Military Deaths in Iraq Exceed 9/11 Toll

Here we have it ladies and gentlemen. I'm going to go hug my kids and hope that some money-grubbing dictatorship like the bush regime doesn't swindle my country again when they are old enough to server their country.

Peace Winds Japan

I went to an event in Suzuka the other day. It was a presentation by the founder and CEO of Peace Winds Japan, Kensuke Onishi, and three of his Kurdish staff members, and they talked about their relief efforts in Iraq, specifically Kurdistan.

Peace Winds Japan (PWJ) is, "an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization), dedicated to the support of people in distress, threatened by conflict, poverty, or other turmoil. With its headquarters in Japan, PWJ has been active in various parts of the world." From what I have seen, they do terrific work, so I was interested in meeting Mr. Onishi and his staff to hear what they had to say.

When I arrived, I found that they were short of an interpreter, so they asked me to do the honors. I would rather just have listened, but they needed the help. The three gentlemen told about the work that they do with PWJ, like digging wells, building schools, and setting up refugee camps. They were generous with their praise of the organization, and especially Onishi.

They are risking their lives daily, doing essential work in Iraq, as well as in trouble spots all over the world. I was impressed by their dedication to their work, and to the lengths they will go to help people in real need. When other aid agencies refuse to go, they are there, but always weigh the risks. After transporting a sick man to a more advanced health facility, they were ambushed. (That was a word that I had trouble translating into Japanese. Not something one says here everday. "machibuse" is the word. Now I know.) They escaped, mostly thanks to the Japanese car they were driving. Since the steering wheel is on the right side, and since the shooters concentrated their fire on the left side of the car, the driver was uninjured.

The staff members wanted to visit Japan so that they could see what a war-torn country can become. They were impressed by cell phones and the shinkansen, but highly unimpressed by people's English ability. "You have cell phones and the shinkansen, but you can't speak English. We have nothing. We live in tents, but we can speak several languages," was their take.

Japan admits forums were stage-managed

This is precious. The government paid people money to ask questions during some "town meetings" that were arranged as a show of good old democratic fundamentals. Turns out it was manipulated.

In six town meetings focusing on education, the government coached audience members to ask questions that advanced the government's stated goal of bringing patriotism, discipline and moral values to public schools.

Moral values? If this is what's on offer...

"English has arrived. What now?" Wish I'd written it

Here's a really good article on English teaching from the Daily Yomiuri Online. Sure wish I had written it.

What men and women are seeking in each other

I was talking to a few women in the ESL yesterday, and they were sharing some information that they had gathered over the past days and weeks. According to them, Japanese men seek women who posses the "4 Ka's." They are kawaii (cute), kashikoi(intelligent), kateiteki(concerned about their family), and karui (means light, but refers to the woman's weight).

Next they said that traditionally, women have been interested in men that posses the "3 Ko's." Ko in this case means high. They are high in stature, or tall, highly educated, and highly salaried. One woman also mentioned that they had heard that a match-making company that arranges meetings between men and women based on data collected in questionnaires pronounced that 80% of the women who submitted questionnaires sought men who were earning over ¥8,000,000 year. That would be someone who earns roughly six figures in US dollars. She said that only 19% of working men earn that much money annually, and if you think about it a little bit, those men are probably well over 40 years of age.

Their conclusion was that Japanese women, for the most part, want to be taken care of, and that Japanese men want to take care of some one, but both sides are relatively unrealistic. Women are looking for men that are unavailable or who don't exist, and men are looking for a little sister to take care of, not a partner.

Nagoya Aquarium a big hit

Went to the Nagoya Aquarium the other day. It is a great facility, and the best part of it for me was the very first part you see when you go in the main entrance, the dolphins and whales. They had several dolphins, one orca, and three beluga whales. I could have stayed in that area all day. We went on to see other stuff, though. I recommend it highly, especially if you have children.

Let's make some questions!

I made this worksheet for my students today. They are having some problems with their question-making ability, so I thought it would be good to have a little more practice. Please, feel free to copy this and use it or modify it for your classes. This should all be self-explanitory, but if it isn't, let me know. I'll let you know what I meant.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let’s make some questions!

All of the question words, ever.

am have do may can shall
is has did might could should
are had does must will
was would
were

All of the words in this box will be Yes/No questions.

Who What Where When Which Why How

Are you there? Yes, we are.
Are Tod and his dog there? Yes, they are.
Where are you?
Where is my pencil?

1) What's your name? My name is _____.
2) Where are you from? I'm from _____.
3) How are you? I'm fine, thank you.
4) How old are you? I'm _____ years old.
5) What day is today? Today is _____.
6) What time is it? It's _____ o'clock.
7) What school do you go to? I go to _____ school.
8) When is your birthday? My birthday is on _____.
9) What is this? This is a _____.
10) Do you speak English? Yes, I speak a little English.

Todd David Rudick's "Rikai"

I was looking for information on teaching English using the Semantic Field Keyword Approach for learning vocabulary, and I found this page. As you mouse over text, in either Japanese or English, the meanings of the words pop up in front of the text. It probably depends on your prefered learning styles, but this is really cool. You may want to try this out if you are a Japanese or English learner.

Unit on JFK Inagural Address

There is a group of retired folks who have an English circle once a month. They invited me to come along, because their regular teacher was in the hospital. They asked me to read parts of JFK's Inaugural Address, a bit of Americana that many Japanese people know of.

I hadn't read that for years, and then only in bits and pieces. It isn't really very long. My guess is that I could have read it aloud in about 20 minutes. What I was impressed by was the general mood of the country has changed since that time. There is a certain danger in looking back on events with that "good ole days" mentality, but I think the world view in this particular speech is significantly different from America's present view. Take this quote for example.

Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, "rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation"—a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

The current administration talks about being called to battle, about being embattled, and a struggle that will last "year in and year out," but the struggle is so very different. We accept tyranny, poverty and disease, even within the boundries of our country, while extolling the need to wage war against the weak and the poor based on lies and disinformation for the purpose of lining the pockets of the already rich and wealthy.

The students there all agreed that the US is behaving horribly, but also admitted that their own government wasn't much better, following America around like a little dog.

Community College vocabulary list

Last night I taught my Tuesday, Community College classes, and for the beginner level class I translated a list of personality traits that I thought would be handy for my students. I will publish the list here, hoping that they may be useful to someone who teaches Japanese students.


Talkative おしゃべりな
Impatient いらいらじている、
Fun 楽しい
Shy 引き込みがちな、恥ずかしがる
Unreliable あてにならない、信じられない
Interesting 面白い
Different かわっている
Patient 気長な
Outgoing 社交的な
Serious まじめな
Easygoing 落ちついた、ゆったりとした
Reliable たよりになる