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, December 28
I got Christmas email from Yoko Kamada, who is studying in Monterey, California. She is doing her MA there. She sends her love to all AES members. Here is her email.

Merry Christmas, Takeshi-san!!

I'm here in San Jose and Sacramento(You know, it's a capital here)at my friends' houses, having a wonderful Christmas week.

I went to Japan town and found rinse-free Koshihikari (Just ask Toshiko-san!),
and had Yorkshire pudding, Nashville eggnog, pork steak, sirloin steak, champagne, apple pie,
Hummus dip with corn chips, coffee, broccoli and carrot,
rye bread, sourdough bread, home-made cereal with yogurt,
long grain rice, lasagna,
and went to the Episcopal Church with them,
and walked with them in the communal forest where duck couples , egrets,
geese and horses are,
and got Christmas socks with many knickknacks and toiletry inside,
and did some crossword puzzles.           

This is such a wonderful Christmas!

I think I'm improving my language skill.
I suppose all of you as well in the group.
I'm always working hard with all of you in mind.

Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year!

Yoko

Wednesday, December 11
1) It has been snowing since Monday. A TV weather program says it has snowed more in Honjo than elsewhere in Akita. The snow lay about 20 centimeters last night here while less than 10 elsewhere. It has still be snowing. Of course there must be much more snow in mountainous areas including the MSU-A campus, I guess. "Otsukare sama" for those who have to labor removing the snow. Good thing about it is snow is beautiful. Everything is white here. I feel that Christmas season is coming.

2) I've put some picturesfrom the last JALT meeting.

3) You can see some pictures taken at the JALT national conference which was held in Shizuoka.

Friday, December 6
1) I wrote about a good way to build your vocabulary on December 3. Later I got email from Koji Nakashima, the inventor of the "Vocabuilder" explaining about how it works. It is a program with some smart functions to test and build your English vocabulary. You have to understand and read Japanese to do the test. I tried it and found it amusing. Some words in the test are pretty difficult. Why don't you try it and see yourself? Visit his homepage. Just click "Vocabuilder" there.

Here is what Koji wrote to me:
"I'm glad to hear that you tried Vocabuilder I programmed. This program makes 20 questions at a time automatically and randomly from nearly 1000 words and phrases data. You cannot meet with exactly the same question set twice.  These questions are chosen randomly from the database prepared. So why don't you try it again and again when you have a time?

I would like to increase the number of data in the future."

2) Naoko Taguchi, who teaches at MSU-A and gave us a good talk at our JALT meeting in September this year, gave me email. She was a very good speaker if you took part in her presentation. I hope she will finish her Ph.D. soon and come back to Akita.

The following is her message to me and Akita JALT.
"I won't be able to attend the last JALT meeting, so I'm writing you to thank you for all the effort you put into JALT this year.  It was a great pleasure to be back in the group and observe many valuable activities in this growing local organization.  I'm returning to Arizona to finish my degree at the end of this semester, but I hope our path will cross again in the future.

Best wishes for the upcoming year!

Naoko"

Thursday, December 5
This coming Saturday we will have a JALT meeting. Good news is that you may get a book(s) you want for free! Helen Korengold wrote to me: MSUA faculty will give away books that they no longer need and could be used by local teachers or students. So come join us and find books you like. Similarly if you have books you don't need any longer, will you also bring them to the meeting? Other people might want to use them. We will have a party or "bonenkai" after the meeting if you have time. Let's have a great time.

Wednesday, December 4
Some pictures are up from our AIS interpretation training meeting held on last Sunday.

Tuesday, December 3
I've found a good way of building your vocabulary. Visit here. Just click "Vocabuilder" there and test your ability. It was made by Koji Nakashima who teaches at Akita University.

Saturday, November 30
1) I will attend Akita Eibun Gakkai to be held at Akita University this afternoon. I look forward to listening to Prof. David E. Ingram's presentation on "Effect of Foreign Language Learning on Cross-Cultural Attitudes: Effect Change and Promoting Proficiency".

2) Tomorrow I will attend AIS monthly interpretation training session at Joinus. For those who are going to attend the morning session, read this, please.

Saturday, November 23
1) On December 7 we will have an Akita JALT meeting, which will be the final one to be scheduled this year. More information about the meeting.

2) Some pictures taken by our Treasurer Yumiko at the last JALT meeting.

Monday, November 11
1) We will have a JALT meeting next Sunday, November 17. Dr Kirby Record will give an interesting presentation. More information about it.

2) Kristie Collins, who came to Akita to give us a JALT presentation on October 19, sent me email. She sends her warm regards to Akita JALT members. Read her message.

3) I responded to Kristie. Here is what I wrote:

Dear Kristie,

Thank you for your delightful message to us! It reminded me of all the laughter and enjoyment we had on the day. It was really the first time, most probably for the last, ;-) for me to play a gangster, "Hey kid..."!

I belonged to ESS (the club of English Speaking Society) as a Sophia University student many years ago. Each member had to choose either one or two of the four activities -- speech, discussion, debate or drama. If anyone worked hard for four years on any of them, I know from my experience, one could achieve a lot in terms of a foreign language acquisition. I took part in a lot of discussion and debate meetings, which was a good practice.

Some chose drama (most plays they practiced were Shakespeare's tragedies). Their working English skills was extremely low when they started. I even doubted if they understood anything about what they were speaking on the stage. ;-) Would it work? Well, four years later some of them improved their skills up to an incredible level. I clearly remember how amazed I was then. How powerful the use of drama could be in terms of ESL!

I also look forward to meeting you again. In the meantime, you will enjoy helping Japanese learners improve their English through drama.

Good luck!
Takeshi

PS: Your message is now on the net -- on the picture page of the day.

Monday, October 21
1) Last Saturday we enjoyed acting in a little drama at our Akita JALT meeting. Everybody seemed to be enjoying. I liked to speak like a gangster, "Hey, you. What's your name, kid?". See the pictures if you are interested.

2) Last Friday some 6th graders of Honjo Ozaki Elementary School put on a drama "Momotaro" or "Peach Boy" for the school festival called Ozaki Festival. I had been asked to help them make the English script for the play a few weeks ago. I also helped their English. Here are some pictures of their practice and performance if you are interested. You can also read about my "kansobun" or my message to the boys and girls, who performed the drama.

Saturday, September 28
1) This morning I will attend AES skill training session at Joinus. In the afternoon we will hold our JALT meeting at MSU-A.

2) Have you heard that each one of all Japanese citizens including a baby owes 5.8 million yen or almost 50 thousand dollars? Yes, that's a fact although the amount is based on my calculation. It's like you owe almost 6 million yen. I owe almost 6 million. How many family members do you have? If there are five in the family, your family owes 29 million yen in total. It's frightening, isn't it? It's because the government debts accumulation has reached 700 trillion yen or almost 6 trillion dollars.

Another frightening thing is that no politicians have ever shown us a good plan on how to pay it back. Yoshiaki Kobayashi, professor of Keio University, writes in Asahi yesterday, "...The government debts accumulated. The figure is now a whopping 700 trillion yen -- an amount that cannot possibly be repaid without massive tax hikes and inflation..." The issue should be discussed more often and more thoroughly in public.

Friday, September 27
1) Last Wednesday the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged Japan to end deflation within 18 months with more aggressive monetary policy and inject public funds into viable banks to help them accelerate bad-loan disposal. I am not sure what monetary policies will be effective and how effective they will be.

On the other hand we all know about the bad-loans in the Japanese banking even though Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa has maintained that the banks are healthy. Nobody seems to believe him. Many understand the problem is not only real but is the biggest and the most serious problem for Japan's economy. It would be like playing an axis of evil ;-) if the government should continue to be doing nothing good and be telling lies about the problem to Japanese people and peoples of the world.

In fact the bad-loan issue has been left unresolved for too long, causing many bad things in Japan while everybody knows that it won't go away and that there will be no future without solving it. It's high time to do something drastic to solve it once for all. Of course it means a lot of money -- injecting tens of trillions of yen into the banking system. I know many hate it. But let's face it. There is no other solution. If we delay the process, the more we will suffer later.

Yotaro Kobayashi, chairman of Fuji Xerox, writes in Asahi yesterday, "Drastic disposal of bad loans is needed. This should be done through a one-shot injection of tens of trillions of yen in public funds..." He thinks that drastic disposal of bad loans is key to survival like many. Prime Minister Koizumi should make up his mind.

2) I happened to find out a very interesting webpage for ESL learners. The page is in the website entitled "Interesting Things for ESL Students". The site has many good quizzes in such a variety. My student tried them today and had a good time. Why don't you try the site, too?

3) Seattle Mariners have lost a chance to go to a play-off. A disappointment for many Japanese MLB fans because the ballclub has Ichiro, Hasegawa and Sasaki Daimajin. The team has lost a momentum in the second half of the season.

Hideo Nomo had most probably his last outing today this season. The LA Dodgers pitcher, who has won seven straight decisions and 15 of his last 16, allowed six hits and five runs in six-plus innings, striking out nine. The team won and kept their flickering play-off hopes alive. Surprisingly Nomo hit a home run in the game. I was stunned and amused. He was showing a big smile on his face in the dugout. The game was televised via NHK BS in which Vin Scurry was an announcer. For him the 2002 season has been one of the best and I've enjoyed watching his performance all through the year. "Otsukare sama deshita" to Hideo Nomo! Of course that's in case the LA Dodgers can't make it to the play-off.

Thursday, September 26
1) A beautiful day! It's a perfectly autumn like weather we are having in Honjo. The low temperature was 10 degrees early this morning, but the high will be 23 with beautiful sunshine.

2) This Saturday we are holding Akita JALT meeting. We will welcome Naoko Taguchi as a guest speaker. Her topic is "The Corpus Linguistics Approach to Language Teaching: Trends, Directions, and Challenges". The abstract is as follows.

Recently there has been a growing interest in the use of language corpora and computer analysis tools for second language education.  This presentation discusses recent developments in the field of corpus linguistics, particularly its applications to TESOL (i.e., Teaching English as a Second Language).  Some applications include: descriptions of English grammar in actual context, ESL materials development, potential changes toward more authentic testing, and descriptions of academic discourse in U.S. university settings.   This presentation provides an overview of these applications with examples.

Naoko Taguchi holds a Masters of Education Degree in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from State University of New York at Buffalo. She is currently teaching at the ESL Department of Minnesota State University-Akita, Japan, at the same time pursuing her Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics at Northern Arizona University. Her research interest includes interlanguage pragmatics, learning strategies, and discourse analysis. 

Don't miss the chance to learn about the interesting topic. See you on the fourth Saturday. Here is information about the meeting.

Friday, September 20
1) Last Sunday, my town, Honjo had an annual festival. It is called, "Honjo Hachiman Jinja Daimyo Gyoretsu". I enjoyed watching the "gyoretsu" or procession, which is like a parade marching through various streets in Honjo Town. Honjo Hachiman Shrine is where the successive Honjo feudal lords have been worshiped. The festival is carried out on September 15 every year.

Hundreds of citizens including children and adults, male and female, clad in the traditional clothes, march or parade through the various streets. A lot of residents as well as tourists enjoyed watching the "Daimyo's Gyoretsu" or feudal lord procession. I took a lot of pictures. Go to the page and take a look if you are interested. The pictures will be displayed only for some time. You know the space of my website is limited.

2) Last Tuesday was a historic day. Japan and North Korea agreed to resume negotiations to establish diplomatic ties following a top level talk between Prime Minister Koizumi and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang in North Korea. The North Korean leader's acknowledgement in terms of the abduction issue stunned everybody. Until last Monday I had read and listened to many experts predicting what would happen. As far as I knew, nobody predicted that North Korea would admit the abduction. Literally nobody -- no scholars, no experts. I wonder if anybody in Foreign Ministry had known about it? If yes, why hadn't they told the Japanese cabinet sooner for the better preparation? Or was it simply beyond the Japan's capability to gather and analyze intelligence in that respect? In any case many things are getting really unpredictable in today's Japan.

As for the abduction issue, it was reported that Kim Jong Il explained to Koizumi about it at the conference and apologized. According to their investigation he said that a series of the kidnappings were the works of his country's special agency and that the order didn't come from the leader. Although we are not sure if he was telling the truth about it, last Wednesday I was interested in a sentence, in Japanese media, that includes two words -- "modo shugi" and "eiyu shugi" when he explained about the special agency. How did Herald Asahi translated the two words? It used "impulsive" and "heroic". (quote) "I believe those acts were conducted by elements within a special agency that turned toward impulsive and what they considered heroic acts in the 1970s and early 1980s." VOX POPULI, VOX DEI writes, "It was the work of 'blindly motivated' elements of his country's special agency."

I am very sorry for those who were kidnapped and were forced to live in North Korea against their will and allegedly lost their lives there. My deep sympathy for their families and friends.

3) A MLB LA Dodgers pitcher, Hideo Nomo (15 wins and 6 losses) has been terrific this season, which makes me extremely pleased. He last lost on July 16 in St. Louis. He hasn't lost in Dodger Stadium since May 1. I found an interesting and humorous piece to praise the Japanese pitcher written by Stew Magnuson. "Hideo Nomo is suffering from amnesia. The Los Angeles Dodgers hope it is an incurable affliction. Nomo has forgotten how to lose..."

Friday, September 13
Many Japanese MLB baseball players are doing a great job this season in US -- Ichiro, Sasaki, Hasegawa, Nomo, Ishii and others. I've been showing some of my students exciting scenes from MLB baseball games, which are televised through NHK BS almost everyday here in Japan. Both Japanese and English voices through main and sub-channels had better be prepared so that you can let your students listen to what Japanese announcers and American counterparts have to say about a particular play. They are different -- sometimes very different. You know the different culture or way of thinking! Many of the technical baseball terms they use for the game are different, too. I enjoy learning the differences.

My students seem to be enjoying -- each one in a different way -- that is, if they understand the ball game. Just recently Kaz Ishii went through a big accident by being hit in the forehead by a line drive. The scene was so powerful and spectacular that some of my students were eager to listen to and understand the announcers' comments. The speed, power and agility of MLB is such an amazing attraction.

Vin Scurry is a very special announcer for the LA Dodgers. He has been doing that for 50 years. Isn't it something? He is one of my favorite ones. His way of speaking is nice and easy and beautiful. A perfect person for anybody who tries to improve English while having a fun watching the game. I remember Vin announcing Hideo Nomo's no hitter game in Denver. Yesterday Vin was making the following comment when Nomo was leaving the mound after 132 pitches. "Jim Tracy (the Dodgers' manager) decided that's enough -- 132 pitches. He'll go to the pen. What a remarkable performance by the warrior. Hideo Nomo really gave the Dodgers a tremendous lift. Tracy has tremendous respect and admiration for Hideo as does everybody else in the ball club. He is number one -- ichiban..." I enjoyed listening to the famous announcer so much yesterday. Well, it's no secret that I am a fan of his. ;-)

My email friend, Vicki, who lives in Long Island, New York, wrote to me, "Takeshi, now my happiness for Hideo is beyond the universe and plus ++++++++++++++++++++... I got weepy tears for him, as the day he got his first no hitter at Coors." Congratulations, Hideo Nomo on the 14th win this season!

Thursday, September 12
1) My prolonged summer break is now over. I've had such a relaxing time.

2) Akita JALT will welcome Naoko Taguchi to our September meeting as a guest speaker. It will take place on the fourth Saturday of this month (September 28). She will be talking about recent developments in the field of corpus linguistics, particularly its applications to TESOL or Teaching English as a Second Language. It will be an interesting and useful presentation for many since recently there has been a growing interest in the use of language corpora and computer analysis tools for second language education. More information on the meeting.

3) Many people all over the world must be watching special TV programs to remember over 3 thousand victims of last year's terrorist attacks in New York. The Major League Baseball ESPN recap of a game in which Hideo Nomo recorded his 14th win for the LA Dodgers in San Francisco early today describes:
"...The big screen on the center-field scoreboard read ''9.11.01 We will never forget'' and showed a series of black-and-white photos from the events of a year ago ... and players walked in a line and surrounded the infield dirt to salute a huge flag that covered nearly the entire outfield. It was held by police officers and firefighters..."

Tuesday, August 13
I've started putting some pictures and reports of the summer seminar at MSU-A on my website. It will take for a while to get it finished. Yesterday I sent email to the participants asking them to send their reports or comments about the seminar. I don't intend to make the webpage only a serious and academic one. Instead I'd like it to be very casual, interesting and a lot of fun to read. Visit the page if you are interested.

the URL of the page:
http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/summersemi.htm#summerseminar

Thursday, August 1
We are having a lot of fun learning about learning. Why? it's because we are born to learn and learning is a lot of fun. Eleven people are participating.

Tuesday, July 30
Yesterday we had the first day of the seminar. Prof. Ragan's presentation was just amazing! His prepared file of thick handouts are great because we can always learn from them -- even after the seminar. It's exciting that we will be able to learn more, much more for the four days. The participants are great, friendly people. I'd like to get to know more and better about them.

Saturday, July 28
Tomorrow our seminar 2002 at MSU-A is to start. I really look forward to meeting and talking to all the participants.

Thursday, July 25
The number of participants has reached 10! And we may be getting one or two more. Prof. Dave Ragan, who will be in charge of the seminar next week, is now doing his best to prepare interesting activities for the seminar.

Tuesday, July 23
The summer seminar intensive course at MSU-A 2002 is just a week away! It will be held for all mornings and afternoons of five days (10:00AM - around 5:00PM) between July 28 and August 2 at MSU-A. Only English will be used. So far 8 people including me have committed to signing up for the seminar. I am sure that the participants will have a great time next week.

"Everybody is a teacher" is a slogan for the seminar. In other words, self-motivated approaches or autonomous attitude are highly valued. So all the participants are encouraged to give a speech, presentation, workshop, poster session or anything on their own at the seminar. There will be enough time for everyone to make such a presentation if he/she wants. This is not a "must", however. You can also choose not to make a presentation. This is a very flexible seminar. Everything is up to you depending upon your schedule and willingness.

If you are interested or know anybody who is interested in attending the seminar, the door is still open for you. It's a good chance to improve your English skills. More information here.

Wednesday, July 17
1) Yesterday evening we had the last class of MSU-A community education class by Helen Korengold. 10 people have enjoyed attending the class every Tuesday evening and discussing many social issues since May. All are very friendly people and I had a good time. I will miss the opportunity from next week. Most probably in September another class of the same kind will start.

2) information about MIE's guideline or strategy for English education from Prof. Yoshida.

Tuesday, July 16
1) The page "the Summer Seminar Intensive Course 2002 at MSU-A" is now ready. Anybody can take part in the seminar. It will be held at MSU-A for five days starting from Monday, July 29. Please read the page and join us if you are interested in developing your English skills. Spread the good news among your colleagues and friends. Thanks.

2) A poem "After a While" by Veronic A. Shoffstall, which appeared in Ann Landers column recently in Herald Asahi attracted my attention. The poem goes, "...So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul. Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers..." The poem is for those who are going through a difficult time in life.

I've made up my own poem, "Your Flowers" completely different from "After a While" in its content. Yet I used the line, "wait for someone to bring you flowers." And I am grateful to Veronic for it. The poem is still imperfect and I try to make it better by changing words here and there. Will you help me?

My poem is based on my long time thoughts about learning or teaching English, esp. in terms of autonomy in learning English. It is often pointed out that Japanese learners depend upon the teacher too much and lack in autonomy in learning. Most probably the trend comes from Japanese culture. It is also a responsibility of English teachers. In either case it is not a good thing. More autonomous attitude should be valued and practiced in language learning.

English speaking culture in general values on individualism. On the other hand Japanese culture puts more emphasis on harmony, group identify or mentality, reserve or restraint or silence rather than speaking up. It doesn't let individualism in. For example, people who think on their own, talk too much, who like to ask questions, who tend to disagree with others are not regarded as good and positive, but rather as lacking in good manners. I think this is a serious problem because it is not helping learners to learn English easily. It makes it harder and more difficult. How can we learn to express ourselves comfortably while we are not encouraged to state our feelings, ideas and opinions freely? Then what are we going to do about it?

Here is what I think. You can forget your being Japanese while learning English. Students, learners and teachers should be more relaxed and encouraged to express themselves more freely in English class. I don't mean to devalue Japanese culture. In fact I respect and admire many aspects of the culture. What I am saying here is that a learner/teacher can forget that he/she is Japanese while learning/teaching English. It must work. At least it has worked for me. It also is a good and positive thing for a language learner because he/she is learning another culture better. Becoming bilingual should mean becoming bi-cultural in thinking as far as I am concerned.

With such thoughts on my mind, I wrote the poem. Hopefully it will encourage some learners and teachers to be more positive about themselves and have more confidence as individuals and feel more comfortable in expressing themselves more freely, casually and comfortably. Eventually it will help them to be better communicators.

By the way as you know, Ann Landers passed away a few weeks ago. I enjoyed reading many of her wise answers to people in trouble. The answers in general used to reflect American views and way of thinking, which was interesting. My condolences to her family and friends.

3) Ivan Wine in in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA sent me email. He happened to run across my web site page. Hello Ivan, thank you for your email and nice to get to know you. The message is here.

Monday, July 15
1) We had a good time at JALT meeting last Saturday discussing learning or teaching English and culture. 17 people attended. Akita JALT will have no meetings in August. Let's get together again in September. Hope you will have a good summer break and be genki!

2) Interesting information from Prof. Yoshida, which includes, "English teachers have to polish their English skills".

Thursday, July 11
1) The coming Saturday our JALT meeting will be discussion facilitated by Helen Korengold. The discussion title will be "How do English teachers in Japan approach this topic in their classroom?" Sociolinguistic considerations: "Learning a language without learning the culture is a good way to make a fluent fool of oneself" (Brembeck)

Here is more information on the meeting. It will be a good chance to think about learning or teaching a language and its culture. I hope many will attend.

2) Last Sunday we had AIS interpretation practice meeting. In the afternoon session we invited Helen Korengold of MSU-A as a guest speaker, who talked about socio-linguistics, which sounds like a big word to those who are not familiar with. Helen explained about it helping us understand the concept. In a word it means pragmatics, which means practical. It deals with what to say in a particular situation and how to say it.

I was especially interested in her talk about making a compliment. A compliment, which works in Japanese culture, does not always or necessarily work as a compliment in another cultures and vice versa. It might cause misunderstanding or even a trouble. She picked up interesting examples to explain that. It's a coincidence that we will have a panel discussion on the similar subject Saturday at a JALT meeting.

3) Some of us are planning to have a summer seminar or intensive course all in English at MSU-A. The date will be between Monday, July 29 and Friday, August 2. Anybody can join it. It's a good chance to improve your English skills. Some more information here.

Wednesday, July 3
Apologies:

My provider changed and upgraded their server computer (my host computer) last Monday. Due to the change, since last Sunday evening, my PS has not been able to receive email properly. My web site has been gone, too. Everything is fixed now. I can receive and send email without problems and the web site is back now.

To those who sent me email and have not received my replies, will you please send your messages again? Thank you very much.

Thursday, June 27
1) Hideo Nomo, my favorite, has got his 8th victory today, winning his last six decisions . It was exciting to watch hm retiring the first 12 batters before he allowed two runs in the fifth inning. He was also sharp in the sixth and seventh innings. The LA Dodgers won the game 5 to 3, leading National League West.

2) information from Prof. Yoshida about his meeting with the Minister of Education

Thursday, June 20
1) This Saturday we will have a JALT meeting with Dave Ragan giving us a presentation on "Effective Language Learning Strategies and Techniques". The guest speaker has been interested in how people learn since 1975 when he first successfully learned Spanish. Don't miss the opportunity. Please remember to bring a tape recorder of any kinds with you. Come empty-handed if you don't have one. If you have more than two, please bring them so that others could use your extra recorders.

At the end of the meeting we will survey the participants on topics of interest for our July 13 discussion meeting. So if you have a good topic(s) for the discussion, bring them with you on June 22.

2) I sent the following note to my JALT list:

"Hi. We've decided to hold a discussion meeting on July 13, which will be the last JALT event before the summer break. The discussion will be facilitated by Helen Korengold of MSU-A faculty. We need an interesting topic for the discussion.

At the end of Dave Ragan's presentation this Saturday we will have some time to talk about the panel and topic of the discussion. If you have a topic(s), bring them with you. We will survey the participants on the topics of interest and will choose a topic or two on June 22. See you Saturday."

Thursday, June 6
1) A Lecture in Applied Linguistics at Sophia University (Thursday, June 20) and a Call for Proposals from TIRF (TESOL International Research Foundation) from Prof. Yoshida. More information on these

2) For the past 10 days, I've been thinking a lot about communication skills and Japanese. On the morning of May 25 I attended an academic session of AES in which Darth Nielson, an ALT teaching at Akita Nishi and other schools. Darth talked about effective English team teaching. In short he emphasizes that teachers should become more like facilitators, that students become investigators and that classrooms become workshops. The bottom line is more communication between teachers and students. I enjoyed listening to him talking enthusiastically.

In the afternoon Prof. Jeff Ringer gave us a good presentation about what communication is at our JALT meeting, which attracted 25 people. He talked about what communication is, citing many interesting examples of various dialogues between friends, married couples as well as from Harry Potter, which was timely. Several functions of communication were clearly defined and interestingly explained. We had a good and useful meeting.

I listened to his talk especially in the light of the following premise (which has long been of much interest to me): Japanese in general are not good at being open to others and are not good at expressing themselves clearly and effectively. This is a big problem for Japan in this global age we live in. Japanese have to quickly improve such communication skills so that they would be better at communicating especially with people of different ideas and cultures in order to survive in the world of Information Technology and the Internet.

Jeff explained at the beginning of his talk that messages in communication have both content and relationship dimension, which was particularly an interesting point to me. It caused me to think the following things this week.

First, as for the content dimension, Japanese people have not been used to describing important things clearly in verbal communication. It has not been very important for them to do so among themselves. Why? There has been little need in their social or daily lives. That's why very little time, focus, and attention have been given in school education for young people to develop such skills. Teachers themselves, if they are educated only in Japan, usually are not good at this, either. I think this must change.

I have watched both American, British news programs and Japanese ones on TV for many years. The western journalists, I feel, have more and better skills in describing an incident, situation or problem in words than Japanese counterparts. They are able to describe things more clearly and more persuasively to the audience. Give 2 or 3 minutes to a western reporter and a Japanese reporter for a competition, for example, to find out who is better at doing the work more accurately or more interestingly within the limited time. The result is clear, I think. No chance for the Japanese contestant. In fact few Japanese journalists would be willing to have an opportunity, if it should be given, to challenge a western top class journalist.

All this must change. On a short term something must be done to encourage journalists, politicians, teachers and others to train themselves to better their skills. More importantly on a long term, more speech, discussion, debating should be applied in Japanese schools, I believe, whether in Japanese or in English, so that young people would be able to think critically and analytically and express their opinions more effectively.

Secondly as for the relationship dimension, I believe it might be even a greater problem for Japanese people, who are group oriented. Basically Japanese try hard to be in harmony and peace with other people through verbal and nonverbal communication, avoiding possible confrontation or conflicts. They seem to be doing so almost unconsciously because such an attitude is so deeply rooted in their minds. In a way it looks good and noble. In many cases, however, they tend to go to extremes. For instance, in order to make others happier they resort to making falsified compliments :-) or simply telling lies. It is not necessary to go that further, I think.

For many reasons Japanese are afraid to be open - honest, direct or straightforward - even in an occasion that requires them to be open because they worry too much about politeness or peace (in a Japanese sense). Openness means bluntness or rudeness to them or lack of courtesy. They are afraid that such impolite behaviors might annoy others' feelings or harm good relationship. Or they themselves may look stupid. Nobody should lose a face, which is the first priority in Japan. In other words they pay too much attention to minor things, but not to the core of any problems. Good relationship is the first thing they have to consider.

No doubt that ambiguity or lack of directness in communication has been a part of Japanese traditional culture to preserve good human relationship. A good example is a Japanese cherished value of "ishin denshin". It means "communication through heart to heart" without using a spoken language between and among Japanese people. This special communication method or technique ;-) used to be working beautifully in the past. Is it still working even now? How about in the future? I am afraid that it is becoming a luxury only for some Japanese who can afford that kind of sophisticated communication.

It seems, on the other hand, that the Japanese "ishin denshin" is beginning to create more problems according to my observation. Just look at misunderstanding or lack of proper communication between parents and their children, married couples, teachers and students, young and old, company executive and employees, citizens and political or bureaucratic leaders, etc. It may be time to stop depending on the "ishin denshin" method for communication. Japanese have to learn to be more open to one another and communicate better verbally instead, I think.

Thursday, May 23
1) Coming Saturday, May 25, we will hold our Akita JALT meeting with Prof. R. Jeffery Ringer, Ph.D. (Akita University) as a guest speaker. More on his presentation

Many say that the actual teaching of English at Japanese schools emphasizes too much on grammar and translation and that more communicative approach should be applied for better and more practical education. Well, it all sounds good! But how much do we know about communication itself? It will be an excellent chance to learn it more. Be sure to join us.

2) I learned this from VOX POPULI, VOX DEI (Asahi Shimbun, May 20). It seems that Tetun - the language spoken in East Timor - has no equivalent of the word "constitution". You know East Timor is now an independent country, having the population, 600 thousand, which is half of that of Akita prefecture. Congratulations for them! Anyway they've made a good constitution. What word did the Timorese come up with as a substitute? It is "the mother of laws." Interesting, isn't it?

3) This morning I enjoyed watching (on NHK BS) Hideo Nomo pitch six shutout innings. The Brewers - who used to call them Milwaukee Braves - wore 1955 replica uniforms in the game with "Braves" on the chest. That's why I mistook them for Atlanta Braves at first. :-) The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers 1 to nothing. Nomo allowed four hits, walked three and struck out seven. A great job and his fourth win this season! Excellent relief efforts by Omar Daal, Paul Quantrill in the 7th and 8th innings and Eric Gagne closed the game.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=220522108

Tuesday, May 21
1) Last Saturday I went to join TIE discussion meeting at Joinus in Akita city. The speaker was Yumiko Okakoi. Her title was "Images of Women in Art -- from man's perspective to woman's perspective" Her talk was based on an NHK "hoso daigaku" course she had taken - "History of Images" - by Prof. Wakakuwa. It turned out to be such an enlightening experience for her. That's why Yumiko chose the topic. And her presentation was full of interesting points. The main theme of her talk is that art history has been told and interpreted from man's point of view only. Female point of view has been totally missing, which is very unfortunate.

Women have been neglected and underestimated for centuries despite they occupy half of the world's population. Any visual images are represented to us with important messages. Images are embodied in the context of history; culture, religion, society, politics etc. Women have been worshiped, respected, admired. At the same time, however, women have also been disregarded, condemned, abused in the art history since the beginning of human history.

Several images were chosen and picked up by Yumiko and we discussed them. The images included world famous "Venus of Willendorf" (24000 - 22000 BCE), Image of Eva Prima Pandora painted by Jean Cousin (1549), "the Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli in 15th century, paintings by Caravaggio and Artemisia Gentileschi and others. By the way I didn't know 'BCE', which stands for Before Common Era. It's used the same as 'BC' or Before Christ. It was good to learn it. As for "the Birth of Venus" the painting has been one of my favorite for a long time. I remember seeing the picture for the first time when I was a kid. I was just amazed and overwhelmed by the beauty.

2) Information about TOEFL and others from Prof. Yoshida

3) I will attend community education at MSU-A this evening.

Thursday, May 16
1) Okinawa Prefecture marked the 30th anniversary of its reversion to Japanese control after 27 years of U.S. military rule. Okinawa is Japan's southernmost prefecture suffering from the heavy presence of U.S. military bases, the slow progress of industrial development and an unemployment rate of nearly 9%, much higher than the Japan's average 5.2 to 5.3%. Above all "Okinawa accounts for only 0.6% of the total land in Japan, but hosts about 75% of U.S. military facilities in the country." Isn't it unfair or what? This is from an article "Okinawa marks 30th anniversary of reversion to Japan" You can read the article here. You can also read comments from some people on the page. Why don't you send your comments, which will be printed there?

All this is on a good web site "Japan Today". It might give you useful materials in teaching English in your classroom. Let your students think about the problems for discussion. Another interesting topic should be China and Japan dispute over five North Korean asylum seekers who were dragged out of a Japanese consulate by Chinese police. The case should give many interesting questions for your students to discuss or write reports about. A Japanese official who was unable to read the English letter written by the asylum seekers might encourage them to study harder. ;-)

By the way you can subscribe to the mailing list for free of charge to get Japan Today's headline news service. The headlines are sent twice daily, at 9am in the morning and at 9pm in the evening if you subscribe.

2) interesting information from Prof. Yoshida

Wednesday, May 15
1) I got email from September Smith, who lives in Nagoya currently but is interested in moving to Akita. Please write to him about any possible opportunity for him.

2) E-learning related study information from Prof. Yoshida

3) Last night we discussed "Japan's Houses of Horror" at MSU-A class. The article we read for the class is interesting. It explains why it is so difficult for consumers to complain in Japan when they find out that newly built houses they bought turns out to be defective later. There are some systematic or structural barriers based on so-called "iron triangle" between and among big business and bureaucracy and politics. Will Japanese people be willing to complain if and when such barriers are removed? The article points our another significant barrier which is psychological. It says, "Most Japanese people prefer to suffer in silence" instead of complaining and making their claims in public. It is interesting, isn't it?

The following are some of Helen's questions, which I think are interesting. 1) How can you make sure a house you buy is solidly built? 2) How does Japanese law favor manufacturers and large companies (at the expense of consumers)? 3) Why is it so difficult for consumers to complain in Japan? 4) Describe the social/cultural restraints on making complaints. How is this attitude different from the West? 5) Have you ever wanted to sue a company? 6) Why don't people sue very much in Japan?

4) An interesting line from Fujio Mitarai who is president of Canon Inc. from INTERVIEW of Herald Asahi May 14. He thinks that free competition should be a key to the revival of Japan's economy. The camera industry in which he has worked has been free from government regulations, which he thinks, is good. There were over 40 camera manufacturers in the 1960s in Japan. (quote) "Now there are only eight companies left, and they are the only camera makers in the world. Companies exposed to the rigors of free competition are strong." What's the moral of his theory? Of course we should get more serious about going ahead with deregulation in many areas to improve Japan's economy.

Tuesday, May 14
1) Some interesting information from Prof. Yoshida.

2) An interesting line about globalization from an essay in Point of View "Globalization is not only real, but is here to stay" written by Asawin Nedpogaeo, deputy dean of the graduate school at Dhurakijipundit University in Bangkok from Herald Asahi published on May 9, 2002. I will quote the line here so that I shouldn't forget it. Some of you might find it interesting, too. "Nations and their citizens that are less secure or threatened by globalization should not feel like retreating and resorting to fundamentalism - be it national, religious or ethnic and racial."

3) "Japan's Houses of Horror" will be a topic for our discussion of Helen's community education class at MSU-A this evening. Suppose you have a new house built or buys a new house for you and your family. How would you feel if the newly built house turned out to be seriously defective? What would you do? What do you think about this - Some developers seem to be only interested in cutting costs and driving up profit without paying much attention to the quality.

Friday, May 10
1) Tomorrow I will attend our AES skill training session at Akita University. Erina Tateyama will bring some listening material that would help the participants for better listening. Masako Sasaki will guide us in our debating by using the evaluation sheet this time.

2) Our AIS interpretation training meeting will be held on Sunday, May 12. The morning session will be held at Joinus in Akita city as usual. Then we will move to Sunlife Akita for the the afternoon session. Our guest speaker, Joy Bella Samar from Papua New Guinea, will be speaking mainly about her country and its culture while the participants translate her speech into Japanese.

3) I received email from Motofumi Arai, who has started teaching at intermediate school in New Zealand. He seems to be having a great time there. Good for him. Read his email.

Wednesday, May 8
An interesting story from Prof. Yoshida - the United States importing foreign teachers to teach in American Schools--mostly Spanish - a little different but it sounds somewhat similar to the JET program in Japan.

Tuesday, May 7
1) The Japanese Golden week (the seasonal consecutive holidays) has been over. I've received a lot of virus or worm infected email during the past week. My PC got as many as 10 yesterday all of which were "klez". A friend of mine, Vicki in Long Island, New York wrote to me that she also had received a lot these days. She says it is frustrating. She is right! It's frustrating and troublesome. We know, however, that no one can be free from the risk of having your PCs infected or sending out such viruses or worms especially if you are using Windows type, Internet Explorer or MS Outlook mailing software.

To prevent such a risk, many months ago I upgraded IE to 6, stopped the preview function of the outlook express and constantly upgraded the anti-virus software almost on a daily basis. We also have to pay attention to the latest news about such viruses and keep ourselves informed of what's happening. Yes, all this precaution takes us a lot of time though it doesn't produce anything.

We have a Japanese proverb, "Yudan taiteki", which literally means 'Relaxing your guard or being watchless could be your enemy'. In Korea they seem to have a similar one - 'It could kill you'. Well, folks, don't get overconfident. Let's realize that virus infection cases won't go away. Instead it would be wise for us to learn to live with the problem. It's unfortunate, but it's better, at least, than killing your PCs.

2) My brother, Hitoshi, and his wife who live near Tokyo visited us for a few days last week. We had a good time. Hitoshi is a businessman working for "gaishi-kei" or a foreign affiliated company and communicates with people overseas a lot. He gets a lot of email, voice mail and sends a lot everyday, most of which are in English. I also receive 30 to 50 email a day, 90% of which is written in English. That's why we write in English when we exchange email between us.

3) This evening I will attend Helen's community education class. We will discuss 'Men love Big women', which is a true story in a certain culture.

Thursday, May 2
1) Our next Akita JALT meeting will be held on May 25 with R. Jeffery Ringer, Ph.D. (Akita University) as guest speaker. More on his presentation

2) I received email from Susan, who used to be an ALT in Yuza-machi, Yamagata in 1991-92. She is now back in the UK (North Wales) teaching Shonai (the old name for Yamagata) Sashiko or a traditional Japanese textile art.

Hello Susan. Thanks for visiting my site and sending me your email.

Wednesday, May 1
1) Hello friends. How's everything? Hope you are having a great time. I haven't written anything here for a while. Let me start writing again.

2) Last Saturday morning I attended AES study session at Akita University. Masako Sasaki gave us an hour talk about her experiences in Australia, her study and research - Persuasive Oral Communication Ability - a very interesting topic, indeed. Many people think Japanese are not good at communicating with others persuasively, esp. with people of different cultures. She wonders why. Does Japanese culture have anything to do with this? If so, how? This is a big question for all of us to survive in this more and more getting internationalized and global world. I really hope that she will be able to explain it academically. Good luck to her research.

3) Last Sunday afternoon we held a JALT meeting at MSU-A. Todd, our guest speaker, gave us a very interesting talk on ESL English education. He attracted a big audience - 24 people came, which made me happy. All the participants were given 4 copies of his books each. Thanks, Todd.

Sunday, April 7
1) Motofumi Arai, who teaches in Utsunomiya, sends me good, happy news by email. We both attended MSU-A's summer seminar for high school teachers in 1999. As I recollect, the seminar was a big success participated by over two dozen teachers and all the participants had a great time. A lot of memories about the seminar. One of them was that it was such a hot summer that year. And those who stayed at the MSU-A dormitory during the night had to suffer a lot because the rooms were not air-conditioned! ;-) Mr. Arai has long wanted to go and stay in a country where English is spoken. Now his dream comes true. Very happy for him. I am sure he will have a lot of interesting experiences in New Zealand. Enjoy and good luck to him!

2) Here is an interesting web site about differences between American and British English.

Saturday, April 6
We will hold our Akita JALT meeting on April 27 at MSU-A. Our guest speaker is Todd Jay Leonard of Hirosaki Gakuin University, who authored and published 9 ESL books (4 with Macmillan). The details are here. Professor Leonard will speak on the importance of including the four skills in all English as a Second Language (ESL) classes.  All those in attendance will receive complimentary copies of the textbooks Mr. Leonard will use in his presentation. Hope many will come to join us.

Friday, April 5
1) It's spring now in Akita. It's getting warmer and warmer day by day. Many schools are starting the new terms next Monday.

2) A member of the AES TEFL, Masako Sasaki, who actually founded the good skill training session a couple of year ago, is now making a research for PH.D in Brisbane, Queensland (QLD), Australia. She sends her message to Yoko Kamada in Monterey, California, who is doing her MA there. Yoko also helped a great deal to make the AES sessions more interesting and successful for many months before she went to the US last summer. Although it's a personal letter, it is not a private one. It should be interesting for their mutual friends to read it - with a permission from Masako Sasaki. Her email to the AES members is also there. Read her messages.

3) This is for those who are thinking of taking TOEFL CBT test. Educational Testing Service (ETS) announced today that it will reorganize and refocus its international computer-based testing (CBT) operations to increase efficiency and improve access through multiple ways of testing. Some testing sites in Japan will close. This is from Prof. Yoshida.

Saturday, March 30
1) Some of you attended a presentation given by Sean Izumi (of Sophia University) on November 3, 2001 at Akita JALT meeting. Now you can read again his "Focus on Form in English Teaching: Integrating Meaning and Form" in The ASTE Newsletter 46 (written in English). Misa Osada who teaches in Saitama prefecture looks at the importance of English writing activity for high school studentsin the newsletter (written in Japanese). She is a good, enthusiastic teacher I got to know at the Sophia summer seminar. The ASTE information and others came from Prof. Yoshida, who also says that there will be no Sophia summer seminar for high school teachers this year due to lack of funding. I feel very sad to hear the news.

2) It's often pointed out that doctors prescribe more medication for patients than is necessary. The nation's annual medical bill comes to about 30 trillion yen now and it's expected to reach over 80 trillion yen in 2025. It's huge when we think our national budget is about 80 trillion. That's why we need to study the case thoroughly and go ahead with medical reform now. I read an interesting story in this regard in the Herald Asahi written by Akira Kajimoto, who describes her mother's case that she has been over-prescribed or given too much medication. Dr. Yutaka Fukushima, a member of the Lower House, recalls his mentor's saying, "When it comes to treating elderly patients, doing nothing is an important option for a physician." Thus the article is entitled, "A doctor's possible best service -- doing nothing".

Friday, March 29
Very interesting discussion is going on among some members of jalttalk mailing list about the Whorf-Sapir Hypothesis for the past few days. The discussion was started by an article in the recent issue of Scientific American, which supports the WSH theory. "A Way with Words -Do languages help mold the way we think? A controversial idea from the 1930s is getting a second look." (By JR Minkel)

Wednesday, March 27
1) Naoto Sato gave me email to update information about the international university related meetings in Tokyo, which will take place Friday.

2) I sent email to Samuel Shepherd. He is Executive Director Japan - United States Educational Commission. He sent Scott Gorman to Akita as a Fulbright senior researcher for 6 months. Scott left Japan toward the end of February.

3) Scott gave me email. He says hi to AES group members who had a chance to listen to him twice during his stay here in Akita.

4) This is for those who have to be going through a lot of stresses. I just took a look at a TV interview program of Tetsuko Kuroyanagi in which Dr. Shigeta Saito was appearing. He gave an interesting tip to those who have to keep working very hard, perhaps overworking, having their mental stresses accumulated excessively within. (He insists that a certain amount of stress is good and needed for us to be be happy.) The following is on how to reduce the wear and tear on their minds and bodies as well.

STRESS is a key word according to Shigeta Saito. The first S stands sport, T: trip, R: recreation, E: eat, S: sleep and S: smile. He adds recreation doesn't necessarily mean a big one. A small thing like picking up a rubbish on the street will do and by his definition it is a recreation. Some of my friends are extremely busy mentally and physically these days. I'd like to remind them of the STRESS remedy and hope this will work for them.

Hi friends, take it easy. Slow down a little. Smile a lot. Listen to some of the STRESS tip if you can.

Tuesday, March 26
Almost everyday we have to keep reading and listening to disturbing stories about politicians, bureaucrats and business leaders of Japan. Most of the problems seem to be deeply rooted in Japan's structure, which is corrupt and is no longer effectively functioning. The Japanese system must be reviewed, discussed thoroughly and updated radically. Many of the top leaders must learn to restore their integrity and uprightness, getting rid of excessive human greed for money and power. Mass media like TV, magazines and newspapers in general also seems to have problems, too. Japanese TV stations tend to care about sensationalism to get higher ratings too much.

Sunday, March 24
1) A friend of mine, Naoto Sato, has been asked by Akita Prefectural government to be assigned to an important job of interpretation for the meetings of the preparatory committee of the international university to be established in Akita in 2004. I've learned this by his email. He seems delighted. Naoto has been in charge of our AIS (former WG) interpretation group. All the AIS members should be delighted to hear the happy news.

Naoto will leave Thursday evening for Tokyo where the meetings will be held the following day. He will be able to tell us about his interesting experience at the next meeting of AIS, which is April 14, the second Sunday. Good luck and have a great time, Naoto!

2) Yesterday I attended AES Skill Training Session at Akita University. Catherine Dawson from England talked about Working Class Culture: Football in Britain. I never knew Cathy was such a devoted fan of football, which is, by the way, called soccer in Japan or US as many of you know. Although I am not a fan of the sport, I found her story rather interesting. The participants all learned why there is no "Great Britain" team and why England-Argentina matches are so emotional as well as about hooligans and others. Personally I was amazed or overwhelmed rather by their love or enthusiasm or craze for the sport. Well it's no longer just a sport to them as Cathy whispered, "It's LIFE!" After her session, Prof. Kono's impromptu speech session followed. Each of the participants made a 3 minute speech which is supposed to cheer up Masako Sasaki, who is now working on Ph.D. at Griffith University in Australia.

Saturday, March 23
Yesterday I received about 30 hand written letters from my very young friends thanking me for helping them with their English dramas. It was really nice and interesting to read them. They are 5th graders (soon 6th graders) at an elementary school in Akita city. Here is my thank you message to them.

Sunday, March 17
1) Yesterday I attended TIE meeting, which was held at JOINUS in Akita city. The guest speaker was ALT Noel Southall, who teaches at Akita Minami High School. 12 people attended to listen and discuss Noel's presentation, entitled "Popular Children's Literature, the Literature, Religion, Beliefs, Lifestyles and What happens when they all collide." You may not guess what it means. The speaker actually talked about the extremely popular novel 'Harry Potter' by J.K. Rolling. He also showed some interesting data from the Internet on how the world has accepted the unusual fiction besides introducing 4 different views, which was interesting to learn.

2) I've read the detailed assessment criteria of English education in junior high school and others which came from Prof. Yoshida. If you are interested, go there.

Tuesday, March 5
1) I have a brother living near and working in Tokyo. He is married and has two children who go to universities in Tokyo. One of them, the older one, is graduating this spring. Her name is Nozomi, who has now grown into a beautiful and attractive woman. She came to visit us on the weekend. My mother, sister and I enjoyed talking to her about many things. We had a great time with her, which means I haven't had time to read my email for a couple of days. Now I will have to read over 80 JALT related messages, which is not an easy thing to do. -sign-

2) We had a good AIS meeting last Sunday. I was in charge of the morning session attended only by two - Chieko Shibata and Tamako Ishigaki. It meant that they were very busy translating my Japanese and English sentences one after another. :-) In the afternoon our guest speaker, Allyson Curtis brought her son Steven. It was good that 8 people attended the afternoon session and listened to them. Allyson talked about Australia and its Aboriginal tribes. It was very interesting to listen to her because some of the things she talked about were new to me. A little message to Allyson and Steven if you are reading this. "Have a good time for the rest of your stay in Japan."

By the way our AIS April meeting will be held on April 7. Our guest speaker will be Rebecca Grundy, an MSU-A student.

Saturday, March 2
1) Tomorrow we are going to have AIS (Akita Interpretation Service) training meeting at Joinus in Akita city.

2) The Monkasho has released a report (in Japanese) on the Assessment Criteria for elementary and junior high school subjects, which is from Prof. Yoshida. I read the part for English to be taught in junior high schools, which is extremely well written. The Ministry of Education emphasizes the necessity for more communicative activities in the classroom. What has impressed me is the following advice to teachers. Students should be encouraged to express their opinions more freely both in writing and speaking - that is - without being afraid of making grammatical mistakes. I completely agree to the recommendation. What I would like to see is that more communicative method of this kind is actually being practiced in more and more schools.

Just imagine you meet two young non-Japanese persons who are trying hard to learn Japanese. One speaks and writes perfectly correct (grammatically) Japanese sentences, but rarely ventures to express about himself. No, it's not that he doesn't want to, but that he is educated that way. He is taught to be afraid of making mistakes. Does he really enjoy learning the language? On the other hand the other student is a girl, who loves to talk about herself. She keeps a diary in Japanese, too. Of course she makes a lot of mistakes. So what? Japanese is not her mother tongue. An important thing is that she enjoys learning the language. Most probably she may keep learning to express herself better, too, by making mistakes. What do you think will happen to the boy and the girl one year later or three years later or ten years later?

Tuesday, February 26
Information from Prof. Yoshida about teacher accreditation criteria and views on liberal arts education from the Ministry of Education and Science. He introduces a huge site provided by the American Library of Congress called Portals to the World.  I checked some part of it and found it amazing. It is certainly one of the best ways to get to know about the world. It provides you good links to electronic resources to answer many questions you might have about the word.

Monday, February 18
1) A lot of time has been spent everyday on televising the Salt Lake City's Olympic Games featuring Japanese athletes. So far Tae Satoya won her Bronze medal and Hiroyasu Shimizu Silver. Most of Japanese athletes are doing their best, I think. Some Japanese reporters seem to over-enthusiastic about Japanese athletes winning a medal, which is not good. Instead they have to report a little more objectively. They seem to be putting unnecessary pressure to some athletes by forcing them to talk about winning a medal. In fact I saw a program in which Sports Illustrated had predicted 3 medals for Japan including for Tae and Hiroyasu before the games started.

2) Last Tuesday we had the final class of community education at Helen's residence. We discussed the gender issue and women's rights in Japan. Here are her questions if you are interested.

3) Al Evan's presentation last Wednesday evening was very interesting to me because it was the first time for me to listen to the first hand information on what's happening in MIC (Miyazaki International College he is teaching at.

Tuesday, February 12
1) Tomorrow evening at MSU-A we will have Al Evans presentation at MSU-A. I hope the weather will improve so that many can come to the meeting.

2) The Japan Times introduces an interesting article, "Sudden need for English at work baffles Japanese" (Kyodo News). It reports about some people in their 30's or 40's suddenly face sudden need to learn English at their work place - the people who had never practiced English after graduation and, what's worse, never imagined that such a need should occur in their career lives. If a worker has entered a Japanese company that requires him/her no English, it's not a guarantee. What happens if the company changes its policy, which is very likely in this globalized economy or if the company merges with an English speaking company? If you are a young person, you had better be prepared. If you are an English teacher, you should remind your students that English - practical English - is a necessity from now on if they want to make a successful life.

3) I will be visiting a Nisshin Elementary School class this afternoon to help the 5th grade students prepare for their English dramas.

4) This evening we will have the last community education class by Helen Korengold at MSU-A. We are supposed to visit Helen's residence to do the last class (women's right) and have a little party there. But the weather has been terrible - low temperature, strong wind and occasional storm. I am not sure if I can make it there. My apologies to all in case I can't.

Sunday, February 10
We had a great time at AES meeting yesterday. Scott had 80 minutes when he first introduced us his feature story printed on the Asahi Shimbun, "The 'Ambassador from Akita' spreads the good word". We enjoyed his vividly and humorously written experiences in Japan. Then some participants asked questions about the story and Japan in general as well. The guest speaker responded to all the questions very clearly. I think he is both a writer and a speaker in a highly professional sense. Following Scott's presentation, we enjoyed debating. The proposition given by Scott was, "Resolved that school rules will be determined each year by a vote of the faculty (of each elementary and middle school.)

Scott will be leaving Akita this evening by night train. He will stay in Kyoto for 8 days and in Tokyo for 2 days before he returns back to Washington State. I've just written email to him.

Chieko Shibata sent me email writing about how she Scott impressed her.

Saturday, February 9
Today we will have AES (Akita English Study) meeting. Scott will be talking to us as a guest speaker. He is about to leave Akita after having lived in Kisakata for half a year. I wrote a short note to Scott.

Friday, February 8
Last Tuesday evening we had Helen's community education class. We discussed TV watching problem. It seems that American boys and girls watch TV about 21 hours a week. Isn't it too much? When I was a kid, we had no TV. Of course no video games or anything. Kids played a lot with their friends outside. We were happy then. Are today's kids better off and happier? Also the contents of TV programs must be reviewed. The article prepared by Helen criticizes that most of TV shows and dramas do not reflect real people and real world. She has made a lot of interesting questions for us if you are interested.

Thursday, February 7
1) It seems that a flu season is getting started in Akita. Be careful, folks. Stay away from the viruses as well as computer viruses.

2) This coming Saturday, my friend, Scott Gorman will be a guest speaker at our AES TEFL study group meeting at Akita University. He will bring his story that he wrote for Asahi Shimbun about Akita and Kisakata. It should be interesting to us all. Scott has lived in Kisakata, Akita pref. since last September as a senior Fulbright researcher, but he is about to leave Japan the following Sunday. I will miss him. This is the final chance to listen to the intelligent journalist.

Wednesday, February 6
Here is information about Al Evans' presentation next Wednesday evening.

Tuesday, February 5
1) Good news. Al Evans who used to teach at MSU-A will visit us just briefly. MSU-A and JALT will invite the good presenter to a meeting on the evening of February 13, Wednesday at MSU-A. As soon as I get more information about his presentation, I will let you know. But mark your calendar, in the meantime. Al once gave his presentation for JALT in June, 2000, which was excellent, I clearly remember. He might give his talk this time on what works and what doesn't work in teaching English to Japanese learners.

2) I've completed the English drama page for the 5th graders' class of an elementary school in Akita city. (around 6:00PM, Monday) I enjoyed translating into English and look forward to seeing the kids practicing the drama soon.

3) I will attend Helen's MSU-A community education class this evening.

4) This is from Noel introducing us two interesting web site.
He says, "Check out www.efl4u.com They have 2 Valentine's Day related lessons. Plus they have a free lesson every week! To get the free weekly lesson, you don't have to pay anything. Also look at http://wilstar.com/holidays/valentn.htm for a historical explanation of the day. Noel."
I think the sites are interesting for English teachers. Look forward to seeing you on February 16 at Tie, Noel!

Monday, February 4
1) Yesterday we had an AIS training meeting in Akita city. For the morning session we did a shadowing exercise as well as learning of technical words or expressions, which are often currently used in the media - "accept the portfolio of foreign minister," "the government's special envoy," "U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees," "Chief Cabinet Secretary," "(finely honed) diplomatic expertise," "prime candidate," etc. We also discussed the current political issues. In the afternoon Allyson Curtis came as a guest speaker talking about Australia, its history, culture and people. The participants enjoyed translating her talk into Japanese. We had a good meeting although the number of participants was only several. March meeting will be held on March 3, the first Sunday. It is very likely that we will have the same guest talking about Australia.

2) I've received a Japanese script for "Tsuru no Ongaeshi", which will be translated by me for the 5th grade students of an elementary school in Akita city. Most probably both Japanese and English script will be added on the web page by late afternoon today.

3) I've been receiving a lot of email from JALT officers lately. I had to spend a lot of time last week reading the messages. Still I will have to read over 160 email messages that have come since Saturday. Easy email written in English is not a problem and I can read it quickly. But many from JALT are not that simple - they are long, complicated, difficult and take more time to read. I will have to encourage myself a bit. :-)

Sunday, February 3
I am making friends with some 5th graders of an elementary school in Akita city. It's great. They are going to put on an English drama in their newly starting English class. The boys and girls are now making Japanese scrips for their 4 dramas - Snow-White, Momotaro (Peach Boy), Doraemon and Tsuru no Ongaeshi. And they have asked me to translate them into English. I've added a new page for them. I would appreciate it if someone could read and check my translation.

Saturday, February 2
1) You can download interesting listening comprehension materials from an ESL web site. I've actually visited the site and tried some of them and found them amazing! It's really a professional work. Texts for comprehension and questions are cleverly made. Some of the materials have pictures, too. From easy tasks and difficult tasks good for all levels of students as well as teachers who are eager to improve their students listening comprehension. This is from Prof. Yoshida. Go to his page. He also sent me two sites about a survey of Japanese children and the newest issue of the Monkasho Newsletter (both in Japanese)

2) Tomorrow I am going to attend AIS (Akita Interpretation Service -former World Games) training session. It will be held from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at Joinus as usual. For the afternoon session we will invite Allyson Curtis, who will be speaking about Australia in terms of its history, culture and people.    

3) This week I have watched, read a lot about Mr. Koizumi's firing the popular foreign minister and the vice minister as well as Peace Winds Japan (NGO) activist painting the influential LDP lawmaker as the bad guy. Among all the frustrating and disappointing developments of the mess, Mr. Onishi, the activist, was a great surprise to me as a hero. He impressed, refreshed, reached the hearts of many and made us realize that a single person could do so much if he/she was determined. He must have encouraged a lot of Japanese people, especially young ones with high hopes. He teaches us how wonderful it is to live making a difference. I hope many young people will follow in his footsteps.

On the other hand many are disappointed with the ambiguous way of settling the affair on the part of the prime minister. The same old Japanese political logic again - the least thing to expect from a leader like Koizumi - the logic that can only work at Nagata-cho Japan, not elsewhere. The cabinet support rate has been as high as 70 to 80% for the past 10 months, but it seems to have declined dramatically already.

I am worried if the prime minister still has the power and courage to go ahead with his famous promise, "I will push and achieve Japan's structural reform at any cost because there will be no future for Japan without it." OK, fine. That's why we have supported you so far. Please, Mr. Koizumi, don't betray. Don't end up being a big liar. Be honest. The time for the reform, the real reform is pressing. Japan can't simply afford another failure on this important issue. If you are not confident in carrying out what you have promised to do, please resign as soon as possible and get somebody else to do the job. I hate people who tell a lie.

Thursday, January 31
1) Last Tuesday evening I attended Helen's community education class at MSU-A. As usual we were divided into 3 small groups. Each group had 3 or 4 members. The topic was Japan's economy and China especially in terms of foreign trading. Before the class we all had read an article "China's Hot Growth Unsettles Japan" by James Brooke (New York Times Service) to discuss the problem.

We all know that the rapid growth of China's factory output is a contributing or defining factor of Japan's "sangyo no kudohka" or hollowing out of Japan's industrial structure. For example, the article says, "Toshiba stopped making television sets in Japan, turning to its factories in China to supply the market here." The same thing is happening for bicycles, motorcycles, buses, and cell phones, and etc.

The article also says, "China is quickly moving past bicycles and basic TV sets into the same high-technology, high-value products where Japan has long stakes its claims." For example Sanyo Electric Co. has started producing a new home multicolor printer there. Sony announced it would build a factory in China to produce its famous Vaio computers. We enjoyed discussing the problem with the help of good and interesting questions made by Helen about the problem. You can see the questions if you are interested.

2) An article from the Boston Globe about a new way of assessment at schools where electronic portfolios are now being used. Prof. Yoshida thinks that it gives us something to think about in Japan.

3) Last Saturday I attended AES meeting. Noel Southall, an ALT from Britain talked about Harry Potter, witchcraft, adventure, religion and others. He is a great fan of the novel and showed us his 4 books, all of which were hard cover. The 4th edition, which is far thicker than the other 3 is not yet published in Japan yet! After his presentation, we held "shin-nen-kai" or a new year's party at a restaurant and had a great time. 16 people attended it.

Monday, January 28
1) Would you like to read "Genji Monogatari" in English? You could use it in your class, too. The web site has beautiful pictures, too. This is from Prof. Yoshida. He also gives a site dealing with some questions about the new study guidelines of Monbusho (written in Japanese). For example many teachers complain that the number of English words to be taught at junior high schools is too limited. An answer to the problem, for example, is that each school is given freedom to add more words if they find it proper in teaching their students. Plus an announcement of Paul Hopper's lecture to be given at Sophia University on February 25th. If you are interested in any of these, go to this page.

2) A web site to give you easy English Internet newspaper for your students, which is free until the end of March. Some students might like it.

Wednesday, January 23
1) This is from Prof. Yoshida. "The Minister of Education and Science is asking about 20 people to give their opinions concerning English education in Japan, and the first of 5 meetings (4 people each per month) was held today.  Two points mentioned in this report:  English should be taught in elementary schools and more subjects in universities should be taught in English. Sophia's president, Fr. Currie, was also at the meeting today.  I'm on next month.  We'll see what comes out of this. Ken Yoshida"

The January meeting was held on January 21. Minister Tohyama gave a speech to the effect that she would like to listen to frank opinions from each participant about how to update English education in Japan to catch up with the changing society due to globalization. Fr. Currie, Mr. Yasushi Akashi and two others were invited last Monday and Prof. Yoshida will be next month. Many people seem to welcome the news that many elementary schools starting to teach English nation wide this year. I have high expectations for it because it might change English teaching at junior, senior high schools and universities for the better. I also think it would be good if more subjects in universities were taught in English.

2) Yesterday evening I attended Helen's community education class. 10 people came and we were divided into three groups. Each group discussed managerial competence. Everybody had read an article entitled "Workplace Dolts (=idiots): What they don't know Can Hurt" before the class. It's about a manager or a boss who is incompetent and sad stories about those workers who have to work with such a leader! The article includes an interesting theory "The Peter Principle" - theory which states that a person will be promoted to his/her level of incompetence.

Why do incompetent people rarely realize they are incompetent? It's because they are not smart enough to realize that. They tend to think more highly of themselves than their competent colleagues. What tendency is described in the book "The Peter Principle"? Incompetent people were once competent but are promoted to jobs they can't handle. What is one skill that incompetent people often do have? It's making friends in high places. ;-)

Have you ever had an incompetent boss in your life? Why do you think incompetent people get promoted in companies? What would you do if you found yourself overwhelmed and unable to do your job in a new position? Do you think someone incompetent can become competent? If so how? Helen has made these interesting questions for us to think and discuss. You can see more questions if you are interested. You don't have to read the above article to answer or think of the questions from 7 to 21.

Tuesday, January 22
1) Last Sunday my MSU-A community education class teacher, Helen, visited Honjo to witness "Hadaka Mairi". It is a festival of 240 naked men, divided by 7 groups, running up to the shrine and worshiping and praying for good harvest and well-being and happiness for everyone. Haruyo who takes the class and her husband also came. The weather was fine and we enjoyed the festival held at Mt. Shinzan Park. A beautiful clear view of Mr. Chokai (2,236 m) from there was a bonus. After that we visited a local Japanese "sake" factory and "Akada no Daibutsu", which is a big Buddha statue in a temple. It was a good chance to learn a little more about my town's tradition and culture.

2) Monkasho, Ministry of Education has decided to implement the following Council of Europe scales as well as a free web-test. You can take tests in 14 different languages. This is from Prof. Yoshida.

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.

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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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