Yuming's New Year appearance & TV special - super fan's review!

 Every New Year's Eve, NHK has a special music concert, with many Japanese artists performing on stage.  

The 2020 concert involved Yumi Matsutoya (‘Yuming’), who sang two of her original songs; 'Mamotteagetai', a famous hit, and her latest release 'Kiminotameni Superman', which was featured as the theme song for a non-NHK TV program called 'Small Three' (the three small comedians).  The Superman song was a big surprise which even the MC didn't know about.  I believe all Yuming fans, as well as all the audience, must have enjoyed the unexpected staging enormously.

Shimkai no Machi - Yuming's new album

As for the Yuming TV  special on 15 January, we were shown the process of making the Superman song, which included the first opportunity to see inside of Yuming's home.  She has a brilliant high quality recording studio, which under this Covid19 situation meant she could record her new original album by herself.  It was also the first time for us to observe how to create a new song, which really amazed me.  Yuming's husband, who has produced and arranged her work, had quite a power and always provided accurate advice.  On the other hand, Yuming was very humble and rather quiet, but claimed her opinion in a gentle way.  She even cared for the nervous three comedians and helped them relax.  

Yuming was supposed to hold her annual concert in Naeba ski resort in February, but it has been postponed.  I was going to go there with my famous new iPhone, so it is very very disappointing but Yuming said her new year resolution was 'Never give up!', I believe that we can go to her fabulous annual concert, and her new album tour, someday soon.

Posted for Sayuri

A school project about Shinano no Kuni

When I was a high school student, I belonged to a broadcasting committee. We participated in the broadcasting competitions outside of the school.

There were two competitions for high school students every year and the bigger one was NHK broadcasting competition. If we win at local convention, we can go to the national convention.

When I was the third year, my team made a radio program and won in Nagano’s convention. The title was “The Greatest Hits of Nagano”. We dealt with “Shinano no kuni” that was the song of Nagano prefecture. The song was born one hundred years ago at that time. It was popular in Nagano and elementary and junior high school students sang a lot in the schools. I believed that the other prefectures had also their own prefecture songs, but we found that there were few prefectures that had their own songs or the songs were known and sung by people.

 Nagano prefectural symbol  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We interviewed the experts to research the reason. There were two main reasons. The one was the melody was rhythmical and approachable. The other one was that the people weren't forced to sing, but sang to solve the conflict between north and south of Nagano old days.

For your information, the program was No. 1 in the national convention in 2000!!

posted for Chinasa

Postcard from Neuschwanstein, Germany

Guten Tag, Jim & NHK members.

Today I visited Schloss Neuchwanstein. Luckily it was not so cold. The castle was shining in the blue sky. In the evening as I was drinking gluhweint and having a wurst, I enjoyed Christmas market, in Schwarzwald.

The Christmas illuminations are so romantic and fantastic!!

Chisato

Who was to predict? Can you predict?

Active volcano Mount St. Helens shortly after the eruption of 18 May 1980 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On Saturday fine Autumn day, Natural disaster happened suddenly.
Why it was not rainy day?

It was very fine day, many climbers visited Mt,Ontake. They were enjoying the fall foliage. At the time suddenly Mt,Ontake erupted. They could not understand what had happened.

Many people had forgotten that Mt, Ontake is an active Volcano.
Over 50 climbers died. Is it cold have previson (prediction) of eruption?

Eruption prediction is very important for natural disaster.
I hope we will have foresee of danger soon.

Takeshi

Do you know Mount Ontake ?

Mount Ontake from Kuraiyama  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Mt. Ontake is an active volcano which is Japanese 100 famous mountains and is located at the prefectural border of Nagano and Gifu. Although it is a 3,000m class alp, it is relatively easy climbing and it is very popular in a broad generation. It is also known as a showplace of autumn leaves.

11:52 a.m September 27, 2014 steam explosion -type eruption took place for the first time in seven years. Since two or more factors increase damage, the death toll became the worst situation exceeding over 50 persons. It was Saturday and the weather is good from morning, large number of climbers were visiting from the distant place as well. Many people had concentrated near the summit of the mountain to have a lunch looking at magnificent view.

Help and rescue activities formed by the Nagano Prefectural Police and fire company as well as the Ground Self-Defense Force, run into difficulties because of a toxic gas and heavy rain caused by the typhoon.

Some events are cancelled under the influence of an eruption and the tourist is decreasing sharply, while damage does not reach the skiing area near Mt. Ontake. It usually passes, and preparation of commencement of business is advanced towards winter!

Posted for Saki

My schooldays

The building of my elementary school used to be the focus of attention as ‘futuristic’ in Nagano.

The heating facility used to the energy of Suwa hot springs. So I had no experience to see a potbelly stove until I entered Junior high school. I didn’t use to take off my outdoor shoes in the school building, although sweeping the floor was very hard. One corner of the building, the school entrance, was covered with a big glass window. It used to be shining and beautiful. Now, the glass is faded, and we can see shoe cupboards through that window. The school provides shoe cupboards for all students near the glass, because outdoor shoes brought mud dirt into the building.

The building was a true square and there were two small gardens in the center. My school used to have an elaborate garden. One used to be made with rocks brought from Yatsugatake mountain, which were made as a small Yatsugatake in shape. The other one used to be a flower garden, full of beautiful colorful flowers.

I used to be in a chorus club from 4th to 6thgrade. My homeroom teacher was a music teacher, and he coached the club. So me and half of my classmates joined this club. Every day, I used to sing songs with club mates after school, including weekends. In the last grade of elementary school, my club won Nagano 1st prize competition. NHK Nagano broadcasted this competition, and I watched this video with my class mates the next day. I was on TV. This was first time to watch myself on TV.

Yumi

Postcard from...Down Under

To NHK class

Hi all,

I'm looking forward to all your travel presentations & slideshows in 2012. Let's study hard & make some progress?

Me? Had a brilliant holiday; family, food, wine, sea, sun, surf - couldn't be better!

There'll be a test on Aussie idioms next lesson.

Jim xxx

Postcard from...Budapest, Hungary.

Jim & NHK guys

Hi everyone!

I have been walking around Budapest, Hungary for three days. Here is different from other Europe cities, I think.

Budapest is quiet, but dignified city. I enjoyed walking around Duna which is fabulous romantic in the evening. Hungarian food is very good. I like Gulyas soup. Some day, I hope to come back to this lovely, interesting city.

Teruki

A postcard from...Rudesheim, Germany

Jim & NHK guys,

Hello everyone!

After I visited various romantic towns in Germany, I stayed 3 nights in Vienna.In this trip, I went a cruise Rhein and Danube river.

When I visited a small town, located riverside, I feel like I am in the world of picture book. These towns are really amazing! Lovely!

I can enjoy new wine "Sturm" every town! It is fresh, fruity, sweet and sour! Wonderful!!

I am going to leave to Budapest from now!! Exciting!!

Teruki @wine

No class tonight - let's go to the pub!

A nice, sensible evening out with my NHK class involving the magic word 'nomihodai'!

OK, not a pub I admit. We met up at a nice little restaurant which used to be called something else and had the best, juiciest, cheeseburgers & sludge-gravy ever. Easy for everyone to find, and the food still passes muster. Happy to report, the beer was cold and delivered promptly (see previous rant about the beer garden!).

Our usual class tonight was off, as NHK is closed for Obon holiday - busman's holiday for Jim then. Tonight though, he could enjoy a quieter chat about 'other' stuff, and not have to worry about the predominant amount of chatter in Japanese.

As ever the case, always find out more about students when they let their hair down. Our new member Emiko is quite the party girl, and has added a very nice dynamic to our group. For the more 'odd' photos, please check out Luna's Facebook page!

My study partner - Chisato

Chisato

Chisato looks like a very kind and affectionate lady. She has straight, black, shoulder-length hair. She looks very good for her age.

Takeshi

My study partner - Takeshi

Takeshi

Takeshi looks gentle and humble. He has got salt and pepper hair. He is clean-shaven and looks like a nice gentleman.He looks younger than his real age. He wears blue frame glasses and a dark blue polo shirt. They are good combination.

Chisato

Cornish pasties - how to

I have an ongoing sparring match with my Thursday evening students at NHK (some of whom I have been teaching for an entire decade now) about the quality of English food, hence the occasional 'food porn' postings here. Allow me my indulgences?

Cornish pasties done properly are crumbly, peppery meat & potato delights. All I have to do now is get my THICK local butcher to understand what 'skirt' is (in reference to beef rather than high school girls) and I can have a go myself - doesn't look hard does it?

NHK Enkai

End of year gathering for my NHK class last night was a lot of fun, with everyone over indulging suitably.



The China Trip Bar was a good choice of venue, as the food was good and the nomihodai a good deal - without the hassle you can sometimes get. Takeshi, Masa & I got stuck into the draft lager while the girlies ordered the usual bizarre range of chu-hi's, sours, teas, etc.

Takako dropped by to add glamour but couldn't stay because she has a test today - ambitions of a job in Singapore sounds very worthwhile!



Our old classmate Machiko was also able to join us with her lovely son Ryotaro, who spent the evening on my knee eating & getting tickled. Well-behaved children are a pleasure & especially invited to the pre-school!

No more classes this year for NHK (Luna is open until the 22nd) so Merry Christmas Ayaka, Chisato, Teruki, Masa, Takeshi, Toshimasa, Miyako, and Hana-chan. Thank you for being such a pleasant group to teach.

Postcard from...Milan

Ciao Jim & NHK students, I'm enjoying a trip of Italy.

Milano is one of the trendiest cities in the world and all the people I can see are like fashion  models. I was taken my breath away in front of the "Duomo".



Unbelievable and magnificent!!

Chisato

Story telling - passive voice

Witches coven? Black for Hallowe'en?

Recently my NHK class has been talking about 'news' and relating stories/headlines, and showing them how we are often more interested in the actual event than the person ('actor') responsible. Good thing about using the newest news is that we often don't know that bit anyway eg Who was responsible for a certain act of terrorism or why was there an accident; instead, we do know the result, and that is the thing we are most interested in discussing. eg "hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area around Mt. Merapi in Java".

Big Blue Teruki & team!

Today's activity was set up in class last week and finished off as homework, namely writing a (passive) sentence about an event in a famous fairy tale (in Japan these are not so familiar culturally, but certain Disneyfied versions are well-known).


A class-wide issue showed up - using a vague indefinite article vs definite 'the'. In starting five different stories with "The Princess..." it looked like the same very busy princess (likewise the dashing hero/prince!)

A second, later event had to be described, again a passive sentence, written upside down on an interlocking piece of paper. Stories then cut in half like a jigsaw, and switched between groups to rebuild as a race.(You can see what I mean below).

Team work - fairy tale building

They then had plenty to argue about - which re-telling was better & why. Peer correction a lot more 'critical' & picky than I like to be!
What I liked about this exercise was the realization that vagueness or lack of specific detail does not mean you can't tell a story.

Star struck

You know, just once in a while, I find myself lost for words!

Yesterday evening was one of those occasions, when an all-time favourite ex-student stuck her head around the door of my classroom at NHK. We were in the middle of something, but the wheels fell of pretty quick with an impromptu interrogation!

• When did she get back? 
• What happened to the 'you beaut' job in Ginza? 
• Still with the boyfriend? 
• What are you doing now?

Takako could charm the birds out of the trees, and invariably does. She has been recruited to front up Matsumoto's city tourism office near the castle. Which genius did that? Needs saluting! Takako is an absolute gem, and having her represent this city is superb!

Ah. Sorry class - kind of lost my focus there for once.

Shinichi Suzuki - statue in Matsumoto

This statue of a little old man and two young children stands very quietly under a tree, tucked away behind the NHK building in Matsumoto. He is not the most widely recognised of men, nor the most famous - even in his adopted home town of Matsumoto. In the musical world, his name is synonymous with teaching children the violin. He shared the stage with then President Carter at the Carnegie Hall.

He was born in Nagoya, October 17th, 1898. He lived to the ripe old age of 99 - with plans unfulfilled for the decade after his centenary! He was a plucky old codger when I met him, chain smoking & carrying on three conversations at the same time. He had a reputation for being a bit of a tyrant in the classroom, but seems universally loved. He would notoriously turn off his hearing aid at recitals if he thought the performance was not up to scratch.

Suzuki's father was Japan's first violin maker. The young Suzuki spent eight years in Berlin, where he married Waltraud Prange. He had a long, and noted history of achievements which you can read about here. A living monument to Suzuki is the Talent Education Research Institute (better known as the "Suzuki Method"), the headquarters of a network of Suzuki teachers numbering 1,400 in Japan, with tentacles spreading to 38 countries. The main instruments taught are violin, 'cello, piano & flute.


Victoria Harkness teaches violin in Whangarei, New Zealand. Belinda Yourn, in Australia now I think, teaches flute. I wonder if Pablo teaches 'cello in Chile to children?! (Yes, friends of mine!) In all, 400,000 children follow Doctor Suzuki's Method - "All children grow, it depends how they are raised" he said. Every year Matsumoto has a 10 Piano Concert which is charming; March 30th will see the 52nd Annual performance of 3,000 young musicians at the Budokan in Tokyo.

Rothernburg ob der Tauber, Germany - a postcard

Hi Jim, Tana & NHK guys!!

I'm in a lovely small town, Rothenburg in Germany. I'm staying in a romantic hotel, which you can see on this card, the yellow house, the windows are decorated by flower, right side of the antique gate. It is lovely stay!

Now, town is full of tourist, becasue it is season of a traditional festival "Meister-trunk" The townspeople act former people with interesting costume and parade in the town. I'm enjoying these characteristc towns. lot's of green in this country makes me relaxed.

From: Teruki