The X-Pat Files
May 2008
(Brought to you by
H&R Consultants)
The X-Pat Files Community E-Newsletter provides a forum for
the spread of information useful for English speakers living in Aichi.
You can use the newsletter as an informational resource, and of course you can
send in information you would like to share.
This newsletter is a community
service from The Japan Real Estate and Relocation company, H&R Consultants
(www.japanhomesearch.com), and is edited by Sue Conolly
(http://web.mac.com/conolly).
Contents for This
Edition
1. Charity
Walkathon
2. Cruising the
waterways of Nagoya
3. Baby Massage
Classes
4. Climb Mount Fuji
for Charity
5. Aichi Bokujo
(Aichi Farm)
6. Orthopedic
Surgeon
7. Meet and
Greet Luncheon
8. Midwife
Clinics
9. Sushi
10. Passion
**************************************************
1. Walkathon
2008 brings the ACCJ / NIS Walkathon and International Charity Festival into
its 17th year. Over the past years this event has been a huge success and has
become the largest annual international event in Nagoya.
More
importantly, it brings together nearly two thousand members of the
International and Japanese communities to support the vital work being
conducted by local NPOs and charitable organizations.
The Walkathon has also been
successful in raising money for local charities and last year the Walkathon
Committee was able to distribute over 7.5 million yen to charities, which support
children in the Chubu Area. This year we hop to improve on that success.
Along
with a new and improved event for the participants, the Walkathon Committee has
also set a goal to raise 10 million yen and we need everyone’s help in reaching
this goal, whether you are participating as an individual or as part of an
association or company.
The Walkathon should prove to
be a fun and memorable event and a super opportunity for international exchange
between members of the Japanese and International communities. So invite your
friends and family and join in the fun.
The ACCJ / NIS Walkathon and International Charity Festival will
be he held on Sunday, May 18th from 9:15 to 16:00. Meijo
Park (Nagoya Castle) is once again the venue for this special event.
Tickets
for the event are only 2,000 yen for adults and 1,000 yen for students
(including high school). Tickets can be purchased from the ACCJ Chubu
Office by calling 052-229-1525 or contacting the Walkathon Committee HERE .
Expect lots of fun, food, an exciting stage show, and a raffle
with great prizes. Be sure to mark it on your calendar now and come on out and
join the fun.
**************************************************
2. Higashiyama Garden
Cruises
Walking downtown from Nagoya
Station to Sakae the other day, I noticed a small boat, reminiscent almost of a
gondola, cruising down the canal.
When a colleague told me of Higashiyama
Garden Cruises, I looked it up on the internet and found a company that
offers party cruises on authentic Japanese style party boats!
The website
is all in Japanese, so I am translating it here in case you’d like your next
party or function to be catered on your very own boat!
There are three boats to choose
from, each appropriate for a different sort of occasion.
The Angel
Harp is suitable for much larger functions like wedding parties – it
caters for 20 to 70 people standing up.
This larger boat will cruise around the Nagoya Port area for as little
as 6300 yen per person (and as much as 10,500 yen per person, depending on the
food you request for the party).
Japanese sake and beer as well as soft drinks are included in this price
– if you’d prefer wine or other beverages you can bring them on board at
no extra cost.
For a smaller party (20 to 48
people), try the Yoshimaru,
reminiscent of the Edo Period of Japanese history. It goes from Naya-bashi (check out this English website for a restaurant
in the same area for a map to get you there) down to Nagoya Port. It costs about the same as the Angel
Harp per person.
For an intimate gathering (about
10 people for 2 hours), check out the Samurai
Cruise which takes passengers for the low price of 3465 yen including a
boxed lunch. This makes it a
superb option for taking your family slght seeing when they visit from
overseas, as the boat travels all the way down from Nagoya Castle.
For maps of all the ports
(described below) used by these boats click on the links marked “MAP” on this page.
Asahibashi Port is 100 metres from
the main gate of Nagoya Castle, and ten minutes walk from Sengencho
Station. Come out of exit #1 and
head towards the McDonalds and Mobil Gas Station.
Nayabashi Pier is a 6 minute walk
(back towards Nagoya) from Fushimi Station, exit #7. Walk past the Hilton and you will see the Pier as you cross
the bridge.
Shiratoribashi (Shiratori Bridge) is
a five minute walk from exit #2 of Nishitakakura Station.
Miyanowatashi is a 7 minute walk
from exit #4 of Tenmacho Station.
For enquiries and reservations,
have a Japanese speaking friend call 052-698-4611.
**************************************************
3. Baby Massage Classes
Thank you to Sharla Yesilgoez
for this submission
-
Baby massage for foreign mommies
Date:
Every 3rd Tuesday
Place:
Takaoka jidokan
You
can get there about 1min walk from Exit#1 or #2 of Takaoka subway station (red
line)
Fee:
1000yen/ one time (incl. massage oil)
Necessary
items: Bath towel, drinks for baby and all other baby necessities
-
Baby massage for Japanese and foreign mommies
Date:
Every 3rd Monday
Place:
Maido Shizenshoku Dining (healthy food restaurant in Nishi-ku)
Fee:
3000yen/ one time (incl. lunch)
She
can also offer private classes anywhere in Nagoya. It will cost 2000yen
plus extra fee as her transportation. For more
details, clients may want to call/email her directly.
Your
baby should be over 2months old, or before who can crawl on hands and knees
(for beginner).
Please
contact Ms. Masako Sanji for details.
Cell:
090-4864-1657
Email:
momo-035@smile.ocn.ne.jp
**************************************************
4. 2008 Mount Fuji Climb
for Charity
H&R
Consultants, ReloJapan and LeaseJapan are happy once again to team up with HOPE
International Development Agency for the annual Charity of Climb of Mt Fuji.
This
is a unique opportunity to ride in comfort on a chartered bus to Fuji, climb
Japan’s highest and most sacred mountain
with a great group of people… and all for a great cause.
There
is no charge for our clients, (except for the onsen and
your own food) but we ask you to raise at least 10,000 yen for HOPE by asking
your friends and family to sponsor you.
HOPE
has a challenge website, www.hopeglobalchallenge.com, where you can
direct your sponsors to go to place their pledge and
find out more.
To
avoid the crowds and the misery of climbing in the dark, this year we will
climb during day light hours starting just before dawn. The day will end in a
wonderful hot spring where you can also obtain a nourishing
meal.
Book
in soon, there are only 50 places!
Please
contact Akie Takahashi (akie_takahashi@hrconslt.com) or Natsuko
Kubota (natsuko_kubota@leasejapan.com)
for further information.
We look forward
to doing this challenge with you!!
**************************************************
5. Aichi Bokujo (Aichi
Farm)
Thank you to Helen Kawachi for
this submission
The playgroup I’m involved with
is going to Aichi Bokujo (Aichi Farm) for an excursion soon. I’ve been there a few times –
it’s a nice, down-to-earth place that’s good for a family day out.
AICHI FARM DETAILS
Please take a look at the website from Nagoya
International Center for details. It is free to enter the
farm, and parking is also free. The phone number
below should work in your car navigation.
Access: A 5-minute walk from the exit at Kurozasa
Station(黒笹), off the Tsurumai
Line between Akaike and Toyota; costs 650 Yen from Nagoya, 230 Yen from Akaike.
Over 500 free parking spaces are also available. For reservations and more
information call 0561-72-1300 Website: www.aiboku.com
You will need some money (coins are best as tickets are sold
in vending machines) if you want to do any of the following:
A bumpy tractor trailer ride around the farm (300yen) to see
the fields. Sometimes they have flower mazes, depending
on the time of year. There is a box in front of the maze for you to put a
donation in. Kids also like pony rides (500yen) and feeding the animals (100yen
for cartons of pellet food from vending machines).
There are cows, goats, pigs, rabbits, horses, geese. Last time we went a
cockeral followed my boys into the flower maze!
WHAT TO TAKE
*a picnic lunch. There are some snacks, home made ice-cream,
milk, drinks etc for sale
*good shoes. The ground is rough and hilly, the grass can be
painful if you wear sandals or Crocs.
*sunhats. There isn't a lot of shade and it's quite a large
area for kids to walk around.
**************************************************
6. Dr Yoshida –
Orthopedic Surgeon
Thank you to Kim Morrissey for
information contained within this submission
Dr Yoshida has excellent
English, and has rehabilitation services right there in his clinic. The website is in
Japanese, but Dr. Yoshida is used to dealing with foreigners. Print out this page to
take with you as it does have a small map and address detail you can use to get
there the first time, or you can put the phone number into your car navigation.
Make sure you take your Japanese
insurance card with you for a really affordable rehabilitation experience!
Yoshida Seikei Geka Clinic
166 Fujigaoka, Meito-ku
3 minutes walk from Fujigaoka
Station
Tel: 052-775-0355
Open: 9am-12pm Mon – Sat,
4pm-7pm Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri
Closed: Sundays, Public
Holidays, Wed & Sat afternoons
**************************************************
7. Meet and Greet Luncheon
For those of you who are new to
Nagoya, please come and join us for lunch. Meet and Greet lunch is the
ideal place to make new friends, have a chat, and find out what is going on in
Nagoya. Shooters has a relaxed atmosphere and is closed during the day
except for our event, so we have the run of the place. This means that it
is a VERY easy event for mothers with babies or small children. It also
means, however, that there must be an RSVP so that Shooters can cater for the
correct number of people.
Date and Time: Tuesday, May
13th, starting at 11:30 a.m.
Place: Shooters Sports Bar and
Grill, Fushimi (http://www.shooters-nagoya.com)
Price: 1500 yen for buffet lunch
and a drink.
RSVP: Joey Tan is the Meet and
Greet Coordinator. Please RSVP to Joey by e-mail at joeywltan@gmail.com as soon as possible,
but at the latest by the 10th. When you are RSVPing for another person,
please give the name of the other person to avoid double bookings.
Note: For those coming by
car there is a relatively cheap option, Toyo Parking for 110 yen per half hour,
down the street from Kinkos which is walkable from Shooters. For those
with car navigation, the phone number of the parking lot is (052) 231-3550.
**************************************************
8. Midwife Clinics
Japan is a great place to give
birth naturally despite what you might hear, because there is a great network
of midwives here who can help you have a natural birth, free of the medical
processes that can complicate otherwise normal births. When you “sign up” with a midwife
clinic, you also have a certain number of appointments with a hospital, so that
in the event anything went wrong you are still covered. Midwives give you much longer each
appointment that you see them, and they also give you a wealth of practical
advice that doctors never even think of.
After the baby is born, they are also very hands on, helping you with
breast feeding etc. Even if you
don’t have your baby at a midwife clinic (or at home with a midwife present), a
midwife can help you with breast feeding when the time comes.
The three midwives I’m writing
about here were all present for the birth of my second daughter. The lovely thing about midwives in
Nagoya is that they are such a tight network they are able to help each other out. I didn’t even have to pay the midwives
separately – it all just seemed to be included in the one, very reasonable
price.
To learn more about the process
of natural birth in a Japanese midwife clinic, your first stop should be the Nagoya Foreign Mothers group
and English speaking midwife Misako Iwamoto. Misako-san has her own humble clinic in Tempaku-ku, and I
have heard only good reports from people I know. One friend even gave her daughter the middle name of
“Misako” in appreciation of the wonderful experience she had (several years ago
now).
Tempaku Josan-in (Tempaku
Midwife Clinic)
Address: 2218 Ebiyama-cho,
Tempaku-ku, Nagoya, 468-0042
Phone: 052-847-0243
Please call ahead to make an
appointment (usually appointments are in the morning)
Yuu Midwife Clinic in Minami-ku comes with
my very highest recommendation, if you speak a bit of Japanese. The rooms and facilities remind me of a
hot spring resort, and the food is excellent (they also bend over backwards to
prepare food to your special requests).
Yamamoto-Sensei, the wonderful, calm and experienced midwife, does not
speak English but there are many foreign ladies who have given birth at her
clinic, The midwife clinic is very close to the small ObGyn hospital Ai Ladies Clinic. It’s no mistake that the places are called “You and Ai”…
they are both owned by the same doctor and his wife (who, by the way, speaks
English and will go to great lengths to make any foreign guest feel at
ease). This is the only clinic I
know of in Nagoya with a full sized birthing pool for water birth.
Yuu Josanin (Yuu Midwife Clinic)
Address: 1-17 Koto Dori,
Minami-ku, Nagoya-shi
Phone: 052-613-3535
Fax: 052-613-3533
Appointment times: from 9:30
am (please call ahead to make an appointment)
No appointments available on
Sundays or holidays
Sumiyo Kitano is an English speaking midwife
with her own clinic in Meito-ku. She has experience in helping foreign
mothers to give birth. She is younger than Misako-san and Yamamoto-Sensei from
the midwife clinics listed above, but I’ve heard good things from the person I
know who had her baby at the Meito-ku clinic.
Phone: 052-776-5889
Fax: 052-776-5874
e-mail: webmaster@mama110.com
Please call or e-mail ahead
to make an appointment
**************************************************
9. Sushi
I found the following guide to
sushi on an excellent website, sushifaq.com. On this website you’ll find heaps of information that will help make
your sushi dining experience one to remember, whether at the cheapest kaiten-zushi (rotating sushi bar) or a small, pricey “hole-in-the-wall” establishment.
The website even includes health information on sushi, and how to make your own
sushi at home.
Are you new to sushi?
Have you ever wanted to try it but were not sure where to start or what you
might like? Or tried it and weren't sure if you liked it? This guide will
hopefully offer some information as to
a good way to start enjoying sushi if you are a sushi beginner. Many people may
say 'why do I need a guide to try sushi?" This is not intended to be a
treatise on the 'only' way to start eating sushi, but merely some recommendations
for those who are unsure about eating raw fish and may be looking for some
direction to ease them into something that they may learn to enjoy. This guide
is presented as a list of suggestion to follow or think about when you decide
the time is right to try sushi.
Try cooked items first.
Until you are comfortable with raw seafood, you may want to try the cooked
items available before the raw ones. Not all sushi is raw, which may come as a
surprise to some, and you can make an
entire meal from cooked food. Eel (unagi and anago) is always served cooked,
and usually with a sweet and savory sauce. California rolls also have avocado,
cucumber and cooked imitation crab
meat (called kamaboko or surimi). You can
get grilled squid (ika) or octopus (tako). Shrimp (ebi) is a good place to
begin as unless you are ordering 'sweet shrimp'
(ama ebi) it is always cooked. Clam is often cooked as well. Sushi restaurants
also often make rolls out of items that are cooked tempura style (battered and
fried). Some of these rolls (maki) are actually quite good. Some fish is
'cooked' in an acidic marinade, similar to ceviche which is popular
in many countries. With these items, such as mackerel (saba), the acidity of
the marinade cooks the fish instead of heat, and adds a great deal of flavor to
the fish as well. While a strongly flavored fish may not be to your liking,
check the menu or ask to see what may be available.
Start with what you know.
Sushi is not that different from eating
any fish, it's just not cooked. If you were to put it in the context of
'seafood' it should be easier on the neophyte palate. If you like a nice piece
of grilled salmon,
or particularly smoked or cured, then a piece of salmon sushi shouldn't that
much of a reach. The two main differences are taste and texture, and taste-wise
raw salmon is not that different. It may not have the smokiness of smoked salmon or the
sweetness of the cured variety, but this particular fish is not that different
raw or cooked. Texture wise, it is just a little softer, which will not stand
out that much against the rice. Do you like calamari? Try the squid (ika). Do
you like scallops?
Scallop sushi is almost unchanged from the 'seared' scallops served in a nice
restaurant, which is only seared on the outside and raw on the inside. Shrimp
(ebi) is also widely served. While there are many fish you may not have
encountered in a restaurant,
there will also be plenty that you have, and will be familiar.
Try 'vegetarian' sushi.
Just to get yourself in the 'sushi mode' you might want to try rolls without
any meat in them. Kappa Maki (cucumber rolls) are a good place to start. By
trying items like these you may become accustomed to the style of food and then
decide if you would like to partake of something a bit more adventurous.
Start with the cut rolls (maki) instead of
sushi or sashimi. One of the many ways of serving
sushi, the cut roll or hand roll (temaki) is a good way to start off if the
thought of eating raw fish might be off-putting. With the rolls, the items are
inside and not staring you in the face, which may be a bit more appealing to
some. Sashimi may be the last choice for
some as being nothing more than a chunk of raw fish, it may not be the best
thing to start with if you are hesitant. With a roll, and sushi, the rice will
be a nice buffer, so to speak, for you to become
more accustomed to the concept of eating fish raw.
Try the items with the least 'fishy'
intensity. The milder items are a great place to start.
Foods such as scallop (hotategai), red snapper (tai), squid (ika), and halibut
(ohyo) are particularly mild, and are great
for beginners. Tuna (maguro) may look strong due to it's rich, dark colour, but
it is also a very mild fish, and a very common item in sushi restaurants.
Putting a hunk of mackerel (saba) in your mouth when you are not expecting
something overly fishy can be a deal-breaker for some. The milder fish can
still have a great flavor without being 'fishy.' The general rule is the less
oily, the less fishy, so keep that in mind.
There is a dining choice called “omakase” which
essentially means 'chef's choice.' This means that the itamae will choose what
he thinks is particularly good that day and serve you items until you are finished.
This is probably not a good choice if you
are not sure what you like or definitely want to avoid certain items. Don't let
your friends talk you into this one unless you know what you are getting into,
which I explain in my blog entry, omakase sushi.
Everyone has
different tastes and there is definitely no single way to approach sushi if you
are new to it. Always stay at your comfort
level and don't be afraid to not eat something that doesn't appeal
to you. Find your own pace and you never know, sushi may grow on you. As a
youth I was told to try something three times before declaring
that I didn't like it. It has worked for me every time and I can't think of a
food that I cannot appreciate. You may not turn into a sushi fiend, but there
is a lot to appreciate about sushi and Japanese
food in general. Try what you think that you will like and that looks
interesting. Have a little sake and relax. Meshi agare!
The following is a list of
fish names in Japanese. Not all of
these fish are used for sashimi or sushi, and some (particularly the freshwater fish) are used only in the
mountains where the water is clean enough for the fish to taste great.
Saltwater fish (blue)
鮪 まぐろ (maguro) tuna
とろ鮪 トロまぐろ (toro maguro) pink, fat belly
tuna
カジキ鮪 カジキマグロ (kajiki maguro) swordfish
鰤 ぶり (buri) yellowtail, amberjack
ハマチ はまち (hamachi) young yellowtail
鰹 かつお (katsuo) bonito
鯖 さば (saba) pacific mackerel
鯵 あじ (aji) horse mackerel
秋刀魚 さんま (sanma) pike, saury
鮭 しゃけ、さけ (shake or sake) salmon
鰯 いわし (iwashi) sardine, anchovy
鯡 にしん (nishin) herring
鮫 さめ (same) shark
穴子 あなご (anago) conger eel
鱧 はも (hamo) pike conger
飛魚 トビウオ (tobiuo) flying fish
Saltwater fish (white)
河豚 ふぐ (fugu) blowfish
比目魚 ひらめ (hirame) flounder
鰈 かれい (karei) sole
鱈 たら (tara) cod
鱸 すずき (suzuki) sea bass
鯛 たい (tai) sea bream
Freshwater fish
鱒 ます（masu) lake trout
虹鱒 にじます (nijimasu) rainbow trout
鮎 あゆ (ayu) river trout
鯉 こい (koi) carp
鰻 うなぎ (unagi) eel
Shellfish and mollusks
蠣 かき (kaki) oyster
蛤 はまぐり (hamaguri) clam
アサリ あさり (asari) baby clam
帆立 ほたて (hotate) scallop
蟹 かに (kani) crab
海老 えび (ebi) shrimp, prawn
伊勢海老 いせえび (Ise ebi) lobster/crayfish
鮑 あわび (awabi) abalone
サザエ さざえ (sazae) conch, whelk
イカ いか (ika) squid
タコ たこ (tako) octopus
ウニ うに (uni) sea urchin
Roe
イクラ いくら (ikura) salmon roe
数の子 かずのこ (kazunoko) herring roe
鱈子 たらこ (tarako) cod roe
Finally, a friend introduced
me to a little sushi restaurant near Ikeshita Station. The chef has lived seven years in the
States and Canada and speaks English, so it’s probably a good place to go for
an omakase (chef’s choice) experience. The menu is both traditional Japanese
and American style sushi. The
website is also in English so you can see what items are on the menu and how
much you can expect to pay.
1 minute from Imaike Station in
front of the bus station
Tel: 052-751-6565
**************************************************
10. Passion
Sue Conolly
When I first came to Japan at
the tender age of 18, I soon became passionate about teaching English. I really mean passionate. I worked at one of the English
Conversation Schools made possible by the bubble of the Japanese economy, and
the “free time” system meant that there was always a shortage of
curriculum. I often could be
found, bent over a little electric typewriter, whiteout in hand trying to fix
up a lesson for a group of “silver bullets” (this is what we called the extreme
beginners) or “3 stars” (those elite few who were already almost fluent).
It took many years for me to
work out that it’s probably not the coolest thing to say “I’m an English
teacher in Japan”, in fact depending on who you say it to, you might want to
lower your voice as far as possible.
By this stage, I’d also become somewhat jaded myself. Who were these people trying to learn
English? Why were they always
asking me what I cooked for dinner?
What was the point of all this?
I had hit a wall, and it’s easy to do in a business (the English
Conversation School business) that does not necessarily provide a lot of
in-house training and professional development opportunities.
Fast forward through all my jobs
– overseas program coordinator at the YMCA, administrative assistant at
Nihon Fukushi University, relocation consultant at H&R Consultants,
counselor and life coach in private practice, and free-lance writer of the
X-Pat Files. Now I have two children, who I’m trying to raise bilingually and
bi-culturally. Teaching English
doesn’t seem so pointless any more, now, does it? Have I come full circle?
For some months, perhaps some
years now I have been meandering on in my life, enjoying the various things
that have come my way but without my central passion. Of course I have my family, and my family will always make
anything worth the daily grind, but without a drive or a focus it is sometimes
hard to make decisions about where you’re going.
I went to New York in the summer
with the kids last year, and I met a life coach friend of mine for the first
time in person. Bethany lives with
her two kids and husband in a tiny apartment in a brownstone building in New
York. Bethany’s husband is what
you’d call a struggling artist trying to make it in a rather large pool of
struggling artists. They have
young kids. To afford the rent on
the tiny apartment, they rent out the master bedroom to a roommate and agree to
fix all the deteriorating apartments in the building for the landlord. It’s perhaps not a perfect situation,
but they had drive, they had passion and from where I stood they had everything
that I had not. Of course my
friend goes through her own struggles to keep focus day to day (she has devoted
a whole website to the struggles young
mothers face). However, Bethany
was a true inspiration to me. She
taught me that some things are worth fighting for. Some things are important. And if you stay open to it long enough, those important
things that are worth fighting for will make themselves known.
So you could say that I’ve had
an itch to scratch ever since last summer when I went to New York. Trying to
balance writing, kids and all that goes with that, wrestling with my own
personal demons every day – has kept me moving in circles.
In the past when I’ve been stuck
in circles, I’ve found the best thing to do is to do something I never thought
was possible – bust out in some direction to see how that feels. For me
this time, that watershed, that brave new world was a return to English
teaching an application to university for my Masters in Teaching English as a
Second Language. Taking the kids
bilingual education really seriously, that’s where my passion lies right now. That’s what I’ve got to go with.
Yesterday I drove the streets of
Nagoya picking up documentation from each of the places I’ve had English
teaching experience. I had a
folder of all those old lessons I made in my teens. I got a letter from the place I worked when I was
married. I got a letter from my
counseling supervisor. Driving
around Nagoya, I was in fact re-connecting the dots to my life that had brought
me to this place. The vibe was
electric.
Before I had left home on this
journey into my past, I walked past the mailbox in my genkan. Normally the mail stays where it is
supposed to in the mailbox, where it might wait for a while until I think to
take it upstairs. This day however
something had jumped right out of the mailbox and slid onto the floor. I had to either step on it to get out
the door, or pick it up. It was a
letter from Bethany, a prize in fact that I’d won by writing on her website. Among the photos, the memories of New
York, and Bethany’s handwriting, a bookmark fell out of the card she had sent
me.
passion
That was the one word on the
bookmark. Bethany had sent me the
“passion” I’d been lacking on the very day I was most open to it. I drove around the streets with a fervor
I’d not felt since zooming through the streets of Nagoya as a relocation
consultant. Today I sent off my
application to university. I have no idea where any of this is going, but for
now it feels soright.
**************************************************
That`s it for this edition of
the newsletter. We hope you found it informative - please let us know what you
would like to see in future editions, and we will attempt to address your
issues.
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