and drinking tea with Haino after a 3 1/2 hour Haino noise concert.
• What’s the best thing in Japan? People here appreciate jazz.
• The worst thing in Japan? The humidity.
• What’s your favorite Japanese food? Okonomiyaki
• What’s the best Japanese word/phrase? Shinnito (3 body parts in one word)
• What’s the best place in Japan? Miyajima and Blue Lake (hidden near Kikugawa)
• What’s the best restaurant in Japan? Gotemba Kogen (Mugibatake)
• Favorite thing to teach? Mistakes
• Favorite sound? The sound of the U.S. Army bombing Mt. Fuji at 5:00 am Saturday mornings
• Hated sound? The Yazaki lunch-time bell/song
• Favorite movie? "The Party" with Peter Sellers (Birdie NumNum)
• Most useless bit of trivia? Anything Julian says (hehehe...)
• Person you admire the most? Mike Patton, singer/composer/performer
• What do you think you will miss about life in Japan? Brazilian friends
• What won’t you miss? "Cleaning my room." and "Going to shopping."
• Any regrets? The time I went swimming with my cell phone.
• Any advice for those left behind? Don't go swimming with your cell phone.

Nihongo Quiz - by Hanaki san

あんな時、こんな時

２同意するとき　　Agreement

＜あらたまったいいかた＞
A:「日本の会社は女性の管理職がとても少ないですね。 There are too few women managers in Japanese companies.

　B:「たしかに、そうですね。」    Indeed.
□ 私もそう思います。     I think so, too.
□ そのとおりですね。      Exactly.
□ おっしゃるとおりです。  That’s exactly right.
□ まったくですね。        Without a doubt.

＜くだけた言い方＞

Ａ：「日本の会社って、女性の管理職がすごく少ないねぇ。」
　Ｂ：「たしかに・・・」

□  私もそう思う。
□  ほんと、そうだね。
□  まったくだね。

担当者が次のように心配しています。『最近、出席率が下がっていますね。どうにか
しなければなりませんね。』といいました。まず、同意してから、提案をしてみましょう。　

Your Tantosha is concerned that the attendance has been getting worse recently.
She says, “We have to do something to cope with this. Agree first, and then try to make suggestions.    

                                                                         Let’s discuss this in the class if you’re interested!!

おもったことを５・７・５　　　　ＦＩＡ 川柳

宮島や　自然の神は　おだやかな　（ウィル）
大井川　忘れない　たいこの音　（ウィル）
何も知らん　仕事できない　ボスになる　（やめよう家）
おむつかえ　　食事　泣きなど　時間ってどこ　（こまったパパ）

Travelling with Tobin - by Van

What is your worst fear when you fly somewhere? The plane crashing? A hijacker? The middle seat? For me the biggest fear is none of those things. The thing I fear the most is an innocent baby, especially on a long flight like the one I had from Nagoya to San Francisco right before Golden Week. On that flight my worst fear was realized. His name was Tobin. And his car seat was right next to me.

It all started innocently enough. When checking in, I begged the check-in clerk to change the middle seat in the back of the plane I’d unluckily been assigned by the airline’s CSR a month or so before. The clerk actually smiled as she gave me a bulkhead seat one in from the aisle, for which I showered her with thanks. Foolish me. When I boarded the plane and spotted the munchkin sitting in the bulkhead’s middle seat, an audible “Oh, great!” popped out, followed immediately by an “I’m sorry” directed at the young American mom sitting on his other side. Instead of being rightfully annoyed by my insensitivity, she apologized to me! This was the start of a beautiful acquaintance.

Off and on during the next 11-12 hours spent with one-year-old Tobin and his forever-name-unknown mother, the mom and I chatted and Tobin and I played Peek-a-boo and Take-the-credit-cards-from-Mom’s-wallet-and-give-them-to-the-strange-lady, a game I had a natural gift for. Anytime Tobin started to cry, away he and Mom would go to entertain others with his vocal talent. When they returned Tobin would either sleep, eat or watch a Baby Einstein DVD, his favorite according to his mom. I was pretty impressed with his intellectual leanings until she confided she and his father were a bit worried as his favorite non-DVD past time was banging his head against the wall. Too much Baby Einstein, perhaps? Anyway, by the time we landed in San Fran I was rather fond of the little guy. I even played Catch-the-bouncing-cola-holder game with him until the wheels touched down, while his mom packed the gear she could reach with the seatbelt on, seat in upright position.

After the mom turned down my offer to help carry something, I wished them a good trip and walked away, reflecting on how it hadn’t been so bad, alright, it hadn’t been bad at all thanks to that young mother’s Einsteinian handling of the situation. I was actually a bit sad that I would never see them again. Amazing!

Now I’m not saying my worst fear has changed. I’m still not a fan of traveling babies. But I must say my experience with Tobin did beat sitting next to a window on my return flight, trapped by an adult buried under a blanket at my side and a fully reclined adult in front when I desperately need to visit the…uh…facilities. But that’s another story.

Getting Jolted in Shizuoka - by Bradley

Most of us have heard time and time again the need to be prepared for the BIG ONE. If you ever were a Boy Scout, you would know that, “Be Prepared” is actually the motto and good daily advice for us as we live our lives.

It’s funny how we forget things though, and sometimes we need little “reminders” to finally take the necessary steps to become prepared. That’s what happened to me. When I woke up in the middle of the night last month, the bed shaking and things clinking and creaking all around me, I was reminded of just how unprepared I really was.

With Tyler peacefully sleeping between us, my wife and I woke up instantly and froze, both saying the word “jishin.” We only felt the one big jolt, and I later learned the quake’s epicenter was somewhere off the coast of Atami. In Mishima we felt the equivalent of a 4 on the intensity scale, not that bad. Still, it was enough to make me consider what to do when the BIG ONE hits, and it IS going to hit sometime soon according to all the experts.

I did some research, and found a very useful and relevant link to the Shizuoka Prefecture Earthquake Preparedness Education Center. It’s quite a mouthful to say, but well worth a look because they have a whole section in English not only explaining about the Tokai Earthquake theory, and it’s potential damage, but also a downloadable .pdf guide. The guide contains some very useful information about how to make an earthquake kit and what to include, evacuation procedures, and many other things.

So after I read that guide, we all went shopping. I’ve noticed in the past how whenever there is an earthquake, many people run to the home center stores and buy earthquake goods. There’s even a special corner right near the door of Home Assist in Shimizu-cho filled with necessary items to build your home’s kit.

Instead of buying the “pre-assembled” kit that they offered, we ended up putting together our own containing many of the same items, as well as some specific goods for our baby’s needs. I’m not going to go through the list of things you should have in your kit, (check the web page) but I will say that you can get pretty good deals if you shop around a bit.

For example, bottled water may be on sale at the supermarket cheaper than at the home center. And those aluminum foil “space blankets” are cheaper in the camping section than they are in the earthquake section, so it does pay to check prices. Overall, we spent around 15,000yen for a “family” kit with all of the things that we needed. Of course if you’re single, it may be much cheaper.

We’re still not done with everything yet. I have to pull out some summer clothes and add some money into the fireproof pouch, but at least we’ve got our basic food, drink, and baby needs. I don’t feel completely ready to face the “BIG ONE” yet, but I do feel a little more relieved that we’re at least a little better prepared. I strongly urge you to do the same, and make a serious effort to make an earthquake kit for your own home. We really don’t know when it’s going to happen, but I do believe it won’t be too far in the future!