Kyoto-Nara EU Association

Hi there!!

As usual, we had English club this month.

Thank you so much for all who joined and supported us.

This month, we welcomed the same guest as the last month, Ms Brigitte Ando.

Though guest was the same as the last month's English club, the topic she told us was different. This month, instead of telling us how she felt travelling the outside of the France, she introduced France to us from her original and unique perspective. She told us "What French people do" and "what are so unique about French people" compared to other countries with some quizes.

The first quiz was so difficult. She asked us "Where is France?". How the quetion can be so difficult to answer? Find out from the video below.

What!? It surprised me a lot. No explanation was made in the video, but she told us why it is after the video was cut. Saying it simply, France has oversea departments and territories(which is called DOM-TOM) in other parts of the world, and goes without saying, it belongs to France. See here for clearer explanations.

Another great momment. She asked us "Where is the center of the france?"

Her sense of humour is wonderful!! I really loved that.

She told us so many interesting things of France like how french people chose names (according to her, there are books of names and their former users, and people choose names of their children from it) or this one.

Generally speaking, I think we could spent a really good time thanks to the quizes she made. It made it easier for people to join the conversation.

Anyway, the next English club is on...

I'll tell you more later

Hi there!

This month, we'll welcome Ms.Brigitte Ando again as the guest

Last month, she entertained us a lot with her humor and interesting story tellings.

This month, she will tell us more about her experiences of travelling and French culture.

Let's have fun!!

Hi there!

This month, we have English club on February 12th.

Let's have a good time together

This time, we'll welcome  guests, Mr.Jorge Aigla and Ms.Brigitte Ando.

Mr.Jorge Aigla was born on 1954 in Mexico city. He got MD(Medical Doctor) at University of California. Since then, working as a medical examiner, teaching anatomy and physiology at City College and St. Mary's University, he practiced Karate-Do and got 8th degree black belt. He is now a member of ATMA (American Teachers Association of the Martial Arts). As a poet, he published "First Lie/Primera Mentira", "Subliminary", "The Cycle of Learning/EI Ciclo de Aprendizaje" etc.

Ms.Brigitte Ando is from Lyon in France. She learned English at University of Lyon. She is now working for institutions like Japan-France Association. Since last year, she lives in Nara with her husband and her 2 children. Also, she joined Soiree DE Nara last month.

Hi there!

The very first English club this year was held on January 14th.

Thank you so much for all who had joined and supported us.

This month, we welcomed the guest from UK. Her name is Hannah Bayley.

She is currently analysing Japanese supernatural Horror movie and its American remake in Keele University.

This time, we had a chance to hear her talks about her discoveries.

She told us a lot about her discoveries. What I was the most attracted in her presentation was an idea of "music translation". This idea means that when you remake a movie of abroad, you need to translate not only the script but also the background musics. Saying more precisely, the way of producing "fear" should be different between original and its remake.

Cultural difference seems to be leading to the different direction. Wow! She told us that Japanese way of producing fear has so much in common with the old Japanese culture. According to her, the one of the trends of Japanese way of producing is "blunks and pausings", and which is really similar to "Ma" in Kabuki. She showed us an example of a scene in Japanese movie, "Juon", and its Hollywood remake, "The Grudge". As she said, in Japanese version, there were a lot of blunks and pausings. However, in its Hollywood remake, score was much more dense and many of the blunks had been cut.

After that was a Q&A time.

She was so friendly and entertaining.

Anyway, the next English club is on...

I'll tell you in details later HERE.

For the first English club of this year, we'll welcome the guest from Middle England. Her name is Hannah Bayley. She's currently doing some researches about sound effect and music of films in Keele University in Staffordshire.

Since October 2014, getting fellowship from AHRC, she is doing her researches in 日文研(International Research Center for Japanese Studies). Her research theme is focused on Japanese horror movies and their American remakes. For instance, she compared the sound of 2 movies which made "Macbeth" by Shakespeare in to a movie. One of them is by Orson Welles and the other is by Akira Kurosawa. She also compared music and sound effect of Japanese movie, "Juon", with its Hollywood remake, "The Grudge".

She is also a talented musician. She Learned violin and piano, and played an organ in the church.

Hi there!!

EU English club this month was a lot of fun. Thank you so much for sho joined and supported us.

This time, we welcomed a stage & costume designer, Ms.Dorothee Curio from Berlin. She let us see the backstage of her creative activities. Using an example of an Opera, she told us from where she gets inspiration and how does she give shapes to the stages or costumes.

Interesting thing is, she didn't use any kind of order made things to get & form her idea. For example, she made an stage of an opera by processing a photo of a building using "Photoshop". Using the software, she turned that building upside down and added many elements to shape the set. Though it is an famous software for image procesing, the finished product looked so charactoristic and beautiful.

After the talk was a time for introduction & question.

I don't know weather it is because her talk was interesting or the mood she has was very friendly, I felt everyone was enjoying the conversation than usual.

Mr.Patrick Saint, who was joined us as a guest before, joined us again this time. Superisingly, he has published an kindle book about cooking!! Moreover, he will opens a show of his painting in Osaka. Please check them out if you feel curious about it!!!

And, because it was the last English club this year, we went a cafe together with the guests, she and her boyfriend, and had a friendly chat.

Next English club is on next year's...

Hi there,

Information for the next English club!!!

Once again, we will wecome the guest from Germany. Her name is Dorothee Curio. She's currently working as a free stage set & costume designer in Berlin. She builds a connection between the real world and images in her heart. Her works of art can be seen in various theatres of Germany. She's now working on a project called "Kyoto Street View Project", in the way she made a picture book of Namie-machi in Fukushima using "Google Street View" in 2011.

See more about her (here!!)

Day

Charge

Place

Hi!!

November's English was lovely. We had a really great time!!! Thank you so much for everyone who joined or supported us

This time we welcomed the guest from Berlin. He's name is Sven Pfeiffer He was very friendly and told us a lot about an event he will participate, a book he involved, and the place he's currently living in.

In his presentation, he told us about some effective uses of wind in ancient houses, and the trend of Japanese architecture. The houses' photo he showed us was really strange and beautiful. Then, he told us about the architectures he involved. He believes in the potentials of old style of building. Which means, on the one hand he has present technique, and on the other hand he has ancient technique, then he mixed them together to built something new.

Now in Kyoto, he's determining another idea of building. The famous construction method called "systems building". The world he invited us seemed so curious and comfortable. Looks weird, but in fact, it is really effective and beautiful. "Beauty" is something so vague and uncatchable. It sometimes shows up in the place nobody expects and it sometimes runs away from the place which had been desired. Even the person with a keen sense can be fails to catch the "beauty". So, it was interesting how most of them looked so nice.

Anyway, the next English club will be held in

I'll tell you more about it later.