Adventures in Takamatsu (Autumn 2011)

First published: 25 Jan 2012

Sunset over my home in Kouzai, Takamatsu City.

I took this shot whilst cycling home one afternoon.

So, as you know, I'm way way way behind on my blog entries.

I'm endeavouring to get this blog back in line with my present day activities as quickly as possible, and in order to do so, I've decided to summarise most of my activities from the end of last year in Takamatsu into a single blog entry to try and bring us up to speed. While there's a lot that I could talk about in more detail, I think it's best to mention just some of the highlights and get us back in line with the present.

As such, without further ado, here's some of the more noteworthy adventures I had towards the end of last year in Takamatsu City!

 

Sharing drinks with my Kocho-sensei (School Principal)

at a Friday-night enkai (work party). Kanpai! (Cheers!)

Towards the end of October, I was invited by my friend Professor Kensho Okamoto at the Kagawa University Robotics & Engineering Department to visit their open day. I met Professor Okamoto at the Konami Sports Club gym, and he was keen to have me pop along to engage some of the students and talk to them in English. I thought this was a great opportunity to investigate Japanese student life, as well as see first-hand some of the next generation who create Japan's world class engineering.

So, I popped along.

Check out this little guy!

I was pretty blown away! I spent the afternoon wandering around the facilities, chatting to some of the students and being served food from some of their stalls. The electronics and engineering on display were quite spectacular - everything from microscopes and satellite radios, to cycling simulators and moving robots! It was a great experience, amplified with live J-pop style music and multiple students wearing Halloween costumes.

Cycling simulator!

The automatic Udon noodle dispenser! 

This arm is probably more flexible than I am.

Walking around the campus, I stumbled upon a great little surprise; a Mario Kart tournament being run by the students! Needless to say, I immediately signed up. Both Wii and N64 tournaments were being run, but being a purist, I of course went for the N64 version (obviously the superior of the two). After playing through several rounds of the competition, I ended up winning the damn contest! My prize? A nice little 3D jigsaw of Tokyo tower. Not bad!

 Playing (and winning!) the Mario Kart 64 tournament.

Clearly all those hours spent playing this game instead

of studying for exams at uni paid off...

After I'd had a little walk around the campus and the exhibits, I paid a direct visit to Professor Okamoto's laboratory on one of the upper floors of the university building. In great spirits, the Professor showed me around some examples of his best work on display - which was honestly absolutely spectacular. A pioneer of revolutionary LED technology, Professor Kensho Okamoto has done some fascinating research into cancer treatments using LED irradiation. There's an interesting article on some of his recent work here;

http://www.kagawa-isf.jp/glycobio/english/pdf/pharmaceuticals_03.pdf 

I can't pretend to understand most of it, but it's fascinating all the same! It's very interesting to hear about this potentially great new method of cancer treatment, and I was priviliged enough to see some of the technology behind it.

Professor Kensho Okamoto demonstrates his LED solar cell.

This machine was the first of it's kind utilising (3060!) LEDs, and

can automatically track the sun and emit a lovely blue light!

Of course, one of my favourite pieces of his technology is actually something he developed for a bit of fun - a revolutionary walking stick! I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that it involves LEDs and it's absolutely incredible.

This is the start of a revolution.

Seeing Professor Okamoto's work was absolutely spectacular, and I felt very priviliged to have been given an opportunity to see it first-hand. All in all, it was a spectacular trip, and I had a great time indeed.

Of course, October also proved to be a highly sociable month! Following my trip to Kagawa University, that very same evening I was popping along to the AJET Halloween Party at Delta Market...

Me, Julia Mace, and David Harris (concealed) at the Halloween Party.

I was meant to be Harry Potter, by the way. There was a scar that faded away...

Other social events involved a fantastic barbecue organised at Asahi Park. This was a great opportunity to spend time with some friends and meet new ones. I arrived a little late - it was very, very far from my house. Yet, a fantastic trip all the same, and I got to spend more time with Takashi Harade and Takahito Ito, which can only be a good thing!

Hanging out with Takashi Harade, Rainer Wessels, and Yuka Kubo!

 

Barbecue banter! No matter where you go in the world,

this concept seems to be universal.

One of my afternoons spent around this time was a brief visit to the Takamatsu Castle ruins next to the Sunport area with Arran Chambers. Haven been given a half-day by both of our schools, we decided to pop along and see this area that we'd walked past so many times and see it for ourselves.

Tsukimi Yagura ("Moon Viewing") Turret in

the Takamatsu Castle Grounds.

Reconstruction work on Takamatsu Castle.

The castle was decommissioned in the Meiji period and tore down, leaving only a few turrets and the luscious gardens in place. Yet while the castle is no longer standing, reconstruction work has recently begun, and it's possible to see the cranes building the structure back to it's former glory. Even so, the castle grounds that remains have left a beautiful garden in place, one well worth exploring for a peaceful, sunny afternoon in Autumn. The grounds are full of the giant koi fish; food can be purchased for feeding.

Arran Chambers enjoys an afternoon feeding
koi fish in the Takamastu Castle grounds.

Any more stories? Well, there's loads! Some of the bigger ones, of course, will have their own blog entries, but I'm keen to move rapidly towards catching up with the present.

 Rilakkuma-Gav!

There's so much to talk about! Stay tuned, and bear with me (pun-intended).

We'll catch up soon, folks.

Halloween Lessons 2011

First published: 17 Feb 2012

Halloween Greetings from Tsuru-Uchi Shogakkou!

As this blog is currently on "catch up" mode, trying to summarise the last several months of my life into just a few posts for sake of both brevity and relevance (and indeed, the opportunity to actually talk about my life in the present), I found myself at a bit of a dilemma with these particular topics. I wanted to talk at length about both my Halloween and Christmas lessons, but now that it's mid-February 2012 (!) I wasn't sure if these topics would even be worth posting any more!

After some deliberation, I decided; yes, this deserves to be posted. I had a lot of fun with these lessons at my schools - even though they were quite some time ago! - and felt it was worth talking about them at length here. So, without further adieu; here's a brief summary of all the fun I had last year doing specially themed seasonal lessons. 

Harry Potter-sensei! (Or, at least, that was the intention.

My fake scar made of ink kept wearing off...)

These lessons in particular took place at my elementary schools that I visited. It is slightly regretful that I didn't get a chance to do them with all of the students at every elementary school (due to pre-arranged lesson plans and other schools deciding to focus on other things), but considering I visit four of them (!) every month, in addition to my two junior high schools, it would be almost impossible to fit them all in. However, the Halloween lessons that I did do were exceptionally rewarding and an absolute blast!

Throughout October (and, in one case, on the first day of November!), I dressed up in my silly "Harry Potter" outfit that I put together from visiting the ￥100 shops around Takamatsu. I only wore it to the elementary schools (and occasionally the first years at junior high!) - I didn't want the older kids getting wound up! Wearing a Halloween costume to work everyday is a little unusual (of course, I only put it on at work - I didn't cycle there with it on!), but a lot of fun. Using red ink from my ink pad to make a "scar", the elementary kids instantly recognised who I was meant to be and all started screaming "Harry Potter!" as loudly as they could. It seems some things are universally popular; especially if spawned from the mind of JK Rowling (although, personally, I never quite understood just quite how that particular franchise generated so much hype!).

Treating the kids to Halloween stickers as they leave the classroom.

Buying them for every Halloween lesson class got very expensive very fast.

Armed with a series of homemade flashcards, games and mountains of stickers in a Jack o'Lantern pouch (!), I proceeded to conduct a variety of lessons with the emphasis on "fun". While different schools allowed me to control the lessons to different degrees (some allowed me full control of the lesson, while others gave me set plans they already had in place), I really went as far out as I could to make these lessons enjoyable and engaging for the kids in every class. There's a lot to be said for the joys of teaching Japanese children about werewolves, mummies and ghosts.

(Quick aside: Notably absent from the iconic monster flashcards was Frankenstein's monster; as a fan of Gothic literature, I couldn't bring myself to falsely represent the monster character under the moniker of 'Frankenstein'. I already had a "monster" card, and reckoned it would be too difficult to explain the idea of Mary Shelley's novel or Boris Karloff's classic movie to kids this young. It's a personal bugbear of mine - the incorrect naming - yet I reckon these kids will inevitably be exposed to this mistake!).

Activities generally included an introduction to the Halloween monsters; a brief history of Halloween; variations on the words "scary" (of course, supplemented by terrified expressions from myself - cue laughter!); a demonstration of trick-or-treating with very confused children acting out skits; blackboard karuta (basically "snap" with cards layed out on the floor - though in this case, on the board for the kids to smack with their palms); bingo; and a whisper game where the children had to pass the names of monsters to the front and select the right ones. Some of the schools offered a CD of Halloween songs - personally, in retrospect I wish I'd just burned off a copy of 'Ghostbusters' by Ray Parker Jr! There was a lot of variety, and generally no two lessons were the same. Generally, judging my the laughs I heard, I think these lessons went really well!

Happy Halloween!

Particularly exciting were the activities at Tsuru-Uchi Shogakkou, whose English teacher Yamanouchi-sensei put on special Halloween party lessons designed to give the children an hour of fun games and plenty of prizes (including biscuits, stickers and cakes!). The kids prepared by wearing fancy dress costumes to the class for us to hold a costume contest (voted on in secret by the kids themselves).

Needless to say, these were fantastic lessons and I had an absolute blast taking part.

---

Click here to read about my 2011 Christmas lessons, which have moved from this page into their own post.