Dear Readers:
Thank you for visiting my homepage. It might be a good idea for you to visit this "my diary" page once in a while. I will try to write and update it at least every week, if not every day. Many things I write may not interest you. Bear with me. At least I am Honest. I write what I mean and mean what I write.

Occasionally you may find something amusing or even interesting for you. "Dozo Yoroshiku." Or "Nice to see you." I am a home teacher of English, who has loved learning English and its culture over 4 decades. I am glad that I have never lost my enthusiasm to learn it more for such a long time.

Takeshi is a "genki" person when he is not lazy!


Takeshi Suzuki in Akita, Japan

Saturday, January 19
1) Tomorrow in Honjo, my town, there will be held a festival of "Hadaka Mairi" where about 300 young naked men participate marching in the cold to the Shinzan Shrine, worshiping and praying for good harvest, health and prosperity for everybody. I borrowed two books from the library and am now reading them. The similar event seems to take place at many parts of Japan. The origin goes back to as old as more than 1,000 years.

2) Today's local Sakigake paper reports about a new book subtitled in English "Strategies for Enhancing Persuasiveness fro Japanese writers of English" written by Prof. Junji Miura who currently teaches at Akita Kenritsu University. He has been concerned about the poor writing skills of Japanese students for a long time. Why do Japanese students studying abroad in general write so poorly? What's wrong with the Japanese way of learning English? It there any way they can improve their writing and be more persuasive in writing? The author seems to have found some clues after having compared Japanese students writings and American counterparts'. The book is published by Tokyo Shoseki. It may be an interesting book for many of us to read.

Sunday, January 13
1) A useful site to get materials for the Course in General Studies (Sogotekina-gakushu no jikan) from Prof. Yoshida. This is a huge collection of web sites, especially good for elementary school and junior high teachers who are looking for clues about what to teach in the course. The page is written in Japanese.

2) Last Saturday I had two meetings to attend - a TIE discussion meeting and an AES skill training session. I wish I could have been to the both! I had to miss the TIE. At AES our guest speaker was Darius Arjang from Canada. He talked about the Ontario Education System. 12 participants listened to him attentively. Darius knows about the system very well because he has had the most experience with it both as a student and a teacher. We learned a lot of interesting differences as well as similarities with our Japanese system. In the latter half of the session (80 minutes) we practiced debating. The proposition was "The house would encourage equal schooling in all Japanese senior high schools".

3) Last Sunday we had AIS (former WG) interpretation practice session. The morning session was participated by 8, but some had to leave early and only 4 were able to continue their practice in the afternoon session when Amy Morrison, an ALT was a guest speaker. She was with her friend, Ryan. They both come from Alaska. Amy talked about some interesting experiences of her diving in Thailand. I've learned that diving is not that expensive when you dive 15 to 40 meters (the limit for recreational diving) and you have to go up rather slowly when you ascend after diving deep. Otherwise you will have too much nitrogen left in your body, which is a big problem. The most interesting thing about this is that you have 'the safety stop", which is 5 meters from the water surface. You have to stop there at least 3 minutes to let nitrogen go out of your lungs to prepare enough oxygen to come in.

4) Last Tuesday evening we had the first MSU-A community education class by Helen Korengold. I had worried about driving there, but practically no snow on the road on the day. Lucky. 10 people came to the class. I was glad to meet 3 new people. Helen gave us many 'unfinished sentences' like "I wish politicians would ..." or "This would be a better place if ...." or "If I could be somewhere else now, I'd ..." or "The funniest thing I ever saw was ..." and many others. And each of us in 3 divided group would finish the sentences, making a short story or speech on your own. It's a lot of fun.

Questions might come from the group or some discussion might follow in the group. You have to think and speak a lot because there are only 3 or 4 people in a group. Many times you have to do the two different things - thinking and speaking - at the same time. This method should work best for advanced learners. When English teachers have a chance to get together in a small group and want to improve their skills, it's a good thing to do. It might also work, I think, for intermediate or even elementary learners. And you might do that for your students in your class, too. A key is to divide into much smaller groups and prepare amusing and interesting questions beforehand. All the better if you are a can-be-funny type(? I mean not too serious all the time type) teacher and/or be a tactful or tactical type, causing students to laugh a lot and enjoy themselves while learning. ;-)

5) Robyn Fairhall is returning to Australia tomorrow. I have been with her many times at both TIE and AES meetings for the past year. Her farewell email is here. She is such a cheerful, warmhearted person always full of "genki". We'll all miss her.

Thursday, January 10
Extremely Good News. MSU-A faculty will survive even in a better shape in 2004! If you know a young person who wants to learn real English and wants to work on an international scale, let him or her know about the new Akita international college as a good place to learn.

Sakigake paper as well as TV news reports that Akita prefecture has decided to start the international college in the spring of 2004 at its assembly after discussing the issue for three days. It means the MSU-A faculty will continue to exist even after its closure in spring 2003. The faculty will function as the basis of the new college and grow bigger. The first three pages of the morning edition of the local paper, Sakigake, is full of the news. You can go to the Japanese site if you are interested in reading about the recent developments of the international college in Japanese. The site is updated by Mr. Oshu, a member of MSU-A fubo no kai (parents association).

I believe the decision is a good one for many in Akita and Japan, especially for young people who will have to live a much more difficult time in the future. The world now covered with the web-net equipped with faster Internet Technology will get more globalized, economically, politically and socially at a rapid speed whether Japan likes it or not. But Japan is not good at this as we all know. Then what are we going to do about it? The Akita International school can be an answer, at least. Many people have realized internationalization is what Japan lacks, and we need to learn more about it in order to survive the future world. It could also be a solution to many of our domestic problems according to my thinking.

The new Akita international college will help Akita a great deal: The school will undoubtedly prove useful to Akita and its people for internationalization - better English education, better international understanding and cross cultural communication. Personally I have a dream that people in Akita will be able to excel in this internationalization in the near future. It won't actually be just a dream if we keep supporting the new institution, making it grow, and keep focusing our positive efforts toward the good cause.

Wouldn't it be fun if people started calling Akita, some years later, "international district" where many are not afraid to communicate in English or any other languages with deeper understanding of other cultures and different ways of thinking? Wouldn't it be nice If somehow Akita people could learn and add the new qualities to what we already have gotten - generosity or kindness to other people or whatever Japanese traditional values and virtues Akita people have managed to preserve? What a joyful new year's dream it is to dream such a near-future image of Akita people! ;-) Again it's no dream that Akita has decided on starting the international college.

Sunday, January 6
The Asahi Shimbun of International Herald Tribune (Jan 4) reports an interesting trend entitled "Cram schools teach the teachers" written by Masatoshi Nomura. The article's about an increasing number of public high school teachers who are going back to school to pick up teaching tips from cram school instructors. First the news gave me surprise and later some mixed feelings.

The positive aspect of the news is that some Japanese teachers of English, having realized that they need to learn more about how to teach their students effectively, are showing courage to go and ask cram teachers for help. They are brave teachers and I respect their enthusiasm. It's a welcome sign that some are getting serious about the business. On the other hand it also has a negative aspect, I mean 'negative' so far as I am concerned - due to the following reason.

Many cram school teachers teach English to a large number of students in a big class. And their method is teacher oriented, isn't it? Popular cram teachers are the ones who can conduct easy to understand lessons in many cases focusing on English grammars, aren't they? Most of the lesson should be conducted in Japanese, shouldn't it? (Am I wrong about all this?) If this is the case, I don't think it will be good for English education in Japan.

Friday, January 4, 2002
1) Happy New year to you and your family! Hope you are having a joyful oshogatsu. My oshogatsu has been from January 1 to January 3. It was peaceful and relaxing.

2) Good news to ALTs, assistant language teachers all over Japan. They will have a chance to become full-fledged lecturers in Japanese junior and senior high schools if they are interested. The news from Prof. Yoshida is available only in Japanese now.


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Monday, December 24
A special message from Yoko Kamada to me and all her friends. She is now studying in Monterey, San Francisco for an MA in speech and translation.Yoko used to teach at Chuo High School. I am happy that she looks so happy living and studying there.

Sunday, December 23
1) Hello, Mark, if you're reading this. I felt very good hearing from Mark Cunningham, who has been playing an important role of the MSU-A faculty for many years. He says, "Thanks for your message and the positive news. I've learned a lot from your website about MSU-A. Thanks for being such a great supporter of the school for so long." He also says, "It looks like my medical treatment has been successful. I can't wait to get back to Akita." It was great to hear you say that. I also look forward to seeing you at MSU-A like many others.

2) Robyn Fairhall gave us an excellent presentation about aging or ageing yesterday. I really don't know at what age a person belongs to the aging group. Robyn says, if you are a very young person, 35 year young person looks like an old person. :-) Tomorrow I will be 57 years old. Am I going to be close to the aging group? Or am I already in it? Prof. Kono, who is older than I, also was with us at the meeting. And we avoided defining the age? ;-)

The guest speaker, Robyn, started her presentation asking the 13 participants a question. "What is aging to you?" We discussed some positive aspects like relaxation of social obligations, more maturity, more freedom to do anything you want, more wisdom, etc. Such negative ones like loneliness, health decline, senility and others were also discussed. Then responding to Robyn's question "How long do you want to live? Do you want to live longer (or shorter) than the life expectancy? And why", all of us took turns in expressing our opinions.

I said something like my target is around 75. I can enjoy my life because I am "genki". I won't be able to enjoy living when that genki is lost. My father died 3 years ago when he was 80. Unfortunately he suffered from getting senile for the last couple of years and his senility was severe the last year. He might not have liked living that year.

Robyn gave us a good example of the senility problem. If you don't remember a telephone number, you are OK. The problem starts when you forget what a phone is. It's good to hear this because I am all bad at memorizing telephone numbers. I can't even say my car's number. It's a true story though some don't believe me. Anyway this was only the beginning part of her lecture. She explained in great details about aging and its problems, giving us a lot of data and information - often in a humorous way.

Interestingly her conclusion is that it is not aging, but fewer babies that matters. The birthrate in economically successful countries is very low. Japan's case is one of the worst as everybody knows. Robyn says only three options Japan has. The first is that everything shrinks including economy. The second is to let more immigrants in. The third is to increase fertility and encourage parents to have more babies. Personally I am in favor of the second. What do you think?

3) The Japanese TOEFL average score is better from Prof. Yoshida.

Friday, December 21
1) I will attend AES skill training session at Akita University tomorrow.

2) Hideo Nomo will come back to pitch for LA Dodgers next year. "I'm very happy to be back with the Dodgers" he says. Well, I am happy that he is happy. Hope he will have a good season in 2002. more on a web page of espn about this.

3) I thank Junya for his email. He owns a Japanglish page and other Japanese culture pages, which are good.

Thursday, December 20
1) This morning local paper Sakigake reports about the closure of Akita ken Gikai (Akita Prefectural Assembly session) where the continuation of MSU-A faculty was discussed. I've been extremely happy about the discussion. It's like a miracle happening to us. Everything has been going favorably for MSU-A and its supporters, it seems. Quite a turn around from a few months ago! For those who have not followed the recent developments, one thing we know, according to my understanding, is that the MSU-A faculty will remain even after its closure in the spring of 2003. It will start in 2004.

In short, two possibilities we have. One is as a "bunka kei" department attached to Akita Kenritsu Daigaku and the other is an independent entity or institute as a new international college. The former used to be the stronger option until a week ago, but yesterday the latter has become the more likely scenario. The problem will be discussed at an extraordinary prefectural assembly, which will be called into session on January 7 next year.

As a supporter I am very grateful and thankful to some of you for offering MSU-A all kinds of help so far. I wish your continued good support. Most probably we will be able to tell you good news - the final one toward the middle of January 2002. By the way MSU-A will take new students next spring, too. So if you know any high school students, who are really interested in learning English, you could talk to them about the opportunity. One more information about MSU-A. Mr. Oshu has a good web site, "MSU-A fubo no kai". It is a good page written in Japanese about MSU-A, its students and its parents.

2) If you are Interested in Japanglish, this is an interesting web site. I've got it from Prof. Yoshida. It might be a good idea to use some of the Japanglish words to get the attention of your students in class. The page has ten words, baseball related. If you know about Japanese baseball a little, you might have heard a Japanese baseball term "dead ball" and what it means. Do you know the equivalent English expression? Yes, it means "hit by a pitch". Many non-Japanese baseball fans might confuse themselves with dead ball. The ball is dead? They'd think that it means the ball is not in play.

Another famous, tricky Japanese baseball term is "timely error", which we still keep hearing a lot from Japanese announcers besides "dead ball", "four ball" (walk), etc. It means a costly error. You see, a timely something must be rather good, like a timely hit. That's why they have an expression 'untimely death' meaning a person's death when he/she dies young. From that logic maybe we could say "untimely error"? :-) This thing has been on my mind for a long time. I've listened to MLB for a decade, but I have never heard it, though. Any comments?

Still another famous example is about the count of strikes and balls. When Japanese say "one two", it means a strike and two balls. They mean a ball and two strikes. Isn't it interesting? There should be many more. Maybe I could send this to Jun (a Japanese person), who is the author of the web site. Maybe you can also help him by contributing new Japanglish words. Jun seems like a good, cheerful person.

3) According to the evening paper of Sakigake, "sekisetsu" or the snow on the ground was 82 centimeters (27 inches) deep this morning in Yokote. The town is famous for "kamakura" or snow house. It's a record high for December since the meteorological observation of this kind started. It snowed a lot in Yuzawa, too. The paper prints a picture that shows a person on the roof is removing snow from there. It's called "yuki-oroshi" or snow removal from a roof. If you don't do it, your house might collapse. Yokote is only an hour drive from Honjo. My town Honjo faces the Sea of Japan. That's why the climate is much milder and we have much less snow than Yokote or Yuzawa.

Tuesday, December 18
1) I've got email from Scott Gorman. He responded to my question about a Jewish saying about what 'BUSINESS' is. The proverb was in a small column of our local paper, Sakigake on Dec 13. The idea was like this: You don't have a certain product and others don't need the product. Still it is possible that you can sell the product to some. Then you are a true businessman.

I found the idea very interesting. That's why I'd asked Scott if the saying really existed. The professional writer came to me with this. "You walk in with nothing to see people who want nothing, and yet you walk out having sold them what you didn't have and they didn't want. This is a true businessman." He says it's not only for business and is an important principle.

Scott also wrote in his email his view on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict which I'd like you to read if you are interested. He wrote it because I was beginning to worry about the recent, dangerous development there. I really hope that some kind of world coalition will be happening to improve the serious situation as he suggests. Scott is an extremely intelligent person. I respect people who can think clearly and express their thoughts clearly in words.

2) Eigotown has huge web pages written in Japanese, featuring Christmas. It might be fun and useful for both Japanese English teachers and students. If you want to know about what eigotown is, go to the URL or the other one.

3) Here is the URL of English Forum, which is from Prof. Yoshida. It's written in English. Mike Armont, Editorial Department, San Francisco, CA says, "We would like to recommend our updated English Forum website as a useful addition to your bank of educational resources for international students." It's comprehensive web portal with a wealth of resources for students and teachers of English (ESL/EFL). Interactive Exercises, Message Boards, ELT Book Catalogue, Good School Guide, Web Directory, World News, Learning and Teaching Links, Cool Tools, and more ...

4) Here is a useful URL introducing many English teaching related web pages. The list is made by Prof. Kenji Kitao of Doshisha University.

Monday, December 17
It has been snowing all morning, from 10 to 15 centimeters (3 to 5 inches) in my neighborhood.

Saturday, December 15
1) The release of the monthly Monbu Kagaku (Ministry of Education, Science) Koho includes articles on the JET program report, which is from Prof. Yoshida.

2) It began snowing yesterday again. Not much snow but cold and stormy, today. I'll have to drive carefully to Akita to attend the Tie meeting. Today is my mother's birthday. I will buy her a cake or something.

Friday, December 14
1) A great story about a Japanese girl student full of "genki" studying in America. She is full of love, too, reminding us of a meaning of this Christmas season.

2) Tomorrow I will attend a Tie discussion meeting to be held at Joinus in Akita city.

3) I thank Omi-san for sending me email about debating. She has been an active member of AES skill training session.

4) An interesting opinion from a Nobel prize winning scientist Ryoji Noyori about Japanese education's problem when he had a talk with President of Osaka University Tadamitsu Kishimoto. (quote) "...Every researcher ought to work on their communication skills. Many Japanese academics say they are handicapped in the global community because English is not their language. While that is partly true, I would still argue that's only an excuse. Their inability to express themselves freely is the result of their cultural or educational deficiency." This is from Herald Asahi "Round Table Talk" on Nov. 12. I think he is quite right. Many people should agree to this. Japan's education should place more emphasis and value on what to think, how to think it and how to express it (whether in Japanese or English or any other language) on an individual basis.

Wednesday, December 12
1) Vicki Crudden in Long Island, New York, who has been my email friend for several years, has sent my mother a birthday card as always. She is happy to hear from you, Vicki! Thank you for your continued kindness.

Vicki and I came to know each other on the net because we both are fans of Hideo Nomo, a MLB pitcher. She and her husband, Bernie also sent me a seasonal greeting card, wishing well for my family and friends. From the message let me quote a beautiful English haiku made by her. Isn't it a good one?

2) The following site offers you incredibly abundant ideas for coloring pages, games, etc. that you could use for your classroom, esp if you are a teacher for young learners. I've got it from an ALT in Akita, Erin Erickson.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/xmas/

Sunday, December 9
Yesterday's AES session was participated by 13 people and a guest Amy Morrison from Alaska, currently an ALT, who has been teaching at three junior high schools for the past 4 months. Amy is, I think, a linguistically talented person because she had learned to speak very good German while she lived there just one year. I'd like to see her and converse with her in Japanese around next fall when she will have been in Japan for a year. ;-) The guest speaker talked about a controversial topic whether Alaska should start digging for oil in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). I remember George Bush and Al Gore debated on the issue at their presidential debate.

Amy also explained about some interesting data of Alaska. The state is far bigger than any other states in the US. It is about three times as large as Japan, area-wise. But the population is just 620 thousand. Of the 20 highest peaks in America, 17 are in Alaska, of course, with the famous Mt. McKinley. It has 6,600 miles of coastline. The figure will jump up to 34 thousand miles if islands included. Interestingly it has many earthquakes just like Japan.

Later all the participants practiced a parliamentary debate. The topic was "The House proposes that Alaska should engage in oil exploration in ANWR." It was rather easy for us to prepare because we were able to find all the good arguments, both for the affirmative (proposition side) and the negative (opposition side), in the material Amy had brought us.

For example, for people who support the oil digging, it will mean many new jobs, more revenues both to the state and to the federal, 75% Alaskans supporting it, etc. In addition to these arguments only 8% of ANWR would be considered for exploration, which means just a small portion of the huge Alaska. Furthermore scientists predict little negative impact on wild animals in the region. For those who are against the digging, many arguments come from environmentalism, which seems to be appealing to so many people. Many of the opposition speakers also argued that we must be free from our dependance on oil and start using cleaner energy sources.

Personally I thought the cleaner energy wasn't a strong argument because the proposition side could easily counterattack it by saying, "Yes, you are right. Thanks for reminding us, but everybody knows it. ;-) We totally agree that the world should continue its efforts to work out the new sources of energy as it is actually doing. Let me remind you that our digging will not hinder any good scientific research which is going on. And let me add this, too. We may be able to spend some money from the oil for a new research project... Or are you, the opposition side, saying that we don't need oil right now or in any immediate future? ;-)" Was I able to say all this at the session yesterday? Of course not. Far from it. It took me a long time to write this. :-)

The other strong argument for the opposition was that American people use too much oil. They use nearly one third of the world's oil production while its population is only less than one twentieth of the whole world. Even if a new ANWR oil well is developed, America could use up all the oil from it just in six months! American people must get more serious about this as the world's leader, I think. The similar responsibility must be shared by some industrialized countries including Japan! This is a real problem for all of us.

Masako Sasaki, who is in charge of the debating practice session, will order a good book on how to debate for us. I used to debate at college days, but have been away from it for many years. Maybe it's a good idea to read the book and learn more about it next year. And we can practice it at AES skill training session. Isn't that great? I have somehow believed that more Japanese English learners should use debating to improve our skills in thinking our thinking (metacognition ?), which means thinking logically and expressing our thinking in public in a more convincing way, which is supposed to be a weakness for most Japanese - I mean, whether we use our mother tongue, Japanese or English or any other languages.

Saturday, December 8
I will attend AES Skill Training Session at Akita University today.

Thursday, December 6
1) It seems that the recent worms like aliz.a, badtrans.b, etc. are troubling many "windows" computers with outlook mailers. (Some people have started recommending "apple" computers taking this opportunity ;-) Here is a good (the best one I've ever read written in Japanese) page for you to visit If you haven't been informed of how to prevent your PCs from getting infected with such worms.

When I wrote about the problem on Nov. 23, what's missing was how to stop the preview function of your "outlook express", a very important tip, I think, although it was already known that the preview was dangerous. My computer got infected just temporarily because I didn't know that. I don't think it sent an infected email to anyone, but if it has, my apologies. I got a fix from the above page, too. It and worked quickly and efficiently.

Don't feel safe if your computer is patched for IE 5 or 5.5 or upgraded into IE 6. You had better sacrifice the preview function however handy the function may be. And I feel that every computer user, esp. a windows user, is encouraged to get an anti-virus software to his/her computer. We are almost sure that many more viruses and worms are coming, aren't we?

2) A survey report about Japanese high school students achievements from Prof. Yoshida.

3) I attended a reunion of my Sophia University friends last Saturday in Tokyo. About two dozens got together. Everybody seemed to be having a great time, talking about and listening to what has happened to each in the past year. Father Nissel looks very "genki". Before the party we had a mass for Father Forbes, who taught us at Sophia during from 1963 to 1967, but passed away on December 1st, 22 years ago. The reunion is called "Forbes kai" and has been held every year since then. The service was given by Fr. Nissel as usual with the help of other 3 fathers at a chapel on the Sophia campus. I usually go to Tokyo and attend the mass around this time of the year though I am not baptized.

Shige Murano, who arranged and worked for the reunion this year, read a beautiful poem from the Bible. "Love is patient; love is kind..." Some time later he read, "Jesus is patient; Jesus is kind..." Still some time later, Fr. Nissel recited a sentence of the verse, changing "love" or "Jesus" into "I" one at a time. Then he paused so that we repeated the sentence after him. Then he read another sentence to let us repeat it. Therefore everybody was making a lot of promises (? ;-): "I will be patient." "I will be kind." "I will not be jealous." and so on. The selection of the poem was good and timely because the whole world seems to be in need of more love, compassion and patience than ever. The whole poem is here if you are interested.

Toward the end of the mass Saburo Nishi's letter was read aloud. He lives in US and can't attend the mass and that's why he wrote to us through Fr. Nissel. It was a well written letter expressing his deep gratitude to Fr. Forbes for his kindness, wisdom and devotion. Mr. Nishi says Fr. Forbes is part of him now. I occasionally remember Fr. Forbes saying to us, "The more you know, the more responsible you are."

Tuesday, December 4
1) from Jeff and Mutsumi through Jalttalk ML: Apes have same speech area in brain as humans By Steve Connor Science Editor 30 November 2001

2) An interesting proposal from Mr. Yasushi Akashi to make English education more successful from Prof. Yoshida

Saturday, December 1
Sean or Dr. Izumi sent me his message through email about MSU-A and Akita English education in Japan. He was kind enough to come visit Akita for his presentation at Akita JALT on November 3.

Friday, November 30
1) If you are a teacher of English at high school interested in a pair-work teaching in your classroom, there is a good URL for you to visit. The handout shown there is full of clever ideas invented and performed by Mr. Muaki near Matsuyama in Kochi. I spent a whole week with him at the Sophia summer seminar this summer. He was my roommate and is an excellent teacher. Mr. Mukai gave his presentation about his classroom activity - practicing spoken English in pair at Zeneiren on November 17.

2) Tomorrow there's going to be a town meeting "Akita Internationalization Prefectural Gathering" in support of the new International University for Akita (it means the continuation of MSU-A faculty even after its closure in the spring of 2003). I hope the meeting will attract many and be a good success. We need your support. Please attend the meeting.

http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/msua.htm#townmeet

http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/msua.htm#japaex

MSU-A put a whole page ad on our local paper, Sakigake on Akita internationalization.

http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/msua.htm#akitakokusaika

At this point we are not sure if the MSU-A faculty will survive in the form of the new university in 2004 or as a department of Akita Kenritsu University or simply will have to go and disappear. I believe that MSU-A is too good to lose for the sake of English education and internationalization of Akita.

3) Happy news for me! Hiroki Honma, who used to come to my PALS English class 19 years ago, sent email to me. In his email, there is a line, which excited me a lot. "...I understand the days in your class gave me the great opportunity to feel the out side of the world I had never saw and it encouraged me to step out. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you..."Thank YOU, Mr. Honma! Good luck to you and your family.

Wednesday, November 28
1) The number of foreign students studying in Japan is on the increase, which is from Prof. Yoshida.

Tuesday, November 27
1) Scott Gorman in Kisakata and I will enjoy having a talk over lunch today.

2) They lack in Japanese teachers in South Korea. Also an article about Exchange Student Applications Surge after the Sept 11 New York incident and the others from Prof. Yoshida. 

It might be a good idea to consider going to South Korea if you are interested in teaching Japanese overseas. About the New York terrorism and the war in Afghanistan I also wonder how much interest Japanese students or young people have? Is there a lot of discussion on the issue among themselves? What are they thinking about globalization?

3) It snowed here in Honjo for the first time last night although snow fell in some parts of Akita earlier. Everything was white and very beautiful last night. But most of it has melted away today. I am going to attend Helen's class this evening at MSU-A, which is located on a hill, which might be still white. I've already changed the tires of my car into the snow tires.

4) From today's Herald Asahi, Iwao Nakatani, president of the Tama Institute of Management and Information Servies, had an interview - Survival depends on cultivating creativity in society. To a question, "Will the trend toward reform continue?", he answers, "The prime minister should win public opinion over to his side in order to fight forces opposed to reform. The general public is more astutely aware of the need for reform than are politicians and economists.". I agree to his observation about the people's awareness getting higher. Everybody knows about the strong opposition forces, which are everywhere, too.

The fundamental question is if Mr. Koizumi is really determined for the reform he's talking about. If he is, he should make his plan - what will happen in a short term (a few years) , middle term (10 to 20 years) and long term (30 to 50 years) - clearer and in more concrete way for everybody as soon as possible. Unfortunately his plan is too ambiguous and too general STILL.

I have an idea. Why doesn't Mr. Koizumi make a concrete plan for his reform of Japan and introduce it to high school and college, university students as well as adults all over Japan? Let them have a chance to review the plan. Some of them might have some creative and constructive opinions and comments to make it better. Why don't they discuss it among themselves in classroom, too? They have every right to know everything about the reform. After all, they will be living in the reformed society for the longer period. And remember that it's those young people and their children who are responsible for paying up all the accumulated debt.

Sunday, November 25
Akita Internationalization Prefectural Gathering will be held on December 1 at Ceremony Hall Heian in Akita city. Our local paper, Sakigake, carried a full page message ad explaining why Akita and its people will have to keep pursuing for the further internationalization or globalization for their own interest and how MSU-A will be useful for that objective. The ad was put on the Saturday morning. The detailed information in Japanese. I hope the gathering will attract many people and will be a big success. Please talk to your friends and come to the meeting.

Saturday, November 24
I will be attending the 47th AES TEFL Skill Training. We will invite Ms Sher‐Li Liew from Singapore as a guest, who is presently working at Katsuhira and Jonan JHS. During the last hour from 12:00 to 13:00, we also will have a chance to watch "Model Debate" of Parliamentary Debate. more about what we'll be doing this morning and the information about the new administration (staff).

I've participated in the AES (Akita English Study) meetings for the past couple of years. It has been held twice a month (usually on the second and the fourth Saturday). The number of the attendants has increased this year dramatically. Recently over 15 of us keep attending the good session to improve our skills. A reason for the success, I believe, is Masako Sasaki, who has been in charge of the session, working so hard for everybody. Thank you very much, Masako-san for your excellent efforts. We are all proud of you. She will continue to be part of the new administration from today, which will be headed by Prof. Kono. Kono sensei, "yoroshiku!"

Friday, November 23
1) To those who are studying to be a Japanese teacher of English, you'd better clear 600 in TOEFL scores, at least 550 depending on where you live. The scores look pretty high to me! I wonder how many new (or old ;-) teachers are capable of scoring 600 or higher? A table shows how many prefectures are now using TOEFL scores as criteria for hiring new teachers. The other is a review of the JET program by MOE. These are from Prof. Yoshida. Go to his page for more.

2) Mr. Kenzaburo Oe's talk on Kume Hiroshi show last night was pretty enlightening. (He gave 7 keywords in his talk.) The great writer talked about "hirakareta ko" or developed or pursued individual or self" in which more humans should make efforts to discover one's real self. How to discover yourself. The first keyword is "satoru". Studying or learning is not enough. You have to keep watching your inner-self carefully. You keep thinking about yourself, maybe meditating. The second "shizou suru" (a word I didn't know, which was coined by Meiji era educator Fukuzawa Yukichi over 100 years ago. You will have to express yourself in your own words, occasionally inventing a new word. The third keyword - capability or "nobiru soshitsu". You have to find your own (hidden) talents, cultivating them and integrating them into yourself. This is the first stage - discovering yourself. Keep asking yourself the question. What are you? Who are you?

Then comes the next stage. How should you as an individual be connected to the society or in what way should you involve yourself with the community and the world? Mr. Oe emphasizes on the importance of communication through a language, which is a bridge connecting you as an individual and the society in which you live. Therefore the fourth keyword is "torinashi" or mediate. You have to communicate well what you feel and think to the outer world. The fifth is "atarashii hito" from the Christian Bible. Finally he adds two keywords (rather two tips for recommendation) to encourage us. First (or the sixth keyword) is being careful and alert. Don't let anybody fool or deceive you. The last one, which I liked the most, ;-) is being "genki". He says nobody would listen to you unless you are genki! I quite agree with him on the last advice. Let's stay genki, which is the theme of my web site.

3) TROJ Aliza virus or worm seems to be getting quite active. I got several email through a mailing list yesterday and had to take some time checking my PC, which is OK at the moment. If you are a window user and are using MS Outlook or Outlook Express as a mailer, you'd better be on alert. Your PC might get infected by reading an email message or just by putting it on a preview screen. They used to tell us it's safe unless you open a contaminated attachment file. An anti-virus checker and its software is a must. You had better hurry and install one if your PC doesn't have one yet. Read what your anti-virus software web pages have to tell you and be cautious.

http://www.trendmicro.co.jp/virusinfo/default3.asp?VName=WORM_ALIZ.A

Thursday, November 22
1) Our local paper Sakigake this morning reports that the Sixth World Games held in Akita this summer ended in a big surplus - 250 million yen or over 2 million dollars. The big event didn't not build any big buildings, didn't destroy or harm any of our natural environment, either.

The total expenditure was 2.25 billion yen or 19 million dollars while the total budget was 2.5 billion yen. That means we, volunteers, saved a lot! I feel great that I was part of the team as well as a couple of thousand other volunteers, who provided their service to make it a success.

The Akita World Games 2001 welcomed about 3 thousand athletes and officials to visit us from about 80 countries. 26 official games and 5 demonstration games were held. Through the various activities many Akita people had a good chance to see, talk to, and get to know many people from outside Japan. It was an excellent opportunity especially for the young people here, I believe.

2) I hear that as many as 270 people are going to take a TOEIC test at MSU-A on November 25. Lucky for them because so far in the past the applicants had to go to Sendai or other places to take the test. By the way, have you known that we have "TOEIC bridge (junior)" starting and available for those learners whose score is below 450? The information about the new test as well as December 10 -12 session on the use of computers in language teaching from Prof. Yoshida.

3) Mr. Kenzaburo Oe, a famous writer, was invited as a special guest to Kume Hiroshi news hour last night. I enjoyed listening to the Nobel prize winner. I adore him because he is unique, humorous and sincere (honest). His way of thinking is logical and universal/globalized while retaining Japanese virtues, I think. He will be on the program also tonight.

After that on NHK educational channel I listened to an interview program of Ms. Sadako Ogata talking about Afghanistan, which was good. She is another international minded Japanese celebrity I respect. Her way of thinking is clear and communicative. Everybody knows her excellent command of English. Both Mr. Oe and Ms. Ogata are people of integrity, looking responsible and accountable for what they say. I think more leaders of Japan including politicians, bureaucrats and others should learn more from such good models.

Wednesday, November 21
1) An international comparison in the way young people think and behave (in Japanese) from Prof. Yoshida.

2) Three interesting points from Herald Asahi

a) First an article in Cover Story, "Nagatacho and one man's war" featuring State Minister, Heizo Takenaka, who has to be working against uncooperative bureaucrats (Kasumigaseki) on the one hand and political interests (Nagatacho) on the other. The article points out that there was a moment of Mr. Takenaka showing a rare sign of faintheartedness in late October, "I have come to realize that to do even one thing often involves more problems than it is worth."

b) From editorial, here is a sentence which I think is good and well phrased: Opponents of reform should drop their outmoded assertions for maintaining the status quo or for destroying reform and instead propose more constructive response. I watched Kume Hiroshi TV news program last night in which Mr. Muneo Suzuki (LDP) and Mr. Naoki Inose debated over the controversial highway road construction issue. Mr. Suzuki's reminded us that 1) it was a promise of Japanese government to make the roads. 2) Majority of top officials in local governments supports the construction. Frankly I was not impressed much. He might have done a better job if he could have made his stance more constructive.

c) There is a subtle difference between the two Japanese words, "mizube" (water front) and "mizugiwa (at the water's edge) in "tensei jingo" or vox populi, vox dei. The column introduces a thought that "From around the time people started saying mizugiwa rather than mizube, all sorts of problems began to plague lakes and rivers."

3) I attended Helen's class (MSU-A community education) last night. The 9 students, divided into the three smaller groups, enjoyed discussing globalization and its problems. The reading material had been prepared and handed out to us by Helen at the previous class last week. The article written by Erla Zwingle in 1999 was interesting and informative. What is globalization, in the first place, by the way? The author defines it as follows: It's an inexact term for a wild assortment of changes in politics, business, health, entertainment. He says, "Goods move. People move. Ideas move. And cultures change." A Japan's problem is (good) people move out (causing so-called brain drain), but fewer people come in for whatever reasons, I think.

By the way Helen is good at making interesting questions each class. For example she'd prepared 20 good questions for the above class of globalization. One of them is, "Can cultures retain their own unique identities and still be globalized?" The question has been on my head for many years. I am learning a lot from her on how to make good questions about a particular topic. The question making skill may be a weakness of many Japanese English teachers, I think. A reminder for us is that there would be few successful English teaching classes if the teachers cannot provide their students with good questions so that they'd enjoy thinking about them.

Tuesday, November 20
1) Have you ever heard a Japanese version of "NATO"? It's not "natto" or a healthy Japanese food made from beans. It means "No Action Talk Only" which I learned from either of the two Sunday morning programs (Kenichi Takemura news hour or Sunday Project). The sarcastic word is meant to ridicule the Koizumi Cabinet, who keeps saying that there will be no future for Japan without structural reform and that he will proceed with "seiiki-naki kaikaku" or any necessary reforms without sacred cows. In reality, however, it has brought few substantial results, and many are beginning to doubt those reforms will ever actually take place. Is Koizumi Cabinet NATO?

Incidentally Economic Planning Minister Heizo Takenaka, a member of the cabinet, appeared in both of the programs. He looked very "genki" and expressed his trust and support for the prime minister. He says Mr. Koizumi is very serious and determined. I hope he is right. By the way the so-called Japanese town meeting was the idea of Mr. Takenaka, most probably from the US example. Today's morning paper says that he has already attended 23 town meetings in different parts of Japan, participated by 18,000 citizens. Isn't it great? Actually he visited to join a meeting held in Akita last month (Oct 13).

2) A good picture of a Leonid meteor streaking across the sky over snow-capped Mount Fuji early Monday in Mainichi Daily News. The meteor shower, which was the largest visible in Japan over the last two centuries, was also observed in Akita.

I clicked the above later to find a different picture already!

3) "Koizumi seeks upper hand in road reforms" says Daily Yomiuri.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm

The article is about Mr. Koizumi's statement at the Sunday town meeting: first the prime minister declared that the four public road related corporations would be integrated into an umbrella corporation that would then be split up and privatized. Secondly he made his intention clear by saying that no more public funds would be fed to them from fiscal 2002. Many LDP politicians are explicitly against his plan.

I saw "shasetsu" or editorial of national papers. Asahi seems to praise Mr. Koizumi's attitude as a brave one. Mainichi and Yomiuri also seem to back it up. Interestingly our local paper, Sakigake treats it negatively and criticizes that his plan is too rash and hasty.

4) Hello, Al! I've learned that Albert Evans, who used to teach at MSU-A until this spring, now lives in Miyazaki, Kyushu and he is actually membership chair of the JALT chapter there. Al is a very good teacher/person and I remember his presentation at our meeting in June, 2000 was both interesting and excellent.

Later Al sent me email. He is very genki, which makes me glad.

Saturday, November 17
1) The whole world seems much closer now to Akita. It's half a month since the regular air flight service between Akita airport and Seoul (three flights a week) started. Sakigake says that if you leave Akita in the morning, you can get to Paris or Frankfurt on the same day. The same thing if your destination is New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu, Vancouver and others. What about the price of your plane ticket from Akita? A cheap one currently available to & from Paris is 94,000 yen, for example, which is not bad, isn't it? Akita is getting internationalized more and more! :-)

2) This morning we have a Tie meeting, and tomorrow I'll be an examiner for the Eiken or STEP (the interview test) to be held at Akita Keiho Daigaku.

Friday, November 16
1) Tomorrow I'll attend Tie Discussion meeting at Joinus in Akita city. Dr. Geza Prinz will be talking about the following topic - changes in middle Europe in the last ten years and its historical background. Well, it sounds pretty heavy and tough. :-) The summary is here. I hope to learn something good for me.

2) A good web site for Japanese "mukashi banashi" or folktales from Prof. Yoshida. It might help your teaching.

3) Just recently I've found out that the Microsoft WORD (2000) has a function of telling you "ruigigo" or synonym (working like a small thesaurus) with a single click on the right of your mouse. It's pretty handy when you make sure the meaning of a word or when you are looking for a proper word.

4) Two intercultural understanding related reports from our local paper, Sakigake, this morning.

a) Scott Gorman, an American journalist participated in a class cooking mashed potatoes with 30 fifth graders at Kisakata Elementary School. Mayumi, a student commented, "I enjoyed cooking with Scott." I think It's a good chance for the Japanese students to experience and learn a different culture.

Later I wrote to him that he must have enjoyed seeing the kids. Scott wrote to me in his email, "You bet I had a good time; those kids are kawaee desu!"

b) 24 foreign students of MSU-A international course (learning Japanese and its culture) had a poster session at MSU-A. 36 students from Kawazoe Elementary School were invited to the session. The poster presentation was done all in Japanese on the various subjects including, game, computer, "furusato" or my native town, animation, etc. The presentation is different from just making a speech. In order to make their points get across to the audience more effectively, they use posters. The article says the Japanese kids also helped them to prepare the posters. The kids said that their Japanese was good and easy to understand. Good experience for both!

I've believed a poster session is an excellent method to learn and teach any language.

Wednesday, November 14
1) A very important message from MSU-A Provost Nilson about a town meeting to be held on December 1. You've got to come attend it and show your support.

2) The is from Prof. Yoshida: Here's a very useful site full of free references of all kinds compiled by the American Library Association.

http://www.ala.org/rusa/mars/best2001.html

Tuesday, November 13
1) I had an inquiry from Chieko Shibata, a JALT member, asking about the new forming Eikaiwa (English conversation) SIG of JALT. To those who are the JALT members and have interest in the SIG, read email from Elin Melchior. Then send me by email the following - your name, JALT member code and expiry date as soon as possible. The code and the date printed on the envelope of TLT (the language teacher) you receive every month.

I was wrong in telling you the SIG has been starting on my diary Nov 11. It needs to be approved (before it gets formally started) at the national conference in Kitakyushu next week. And it seems that they need 50 or more members' petition to get it started.

Monday, November 12
1) Dr. Yoshinori Watanabe replied to my email. What he says in it is very interesting, "... It's us that produces examination hell or examination heaven."

2) Now China is a member of WTO, World Trade Organization. It's good news for its 1.3 billion people or over one fifth or 20% of the world population. Hopefully it's good for the world economy, too.

The population of China (Communist China it was so called then) was about 700 million 35 years ago. I was learning how to debate at Sophia University between 1963-67. The title of a debate contest was, "Resolved that Communist China should be admitted into the United Nations." Things change quite quickly, don't they?

Sunday, November 11
1) It seems that JALT has started a new SIG (special interest group) for those who have interest in English conversation teaching. It's called Eikaiwa SIG. Read email from Duane P. Flowers, Eikaiwa SIG (forming) President.

2) Yesterday I attended the Annual Convention of Akita Eibun Gakkai held at Akita University. There Dr. Yoshinori Watanabe of Akita University gave us a short lecture on "Interactive Testing: why, what and how". He said we were the first people to learn the idea in the whole world. It was done quite humorously. We Akita JALT invited him to our meeting last June, too. I have an impression that he is struggling so hard to MAKE both teachers and students LIKE testing they have to give and take. ;-) His main idea seems to be we should make more efforts to make it interesting for test takers.

Later we listened to Dr. James Robinson or the TESL Chief at St. Cloud State University. The title was "Contrastive Rhetoric and the East Asian Student: what Japanese students need to know about writing in English and what Japanese teachers need to know about teaching writing in English. I found it very interesting. I didn't know what contrastive rhetoric before I listened to him.

3)Jacob Schnickel sent emailto me. Jake and Jon Fischer became JALT members on Nov. 3. They work in the same office.

Saturday, November 10
1) I've put together my thoughts about MSU-A both in English and Japanese. It would be nice if you could send me your comments about it. This morning our local paper, Sakigake says that Mr. Inada Toshinobu, the Gakucho of Akita Keihodai University favorably commented about the Kokusaikei Daigaku plan on the special committee hearing on Nov. 9, which made me pleased.

2) I've found a good way to teach my students how to use "Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody" thanks to Martin Pauly, Tsukuba, Japan. It's so amusing that I sent email to him to get his permission to put it here.

Martin says, "I'm on an email list in my neighborhood called TAIRA (Tsukuba Area International Researcher's Association) and people often post things which they get from other sources. <Is it something everybody could use freely, for example, on their web page?> I believe so. If you would like to use it and use my name feel free. The only royalty I would ask for is \850. (That's the price of a big mug of warm Guiness at my local bar.)
Martin"

Thanks, Martin. I'll buy you that when I see you!

Now here is the fun way.

Friday, November 9
1) Tomorrow I am going to attend the Annual Convention if Akita Eibun Gakkai at Akita University. I will look forward to listening to Dr. Yoshinori Watanabe and Dr. James Robinson.

Earlier, Prof. Akira Murakami of Akita University asked me to send the following to my JALT list.

Two Lectures by James Robinson
( Ph.D. / TESL Chief at St. Cloud State University )

10th / Nov. ( Saturday ) 3:30 ~ 5:30 p.m.
"Contrastive Rhetoric and the East Asian Student"

Classroom 3-255, ED-3 Building,
College of Education and Human Studies,
Akita University

12th / Nov. ( Monday ) 3:00 ~ 5:00 p.m.
"TESL/TEFL and Culture in an internalized world"

Classroom 3-255, ED-3 Building,
College of Education and Human Studies,
Akita University

*For more information: lazycat@ipc.akita-u.ac.jp
018-889-2629

2) Mio Kimura gave me email. It seems that they enjoyed a World Games gathering. Good for them. She also writes about last Saturday's JALT meeting.

3) Mr. Nogami's interesting web site sent from Prof. Yoshida

4) Welcome, Jon Fischer and Jacob Schnickel, to Akita JALT. They became our formal members last Saturday. I sent them email message. Jon sent his email to me.

Thursday, November 8
1) How do Japanese young people (elementary, junior and senior high school students) live their everyday life? What do they think about studying? What interests them and what doesn't? An interesting web page from Prof. Yoshida.

2) Sean responded to me in his email. I had written to him what I wrote yesterday (Wednesday, Nov 7) on this diary: my point is that it's not good for Japanese English teachers to use their mother tongue when they communicate with their colleagues. It's better to use English for their discussion or debate. Similarly when they post their email messages to mailing lists they belong to, English should be more encouraged.

By the way, have you ever thought which comes first, language or thought? Isn't it an interesting question?

The following is what I replied to him:
(quote my email) "It's good that you've reminded me of the language evolution. In fact some of email messages written in Japanese about English education on ML have amazed me. I admit that some Japanese scholars, in most cases, with MA or Ph.D background overseas are able to use their mother tongue just like English. It seems to me that they are thinking in English and translating into Japanese. ;-) (The wink mark here doesn't mean 'disrespect' to those excellent scholars. I respect them. Takeshi)

The other problem, of course, is Japanese mentality or psychology - I mean - Japanese unwillingness or reluctance to ask questions esp. in public or bring up different facts, ideas, opinions to discuss or clarify an important point. Yes, these also have been and will be evolving or changing as the language changes ultimately. My hope is more changes for the better.

No, I don't know anything about 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis'. (Maybe I've heard or read about it, but my laziness...) Thanks for adding the definition of the concept - "Which comes first, language or thought?" Wow, it's a question I've been asking myself for many, many years. I went to Yahoo America and it has over 1,500 entries. A good assignment you've given me. ;-) Your students are lucky.
Takeshi"(unquote)

Folks, maybe it's a good idea to learn about the 'Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis' if you haven't learned yet.

Wednesday, November 7
1) We had a good meeting (Akita JALT) on November 3. Dr. Izumi (We call him Sean) gave us an excellent presentation on Focus on Form. We had 24 attendants listening to him. After the meeting several of us had a good time chatting over English education, language acquisition and others at Cripton Hotel near MSU-A campus. Sean is a good scholar, a good speaker both in English and Japanese and a good company to be with. Hopefully he will be a source of inspiration to make a good change in English education in Japan.

I wrote to him thank you email and he sent me his reply.

2) I missed the morning session of WG interpretation training because I had to take Sean to Akita airport. Here is my little confession: I enjoyed watching No. 6 World Series at the airport. ;-) This year's championship games were just exciting! In the afternoon I attended the interpretation practice held at Joinus in Akita city. There we discussed the name of our group, which will be starting soon and registered as a company. AIS is our formal one, which stands for Akita Interpretation Service. In the afternoon session we welcomed Jeff Ringer, a visiting professor at Akita University. His talk was based on his own research about a portable cell phone and how his students use it. He assumes that the cell phone is not isolating them but helps them to start enjoying new types of communication, friendship exchanges among them. Very interesting.

3) Yesterday evening I attended Helen's community education. Yesterday's topic was intercultural communication and understanding. Everybody had read a small literature prepared by Helen and had discussion in smaller groups. An interesting question was, "Are there any Japanese customs which you think others might find strange?" Or this one, "Describe how people communicate in the following situations in your culture; include information about body distance, touching, showing emotion, etc....." The following is what occurred on my mind about it.

Interestingly I was in a peculiar situation with Sean, our guest speaker of Akita JALT last Saturday and Sunday. The first half we communicated in English and the latter in Japanese. Remember we are both Japanese and our first language is Japanese. On the whole I was comfortable in both, except that in Japanese somehow I felt that we had to be a little more careful in trying to be polite to each other, I mean, the Japanese polite way. You know he has got Ph.D which I don't. On the other hand he is younger and I'm much older, etc. In Japanese you have to respect these things.

Japanese people tend to agree with others. Sean brought up an analogy that communication in English is like playing tennis, to which I agree. To me Japanese conversation is like working on a piece of art, painting a picture or writing a poem together, which needs more collaboration and cooperation for the same goal. I feel that we Japanese hate to disagree even on a minor point. You have to go a long way in order to disagree with the other party, which is beautiful in itself. But it may not be a good way when we try to analyze a status-quo or a problem for the better solution, which naturally requires freer and more active exchange of opinions including disagreement. Sometimes it may not be proper to use Japanese when we really want to change something. I feel that when you speak Japanese, you have to pay a lot of attention to many minor things, which might often prevent or harm smooth, Honest, constructive discussion.

I belong to a dozen of English teaching related mailing lists. There are only a few in which English is used. Others are done all in Japanese. The members are all English teachers. Most of them have little problems in expressing themselves in English. Many can write as well as I or even better. Still they are not willing to use English. For whatever reasons, they prefer Japanese, which may be a problem as far as I'm concerned. I doubt it may not be the best language to discuss a real change. I think more Japanese teachers of English should use more English for communication. It's a good practice, too. Let me hear your comments about this, will you?

Thursday, November 1
We will be having a JALT meeting at MSU-A the coming Saturday. Our guest speaker will Dr. Shinichi (Sean) Izumi of Sophia University. I spent a whole week with him this summer at a seminar near Tokyo. He is both a good speaker and an attractive person. How attractive? You've got to come and see yourself. ;-) more about the meeting

Don't miss the good chance November 3.

Wednesday, October 31
A short article from the New York Times titled "America Doesn't Know What the World Is Saying", which was sent from Prof. Yoshida. I found it interesting. To read the well-written article you have to register (for free), which is very simple and takes only a minute.

Friday, October 19
1) Tomorrow I'm going to attend Tie discussion meeting at Joinus in Akita city. We are going to discuss popularity of sports in Japan. Now I'm enjoying an MLB game on TV (NHK BS) between Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees, which is exciting. New York is leading 3 to 2 at the eighth inning. It seems that more and more Japanese people are getting attracted to MLB rather than Japanese professional baseball. It must be an interesting topic to talk about.

2) AES's 46th skill training & 7th academic session will also be held at Akita University tomorrow. If time allows me, I'd like to visit the academic session. Some of the members (Yumiko Suzuki, Yayoi Kitsukawa, Takanori Sato, Megumi Takahashi, all of them are Akita Univ. students) are scheduled to give us a performance, a debate demonstration (Parliamentary Debate method).

3) A couple of interesting URLs about the government survey on university education and Japanese young children, which came from Prof. Yoshida.

Monday, October 15
Honjo town in Akita pref. is really getting International!! Honjo-shi, my native and residence town, hosted Beach Handball competition for World Games this summer, if you remember. Many people from outside Japan visited us. It was a good chance for Honjo town people to make friends with them. It takes only ten minutes drive from my house to the beach where the international competition took place.

Now this time the First International Science Forum is being held at the Honjo Campus of Akita Prefectural University, which is located in the neighborhood of my house. The international meeting held between today and Wednesday brings many scientists both foreign and Japanese here. Unfortunately the content of many lectures and meetings are too scientific to me. :-) Like many others, however, I feel proud as a resident of Honjo town that there is such an international conference on such a scale going on in our town. This is really good news for us all. Besides two of my colleagues, Naoto Sato and Tamako Ishigaki from WG interpretation group are working as interpreters for the forum.

So my greetings from me who lives in Honjo, Akita, which is getting more international month by month. ;-)

Friday, October 12
Tomorrow afternoon we will welcome our JALT national president, Prof. Thomas Simmons at MSU-A. Don't miss the chance, folks! his presentation at our October meeting.

Monday, October 8
1) For the past couple of weeks we PC Internet users have been hearing a lot of scary stories about computer viruses, esp. nimda. I've updated my Internet Explorer to 6 and taken other measures. You'd better go to the Microsoft webpage or anti-virus pages in case you haven't. It's troublesome, but maybe it's a little price we have to pay to keep us on the net.

2) Two interesting pieces of information from Prof. Yoshida.One is about free subscription of a free online journal. The other is if you are a junior high school teacher, how would you like to go to an elementary school on a regular basis and teach English to the younger students?

The following is what I think about it. It's a good idea to send some of the teachers to elementary schools. It means more exchange of information, ideas and communication in various forms among more schools, which might benefit more teachers. As for English it's not only desirable but necessary, I believe, because many elementary schools may not have good English teachers in the first place. It might also be good experience for high school teachers to help younger students learn English, too.

Again a possible shortcoming of the change may be more work to already busy teachers, which must be somehow worked out. I always sympathize with teachers who are very busy and are having difficulty finding time to improve their skills and prepare for their class. Something must be done about it. whether they go teach at elementary schools.

Sunday, October 7
1) Today I will attend a World Games Interpretation Skill-up meeting held at Joinus in Akita city. World Games are over now, but all the members decided to continue the session once a month even into next year. It's simply too good to end it! Everybody seems to enjoy practicing English and Japanese and maybe more importantly seeing and talking to one another.

2) Yesterday to my surprise 8 people attended the 45th AES TEFL skill training session. I had expected only a few to come. Most probably Scott Gorman attracted them into the session. I am sure more must have attended if more information about him had been provided. He sent me an email later. Let me quote him for those who came.

For those of you who don't know him, Scott Gorman is a professional writer. He now lives in Kisakata town famous for Matsuo Basho's haiku (it's about 30 minutes drive from Honjo) and will stay there by the end of February 2002 as a researcher in residence funded by Fulbright Senior Researcher/Journalist program. He has a wide range of interest in politics, literature, culture, sports, social problems, etc. A great speaker, too with overwhelming power.

Friday, October 5
1) If you are interested in getting to know Dr. Simmons approach in teaching English to his Japanese students, go to the following page. He will be here in Akita to give us his presentation at our JALT meeting on October 13.

2) Hideo Nomo, (MLB) Boston Red Sox pitcher, won his 13th win this morning Japan time! I enjoyed him pitching against one of the greatest star player, Ripken, who is retiring.

"This is very memorable for me," Nomo said through an interpreter. "A lot of players have an older player they want to hit against or pitch against. It was a historic moment to be able to pitch against Ripken. I'm fortunate to be able to be here the last weekend of his career and pitch against him." (from ESPN)
"This is memorable for me," Nomo said. "I am very fortunate to pitch against him, especially tonight. He's been one of my favorites to pitch against." (Sportsillustrated)

3) This is a message to AES regular members: Tomorrow morning we are going to have an AES study group meeting at Akita University. I was supposed to be in charge of the session since Masako sensei is out of town and she asked me to do so. Here is good news for those who will attend it! Now we have a great guest speaker from USA. His name is Scott, who was introduced to me by Sloan in Kisakata. I just talked to Scott over the phone. He is a great guy. All this development has happened for just an hour. To those who didn't plan to attend, you'd better change your mind. Otherwise you'd miss a great chance. :-)

Wednesday, September 26
Great News! JALT National President Thomas Simmons will be visiting us and giving us his presentation at our October meeting. Don't miss it! The date is October, 13, Saturday (2:00PM to 4:00PM) at MSU-A.

Monday, September 24
This diary has not been written for almost two months. Sorry for my being lazy, but let me start writing again this week.

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I often tell my students the following:
"Don't think that I am teaching you English! Because I can't. I am only helping you to learn English. You will learn to speak English well if you follow my advice and are willing to learn English for yourself. Someday you will be able to think in English as I do."
Takeshi Suzuki

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