Conversation Starter

The person who starts the conversation controls the conversation. It's in your best interest to start it.

One of the best ways begins with four little words:

"Did you hear about...?"

This introduces news and gossip in a very natural way.

"Hey, did you hear about the earthquake? Did you hear about the Lady Gaga? Did you hear about what Suzuki did?"

The pattern is simple:
Did you hear about + subject noun?

From here, the conversation follows a topic you already know.

If someone asks you, "did you hear about...?" You can answer two ways.

If you don't know about the news, you'd say, "No, what?" Then the person will tell you about it.

If you do know about the news, you'd say, "Yeah, I did..." and give some reaction or opinion about it.

Either way, don't let the conversation die. Ask questions. Give opinions.

Try it next time in class; ask your teacher or another student.

Cajun Food

Let's try some unusual (めずらしい）food. In Japan, everyone knows Italian food, Chinese food and French food. But do you know Cajun food?

Cajun (or Creole) food is a combination of Spanish, African, and Native American cooking by the French settlers in Louisiana over the last two hundred years. Dishes are aromatic and spicy. It starts with onions, bell peppers and celery, combined with regional North American ingredients. New Orleans’ cuisine, like the city itself became a "melting pot" of ingredients (材料） from all over the world combined with exciting results.

Owner and surfer Katsuaki Samejima opened this restaurant 18 years ago because he wanted to bring the true depth and diversity of American cuisine to Japan. Chef Miyashita succeeds in cooking regular Cajun dishes (料理） as well as American southwestern and original dishes. Samejima went to New Orleans and loved the food. He wanted to bring Cajun food to Japan.

My son, Eiji and I went there to write a review (みせしょうかい) for Tokyo Families Magazine. We expected spicy food, but he enjoyed everything. We had no problem.

Troubadour has a casual, friendly atmosphere like an American restaurant. They play good "southern rock" on the stereo. They decorate the walls with old record albums. Ceiling fans turn slowly in the high, vaulted ceilings upstairs, a bustling (にぎやかな) dining room downstairs, and a large dining patio (なかにわ). There are no alligators (わに) so don't worry.

We started with catfish (なまず). Eiji loved the fried catfish strips. They disappeared quickly. Many Japanese don’t think the catfish is good to eat but if it's cooked correctly it has a nice twangy taste. Troubadour soaks their catfish in milk. This removes any bad smell that some people don't like.

We chose entrees of country meatloaf and seafood Étouffée. The meatloaf was better than my family’s homemade meatloaf in America. Troubadour’s meatloaf was spongy and savory, with a dark mushroom gravy and a side crispy green beans and creamy mashed potatoes. Eiji’s note on the meatloaf is, “it’s better to chew it slowly, so as to get all the taste.”

The Étouffée was Eiji’s favorite dish. The name comes from the French verb étouffée and means, "smothered" or "suffocated" (ちっそく), and this étouffée was a smokin’ jazz ensemble of shrimp and seafood in a rosy (ばらの色) roux sauce. It isn’t too spicy for a kid, though it does give an exciting little bite in the back of the throat. Eiji noted it was “like some kind of shrimp curry.”

Their authentic (たしかな) gumbo is one of their most popular dishes. Gumbo, the miso soup of the Louisianan. It is something between a soup and a stew. It has lots of okra in a thin, flavorful stock.

If you’re really hungry you can order their blacken steak in caramel dark gravy. It is 250g of Australian beef.

They have all the traditional (でんとうてきな) Cajun food including Jambalaya, coleslaw and black-eyed peas. If you don’t have time to eat there, you can take out one of their acclaimed (賞賛) sandwiches; turkey (しちめんちょう), barbecued chicken, meatloaf, or my favorite, the Cajun Rueben which is a mound (いっぱい) of roast beef and cheese.

Save room for homemade pecan pie with whipped cream.

Brunch serves up the rarely-seen Southern biscuits and cream gravy, and other down-home favorites on the weekends. Happy hour on Monday from five o’clock to seven o’clock has 500 yen well drinks and Cajun appetizers (catfish!). They often have live music and you can have their Christmas dinner from December 23^rd to the 25^th.

So if you’re bored with (あきている) the same kinds of restaurants in Tokyo, get out to this Cajun hideaway and you’ll have an unforgettable meal!

Troubadour

Monday 5:00 ~ midnight.

Tuesday to Friday, weekends and holidays 11:30 ~midnight.

30 minutes from Shibuya on the Den En Toshi line

3 minute walk from Tama Plaza station South exit, straight out past Bagel & Bagel, past the second signal and on the left.

Phone: 045 911-3763

www.motherlucy.com

School Shoes

うちの息子は1人っ子で日本人とアメリカ人のハーフ。家では英語、外では日本語を話す。見た感じは日本人にも見えないがガイジン顏でもない。そんな彼だが名字がカタカナの為、日本人社会ではかなり目立ってしまう。自分が何人かと言うアイデンティティトラブルが少しずつ出て、だんだん悩みを抱えるようになってしまった。悩んだ末、親子で話し合い、私達親もとから離れてアメリカ、テキサスのおじいちゃんの家に1年間滞在してもらうことにした。当時彼は8才だったが、この経験は子供だけでなく、私達夫婦にも非常にいい影響を与えた。
さて、子供がアメリカの学校初日の
話。子供は英語で生活しているので、言語はまったく問題ない。学校に到着後、履いていた靴を手に持って、靴箱を探し回ったらしい。授業に間にあわず、結局事務所に行き靴箱を尋ねると、「ない」と言う返事が。
アメリカの学校に上履きがないから、靴箱の必要がない。日本の学校では、生徒による掃除があるが、アメリカの学校ではない。だんなは、日本の学校で英語を教えていたので、生徒による掃除の習慣は素晴らしいと大絶賛。
うちの息子は日本にいた時は自分がアメリカ人だと思っていたらしいが、アメリカに行き、両国の文化の違いを体験し、自分の中の日本人を見つけたようだ。

Eiji went to Dallas for his third grade year, as much for the school experience as for the cultural. As much as we'd have liked to have gone with him, we had to stay here for the business. But in his time over there, he had a number of interesting discoveries. Among them, school etiquette where footwear is concerned.

In Japanese schools, you take off your outdoor shoes at the entry chamber, put them in cubbies or lockers, and change into indoor shoes. You do this just as surely as you would wash your hands after cleaning out the cat box or flush the toilet after doing your business. This keeps the school floors clean, and follows the Japanese customs of not wearing outdoor shoes indoors as is also observed in homes as well as clinics, temples, and some offices. It's strictly observed, as students and staff clean their own floors in Japan (janitors are a rarity).

On Eiji's first day at Lake Highlands Elementary, he walked into the school with all the other kids, more excited than most at his first adventure in English-language, American academia. Well-raised and eager to make a good impression, he stopped just inside the entry, removed his shoes and looked around for the shoe lockers. As you can imagine, he didn't find any. He spent 15 minutes trudging around in his socks, bags and shoes in hand, looking diligently for shoe lockers. He went to the principal's office and asked her, "excuse me, where are the shoe boxes?" Busy and otherwise occupied, she thought he was making some kind of joke and dismissed him. Why would anyone there guess for a minute what he was talking about, even if they knew where he was coming from? The bell rang. The halls emptied. A teacher scolded him for wandering the halls. He made a second attempt to explain his dilemma. This teacher, Ms. White, didn't quite understand the situation either, but she made a cognitive leap and told him that he should wear his outdoor shoes inside, and get to class! He did, but he was a little shocked. For him, after three years of kindergarten and two and a half years of elementary in Japan, wearing outside shoes inside school felt about as weird as wearing them into the bathtub.

Snow

Snow fell this month. It was very dangerous because most people in this area don't have much experience driving on ice and snow. One word that came up in the news was バンドアイス. I think this is called "black ice" in the States. We had snow a few weeks ago, but it "didn't stick" (あつめなかった). But this time, we saw big, puffy, powdery snow. Many schools and businesses were closed or delayed. It was beautiful, but now it's melting and turning to "slush" (泥). We had to drive in it that night. The roads were very tricky. There were many accidents because some drivers "tailgated" (テールゲート). Y'all be careful!

Testing Fun

Okay, we did our first STEP test, today. For those of you who don't know, it is Japan's scholastic standardized test for English proficiency. It's pretty dry and not a very realistic tool for assessment, but it's the fountain of numbers all the Japanese parents and educators seem to bow before. We took my seven-year-old son (who speaks English better than Japanese) and 20 other elementary kids on the train out to Kami Fukuoka (20 min up the line) to a Jr. High School (30 min walk) that used to be a hospital and is reputed to be haunted where we went into one of many class rooms where a humorless young man in a suit and tie administered a test of English proficiency lasting an hour and a half. For some of them, including my son, this was their first encounter with a proper, #2 pencil, bubble-sheet answer form, do not open the book until instructed-type test.

We met them all at our school this morning, accompanied by lots of parents who clearly wanted to come to. But we'd already said students only; the last thing the kids needed was wound-up soccer moms and dads looming over them, stressing them out further. We took them on the train and then on foot down to the school. Some of our kids were so tense, their shoulders were like iron. I talked 'em down on the way (in English). We got a little turned around due to a mis-printed map. Safely escorting 21 wiggly, nervous kids down a narrow, treacherous Japanese street was a task worthy of insurance (we took out insurance) so I deputized my oldest boy and girl. They were Jr. High and 6th grade, respectively. I asked them if they knew what a "cow-boy" was. They said yes, but of course had the image of a gunfighter. I explained in English what a cowboy or cowgirl actually does. I told them that all these other kids were cows, and that was all the explanation they needed. They looked like a couple of old pros, and my wife wrangled the middle while I acted as trail boss. I can holler audibly over two full blocks.

When we arrived, we did some battle cries in front of the school and got good and psyched-up. As we ushered them to their desks, we delivered knocks, high-fives and lots of general bravado to the point we looked more like a little league football team hitting the field than a bunch of test-takers. The other sitters in the class, mostly high-school-aged people and a few adults looked on in shock as my students and I bantered IN ENGLISH, of all places...they were all ready for an English test, but not for English. HA! My kids were feeling good and ready for battle.

90 minutes later, the kids came running down to the foyer. I greeted them with more of the same Spartan bravado, to the befuddlement of the people at the front table. Some of the kids were down on themselves until I told them they could test again in January. That perked them up, considerably.

Keep in mind, I didn't speak Japanese once the whole outing, except to people on the way in the course of it all. Station masters, proctors, asking direction and such. That's how good our kids' English is, and it made a wonderful spectacle in providential Japan.

We took them for ice cream, afterwards. Again, an alien rite here in Japan. Ice cream shops are scarce here, so we descended on a sleepy little Family Mart convenience store for grapefruit ice pops (a big favorite over here) or whatever kind they wanted. Again, no parents. A real blast for them.

Took a little work to control them on the last leg home, especially on the train.

Hard to believe a test could be so much fun.

River Fun in Japan

Summer in Japan is hot so most families look to aquatic recreation for relief.

The pools are too crowded (see previous post: Taters in the Pool).
The beaches are also crowded. They's broilers under the sun with no shade. Jellyfish, sharks, sea urchin and countless more threatening organisms lurk unseen. Riptides and undertows strike without warning. The water is salty, briny, stinky, and leaves you feeling sticky and nasty. And of the beach-going crowd, many of them tend toward the obnoxious (I'm no fan of beaches).
Water parks are expensive, stressful and again, overcrowded.
Onsen are all about hot and not exactly family recreation.
There aren't many lakes and most of them don't accommodate swimming.
Some of the shopping malls have plaza fountains which is fine until about age 5.
They'll arrest you for jumping into the canals, and you'd have to be pretty drunk to consider it in the first place.
Can you think of any other bodies of recreational water? No, not marshland or sprinklers.

Back home in Texas we'd spend many weekends out on the rivers. Locally, however the rivers are too polluted to swim in (my neighborhood river has recently been cleaned-up, yeah!) but I couldn't accept that there weren't any clean rivers here. Not finding anything overtly promoted, I made a habit of taking swimwear with me whenever we went on a drive in the mountains. After many summers of driving, we found one. After a bland morning at the Saiboku Ham village, driving through to Chichibu for a little hike, we spotted some people splashing around in the Koma river (Komagawa). We pulled over where a farmer was offering parking for 500 yen. We quickly changed into swimsuits and hit the water. It was wonderful; not too cold. It wasn't very deep in most areas, but there were some places where boys were jumping off the overpass. Lots of overhanging trees and shade. Cool breeze coming off the water. Pebble shores with plenty of good rocks to lounge against. At one point there's a salmon ladder (a series of stepped troughs and a flume to help salmon make their way up) that was good fun for people, too. Nearby grocers sold us inner tubes and anything else we needed. My wife, Mami wasn't much for the swim but wading around and relaxing on the banks she declared that it was the most relaxing, "healing" place she'd ever been to in Japan. The sound of the water, cicadas, and breeze in the trees was transportive. And in contrast to beaches, the water is crystal clean, fragrant, relatively garbage-free, uncrowded, well-shaded, and river rats (river goers, as we're called back home) are some of the friendliest folk in Japan or Texas.

OK, this is what I'd been talking about for years. But for my family to understand, they had to experience it themselves. They were hooked. We only left when the sun started going down.

Next week, Mami spent some time searching the Japanese blogs for other rivers and found one in Hanno, not far from Komagawa, the Nagurigawa. Nagurigawa is bigger and even better for an all-day excursion. Nagurigawa has several spots where even an adult can tube a bit, and some places deep enough for diving. One of the parking areas is managed by a grocery, Happy Family (Teddy Bear logo) also rents grills and will set you up all the way for riverside barbecuing.

Going to a river, here are some considerations. Bring wet socks, or water-proof sandals, or some kind of footwear that will work in the water. The stony banks and riverbeds are tough on bare feet. And walk carefully in the rivers; the rocks on the bottom are mossy and as slippery as ice. Try to walk on the areas of smaller rocks. Expect to get banged and scratched up pretty good on the rocks. It's all part of the fun.

You can get to either one by bus and train, but if you drive just head out to the river and watch for signs about parking and swimming. The key kanji to watch for is 泳川. Plenty of rivers are good for barbecue and picnics, but it's hard to find a good, clean one for swimming.

So to recap:
Komagawa in Hidaka for a few hours.
Nagurigawa in Hanno for an full day.

If you know of any others, please post them.

Double-Edged Sword

"We just bought a house next door to my parents. It's nice because they can come over and look after our baby when we want to go out, but at the same time we don't have much privacy from them. They often come by and nag us."

"Yes, it sounds like a double-edged sword."

A double-edged sword is a sword whose blade with both sharpened edges like in this picture:

You'll notice how it is different from the conventional Japanese katana, which only has a single sharpened edge. The double-edged sword can cut to the left and cut to the right.

In modern times, it is more often a metaphor for a thing or situation that can be equally, sometimes simultaneously beneficial and detrimental.

A good example is the cell phone. With it, you can reach people anywhere, anytime, with the touch of a button. But at the same time anyone can just as easily reach you anywhere, anytime.

This sword can cut your enemies but it can cut you, as well.

What is another example? Leave a comment.

Feb 2013: Alien Zoo and Big Numbers

Our older kids started 2013 with a study of basic animal parts.

Hoof, claw, pay, antennae, horn, fangs, beak, fur, scales, tail, wings...to name a few.

It all culminated with the Alien Zoo project. We randomly combined the parts to make strange, new "alien" animals. Then, everyone gave presentations on their beasts. I'm very proud of them; they all did quite well.

Our teens are working with past tense and heavier question forms.

Now many of our students have begun working with big numbers. We've been having fun with a game called Safe Cracker where we try to guess the combination of a safe. Families should try this one at home. Ask your kids.

Our younger kids have finished talking about toys, and now they are learning about animals. Where do we find animals? What do they look like? What do they eat? What do they sound like? Which ones do they like? Which ones make good pets?

Congratulations to all our EIKEN members and good luck to the interviewees next week.

Remember to keep asking questions and talking about what you're interested in.