aWa life
Japanese Culture andReading Corner: あじさい

My Wonderful Life inJapan as an Exchange
Student

June 2022

Welcome Messages

Gairaigo Galore:
バイク

# 380

1

Awa Life is a Monthly Publication of the Tokushima
Prefectural International Exchange Association

It’s now June, which is typically known as the start of the rainy season in Japan. For those of us whoride a bike or walk to work or school, the rain can make this a bit of a pain. Make sure to get a goodumbrella and a raincoat to make your life easier! Luckily the rain also brings about beautiful hydrangea
flowers, which you can learn more about in this month’s Japanese Reading Corner. We also have a
map of hydrangea spots you can enjoy in Tokushima!
For all of those who like writing, please feel free to submit an article to us at any point in time aboutbasically anything. There are a few limitations though, such as you can’t write about religion, politics,
commercial activities or businesses or anything that we deem inappropriate. But, other than that, we
would be more than happy to receive articles about anything and everything including but not limited
to concerts, lectures, other events, culture, sports, community group information or anything cool that’s
happening in your local community.
We highly appreciate all of your articles and we love reading them. So if that writing bug of yours isbuzzing about, grab a pen or a computer and write and send away! Please send all submissions to ouremail:Your editors,
Sydney and Nicoawalife@gmail.com
Tokushima Prefectural International Exchange Association (TOPIA)
1-61 Terashima Honcho Nishi, Tokushima City 770-0831 JAPAN, Clement Plaza 6F
Tel: 088-656-3303 Fax: 088-652-0616
http://www.topia.ne.jp/
Download a PDF file of awa life or view the online version by going to TOPIA's website!

Editors:
Sydney Bartig and Nico Bohnsack
Contributors This Month:Mari Kimoto, Thanh, Nong Thi Hoa, Fumie Imai, Erica Vina Nafisa, Yasutaka Taniguchi,
and Fusa Tamaki

2Contents

Pg. 2-3: Welcome Messages

Pg. 4-5: My Wonderful Life in Japan as an Exchange Student
Pg. 6:

Introduction to the Tokushima Nepal Friendship Association

Pg. 7:

Japanese Culture and Reading Corner: あじさい

Pg. 7:

Gairaigo Galore: バイク

Pg. 8

Japanese Lesson

Pg. 9:

Events and Memoranda

Welcome Messages

Mari Kimoto, Long-Term Work Experience
Trainee
Nice to meet you, everyone! My name is Mari
Kimoto, and I will be joining TOPIA as a longterm work experience trainee. I am interested invarious things such as foreign dramas, movies,
songs, and food.
The world is in the midst of a crisis as we continue
to deal with the spread of COVID-19 and thecurrent war, and as discrimination becomes more
and more prevalent, I feel these issues hit too
close to home. I have been thinking of what I can
do to help, and I've decided I would like to shift
my focus to the rest of the world and deepen myinternational understanding.
Thanh, Multilingual Consultation Staff(Vietnamese)
Nice to meet you! My name is Thanh, and I am a
3rd year intercultural studies student at Shikoku
University. My hometown is Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam.
After coming to Japan, I studied Japanese fortwo years in Okayama City, then I moved toTokushima City to begin my university studies. My
first impression of Tokushima was that it had a lotof rivers and a long coastline, and as someone
who loves to swim, I was very excited to live here.
My hobby is cooking, and I enjoy making not
only Vietnamese food, but also food from various

What surprised mewhen I first cameto TOPIA was how
internationallydiverse it is. During
my time here, I would
like to learn more
about multicultural
understanding andcoexistence, gain
valuable experience,and teach children
the many greatthings about foreigncountries and Japan. I look forward to working
with you!
other countries. Recently, I have been interested
in Japanese cuisine, so I have looked up many
recipes and cooked
dishes such as
okonomiyaki,
tonjiru, udon, andsushi. Thankfully,
they all turned
out great the firsttime I made them!
For me, cooking
is a very effective
method to reducestress. WheneverI'm feeling down,
eating a delicious

3

Welcome Messages

home-cooked meal not only makes me feel better,but also helps me regain my self-confidence andmotivation. I'm hoping to learn more Japaneserecipes and cooking techniques from Japanesepeople.

Nong Thi Hoa, Multilingual Consultation Staff(Vietnamese)
Hello, it’s nice to meet you. My name is NongThi Hoa, and starting from April 2022 I havebeen working as a Vietnamese Multilingual Staff
member here at TOPIA. After graduating fromhigh school in Vietnam, in October 2015 I cameto Japan to study abroad. For 3 and a half years
I studied at a Japanese language school andspecialty school in Hyogo.
In order to continue my studies, I moved toTokushima in April of 2019 and entered Shikoku
University. I used to be the type that was always
late to school, but after living in Japan for a longtime, I’ve learned how important it is to be on time
and to work diligently.
F u m i e I m a i , C L A I R To k u s h i m a B r a n c hTemporary Staff Member
Nice to meet you! My name is Fumie Imai, and I
began working here in April.
I have always loved foreign countries, having
visited many of them, and I love to spend mytime abroad enjoying the local atmosphere. A
few years ago, I got to experience a year-longworking holiday in New Zealand, and it completelychanged my worldview. I believe that interactingwith people around the world can expand yourown perception of the world as it is.
I started living in Tokushima recently, and I think
it is a very comfortable place to live, with lotsof nature and kind people. There are plenty ofopportunities to enjoy sight-seeing, such as
Mt. Bizan, the Hyotanjima Cruise, the Naruto
Whirlpools, and the Oboke & Koboke. Just
walking around the city, you will come across
many things that make you think of the famous

I hope toexperience
new things
at TOPIA
and improvemyself throughthis invaluable
experience. I
hope that withmy 6 years ofexperience inJapan I canbe of support to the Vietnamese people who visit
TOPIA.

Awa Odori dance.
During my time
abroad, I actually
met someone
who said they had
been to Tokushima
while they weretravelling in Japan,
and apparently
Tokushima is world
famous for certain
activities, such asrafting. I think it isquite the charming
place!
I would like to assist those who may not usually
have the opportunity to engage in international
exchange in order to help them expand theirworldview. Let's take the first step together! I'mlooking forward to working with you!

My Wonderful Life in Japan as an Exchange Student
By: Erica Vina Nafisa

Hello, my name is Erica Vina Nafisa, andI’m from Indonesia. I had the opportunity
to study in Japan for approximately 5 months
through the Asia Kakehashi Project Program. The
Asia Kakehashi Project Program is an exchange
program for high school students to visit Japanin order to bridge the understanding of Japaneseculture with other Asian
countries.
I arrived in Japan on
October 1st, 2021,
and after that I had toquarantine and attend
orientation at the hotelin Narita for 2 weeks.
After quarantine, wewent to our respective
placements, and myplacement was in
Tokushima.
In Tokushima, I lived
with a host family, and I had two host families.
From October-December I was with my first hostfamily. I had a father, mother, and brother. They
were very kind to me. Sometimes I was invited
to visit various places in Tokushima and Kyoto. I
was introduced to Japanese culture such as being
invited to a temple, and they told me many things
about Japan. I learned a lot about Japaneseculture from them. They also introduced me tosome Japanese food. This was a memorable
experience for me.
Next, I lived with my second host family. I lived
with my grandfather, grandmother, mother,
uncle, and sister. They were also very kind. They
introduced me to Japanese New Year culture,for example making mochi, eating soba on New
Year’s Eve, hitting the bell at the beginning of theyear at the temple, eating "osechi" and "ozoni",taking "omikuji", buying "omamori", getting an"otoshidama", and playing a traditional game. Thisis a moment that I will never forget. Every day
they also taught me to use Japanese.

4

There are so many differences between Japanand Indonesia, especially in regards to culture.
In Indonesia, because most of the population isMuslim, the New Year's celebration is not as lively
as in Japan, but we usually celebrate it by grilling,
setting off fireworks, and gathering with family andfriends.
I also learned tolive in a place withmany differences.
especially about
my religion. I
wear a "hijab" allthe time, evenat school. In myreligion we are notallowed to eat pork
and drink alcoholic
beverages, but I
didn’t experience
many difficulties
here becauseof the differences that exist in me, because
everyone, especially my family, school friends,
and teachers didn’t mind about my "hijab". They
really valued my religion. Even my friends wereinterested in wearing a hijab. They once asked
me to bring a hijab for them and they wanted towear it. It really touched me and made me happy
because they were very kind.

The thing that made me comfortable was school- school was very fun. I studied at Joto High5

My Wonderful Life in Japan as an Exchange Student
Sometimes they gave me English books so that I
could take lessons well.
I had a lot of wonderful experiences here that I
will never forget, and experiences that I will not
get anywhere else. My life in Japan would havebeen lacking without friends, teachers, family. andgood people around me.

School 2nd grade. At school I had many goodfriends, they always helped me in any way, andthey always invited me to talk about anything.
They also taught me a lot of things about school,
lessons, and of course Japanese. We also often
played together or went to places to play together;
they were always nice to me. The teachers werealso kind, they treated me like their own student.

Enjoy Speaking Japanese Online (Zoom)!
Are you interested in studying Japanese online (via Zoom)? Then makesure to check out TOPIA's website for more information regarding
completely free, online Japanese classes!
When: June 2022 ~ March 2023
Class Length: Approximately 1 Hour
Number of Classes: 20~30
Fee: Free
Eligibility: Those who aren’t currently studying at a Japanese class, school, or at work
Number of Spots: About 20 people
Applications can be sent via email to Nomizu at coordinator2@topia.ne.jp, or via Google Forms. If you
are sending your application by email, please refer to TOPIA's homepage for a list of the questions youneed to submit!

Google Forms

Introduction to the Tokushima Nepal Friendship Association
By: Yasutaka Taniguchi, PresidentT

he Tokushima Nepal Friendship Association
was established in February 1996 by
volunteers in Tokushima who wanted to send
electrical lights to Bhujung Village, a mountainous
village located in central Nepal. Thanks todonations and subsidies from many companies,
organizations, and individuals; support fromuniversities; and cooperation from the villagers,a small hydroelectric plant (80 kw/h) was built in
December 1999. Additionally, in commemorationof the 10 year anniversary of the completionof the power plant, we have worked to support
mountain villages by installing ropeways that canbe used to transport agricultural produce. With
the support of Tokushima’s citizens, we havealso conducted various projects in Nepal andTokushima, including gifting unneeded fire trucks
and ambulances, inviting Nepalese youth toTokushima for homestays, raising money for relief
after the earthquake in Nepal, and planning trips
and hikes to the Himalayas in order to deepen
relationships between people.

6

gifted to Bhujung Village, and a portion of themare planned to be displayed in a museum that iscurrently being built there.

One of the winning pictures
Along with the photo exhibition, a drawing contest
was held with the theme of “what Nepalesechildren think of the friendship with Japan”. At
that time, children who were here for homestays(who have now grown into wonderful adolescents)
helped with setting up and operating the contest.
Due to the friendship bonds between Tokushima
and Nepal, Tokushima was appointed as a hosttown for Nepal for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, andin spite of the COVID-19 crisis, the Nepal swim
team came for their pre-game training camp in
2021. An image of the memorial ceremony in
Bhujung Village was used as a portion of thedesign for the commemorative stamps that were
produced.

Along with our sister organization the Nepal
Tokushima (Japan) Friendship Association,a photo exhibition showcasing past activities
was held in the capital Kathmandu in 2019 tocommemorate the 20 year anniversary of thecompletion of the small hydroelectric plant in
Bhujung Village. We suggested sending themsome of our many photo panels, but instead we
ended up sending the data and they printed out
the photos. When our association was founded,
the only way of communication was internationalcalls or fax, and I really feel the flow of time. Afterthe photo exhibition ended, the pictures were

Although Bhujung Village didn’t have electricity,
now road construction has progressed, and as
the village with the largest amount of Gurung
people, it is visited by many people in Nepal.
They also now have an internet connection, andthere is a simultaneous broadcast of the village
on Japanese TV, and you can always see how thevillage is doing via social media.
The world is in a state of unrest along with
the COVID-19 pandemic, but we would like tocontinue deepening our bonds of friendship with
Nepal, focusing on people-to-people interactions.

7Japanese Culture and Reading Corner: あじさい

By: Mari
Kimoto
はな
み
に ほん
がつ
つ ゆ
むか
ころ
いろ
みなさんは、あじさいの 花を 見たことが ありますか。日本では、６月の 梅雨を 迎える頃、色とり
はな

まち

いろど

ひ

ひ

いろ

か

め

つ ゆ

どりの あじさいの 花が 街を 彩ります。日に日に 色を 変える あじさいを 愛でるのは、梅雨なら
たの

ひと

あめ

ぬ

すがた

うつく

は

ま

あか

さ

すがた

ではの 楽しみの 一つです。雨に 濡れる 姿も 美しく、晴れ間に 明るく 咲く 姿も きれいです。あに ほんげんさん ち

い じょう

しゅるい

に ほん

じさいは 日本が 原産地で 50 以上の たくさんの 種類が あります。日本から アメリカや ヨーロッ
わた

ど じょう

かんけい

はな

さ

とうよう

よ

パに 渡ったあじさいは、土壌の 関係で ピンクの 花が 咲き、東洋バラと 呼ばれているものも あり
はなこと ば

ちい

はな

あつ

さ

いっ か だんらん

います。あじさいの 花言葉は、小さい花が たくさん集まって 咲いていることから 一家団欒という 意
み

いろ

ちが

はなこと ば

い

み

か

しら

つ ゆ

き せつ

味です。また、色の 違いによって 花言葉の 意味は 変わるので 調べてみて ください。梅雨の 季節
み

たの

とくしま

み

ですが、みなさん あじさいを見て 楽しんで ください。※徳島の あじさいスポットは、pg. 9 を 見てください。

Vocabulary List
つ ゆ

Rainy Season

梅雨
むか

迎える

To Enter (A Phase)いろ

色とりどり Various Colors
まち

Town

街
ひ

ひ

日に日に

Day by Day

バイク (motorcycle)
By: Sydney Bartig

め

愛でる
は

ま

晴れ間
げんさん ち

原産地
ど じょう

土壌
とうよう

東洋

To Love/Appreciate
Break of Clear Weather

はなこと ば花言葉

Flower Language

いっ か だんらん

一家団欒 Happy Family

Place of Origin

Get-together

Soil
The East

Gairaigo Galore

If you’ve been following this column for a while now, then you’ve
probably noticed that there are many words in katakana whose
meaning can be quite misleading! This month I’d like to introduce theseemingly simple gairago: バイク . For native speakers, or even thosewith just a little English knowledge, you’ll of course think of “bike”
immediately. While it’s not completely wrong… it’s probably not the bikeyou’re thinking of.
When バ イ ク is used in Japanese, it is used to refer to motorbikes
or motorcycles, not the type of bike with a bell that you would see
someone casually riding throughout the city. If you want to refer to that
じ てんしゃtype of bike, then you would need to use the word 自転車 .
However, interesting enough, if you want to use the word マ ウ ン
テンバイク , then it refers exactly to a mountain bike. Similarly, バ
イクトレール is simply translated to a bicycle trail. A bit confusing,right?

8

Japanese Lesson
By: Fusa Tamaki

ね and よHave you heard 「よ」,「ね」,「よね」and other sounds being used at the end of sentences during yourconversations? These are known as “ending particles”, and they are used to express emotions. There areending particles that are typically used by men, as well as ones that are typically used by women. However,
it is slowly changing so that they are used regardless of gender. Out of the many ending particles, today let’sstudy 「よ」and「ね」. Let’s begin by reading the below conversations.
れい

例1

き ょう

かい ぎ

じ

Ａ：
「今日の会議は、３時からですね。
」
いま しりょうＢ：「はい。今資料をコピーしています」
れい

例2

き ょう

か いぎ

じ

Ａ：
「今日の会議は、３時からですよ。
」
いそ

し りょう

Ｂ：
「えっ！じぁ、急いで資 料 をコピーします！」
In example 1, 「ね」is used in such a way that A is confirming with B that the meeting does in fact start at 3.
In example 2, 「～よ」is used in such a way that A is letting B know that the meeting starts at 3. 「よ」 and「ね」can have many others meanings, but for today let’s practice using them as with how they are in theexamples.
「ね」… The speaker confirms with the listener that they share the same feeling.
「よ」… The speaker conveys new information to the listener.
もんだい

つぎ

【問題】 次の会話は、「よ」・「ね」のどちらがいいでしょうか。
じん③ A：これ、おいしいです（よ・ね）。どうぞ。

① A：ジョンさんは、アメリカ人ですか。
じん

B：ありがとうございます。いただきます。

B：いいえ、カナダ人です（よ・ね）。

A

B

B

A
に ほ ん ごじょう ず

④ A：これ、からいです（よ・ね）。

② A：ムニラさん、日本語が上 手ですね。

B：そうです（よ・ね）。

じょう ず

B：ほんとうに 上 手です（よ・ね）。
いま せ か い

みなさん、今世界
は、ペラペラ…

A

B

B⑤ A：すみません、トピアはどこですか。
かい

B：あのビルの ６階です（よ・ね）。

B

こた

A

答え：①よ ②ね ③よ ④ね・ね ⑤よA9Events & Memoranda
Tokushima Hydrangea Map 2022
徳島県あじさい案内図 2022

Counselling Service at TOPIA・トピアの相談窓口
TOPIA provides consultation on everyday life, education, labor, medical institutions, and disaster prevention; andinformation on sightseeing spots to overseas residents and visitors. When necessary, we will refer you to theappropriate organization that can assist with your needs.Counselling is available in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, andJapanese. Please note that although every effort will be made, we may not be able to deal with all cases.
Japanese, English, Chinese: Everyday, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)
Vietnamese: Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, 10:00 - 14:00
Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)
Tel: 088-656-3312 or 088-656-3313 (allows for three-way conversations with an interpreter)