As I pedal or scoot to work I often try to take roads that I haven't before. On this particular road that I have been taking recently I found this stone that is decked out in a straw rope, a kind of decoration usually associated with shrines and the like. There are six acorns set on the stone frame surrounding the base of the stone, very cute addition. I'd like to do a rubbing of it sometime. There is often something inscribed on these, but I couldn't make out what was on this one.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
japp candy
You ever seen "Japp" candy? One of the profs here was in Northern Europe somewhere, and she brought this back with a bag of assorted goodies. It was chocolate, and I guess it's pretty popular. I Googled "Japp, candy" and got 56,000 hits. Lots of them had to do with the advertisements for the stuff.
Does the name of this candy seem unusual to anyone else?
Does the name of this candy seem unusual to anyone else?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Debate Class
On Wednesday mornings I have a seminar in which this semester's theme is debate, and specifically debate on Article Nine of the Japanese Constitution. It is still early days, so we are discussing what debate is and how to go about it. The students in my group don't have any experience in debate, so it is a little difficult for them to imagine how to go about it.
Later in the semester we'll have a couple of units on the constitution and Article nine specifically, and then toward the end of the semester, we'll have a inter-seminar debate. I'm looking forward to the event.
Later in the semester we'll have a couple of units on the constitution and Article nine specifically, and then toward the end of the semester, we'll have a inter-seminar debate. I'm looking forward to the event.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Japan to fingerprint, photograph foreigners from Nov 20
There are all kinds of possibilities with all this for foreigners in Japan and for anybody anywhere. Seems to me that this technological invasion has progressed far enough. My strategy is to give them the boringest show I can give 'em.
Japan Today - News - Japan to fingerprint, photograph foreigners from Nov 20
Japan Today - News - Japan to fingerprint, photograph foreigners from Nov 20
90,000 Korean students went abroad for language study in 2006
This article says that more than 90,000 students went abroad last year to study language in 2006. Number one destination was the US, China second, and third was Japan. Interesting numbers there, too.
There is an interesting feature on this site, you can listen to a machine-read version of the article. At the top of the article there are buttons you can push to hear a male or female version of the article. It was funny that abroad was spelled aboard three times, and was read that way by the machine. Of course it was, but the error was made more obvious and distracting because a human reader would probably have said the correct word even if it were mispelled, while the machine had no such decision making power.
donga.com [english donga]
There is an interesting feature on this site, you can listen to a machine-read version of the article. At the top of the article there are buttons you can push to hear a male or female version of the article. It was funny that abroad was spelled aboard three times, and was read that way by the machine. Of course it was, but the error was made more obvious and distracting because a human reader would probably have said the correct word even if it were mispelled, while the machine had no such decision making power.
donga.com [english donga]
Comercial High School Speech Contest
This post is coming a little late. With classes starting and with them committee work, things are hopping.
Last week I attended the 24th Mie Prefecture Commercial High School English Speech Contest at the Prefectural Culture Center in Tsu. There was both a recitation division and a speech division. There were eleven speeches and twelve recitations. My job that day was to deliver an address to the audience about speech making and specifically that day's speeches.
The recitations came first. The participants had a choice of five different recitations that they could choose from, one of the choices was The Gettysburg Address. There was a wide variety of preparedness and language ability.
Next came the speech division with speeches on personal experiences and general social problems. Again, there were a wide variety of memorization and linguistic prowess.
The organizers of the event had come to visit me some months ago and asked if I would make a presentation on speech-making. I said that would be great, and volunteered. My presentation was about general language ability and the direct relationship that has with the ability to deliver a speech. The Japan Commercial High School Federation (my translation, couldn't find the English on their web site) suggests that their main priority in offering English classes is for learners to be able to "actually communicate with foreigners." (again, my translation) They suggest that students take proficiency tests to assess their ability and so on, but the main thrust is communicating with foreigners in this "internationalized" world of ours. I will avoid a rant here about how if that is the case then why do they teach the way they do, and will stick to the point.
The literature that they sent out about the event also suggested that the speeches at least would be the students' own work about a topic of interest to them. I patently do not believe that the speeches they gave were their work, but were rewritten, perfected and polished by a gracious teacher or teaching assistant. One example: "Pets are cute when they are little, but the bigger they grow, the more it cost to keep them." Yes, the s at the end of cost is missing, but that could just have been a typo. I don't believe that the presenter could have written that by herself. After trying out a little English with the participants, I'm sure that wasn't written at their ability level.
I began my presentation by pointing out that these speech contests are artificial in many ways. After a real speech there are questions to be answered. After an insurance salesperson's speech on the features of a certain product, the customer asks questions, or at least tells the speaker to beat it. A politician has to face the press or other colleagues about their presentation. In this event, they could say anything and get off scot-free. I suggested that in future events such as these that there be a question and answer session that follows and would force speakers to reveal their actual ability.
After that section I went on to suggest ways that they could improve their language ability by boosting their vocabulary and general skills through extensive reading, and boost their pronunciation through extensive listening and mimicry.
The winner of this contest will go on to the All Japan Contest in Tokyo later this year.
Last week I attended the 24th Mie Prefecture Commercial High School English Speech Contest at the Prefectural Culture Center in Tsu. There was both a recitation division and a speech division. There were eleven speeches and twelve recitations. My job that day was to deliver an address to the audience about speech making and specifically that day's speeches.
The recitations came first. The participants had a choice of five different recitations that they could choose from, one of the choices was The Gettysburg Address. There was a wide variety of preparedness and language ability.
Next came the speech division with speeches on personal experiences and general social problems. Again, there were a wide variety of memorization and linguistic prowess.
The organizers of the event had come to visit me some months ago and asked if I would make a presentation on speech-making. I said that would be great, and volunteered. My presentation was about general language ability and the direct relationship that has with the ability to deliver a speech. The Japan Commercial High School Federation (my translation, couldn't find the English on their web site) suggests that their main priority in offering English classes is for learners to be able to "actually communicate with foreigners." (again, my translation) They suggest that students take proficiency tests to assess their ability and so on, but the main thrust is communicating with foreigners in this "internationalized" world of ours. I will avoid a rant here about how if that is the case then why do they teach the way they do, and will stick to the point.
The literature that they sent out about the event also suggested that the speeches at least would be the students' own work about a topic of interest to them. I patently do not believe that the speeches they gave were their work, but were rewritten, perfected and polished by a gracious teacher or teaching assistant. One example: "Pets are cute when they are little, but the bigger they grow, the more it cost to keep them." Yes, the s at the end of cost is missing, but that could just have been a typo. I don't believe that the presenter could have written that by herself. After trying out a little English with the participants, I'm sure that wasn't written at their ability level.
I began my presentation by pointing out that these speech contests are artificial in many ways. After a real speech there are questions to be answered. After an insurance salesperson's speech on the features of a certain product, the customer asks questions, or at least tells the speaker to beat it. A politician has to face the press or other colleagues about their presentation. In this event, they could say anything and get off scot-free. I suggested that in future events such as these that there be a question and answer session that follows and would force speakers to reveal their actual ability.
After that section I went on to suggest ways that they could improve their language ability by boosting their vocabulary and general skills through extensive reading, and boost their pronunciation through extensive listening and mimicry.
The winner of this contest will go on to the All Japan Contest in Tokyo later this year.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
cosmos2
Since today turned out to be such a beautiful day, thought I would add these. Some nice farmer has planted his fields in cosmos. There is probably and acre and a half of these flowers
Battle over Okinawa history in textbooks
In the largest demonstration in Okinawa since its return to Japan after World War Two, 110,000 people took to the streets and demanded that the Education Ministry refrain from editing textbooks that show that the Imperial Army ordered civilians to kill themselves and distributed hand grenades for that purpose. The Ministry says, "There is no proof that there were such orders. So it would be misleading to say the [Imperial] army was responsible." There is evidence to the contrary.
Whether the military ordered people to kill themselves or not is trivial compared to the bigger picture, which was a fanatical government that was unwilling to admit that it had grabbed the tiger's tail and knew it was going to get whacked at the expense of 200,000 Japanese lives, not to mention the lives of Allied forces involved in the effort. There were enough powerful people making enough money on the conflict that they refused to stop, put up their hands and say "enough." Instead they opted to ride that cash cow a little longer, sacrificing all the people who died in Okinawa and in subsequent battles.
That is the greater horror. The Education Ministry is probably relieved that Okinawans have attached themselves to this tiny detail rather than looking at the bigger, much more significant picture.
Asia Times Online :: Japan News - Battle over Okinawa history rages on
Whether the military ordered people to kill themselves or not is trivial compared to the bigger picture, which was a fanatical government that was unwilling to admit that it had grabbed the tiger's tail and knew it was going to get whacked at the expense of 200,000 Japanese lives, not to mention the lives of Allied forces involved in the effort. There were enough powerful people making enough money on the conflict that they refused to stop, put up their hands and say "enough." Instead they opted to ride that cash cow a little longer, sacrificing all the people who died in Okinawa and in subsequent battles.
That is the greater horror. The Education Ministry is probably relieved that Okinawans have attached themselves to this tiny detail rather than looking at the bigger, much more significant picture.
Asia Times Online :: Japan News - Battle over Okinawa history rages on
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