Grant made in honor of Taylor Anderson to strengthen Japan Studies at Randolph Macon College
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R-MC RECEIVES GRANT IN HONOR OF TAYLOR ANDERSON ’08
http://www.rmc.edu/News/11-12-13%20-%20Taylor%20Anderson.Japan%20Foundation.aspx
Randolph-Macon College has received a grant from The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP) to strengthen Japanese Studies, a part of the college’s Asian Studies program, in memory of R-MC alumna Taylor Anderson ’08. Anderson perished during the March 2011 earthquake & tsunami that devastated parts of Japan.
“We are pleased to receive this generous support from The Japan Foundation,” said Randolph-Macon President Robert R. Lindgren. “This grant will help us increase our students’ awareness and appreciation of Japanese culture and will aid the college in laying the groundwork for a lifetime of engagement and exchange with our Japanese neighbors.”
The Japanese Foundation grant, entitled “Honoring the Life, Work, and Good Spirit of Taylor Anderson – Enhancing Japanese Studies at Randolph-Macon College,” will help Randolph-Macon reach its goal of increasing course offerings in Japanese language and culture. The college received $100,000 for this academic year with the anticipation of receiving additional funds during the five year duration of the grant, which will allow for faculty travel to Japan to develop broader course offerings and establish student travel courses to Japan.
R-MC’s Asian Studies Progam will also develop and offer a spring workshop and curriculum website for Virginia elementary, middle, and high school teachers of history, geography, world language, and literature. This seminar workshop will be led by R-MC Professor Todd Munson and provide teachers the opportunity to engage in the study, analysis and discussion of topics related to Japanese history, geography, and culture. It will provide ten hours of instruction and will convene on the Randolph-Macon campus beginning in spring 2012.
The Japan Foundation grant will also support the following Randolph-Macon initiatives in the current academic year:
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Taylor Anderson, who had a lifelong love of Japan, graduated from Randolph-Macon College in 2008 with a Bachelor’s degree inInternational Studies and minors in Asian Studies and Political Science. She joined The Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) program and was assigned to teach in Ishinomaki, Japan. The JET program is one of the world’s largest exchange programs and is aimed at developing strong international relationships between Japan and other nations.
“This grant will help to continue strengthening relationships with a country she loved and Randolph-Macon College,” said Anderson’s father, Andy. We are grateful to both the college and the Japan Foundation for so generously supporting this project in her memory and honor.”
WIT LIfe #186: 今年の漢字
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
At Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Temple, 今年の漢字 (kotoshi no kanji), or the kanji of the year was just announced to be 絆 (kizuna) or bonds between people. According to the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society, the rationale behind its selection by the based on ideas from the public was that in a disaster-ridden year that brought a nation closer together, kizuna best reflects the events of 2011. These bonds include those among family members, friends and neighbors, as well as refers to support from abroad. It was chosen with the hope that the world will continue to coalesce to help restore Japan.
As for how this year’s お正月 (oshougatsu) nine months after the disaster will be spent, it seems as if most people are being low-key and staying close to home due to 3-11. Many are still in mourning for the lives that were lost, and this probably will continue until the one-year anniversary next year. People aren’t even sure what to write on their new year’s cards, as the typical 新年おめでとう (shinnen omedetou) or “Happy New Year!” may not be appropriate. Below are some suggestions (in Japanese) for what to write on 年賀状 (nengajou) to those in the disaster area. Read More
JQ Magazine: JETAANY Artist Showcase Unites Fukushima, New York
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Sculpture by Lisa Benson. (T. Brooks)
By Carolyn Brooks (Ishikawa-ken, 2006-11) for JQ magazine. Carolyn is co-author of the blog MadSilence–a cross-cultural blog written with her father–and a current culture/education related job-seeker in the New York area available for full-time or consulting work.
“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for [those in need], who suffer greatly at the present time….We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices.”
—Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol, brackets by author.
It was in the generous spirit of the holiday season that over 150 guests, including former New York City mayor David Dinkins and a visiting delegation of dignitaries from Fukushima, joined together Dec. 1 for a reception and silent auction to show support for Tohoku as it continues to struggle after the Great Eastern Earthquake last March. The event, organized in partnership by the Consulate General of Japan in New York and the New York chapter of the JET Alumni Association (JETAANY), was held at Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki’s residence on the east side of Central Park.
JETAANY utilized its extensive network to get 14 artists involved, displaying and auctioning off more than 30 pieces of art including sculpture, prints, paintings and antique ceramics. The artists and donators really showed the scope of people who have connections with Japan, ranging from JET Program alumni and parents to Japanese expats and students. All in all, the auction raised $700, and with other donations received that night totaled more than $1300. Read More
Photos from Rikuzentakata Tutoring Project supported in part by JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund
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Thanks to Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) for forwarding the below photos of the “Youth Empowerment Iwate“ Rikuzentakata tutoring project that received $25,000 in support from the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund. These photos are from a November 10 visit to one of the several middle schools in town where the project is operating three times a week. These photos are of three rooms, one where individual students can study quietly on their own, a second dedicated to group study (and relaxing, too…which is important), and a third that is tutoring for the entire group. The tutors you see are university student volunteers, who are the ones running things.
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A very heartfelt video thank you from the people of Tohoku that includes a number of Taylor Anderson’s students. According to Taylor’s father Andy, “the video was shown at the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of New York’s annual dinner on November 15 where Taylor received their Luminary Award. Executive Director Karino had the video made for the event. The students who were being taught by Taylor at the time of the earthquake on 3/11 are in the video. Taylor’s students are in front of The Taylor Anderson Reading Corner. It’s very moving and reminds us all of how much is yet to be done for the area to recover.”
JQ Magazine: Georgia JETs’ Ganbare Tohoku Shows Social Media Savvy
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JET alumni Emily Duncan and Mellissa Takeuchi presenting at Georgia’s annual JapanFest, Sept. 17, 2011.
By Emily Duncan (Hyogo-ken, 2005-08) for JQ magazine. Emily is a graduate of the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia.
When I was a JET, I worked at Himeji Nishi Senior High School and enjoyed my time there immensely. I would love to return to Japan, if only for a visit.
Since a transcontinental, transpacific trip is a bit too much of a stretch for my wallet right now, I, like many of you, have an application essay ready for the day that JNTO begins their campaign for the 10,000 free flights to Japan (should the Diet rethink approving this plan for next spring, of course).
On March 11, 2011, I was asleep when the massive earthquake struck northeastern Japan (after all, it was about 1 a.m. in Atlanta). When I awoke, there was an e-mail news alert on my phone. I spent a chunk of time that morning trying to call friends in the Himeji area, but everyone was fine as they live about an hour west of Osaka. Plenty of room between them and disaster.
The rest of the day—the rest of the weekend, really—I spent occasionally checking in on the progression of events in Japan through news sources online. I reached out to the JETAASE and the Japan-America Society of Georgia with fundraising ideas. But neither group had decided upon a plan of action.
Impatient, I called my friend, Mellissa Takeuchi, fellow Hyogo-ken JET alum, to brainstorm. We thought of ideas for fundraising, but the one immediate and tangible takeaway from the conversation was that we should establish a Facebook page to catalogue the ongoing narrative of the Tohoku Earthquake, the tsunami disaster and the ensuing recovery effort.
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WIT Life is a periodic series written by professional Writer/Interpreter/Translator Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken CIR, 2000-03). She starts her day by watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese, and here she shares some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
Time truly flies, as I can’t believe it has been so long since I’ve been here. At any rate, tadaima!
Although almost nine months have passed since the earthquake/tsunami in Fukushima, and I am glad to say that the recoverｙ effort is still on people’s minds. Last night I went to the Artist Showcase and Fundraiser for Japan held at Ambassador Shigeyuki Hiroki’s Residence. The event featured a reception honoring a visiting Fukushima prefectural government delegation to New York, along with artwork (some from JET alumni!) available for silent auction purchase.
Ambassador Hiroki offered his comments, and a representative of the Fukushima prefectural governor read a letter from him on his behalf. On display were Fukushima goods, and guests partook of Fukushima sake as well as Read More
Alan (far right) with 1992-94 Kamaishi JETs (L to R: Kevin McCallum, Yves Lacasse, Kathryn Morris,) on top of Mt. Shiroyama, Ohtsuchi, 1992.
By Alan Mockridge (UK JET, Iwate-ken, 1992-94) for JQ magazine. Alan was one of 14 JET alums selected for the Tohoku Invitational Program sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japan Tourism Agency. He is a co-owner of Intralink, which provides business development services for U.S./European companies wishing to do business in/with Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan. Post-JET, he lived in Japan for 13 years before moving to Santa Clara, California in 2008. Intralink employs half a dozen fluent Japanese speaking JET alums in its Tokyo office.
Until a friend at university who I was studying German with suggested we apply for the JET Program as a year out after graduation, I could not even have located Japan on the map. On my application form I answered the question, “Do you have a placement request?” as “Somewhere rural.”
I got my wish. I was placed in Ohtsuchi, a fishing town of less than 15,000 people on Japan’s northeast Pacific coast, where I taught English as an assistant language teacher in three senior high schools: Ohtsuchi, Kamaishi Kita and Yamada. The experience changed my life but although I have remained intimately connected with Japan over the past 17 years, my direct links to these schools have naturally faded over time. That changed in the early hours of March 12, 2011 (PST).
When I saw the first earthquake and tsunami news reports coming out of Iwate my memories came racing back. I realized that I had lost contact with most of the teachers and townsfolk who had befriended me. There had been no e-mail or cell phones when I left in 1994, and gradually my New Year’s cards started to go undelivered from around 2008 as teachers were moved to different posts further and further from the coast. I decided I had to find them all again, just to tell them that I had not forgotten their kindness. Read More
Miyagi AJET launches Micro Grant Program in honor of Taylor Anderson
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Miyagi AJET has launched a Micro Grant Program in honor of Taylor Anderson intended to “empower JETs with financial support in their efforts to fulfill the goals of the JET Programme in and outside of school.” Read below for full details:
To all Miyagi/Sendai JETs:
Employed directly through Boards of Education and embedded in communities, we JETs have a lot of potential to do great things here in Japan. Many of us invest our personal time, and sometimes our own money, to craft interactive lessons that engage students, to motivate students and spark their interest in English and foreign cultures, to produce quality events educating the people in our communities about our home countries, and more. As the AJET branch for Miyagi and Sendai, MAJET is here to support you in your activities as a JET, and to this end, we would like to announce the “Miyagi-Sendai JET Micro-Grant Program.”
Attached please find a detailed description of the program, outlining it’s goals and how to apply. To put it simply, as Miyagi starts to take it’s formative steps towards recovery from the March 11th disaster, the purpose of this program is to empower JETs with financial support in their efforts to fulfill the goals of the JET Programme in and outside of school.
All too often JETs have great ideas to create language/culture boards at their school, to put on fun events for eikaiwa groups, to put on culture days at the local community center, but find themselves encumbered for lack of even a minimal working budget. There’s only so much that can come out of our own pockets, which is where this program comes in. Whatever idea you may have for doing something that you feel helps meet the goals of the JET Programme (internationalization, cultural interaction, language education, etc.), we want you to tell us about it. If your idea does indeed further the cause of JET, we’ll provide you with money to make it a reality! Initially we have set the range of possible grants to between 2,000 and 10,000 yen, but if you have a particularly good idea, let us know and we will consider going beyond this range.
If you are interested in applying for a grant, please fill out an application here:
https://docs.google.com/a/ajet.net/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNPaFdVSFUxUDBzb1pZcGttZEdoSHc6MQ
Even if you are currently engaged in an activity that you already pay for out of pocket, let us know and we may be able to provide you with funding to take this activity to the next level. Please keep in mind that once funds run out, this program will be discontinued, so if you have an idea for things you want to do next spring/summer, let us know sooner rather than later.
In announcing this program, we would like to give special thanks to the family of Taylor Anderson, an Ishinomaki JET who was sadly loston March 11th. During what was undoubtedly a trying time for the Andersons, they decided to honor Taylor’s memory as best they could in supporting the recovery of the community in which Taylor lived, and which she loved. Knowing Taylor’s activities as a JET, the Andersons recognize the importance of the JET Programme towards internationalization and language education at the grassroots/community level in Japan, and see the potential for the JETs of Miyagi and Sendai to be active parts of recovery. It is a result of the Andersons commitment to helping Ishinomaki and Miyagi that the idea for this program was formed, and it is from donations raised by the Anderson’s that the seed money for this program will come.
If you have any questions about this program, or if you would like to brainstorm with us and discuss in more detail the possibility of receiving a grant, please contact us at miyagi@ajet.net
Wishing you the best,
The MAJET Team
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Miyagi Association of JET 2011-12
www.ajetmiyagi.net
Claudine Bennent (President)
Cameron Peek (President)
Brian Garvey (Vice-President)
Marissa Godwin (Treasurer)
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Read on for official Micro Grant Program guidelines: Read More
Japan Foundation new project to promote exchanges with alma maters of Taylor Anderson and Monty Dickson
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Here’s an article from Asahi.com about a new Japan Foundation project to promote exchanges and closer ties between Japan and the alma matters of Taylor Anderson (Randolph Macon College) and Monty Dickson (University of Alaska at Anchorage), including student and teacher exchange programs with Japan and providing Japan-related books and materials for the schools.
http://www.asahi.com/national/update/1120/TKY201111200276.html
震災で犠牲のアンダーソンさんらを記念 日米で交流事業
国際交流基金は、東日本大震災で犠牲になった米国人の英語指導助手、テイラー・アンダーソンさん（当時２４歳）とモンゴメリー・ディクソンさん（同２６歳）を記念し、両氏の出身校と同基金が中心になって日米理解の促進に関する事業を行う、と発表した。
アンダーソンさんはランドルフ・メーコン・カレッジ（米バージニア州）、ディクソンさんはアラスカ大学アンカレジ校（米アラスカ州）の出身。日米の学生・教員の交流、出身校への日本関連の図書寄贈や講座の充実、日本文化に関する講演会の開催などが計画されている。（ワシントン＝伊藤宏）
Xmas cards for Tohoku kids
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Via JETAA USA:
Xmas Cards for Tohoku Kids
http://www.jetaausa.com/?p=1952&preview=true
A Professor Emeritus of Chuo University has started a project called “Xmas Cards from Friends Around the World”. This is a campaign to gather Christmas cards from around the world to bring to the children in Tohoku. If you’d like to participate, please send your card(s) to the following address:
c/o Mrs. Mayumi Hoshi
Shichigahama-cho Saigai-Volunteer Center
Noyama 5-9, Yoshidahama
Shichigahama-cho, Miyagi
JAPAN 985-0802
ATTN: Boys and Girls
For more information (Japanese only) please see the PDF.
“Hope For Tomorrow” expands activities to 5 cities including Ishinomaki thanks to JETAA USA Funds
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JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund Update:
Hope for Tomorrow, one of the grantees of the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund, has been successful enough to expand to 5 cities, including Ishinomaki in addition to Rikuzentakata. They mention the JET contribution as a reason for focusing on these cities front and center on their home page.
Also, since the original posting, JETAA USA upped its grant to a total of $26,700 which comes out to an even 2,000,000 yen.
Click here for a re-cap of disbursements by the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund.
Daily Yomiuri: “Study halls opened in honor of ‘Monty-sensei'”
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Summary of JETAA USA Fund disbursements
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Thanks to JETAA USA Country Representative (and JETAA USA Fund Committee member) Megan Miller (Hyogo-ken) for the following summary of the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund’s disbursements. It was originally an e-mail sent to the JETAA USA chapter officers Google Group which has been modified slightly for posting here:
Dear US Chapters,
The fund committee has been hard at work and has finalized the donations for the $76,000+ we have raised so far. I’d like to thank the committee as well as the folks at JETAANY for all of their hard work during the past 8 months, and I’d also like to thank all of you for your amazing fundraising efforts. News of JETAA’s collective, world wide fundraising efforts as JET Alumni is very much on the radar screen in Japan. It is great that we can support the people of Japan and also demonstrate the value of our network and our commitment to Japan at the same time.
To recap the fund committee’s decision, here is where we are allocating the funds raised to date:
1. Hope for Tomorrow – $25,000 (http://hope-tomorrow.jp/)
A major challenge that high school students from the Tohoku region will face is to keep from falling behind students from elsewhere in the country who are studying for their college entrance exams. The students in Tohoku graduating this March had completed their exams by the time of the earthquake, but the ones who will graduate next year are liable to fall behind due to the length of time schools have been shut down, the absence of cram schools and other supplementary educational activities during their senior year, and the trauma and family tragedies that many have to face. On top of this, they need sufficient resources to even take the university exams, which tend to require travel to Tokyo, Sendai or Hokkaido. The exam fees are likely to be waived for many students, but there is no system to support their personal travel, lodging, meals, etc. when they leave their hometowns to take the entrance exams. In many cases, these expenses can easily exceed US$1,000, which will be difficult for families who have lost their homes and businesses to muster.
In response, a group of Tokyo volunteers has launched a new NPO called “Hope for Tomorrow” that plans to help support students by covering these expenses. They have been in touch with the main high schools in Kessennuma and Ishinomaki about this initiative. Kessennnuma had the greatest need, so they have come to an agreement with the high school to start supporting their students, and they hope to expand to other schools, including Ishinomaki’s high school. They are also interested in expanding to Rikuzentakata and open to other suggestions from us about other places. (In May, they tried to speak with the Rikuzentakata authorities as well as those in the neighboring town, Ofunato, where students were attending high school since Rikuzentakata’s high school was badly damaged, but were unable to have discussions due to the overwhelming challenges school officials were facing. However, they hope to try again soon.) In addition to the helping with the exam fees, they also wish to provide mentoring services to the students and other support that can aid them before and after their exams.
Update: They have expanded to Takata High School (the Rikuzentakata HS, although temporarily being operated in an empty school in Ofunato), because of our funds. Takata High School is delighted, and things are all firmed up now. They are also operating in Kessennuma, and might expand into Ishinomaki or elsewhere if there is additional funding.
2. E.Pa+Ch – $25,000 (http://soup1993.com/epatch.html)
E.Pa+Ch stands for Youth Empowerment Iwate (direct translation: Empowerment through Participation and Challenge). This group was created by a professor at Iwate Prefectural University (IPU) who has been active in mobilizing college volunteers to work in the disaster zone through a project called “GingaNet.” The group is planning to launch a major initiative throughout the prefecture to provide tutoring to and study rooms for middle school students who have fallen behind in their studies, with IPU students acting as volunteer tutors. (This may be expanded to high school students taking university entrance exams, in which case professional juku teachers will need to be employed). The board of education expressed support for this, and the IPU professor, Yamamoto-sensei, is going to continue developing the program in consultation with the board. This innovative program was launched on Nov 1, and it possibly will be a model for other programs around Tohoku. CR Jess Wilcox and Fund Committee member Jim Gannon were interviewed regarding our involvement. Read the article here: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111104005277.htm
3. Rikuzentakata Board of Education – $10,000
This direct contribution to the BoE will help alleviate some immediate needs of the schools, possibly including the hiring of a second JET for the area. There is currently a JET in RT who replaced Monty Dickson and the BoE would like to hire a second.
4. Taylor Anderson Memorial Fund – $5,000 (http://www.st.catherines.org/tayloranderson )
Many of you are already familiar with the work that the Anderson Family has been conducting. We have made a $5,000 donation to their fund to demonstrate our collective support.
5. Grants for 2-3 JET-related orgs – $10,000+ (To Be Finalized)
We are working with Paul Yoo of volunteerAKITA and Living Dreams who worked with Mike Maher King (Smile Kids Japan). Our grants will help support their grass roots efforts of volunteering in the area, bringing in needed supplies, and ‘filling in the cracks’ where other NGO’s are unable to assist.
TOTAL = $76,000+
Also, many of you might be aware that the JETAA international meeting was held in Tokyo from Oct 21-22. The meeting was covered and televised by NHK news. We also met with various government ministers who thanked us for our efforts to support Japan and asked us for advice on improving the JET program.
After the meeting we volunteered alongside current JETs in Rikuzentakata. We are doing a write up of that emotional experience and will send it to you in the coming days. Being in Rikuzentakata really drove home how important our efforts are. We have the power to get our funds directly in the hands of the people making decisions on the reconstruction effort.
To that end we would like to encourage JETAA chapters to continue fundraising. We now have connections on the ground and can help deploy funds efficiently and effectively. We have been notified that JETAANY will not be able to host the fund next year due to tax reasons, but we will work to find another nonprofit chapter that can help support us. Thank you again JETAANY for all the extra work you took on this year to make the fund a reality!
Lastly, it is always helpful when the JET alumni community is able to remind others of the ongoing needs in Tohoku and share news of JETAA’s accomplishments with others. I strongly encourage each of you and your chapter members to reach out to local news publications, church newsletters, your college and HS alumni magazines, work newsletters, chapter newsletters, etc. A great deal of information can be found on JETwit and the JETAA USA website. You can also contact members of the JETAA USA Fund Committee or local chapter officers if you need additional information or an official representative or spokesperson.
Stay tuned for more detailed information to follow.
Daily Yomiuri: Study halls opened in honor of “Monty-sensei” in Rikuzentakata
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Update 11/07/11: The Ministry of Education has apparently been impressed enough by Youth Empowerment for Iwate to send a team to observe them. And fyi, the group now has a website as well: http://soup1993.com/epatch.html
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There’s a nice Daily Yomiuri article (“Study halls opened in honor of ‘Monty-sensei‘”) on Monty Dickson and the contribution JETAA USA will be making to the Japanese non-profit Iwate Youth Empowerment (which is translated in the article below with a different name).
Though not quoted in the article, JETAA USA Fund Committee members Jessyca Wilcox and Jim Gannon (Ehime-ken, 1992-94) were both interviewed for background. Apparently the program launched on November 1 and they were surprised at the level of demand, receiving 100 applicants and 45 students on the first day.
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Study halls opened in honor of ‘Monty-sensei’
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T111104005277.htm
Takayuki Fuchigami and Kentaro Sugino / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
RIKUZEN-TAKATA, Iwate–Special study halls providing self-study sessions to primary and middle school students have opened in Rikuzen-Takata to honor an American assistant language teacher who was killed by the March 11 tsunami.
Montgomery Dickson, a native of Alaska, was scheduled to teach English at 16 primary and middle schools in the city for two years until last August.
Dickson, who was called “Monty” by local residents, gave free English classes to children and had a dream of becoming a Japanese-language teacher. At drinking parties with his coworkers, he sometimes performed manzai comedy and sang enka songs.
Noboru Sato, the owner of a bicycle shop in the city that Dickson bought a mountain bike from, was his close friend. They had dinner and
drank together almost every night.
However, both were killed by the tsunami. Dickson died at the age of 26, while Sato was 69 years old.
Sato’s granddaughter Sayaka, 15, recalled that “Monty was like a member of our family.”
After learning of Dickson’s death, a group of former ALTs (JETwit note: The “group” is actually the JETAA USA Earthquake Relief Fund Committee) decided to use about 20,000 dollars (1.5 million yen) of donations they collected for quake-hit areas for projects to support Rikuzen-Takata.
The group talked with the city’s board of education officials about possible ways to use the donations. They agreed to open study rooms called “Manabi no Heya.”
The study halls, operated by the city’s education board and Empowerment through Participation and Challenge (JETwit note: aka Iwate Youth Empowerment), an Iwate Prefecture-based organization, have been opened at three primary and middle schools.
During sessions at the halls, which are open three times a week in the evening and on weekends, students study on their own and can ask questions to former teachers and cram school instructors. The operators intend to run the sessions for two years.
At the city-run Daiichi Middle School, the first Manabi no Heya study session was held Tuesday. A total of 45 students studied for two hours from 7 p.m. in three classrooms.
Mai Sato, 13, a second-grade student at the school who lives in a temporary housing unit, expressed her appreciation. “I was so depressed by the death of Monty-sensei. But [thanks to him] this study hall was opened. I’m happy,” she said.
Naoko Watanabe, 36, an office worker in Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture,
who was engaged to Dickson, expressed her hopes for his legacy.
“I think Monty is happy [to know about the study halls]. I hope Monty lingers in the memory of children in Rikuzen-Takata for a long time,” Watanabe, who once studied in the United States, said.
On the morning of March 11, Dickson was asked by his friend to translate a phrase from the essay “Koan no Taimatsu” (Ogata Koan’s torch), written by historical novelist Ryotaro Shiba (1923-1996) from Japanese into English.
The English translation was left on a piece of paper: “There is nothing as beautiful as dedicating oneself for a cause.”
The translation was given to Shelley Fredrickson, Dickson’s elder sister, who lives in Anchorage, Alaska.
Referring to the phrase, Fredrickson, 45, said, “Monty always made himself available to anyone who needed him.
“I’m so proud of him and all he had accomplished. I’m finding his inspiration is still flowing and continuing to make an impact on people who knew him as well as those that did not.”
(Nov. 5, 2011)
