Join Us for Japanese Study!

We (Nankoku City International Association, NIA for short) have 2 classes a beginner level and an intermediate level.

The class details are as follows;

NIHONGO-KYOOSHITSU・にほんごきょうしつ(Intermediate class)
  Term 2015-5-13～2016-2-21 Every Wednesday (without only the last class)
  Time 19:00~21:00
  Place Nisshoo Fukushi Kooryuu Center (Nankoku city Tamura 2207)
  Fee  100yen per class.
 This class will also support you to prepare for the JLPT exam.(JLPT N2～N１)

  

NIHONGO SHABERIBA!・にほんごＳＨＡＢＥＲＩＢＡ！ (Beginner class)

  Term 2015-5-13～2016-2-21 Every Wednesday (without only the last class)
  Time 19:00~21:00
  Place Nisshoo Fukushi Kooryuu Center (Nankoku city Tamura 2207)
  Fee  100yen per class.
 This class places great importance on speaking. There are many Japanese volunteers who will help you progress in Japanese by having conversations in each class.

Eat Local

Fresh vegetables sold in an outdoor
market.

What is the “Eat Local” movement?
   Until recently, people have only eaten food that was located close to them. But in our current day and age, it’s very easy to buy food products that were produced from unknown sources in faraway countries. This may be convenient for consumers, but it can lead to safety concerns about unknown food sources and the weakening of local economies due to low sales of local products. That’s where chisanchisho comes in.

   Chisanchisho, literally meaning “local production for local consumption,” was started to protect local economies and give consumers peace of mind knowing that their food is fresh, delicious, and comes from a trusted source. In this issue, we’ll refer to chisanchisho as “Eat Local.” Since its inception, the Eat Local movement has also proven to benefit health by providing in-season, high-nutrient produce, benefit community building by creating relationships between producers and consumers, preserve local scenery and food traditions, and even help the environment by reducing fuel emissions caused by transporting goods. The same logic for Eat Local is now even being applied to other industries, such as automobiles and craft goods.

Delicious Seasonal Foods! A Visit to Road Station Nankoku Café Resto Furari

Entrance to Café Resto Furari.

  

   Near the Nankoku Interchange can be found the Road Station Nankoku Café Resto Furari, home of a popular Morning Buffet where you can eat tons of fresh vegetables. Furari is registered in “Yasai de Genki-ten PLUS,” a list of shops that provide menu options that prioritize using Kochi local produce.

How to Get Involved with Eat Local

   We introduced a restaurant from Yasai de Genki-ten PLUS in the article above, but here are four more ways to get involved with Eat Local!

 

● Locally Grown Sections—check out the locally grown section of your supermarket, and read food labels.

   There is a section at most supermarkets called the “直販コーナー”(chokuhan kōnā) where locally grown produce is sold. You can read the where the produce was grown and the farmer’s name by looking at the sticker on the bag.

 

● Outdoor Markets—Did you know that there is an outdoor market like Sunday Market every day?
   There are outdoor markets in Kochi City every day of the week except for Monday. The details for the markets other than the famous Sunday Market (loc. Otesuji) are written below.
   Tuesday Market (Kamimachi 4 cho-me & 5 cho-me), Wednesday Market (Hyakkokucho 3 cho-me), Thursday Market (Honmachi 5 cho-me), Friday Market (Atagomachi 1 cho-me), Saturday Market (Ike Park)

 

● Local Marketplaces—find and use local markets at “Road Stations”
   There are “Road Stations” (michi no eki) along highways with large parking lots, restrooms, restaurants, and local goods shops. They also sell local produce, so visit them when out on a drive!

 

● Creating Culture—speak face to face with farmers and spread the word!
   When you talk face to face with the people who grow your food, you learn new things and gain a deeper understanding of food and your region. And by talking to your friends about your experiences,
you can contribute to the spread of Eat Local culture!

Kochi Life Q&A “Souvenirs from Kochi”

Q:I’m visiting my home country soon. What are some Kochimade products that I can bring as gifts?

 

A:In Japan, the word omiyage (souvenir) is usually associated with foods, but this is not always the case in other countries. Fortunately, Kochi is home to several traditional industries which make products suitable for gifts.

GENKI Seinenkai Tosaben Musical 2015 “The Wizard of Tosa”

  

A scene of the Tosaben Musical 2014
 - Hogwarts Tosa Style School of Witchcraft
and Wizardry

   Would you like to add a little “GENKI” to your life? Announcing the annual Tosaben Musical!

   This year’s title is Tosa no Mahotsukai, “The Wizard of Tosa.” It introduces “The Wizard of Oz,” which is not very well known by Japanese people, in Tosa-style. Tamaki, a high school girl from Tokyo, moves to live with her aunt in Kochi, but she misses her friends in Tokyo and just can’t get used to life in Kochi. One day, Tamaki is swept away by a typhoon and lands in a fantasy land called “Tosa.” In this mysterious land, populated by Yuzu people, Washi people, living scarecrows and more, Tamaki must find her way home while learning to speak Tosaben, making new friends, and having a great adventure.

   Admission to the Tosaben Musical is free, but donations are encouraged. The funds collected will be given as a scholarship to a Kochi high school or college student who is planning to study abroad. Thank you for your generosity.

Join the Multilingual Disaster Mitigation Project in Kochi!

   We are developing a multi-language mitigation communication tool that can be widely used from everyday information exchange to when a disaster occurs.

 

   We really appreciate your participation and feel free to let us know your opinion for improvement.

Foreigners Working in Kochi ①

Dana Berte
(Aki City, from America)

 

   The first person we will introduce, Dana Berte, was a Coordinator for International Relations with the JET Program in Aomori Prefecture for 3 years, and now works in product development at Kikusui Sake Company.

 

Foreigners Working in Kochi ②

Rogier Uitenboogaart
(Yusuhara, from The Netherlands)

   Next is Rogier Uitenboogaart, a washi (traditional Japanese paper) maker who has lived in Kochi for over 30 years. We traveled northwest two hours by car to the town of Yusuhara to hear his story.

 

   The workshop where Rogier makes washi and the attached bed & breakfast are settled in a quiet agricultural village at the base of a mountain, perfectly blending in to its surroundings. Travelling there felt like we were visiting our grandparents in the countryside.

Foreigners Working in Kochi ③

Mie Seki
(Kochi City, from Shangdong Province in China)

 

   The last person we will introduce is of the nationality that likely occupies the top spot for number of foreign spouses of Japanese people in Kochi and maybe even Japan. Mie Seki came to Kochi from China, had children here, and now works hard every day to balance her work and family.

Kochi Life Q&A : New Year’s Cards (Nengajo)

Q:At New Year’s I’ve received some unfamiliar-looking postcards. What are these? What should I do about them?

 

A:These postcards are called nengajo. They are greeting cards sent out at the New Year to say "Happy New Year,” thank the recipient for their friendship in the previous year, and express hopes for the relationship to continue in the future. In the olden days, it was customary in Japan to go around the neighborhood at New Year’s and give your greetings in person. However, partly because it was difficult give in-person greetings to people who lived far away, it became common to send New Year’s greetings in a letter instead. As the Meiji Period began, the nengajo postcard as we know it today gained popularity.

Totsuka Embroidery Exhibition

Place: Kochi Daimaru Department Store 5th Floor

Date: 17(Mon.) - 20(Thur.) November 2014

Time: 10am - 7:30pm (4pm on the last day)

 

Brief Introduction of Totsuka-method embroidery:

   Ms. Kiku Totsuka, the present chairwoman encountered Ms. Inu Miyagawa at a university hospital in Fukuoka after she had graduated from Women's high-school of Hagi. Ms. Miyagawa initiated her European embroidery which was just introduced to Japan. This is how Totsuka-method embroidery was born.  Later, Ms. Totsuka was introduced by Ms. Miyagawa to Ms. Iwamurayama, a handicraft artist, who had just returned from America, and learned genuinely French embroidery from her. Ms. Totsuka not only yielded a lot of work, but modified the stitching method to suit Japanese women by arranging a variety of combination to enable luxurious color scheme, and succeeded to express seasonable design based on Japanese tradition and climate with European embroidery. Today, the feature is called individuality and characteristics of Totsuka-method embroidery.

 

Further information about Totsuka-method embroidery:

http://www.totsuka-shisyu.com/index.htm

(Japanese)   

Explore the Natural World—Without Leaving Kochi City!

By Clare Marks

   In 2005, the mountain villages of Kagami and Tosayama became part of Kochi City, which means that you can enjoy nature without ever leaving the city.

One-Point Advice from Seki-san ①～③

One-Point Advice from Sekisan ① - How to Blur the Background to Emphasize a Subject -
   By changing the aperture (F-number), you can change the amount of light that enters the lens, and thus the range of focus. The smaller you make the aperture, the smaller the range of focus becomes, so you can really make the subject stand out.

At Yakeno Forest Park

 

Hiking Courses That Let You Have it All—Hiking, Fall Colors, AND Onsen

   Here we introduce two day trip hiking courses for those people who want a little more out of hiking than just, well, hiking.