From the Editor

New Social Committee!pot of gold

March saw the completion of the Social Committee’s six month term and the recent election brought in a new slate of SC members.  Congratulations and good luck to Andy Dunstan, Chris Madere and Leonie Adeane, who will lead us to fun and frivolity in the next term.
And a big round of applause for the previous committee members Aaron, Kinsella and Van who organized many fun events and entertained us at staff meetings.

New Trainers!

Welcome to the two new trainers will join the team in April; Jesse M. from Canada and Michael C. from the States. 

See you back here next month…..Chris C.

What's Coming up in and out of Shizuoka

Miscellaneous

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Sky-High at Golden Week…

No, not a flash-back to heady days of an English teacher in the 70’s but rather an unmissable event held every year at Golden Week in Hamamatsu - the (in?)famous Hamamatsu Kite Festival.  Definitely a must-see experience during the day (for the kite “fighting”) and an exciting evening adventure (for the dashi-pulling), if you are in the area over Golden Week.  Highly recommended and thoroughly enjoyable!

For further details check out the following links:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/history/traditionalevents/a20_fes_tako.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamamatsu,_Shizuoka#Festivals

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Geeking Out at the Tokyo International Anime Fair - by Chris Cocks

meeting
ramen

Last week was the Tokyo International Anime Fair.  Held each year, it is a promotional event where new anime is announced and showcased and businesses and the public can indulge in the craziness that is anime culture.  Held this year, on March 22-25, at Tokyo Big Sight on the water front.  The first two days, Thursday and Friday, was for business so producers and distributors could mingle.  Then on the weekend the show was open to the general public.

So off I trekked to Tokyo for a couple of nights in the big city.  Arriving at the site early Saturday morning was definitely an eye-opener.  Gathered inside in the front area of the complex was a mass of anime fans waiting patiently in line for the start of the show.  Despite what you might expect for an anime fair there wasn’t a cosplayer in sight.  Actually, I believe cosplay was banned at the fair due to a lack of changing space and to keep a semblance of respectability.   But not to fear; there were a variety of costumes to be seen on the people attending the display booths.

onsen1Once inside the main event hall I made my first circuit of the event, amazed by the sheer spectacle of it.

My first stop was a special display that paid homage to the evolution of robots in comics and animation.  Of course, Astro Boy was prominently featured.

Another special area of interest was The Creators Corner; which was dedicated to new artists.  Each artist had their own booth with samples of their work on display and if you were lucky, even a CD/DVD of their work available.  I don’t know enough about art or computer animation to have a meaningful conversation in English, let alone Japanese, but I have a few friends back home who are starting out in the design/animation field so I picked up some samples and some business cards. The Creators area was really fascinating and overall probably my favourite part of the event.

onsen2Once back in the main display area it was every geek for themselves.  With distribution companies big and small represented, from kids to adults, there was something for everyone.  There was even a kids area with activities and games.

Throughout the day most of the major companies had presentations to introduce new shows that will be premiering on TV or DVD soon,  featuring short clips, plot outlines, and character bios.

And of course what kind of trade show would it be without lots of give-aways!  Its actually a little like Halloween; pick up a nice shiny bag promoting a new show and then wander around and collect leaflets, sample books, post cards, etc.  After several hours of wandering around and a few purchases of my own, my loot bag was getting pretty heavy. 

When I first heard about the fair and decided it was a great excuse to hit Tokyo for the weekend, I had planned to go for the two public days.  But unless you are interested in the special presentations made at the two theatres,  each day, then one day is definitely sufficient to satisfy your anime craving.

So what do you do when you have one more day in Tokyo and you’ve just been to an anime fair?  You go to Akihabara, of course!

Sadly, the weather on Sunday was rather rainy, which kept the cosplayers off the streets.  But undaunted, I set off in search of anime/manga related coolness.  And had my first dining experience at one of the (in)famous Maid Cafés that dot Akihabara.  But that is another story.

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Meet the ‘Not Quite New’ Trainers

Not quite brand new faces, but not old hands either.   We’ve partied with them in Kusatsu, but just who are Rick, Andy and Leonie?

             

leprechaun

rick

andrew

leonie

Name

Rick Hulbert

Andrew Dunstan

Leonie Adeane

Home city

Kamloops

Sydney

Wellington and Napier, New Zealand

Hobbies/interests

Photography, chess, reading, gaming, exercising, travelling, and being embarrassed on a daily basis in Japan.

Snowboarding, cooking, current eventsand of course drinking copious amounts of alcohol.

Photography, writing, travelling, eating, shopping for books, shopping for music, shopping in general, andin.

When did you arrive in  Japan?

1998-99 was my first tour of duty.

About 10 years ago.

This 22nd March was my one-year-Japanniversary!

What was your first       impression?

The cars are small here.

Hell of a lot of strange     writing everywhere.

Seeing Mt Fuji looming through the pink morning haze from the window of the plane...amazing.

Favourite Japanese food?

Aburi-salmon.

Suki Yaki.

I like all of it. Not too crazy about natto, however.

Best restaurant/drinking place in your location?

There are none in Haibara, except for Andy's place, I guess.

Makinohara Grand Heights.

 

Personal Box 1 1/2, Shimada.

Favourite Japanese word/phrase?

"Nani shioru?" It more or less means "what are you doing?" in Hiroshima-ben.
It is either nice or incredibly rude depending on your intonation.

Nihongo jouzu desu ne (not).

Maji de?! (it's the WAY you say it that's important), or the enthusiastic, "So-so-so-so-so!"

Favourite place in Japan?

Hiroshima

Izu (Shimoda)

Too many to choose from. I'll go with the slopes of Mt Fuji. Good view + feelings of achievement + knowing you're as high as you can go in Japan.

Best thing about Japan?

Japanese people.

Ancient culture

Again, too difficult to choose just one, but...the warm, funny, and friendly people.

Worst thing about Japan?

Japanese people.

Inward thinking

Bureaucracy.

Favourite free-time activity?

Japanese people.

Train Spotting...or surfing

See above hobbies/interests.

Favourite music

Western - Red Hot Chili Peppers..
Japanese - Radwimps

British Rock??

I like a wide variety...in Japan, I really like Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.

Favourite drink

Coconut milkshakes

Good red wine.

Kiwi Sour or Ebisu.

Most embarrassing    moment in Japan?

Getting hit on by Brazilian transvestites in Hamamatsu, multiple times.

Teaching a group of young ladies at Toyota for one hour with my fly undone.

My first teaching English to two-year-olds while their mothers looked on sympathetically.

Personal goal while in Japan?

Fluency in Japanese and competency in Portuguese or French. Portuguese shouldn't be much of a problem, I'm guessing.

To become the next Prime Minister.

Generally - have a great time, get to know some interesting people, see as much as I can, take home many fantastic memories and hopefully at least a semi-working   knowledge of the language.

What was your         impression of your first FIA special event?

Simultaneously: "Why is Tony trying to get me drunk?" and "Why is there a Thunderbirds porno on Larry's TV right now?"

"Cool, they're already drunk"

It was great - I could tell immediately FIA was an interesting company filled with fun, welcoming people.

What special treats do you have sent over from home?

Disinfectant, mostly.

Wichetty grubs

Chocolate and toothpaste! To be used in that order, preferably not at the same time.

 

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Cooking Corner

Fettuccine Carbonara Ala Andy

Ingredients

Method

  1. Mix cheese, eggs and cream in a bowl
  2. Cook the bacon until semi crisp. Drain on paper towel.
  3. Cook the mushrooms in olive oil, add wine and reduce for a minute or 2.
  4. While cooking the mushrooms put the fettuccine into salted boiling water with a bit of olive oil in it.
  5. When cooked, drain the pasta and toss with a knob of butter.
  6. Add the bacon to the mushrooms. Then in a saucepan or high sided pan mix together on low heat with the pasta and cream, egg, cheese mix. The heat must be low as you don't want to cook the egg, but only make the sauce thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  7. Garnish with broccoli florets and sprinkle with parsley.

:) I take no responsibility for any stomach aches or poisoning that may occur as a result of ingesting this dish.

Got a favourite recipe?  Send it in and spread the flavour!  And that’s a good thing.


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