Thank you to Vancouver-based JET alum Alison Dacia Brown (Iwate-ken, Rikuzentakata, 2005-2008) for sharing the below piece which she originally wrote for JETAA British Columbia:
“Rikuzentakata”
Rikuzentakata in Iwate prefecture is the best little town that you’ve never been to.
I think I can safely assume that. I think Vancouverites in particular would have appreciated it because to me, Rikuzentakata as of March 10, 2011, was Vancouver in miniature, complete with a beach and mountains in the background. It made me feel like I was just across the pond from Canada. I actually requested Iwate on my JET application, which hardly anyone does. I was more than lucky to be placed where I was, and not just in terms of geography.
It had a quaint little sake factory called Suisen that held hanami parties during the cherry blossom season. It had a gorgeous, sandy beach lined with thousands of slender, yet majestic pine trees. It had the best neighbours a foreigner could ever have when she is away from home. Neighbours who fed her when she was sick with a stomach infection. It had an amazing Japanese woman, who translated all of her farewell speeches from Japanese into English. It had a hard-working Board of Education. It had an amazing ALT from Alaska.
Suisen is gone but I was told that in the days after the tsunami, the smell of sake permeated the area. I’m sure it was hiding more insidious smells. All of the trees which lined the beach are gone except for one. This tree is now called ‘The Miracle Tree’ and it’s giving hope to tsunami survivors. Unfortunately, it’s become a tourist destination and it’s making transportation into Rikuzentakata difficult.
The neighbour who fed her when she was sick, sometimes 3 times a day, lost her house which also housed the family’s tatami business. Her son was a volunteer firefighter and went directly to the beach to close the tsunami wall. His body was found 4 days ago and he has been cremated. The woman who translated her farewell speeches into English, Mutsuko Ozawa, is alive but has lost her mother, sister, nephew and cousins to the tsunami. Only her sister was found. Her house is gone and she has sent her children to central Japan while she and her husband fix up a new house to live in.
21 out of the 26 people who worked at her Board of Education are dead. It was an emergency meeting point, but unfortunately, the building which housed the Board of Education, was only 3 stories high. The tsunami went over it. My good friend, Kie Murakami, was still working at the Board of Education when the tsunami hit. I was hoping she wasn’t, as people change jobs every 3 years, as many of you know. I prayed she was somewhere else, away from the shore. She was found two weeks ago, and she has left behind a daughter and a husband who will miss her immensely. Kie was with Monty Dickson, who was the current JET ALT. He had taken over my position a year after I left Japan, and I know he loved the place as much as I did. I have a picture of Kie and Monty on the top of the local mountain, and it’s very hard to look at, knowing what has happened to them.
I hope to return someday to help. I think many of the former Iwate JETs feel this way. Right now, the only way I can help is by donating money, which we have all been doing. I have given hugs to Japanese people on Granville street in exchange for money. I have bought t-shirts. I have done a charity walk for Japan to raise money through JETAABC. I have donated money directly. But of course it is not enough. I desperately want to return to my adopted city which took care of me for 3 years to let them know that they have not been forgotten.
WIT Life #166: Monkey Business
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WITLife 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.
Last weekend aside from going to the glorious Sakura Matsuri at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, I attended a panel discussion at Asia Society about contemporary writing from Japan. I had heard about the event from former JET Roland Kelts, who in addition to publishing books of his own and lecturing at both NYU and Tokyo University, is a contributing editor to the inaugural issue of the English language version of the Tokyo-based literary magazine Monkey Business (currently available for purchase!). The magazine is run by award-winning translator Motoyuki Shibata, who served as editor of the English version along with colleague Ted Goossen.
All three were on hand at this event, which was divided up into the two sections of Read More
WIT Life #165: 自粛
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WITLife 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.
Recently in my work interpreting for Japanese groups and in casual conversations with Japanese friends, certain expressions keep popping up. In my mind, they have become a sort of post-disaster vocabulary, phrases which are unique in their relevance to the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami which hit Japan on March 11. I would like to discuss one of those words, 自粛 (jishuku), which means self-control or voluntary restraint.
Immediately after the disaster, 自粛 referred to people holding back from going out and enjoying themselves as usual, in order to show respect to the victims and people in the disaster area. Nomikai were postponed, vacations were canceled and people forced themselves to put on somber faces that reflected the seriousness of the tragedy. It became enough of a phenomenon to received the name of 自粛ブーム (self-restraint boom).
However, soon there was a backlash to this movement as seen in Read More
Surviving in Japan: Yellow Sand in Japan – How Does it Affect You?
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Ashley Thompson is "Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese."
Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Weather reports recently (May 2011) mentioned an increase in 黄砂, kousa starting today and continuing over the next few days over much of Japan, which I mentioned on Twitter and heard many replies from people wondering what exactly yellow sand is and why it’s important to know about, so I wrote up the following information:
Along with the prevalence of spring-time pollen, there’s another annual annoyance that often affects Japan, known as “yellow sand”, “Asian dust”, “yellow dust”, or a more official term, Aeolian Dust, and in Japanese as 黄砂 (こうさ, kousa). This dust is stirred up by the wind from deserts in Mongolia, northern China and Kazakhstan, and carried in clouds over China, North and South Korea, and Japan. Seems relatively harmless, but supposedly this dust has also been found to carry a variety of toxic particles, such as heavy metals, sulfur, viruses and bacteria, asbestos, and other pollutants. As far as I’ve been able to find, Japan doesn’t seem to have experienced many health problems due to this dust (please correct me if you know otherwise), though South Korea has reported adverse health effects, particularly in those with respiratory problems. The dust can also decrease visibility, stain laundry, and cause other problems.
Just to clarify, this isn’t necessarily something you need to worry about on a daily basis during spring, but it might be good to be aware of for when it does occur, particularly if you live in Okinawa, Kyushu, Chugoku or Kansai (though it can apply to other regions). If it does appear in significant amounts, you may want to think about hanging your laundry indoors and possibly wearing a mask outside, especially if you have allergies and/or respiratory problems. I’m not a medical expert, so definitely look up “Aeolian Dust” and “health effects” so you can gain a better idea about how it might affect your health, because as I said, the information about adverse health effects in Japan seems to be sparse.
The U.S. Consulate of Naha (Okinawa) issued this statement on April 28, 2011 about dealing with Aeolian dust, particularly if you have health issues:
If you suffer from allergies or have a pre-existing respiratory problem such as asthma, emphysema or other forms of chronic respiratory disease you may want to consider limiting outdoor activities when high dust levels are present.
– Wear glasses instead of contacts
– Close windows
– Wash exposed skin after returning indoors
– Wear long sleeves
– Cover mouth and nose
– Do not drink or eat food outside
– Drink water frequently
– People with lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion
Now, I want to introduce to you two tools you can use to determine the levels of “yellow sand” in your area on any given day, and also how to look at predictions: — CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
WIT Life #164: More notable Nihonjin
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WITLife 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.
Interesting article in the NYT today profiling the new head of the M.I.T Media Lab, a 44-year old Japanese venture capitalist named Joichi Ito. Ironically enough, Ito attended both Tufts and the University of Chicago in the past, but didn’t graduate from either as he didn’t like their learning styles. However, his accomplishments include serving on the board of the Internet governance organization Icann and the Mozilla Foundation, and along the course of his career he has invested in more than 12 start-ups such as Flickr and Twitter. In Japan, he helped establish Read More
Surviving in Japan: 6 Ways to Deal with Allergies in Japan
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Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Ashley Thompson is "Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese."
Are you going to Japan, or in Japan, and wondering what to do about your allergies? I know the feeling. I’m allergic to mold and dust mites, which are especially hard to escape in Japan.. Last winter they somehow managed to debilitate me while allowing a little virus to invade my inner ear – labrynthitis. Labryawha? It’s a deep inner ear inflammation. Makes you dizzy, lightheaded and generally unable to move. Some people get vertigo, and motion sickness. Anyway, that all aside the point – you can read the full story here.
*Note: This post is about nasal allergies and rhinitis, rather than food allergies. Please also note I am not a medical professional, and if you have severe allergies you should seek a doctor’s advice and appropriate medication and/or treatment.
Allergies are quite prominent in Japan – with a large number of those suffering primarily from pollen type allergies. So if you too suffer from rhinitis, you will find a very allergy-friendly (so to speak) country in Japan. A few ways to deal:
1. Wear a mask – Folks in Japan wear a mask for a variety of reasons, but most notably to keep allergies in check or to prevent the spread of whatever illness they might currently be carrying. Personally, I avoid wearing the mask because it annoys me, but just saying.
2. Allergy meds – I won’t go into too many specifics, as those with allergies probably already use specific kinds of medicine. My doctor in the U.S. primarily prescribed me Flonase (a nasal spray), which is available in Japan, so if you use Flonase, you can get a prescription here as well (and much cheaper at that, with the national health insurance). Whatever prescription you have in your home country or whatever OTC meds you use, bring the info to a doctor in Japan to find what you need (or a similar alternative). You can also get Claritin by prescription here in Japan. The Japanese pronunciation is: クラリチン.
3. Drink beni fuuki (べにふうき) – a very strong, concentrated green tea. The taste is quite bitter compared with regular green tea, because of the concentration, but studies in Japan have shown that those who drink it have less histamine response – due to the higher number of catechins. Available in supermarkets and online. — CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
WIT Life #163: Two Japanese recognized by Time’s Top 100
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WITLife 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.
Two Japanese men were selected to be on Time magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people worldwide. Both received recognition in regard to their handling of the recent earthquake/tsunami. The first is Mayor Katsunobu Sakurai of Minami Soma, a town 15 miles from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. In an earlier post I highlighted an article about his Read More
Surviving in Japan: How to do a Furikomi (Bank Transfer)
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Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Ashley Thompson is "Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese"
I’m going to assume you already have a bank account in Japan. And perhaps you signed up with GoLloyds to transfer money to your bank accounts in your home country, or you made some online purchases, or even have a bill that needs to be paid by furikomi (bank transfer). So now you are at the bank, panicking in realization that the stupid ATM doesn’t have a “transfer” button in English (usually only withdrawal, balance inquiry and deposit). I’ve been there, too.
You can of course, ask the bank employees to help you, but they are only available during business hours, which often end at 3 p.m. Not the best news for those of you (probably most of you) who are working during the day. Or you could take someone with you who can read kanji. But what if those said kanji-readers start to passive-aggressively hint that they are busy and would just love to help but don’t know if they can? Ok…. you think. I guess I’ll try to do it myself. After my constant barrage of questions within a two week duration, I decided to figure out the transfer thing myself – even if it took me ages. Two days and two ATM visits later, I succeeded.
Oh, and try not to sit in front of the ATM the first time you try this with a long line of folks waiting behind you for their turn with the machine. (Avoid after-work rush hour). They may not show it, but they are burning with rage inside, thinking you are clueless, and why would you be so stupid as to do this by yourself?, and that they have families and dinner and shopping and things to get to. And yet, soon enough you will be impressing the socks off all of them, and standing behind them in line thinking the very same thing.
*Note: Some of the information here may not display on the ATM you use, although most of it should at some point. The placement may vary slightly, as may the color and size of buttons. Just look for the particular kanji here, and you’ll be all right.
**Remember to bring along the information from GoLloyds, or the online retailer, or the bill, or whatever it is you have furikomi information for.
Some of this information may or will include:
Account/beneficiary name (for GoLloyds type transfers): 受取人 (うけとりにん, uketorinin)
Financial Institution (the “receiving” bank, or recipient): 振込先 (ふりこみさき, furikomi saki)
Bank name: 銀行名 (ぎんこうめい, ginkoumei)
Branch name: 支店名 (してんめい, shitenmei)
Account Number: 口座番号 (こうざばんごう, kouza bangou)
Remitters/payers name: 振込人名 (ふりこみじんめい, furikomi jinmei)
other words to know:
furikomi (bank transfer): 振込 (ふりこみ) – sometimes this is preceded by お
bank: 銀行 (ぎんこう, ginkou)
account: 口座 (こうざ, kouza)
regular deposit: 普通預金 (ふつうよきん, futsuyokin)
confirm: 確認 (かくにん, kakunin)
correction: 訂正 (ていせい, teisei)
amount: 金額 (きんがく, kingaku)
cancel: 取り消し (とりけし, torikeshi)
go back/return: 前に戻る (まえにもどる, mae ni modoru)
cash: 現金 (げんきん, genkin)
*When doing a furikomi, keep in mind there should be a cancel button on every screen if you need to stop the process at any time (say, a line 20 people long are standing behind you, starting to invade your personal space). You’ll see confirm and correction typically when entering information.
how to do a furikomi (bank transfer)
I just want to apologize in advance for the lack of quality pictures – I had a mad horde of folks surrounding me from behind, waiting for me to hurry up and finish as I discreetly and hastily snapped photos with my iPhone.
1. Make sure to choose 日本語 (Japanese) on the main screen, instead of English (unless the ATM you use has a transfer function in English, then you won’t need to worry about the rest of this tutorial).
2. Press お振込, the polite form of “furikomi”. (Some ATMs may just say 振込). In the picture it is the button on the bottom.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
Surviving in Japan: 7 Words to Know When You Have a Cold (in Japan)
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Ashley Thompson is "Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese."
Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Here are some essential Japanese words you might want to know if you come down with a cold in Japan.
I tend to stick to more natural remedies when possible, but when the symptoms are bad enough, I head for the drugs (medicine). Although, and some of you may already know about this, eastern medicine, or kanpou, is used in Japan.
So where do you find cold medicine? The best places to look are your local daily goods store and/or local pharmacy – called 薬屋 (くすりや, kusuri ya) or 薬局 (やっきょく, yakkyoku). 薬 (くすり, kusuri) means drugs/medicine. Now, let’s look at some of the most common cold symptoms and the corresponding Japanese so you know what to look for (or ask for) when seeking out cold medicine in Japan.
WIT Life #162: Japan Tobacco
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WITLife 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.
My interpreting travels currently take me to Raleigh, NC, once home to a thriving tobacco industry. However, in addition to formerly being a center for textiles and furniture, those days are gone and different sectors have risen to take their place. As the group I am working with is studying economic revital
ization, yesterday we visited the American Tobacco Historic District, once home to America’s largest tobacco plant. It has been converted into a multi-functional area which maintains the character of the historic buildings, while at the same time incorporating modern aspects to create a vibrant community of businesses and restaurants (We got to visit the headquarters of Burt’s Bees which is housed there!).
In an interesting incidence of convergence, before heading to the district I read an article in the WSJ about how Japan’s disaster has affected its tobacco industry. It highlights how Read More
WITLife 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.
I finally had a chance to sort through the pictures from my recent trip to Japan, which brought back many happy memories. I think I found them hard to deal with until now as they represent the demarcation between pre and post quake (I left the day before it hit). But I bit the bullet and looked at them for the first time since my travels, and I felt ok. I tried to think of my friends rebuilding their lives post-disaster and somehow getting by thanks to their hope for the future. As trite as it sounds, at this point they are taking things one day at a time as that is all they can do in the midst of the immense uncertainty that remains.
On a lighter note, one of the things that I love to do when I go back to Japan is check out the new flavors of items in konbini and other stores. One brand I am always sure to find is Read More
There’s a very thoughtful article titled “This is what public diplomacy looks like“ by JET alum Emily Metzgar, Assistant Professor at Indiana University’s School of Journalism, on the Center for Public Diplomacy blog (which is part of the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communications). (This is the same Emily Metzgar conducting the Survey of American Alumni of the JET Program.)
Here’s an excerpt that captures the gist of the piece, namely that JET is providing Japan with a significant “return on JET-vestment“:
“But in the aftermath of Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami, the value of having a large, worldwide network of college-educated foreigners who understand, respect and appreciate Japanese society and culture continues to emerge. A look at a JET alumni networking website, JETwit.com, provides ample evidence of the many ways in which current and former JETs are responding in whatever ways they can to the disaster hitting a country that all of them, at one time or another, have called home.”
CLICK HERE to read the full article.
JET alum Canon Purdy’s “Save Miyagi Fund”
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By Jen Wang (Miyagi-ken, Tome-shi, 2008-09), writer for J-music website Purple Sky. She also maintains her own J-pop culture blog, Gaijin Teacher Otaku.
JET alum and tsunami survivor Canon Purdy (Miyagi-ken, Shizugawa-cho, 2008-10) has created the Save Miyagi fund with her family to help the students in Minamisanriku. Currently she is working with the mayor and the BOE to determine where the funds are needed most.
In addition to seeking donations, she is asking both current and former JETs to send her links to fundraisers and other charity events to be promoted on the Save Miyagi site. She is also looking for photos of places before they were destroyed by the tsunami to send to the victims as a way to raise morale and give them something to hold onto.
You can email your links and photos to canon.purdy [at] gmail.com .
Surviving in Japan: How to Find (Good) Toothpaste in Japan
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Posted by Ashley Thompson (Shizuoka-ken, 2008-2010) of Surviving in Japan: without much Japanese and Lifelines columnist for The Japan Times.
Another one of those “living in Japan” myths claims that Japanese toothpaste generally doesn’t work. Or that it doesn’t contain fluoride. And some folks go so far as to insist this is one of the main reasons why Japanese people have bad teeth. (I hope you realize this is a generalization, and not one that I came up with nor believe!) Of course I bought into this myth, although a few people mentioned something about Aquafresh toothpaste, and brought four tubes with me from the States. Nothing wrong with bringing toothpaste with you, but you certainly don’t need to waste luggage space on it. So let’s delve into toothpaste.
The toothpaste I’m going to examine here is Aquafresh, although some other brands offer similar ingredients. I browsed a local daily goods store and discovered that about two-thirds of the products listed fluoride as an active ingredient. Granted, most toothpaste probably did lack fluoride years ago as well as other ingredients of “modern” toothpaste, but it seems that many brands have caught up now. So first, some words to know: — CLICK HERE to read the rest of the post.
WIT Life #160: 電気予報
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WITLife 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.
The title of this post is not a misprint; I purposely typed 電気予報 (denki yohou or electricity report), not 天気予報 (tenki yohou, or weather report). According to this morning’s news, in order to deal with the expected uptick in electricity usage during the summer months, there is a proposal being floated around of providing electricity news via TV and radio periodically throughout the day. The purpose is twofold: to try and decrease mandatory blackouts and increase awareness of energy conservation. These reports would include forecasts of supply and demand in specific areas, as well as directions regarding usage. This is an interesting concept, and certainly not foreign for a country whose news regularly provides Read More
