Kyushu Open Squash Tournament

Since living in Japan, what used to be something of a passing interest has become more of an obsession - namely, squash. At the weekend I made what is an annual trip to Fukuoka, where I once again played in the Kyushu Open. If truth be known, I am far too old to have any hope of playing at the top level in Japan (arguably the best player in Japan is only 23!), but I love the game, and even though I have been playing on and off since I was 14, I think I am still improving, and I still have goals to fulfil.

So on Friday, Greg and I set off to Fukuoka on the kodama - the slowest of the shinkansen, which stops at all the stations en route. This was a money-saving measure as there was quite a big discount for buying our tickets together. Here I am at Hakata station in Fukuoka. Am I very small, or is the station very big?! (A brief break here for a bowl of Hakata ramen - a must for any visitor)

Greg, in fact, wasn't scheduled to play until Saturday, but we rather fancied the idea of arriving in plenty of time, and warming up on one of the courts at the tournament venue which has an idiosyncracy that can cause problems if you aren't used to it.

As much as I enjoy the squash, a big part of the weekend is meeting up with friends. Once we arrived at the sports club we hooked up with Richard who works in Tokyo, and Joakim who is based in Seoul at the moment - he was able to arrange a business trip to coincide with the tournament. The banter for the whole weekend was terrific!

Richard, Greg and I warmed up for an hour and a half, before checking into the conveniently situated hotel next door to the sports club, and having a bite to eat. Richard, Joakim and I then got ready for our first matches in the evening. Sadly Joakim had a very tough first match and lost. The only consolation was that the guy who beat him went on to have a very successful tournament (...until he played Greg in the Best 16 round!) Richard had no problem, and I was pleased with the way I played, and we advanced to the Best 32 round on Saturday morning. I finished in the Best 64 last year, so this was already an improvement, and my first goal for the weekend.

Interestingly on Saturday I played against the same player who beat me last year (Taro Sakamaki), so I was eager to have another shot at him. I thought I gave him a much better game this year, but unfortunately lost again. Nothing to do now but watch and chat!

Rchard kept winning until he came up against on of Japan's top juniors, Hayate Gunji, in the Best 8 round. He enjoyed his match, but Hayate prevailed. Greg meanwhile was marching on unhindered to the final on Sunday afternoon, where he triumphed over Hayate. (Here he is with his winner's medal!)

We had so much time to kill before our train home that I half-jokingly suggested to Greg that we have a game. He was all for it, so, much to the disbelief of the tournament organisers, we went back on court for almost an hour and did some practice routines, joined by Kazuko Michishita, one of the top ladies players in Japan. We got so involved that we ended up having to run for our train! The journey back allowed for some relaxing reflection on an enjoyable and, for Greg, very successful weekend.

If you are interested in learning more about the tournament, and seeing the full results, please follow this link - it's in Japanese!

http://www.squash-japan.org/jsa-event2010/archives/508

Azaleas at Ondo Bridge

Slightly later than I expected, but here, as promised in my last blog, are the famous azaleas at Ondo Bridge - the cause of many a traffic jam in and around Golden Week! On the far side of the bridge you can just about see the "multi-storey car park" approach road. As much as I like this bridge, I am looking forward to the convenience of the new one.

It will also mean that we won't have to plan alternative routes to get home when the azaleas are in bloom - the tailback from the bridge often stretches the three miles back to where we live. Hopefully we didn't add too much to the traffic congestion this day, as Kayo and I took advantage of some time without the children and went on my bike - the only way to travel at this time of year!

I've had this bike for over twelve years now and we made quite a few memorable trips on it before the children came along - Shimane, Tottori, Kobe, Shikoku... Having said that, I don't think Kayo has quite forgiven me for classing a bike trip to Kyushu and the the Oita Squash Open as our honeymoon... Apparently I still owe her one! There's just no pleasing some people...

The new Ondo Bridge

Not far from where we live is the Ondo Bridge, most notable, perhaps, for its multi-storey car park-like approach roads, and the fabulous azaleas that can be seen in full bloom in a week or two - I'll do my best to post a picture if we can beat the traffic and find a good vantage point!

As of today there is a new bridge which should eventually alleviate the traffic problem that the original bridge sometimes suffers from. The bridge won't be open for another couple of years, but today we got up (quite!) early to watch what I think is the largest floating crane in Japan lower the centre span of the bridge in place.

Fortunately one of my students lives within sight of the bridge, and we were able to park at her place and have a perfect view of what was going on.

I think work began at 5:30 this morning, and we watched the crane being hauled back to the dock at around 3 o'clock this afternoon. What struck me as the most extraordinary thing about the whole operation was the apparent pinpoint accuracy with which the crane was able to position the bridge. It looked like a tremendous team effort.

Now we are looking forward to the bridge opening. The new bridge will take us to a hot spring that we regularly go to, and the old one (visible in the background of the photograph) to the swimming pool... Cool!

Many thanks to my student, Hiromi, and her family for a great afternoon at their barbecue, from where we were able to watch the end of what I suppose is quite a historic event.

bus or bath?

One of my students told me that he had a bad back after playing basketball. At the end of the class we had this conversation:

Paul:　You should go home and have a bath.

Student: No, I came by car.

I think what he heard was, "You should go home by bus". Of course, we laughed about it, but it does show how important pronunciation is to your listening skills.

So, here is a challenge:

How many pronunciation differences are there between "bus" and "bath"? And what are they?

一人の生徒さんがレッスンの中でバスケットをしていて腰を痛めたという話をしてくれた。そして、英語のレッスンの終わりに私たちはこんな会話をした。

Paul:家に帰ってお風呂に入ったらいいよ。

生徒さん：いいえ、いいえ私は車で来ました。

彼にはたぶん「バスで家に帰った方がいいよ」と聞こえたのだろう。もちろん私たちは大笑いをした。でも、この中からリスニングの重要さがすごくよくわかる。

では、トライしてみてください：

「bus」と「bath」のこの二つの中でいくつ違う発音があるでしょう？そしてそれらは何がどう違いますか？

Pronunciation IS Important

I am always impressed by anyone who tries to communicate in a language that is not their own. In Japan most of the people I meet have to, or have had to, study English. The focus at school is very much on memorising pointless vocabulary and passing exams. Students are seldom required to produce any English.

It seems a shame to me that despite how much effort is expended in studying, so many people have difficulty communicating in English. It may well be that they have studied the grammar that a native English speaker is using, but because their listening skills are not very good, conversations often break down before they have started.

I firmly believe that good pronunciation will improve your listening and thus improve your ability to communicate.

外国語でコミュニケーションをとる人たちにいつも感動する。日本で私が過去あった人のほとんどが英語の勉強をしなくてはいけない、またはしてきた人だ。学校が焦点を当てているのはあまり要領を得ない語彙を記憶することと試験に合格すること。学生たちは英語というものを作り出すということはほとんどしない。

たくさんの時間を英語に費やしたにもかかわらずあまり効果が見られなず、結局多くの人がコミュニケーションをとる事を問題としているのは残念でしょうがない。たぶんネイティブスピーカーが使う文法はちゃんと勉強してきているのだと思うが、リスニングスキルがよくなくて、会話が始まる前に会話が進まない。

私は確固として、リスニングがよくあんればコミュニケーション能力が上がるものだと確信しています。

Coffee morning at Paul's

This seems a little after the event, but the disaster in the Tohoku area later in the same day has overshadowed everything that we are doing. However, I thought I should just report that the people who came had a good time chatting, and I think they enjoyed all the goodies! We had a very short "class" on pronunciation and how to spell out words in English. Please look out for news of the next coffee morning at www.paulsjp.com

British Red Cross Donations

I'm not really sure how to start this... six days after we sat for hours watching the initial horror of the earthquakes and the tsunami that followed. Now, of course, the situation seems to be even more precarious, if that were possible, because of what is happening at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Even though we haven't been directly affected by what has happened, people all over Japan, as you can doubtless imagine, are very subdued. The general feeling seems to be, "We want to help", but not many of us can drop what we are doing and physically go and help. Donations are being asked for, and are flooding in. My impression is that Japanese people are overwhelmed by the depth of feeling and generosity of people from all around the world.

Just in case you want to help, but don't know how, here is a link to the British Red Cross, where it is very easy to make a donation.

http://www.redcross.org.uk/Donate-Now/Make-a-single-donation/Japan-Tsunami-Appeal

For those of you not in the UK, I'm sure you will be able to find the Red Cross link for your country.

On a more personal note, many thanks to everyone who has called or sent messages asking if we are OK. We are, and I'm sure we will be.