がんばらない英語

By Sophie Hardach
TOKYO (Reuters) - Designer boutiques in Tokyo are still packed with well-dressed young people, but these days, few of them carry shopping bags.
As Japan's economy heads toward recession and its stock market hovers around a 5-year-low, shoppers are closing their wallets, and the impact on European fashion houses has been dramatic.
From Louis Vuitton to Versace, brands are testing new strategies for the world's second-largest luxury goods market after the United States, such as wooing the super-wealthy or using Tokyo as a shopping mall for the rest of Asia.
But so far, no company appears to have found the magic formula to cure Japan's luxury malaise.
"Some of my friends really like to buy designer brands, but in general, brands are less important now," said Hiromi Takahashi, a 38-year-old office worker wearing a black top embellished with studs and sequins.
"We all talk about food prices, oil, the cost of living."
Takahashi was browsing through Jean-Paul Gaultier jackets and Alexander McQueen tops at Via Bus Stop, a boutique in Tokyo's sleek Midtown shopping mall. She did not plan to buy any of the clothes, preferring cheaper labels.
Around her, young couples and groups of women were toting small gift bags with accessories by mid-range brands -- affordable treats in the midst of a shrinking economy.
Japan's gross domestic product contracted 0.7 percent in the April-June quarter, more than expected.
At the same time, prices are rising while wages are not. Core inflation was stuck at a decade-high 2.4 percent in August due to high fuel and raw material costs, but cash earnings actually slipped 0.3 year-on-year that month and household spending was down 4 percent.
No wonder consumer confidence hit a record low in September.
"It's not just luxury goods but also other clothes and eating out and cars and oil products, mainly because of the price rises," said Azusa Kato, chief economist at BNP Paribas.
She attributed the luxury goods slide especially to the decline in Tokyo's stock market, which hurt the middle class. The Nikkei share average has lost about 45 percent so far this year.
YOUNG SPENDERS
The downturn has also erased another much-cited Japanese phenomenon, the so-called "parasite singles," young professionals living with their parents who would spend all their money on Louis Vuitton wallets and Chanel bags.

長引く不況、先が見えませんね。こんな日本にも、今日なんかは、外国資本の日本店が原宿でオープンし数百人の日本人が開店前に並んだとか・・・。

日本への、有名ブランドの寝室も顕著ですが、直近のニーズに対応して、変革していく企業が生き残っていくようですね。

スニータは、ブランド物を身に付けていませんが、とってもチャーミングに僕の目には写ります。ファッション業界って言うのは、より一層細分化し、ターゲットを絞って行った方が、デパート業界のような不況に出会わないチャンスがあるんでしょうね。

By YUKO NAITO
Staff writer
Cut off from the outside world by wide moats and high stone walls, the Imperial Palace is an especially mysterious place for us "commoners." But it doesn't have to be.
Like the Diet building and Defense Agency, access to the palace is restricted, but it's not completely off-limits. In fact, all three of these places are open to visitors who follow the right procedures.
Following is a peek at what you're missing and directions on how to get inside for a better look:
The royal tour
The Imperial Palace, the Imperial family's place of residence, got its start as Edo Castle. Built in 1457 by the warlord Ota Dokan, it was at first little different from ordinary local castles.


The Imperial Palace in the heart of Tokyo
But soon after Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, captured it in 1590, he launched a large-scale renovation project, pouring in a vast amount of time, money and labor. The castle's transformation to a modern, magnificent fortress was completed during the reign of Ieyasu's grandson, the third Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu.
In April 1868, the shogunate emptied Edo Castle following the restoration of power to the Imperial family; Emperor Meiji relocated there from Kyoto in September of the same year.
Although the palace complex has suffered serious damage over the centuries due to fires, earthquakes and the Tokyo air raids, some traces of the old Edo Castle can still be seen.
These vestiges include Fujimi Yagura, a three-story castle watchtower built on the 14.5-meter-high stone walls. Constructed in 1607, it was the former site of the castle's dungeon; it burned down with much of Edo in the inferno of 1657 but was rebuilt in 1659.
The Imperial Household Agency offers guided tours of the palace grounds every weekday. The tour is narrated in Japanese, but English-language pamphlets are available. An introductory video (subtitled in English) of the palace interior is shown at Someikan Hall before the start of the tour.
The tour lasts 90 minutes without breaks, so it is recommended that you use the bathrooms at Someikan before starting off. The hall also has lockers and a souvenir shop that sells ties, bags and other items bearing the Imperial crest, the chrysanthemum.
The walk is 3 km, so wear comfortable shoes. Visitors can take photos during the tour, but video cameras and smoking are prohibited.
For tour reservations, call the sankan-gakari (visitors' office) at the Imperial Household Agency at (03) 3213-1111, ext. 485, and specify the date and time you would like to take the tour (Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.). Confirmation must be made by mail at least 10 days in advance.
On A4-size paper, write down the date, time, and the names, addresses, occupations and ages of the members of your party. Make two copies and send them, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope (postage 80 yen), to: Imperial Household Agency, Sankan-gakari, 1-1 Chiyoda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-0001.
You should receive your tour pass from the agency a few days later.
Power trip
The Diet building houses the legislative branch of the Japanese government. Completed in 1936, it covers 12,400 sq. meters, with the House of Councilors on the right and House of Representatives on the left. With an exterior of domestic granite, it truly is a magnificent building.
While one of the most popular destinations for school excursions, the Diet building is also open to smaller groups and individuals. Guided tours are offered Monday through Friday when the Diet is not in session.
Reservations are required for groups of 10 or more, but otherwise all you have to do is show up at the entrance of the House of Councilors between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and fill in an application form.
The tour usually does not begin until a small group of participants has gathered, so you might have to wait.
When English-speaking guides are not available, headsets providing English narration will be offered to visitors from overseas. The tour lasts 30-40 minutes.
The Diet building is located at 1-7-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. The closest station is Nagatacho Station on the Yurakucho and Hanzomon subway lines.
Before you go, it is wise to call the office at (03) 3581-3111 to confirm the tour is available on the day of your visit.

皇居の案内ツアーの体験記です。こんな催しものをやっていたなんて知りませんでした。ゴールデンウィークも近いことですし、東京方面に遊びに行こうかなって考えている方には、追加として計画してみるのもいいんじゃないでしょうか。

この記事を教材にした時、スニータは、GWに京都とユニバーサルスタジオジャパンに行く予定だよ、っていってたよなぁ。

Nintendo has become the latest tool in English instruction at Tokyo’s 100-year-old Joshi Gakuen school in Japan. The handheld DS consoles can be seen everywhere, with its accompanying textbook software used in weekly sessions that focus on audio comprehension, penmanship and vocabulary.
After years of games such as Super Mario being banned on campus, students were surprised to see the Nintendo.
"They've been using it at home playing games, so at first they were surprised they can use it at school," Motoko Okubo, a junior high school teacher at the school, told Reuters. Okubo uses Nintendo in weekly sessions that began in May.
Although the school is just beginning its one-year free trial period, vice principal Junko Tatsumi said the results so far have been promising.
"The students are really concentrating and have fun in gaining skills such as spelling," she told Reuters.
"Our school policy is English education should be fun," Tatsumi said.
Japan has long struggled with English language instruction. The nation has approximately 15,000 middle and high schools, and began reform initiatives to create a more "relaxed" environment in 2000 aimed at encouraging creativity and reducing learning by memorization.
Nintendo was not initially seen as part of the reforms, and is rarely found at most schools after an OECD educational survey of 57 nations last December found Japanese 15-year-olds falling in rankings for mathematics, science and reading.
But Japan’s education ministry delegates decisions on teaching tools to the schools. First-year student Kanako Takahashi said using the Nintendo DS as an English-language learning tool would be a “no-brainer”.
"It's fun and helps me remember English," the 13-year old told Reuters.
"There's also math software that would be great to try."
For now, it's only used to teach English at Takahashi’s all-girls school, but other schools around the country use the DS for math and Japanese instruction.
Nintendo says the number of Japanese schools with its consoles is still small, but its touch screen and wide variety of games, including 200 licensed education titles, is generating increasing revenue as more women and older consumers give the DS a try. Indeed, worldwide sales of DS since its 2004 launch are in excess of 70 million units.
But even at Joshi Gakuen, not all the faculty approves of the Nintendo’s use.
"I had been using it myself, so I wasn't uncomfortable, but other teachers who had never used the DS were a little bit worried because it's a game," said Okubo.
But vice principal Tatsumi says the guidelines are clear.
"No unessential item is allowed at school," said Tatsumi, adding mobile phones and playing cards to the list of things the school prohibits.
"When English class ends, students cannot play DS games outside and all consoles and software are collected."

ニンテンドーDSが、日本の学校の授業で使われている何て、この記事を読むまで寡聞にして知りませんでした。スニータは、こういう英語の勉強の仕方はどうですか？と質問してきたので、僕は、単なる遊びの延長線上でしかなく、言語を学ぶには幼稚すぎる。なぜなら、DSは、使用者が間違った英語の使い方をしたとしても、それを指摘しないからだ。と、回答したのを覚えています。

本当に、こんなもの使って勉強しているふりをするんじゃなくて、語学だったらネイティブについて勉強する方がいいんだけど、わからない人には何言ってもわからないから、痛いヤツと思い、そっとしておきましょう。

By KAORI SHOJI
If you happen to be an over-45 male, looking a little tired, inclined to decline party invitations because you can't stand the hassle, comfortable in your own company and not really caring what other people think — so, the news is ALL good, at least in urban Japan. You are, or are extremely close to, what is known as a kareta oyaji (枯れたオヤジ, withered middle-age guy) — currently the underground popular label on the dating market. These days, young women have shifted their preference from the wakai (若い, young), kakkoii (格好いい, good-looking) and okanemochi (お金持ち, rich) — extremely rare for all these traits to co-exist in one man anyway — to the genki nai ojisan (元気無いおじさん, middle-age guy with no energy). And the women who know how to love and appreciate such gents are called kare-sen (カレセン), short for kareta oyaji senmon (枯れたオヤジ専門, special penchant for withered middle-age guys) and the trend is boosting the morale of ojisan all over the nation.
Sceptics say the fever is temporary. After all, there were the waves of gai-sen (外専, short for gaijin senmon 外人専門, or penchant for gaijin), followed by the weird ota-sen (オタ専, otaku senmon オタク専門, or penchant for nerds) and the equally incomprehensible debu-sen (デブ専, debu senmon, デブ専門, or penchant for overweight men). It seemed like the domestic skinny single male didn't stand much of a chance out there, and now this!

One of my male cousins, aged 31 and pining to get married, was complaining that the odds were dead set against futsū no otoko (普通の男, ordinary men) like him, whose outstanding trait is a fierce and blazing normality. Poor chap, his recent mantra (or wail) is: Ore no dokoga ikenaindayo! (俺のどこがいけないんだよ, What's wrong with me?) I told him the kare-sen phenomenon will fizzle out in a few years — by which time the futsuu-sen trend will surely be on the horizon.
Back to the withered middle-age guy. There are certain requirements he must fulfill before setting the young ladies' hearts on fire. According to case-hardened kare-sen gal Akiko-san, he must first be muyoku (無欲, having no desire). This doesn't just apply to physical desire (性欲, seiyoku), as the true withered male must renounce the other two desires that make up the triangle of Japanese male needs: shusseyoku (出世欲, desire to succeed in the corporate world), and kinsenyoku (金銭欲, desire for money). As Akiko-san puts it, gatsu-gatsu shiteru hitoga ichiban iya (ガツガツしてる人が一番嫌, intense guys really put me off) and besides, the Japanese have always valued the process of decay and death, recognizing beauty in something from which the life force has left, or fallen away. Akiko-san, who takes tea ceremony lessons, says her preference for kareta oyaji links directly to her appreciation for the tea ceremony, antique matcha (抹茶, green tea) bowls and wabi-sabi (わびさび, the Japanese aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience). Naruhodone (なるほどね Ah, I see).
Where does the withered guy get his kicks? Since he's freed from that accursed triangle, the withered guy has what other younger, more aggressive men don't have: time. Time to duck into a side street and wander up and down picturesque alleyways, time to visit art-house theaters to see old Yasujiro Ozu (the director of choice for the discerning withered film buff) films, time to excavate a genuine kissaten (喫茶店, coffee shop, which must not be confused with the modern Tokyo cafe) where the walls are browned with nicotine and strains of Miles Davis come on over the speakers, to seat himself at a corner table and spend an hour over a tiny cup of coffee. He'll be alone, apart from a well-thumbed bunko-bon (文庫本, Japanese pocket-size paper-back), most likely a detective novel by famed withered novelist Tetsuya Ayukawa.
He also has a favored neighborhood sentō (銭湯, public bath) for when he's feeling nostalgic. And finally, he'll have that most typical of all ojisan haunts: the ikitsukeno nomiya (行きつけの飲み屋, the hideaway drinking hole where he's well known), where over the years, the withered guy has cultivated a friendly but carefully distanced relationship with the proprietor. Probably, the place is about the size of three tatami mats but spanking clean, offering a daunting selection of jizake (地酒, regional sake) and some really good tsukemono (漬け物, pickled vegetables).
The kare-sen woman's greatest wish is to sit beside the withered guy in just such an establishment, and whine prettily about life while he sips and nods, occasionally patting her head to say that everything is going to be all right. Sigh. There's something to be said for non-hormonal, withered romance.

インド人女性４人と面接した僕は、結局、一番最初に電話をもらったインド人①こと、スニータに講師を依頼することにしました。

彼女のやり方は、メールで、英語の記事を送ってきて、その内容について話し合うといったものでした。

第1回目に送られてきたのが、”The withered middle-aged guy becomes a hot item in Japan's dating market”という名前の記事でした。

内容としては、一部の日本の女性には、”枯れたオヤジ”が人気があるっていうもの。”枯れたオヤジ”とは、性欲だけはあるけど、一般的にオヤジが持っている出世欲や金銭欲などから、飛びぬけてしまった人たちのことだということ。”枯れたオヤジ”は、時間的に余裕があるから、小洒落た喫茶店で、小粋な音楽を聴きながら、単行本を一人で読んでいるそうな。

そんな、”枯れたオヤジ”が大好きな女性の夢と言うのは、一緒に小粋な行きつけの飲み屋の座敷に寄り添って、酒をちびちび飲むことだそうです。

僕は、休職して、はや1年半がたつところだったので、時間的に余裕はあるけれども、性欲は、まあ、比べたことないけど、人並みかな、出世欲や金銭欲がないところは似ているな、と、思いつつ、記事を読んだものでした。

スニータに開口一番、”これは僕のことだと思っているんじゃないの”といったところ、”そんなことないわよ”と、軽くあしらわれてしまいました。

スニータは、日本の女性には、本当にこんな人がいるのか、と聞いてきましたが、僕は、わかりません、としか答えられなかった記憶があります。ただ、”日本は、バブル経済後、多様な個人の趣味に寛容になってきた。”とだけ答えたような気がします。

それ以上は、英語力のなさから、何も言えなくなってしまいました。