Introducing...

Saijo’s Local Japanese Classes!

Vol. 29
March 2021&217(176/ŶƚƌŽĚƵĐŝŶŐ^ĂŝũŽ͛Ɛϭ>ŽĐĂů:ĂƉĂŶĞƐĞůĂƐƐĞƐKƵƌtŽƌůĚdŚƌŽƵŐŚŽīĞĞĂŶĚŚŽĐŽůĂƚĞϮsŝĞƚŶĂŵĞƐĞEĞǁzĞĂƌ^/:KϮϬϮϭϮ^ĂŝũŽ,ŝŐŚ^ĐŚŽŽů͛ƐŶŐůŝƐŚ^ƉĞĂŬŝŶŐ^ŽĐŝĞƚǇϯsŝĞƚŶĂŵĞƐĞ&ŽůŬƚĂůĞ͗dĄŽYƵąŶĂǇϰ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůZĞůĂƟŽŶƐ
ＩＮＦＯ

ϰOrg. Name① Dateand Time
② Location③ Format④ Fees⑤ Contact Information⑥ Comments

Tanbara Japanese Language
Association① Sun., Weekly 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM② Tanbara Community Hall
③ Group lessons （Sorted by level）（Individual lessons are negotiable）④ Must pay for textbooks⑤090-9045-3064（Yusa）

Saijo Japanese Classroom（SJS)/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůZĞůĂƟŽŶƐ^/:KŝƐĂŶĞǁƐůĞƩĞƌƉƵďůŝƐŚĞĚďǇƚŚĞ^ĂŝũŽ/ŶƚĞƌŶĂƟŽŶĂůǆͲ

① Sun., Weekly All-day; Negotiable② Saijo / Taga Community Center③ Individual and group lessons④ Must pay for textbooks⑤ 090-2895-4719（Yanagawa）⑥ Let’s tackle conversational
basics and the JLPT (N1-N4)!

Saijo International Exchange
Volunteer Association （SKV)① Sat., Weekly 7:30 PM - 9:00 PM② Saijo City Welfare Center③ Individual and group lessons④ 300円/year⑤090-7571-7333（Ochi）
090-2787-6996（Suto）⑥We hold textbook studies,conversational workshops, tutoring forprimary school students, and more!

Saijo Japanese Study Society①Sun., Weekly 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM② Kambai Community Center③ Group lessons④500円/year⑤0897-55-6668⑥ With consultations, scheduling,individual lesson, and corporate
training requests are accepted.

Ishizuchi Japanese Club
① Negotiable② Saijo City Welfare Center,Negotiable③ Individual④500円/60 min.; 750円/90 min.
（Sat., Sun., Weekdays after 5 PM
600円/60 min.; 900円/90 min.）⑤090-2787-3433（Tokunaga)ĐŚĂŶŐĞƐƐŽĐŝĂƟŽŶ;^/Ϳ͘&ĞĞůĨƌĞĞƚŽĐŽŶƚĂĐƚƵƐǁŝƚŚǇŽƵƌĐŽŵŵĞŶƚƐ͕ƋƵĞƐƟŽŶƐ͕ĂŶĚƐƵďŵŝƐƐŝŽŶƌĞƋƵĞƐƚƐ͘Do you know anyone looking for Japanese classes?
Are you a foreigner who wants to learn Japanese?
Then, this info is for you!
Join a Japanese class that fits your needs and liven up your life in Saijo!

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): 164 Akeyashiki New Bldg. 2F, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)56－5151 EXT:2292 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

2International Relations SAIJO“Our World Through Coffee and Chocolate”
was held on February 6th (Sat.). This timearound, it was an online event hosted on Zoom.
Lecturer Mr. Ken Fujiyama entreated us to his
in-depth talk on coffee and chocolate, making
us question our roles as consumers.
This time, participants received coffee handled by Mr. Fujiyama and chocolate from Shikokuchuo’s GBC Chocolate Factory in advance. This was the first event of its kind, where participants actually learned and practiced how to brew delicious
coffee and tasted chocolate made from cacao beans harvested from different locales.
Mr. Fujiyama said that it is important for each of us to stop and re-evaluate our roles as consumers. Many countries that export coffee and cacao beans also happen to be poverty-stricken. By
being more conscious of the stories behind the goods we consume, we can better support developing countries, in turn leading to prosperity — around the world
and at home. What do you see beyond the coffee cup in frontof you? Your coffee just might taste better with that in mind.

Our World
Through Coffeeand Chocolate

Impressions — Hiroto Akiyama (Saijo Agricultural HS)
After attending this lecture, I asked myself, ”How would I feel if
the things that I grew and produced with love were treatedwith disdain?” From now on, before I buy something, I want to
put myself in the shoes of producers, understand who they
are, what they went through, and what level of quality they
put it into making what they made, actually think about
where the profits would go, and focus my purchases on goods
that benefit both producers and consumers.

A Vietnamese New Year Saijo 2021
We held our Vietnamese New Year event on February 20th. In Vietnam, they celebrate Lunar New Year, which fell on February 12th this year. Several of Saijo’s
Vietnamese residents, led by CIR Anh Thy, taught us about the Vietnamese Lunar
New Year, all the while comparing it with the Japanese New Year. In Japan, New Year’s is associatedwith kotatsu and mikan, but in Vietnam, where it’s hot all-year-round, people decorate watermelons and eat
them together. It is said that the redder the inside of the watermelon is, the better your luck will be for thatyear. On the day of the event, we prepared watermelons, a variety of other fruits, Vietnamese sweets, andeven Vietnamese zongzi. Normally, this would involve a tasting, but due to COVID-19, we instead imagined
what they would taste like — given their appearance, ingredients, and words from Anh Thy —— and hopedthat next time, we would be able to taste them ourselves. It was a pity we didn’t get to try the sweets, but welearned a lot about the Vietnamese Kitchen Gods, the Vietnamese Zodiac, and decorations made from flowers and fruits, and before we knew it, we were out of time. Thuy, a local Vietnamese resident, decorated thevenue with many flowers, so we were able to fully enjoy the atmosphere of a genuine Vietnamese New Year.
The counter of the International Exchange Promotion Office is currently decorated with yellow plum blossoms, an integral part of the Vietnamese New Year, courtesy of Anh Thy, soplease check them out. As for me, the quintessential Vietnamese New Year song our Vietnamese residents sang for us is playing nonstop
in my head. ♪♪♪

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): 164 Akeyashiki New Bldg. 2F, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)56－5151 EXT:2292 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

3International Relations SAIJO

Saijo High School’sESS InternationalUnderstanding Club
We’re the ESS International Understanding Club (or“Essassa”). We carry out club activities to showcase attractions at Saijo HS and in Saijo. Through volunteer activities, weinteract with locals and foreigners and experience variouscultures. In a given year, we volunteer at many events, but

ホストファミリートと

this year, we couldn’t do our normal activities due to COVID-一緒お気に入りの場所
ケルン大聖堂

19. We’re planning on sharing videos we made with students
at George Washington HS, which has an exchange programwith Saijo, sharing opinions and introducing our school onPadlet. Currently, we have 29 members, who are divided
into four groups and working on the following activities:

Group A
We’re making a video and a presentation to tell GWHS¶s students about some differences between Japan and othercountries. We made a video introducing the average day of
Saijo HS students. We also shot a video on “cleaning time”
and bentos, rare sights overseas. We want to convey whatschool life is really like. In our presentation, we also introduced
the history of Saijo HS, its events, and its uniforms. Through thisactivity, we learned a lot about the history of our school. We
think our presentation can help people understand thecharms of our very traditional Saijo HS.

Group BWe create bilingual maps and videos to introduce Saijo,
just like our seniors before us. We created two types ofmovies: one with Japanese audio and English subtitles,
and the other with English audio and Japanese subtitles. We interviewed shop staff and took videos andphotos of various shops. We also added a new QR
code to the map to make it easier for users to understand.

Group DGroup C
We’re making a paper play, or kamishibai. Places andevents familiar to locals like Mt. Ishizuchi and Saijo Festival
appear in this story. The story is about the adventures ofhigh school students and the fairy Tatan in Saijo. Readers
can enjoy learning about all the things Saijo has to offer.
The story isn’t geared for just foreigners – even local people
can enjoy following along. In fact, high school students at
GWHS read our paper play, and they gave us some goodfeedback.

We made a video introducing famous souvenirs in Saijo, in the hopes that many people would think, “I wanna go to Saijo!” We visited confectionaries famous forselling classic Saijo souvenirs and featured some of theirproducts. We made our video in both English and Japanese to help people understand the appeal of Saijo
better.

My name is Tatan and I want you
to know what makes Saijo special!

I’m based ona kinukawa
eggplant, alocal Saijospecialty!

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): 164 Akeyashiki New Bldg. 2F, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)56－5151 EXT:2292 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/

4International Relations SAIJO

A Vietnamese Folktale
One week before the Vietnamese Lunar New
Year, or Tet, on the 23rd day of the 12th month of the oldcalendar, there is a holiday known as Táo Quân Day. It isa special day in honor of the Kitchen Gods, Táo Quân. On
this day, the Táo Quân deities ascend to Heaven, report
to God all the good and bad things that happened in agiven household, and return on New Year’s Eve to continue watching over the household. The Táo Quân deities
are said to consist of three lovers -- one woman and twomen.
This might sound strange at first, but the Táo Quândeities are highly respected by the Vietnamese people,and Táo Quân Day is an indispensable tradition to kick off
the New Year. The story of Táo Quân is as follows:“Once upon a time, there was a man named
Trong Cao and his wife Thi Nhi, who, despite having lived
together for quite some time, were unable to bear children. They gradually grew lonely and their quarrels grew
more frequent. One day, Trong Cao let his anger get thebetter of him and he hit Thi Nhi, who then ran away fromhome. Thi Nhi ran far, far away, where she fell in love witha man named Pham Lang, who she ended up marrying.
Some time passed and Trong Cao’s anger subsided. He regretted what he had done, and so he set off tolook for his wife. Eventually, he ran out of money and hadto beg for money to survive. To his surprise, while begging
outside a certain house, the woman who came to greet
him was none other than the very person he had been

searching for, his wife Thi Nhi. After realizing this beggar
was Trong Cao, she invited him into their house and told
him how she became Pham Lang’s wife. Thi Nhi felt sick toher stomach.
That was when Pham Lang came home.
Stumped as to how to explain to her husband the whole
Trong Cao situation, she had Trong Cao hide in a pile ofstraw in the garden. However, the unaware Pham Lang lit
the pile on fire to make fertilizer. Trong Cao, wanting tospare Thi Nhi any trouble, didn’t try to escape and burnedto death. Thi Nhi rushed out of the house, and, upon seeing the burning straw, leapt into the flames to rescue
Trong Cao, dying in the process. Shocked by his wife’sunexpected actions, Pham Lang blamed himself for hiswife’s death and he threw himself into the flames too.
Their three souls arrived before God, who, moved by theirstory, made Pham Lang the Deity of the Kitchen, TrongCao
theDeity of theHouse, andThi Nhi theDeity of theMarket.
AndthatwashowTáo Quâncametobe.
(Traditional Vietnamese Woodblock Print）The Three Táo Quân Deities

International Relations INFO☆☆☆Establishment of the SIEA as a NPO Organization☆☆☆
As of March 2021, the SIEA will be re-established as a non-profit organization.
Full-scale operations are scheduled to begin in April 2021.
We would like to know what kinds of events you want to do!
If you have any suggestions, please contact our secretariat.
We are always looking for new members. Are you interested in cultural exchange? Do you want
to develop a more global perspective? Are you a foreigner interested in promoting cultural exchange? Or perhaps, do you already employ foreigners? No matter the case, the SIEA is looking
forward to welcoming you as a new member!

Concerning NPO SIEA Annual Dues for 3rd Year of Reiwa
Please pay annual dues for the 3rd year of Reiwa on or after April 1st.
※ WARNING! Our account information will be changed in the 3rd yearof Reiwa.
Our new account information will be made available at a later date.
Editorial
Comments

Before I knew it, March arrived. This is the last newsletterfor the 2nd year of Reiwa. This was also be our last newsletter as a private organization. From April onwards, SIEA
will be operating as a non-profit organization. We’re looking forward to your continued support! - Maiko Kosugi

International Relations SAIJO Staff：

Minoru Tokumasu
Maiko Kosugi
Nguyen Bui Anh Thy

Readable in
Full Color!

F

Saijo International Exchange Association (SIEA): 164 Akeyashiki New Bldg. 2F, Saijo, Ehime 〒793-8601
TEL(0897)56－5151 EXT:2292 FAX(0897)52-1386 E-mail: info@saijo-iea.jp URL: http://www.saijo-iea.jp/