By: Malcolm MacLure

Fancy taking in a show put on by your Kochi brethren??

GENKI Seinenkai, which is made up of foreigners in Kochi, many of whom are JETs, is putting on its annual Tosa-ben Musical in April. The cast is all foreigners, but the script and songs are all in Japanese Tosa-ben, the dialect of Kochi. The first GENKI Seinenkai production was staged 17 years ago, and the story, along with everything else, is different every year, and created from scratch.

We mix local and foreign themes together into a fun, entertaining and moving experience, which is always enjoyed by foreigners and Japanese alike. This year’s production is titled “Ekin in Neverland.” It centres on the life of Ekin, a painter of graphic and gory ukiyoe, with the story of Peter Pan. Intrigued? Come to one of the shows, be entertained and experience the wonder and the drama!

After the tour has come to an end, we award a scholarship for a local student to study abroad using the donations collected after the shows. Last year, we awarded two scholarships totalling 300,000 yen to students to study in Korea and Australia. It’s our way of further promoting internationalization beyond the stage.

Entry is absolutely free (but we appreciate donations after the performance!) No need to book in advance. We hope to see you at one of our shows!

GENKI Seinenkai Tosa-ben Musical 2012 “Ekin in Neverland” Tour Schedule:

April 14 (Sat)
2:00 pm – Muroto – Hoken Fukushi Center Yasuragi
6:30 pm – Aki – Shimin Kaikan (Aki)

April 15 (Sun)
10:00 am – Kochi – Otemae Elm. Gym (Mini show for kids)
2:00 pm – Konan – Bentenza
6:30 pm – Tosa City – Shimin Kaikan

April 21 (Sat)
10:00 am – Motoyama – Platina Center
16:00 pm – Sukumo – Chuo Kominkan

April 22 (Sun)
1:00 pm – Yusuhara – Yusuhara-za
16:30 pm – Kochi – Kenmin Bunka Hall (Green Hall)

On January 17th, the Yamamoto Noh Theater, in the heart of Osaka gave JETs and Osaka AJET an unbelievable opportunity to collaborate on an extremely unique internationalization project. JETs were exclusively invited to the theater to watch a private performance, participate in a educational workshop about the arts, and meet the performers of the various types of traditional Japanese theater.

Kyokudo, Nanyo performed Kodan storytelling, while Katsura Kaishi performed Rakugo, traditional Japanese comedy, in English. Tanigawa Megumu, a young master of a Japanese traditional restaurant where geiko (geisha in the kanto region) entertain guests by music and dance, and also gave an explanation of Geisha history in Kansai and performance.  Finally, 4 Noh group members explained a bit of Noh theater and had JETs practice singing and moving in the way the actors do.

During and after the performances, the artists invited JETs to give feedback about the English explanations and fielded many questions about their special skills. Their hope was to gain a western perspective on the best way to explain traditional Japanese arts, and learn the English needed to express  their English-Only Shows.

At the end, JETs were invited back for more private workshops of and in-depth collaboration on their future events other.  Osaka JETs were emphatic in their enjoyment of the event, one member was quoted as saying that it was “fun, educational and relaxing all at the same time!”.  When asked about participation in future events, the JETs overwhelmingly said they were excited to take part.

By Robert John Bliss

We JETs are a lucky bunch.  We are well-paid.  For many of us, our rent is paid for or subsidized by our contracting organizations.  ALTs get to teach adorable children all the time.  CIRs get to be involved with the community and in improving and maintaining international relations.  We’re given several paid days off each year.  In other words, we have an amazing job!  I think I reflect the feelings of many of us when I say I’m always looking for ways to give back to the Japanese community which has given me so much.  Here in Tokushima, we’ve found a great way to do just that every year.

It was my great pleasure to be the lead coordinator for this year’s Child Welfare Center (CWC) Christmas visits in Tokushima prefecture.   A CWC is a home for kids who, for whatever reason, cannot be at their own home for some length of time, whether it be for a few hours a day, for days at a time, or simply all the time.  Every year Tokushima JETs (as well as other volunteers) donate their time and money to give something back to our community by volunteering at these homes.  We visit six CWC homes all around the prefecture in early December and spend two hours with the kids there.  We play games and chat.  At the end of the visit, Santa comes to give each kid a present.  Each home has between around 15 and 70 kids.  This year, we bought gifts for 235 kids.  Each gift is around 1,000 yen, meaning we raised about 235,000 yen for gifts this year.  It’s an absolute delight for everyone involved.  The kids are always excited to have us visit and spend time with them and, of course, to receive their presents.  We’re always happy and excited to be making a difference.  And the kids are great!  Who WOULDN’T want to spend time with them?

I’m very proud of all the Tokushima JETs who volunteered their time, energy, and money to making these visits an amazing success.  I’m especially proud of the 5 individual JETs who went the extra mile and volunteered to coordinate the visits of individual homes and of the 5 JETs who volunteered to coordinate gifts for each home.  I’d also like to express my great appreciation and gratitude for the Tokushima chapter of Smile Kids Japan, which was founded this year by Tokushima ALTs, for coordinating the visit for the 6^th home.  As much energy as I put into these visits, they put in far, far more.  I simply could not have done this without all of them.

I encourage everyone in every prefecture to try to give back to their communities in whatever way possible.  Volunteering at homes for disadvantaged kids is just one way (which I highly recommend).  But there are so many other opportunities out there for those who will take them.  For our part, we in Tokushima are hoping to expand the efforts of Smile Kids Japan in our prefecture and visit more CWC homes, more often.  We also produce and perform an annual musical play at no charge to the audience.  The play is in simple English with some Japanese as well.  It is met with great enthusiasm each year by the Japanese community.  So give back to your community anyway you can.  Whether it’s helping those who need it or just bringing smiles to people’s faces.  Our communities have given each of us so much.  The best way to say thank you is to give something back.

By Julia Mace
3rd Year ALT

In 2006 seven Towns on the west side of Kagawa Prefecture combined to make “Mitoyo City.” It took several years, but an International Exchange Association was born out of that merger and since that time, the Mitoyo City International Exchange Association has worked tirelessly to create a wide variety of events and activities to promote International Exchange in rural western Kagawa. The thing that I find unique about our little exchange association is how diverse we strive to make our events. It’s not just about Japanese people interacting with Canadians and Americans; it’s about Italians chatting with Koreans, Chinese teaching Indonesians how to make gyoza, Dutch sharing art with Bangladeshi, and Spaniards hiking up mountains with Brazilians.
Every year we have a wide variety of events: children’s parties, cooking classes, language exchanges and picnics. But one of our most popular events is the Mitoyo City International Christmas Party. In 2009, we held our first Christmas Party along-side about 80 guests from seven or eight countries. But this past Holiday Season we partied next to 150 guests from over ten countries!
Our Program is designed to be diverse and entertaining for people of all ages and nationalities. We start off with an international food buffet and speed greetings where you have to meet someone from at least three different countries than your own (name tags bearing everyone’s country of origin make this a pretty fun and easy activity).

Next, we teach about “the reason for the season” with a home-made video of the Nativity Story featuring the staff from the International Exchange Office and resident ALT’s. Aside from being an embarrassing blight on my Facebook page, this video is as informational as it is funny and now features subtitles in our local dialect of Japanese, Sanuki-ben. Next, we really get the party started with a live band and dancing. This is followed by a presentation of Japanese culture. This year we featured a Yosokoi dance troupe who taught us to dance like Salmon (I can still hear the leader shouting, ue shita ue shita shita ue shita ue ue shita!). There’s a more mellow music set as we cool down, followed by the much anticipated raffle for the presents under the Christmas tree. When all the presents have been handed out, we make groups and have the “International Christmas Quiz.” This is always everyone’s favorite part of the Party. It’s a quiz of 15 questions about how Christmas is celebrated by different cultures around the world. Every team has members from different countries, so together they try to figure out whether or not banana trees are used as Christmas trees in parts of Africa, or if Santa’s coat is really blue instead of red in Russia. To top off the party, we do a sing-along of Jingle Bells. The catch is that we sing it in four different languages, and the last go-around has everyone singing it in their own language no matter what it may be! A group photo wraps up the Party and by the end of the night, everyone’s mouths are tired from singing and smiling and mothers carry their already-sleeping children out over their shoulders.

It never ceases to amaze me how such a small collection of rural villages gests so excited about International experiences. The shy Japanese exterior quickly washes away to reveal genuine interest and curiosity in new customs and new ways of thinking. The result: a great time had by all!

I fully expect the event to reach 200 people next year and our international attendance to become even more diverse. Everyone is welcome, of course, so perhaps you’ll consider joining us next year, too!