(Information about the morning session of AIS training session, December 1, 2002)

Hello,
Naoto Sato told me that you would be participating in the morning session of AIS on December 1. Thanks. For your information the participants will be Yumiko Okakoi, Koki Dobashi, Chieko Shibata, Eriko Fujita, Tomoko Handa, Izumi Koshiyama and me. I'll be pleased to see you all in the morning. Let's have a good time.

If you are busy, you don't have to read any longer. Just stop reading. Read it later or delete it. :-)

See you Sunday.
Takeshi

For those of you who have time, I've just wanted to tell you a bit about two pieces of ABC News, which will be used for the shadowing exercise on Sunday. It will take about 8 minutes in total. The first news(* see below) will be 2 minutes in English and another 2 minutes for the Japanese translation and the same amount of time respectively for the second news(** see below).

The two news were chosen because the contents are interesting. The topics are 1) Japanese apology and 2) Abortion in Japan. The both are not new but old -- as old as about 10 years old. Still they deal with interesting aspects of Japanese culture and some messages in there are relevant even today according to my observation.

Thinking about our culture from a different perspective is interesting and rewarding just like learning a foreign language. This time we will take a look at Japanese culture from American perspective: What do Americans think about Japanese apology and abortion here in terms of the pill? I am sending you a little preview of the news with a hope that they offer you something to think about.

Let's take a look at the abduction issue of North Korea (NK) for a moment. A case in point: Interestingly or surprisingly the leader Kim Jong Il admitted the mistake and apologized. How sincere was his apology? What about Japanese apologies in general. Another point: At the same meeting two months ago NK says that the Japanese delegation headed by Hitoshi Tanaka, the head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau, made a promise to return the five abductees to NK temporarily after the five have stayed in Japan about 10 days or two weeks? Don't forget this: This is why the negotiation is deadlocked now -- at least from NK point of view.

Was there such a promise between the two countries? NK says there was a promise. Some Japanese commentators including Katsuei Hirasawa (LDP) think that it was most probable. But Hitoshi Tanaka testified at the Diet that there was no such promise. Who is telling a truth? Who is a liar? Why don't the Japanese mass media spend more time on this and verify the problem while they spend so much time on who of the five abductees has done what and where and how in such a detail?

Well, I am getting too long. It's easy for me to get carried away, which I enjoy doing occasionally. ;-) Sorry.

Just one more thing: I know that the ABC News reporters read too fast for us to shadow or repeat after them. Especially so if you intend to do a perfect job. I don't think it necessary. You could just shadow partially or repeat whatever words or sentences that you have heard.

OK. here are the news. I am intentionally omitting some interesting parts here and there for your sake. No intention to diminish your interest. Next week I can send you the perfect transcript if you are interested by email.

*the first news
JAPANESE APOLOGY

Peter Jennings: Finally this evening the apology. We were quite surprised today when we heard that the Japanese figure skater, Midori Itoh had made a formal apology after she fell at the Olympics last night. And so we asked ABC's Bill Redeker, who is based in Tokyo for us, whether this was common practice.

Bill Redeker: A lot of skaters after a fall like this would blame themselves. But Midori Itoh went even further and apologized to all of Japan. "I am sorry! I made a mistake," she said. No one questions her sincerity. But apologies are almost automatic in Japan. Everyday, everywhere, everyone here says they are sorry. Apologizing is so much a part of Japanese culture that foreign executives who wanted to do business here now go to school to learn the technique.

But Instructor Eiichi Shiraishi admits saying you are sorry does not mean you have done something wrong.........

Was Prime Minister Miyazawa really sorry when he apologized for questioning Americans' work ethics? And did the Emperor really mean it when he apologized last year for Japan's occupation of Asia during World War Two?
..........

By that measure Japanese apologies sometimes ring hollow.............

(from World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, February 20, 1992)


**the second news:
ABORTION IN JAPAN

Peter Jennings: In the United States the abortion argument is waged on many levels. Is it the taking of a human life? Or has life not yet been formed when most abortions occur? Shouldn't women rather than the state have control of their own bodies? The debate is similar but also different in other countries. ABC's Bill Redeker reports tonight on the status of abortion in Japan.

Bill Redeker: At Hase Temple in Kamakura parents pray for the souls of the fetuses they have aborted. Although Buddhism is not as critical of abortion as some Western religions, the people who come here buy Mizuko Jizou, statues of childlike gods to appease the spirits. In all, the temple sells 10 thousand memorial statues a year.

Japan has one of the highest abortion rates in the industrialized world ...........

That's because Japan's Ministry of Health and Welfare says the pill would discourage the use of condoms, lead to increase promiscuity and an epidemic of AIDS.............

........... believes there is another reason for the ban. Japan's government is concerned about the country's declining birth rate.........

The fertility gets much, much lower with the license of the pill. Whatever the reason, many Japanese women feel cheated, denied the right to use the easiest form of contraception. (A young girl protests) "They should let people decide what's good for them instead of just, you know, using government control." But the Japanese government recently .............

(from World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, April 21, 1992)

See you Sunday. We will use "Chase" for interpretation practice from English to Japanese and "Short Funny Stories" from Japanese to English as usual.
Takeshi
__________________________________________
Takeshi Suzuki

Akita JALT president
PALS English Class
164-1 Gomon, Yuri-Honjo-shi, Akita 015-0861
Tel: 0184-22-1562
http://www.edinet.ne.jp/~takeshis/

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