CLASSIFICATION: Eyes only
Special Agent In Charge Justin
Deputy Agent Nana Reporting
EXSUM: Operation Overseas Weight Loss (Operation O.W.L.) proceeding excellently.
Point-by-point analysis:
DATA COLLECTION: According to this AM's doctor visit (to procure Hep A vaccination in advance of Cambodia mission) Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Justin has lost 6 kilograms, which is foreigner-speak for "13 pounds." Doctor at the Fukuoka International Clinic classified this accomplishment (in Dutch accent) as "Remarkable!" and affirmed that it is the second-highest weight loss rate he has ever seen at his clinic.
Data also suggests that Deputy Nana has lost 1/2 inch of height. No information as to whether or not these two phenomena are related.
ACCESS CONTROL: Significant progress has been made in securing apartment perimeter against infiltration by unhealthy food items. Grocery shopping consists heavily of produce. New local produce i.e. burdock and lotus root have been added to diet to rave reviews. Soy milk acquired from Costco is a low-calorie snack option.
COMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE: Iphones are essential.
SAC Justin has scrupulously recorded daily caloric intake and expenditures in free Iphone app "LoseIt," and, more importantly, does not cheat. Additionally, installation of LoseIt with identical user account on Deputy Nana's phone provides the Deputy with updated accurate information to assist her in cooking dinner while SAC Justin exercises.
Iphone app "Japanese" ($9.99) has been critical to Operation O.W.L.'s protein-replacement project. Prior to commencement of operation, chicken and pork were dominant proteins consumed, with occasional salmon. This is due to the fact that field agents are unable to identify any other proteins in the supermarket. With "Japanese," clueless agents can stand in the fish section looking up ブリ and discovering that the fish is "Japanese amberjack." Unfortunately, as the agents had never heard of this fish in English either, the "Japanese" app must be supplemented with Google and 3G access to identify recipes (this one was field-tested last night and ascertained to be "delicious.")
Current "cheat sheet" for Japanese fish:
ブリ or 鰤: ("buri") Japanese Amberjack (like swordfish but lighter)
カツオor 鰹: ("katsuo") Skipjack tuna
メカジキ: ("mekajiki") Swordfish
サワラ or 鰆: ("sawara") Spanish mackerel
マス or 鱒: ("masu") trout
ヒラメ: ("hirame") flounder
LOGISTICS: SAC Justin has exercised with great discipline, approximately 1 hr per day with few missed days, in a combination of walking and biking. Deputy Nana enjoys this greatly, as she is constantly running out of milk and now can always ask the SAC to go to the store for her. In fact, SAC Justin's discipline has even inspired Deputy Nana to join in exercise, a stunning achievement seeing as she is among the most slothful people alive, and joined her high school martial arts team because it was the only sport which did not require running laps.
Exercising on rainy days continues to be a logistical challenge. Weather has been given a firm talking-to. Should non-compliance continue, sanctions are the recommended next step.
Scheduling has also been modified. Unlike normal people, the SAC is an early riser and thus historically an early breakfaster. Moving breakfast later in the morning has enabled the SAC to reduce portion size but not pass out by lunchtime. Dinner is typically served later as well.
MORALE: SAC is a champ, having maintained his schedule despite a tremendously busy work season (talent show is coming up!) and a work-related deployment to Kobe. He also puts up with the fact that his deputy has the metabolism of a jackrabbit and currently has a Tupperware full of brownie mix in the refrigerator, which she eats with a spoon.
CONCLUSION: As stated in EXSUM, progress is exemplary. Well done, Justin!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Great MUN delegates: born or made?
Our lives may look like a hedonistic whirlwind of temple photography and sushi consumption, but probably 80% of our waking hours are spent on teaching, our day jobs. It's been a while since we talked about teaching, so thought I would share some reflections.
Justin and I are in Kobe attending a Model United Nations conference. If you're not familiar with the program, imagine that the debate team and mock trial ran into each other at high speed and fell down in the political science department. Students role-play various countries and attempt to solve world issues through discussion while remaining true to the interests of their characters. To be successful, students need public speaking skills, good vocabulary, reading comprehension, and research skills.
I started teaching MUN last year, and my preparation consisted entirely of a 45 minute Skype call with a college friend who ran the Yale MUN conference. So it's been a hands-on learning experience, to say the least, and I have no pretensions to expertise.
Overall, my verdict is that for a humanities teacher, MUN is a godsend. It creates competitiveness among the students to develop the kind of knowledge and skills which we otherwise have to force into them. Students are desperate to improve their vocabularies and to be informed on global issues so they don't embarass themselves in front of their peers (a student once came up to me and asked desperately, "Can you help me find big words to make my speech sound more smarter?") When we go to conferences, the skilled upperclassmen from other schools become academic role models in a way you typically only see in sports. We can tell students a thousand times about the value of diction, volume, and articulate speech, and we don't have one thousandth the impact of a cogent, impassioned twenty-second objection by the delegate of the Russian Federation, a confident senior who uses words like "ameliorate."
MUN skills, once acquired, transfer outside the humanities as well. The students can debate stem cell research in Biology or confidently present a solution to a math problem.
Being good at MUN may not "cool" at most schools. A difference for us is that nearly everyone takes it, because it is offered as a class during the day, So all kids have the chance to be impressive or be impressed. This makes our program fundamentally different from clubs or after-school programs. Clubs are self-selecting and, it seems to me, draw students who are already good at MUN and enjoy the chance to use their skills. By contrast, we have shy kids, non-native English speakers, and kids who have never read a newspaper. It can be a real challenge to guide these students to MUN success (roughly comparable, I suspect, to the challenge my PE teacher faced trying to get me to run the mile. The difference is that I actually care that my students not be turned off the subject for life).
In a club school, I strongly suspect that these students would be too intimidated to join MUN, or not supported enough to stay in it. The irony is that these students may need MUN more than the "naturals" who can already read and speak in public. We have put a lot of work into helping this kind of student. It has been really rewarding here in Kobe to see students take on difficult tasks like amendment proposal when they started the class afraid to ask questions and not really even sure where their country was located.
To conclude, in MUN format:
Question of: MUN participation
Submitted by: Nana
TheSenseitions
Aware of the benefits of participation in MUN for students and schools,
Affirming the valuable contributions of outstanding students to MUN conferences,
Concerned by the possibility that some students do not receive enough support or encouragement and therefore miss out on the benefits of MUN
1. Calls for more schools to offer MUN as an academic class, to attract a wider range of participants,
2. Encourages high-level participants to continue to set a strong but supportive example,
3. Endorses the MUN program to schools which do not offer it,
4. Urges advisors to actively nurture and develop the talents of all students
Justin and I are in Kobe attending a Model United Nations conference. If you're not familiar with the program, imagine that the debate team and mock trial ran into each other at high speed and fell down in the political science department. Students role-play various countries and attempt to solve world issues through discussion while remaining true to the interests of their characters. To be successful, students need public speaking skills, good vocabulary, reading comprehension, and research skills.
I started teaching MUN last year, and my preparation consisted entirely of a 45 minute Skype call with a college friend who ran the Yale MUN conference. So it's been a hands-on learning experience, to say the least, and I have no pretensions to expertise.
Overall, my verdict is that for a humanities teacher, MUN is a godsend. It creates competitiveness among the students to develop the kind of knowledge and skills which we otherwise have to force into them. Students are desperate to improve their vocabularies and to be informed on global issues so they don't embarass themselves in front of their peers (a student once came up to me and asked desperately, "Can you help me find big words to make my speech sound more smarter?") When we go to conferences, the skilled upperclassmen from other schools become academic role models in a way you typically only see in sports. We can tell students a thousand times about the value of diction, volume, and articulate speech, and we don't have one thousandth the impact of a cogent, impassioned twenty-second objection by the delegate of the Russian Federation, a confident senior who uses words like "ameliorate."
MUN skills, once acquired, transfer outside the humanities as well. The students can debate stem cell research in Biology or confidently present a solution to a math problem.
Being good at MUN may not "cool" at most schools. A difference for us is that nearly everyone takes it, because it is offered as a class during the day, So all kids have the chance to be impressive or be impressed. This makes our program fundamentally different from clubs or after-school programs. Clubs are self-selecting and, it seems to me, draw students who are already good at MUN and enjoy the chance to use their skills. By contrast, we have shy kids, non-native English speakers, and kids who have never read a newspaper. It can be a real challenge to guide these students to MUN success (roughly comparable, I suspect, to the challenge my PE teacher faced trying to get me to run the mile. The difference is that I actually care that my students not be turned off the subject for life).
In a club school, I strongly suspect that these students would be too intimidated to join MUN, or not supported enough to stay in it. The irony is that these students may need MUN more than the "naturals" who can already read and speak in public. We have put a lot of work into helping this kind of student. It has been really rewarding here in Kobe to see students take on difficult tasks like amendment proposal when they started the class afraid to ask questions and not really even sure where their country was located.
To conclude, in MUN format:
Question of: MUN participation
Submitted by: Nana
TheSenseitions
Aware of the benefits of participation in MUN for students and schools,
Affirming the valuable contributions of outstanding students to MUN conferences,
Concerned by the possibility that some students do not receive enough support or encouragement and therefore miss out on the benefits of MUN
1. Calls for more schools to offer MUN as an academic class, to attract a wider range of participants,
2. Encourages high-level participants to continue to set a strong but supportive example,
3. Endorses the MUN program to schools which do not offer it,
4. Urges advisors to actively nurture and develop the talents of all students
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday Weirdness: Sad Cigarette
It's still Wednesday in the U.S.!
Spotted in Fukuoka near Akasaka Station and also on the Kobe subway, here is what appears to be an antismoking public health campaign. Text reads:
"Inhaled. Burned. Thrown away.
If it were anything but a cigarette, it would surely be crying."
Now, this is not Engrish, in the sense that it is grammatically unimpeachable. Bonus points for proper use of the subjunctive "were," which boggles native speakers. No, it is the content which is awesomely perplexing. I mean, who thought that nicotine addiction was rooted in lack of empathy for the cigarette?
This may be characteristically Japanese. A book called "The Geography of Thought" presents an anecdote about Japanese childrearing in which a mother reacts to a child throwing a toy by talking about how sad the toy must feel. Perhaps it connects to the reputed Japanese tendency to be conscious of the effects of actions on others.
On the other hand, maybe it's not Japanese, because this would totally work on me. I am terribly vulnerable to anthopomorphizing. One time, when I was eating a bowl of baby carrots, my sister started pretending to be the voices of the carrots crying out in pain and begging for their lives. I tried to ignore her but finally, heartsick at my newly discovered genocidal tendencies, I abandoned the last carrot. To which, of course, my sister made the carrot respond, "Please.... Eat me too. You killed my whole family. I want to die."
I still feel guilty.
Spotted in Fukuoka near Akasaka Station and also on the Kobe subway, here is what appears to be an antismoking public health campaign. Text reads:
"Inhaled. Burned. Thrown away.
If it were anything but a cigarette, it would surely be crying."
Now, this is not Engrish, in the sense that it is grammatically unimpeachable. Bonus points for proper use of the subjunctive "were," which boggles native speakers. No, it is the content which is awesomely perplexing. I mean, who thought that nicotine addiction was rooted in lack of empathy for the cigarette?
This may be characteristically Japanese. A book called "The Geography of Thought" presents an anecdote about Japanese childrearing in which a mother reacts to a child throwing a toy by talking about how sad the toy must feel. Perhaps it connects to the reputed Japanese tendency to be conscious of the effects of actions on others.
On the other hand, maybe it's not Japanese, because this would totally work on me. I am terribly vulnerable to anthopomorphizing. One time, when I was eating a bowl of baby carrots, my sister started pretending to be the voices of the carrots crying out in pain and begging for their lives. I tried to ignore her but finally, heartsick at my newly discovered genocidal tendencies, I abandoned the last carrot. To which, of course, my sister made the carrot respond, "Please.... Eat me too. You killed my whole family. I want to die."
I still feel guilty.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Fukuoka Snowstorm!
We don't get much snow in these parts. But yesterday, we had more snow in 24 hours than we had all last year. Naturally, our first response was to get the camera out and go goof off outside.
After deciding that our neighborhood wasn't quite cool enough, we decided to schlep ourselves up to Atago Jinja, a hilltop shrine across the river from our place.
This being Fukuoka, the snow had melted by afternoon, but not before we could get out and enjoy ourselves a bit.
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| Doesn't she look like she's thinking about throwing a snowball at me? |
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| Oh, she's definitely thinking about throwing a snowball at me. |
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| Yup, there she goes. (She missed.) |
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| Not every day you see a snow-covered palm tree. |
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| Or, for that matter, a snow penguin. |
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| Japanese houses look cool in the snow. |
After deciding that our neighborhood wasn't quite cool enough, we decided to schlep ourselves up to Atago Jinja, a hilltop shrine across the river from our place.
Language Lesson
雪が降っています!
ゆきがふっています!
yuki-ga futte-imasu!
snow falling is!
It's snowing!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Fukuoka Tower
They say you never really see your town until someone comes to visit. Now, Nana and I get around Fukuoka quite a bit - but somehow we'd never managed to get up Fukuoka Tower, despite the fact that we ride our bikes right past it about a billion times a week.
Apparently, serious lovers could buy a heart-shaped lock, write a love note on it, and latch it to the observation deck railing. According to my sources, this is a thing.
Also a thing? Tiny Shinto shrines, 123 meters up in the air.
Anyway, the whole experience left us feeling very enthusiastic.
(Yes, that's yesterday. And pretty much every other day.)
This weekend, we had a couple sunny days and some friends from Korea in town on a visa run. The tower was on the top of their list, so we were more than happy to oblige. Perfect timing, too: we got to the top just in time for sunset.
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| Looking up from the base. As you can see, the thing's actually empty - just a run-of-the-mill radio tower sheathed in reflective glass. |
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| Looking north, over "our" beach. |
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| Looking east, over Hakata Bay. |
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| Looking south, towards the mountains. |
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| Hey, I can see my house from here! It's down by the confluence of those little rivers. |
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| Looking west, towards Itoshima. |
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| That mountain is Gofuji, which is Japanese for "little Fuji." |
Of course, the views aren't the only attraction on the observation decks - the tower is also home to the obligatory kitsch. Take, for example, this, um, sculpture?
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| "Something will happen when the lovers touch the wings." |
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| Nothing happened. |
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| Seems me and Nana were the only ones without the spark. |
Also a thing? Tiny Shinto shrines, 123 meters up in the air.
Bonus: Some cool night shots, as we made our way from the tower to Nishijin.
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