French Club Meeting with Michèle Corsange, Ornithologist, and 3 new French residents in Nara

Tuesday evening, 16 June, at the monthly French Club meeting held at the Cafe Wakakusa, 2 minutes walk from Kintetsu Nara station.
http://www.cafewakakusa.com/cafe_WAKAKUSA/MAP.html

Pierre Silvestri, club host, introduced Laetitia Boeuf and Remi Samuel, two French people who have recently moved to Nara.

Laetitia, a student at Nara University of Education and the Universisty of Lyon 3, became interested in Japan through the study of Japanese religions. Then, one day she heard the sound of the language on a TV interview and decided to come and study in Japan.

Remi, a researcher at Nara University of Education, is passionate about Japan. When he was young he spent 2 weeks in Japan on a trip with his mum, and decided to spend a year in a Japanese high school in Tokyo. But during this stay in Tokyo, he found it really difficult to communicate with the other students and it was a difficult time. But he loves Japan and returned. He has been living in Japan for 4 and half years.

Another Frenchmen living in Nara, David Smith, has opened a language school and translation office near the Wakakusa Café. By chance he joined our meeting and talked to us about Burgundy, where both he and Remi are from. He became interested in Japan through anime, and then at age 18, when an illness confined him to bed for 6 months, he decided to study Japanese to pass the time. He has lived in Japan for the past 5 years and continues to learn foreign languages.

Our main guest this evening was Michèle Corsange. She spoke passionately about her love for birds and the environment.
Pierre asked her why a teacher of French Literature would become an ornithologist, and she replied that because her father was a botanist she had always had an interest in the Natural Sciences. When she was forced to stop teaching due to illness, a friend invited her to go hiking in the mountains to see some birds. Thanks to that trip, she recovered from her illness and this lead to another bird watching trip to Japan to observe her favourite bird, the eagle. She is also a member of the Tancho (crane) Protection group in Hokkaiko,
http://www6.marimo.or.jp/tancho1213/

She will visit Hokkaido this year, having spent 4 weeks in Nara promoting the the Tancho protection association. To follow the rest of the discussion, please check the link in Japanese.
http://eurokn.seesaa.net/article/121679952.html

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, 21 July. More details to come on this blog.