Volume 16, Number 3 |
Tsukuba Square Dance Club will conduct an American Square Dance beginners' class. Square dancing is a lot of fun, involving both rhythmic movement and a bit of puzzle-like brain work. It was originally an American folk dance, but in the last 30 years has been considerably altered to its modern form, which is now quite popular all over Japan, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia.
Our club, the Tsukuba Square Dance Club (TSDC), meets each Saturday evening, 7-9 p.m., to learn, teach, and enjoy square dancing, at the Takezono Public Hall (Takezono Kominkan), just behind (to the east of) the Takezono Shopping Center. We have about 70 members, men and women of all ages and various backgrounds, mostly Japanese. If some of you think you might be interested, or are just curious, drop by one of the Saturday evening meetings and take a look, please. No appointment is necessary.
| Dates: | March 9 to July 6, 2002 |
| Time: | 19:00 - 21:00 |
| Place: | Takezono Public Hall |
| Bring: | Indoor shoes |
| Cost: | 2000 yen (single), 3000 yen (couple) for 4 months |
| Contact: | Handa at 52-1415 (home), 61-8107 (office), hank@olive.ocn.ne.jp
Kudo at 36-1755 (home), 61-5666 (office), kkudo@sannet.ne.jp Web site www2d.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_square/ (Sorry web site is Japanese only at present.) |
The Tsukuba Cultural Foundation has organized an international cooking class to enhance communication through food, culture and international exchange. It will be held in the Kasuga Public Hall (2-36-1, Kasuga, tel. 0298-52-5422) on March 13th (Wed.) from 10 am to 2 pm. There is a registration fee of 500 yen. There is a limit of 25 participants, which will be filled on a first come first served basis. For more information, call the Tsukuba Cultural Foundation at 56-7007.
We will have a tea party on March 11. Please bring some tea (tea from your country, if possible) and let us try it. Snacks, sweets and Japanese-style confectionery will be served with a variety of teas. Join us and have a lot more fun.
| Dates: | March 11 (Mon) |
| Time: | 11:00 - 13:00 |
| Place: | Meet at the Daiei entrance leading to the bookstore at 10:50 and walk to the place together. |
| Bring: | Tea, cups, plates, spoons and forks, beverages for your children, your calling cards, (hot water and a teapot are available) |
| Contact: | Ms. Ishihara at 51-0284 |
Tsukuba International School will receive a 5% rebate of everything ordered during the week of March 10-16 that have "Tsukuba International School" written in on the line for that purpose on the order form. You don't even have to be in the Tsukuba area to do that. In fact, anyone in Japan who orders from FBC during that week can list TIS as the benefactor.
FBC is offering free shipping during that week for orders over \5000, and so that is an extra incentive for stocking up on items you need. FBC catalogs are available at the school and at the Tsukuba Christian Center/YMCA building near Daiei. For further information, call Tim Boyle at 55-1907.
We know that lasers are widely used for various applications such as light-wave communications and CD players, etc. An important feature of lasers is a possibility of generating a very strong light beam. Recently, a trillion watt (terawatt) class laser system became available with a table-top size. By using this terawatt laser pulse, the generation of X-rays and high-energy particles is thought to be possible on a comparatively small scale, which can be applied to X-ray lithography and radiotherapy, etc. In this talk, Dr. Kiminori Kondo will discuss the ultra-short, high-peak power laser and its applications.
Friday, March 15, 2002, Ninomiya House 9F Salon
The lecture begins at 6 pm and is followed by a question and answer time and free discussion. There is a 500 yen charge to cover drinks. Pre-registration is required. Please contact Ninomiya House (58-7006) by Wednesday, March 13. http://www.jistec.or.jp/house/news/evening_forum.html
An English language interdenominational worship service is held once a month normally on the fourth Sunday of every month at 2 pm. at the Tsukuba Gakuen Church near Daiei. The March service in on the 24th., which is "Palm Sunday," and so it will serve as a combination Palm Sunday and Easter. It is followed by an informal fellowship time at the Tsukuba Christian Center next door. The Japanese language congregation meets every Sunday morning at 10:30, and the service is translated into English over earphones. There is also a Bible Study in English every Wednesday evening at 8:30 in the Christian Center. For more information or help with transportation, call Tim Boyle at 55-1907.
The Tsukuba Catholic Church has an English mass at 8:00 am every Sunday and the Japanese masses on Saturday night (6 pm) and Sunday morning (10 am) are accompanied by an summary of the message in English. During Holy Week, there will be special masses on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 pm. There is even a Spanish mass on the 3rd Sundays at 3 pm. On the last Sunday of the month, there is a coffee social after the English mass. For information, call the church at 36-1723. The Tsuchiura Catholic Church offers an English mass on the last Sunday of each month at 3 pm (tel. 21-1501). There is also a Portuguese mass on the 3rd Saturday at 7 pm.
The Tsukuba Baptist Church offers an English language Bible study before the Japanese service every Sunday from 10 to 11 am. It is located in Inarimae just east of Nishi Odori on the street closest to the meteorological observation tower. Tel. 58-0655.
The Megumi Church in Tsuchiura (489-1 Kami Takatsu) also offers English translation of their 10:30 Japanese service over earphones. An English Bible class is held every Sunday morning at 9:00. There is also an International Fellowship group that holds a monthly pot luck dinner usually on the third Saturday. For information on that, call Melissa Ishio at 38-1374. For more information, call the church at 22-2244 or e-mail LDN03144@niftyserve.or.jp (Also see their Tsuchiura Megumi Church Web Page at http://www.bekkoame.ne.jp/ro/tmc/index.html).
The Tokyo International Church, Tsukuba Branch in Amakubo 3-3-5 (across from Tsukuba Univ.) offers a 10:30-noon Chinese (Mandarin) service interpreted into both English and Japanese. There is also an English language Bible study every Sunday evening at 7 pm. For information, call Rev. Huang at 52-6820.
The International Christian Assembly meets every Sunday at their church just off of Tsuchiura-Gakuen Sen east of Tsukuba (just behind the restaurant with the dragon on the roof) from 10 am for Bible Study and 10:30 for worship. On Easter Sunday, they will have their 5th Anniversary celebration with a dinner and drama following the service. For more information, call Tony Shreffler at 57-9006.
The Nozomi Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tsuchiura (23-27 Komatsu 3-chome) also offers programs in English, including a worship service Saturday evenings at 7:30 pm and a Bible class on Sunday mornings at 9:30. English Bible information courses are available any time. For more information, call Glen Hieb at 0298-21-3578. The Tsuchiura Christian Church offers an English message translated into Japanese every Sunday morning at 10:30 am. For information, contact Paul Axton at 56-2167.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Tsukuba ward is located at Sakura 2 chome 35-2. Services are translated into English over headphones. The Sacrament Meeting begins at 10 am followed by Sunday School at 11:10 and Priesthood and Relief Society at 12:00. A Gospel Doctrine class in English is also offered. For more information, contact 57-9795. The Jewish Community of Japan, invites anyone of the Jewish faith in the Tsukuba area to feel welcome at any of their programs in Tokyo. Sabbath services each Friday at 6:30 pm followed by Sabbath dinner; Kosher Kitchen, Saturday morning, 9:30 am. Contact 3-8-8 Hiroo, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 150; tel. 03-3400-2559, fax. 03-3400-1827.
The "cherry blossom front" is working its way north, and soon the Japanese news reports will include the progress of this "front" up the Japanese archipelago. The front usually arrives in Tsukuba about the end of March, meaning that the blossoms just begin to open at that time. They usually peak a week or so after that. This year, however, it looks to be well ahead of schedule, but the weather still to come will play a big role in when the magical event occurs.
In Tsukuba, there are a number of excellent places to enjoy the cherry blossoms, including: ** the walk along the Kokai River south from Fukuoka-seki (follow Tsuchiura-Noda Sen west towards Yawara and Mitsukaido, about 15 to 20 minutes by car from central Tsukuba)
The Kokai River walk is especially nice. Weekend evenings tend to be a bit noisy with "hanami" revellers, but other times are usually quiet and peaceful. Dress warmly, bring something to sit on (it is often muddy), and pack a picnic lunch.
If you don't mind going farther afield, Shimotsuma, Mito and Hitachi also have excellent trees. Located about 30 minutes to the northwest of Tsukuba on Route 125, Shimotsuma is known for its Sanuma Sun Beach, a great summer fun spot, but the entire Sanuma Lake itself is surrounded by cherry trees, making it a nice spring outing as well. To find it, continue on 125 past the junction with Route 294 for about 2 km., and turn to the right at the corner with all the stone lanterns, etc. It's on the right a few hundred meters from there.
Kairakuen in Mito is one of the most famous gardens in Japan and is especially well-known for its plum blossoms in early to mid March. There are, however, plenty of cherry trees as well. Hitachi's Kamine Park, located just north of Hitachi Station, has a very nice amusement park and a small zoo, all surrounded by about 1000 cherry trees. 700,000 Daffodils
Another kind of "hanami" well worth a trip is the Daffodil display at the Hitachi Seaside Park on the coast just east of Mito. With 700,000 daffodil bulbs of 102 varieties together with 30,000 hyacinth bulbs and other flowers, it is truly spectacular. The flowers are at their peak in late March or early April. Hitachi Seaside Park also includes an amusement park with 24 different attractions. It's a nice outing for a family affair. Beware, however, that it is closed on Mondays.
by Martin Pauly
(Editor's note: Occasionally, we bring back a classic for a rerun. Since Valentine's Day and "White Day" are coming up soon, we thought newcomers (which is 90% of you!) would enjoy this article.)
Recently I went to a "snakku" with several colleagues. A hostess with a few years on her poured me a drink. Her English was very good and she mentioned that she had taught English on both the high school and college level and had spent a few of her younger years as an exchange student in the US.
Several conversations were going on at our table and the topics "Valentine's Day" and "White Day" kept popping up. "Bet you don't know the real story of White Day," she said. "Ah, wasn't it started by a candy company to increase its sales of chocolates?" I answered. "There's more to it than that," she said, as another drink was poured.
"Ever been to Matsuyama in Shikoku?" I told her I had, and said that I had seen the beautiful castle. "Oh good, because that's where the White Day story starts. After the war the GHQ had a large installation in the center of the city, close to the castle. There's a fairly deep moat around the castle and sometimes the kids would swim in it. They weren't supposed to but things were a little chaotic after the war... and you know how boys are." We started to talk about raising kids, especially boys, so I had to steer her back on course. "Hey, get back to your story. It's really interesting." "Ah, sorry," she replied. "Want some more ice with the drink?'' "Anyway, like I was saying, one of the boys had some trouble in the water and his friend yelled for help. Two black American soldiers were walking nearby and one of them jumped in. The water was too deep for the boys but too shallow for a jump and the soldier broke his leg. But he, with the help of some passersby, managed to pull the boy out of the moat. It was a very heroic thing to do." As drinks were served and she put some raisin butter in my mouth she added that the boy was the mayor's nephew. "As you can imagine, the mayor was very happy and wanted to show his appreciation. His staff got in touch with the local US military commander and told of the mayor's plan to declare March 17th (the day of the rescue) Kokujin no Hi. But the mayor's staff had one question. What should they call the day in English?
The commander was overjoyed because he was always interested in improving community relations. He immediately sent a message saying that 'Negro Day' would be OK. This was in 1948 and that was the acceptable term for black people at the time. Do you remember Jackie Robinson and the old Negro League?" I told her I was too young to remember but I had heard of it. "Well, that name was immediately squelched because a word that sounds like Negro has a bad meaning in one of the Shikoku dialects." "Oh, what does it mean?" I asked innocently. "Har, har, har!" she laughed loudly. She said something to one of the younger hostesses and they both roared hilariously. "OK, OK," I said. "I don't want to know. Just continue with your story."
"Well, the commander understood the situation so he suggested 'Colored Day,' as that was another acceptable term at the time. But the mayor's staff didn't know that and were confused. Perhaps the American had misunderstood the situation? Hadn't the commander read that the two men were black? They looked in some reference books and found that there were yellow people, and red people, and white people, and brown people. They didn't want to honor those people. The mayor had specifically wanted to honor the black men. So the mayor sent a hurried message back to the commander (because the ceremony was going to be the following Sunday and they had to get the posters printed) asking if Black Day was acceptable. The commander wanted to say yes, but knew that the term "black" was considered derogatory in the late 40's." "Wow, what a complicated situation," I exclaimed. "It gets better yet," she said. "Have another Pocky and a drink."
"The commander was up for promotion and didn't want to jeopardize his career so he got in touch with the GHQ in Tokyo. A high-ranking lawyer from MacArthur's personal staff was flown down to Matsuyama and a large group of Americans met with the mayor's staff. After a four-hour meeting they came up with the name 'Rainbow Day.' It was a compromise for both sides but everybody seemed relatively happy." "I'm glad the story has a happy ending," I said. "But... uh.... I realize I'm a bit drunk, but what does this have to do with White Day?" "Oh, it's not finished. It gets better. It seemed like things were OK. There was an annual Kokujin/Rainbow Day celebration. But a strange linguistic development was taking place. The Japanese started to think that "rainbow" was the translation of "Kokujin" and school kids who were practicing their English would yell 'Hey, there's a rainbow!' at black soldiers instead of 'Kokujin da!' And at the same time Americans who were studying Japanese would point to the sky after a rainfall and tell Japanese people, 'Kokujin wa kirei desu ne.'
The error had stuck long after the Occupation was over, and in the '60s the mayor's son (who was now the mayor) appointed a commission to investigate the matter. The word "Black" was beginning to gain popularity in the US. Remember 'Black Power' and the song 'I'm Black and I'm Proud, Shout It Loud?'" "Sure," I answered, revealing my age. "So the commission proposed to the mayor that 'Black Day' was a good choice. The mayor readily declared March 17th as Black Day and ordered flyers and posters to be printed. But, unbeknownst to the mayor, there was a man on his staff who was a burakumin (an outcast). He had kept his origins secret but was now in a position to make a statement and what a statement he made. As he was in charge of publicity he ordered thousands of bilingual posters printed. When the posters came out there was an uproar and the mayor had the posters pulled down. Black in katakana was 'buraku'. And the name of the rock group he had invited was Black Sabbath, which came out as ...." "Buraku sabetsu," (discrimination against the buraku) I interjected. She then started to tell me about the Burakumin Liberation League and how some people wanted to openly discuss the topic and others thought it better not to. I was getting tired though.
"As you can imagine there was hell to pay. The man was fired. The name of the day was changed to White Day because the name of the black soldier was John White. And another strange development started happening. Japanese people thought that White Day meant Hakujin no Hi and started giving presents to white people on March 17th." She suggested that I remind Japanese people of the meaning of White Day and see if I could get some nice presents. So last March 17th I went into some offices at the Honbu of the U. of Tsukuba and reminded some of the workers of the meaning of White Day and waited for presents. It was at that point that I realized that the hostess had made up the story - most of it.
A little boy got on the bus, sat next to a man reading a book and noticed he had his collar on backwards. The little boy asked why he wore his collar that way.
The man, who was a priest, said, "I am a Father."
The little boy replied, "My Daddy doesn't wear his collar like that."
The priest looked up from his book and answered, "I am the Father of many."
The boy said, "My Dad has 4 boys, 4 girls and two grandchildren and he doesn't wear his collar that way."
The priest getting impatient said, "I am the Father of hundreds," and went back to reading his book.
The little boy sat quietly ... but on leaving the bus he leaned over and said, "Well, maybe you should wear your pants backwards instead of your collar.