Summer in Hyogo

Hey, all! American CIR Liz reporting in again. I thought I would let you know a little bit about some of the most fun events I've worked on this summer.

I love working at the Hyogo International Association (HIA), because it gives me lots of opportunities to get out into the community and do some firsthand international exchange.

June

The highlight of my June was helping out with the Washington-Hyogo Teacher Institute tour, which I wrote about in this blog post.

July

In July I was busy!  On the 13th I visited Mikage High School to give a talk about Seattle to a group of students who would be visiting Seattle as part of a school trip!  I'm always happy to talk about my hometown, and the kids at Mikage H.S. were great.  They asked me tons of questions and even gave mini-presentations in English on Seattle topics they had researched.

On the 18th, I took part in a festival near my apartment - Nagata Matsuri, the summer festival held at Nagata Jinja, one of the three great Shinto shrines in Kobe.  I dressed up in a summer kimono made of ro, a lightweight type of silk.  I stood on the festival stage and helped select prize drawing winners, and I also told the crowd a little bit about the myself and the HIA.  I'm always looking for more opportunity to raise awareness of who the CIRs are and what we do.

On the 29th, I helped put on a tea ceremony event for foreign residents of Hyogo - another opportunity to dress up in kimono for work!  (I love my job.)  I interpreted while the tea master performed an abbreviated tea ceremony for all the guests and then explained the history of this Japanese art.  Finally, all the participants got a chance to try making tea themselves.

August

August is a time I look forward to every year - it's when all the new ALTs arrive in Japan.  The new ALTs are always so excited and full of enthusiasm, and of course dying of curiosity about their placements in Hyogo.

First, I go up to Tokyo to pick all the ALTs up after their three-day Tokyo Orientation.  My Japanese colleagues and I then accompany them on the shinkansen and bus ride to central Hyogo.

There, it's the moment they've all been waiting for - they meet their Japanese coworkers for the first time and head off to cities and towns all over Hyogo, where they will live and work for the next one to five years.

They regroup later in August for orientations, where we try to give them information on everyday life in Hyogo and hints on how to make the best of their time in Japan.  From then on, each of them will have a completely distinct and individual experience.  Sometimes I find myself jealous of them.  I don't think I would be particularly good at teaching, but I always wonder what it would be like to be suddenly plunked down into a rural area of an unfamiliar country where no one else spoke my language.  It sounds like an adventure.

And, with that, I'll sign off for now.  Hope that gave you an idea of some of the things I've been doing lately.  September is on the horizon, but here in Kobe the heat is showing no signs of letting up.  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Hyogo Goodwill Envoy Newsletter

 Annyeong haseyo, Hyogo Goodwill Envoys! Another humid summer is well under way. To improve my health and overcome the hot and humid summer in Japan under the severe setsuden (energy saving) policies, as well as to prepare for the summer dress season, I joined a gym near my office and promised myself that I would go to the gym (preferably) every day. However, due to the cool winds that invite me to drop in different places after work, this promise to myself is being broken all the time. In this issue, I will talk about a great day for me and my stomach after I pledged again that I would refrain from overeating and do some exercise. Two events related to food were held on that day in June in Kobe.

By a series of accidents I learned about “Kobe Oktoberfest 2012” from the posters in Hankyu stations during my commuting hours, and was looking forward to the event. Then coincidentally, a colleague of mine asked me if I wanted to go to the event with them, so we decided to go there as a group on Sunday. I was also informed by my friend’s friend that another event called “Kobe Fiesta” would be held on the same day at a park just across from the site of the Oktoberfest. How could I miss this opportunity, where I could eat to the point of passing out in a single day? We changed the schedule – first, go to Kobe Fiesta to eat something, then walk to the Oktoberfest to quench our thirst. I couldn’t wait!!

 

Kobe Fiesta 

In a light rain, we headed to the Minato-no-mori Park, the venue of Kobe Fiesta. At the entrance, we bought a 500 yen wristband which is required to buy stuff there. We also received a paper tray for the food and an official guidebook. OK, let’s start eating! But with so much delicious-looking food, it was difficult to choose which stand to visit first. About the event Kobe Fiesta was started in 2008 by people from the food industry. It is an annual “gourmet & bazaar” event to introduce food and goods made in Kobe to help hand them down to the next generation. There are many other events that feature food stalls, but this particular event with its cool atmosphere is only possible in the stylish town of Kobe! Thank God I’m living in Kobe! Salad bouquet from the kitchen garden/Black wagyu en papillote with roasted onion Confit de canard from France with whole-grain mustard/Homard poele with Ako shio-negi sauce Pudding/Crepe Suzette with strawberry parfait (mango & framboise sauce) Oktoberfest

After having a snack, we moved to “Kobe Oktoberfest 2012 in Sannomiya,” held in Higashi Yuenchi park just across the road. The Oktoberfest is an annual beer festival held in Munich, which is the biggest of its kind in the world, attracting over six million visitors singing and dancing together. As a cultural exchange event to enjoy German music and food, it has also been taking place in various places in Japan. Kobe, in particular, developed as a center for Japan-Germany exchange in Kansai. Visitors to Kobe can take in historical sites like Kyu-kyoryuchi (old foreign settlement) and Ijinkan (old foreign residences).

Enjoying Oktoberfest


 When you choose a beer, you pay for the beer itself, together with a deposit for the glass (1,000 yen). This is an eco-friendly system to stop using plastic cups and prevent damage to glasses. The deposit is reimbursed when you return the empty glass. The shops served beer in each brand’s beautiful glass, so some people just took them home without getting a refund. During the 10-day event, stage performances were put on every day. A band from Germany played folk music, and we sang and danced to the music, hand in hand, and shouted “Prost! (=cheers)” Are my photos conveying the festivities? Thanks to these two events, I had a great early-summer day. I’m sorry the next chance will be a year from now (still a long way to go!). I believe this is the best opportunity to enjoy delicious and cool Kobe, so I hope you'll get a chance to take a look at these events next year!

☆　Hyogo Event Info　★



 　

 Flower viewing (hanami) parties are not only for spring. How about doing hanami in summer? Vibrantly-colored flowers are waiting for you under the strong sunshine of summer.

Sunflower festival at Himawari Yuyu Noen (farm) Date: July 29, 2012 (The farm is open from Jul. 22 through Aug. 5) Place: Himawari Yuyu Noen (Yuzu, Kasuga-cho, Tamba City) Access: 15 min. by car from JR Fukuchiyama Line Kuroi Station, or 7 min. by car from Kasuga IC on Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway This is a large farm with an area of over five hectares, located in the Yuzu area, known for Tamba matsutake mushrooms. Here visitors can enjoy a huge maze of sunflowers, local sweet corn (freshly picked and boiled), spray sunflowers, lotus park and rural scenery.

 For more event information, please refer to: http://www.hyogo-tourism.jp