Good luck and Thank you!

Last night marked the end of my term as the English teacher for the Nyuzen eikaiwa class. It was a great two years. We've had endless interesting discussions (approximately 80) covering every topic from rugby to fireflies, American politics to how to make salsa and Japanese funeral customs to education reform. It's been a fun learning and teaching experience for me. And hopefully the students learned a new phrase or two in the process.

Keep up the blog! I'll be checking in to see what your latest discussion/zine topic is!

Best of luck and please keep in touch!

Our LAST Tuesday Evening Together!

Oh no!! Everyone was supposed to make a funny face!

It's a hook, rainbow, sock....

Playing to perfection!

Tackle someone else next time!


The FAREWELL Party!!

Presented with a beautiful Japanese fan!

Dinner at Sakura Sweets

Too much food and too much to drink!

Getting to know the new English teacher, Ms. Linea!

Friends Forever, ne!

My Life in Nyuzen by T. Yamaguchi

Hellow, everyone.

My name is Tetsuo Yamaguchi, and I will soon be 80. I was an English teacher, I retired at age 70. Now I live with my son's family in the country. I have a small vegetable garden around my house. I grow peas, eggplants, tomatoes, green peppers, onions, cucumbers, water melons and pumpkins. I don't use pesticides, because I have a dog. It usually plays in the yard, and I don't want it to eat vegetables polluted with chemicals. I use only organic fertilizer. I don't use insecticide , either. Our family enjoys safe and fresh vegetable. We also have kiwi, persimon, citron and kumquat trees.

Growing vegetables is a constant job. But it gives me a moderate amount of excercise to keep me in shape.

I know we can't stop growing old, but I hate to get senile. So I try to read as many books as possible. Fortunately I have a lot of free time on my hands. I also have lots of books to read. mostly English books. I've forgotten many English words since I retired. Yes, ten years is a long time.

I think I stopped learning when I retired. The proverb "Teaching is learning" has taught me a good lesson. I have found my English is rusty. I know I have to start over. That's why I decided to join this Nyuzen English Class in order to prevent senility as well.

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Mr. Yamaguchi doesn't have a computer or email, so I typed this out for him but did not change any of his words or sentences. He can't check the comments or leave comments for others, but if you leave him comments, we will print them out and give them to him.

The pictures are of gardens in Nyuzen that I've taken in the last two years.

Tokyo by H. Sasaki

“ After all I love Tokyo.” a friend of mine said after returning from her friend’s daughter’s wedding party in Tokyo. She stayed over night in the room on the 21st floor of the hotel in ODAIBA. “Underneath us the night view was spread out like the sea. It was so beautiful.” She looked excited.

Tokyo is proceeding with a reorganization program currently. A lot of old buildings are being rebuilt. Some buildings have a clear concept of attracting people, even office buildings such as ROPPONGI HILLS and MARUBIRU. They are shapely and stylish.

There are many characteristic downtowns in Tokyo. For example, HARAJUKU is a very fashionable and trendy place especially for teenagers. SHIBUYA is for college students. There are many colleges and schools around there. There are a lot of electric appliances stores in AKIHABARA where there is a unique OKAKU culture ( OTAKU is people who are crazy about something, Computer-OTAKU, Anime (animation) -OTAKU or Game (TV game) –OTAKU, etc. ). They support the Maid Cafés there.

I should not forget to mention a distinguished area, it is GINZA. There are many established stores, high-class bars and restaurants, some department stores and famous brand shops such as CHANEL, LOUIS VITTON, HERME’S, GUCCI, etc. It used to be a pronoun of downtowns. There are many such-and-such GINZA throughout Japan. Of course, we have NYUZEN-GINZA.

ODAIBA is a new downtown. It is very refined. The mono-rail train takes us there from the nearby JR (Japan Railway Company) stations. It weaves its way through about the 4 or 5th floor of the surrounding buildings. No operator is on it, it is automatic. It reminds me of the picture on the wall of Nyuzen elementary school which my children graduated from titled “ The Future City “ which was painted by children many many years ago.

Beauties of a big city consist of long straight metallic lines of buildings, the lights and people, I think. It is the intelligence and energy that has created Tokyo that attracts me to it. TOKYO is always evolving and I can not take my eyes off it.

The Problem of Small Local Shopping Streets by M. Kanaya

The mass media says Japan’s economy is in unprecedented good times. In fact, many big companies are gaining the highest profit in their history. On the other hand, people – even office workers of big companies – say they do not feel those profits in their everyday life. According to the T.V. and newspaper, it is because they have not gotten a raise.

Recently I decided to close my pharmacy on Nyuzen’s main street. Nyuzen is a small town in Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Someone said it’s a car street not a shopping street, and another person said it’s a “ghost town.” People go shopping at big stores far from our main street. They are selling things cheaper than our prime costs. As a result, many small stores are closing. There are so many empty stores and parking spaces on our street now. There used to be four supermarkets about twenty years ago, but now there’s none! There used to be a fairly big clothing store next to my pharmacy, but it’s a parking area now. In addition, there is only one child under 18 in our district. Most children of shopkeepers don’t want to take over their parents businesses. And parents don’t want them to either.

There are so many customers in big stores, but even for them it’s not easy to carry through, because there are bigger stores which have bigger capital. Someone said “Money flows from the lower place to the higher place.” People know that this was caused the deregulation policy. I know the deregulation is necessary to compete against foreign countries, but I also know that there are many people who are being left behind.

Back to my problem; when I look around the situation of our shopping street and myself, I think it’s time to change my life–style. I think it’s the best decision for me, but I was very sorry for my neighbors because I left another empty store on our already quiet street.

The economy is always moving. A big turning point is coming to the commercial businesses. People, who can not drive, won’t be able to go shopping on the outskirts in our aging society. People will need stores close to their houses. But I think those stores are quite different from today’s personal stores. In fact, some big companies are going to start new businesses. There will be many small stores opened by them in the city centers in the near future.