Asaka English

Eiji just got back from Camp Roadless Summer, against his will (he wanted to STAY there). Three days, two nights in Mt. Haruna Eiji learned about art, music and theater. He also enjoyed river hiking, repelling and zip line adventures. Attendees need to speak a minimum of English; most of our students would be okay. The best part of the experience was the friendships he made there. The director, Michaella Chatman enthusiastically lead the experience with the energy of a gamma ray burst. Eiji dubbed the owner, Patric Spohn, the Tarzan of Takasaki. Michaella said that she’s looking for another group to go before school starts up again. If you’re interested, contact her at

http://www.rsummercamp.com/

It’s a good chance to use your English, and IT’S FREE!
August 6, all day.

Click on the link to see details.

• 1000: Womble Gate Opens to Visitors
• 1000-1500: Ship’s Visit
• 1000-1700: 10th Annual Car Show
• 1600: Major League Eaters Pro-Am “Soba Eating Contest”
• 1700: American Idol Concert
• 1900: Womble Gate closes for inbound traffic
• 1915: Yokosuka City Fire Works Display
• 1945: Event Concludes
• 2100: Womble Gate closes for outbound flow.

We attended the STEPS English proficiency test this morning at Rikyu University, AKA 英検. It was just the pre-2 interview portion. We sent our 10 year old son in to gauge the mettle of the interview portion. He said it was weird: the instructor’s English was so unnatural that he had trouble following her; she was intimidated by him and didn’t make eye-contact; when she asked him the famous rejoinder, “tell me more,” he felt he had already said all he could on the subject of bringing your own “my-cup” to coffee shops so he punted (B.S.’ed) and said, “it’s good for the, uh, environment…” We all cracked-up when he told us. So if the proctor herself cannot speak English with minimum proficiency, then who are they to sit in judgement?
At the start, Eiji raised his hand and asked, “could I borrow an eraser?” and everyone stared at him like he’d caught fire…and yes, he had to ask again, in Japanese.
When I went to get him, none of the staff could speak a word of English. I hung out in the lobby of Rikyu University, waiting for my son to finish, I tried chatting (in English) with a nearby mother. She couldn’t speak a word of the language she was shoving down the throat of her kid. I tried speaking to another parent, and then all the waiting parents quickly sunk their faces into their books and papers. It’s the hypocrisy that gets me. Hasn’t anyone heard of “lead by example?”

This is a very useful 前置詞 (preposition).
You know that it means いっしょうに, but sometimes it can mean で as in:

I write with a green pen.
みどり色ペン　で　書く。

or

I eat with chopsticks.
はし　で　食べている。

Japan doesn’t do anything half-way and disasters are no exception. On Friday, March 11 at 2:49 pm Honshu was rocked by the biggest earthquake in the nation’s great history. The country’s buildings held up remarkably well, but nothing could withstand the devastating tsunami that followed. Northern parts of Honshu were leveled and tens of thousands of people are missing, some of them friends and family of our students.
Trains are erratic, power supply and water is unstable, the roads are jammed with traffic, gas is in short supply, and stores are running low on food.
While Saitama was relatively unaffected by the quake and tsunami, the threat of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear power plant has everyone on-edge.
As long as local conditions remain safe, we are continuing our lessons as much to keep everyone’s minds off these threats as anything.
We thank you for your support and look forward to serving you and your family through this crisis. We pray for your safety and a good recovery for the nation.
Stephen “Boone” Johnson

We had a great time last night. Despite the impending typhoon, several of our adult members showed up to watch Creepshow with me. Thanks for bringing the beverages, guys! Pizza, snacks and two hours of drinking followed.

This is a report by the American National Public Radio. Are YOU ready for an English-only company?

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2010/10/21/130733615/japanese-companies-go-english-only-headaches-outrage-follow

4月6日、私達のした事。
English Follows
朝10時：
①Egg’s and things
日本って朝ごはんの店が少ないよね。昔は定食屋とか喫茶店とかあって、モーニングとかあったけど、最近どんどんなくなってスタバ、ドトール、マックとかしかみかけないからつまんなかったんだよね。名古屋から来た喫茶店で｢コメダ珈琲」が最近、上板橋に出来て朝ごはんの場所が増えてうれしい。もちろん、家で朝ごはんを毎日食べるんだけど、朝ごはんやブランチを外で食べるのがなんか気分がリッチになって好きなんだよねえ。
最近副都心線が出来て便利なもんだから新宿、渋谷方面に行くことが多くなったんだよ。神宮前にハワイのパンケーキのお店が出来たと聞き、早速行って来た。店は神宮前駅からすぐなんだけど、表通りじゃなくて小道を一歩入った所にあるのでちょっと迷うかも？テラスと室内があるんだけど、寒かったからかテラスはあんまり人がいなかった。ハワイの味がどうだったかすっかり忘れちゃったけど、ボリュームはアメリカサイズでだんなは大喜び。私は卵とターキーベーコンとパンケーキ。だんなはエッグベネディクトを注文。ターキーが大好きな私もベーコンは初めてだったんだけど、ベーコンっていうよりハムみたいな感じでおいしかった。卵はバターがすごく効いてて(バターーが苦手なんだよねえ）だめだった。パンケーキはバターが付いてなくてさっぱりしてた。ホイップクリームを追加で頼んだら、ソフトクリームみたいなサイズでお皿いっぱいに来たよ。だんなの頼んだエッグベネディクトってまだ日本じゃ浸透してないよね？エッグマフィンに生クリームソースがかかっているって言えば想像出来る？　生クリームソースをホーランドソースって言うんだけど、だめなのよねえ、あれが。だんなはホーランドソースが大好きで、エッグアンドシングスのソースはさっぱりしていておいしかっただって。アメリカのはもっとコテコテでヘビーなんだとか。ちょっとなめてみたけど、すごいヘビーで高カロリーでギブアップ。
私は生クリームも苦手だから好きじゃないけどね。
めったに胃もたれなんかしないんだけど、アメリカ料理はすごいわ。胃がもたれてしまって最悪でした。トホホ。　　今度は軽めの物にしないとやばいな。(懲りずにまた行く予定）

There was a time when IHOP, the International House of Pancakes had locations all across Japan. The perfect family Sunday started with a trip to a pancake place for a good, American-style breakfast. Then IHOP pulled-up stakes and disappeared one Saturday night. Many were replaced with Korean karubi joints. UGH! (…for breakfast, I mean. Nothing against karubi).
After that, us ex-pats got real good at flipping flapjacks.
But those good old days are here again. A Hawaiian franchise, Eggs & Things has just opened it’s first of what we hope will be many locations, in Omotesando.
Mahalo nui loa, Hawaii (that means thanks).
Their pancakes are better than IHOP’s, offering the normal variety of short and tall stacks, chocolate, banana, and such. But they also have the Hawaiian types like macadamia and coconut which you may have fallen in love with if you ever spent any time in Hawaii.
My wife had a proper short stack of pancakes with maple syrup, a mountain of whipped cream, and turkey bacon. I couldn’t pass-up their heart-stopping eggs Benedict, which were the best I’ve had in Japan.
The coffee was fairly good, but not bottomless.
Although they have plenty of room inside, we took our breakfast outside on the patio, under a parasol since it was the first really nice day of Spring. It was a great vantage spot for watching the “interesting” people walking around.
The staff were eager to speak English, and served with equal zeal.
It’s easy to get to; from the Fukutoshin line’s Meiji Jingu Mae station, it’s just behind what used to be the big GAP (now a prolonged construction site), across from La Foret.
Make sure to get there early in the morning as lines start forming around ten.

We were out for a drive to Niigata, but we got started off too late. By one, we’d only reached Gunma and realized we were going to have to turn back before long.
We were really more just looking to drive around in the country so it wasn’t any major loss. We took the Isesaki split and planned to amble around a little more before calling it a day, just enjoying the mountainous scenery.
Now a weird thing about me is every time I get around a mountain, I want to try to find a way to the top. There were a few small mountains nearby. We had time to kill so this time my wife obliged me. I tried one little road. We ended up at an old school. We tried another road. We ended up behind a love hotel. Determined, we didn’t settle for the second attempt. One more time. I love this. It’s like traversing a maze. Third time was the charm. We got onto a snaking, harrowing road that took us all the way to the top of the tallest of the mountains in the cluster.

Usually, you get to the top of a mountain and it’s either private or there’s a little shrine. This time, we were rewarded the re ruins of a fifteenth century castle. How cool is that?

Granted, it doesn’t look very castley…more ruiny. But there were enough ruins to really spike the imagination. We were surrounded with a strategically beautiful view of Ota city, almost all the way around.

A lush woodland path took us past a series of what used to be observation towers. I could imagine spotting enemy troops a week before they could reach us.

Then onto the courtyards. We went through several narrow passes that used to be security gates. Even though the site had been out of commission for over 400 years, the landscaping and stone ramparts were still quite intimidating.

One of the volunteers eagerly, and with great animation explained to me the history of the castle, pantomiming epic battles, sieges and deceptions. Enemy troops trying to squeeze through the battlements and the archers and gunmen (yes, even back then) picking them off from vantage points. According to him, it had withstood several brutal attacks from some of the strongest powers in the region.

They’ve done an outstanding job of preserving and presenting this historical site, including some bilingual plaques.

The kids there were free to fun wild, climbing, jumping and blowing off all that youthful energy that used to be spent in PE classes before testing started muscling out athletics.

Parts had been partially restored, and a few period buildings had been set up, but most of it was left to the imagination. Looking at the markers and stonework, trying to figure out what this had been and what that might have been used for. Time just melted away up there. My wife kept saying how quiet and peaceful it was. It left us refreshed and ready for another week of busy work.

If our son had been with us, we’d have stopped off on the way out at Kodomono Kuni, a monster-playground complete with a ridiculously-long roller slide and mechanized gondolas.

Next time, we’ll make it a full day and visit the Karasawayama Castle, too.

Best of all, it was only about two hours from Tokyo on the Kanetsu highway.

You can either drive out there, or train-it: Ota Sta. (Tobu Isezaki Line); 50 min walk or bus.

Tell the ghosts of the long-gone samurai, “Boone sent ya!”

うちはだんなと二人で英語教室をやっているんだけど、日本の小学生って筆箱やペンケースの中にたくさんの文房具を入れているんだよね。あたしが小学生もそうだったのかなあ？
今、うちの子供はアメリカのおじいちゃんちに住んでいるんだけど、今回の里帰りで子供の使っている文房具がすごく地味でびっくりしたんだ。
電話で、子供から「僕、えんぴつ」を集めているって聞いて、日本の小学校3年生って、「えんぴつからシャーペン」　に変わる時期みたいなんだけど、なんでうちの子はえんぴつなの？って不思議だったんだ。
まず「シャーペン」っ日本の子は小学校2年生ぐらいから使い出すけど、アメリカの小学生ってなぜか「えんぴつ」派が多いんだってね。だからか学校でなぜか25セントでえんぴつを売っているんだよ。職員室で売っているんじゃなくて、教室の角とかになにげにあるの。まあ買う楽しみがあっていいような気もするけどさあ。(上の写真みてね。）
アメリカは文房具って実用性を重視してて、あんまりかわいい物や形の変わっている物が売ってないみたいなのね。他の物だとアメリカってけっこうデザインとか重視しているんじゃないのお？なんで文具はこんなに地味なの？
子供(9才）のアメリカのペンケースも中身もすごく地味なんだよね。ちょっとおじさんみたいでさ。で聞いたらクラスのみんなもそうなんだって。子供の日本にいたときの筆箱も中身もカラフルでおもしろい物がいっぱいだったのになあ。。。なんか残念。
私たちが日本から「練り消しゴム」や「ローラー消しゴム」、においのするボールペンや蛍光ペン、デザインのユニークなペンをお土産に持って、子供の小学校に行ったらすごく評判よかったよ。　お土産といえば、うちの甥っ子や姪っ子(小学生）に日本の文房具を持っていったけど、みんなで取り合いしてたよ。
ところで「シャーペン」って和製英語なんだよね。シャープ　ペンシルの略だと思ってたけどさあ。知ってた？
mechanical pencil (メカニカル　ペンシル） だそうです。知らなかったー。
毎日英語で生活してもう10年だけど、まだまだ知らない言葉もいっぱいでいやになるよ。

You can tell alot about a craftsman by their tools. I loved the gag in Barton Fink when the detectives were asking Fink for proof that he was a writer and he proffered a pencil. But Japanese students would scoff at that little wooden anachronism.

Our son, Eiji had been telling us about his pencil collection in America. When we got to his school, we found his school had this little 25 cent vending machine near the principal’s office that offered colorful wooden pencils. And while that was neat, we realized that it would never do in Japan because almost every student from 2nd grade went armed to the teeth with a variety of mechanical pencils (they call them “shap-pen” or sharp pencil). We were ultimately disappointed by the lackluster stationary we saw in the States. Most of the American writing wares were plain and utilitarian, except for the pricey and serious executive sets.

So Japanese stationary is cuter, cooler and all-around more fun. This was a shocker. Students in Japan tote prized collections of pens and pencils in every style, color, design and smell; like rock stars with their boggling arrays of guitars and amps for every mood and moment. In Japan you’ll see pencils and erasers designed after things like popular snacks, drinks, pop stars, comic and TV characters…and an endless parade of original youth fashion lines. Japanese kids can sit around for hours comparing their pencils and such, and it’s easy to see why.

And don’t get us started on the erasers! The American erasers are so drab. It’s what I’d expect from The Soviet Union or old communist China; monochromatic little bricks of rubber. The Japanese erasers, yow- they could be anything: miniature hamburgers; malleable, melon-scented putty; even complex gizmos that don’t leave any dust behind.

And even the pencil cases in Japan rock harder. We went to a department store to pick up a some of this nifty stationary to bring back to Eiji and his cousins for Christmas; it took us twenty minutes just to pick out pencil cases. But the few cases that are carried in America are dull on the outside and simple and uninspired on the inside.

So is it a cultural disposition or a difference in marketing? We offered a broad sampling to Eiji’s cousins ranging from primary school to high school, of both genders. They all received them relish! It was like a scene of Soviets tearing into a crate of designer jeans. Poor, style-less children. I may look into opening a Japanese stationary shop over there, because the demand is clear.