#284

March 2014
The AJET Tokushima Musical – 20 Years of Change
By Chris Riedl
The young men and women in
Japan who celebrated their
Coming of Age ceremony inJanuary have something incommonwith
the AJET
Tokushima Musical. They bothturned twenty years old thisyear. And just as these young
people growing up in Tokushima
have never known a spring
without an AJET Musical, you’dbe hard-pressed to find aJapanese English teacher who
has never heard of it.

Poster of this years musical, "Finding Nemo" (AJET)

Twenty years is a long time for a
production of this type tocontinue. Especially when you
consider that no one has everparticipated in more than sevenof them. With most people
participating for an average oftwo productions, the turnoverrate is high. Thus the key to thelongevity of the Musical has not
only been its popularity among
both participants and audience

Page 1,4-5: The AJET Tokushima Musical - 20 Years of Change
Page 3: Hello and Goodbye; Page 6: Fitness Corner
Page 6-7: Aparna's Recipe Corner; Page 7: Irene's Recipe Corner
Page 8: Japanese Lesson; Page 9: Letter from Suketo Hoikuen
Page 10-12: Events & Memoranda

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is a monthly publication of theTokushima Prefectural International
Exchange Association (TOPIA)

Jenifer Tanikawa & Martin Rathmann
Chris Riedl, AJET, Yunong Wu, Tomoko
Nakagawa, Yuki Kubo, Clint Eckstein,
Aparna Matale, Irene Wachuga, Akiko Tsuji,Kazue Inoue

Clement Plaza 6F
1-61 Terashima Honcho Nishi
Tokushima City 770-0831 JAPAN
tel: 088.656.3303
fax: 088.652.0616
topia@topia.ne.jp
http://www.topia.ne.jp/
Download a PDF file of awa life or view theonline version by going to TOPIA's website!

Show Tokushima some Love: Awaglot
The literary corner of
AwaLife, Awaglot, is acombination of the words"awa" and "polyglot", whichmeans multilingual. Be it
fiction, nonfiction, prose
or poetry; funny, sad, longor short, we want yoursubmissions! If you like towrite, then express yourself!
There is also a classifieds
section for you, our readers,to post ads in, but a few
rules do apply!

Religious, political,
or commercial activities,businesses searching forclients or employees,
things the Awa Life editors
deem inappropriate.

If you have something you
would like to share with
the Tokushima community,
email the editors atconcerts,
lectures, and other event
information, cultural, sporting,and other community
group information, etcetera.

Tomoko Nakagawa and Yuki Kubo connecting the world through dancing (Yunong Wu)

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Hello and Goodbye
Connecting the World through the Joy of Dance!
During my three years inTokushima as the Coordinatorfor International Cooperation
for JICA Shikoku, with thesupport of everyone around
me, I was able to take partin various international
cooperation and exchange
activities. Out of them all theactivities that I was often
involved in was connecting
the world through the joy ofdance. On many occasions,
during the JICA workshops
at various schools, thevisiting trainees from overseas
would teach the students
their traditional dance, and in
return students would teachthem the Awa Odori dance.

It is only natural that being
active and dancing together
would bring a smile toeveryone’s face. And, as it
can bridge language andcultural barriers, a sense ofunity will be born. A few
years ago, I was sent to
Malawi (Africa) as a Japan
Overseas
Cooperation
Volunteer, and there too,dance was an integral partof their lives. When I firststarted my volunteer term in
Malawi, I did a homestay ina village that had noelectricity or running water.
At that time, I still didn’t evenknow the language well, but
as we formed a circle under

By Tomoko Nakagawa
the moonlight and clapped
our hands and danced, I felt
as if I had become a part ofthe community. Our world
today faces many problems,
throughdance,
weovercome cultural differences
and we become united witha sense of community.
Thank you so much foreverything during my time inthis position. I will continue toparticipate in international
cooperation and exchange
activities whenever theopportunity arises so I will
hopefully see you all then!
Thank you very much.

Hello to everyone in Tokushima
By Yuki Kubo
My name is Yuki Kubo andI will be working in Tokushima
Prefecture as the Coordinatorfor International Cooperation
for JICA Shikoku. I was bornand raised in Tokushima,
so I am happy to be able towork here.
So, to begin how much do
you know about Japan’sinternational
cooperation
activities? Before my current
job, I was working in aseemingly unrelated field
and worked at a herb andaromatherapy shop. But
though it may seem unrelated,
there is a connection between
herbs and aromatherapy tothe other side of the world.
Shea butter is known for its
moisturizing property andis often used in make-up.
Shea butter is madealmost entirely by hand by
the hard working women
living in the dry, arid land of
Ghana. In order to stimulate
their industry, a Shea
butter soap factory was set
up, where the local women
were taught how to makethese soap. Through thecreation of these amazing
Shea butter soap products,
women were being empowered
and were gaining a better
standard of life. And it also

gave the consumer an
opportunity to think about
the people of Ghana andtheir lifestyle.
Through the various fun
international exchange eventsand seminars, I hope to raiseawareness of international
cooperation matters andabout the world here inTokushima. I look forward
to meeting each andeveryone of you!

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The AJET Tokushima Musical(con't from page 2)
members, but its ability tochange and reinvent itself
over the years.
The numbers of participants
has varied greatly over theyears, from as few as
thirteen to as many as thirtyeight people. Even the typeof participants themselves
has changed. Originally it
was only composed by
English teachers working for
the JET Programme, but
has since come to include awide variety of people. Fromrandom Japanese people
with an interest in English,
to foreign exchange students
attending Japanese highschools and universities, theMusical has benefitted froma diverse group of people.
Even the format itself haschanged since the earlyyears. Originally the Musicalwas more of a play or a
British style pantomime. Infact it used to be joked thatcalling the production a“musical” was a bit of a
misnomer as most productions
from the first ten to fifteen
years had very little if any
live
singing
involved.
Generally there would be achoreographed dance number
set in time to music during
each scene. The mostpopular of which was often
the final dance number
which would use a Japanesesong that was popular at thetime. However, in its current
incarnation, there has been
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Poster of "A Night of Fantasy" 2005 (AJET)

a concerted effort to makethe Musical live up to its
Broadway brethren withmost of the songs being
performed live on stage.
One of the more surprising
aspects of the Musical isthat it has never done thesame production twice. In
twenty years, there havebeen twenty-two different
stories told on stage. (In2005’s “A Night of Fantasy”,
three different 30 minute“mini-productions”
wereperformed instead of thestandard single 90 minuteone.) The upside of doing a
new story every year is that
the Musical has never
become stale or predictable.
The downside is that it
takes an enormous amountof time and effort to create a
new musical, sometimes
from scratch. While thismeans the participants havefree reign to try something
different, it also has made forsome uneven performances.
One of the hardest parts ofcreating the Musical eachyear, is deciding how best to
engage the audience while

The AJET Tokushima Musical(con't from page 4)
still keeping it interesting forthe participants to perform.
One of the biggest sticking
points has been deciding
what amount of Japanese
to use. In the beginning it
was decided that theMusical would be performedat the level a third year
junior high school student
would likely understand.
However, as the number ofpeople attending grew thevarious levels of English
understanding had to betaken into account. At first it
was a simple summary of ascene read in Japanese
during set changes. Eventually
the staggered dual narration
format was developed where
one narrator would speak inJapanese, while the other

Poster of "the Wizard of Awa" 2002 (AJET)

narrator would speak in
English. The two would overlap
their conversation, repeating
part of what the other said
and adding a little more at
the end.

However, the biggest boneof contention has always
been how much Japanese
to use on stage. The answer,of course, is enough so thatyou don’t lose your audience,but not so much that you
turn off those who came tosee an English language
production. Originally there
was no Japanese used onstage at all, but pamphlets
with a Japanese summary
were handed out at thedoor. Eventually certain key
words or phrases came to
be used to help emphasize
a certain joke or key point.
From there it has vascillated
every year depending on
the difficulty of the script andPoster of "the Beauty and thethe participants themselves.
Beast" 2012 (AJET)

Whatever shape or form the
AJET Tokushima Musical hastaken over the years, there
is one thing that has neverchanged, and that is that theMusical is a non-profit
performance. When it firststarted the budget was small
and the performances weredone at local town halls, so
the financial burden was small.
But as it grew, donations
were sought out and supplied
by major institutions inTokushima. But as the
economy tumbled in the late90’s, so did the largesse of thelocal businesses. With the last
major donations drying up in2006 it was decided that aconcerted effort would need tobe made to solicit donations
at the end of each musical.
So if you like what you see
this year, please remember
to toss a little into the hat at
the end of the show andlet’s ensure another twenty
years of fun and language
learning in Tokushima.
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Fitness Corner
For this month, I’m going tochange it up a bit. Since I
arrived in Japan, I’ve heard a
lot of people who have concerns
about food, weight gain, etc. I
also spoke to an ALT thispast weekend who put thisidea in perspective and madea really great point. Hearing
the complaints and a quality
solution compelled me to write
something about food, eating,and staying active this month.
Eating for fuelWhat many people don’t realize
is that working out does notgive you an excuse to eat
unhealthy foods. I am as guiltyof this as anyone, but it doesn’tmean it’s a good idea. You
should eat MORE healthy when
you’re working out, not less,because your body needs thefuel more than ever. If you’re notbeing as active and spending
more time under the kotatsu
this winter, your body needs
less fuel, so eat accordingly.
A note on weight loss
It fascinates me that people
try all kinds of crazy diets tolose weight. They won’t eat
rice, will eat nothing but fruits,
or try some other crazyscheme to lose weight. Hereis how weight loss works. If
you burn more calories thanyou put in your body, you willlose weight. That means you
should continue eating abalanced diet while upping
your physical activity. You
don’t have to cut out
EVERYTHING. You can eat
rice and other carbs and lose
weight. You can eat sugar andlose weight. Limiting thesethings can help create a morebalanced diet, but as long as
you are burning more calories
than you consume, you willlose weight. If you somehow
can consume nothing but adiet coke everyday, you willlose weight, but it will be
TERRIBLE for your body. In
my opinion, the best thing thatyou can do is to be active
everyday, and cut out simple
sugars (sweets) and alcohol
since those both have a ton of
empty calories. Try that before
jumping into a fad diet.

By Clint Eckstein
On staying active
To stay active during these wintermonths, you don’t have to get
into intense workouts. Manyof us ride our bicycles toschool and for transportation,
which is a great way to keep
active. At school, everyone
goes a little stir crazy sitting
around when they don’t haveanything to do. Instead ofgetting on facebook to post
about how bored you are,take a walk around the school,or go up and down the stairs
a few times if you are in alarger school. Download apedometer app for your phoneand see if you can get in
10,000 steps a day. Even if
you’re busy, it’s amazing how
a 10 or 15 minute break for awalk can recharge you for anafternoon of grading papers
or help you prepare for aquiet or overly genki class.
Winter is almost over! We
can make it! If you have any
questions or concerns about
this article, please write toclinteckstein@hotmail.com.
Thanks!

Aparna's Recipe Corner
Butter chicken
Prep time : 20 min
Cook time: 30 min

300gr boneless chicken, 12tsp yogurt, 1tsp garlic paste,
1tsp salt, 1/2tsp red chili
powder, 1tsp tandoori masala6(optional), 1/2 tsp or pinch redcolor (optional)

1tbsp oil, 2 small cubes butter,1 tsp garlic paste, 1 tsp green
chili (optional), 1/2 tsp cumin
powder, 1/2 tsp red chili powder,
1 tsp salt, 6 small tomato’s

By Aparna Matale(tomato puree), 2tsp cashew
nuts paste, 1tbsp tomato
ketchup, 1/4tsp or pinch sugar,
water (as per constancy you
need it), 1/2 cup milk, 2 tbsp
fresh cream, 1/4 tsp grammasala, 1-2 tbs kasoori methi(dry fenugreek leaves)Aparna's Recipe Corner(con't from page 6)
1. Cut the Chicken to bitesize pieces and wash it well.
2. In a bowl (or large Ziplocbag) add the following – Garlic
Paste, Tandoori Masala, Red
Chili Powder, Salt and Yogurt.
3. Mix well and marinate in the
refrigerator overnight for best
results or at least a couple ofhours.
4. Grease a broiler dish with oilor cooking spray and layer the
Chicken in a single layer. Broilon high for 5-7 minutes oneach side. Keep an eye on it
as every oven varies. The sizeof the chicken pieces makes adifference and where you
place the rack in the ovenplays a big role in how long thechicken needs to be cooked.
Or you can shallow fry thechicken in frying pan.
5. For the gravy, in a medium
size pan on medium heat, melt

and heat the Butter. Whenbutter melt then add the oil.
6. Add the Garlic paste andfry of 30 sacs.
7. Add in the Green Chilies
and the Tomato Puree. Mix
well. (green chili is optional)
8. Add in the Salt, Red Chili
Powder ,and cumin powder
and mix well.
9. Allow it to come to a boil
and then lower the heat andlet the gravy simmer for 10
minutes till most of the juice
from the tomatoes evaporates.
10. now add the cash nut’s
paste slowly in curry and stirthen Add tomato ketchup,
Sugar and the Dried Meth
Leaves and allow it to cook for
another 2 minutes before
adding broiled Chicken pieces.
Mix well to coat Chicken. Then
add water.
11. Add the Whipping Cream& milk mix and allow it to

Butter Chicken (Aparna Matale)come to a boil and take it off
the flame.

- Hang yogurt for 1 hour thenuse for marination so it willcoat nicely.
- Soak cashew nuts in warm
water for 1 hour so you canmake fine paste out of it.
- While adding cream in curry
constantly stir it so it will mix well.
- This recepie will serve for 2
people.

Irene's Recipe Corner
By Irene Wachuga
Easy, Sweet Corn
ChowderWarm days are playing hide andseek, and for those days you
can’t seem to catch a hold of
them, here’s something to keep
you warm.

½ kg (3 cups) frozen sweet cornkernels, 2 scallions, (spring
onions) quartered, 1 clove ofgarlic, peeled, 20g semolina/corn meal, 700-800 liters (3cups), hot vegetable stock,salt and white pepper to taste

Toasted bread cubes/tortillas
chips, Grated (melting) cheese,
Red chili flakes/ paprika
1.Drain the sweet corn and put
in a food processor, with the spring
onions, garlic and semolina.
Blitz to a mush. Do this in 2-3
batches if your processor is small.
2.Pour the mixture into a large
saucepan and add the stock.
Bring to a boil. Turn down theheat and simmer, partially covered
for about 8-10 minutes.
3.Ladle into warm bowls and
top with a few cubes of breadEasy, Sweet Corn Chowder(Irene Wachuga)or tortilla chips. Put a small moldof cheese in the middle andsprinkle some red chili on top.
4.Serve hot.
P.s. If it thickens too much, diluteby adding a little more stock/ wateror milk to your desired consistency.
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Japanese Lesson
By Akiko Tsuji

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Letter From Suketo Hoikuen
By Kazue Inoue
It’s finally March, and the trees
and flowers in the park areslowly gearing up towards
spring. For parents who havechildren starting nursery schoolor kindergarten, are you starting
to prepare for it? For children
who aren’t used to being
away from their mother for a
prolonged time, this new
lifestyle can be rather stressful.
It might be a good idea tostart doing what you can athome to prepare them fortheir new journey in life.

if they can’t accomplish
everything by the time they
start school, there is no need
to worry. There are many
children who will pick up
such habits as they spend
time with their favorite
teachers and friends, so
there’s no need to worry.

But the most important thingis to understand your children.
Try to understand where they
are coming from and what
their worries are and try toreassure them both verbally
But before anything, you and by physical contact.
need to get your children into
schoolsandthe habit of taking care of Nursery
their own selves, such as kindergartens are not justsleeping early and waking places that look after yourearly,
eatingeverything children, but are a place thatwithout being picky, and will offer support to you inbeing able to change and go regards to childcare. So, if
to the bathroom themselves. you ever feel lost or if things
Wherever you can, try to are not going well, please do
instill these habits into your not hesitate to consult them.
children in their day to day
lives. But with that said, even

Origami paper (of any
square paper), Straw, Tape1) Fold in all four corners
towards the middle.
2) Fold up all four corners
outwards.
3) Tape down the flaps. And
open up the fold.
4) Cut one end of the straw
open to create flaps on eitherside, so it can be taped down
to the middle of the origami
paper facing up (it shouldlook like a flat umbrella).

Hold the straw between both
hands (fingers extended). As
you rub your hand, the straw
will turn as well. Spin it fastenough and let go and watch
it fly like a helicopter.

2014 Tokushima Japanese Speech Contest - Call for Participants The 2014 Tokushima Japanese SpeechContest will be held on July 13 (Sun).
Foreign residents whose native language
is not Japanese (and who have notattended more than 3 years of Japanesemandatory education) may enter. You may
choose any topic as long as it is related tointernational understanding and cooperation.
More information will be on the TOPIA
website starting mid-March. For further
information contact TOPIA.
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Events & Memoranda

Tokushima Camellia Festival
In this garden there are over 3000 camellias
gathered from around the world and Japan.
When:
Where:
Cost:
Info:
TEL:

March 1 (Sat) - 31 (Mon)
Camellia Garden
Anan-shi, Tsubaki-choFree
Camellia Garden
088-433-1127

Awa Jurobe Yashiki Ningyo Joruri Puppet Theater Fes
Tayu (chanters) and performance troupes from
Tokushima Prefecture will be performing avariety of different stories.
When: March 8, 9 (Sat, Sun)
10:00 – 15:00
Where: Awa Jurobe Yashiki
Tokushima City, Kawauchi-cho,Miyajima Honura 184
Cost: 400 yen General Admission
300yenHighSchool/UniversityStudents
200 yen under Middle SchoolInfo:
Awa Jurobe YashikiTEL:088-665-2202
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Events & Memoranda
The Pleasure of Translation

26th Big Hina Matsuri - Doll Festival
When: February 23 (Sun) - April 6 (Sun)9:00 – 16:00
Where: Ningyo Bunka Kouryu-kan
Katsuura-gun, Katsuura-cho,Oaza Ikuna Aza Tsukinose
Cost: 300 yen Adults
200 yen Groups (>10 people)
100 yen Elementary Student
Info:
Ningyo Bunka Kouryu-kan
TEL: 088-542-4334

Tebajima and Mugi Art Exhibition 2014
Tokushima’s Tebajima Island, located off thecoast of Mugi Town is hosting an art exhibition!
This year it will not only be at Tebajima but also
at different places in Mugi Town.
When:

March 7 (Fri) – 30 (Sun)8:40 - 15:00
Where:
Kaifu-Gun,
Mugi Town, Tebajima Island
Information: Mugi Town Chamber ofCommerceTEL:
088-472-0194
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Events & Memoranda

Counselling Service at TOPIA
TOPIA offers a counselling and advisory service to all foreign residents to help with issues involving
accidents, working conditions, housing, visas, international marriage, and more. Counselling is available in
English and Japanese. Please note that although every effort will be made, we may not be able to deal
with all cases.
Everyday, 10:00 - 18:00
Tel: 088-656-3303 or 088-656-3320 (allows three-way conversations with an interpreter)12