Patrick M Saint, guest of the EU English club of 9th July

- Born in Pennsylvania, United States, 1982. His parents took him back to Taiwan shortly after and subsequently moved to New Zealand when I was 10 years old

- He Graduated from Auckland University (New Zealand) with Bachelor of Software Engineering

- However, he was in real estate business for more than 9 years instead of becoming an engineer

- His hobby is oil painting and he is now earnestly visiting art galleries in Japan in hope to elevate his understanding of art.

- His wife is Japanese who also grew up in New Zealand. We currently live in Tomio, Nara. 

Haruko Rhoads guest for the EU English Club of Sunday November 10th (Nara Gakuenmae Seibu Kominkan)

From Atlanta, Georgia , the United States. Currently reside in Osaka.
Education
Graduated from Georgia State University in July, 2003. Studied Japanese language and International Business. Participated in a student exchange program at Kansai Gaidai University for one semester from January to May, 2003.
Professional Experience
Returned to Japan in August, 2007 as an Assistant Language Teacher for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. Presently employed as a full time English instructor.
Promote Japanese traditional culture. Cooperate with the Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Yamamoto Noh Theater. Translate traditional Osaka performing arts into English. Translation projects include ozashiki-asobi at an ochaya, rakugo, kodan, rokyoku, and nankin tamasudare. Introduce traditional performing arts at Yamamoto Noh Theater in the event "An Evening of Traditional Osaka Performing Arts" English version.

Interests
Study kodan as an amature. Started training under Kyokudo Nanryo IV in February, 2013.
Practice Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu Iaido.
Travel around Japan to learn more about Japan's history in the Edo and Bakumatsu Periods. Interested in Miyamoto Musashi, Shibukawa Shunkai, Sakamoto Ryoma, and other historical figures.

Nara English Club on Wednesday 12th October with Carly Amber from Australia

Wednesday (attention!! Not on Tuesday this month) 12th October from
19:00, we'll meet for the EU English Club in Nara Prefecture Cultural
Center (Nara Ken Bunka Kaikan) in Meeting Room #3 (Dai3 Kaigishitsu),
5 minutes by walk from Kintetsu Nara Station next to (before) Nara
Prefecture.
Below is the website of Nara Prefecture Cultural Center.
http://www.pref.nara.jp/dd_aspx_menuid-22520.htm

Enquiry: 070-5072-4862 [e-mail]
1000 yen for members, 1500 yen for non members, Europeans & English
speakers will be invited.

The guest of English club is Carly Amber from Sydney, Australia.
You'll have here her self-introduction :

"I went to a Catholic high school in Manly, Sydney and my main
subjects were Japanese and History. I went on to move to Canberra to
study for a Bachelor Arts (History and International Relations) and
Bachelor Asian Studies (Japanese) and an Honours year in history,
focussing on the relationship between Japan and Australia during 1942
when Japanese submarines attacked Sydney Harbour. (I could send you
my thesis if you are interested!)

I work as an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) at Kashihara Senior High
School now, but I'm still not sure what I would like to do when I go
back to Australia in the future - something to do with history and
Japan I hope!!

Please let me know if you need any more information!

Carly."


◆◇◆The EU Music Festa in MaDonald's in Nara◇◆◇

Sunday 16th October from 15:00-18:00.
Participation : free +drink (+hamburger)
15:00 : Do to Re to Mi Si (male singer & female pianist, pops)
http://dotoretomisi.com/
16:00-18:00 : Marshall Ohki Band (jazz)
H. Mizutani (sax), M. Ueda (piano), J. Carroger (bass), M. Ohki (drums)
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/ka4h200/map/
http://musicanara.blogspot.com/


◆◇◆Nara French Club on Tuesday 18th October with Pierre Silvestri◇◆◇

From 19:00 to 21:00 in Nara Prefecture Cultural Center (Nara Ken Bunka
Kaikan) in Meeting Room #3 (Dai3 Kaigishitsu), 5 minutes by walk from
Kintetsu Nara.
http://www.pref.nara.jp/dd_aspx_menuid-22520.htm
Guests : Pierre Sivestri (director and editor of videos) and...
1000 yen for members, 1500 yen for non members, French speakers will be invited.


◆◇◆Looking for volunteers for the Music Events◇◆◇

Now Kyoto-Nara EU Association is preparing for the music events for
Tuesday 3rd November: the autumn concerts in the Nara Prefecture, the
Nara National Museum and in McDonald's Nara.
We are now looking for volunteers for the events.
Please contact us : [e-mail] TEL:[phone]

Eco Schools for a Sustainable Future By Luke Santamaria

Let us imagine! Imagine the future of education. Imagine schools which have facilities that use solar energy and wind energy, recycle rainwater, and have other environmentally friendly facilities. Imagine schools that teach environmental education to the students in order for them to live an environment friendly lifestyle. Imagine schools that involve the community in maintaining and protecting the environmental resources of each region through environmentally sound businesses, trade, programs and policies. In fact these schools are already sprouting up all over the world. These are mostly called Eco Schools.

In Japan, the Ministry of Education Science Culture and Sports in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment have begun the Eco School Pilot Project Program in 1997. Currently there are around 600 eco schools in Japan. Public schools are renovated and outfitted with environmentally friendly technology and the curriculum and other school activities are modified to teach children to about the nature in order for them to develop environmentally friendly lifestyles and habits with the ultimate goal to influence the students' respective households. Despite many problems concerning costs, division of responsibilities and the response of teachers and parents; the project is fairly successful. I have one more thing in mind to make the schools more beneficial to the community. What follows is what I invite you to imagine with me.

I was a special education teacher in the Philippines for three years. Teaching children with special needs made me realize a few things. In the Philippines, the foremost priority of education is to have a college degree in order to be able to work locally or abroad. However, many children with special needs cannot achieve this and barely reach high school level because they can barely read and write well. So most children with special needs, not being able to have a steady job end up staying at home and become dependent on their parents which ultimately have an ill effect society.

I came to Japan to study eco schools with the goal of establishing an eco school in the Philippines. As I continue my research I have discovered many possibilities regarding the eco school project. Let me name three of them for now. These three are eco schools as (1) alternative energy sources for the neighborhood, (2) vocational training center for farming and livestock, and (3) a new form of vocational education for people with disabilities.

Continue to imagine the Eco School building in your minds. A typical eco school has solar panels which gather energy from the sun and utilize them for the use of the school. Other eco schools also use wind energy to supplement energy use. Now what if Japan's brilliant minds can develop a technology that can store energy gathered from wind and solar energy sources. Then the Eco School which has these facilities can be tapped by neighboring households as alternative to regular nuclear powered or gas powered energy. With over 600 eco schools in Japan, each eco school will function as an energy distribution center with no threat of a meltdown especially on days when the school facilities are not used such as summer time when solar energy can be gathered in great amounts. This is a great alternative to the unstable and dangerous nuclear energy which Japan is relying on for now. While Japan continues to shift towards alternative forms of environmentally friendly energy production, Eco Schools will be able to supplement the lack of energy to the neighboring households.

Continue to imagine an eco school campus with small patches for vegetables and fruit bearing trees. And along with this, add a small pasture where students can help raise livestock such as sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. Students will be able to help the community in farming and raising livestock while being trained in these occupations. In a world where agricultural productions are decreasing most especially in first world countries, thus a country able to generate its own food to feed its population will be self-sustaining. Children will become aware that not everything can be relied on technology and that actual agricultural and livestock products can be a fruitful vocation. With more than 600 eco schools in Japan having such farming and livestock facilities and educational programs, the school will be a center for agricultural trade. Community members who are skilled in such a vocation can help as teachers in teaching the students about this vocation or as assistants in maintaining the facilities and taking care of the animals. An eco school will support the farmer's market concept by selling its fresh produce to the local community. Most foods will no longer be transported from faraway regions or imported from abroad. Even an eco school in an urban area can become a small food source within a neighborhood. And if many eco schools in a city can do the same, think of the possibilities of self-sustenance.

And finally, imagine my goal. Imagine a school with a special education class that not only teaches the basic academics to children with special needs but trains them to farm and raise livestock. Ultimately, most children with special needs will not be able to enter a regular corporation and their able colleagues will go on to such jobs. However, these children will be taught to continue the farming and livestock vocation which are available in eco schools. They will be employed by the eco schools to maintain the small farms and pastures within the campus and help train future children as part of the environmental education curriculum. Children with special needs then will be able to have their own job while supporting the environment and nurturing the future generations. This is a much better vision compared to them finishing their schooling but becoming dependent members of society who just stay at home or are sent to nursing homes.

Let's go back to reality. There is an energy crisis, and with the recent disasters, people are giving up on the idea of nuclear power generation. There is also food shortage brought by increasing population, the preference for sophisticated non-agricultural jobs, and as well as the effects of global warming and other disasters affecting food producing regions. And to top that, even if the population of children is decreasing the population of children with special needs is a stable number. A country such as Japan is encountering these same problems. Maybe with the exception of a decreasing population of children, progressive countries such as the Philippines are encountering such problems. With my research and proposed ideas, Japan can fully develop the eco school project and finally reach the point where most disadvantages of the Eco School such as costs of the facilities and disagreements in methods and policies. Japan then, with a well tested eco school project, can export the concept of Eco Schools around the world, of course with me preferring that South East Asian countries which mostly receive project support from Japan be a priority.

South East Asia is primarily tropical so solar energy and wind energy sources are abundant all year long. Plus, the region is mostly known for its agriculture. The regions industrialization stage will be of help as it provides products for the eco school facilities which lead to an increase in employment and trading. Also there is an abundance of raw materials such as silicon for solar panels which are found among beaches. With Japan opening the trade for materials and resource for eco schools while cooperating with each country's governments, the number of eco schools in the South East Asia will increase and following as what we have imagined, each country will become self-sufficient and hopefully, with good governance become economically stable. All this is of thanks to Japan who started a kind of eco school system which combines environmentally efficient facilities and environmentally sustainable programs compared to other environmental school concepts.

So can you imagine how the future would be with the number of such Eco Schools increasing around the world?

I also realized that eco schools can be a very effective evacuation center in times of disasters. But that's for me to tell you at another opportunity.

Graduate Student
Educational Administration Laboratory
Comparative Educational Policies Division
Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University

The brief self introduction of Michael Johnson

"I was born and grew up in southern California. In college I studied
modern literature with a focus on french literature and literary
theory. I studied in Paris for about a year, and during that time I
met some people who taught English in Japan...
After college I worked as waiter while I studied Japanese and earned a
certificate in teaching English as a second language. I got a job with
AEON and came to Nara in 2007 worked until last month.
My hobby is aikido, and I earned a black belt in 2010.
This year in may I'm going to move to Washington DC and pursue a
masters degree in international economics. In the future I would like
to teach at a university.
Let me know if there is anything else you want to know."

Attractive Ireland

Chiyoko Sudo

Ireland is one of my favorite countries. The land is full of green as its symbol color shows. Ireland is written in Japanese as “愛蘭土” which means “Land of Love and Flowers”. That sounds nice. And their Celtic culture attracted me a lot. So I traveled around Ireland in May 2007.

I saw stone monuments called High Cross several times. Mixed form of cross and circle. Its circle means eternity and the design of High Cross shows the fusion of the sun worship as one of the nature worship and Christianity which was preached by St. Patrick. That reminded me the fusion of Japanese Shinto and Buddhism.

Celtic rope pattern shows eternity because there is no beginning and end, meaning everlasting spirit after death and its spiritual progress. Halloween is said to be originated from the ancient Celtic tradition. Finishing harvest at the end of October and winter is coming soon, during that period people in this world and their relatives in the other world can interact. That idea is like “盂蘭盆” (Urabon , the Bon Festival) which is Buddhism custom and spread all over Japan.

About 50 km north of Dublin there are many ancient tombs which were built thousands years ago around the Boyne Valley along the River Boyne. Among them Newgrange is enormous, the diameter of that round tomb is about 80m and it was constructed to make the sun light coming in during the winter solstice. Newgrange means “The Cave of the Sun”.

I also saw the gigantic stone tomb, Poulnabrone Dolmen, meaning “The Giant’s Table” in the Burren region. That reminded me “石舞台” （Tomb Ishi-butai , the Stone Stage）in Asuka region in Nara Prefecture. I also found the stone statue like the Asuka’s “猿石” （Saru-ishi, Monkey Stone）.

After traveling around Ireland, I got much more interested in the megalithic culture and Celtic culture in Ireland.

From “Encounters and English”

by Chiyoko Sudo

I was among the first generation of Japanese T.V. watchers. My favorite programs were “We Love Dad,” “Laramie,” “Lassie,” “The Adventure of Robin Hood,” “The Patty Duke Show,” and so on. I enjoyed watching these foreign programs and naturally got interested in English language and culture. At that time I was rather reserved, and not accustomed to expressing my opinion in the presence of others. Soon after I entered junior high school I joined E.S.S club. Due to my participation in English language plays, and also recitation contests, I gradually learned to speak more assertively.
Years later, I majored in English at university, and when I first traveled to European countries, and discovered that I could really communicate with people in English, I was very happy.
As I grew in my awareness of the world, I became attracted to the United Kingdom.
It seemed to me to be conservative enough on the one hand to protect many of the people’s traditions and historical places, while on the other there was a spirit of innovation and the energy to produce creativity and entirely new ideas. I thought this was a good blend of both worlds, the old and the new, and the actions taken by the British people were much quicker than those of the Japanese.
I was impressed that when the results of the Industrial Revolution were sweeping over the land, some British people became apprehensive about the destruction of nature. The British founded the National Trust, a non-governmental organization which protects the beautiful natural landscape, wildlife, and many areas of historical and cultural interest. One of the persons behind this wonderful project was Beatrix Potter, the author of Peter Rabbit. She wrote this story originally to console Noel, who was a bedridden boy. The story of Peter Rabbit is also very popular in Japan.
Once I traveled in the gentle and lovely Lake District, I became lost in the woods when looking more closely at the flowers than the paths I was taking, but a local man kindly showed me the right track. I was relieved, and his friendly direction added to the enjoyment of my trip and memories.
These encounters taught me the wonder of interacting in English with various people around the world, and led me to join a volunteer group, the good will guides of Nara.
We mainly provide tourist information in English at the several counters. One time I was pleased to guide a British group to some local gardens, and I mentioned my appreciation of British gardens. One of the couples I met lived quite close to one of my favorite gardens, Bodnant Garden, I had visited. They said that they really appreciate the style of Japanese and Asian gardens, and we had a happy laugh together because we were both attracted to the opposite forms of gardening.
This is a happy memory for me, and I think we are all just people, and to love a nature
is universal.

The way in which British people treat international students

by Inagaki Eriko

By staying in the UK for a year as an international student, it seems that they are excellent in welcoming and assisting international students who are unfamiliar to the UK.
In order to elaborate it, I will mention “Globe Café” in Birmingham.
Globe café is the name of the Christian group which organises the free activities to help international students adjust to British life. The staff of Globe café consists of several adults and many young people in their 20th and 30th.
There are largely two main activities.
Firstly Globe café runs a programme once a week in church near the University.
They set a theme each time such as the history of the UK, Christian festivals and the introduction of major cities; give presentation to the participants and answer questions.
At the same time they provide the Bible study for those who have an interest.
Secondly Globe café holds a one-day trip occasionally.
They give a ride to the international students and take them to many places like National Trust-owned heritage sites.
The idea is that students get accustomed to British life smoothly by meeting other international students as well as deepening understanding of the UK.
From what I have heard there are similar projects across the country.
These days Japanese universities also have increasing number of international students so I am tempted to know whether the same sort of activity is undertaken for them.

Conflict of English educations in Japan

by Shigehiro HASEGAWA

*America centered English education vs Japan centered English education
Am.: direct method, communicative approach, immersion program
English conversation school, ministry of education
Jp.: school grammar, traditional translation method, entrance exam English
*Three different types of countries where English is not their native tongue
1 European countries except Britain
where English is not their native tongue but the same language family
2 Almost all Asian and African countries
where they were colonized by English
3 Japan where people imported Western culture by translating English
* After the war, GHQ tried to conquer Japan culturally and mentally.
Current ideas about English and English education in Japan is the succession
of the ideas of English education forced by GHQ just after the war
* America centered English education is the trend in contemporary Japan
because of the economic power of America
* How should Japanese people study English?
What's the most effective way of learning English for Japanese people?

The Silk Road and Nara

by Seiji Tanaka
presented & translated by Chiyoko Sudo

In Nara Prefecture the Silk Road Exhibition was held in 1988 to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the formation of Nara Prefecture. The English name of “Silk Road” came from the German word “Seidenstrasse”, -so named by the 19th century German geographer Ferdinand von Richthofen11.
Western culture, originating in Rome, Spain, and other Mediterranean countries met and mingled with Oriental culture, originating in China, on this main Asian inland route.
In those days Chinese silk, a highly prized commodity in western countries, was transported along this route, thus giving rise to the name “Silk Road”. Today the Silk Road is the name given to the ancient trading routes that traverse the Eurasian Continent.
The traded products transported along these routes were very valuable treasures such as various kinds of silk fabrics, glass, ceramics, porcelain, gold and silver wares, jewelry of ivory, coral, and pearl, dyed goods, weapons, harness, musical instruments, court dance articles, paintings, sculptures, art and craft objects, spices, medicines, etc. Knowledge of medical treatment, civil engineering, architecture, and various technologies were also traded. Faith, religion, and various philosophies were also exchanged as many different races interacted. Splendid and exotic East Asian Culture was brought to Japan over a period of about 200 years by the envoys who visited China during the Sui and Tang Dynasty.
Take Buddhism for example. After the Buddha passed away, believers worshipped stones on which were carved a design of Buddha’s foot prints, or a bo tree. As the wave of Hellenism reached Gandhara (in north west of Pakistan), it influenced the sculpture techniques of Buddhist statues.
And the custom of worshipping Buddhist statues was transmitted from Persia (south west of Iran)
to China where Buddhism flourished, and so through Korea to Japan.