Reading people's papers

Cleared up a little today, but there was snow on the car this morning.

Have a high school teacher who wants me to check a paper that he is writing coming in today. Most people come in and say, "Just check my spelling and grammar." Problem is often that the organization is so poor that it's difficult to understand what they're going for. I offer advice on how to really fix their paper. They walk out, and I never hear from them again.

Later: There was a little content problem, but he seemed to be willing to change it. I had also done some work for him before. He told me that the paper that I had proofed for him will be published this summer. There's a little gratification there.

Classes for kids who reject public education

There is a growing number of children in Japan who refuse to attend school. There are various reasons for it, bullying, inability to keep up with their peers, verbal and physical abuse by a very few teachers. The results range from underachievement to suicide.

Yesterday I went and talked with a volunteer group, "Kodomo no Ibasho," or "*A Kid's Place to Be," (*my translation). They wanted me to do some English langauge classes for their junior and senior high school aged kids.

I volunteered to organize some gatherings twice a month at first. I'm not sure how successful I will be, and I'm not sure what the kids think. Our first gathering will be to find out what the kids' goals are, and where their interests lie. My plan is that whatever their goals might be, we will learn through music, art, cooking, and outdoor activities. I will avoid text books and written printed material when possible.

Who's safer?

Dubya says we are safer now that Saddam is out of the way. Oh. Hadn't noticed. What I do notice is the warning from the Japanese Foreign Ministry that al-Qaida has made threats against the country and that people should be on their guard in crowded places. And what should we be on our guards against? I say we should be on our guards against politicians who lie to us and commit atrocities in our names and those who support those liars.

Risk? What risk?

Japan dispatches troops to Iraq, and so while researching the connections between that dispatch and American support in negotiations with their neighbors (read North Korea and China), I found this analysis of Koizumi from Kiyoshi Nishi. His point was that Koizumi is great because he's a go-getter risk-taker, unlike his predecessors.

Sorry, but I don't see the risk. In this political environment? So what if it isn't popular? Who's going to take him to task? The public? I don't think so.

Travel Abroad Preparation

It felt a little chilly this morning, but it's supposed to warm up considerable today. Up to 14 degrees. That is really warm for this time of year.

On Monday and Tuesday I was working with the students who would be participating in this year's Travel Abroad Program at Yokkaichi U. I took the group from the school two years ago. We went to the American Language Institute at California State University, Long Beach then, and the students will go there this year, too. They will stay for about three weeks, and will study English, have homestays, and visit spots around the Long Beach area. It's a great program that they have worked out there. I think our students get real value for their time and money.

The retreat that we had on Monday and Tuesday was an effort to get everyone involved in the program acquainted, and to give them a brief overview of the program so that over the next six months they can have some idea of what's coming. We discussed the program in general, American values, general safety issues, life on an American college campus and what they can expect at CSULB, and what their homestay experience may be like. The participants are really excited this year, and were saying that they wanted to leave today. I understand the feeling.

I won't be going with them this year. Another teacher said that he was interested, and since I have already gone, he will take them. I would love to go again, just to see the students grow. They grow alot in that period. Getting the students abroad is a great experience, and this is a great program.

Security gets boosted

US Sees no Terror Threat in Japan is the title of the article. That should put a whole lot of people at ease...NOT. Since the US hasn't seen threats to their own people in the past. And what better way to boost your re-election chances than to put someone else's people's heads on the block. The US bullies Japan into sending troops to the radioactive killing fields of Iraq. A great article by Chalmers Johnson on the issue. He even lets on that the Japan forces have already been fired on. I hadn't heard that in the domestic press.

Japan could have taken the high road. Again, they take the road to war.