Shameless Promoting

Alright Internet. Let's make sweet open-source love.
If I promise not to abuse you, will you help me promote a great program?
Most of my readers know me, and know I work for the Hiroshima Prefectural (State) Office, in the International Affairs Division. That's right. I am a JAPANESE Government employee. The only white guy in my building, actually. My point is, in case you stumbled upon this, my job is to promote international exchange and understanding in Hiroshima.

I'm in the middle somewhere...

I worked with a team of extremely skilled and experienced professionals at the Hiroshima International Plaza to develop a 2-week, summer program for intermediate-to-advanced level Japanese speakers to try out, and further develop their abilities here in Japan, while learning about the culture and history of Hiroshima.

Despite the short term of the program, it manages to include Japanese lessons, field trips, a weekend home stay, and even dinner parties and cultural activities. Other than the home-stay, participants stay at the gorgeous facility, which includes a dormitory with individual rooms, baths, toilets and internet connection; a rec center, full-sized, multi-purpose gymnasium, library, computer lab, classrooms, cafeteria serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and even free bicycle rentals.

Taken from the third floor veranda: Foreground is reflection of behind me, background is the city through the glass

 The program is open to basically anyone with a strong drive to improve their Japanese knowledge and understanding, and because it starts and ends at the facility, participants are free to plan their own personal trip around Japan before, after, or around the program dates. It really is just a pocket full of awesome.

Here's where I need your help: I've run into a few problems promoting it.
1) Universities aren't interested in helping.
Even though this is an incredible learning opportunity, we cannot offer college credit flat out, and even if we could, it would be up to each individual university, and I just can't contact every Japanese department, or study abroad office in the world. My own alma mater, the University of Arizona told me: We already offer enough programs to Japan.
2) It is hard to make people realize the full extent of the opportunity.
This is more than just two-weeks of study Japanese all day, every day. Besides the sight seeing field trips to Miyajima and the Hiroshima Peace Park (each home to a UNESCO World Cultural Heritage Site), participants also get to visit businesses and/or the University of Hiroshima, and ask questions about studying or working in Japan. We also want to invite participants from all over the world, giving them the added opportunity of creating bonds with people from Japan and other countries as well.     
3) People are scared of coming to Japan.
Sadly, as I've touched on in a previous post, the news has been working almost 24-7 to confuse and misinform the world on the state of affairs in Japan, and the consequences will be devastating and long lasting.
As if a giant earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor crises weren't enough, the unwarranted bad press has caused tourists, businesses, students, and even governments, to cancel plans, visits, deals, and opportunities all across Japan. That is their decision to make, and I can recognize the wisdom in erring on the side of caution, but HIROSHIMA IS FINE. No tainted water supplies, irradiated milk or vegetables; no damaged train lines or rolling blackouts: we are fine.

Better than fine, in fact. Hiroshima has an amazing effect on everyone who visits here. The same way those who come here are inevitably surprised by the level of revitalization and recovery Hiroshima City has achieved since the atomic bombing almost 67 years ago, we need people to participate in programs like this, not just for our economy, but to show the world that Japan is not the ruined picture of a country the mainstream media is so eager to portray.

Taken on my cell-phone camera, also made in Hiroshima, on the anniversary of the bombing, Aug. 6th 2010.

Finally, this program needs at least ten participants in order for the Hiroshima International Plaza, to make back the cost of holding it. Reversely, this means if you have or know of a group of 10 or more people who would like to study there, you can contact me and the HIP will help you set up your own, private, custom program for anything from a week to a month!
 
PLEASE feel free to share this with anyone you know who might be interested or know people who are interested. If you have ideas on how to help spread the word about my program or want more information, such as dates and prices, for yourself, please leave me a comment or message here, -OR- you can message me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/yogafire

This month will fly.

What am I doing this month? A LOT!
Work:
In addition to my daily work load: I go to two elementary schools this week to give talks about American culture. I will take a group of foreign people who live here in Hiroshima to a small town to learn about the Japanese traditions of making soba, mochi, and shimenawa (pronounced "she-may-gnaw-wa"). I also have to MC an "Exchange Party" for the Hiroshima International Center, which is basically a poorly disguised Christmas party for local people from many different countries. Also, I get to spend all of next week in Shiga Prefecture studying translation and interpreting on the coast of Lake Biwa.

More than all that, I have bounenkai, which are "forget the year" parties. Most people have one or two this month, but I have four. Two are for work - one for my International Affairs office and one for the international center, one is for touch rugby this Saturday (after playing the Saijo team in Kure), and the last one is for my English Lunch group! Of these four, I am actually in charge of planning and hosting two of them, and each one costs about 40 bucks per person! :[

Social:
Then there is the matter of what little free time I have left. I wish I could say "One word: Snowboarding." but the truth is, I have other things like Christmas shopping and boyfriend/girlfriend obligations as well.

All this adds up to no time or money, and when I wake up January 1st, 2010, this month will probably be remembered as a blur, but most likely a very fun blur.

Hiroshima News

In case you were interested, the governor of Hiroshima Prefecture (my boss) is retiring this month after 16 years. His successor, independent Hidehiko Yuzaki, was elected by a landslide of 200,000 votes more than the runner up in the 5 way election last week. He is 44 years old, and an energy consultant. I'll let you know more when I meet him.

A (not-so?) quick catch up

Okay, so I've decided to give this "blogspot" a try, mostly because i can use my google log-in for it. Very disappointed "Yogafire" was taken for a a URL. I will leave a comment on their blog afterwards.
I'm guessing you are all on different pages in the book of Greg, so this should be your cliff notes so you can skip ahead:

I'm 25, living in Hiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture (not the same) and working as a Coordinator of International Relations (CIR) for the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme (British spelling, sorry). This means I work for the Prefectural Government (think "State House") in the International Affairs Division, helping with many tasks, bust mostly translating Japanese documents into English, and trying to talk them into sending me on international business trips. So far, no luck. Also, as part of my job i spend afternoons and the occasional weekend, working at the Hiroshima International Center, where I do much of the same work as well as plan, and host events, and guide people on the occasional field trip. Several times a year (including yesterday) I get to go to an elementary school and talk to the children (in Japanese) about American culture. Because I taught at Japanese elementary schools for 2 years in Kure, Hiroshima, this is an awesome perk. I love Japanese children. My normal schedule is Tuesday through Saturday, but sometimes I work Sunday or Monday meaning I get a three day weekend of my choosing that month.

I live in a small one bedroom apartment on the sixth floor of my building. My landlord Mr. Nakaura and his family live above me and he is a friendly old dude. Next to my apartment is Honkawa park, a small park with no grass, but some playground equipment and open space. During the day it is often used by the school next to that, in the afternoon old people hang out there, and at night drunk people smoke cigarettes while high school students practice their dance routines to a boom box; no joke! Running alongside the park is the river, Honkawa (lit. "Main River") and on the other side is the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. As in "where we dropped the bomb, UNESCO World Heritage Site - The Atomic Bomb Dome, the Peace Memorial Museum, dozens of smaller memorials, tons of tourists from Japan and all over the world, hordes of park benches, Cherry trees, and old men playing Shogi, Igo, and Majong"...all 30 seconds walk across the bridge from my apartment! And no, the level of radiation in the area is no different than Tucson, Arizona. I have a bicycle and the nearby street car lines taking care of all of my transportation needs. I love my neighborhood.

My girlfriend Sachie and I have been together almost two years now, and everything's great there. She lives in Kure, but has been working/studying/staying in Hiroshima City for the past 6 months, so I still get to see her almost everyday. Last night they turned on the "Dreamination" lights on Peace Boulevard, I think as a test run, but it was a cool, beautiful evening out so we took a stroll down and back together which was lovely. Dreamination, by the way, is thousands of Christmas light displays strung all over both sides of the street which is actually a 100-meter-wide road including parallel side streets separated from the main road by park paths with towering trees, sculptures, and dry, decorative streams.

Winter is upon us, and the artificial snow will hit Mizuho Highlands at the end of the month, where my friends and I snowboard every season. My left knee STILL kinda hurts from when I came down Mt. Fuji last September, but I had it x-rayed, my bones are good, and I'm taking it easy until I hit the snow.

My Japanese language skillz are still slowly progressing as well. I study kanji, though not as seriously as I should, but I can read more and more everyday. lately my team-leader at the Prefectural Building, Mr. Yahata, has been helping me read though an editorial article once a week during our lunch break, which hopefully will improve my overall reading comprehension too. Most days I learn at least one new word, and just while writing this I learned tsutsuga-mushi, which is Japanese for chigger (the bug).

Oh, and "Prefectural Building" is super annoying to write because in Japanese it's just "kencho", so please remember that for my sake.
love peace and chicken grease!
greg