aWa life

Sports Edition

October 2017
# 326

IRF World RaftingChampionshipJapan
Making Friends
through Sports:
Touch Rugby

Awa Shoku:
Bowl-ed Over by
Seafood Donburi
Sport Exchange
Projects inTokushima

1

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

For this month issue of Awa Life we got inspired by the upcoming Taiiku no Hi (Health and Sports Day).
Also, since the weather has cooled down, autumn is the perfect season to get out into nature and dosome sport. That's why there are many sports events happening from now on, starting with the IRF
World Rafting Championship Japan this year happening in Miyoshi city. Make sure to enjoy the cool
weather, stay healthy, and cheer on your favourite sports team!
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:

awalife@gmail.com

Your editors,
Daralyn, Franzi and Tom
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:
Daralyn Yee, Franziska Neugebauer and Tom Wehrmann
Contributors This Month:
Kazue Inoue, Lance Kita, Niall Higgins, Nan Zhang, Michi Mori

2

Contents
Pg. 2:

Taiiku no Hi: Enjoying Sports in Japan and Tokushima

Pg. 3:

Making Friends through Sports

Pg. 4:

Sport Exchange Projects in Tokushima

Pg. 5:IRF World Rafting Championship JapanPg. 5:

Letter from SUKETO NAKAYOSHI

Pg. 6:

Japanese Lesson

Pg. 7:

Awa Shoku: Bowl-ed Over by Seafood Donburi

Pg. 8-9:

Events and Memoranda

Taiiku no Hi: Enjoying Sports in Japan and Tokushima
By Daralyn Yee

The sports edition of Awa Life has beenbrought to you by the upcoming holiday
Taiiku no Hi ( 体育の日 , Health and Sports Day).
This holiday commemorates the opening of the1964 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, and isheld to promote health and fitness. Originally it
was held on October 10th, but due to the “Happy
Monday Seido” (Happy Monday System) creatinga three day weekend for those who work five daysa week, it has moved to the second Monday ofOctober. Typically on this day, many schools andorganizations across the prefecture get together
to have a field day and compete with each other.
Some of the events include tug-o-war, relay, Awa
Odori (in Tokushima), and ball tossing.
In addition to sports in the local areas, Japan
will be the host to many international sports
competition in the next few years, including the
Rugby World Cup Japan 2019, 2020 Tokyo
Olympics and , and 2021 World Masters Games.
Last year our prefecture hosted the Asian
Wakeboard Championships, and this month

Miyoshi City, Tokushima will host the World
Rafting Championships. Various sports venuesin Tokushima will also host bowling, golf, canoe,
weightlifting, and triathlon events as a part of the2021 Kansai World Masters Games along with 11
other prefectures and cities in the Kansai region.
Taiiku no Hi isonly one day,but we can playand enjoy sports
in Tokushima
all year. This
month’s Awa
Life gives a few
opportunities
to learn about
upcoming sports
events, newsports to try, and existing international sports
exchange in the prefecture. In Tokushima there
are endless opportunities to live a healthy andactive lifestyle. Wishing you a healthy year!

3
A

year and a half ago I played in my first touchrugby tournament. Before coming to Japan
I had never played touchrugby. Rugby was notparticularly popular where
I grew up and aside fromoccasionally watching
the national team play I
had no connection to thegame; touch rugby was
a complete mystery tome. Besides rugby was for big muscular guys; I
thought I was too short and skinny to play!
This all changed when I came to Tokushima.
In spring of my first year I joined the SuTouchi
Tokushima ALT team for that year’s AJET touchrugby tournament. Every year we put together
a team especially for this tournament. We start
training in May on the weekends, and aim to teacheveryone the basics of touch by the time thetournament comes around in June. The rules oftouch rugby are simple. There are six players perteam, and each team gets six touches in whichto score a try before the ball is turned over to theother team. It differs from regular rugby in that
there are no scrums, lineouts or kicking involved;
the game consists of passing and running. Teams
are normally mixed, and there are often bonus
points awarded to tries scored by women toencourage female participation. Although it wasquite tiring (touch rugby involves a lot of running), I really enjoyed the training sessions and soon
decided I wanted to do more. I was lucky that twoof my senpai’s trained with the Shikoku University
team on Monday nights and they invited mealong.
The Shikoku University team is actually two teams
that train together on university grounds: theClovers, or the student team, and the Pugs team,which is made up of university graduates. We
play with the Pugs team as honorary members.
They’re really welcome to foreigners joining; inthe past we’ve had exchange students cometo training sessions and they do their best to

Making Friends through Sports

By Niall Higgins

facilitate people with little or no Japanese. Both
the Clovers and the Pugs teams play in the AJET
tournament.
The AJET touch rugby tournament takes placeout west in Miyoshi every June. Japanese andnon-Japanese teams from all over Shikoku andmainland Japan come to Tokushima for the two
day tournament, which has been going since2004. There’s even been teams come over from
Australia just for the tournament! The tournamentis open to mixed teams of 6 playing members,
and there must be at least one female player on
the field at any one time.
I would encourage anyone who has even a slightinterest in touch rugby to give it a go. It’s a lot of
fun and a great way to meet Japanese people
and to make friends.

Touch rugby involves a lot of running!

Some of our JET rugby members
after training.

Sports Exchange Projects in Tokushima

4

German U18 National Judo Team Training Camp in Tokushima 2017
By Tom WehrmannF

rom August 18th to the 31st, the German
U18 (16 to 18 years old) National Team
held a training camp in Tokushima prefecture.
The Judo exchange between the German Stateof Lower Saxony and Tokushima has a long
history; that’s why Tokushima applied to host theGerman Judo National Team before the 2020
Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. In preparationfor 2020, Tokushima will hold annual Judoexchange events with Germany. This time it was
the German athletes turn to come to Shikoku. The
judoka experienced a good mix of hard training
units and interesting events like a boat tour to see
the famous Naruto Whirlpools, picking Japanesepears, visiting the Awa Odori Kaikan and muchmore. To get a feeling of how the Germans felt
about their two week stay in Tokushima, here area few comments from the athletes:me to the limits but I gained so many experiences,
so I am really grateful for having the opportunitiy."Allesio Murrone"I trained a lot during the two weeks. I also got an
impression about how the Japanese learn judo.
In particular, the many "randoris" made it reallyintense." Falk Biedermann"It was an honor to represent Germany in front of
the Governor of Tokushima." Ina Bauernfeind"The food here is really good, although I had
some problems using chopsticks. The training inJapan's hottest and most humid season pushed

Japan-China Sister City Middle School Table Tennis Tournament 2017
By Nan ZhangT

he Japan-China Sister City Middle School
Table Tennis Tournament 2017 was held at
the Beijing Olympic Center from August 4th toAugust 8th to celebrate the 45th anniversary of
the normalization of Japan-China Relations. The
tournament has taken place every five years
since 1992, and this was the 6th tournament held.
The event was a joint collaboration between theJapan-China Friendship Association, Japanese
Table Tennis Association, Chinese People's
Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries,
China-Japan Friendship Association and Chinese
Table Tennis Association. 268 Athletes in 67
Chinese-Japanese mixed teams fought in 4
blocks of tournaments. These teams also included
athletes from partnership regions like Tokushima
Prefecture and Hunan Province, Tokushima Cityand Dandong City, Naruto City and Zhangjiajie
City. Tokushima prefecture has considered thetournament as really important from the beginning,that’s why there were many competitions between
the middle school students from the whole

prefecture to see which athletes are the best. In
the end Tokushima sent 6 middle school students
to China. The Tokushima-Hunan Team was leadby their coach, fought hard and got 2nd place inthe preliminary contest. Unfortunately they lost in
the tournament with 1-4 to the team Mie-Henan.
There is no such thing as barriers in sports. Even
if they couldn’t understand each other‘s language,
they learned each other’s styles and habits andgot an understanding of the competition skills.
Sports brings people of different nationalities
together anddeepens theirfriendship. It
encourages
f r i e n d l yexchangeb e t w e e ncountries andmakes a large
contribution toworld peace.

5

IRF World Rafting Championship JapanM

iyoshi City in Tokushima Prefecture will hostthe 2017 IRF World Rafting Championshipfrom October 2nd until October 9th. Altogether
640 Athletes in 80 Teams from 30 countries willcompete in the disciplines of downriver, also
called the main event because it makes up 40% of
the total score, the technically challenging slalom,sprint with its hard, fast, short burst of speed, andthe visually exciting H2H (Head to Head), which ispitting two teams together in a sprint for the finishline. But be careful, the single competitions will beheld at two different locations along the middle of
the Yoshino River (Yamashiro-cho, Miyoshi-shi,
Tokushima and Otoyo-cho, Nagaoka-gun, Kochi).
There will be four categories of entrances thisyear: Open (men and women), Youth (men andwomen U-19), Junior (men and women U-23),
and Master (men and women 40+). Since it is free
to watch, please come and cheer for your favorite
team!

By Tom Wehrmann

Miyoshi is not only famous for steep terrain
and Japan's best rafting spot, but also for otherscenic places like Oboke-iya or the famous Iyano-Kazura Vine Bridge, so if you never had theopportunity to visit these sights before, don't missyour chance thistime. For those
who like to stayaway from thewater, you can stillwatch the whole
To u r n a me n t vi a
Public Viewing
a t M i y o s h i
Ikeda General
Gymnasium. For
more details about
the competition
venues and complete schedule, please visit:www.wrc-2017japan.com

Letter from SUKETO NAKAYOSHI

By Kazue Inoue (Center for Early Childhood Education and Care SUKETO NAKAYOSHI)I

n early summer all the sweet potatoes whichwere planted on the fields grew really big. Every year the children harvest, grill and eat thesweet potatoes in the garden. In this season,
there are lots of delicious flavors in Tokushima.
Especially the sweet potato called Naruto Kintoki
has a soft and flaky texture like a chestnut andfine sweetness, which makes it so unique. Raw
Shiitake is meaty and has a strong flavor. It is alsorich in minerals and vitamin B, which can prevent
colds. The Ito Green Onion which is cultivatedin Okinosu and Ito district, is a sweet and smelly
long green onion which can bring down a fever
and take away fatigue. October is also a seasonof sport and outdoor amusement. Please eat
many fresh foods and enjoy every day.

＊＊＊Rising Ghost
Materials: plastic bag, paper cup, flexible straw,
permanent pen or marker
1) First, turn the plastic bag inside out. Then, fold
the two upper ends of the plastic bag to the backand attach them with adhesive tape. Draw theface of the ghost with a permanent pen or marker.
2) Draw a picture on the cup. After making it colorful, make a hole in the lower part of the cup,large enough that a straw can fit through.
3) Now, take the straw and put the upper part in
the plastic bag. Close the part around the straw
and fix it with adhesive tape (it is important, thatno air can flow out).
4) Pierce the straw from the inside part of the cup
to the outside and place the plastic
bag on the top of the cup.
5) If you blow air through the straw,
the ghost will appear and become
bigger and bigger. Have fun with theghose by letting air in and out.

6

Japanese Lesson
By Michi Mori

「V た /V ないほうがいいです」

This month we will be learning how to give advice to someone by using the expression「V た / V ない
ほうがいいです」.
れいぶん

例 文 Example:
A：どうしたんですか、たいへんそうですね。(Is something wrong? You look troubled.)
きょう

し ごと

おお

B：今日も仕事が多くて・・・。(I have a lot of work today...)おそかえ

A：そうですか、でももう遅いですから、帰ったほうがいいですよ。
(Is that so. But since it is already late you should go home.)おB：そうですね。でも終わらないんです。(You are right, but I won’t finish.)
あした

む り

A：明日にすればどうですか。無理をしないほうがいいですよ。
(How about doing it tomorrow? Don’t overwork yourself.)
かえ

む り

You can use「V た / V ないほうがいいです」 like in「帰ったほうがいいですよ。
」or「無理をしないほうがいいですよ。
」when you want to give a warning to somebody or advice about what you think would
be best to do. If you add「よ」you emphasize to your opponent that you strongly recommend to do so.
Also, when using negation say「V ないほうがいいです。
」instead of「V なかったほうがいいです。」.
つく かた

作り方 How to use the sentence pattern:
どう し

けい

動 詞た形＋ほうがいいですよ。
Verb ta-form ＋ほうがいいですよ。
れんしゅうもんだい

練 習 問題

どう しけい

動 詞ない形＋ほうがいいですよ。
Verb nai-form ＋ほうがいいですよ。

Practice:

A さんにアドバイスをしてください。Please give advice to A as shown in the example.
か ぜ

A：風邪をひいてしまいました。
びょういん

い

びょういん

い

B：病院へ行きます→）病院へ行ったほうがいいです ( よ )。
か ふんしょう たいへん

1)

A：花 粉 症 で大変です。
B：（マスクをかけます→）
ちゃーはん じょうず

2)つく

A：炒飯が上手に作れません。
いた

ひ

つよ

B：（炒めるとき、火を強くします→）
3)

A：ダイエットをしているんですが、なかなかやせません。
あま

た

B：
（甘いものを食べません→）
さいきん め4)つか

A：最近目が疲れるんです。
ね

まえ

つか

B：
（寝る前にスマホを使いません→）
きょう

5)

の

かい

A：今日も飲み会があるんですよ。
のB：( あまり飲みすぎません→）
参考資料：日本語表現文型（ナツメ社）
いほうがいいですよ。4) 寝る前にスマホを使わないほうがいいですよ。 5) あまり飲みすぎないほうがいいですよ。
ね

まえ

つか

の

答え : 1) マスクをかけたほうがいいですよ。2) 炒めるとき、火を強くしたほうがいいですよ。3) 甘いものを食べな
こた

いた

ひ

つよ

あま

た

7
W

Awa Shoku: Bowl-ed Over by Seafood Donburi

ho needs separate plates and dishes…
heap your meal on top of a bowl of rice andyou get donburi ( 丼 ), one of the easiest ways
to eat a meal in Japan. Although the standards
include oyako-don ( 親子丼 chicken and egg) andkatsu-don ( カツ丼 breaded pork cutlet and egg),
donburi is also a great vehicle for showcasing
seafood. Think about how well fish and ricebalance out in sushi, and you’ll agree that donburi
topped with fish is a heartier version of that
harmony.

By Lance Kita

cost during their peak of flavor.

During the city center tour, the organizers
suddenly drove us to the southern edge ofKomatsushima City to the tiny port of Wadajima( 和 田 島 ). This port is the prefectures’s #1
harvester of shirasu ( しらす whitebait), which arebaby anchovies, sardines, and herrings. That can
only mean one thing: shirasu-don ( し ら す 丼 )for lunch! To my surprise, my rice bowl came twotoned…the pristine white layer
was kama-age shirasu ( 釜 揚Recently, I had the privilege of
げ し ら す ), which is steamed
joining “Experience Tokushima,”
or boiled whitebait. Its light, softa series of tours organized by JCI
texture and dashi-like saltiness(Junior Chamber International 青
is often the standard for any
年会議所 )Tokushima to introduce
shirasu-don, but there was also
Tokushima’s tourist sites toa silvery, clear layer of nama
foreign visitors. On two separateshirasu ( 生 し ら す ), fresh raw
tours, I enjoyed some delicious
whitebait with the refreshing taste
kaisen-don ( 海 鮮 丼 seafoodof sea foam. This can only berice bowls) that showcased local
found near ports who can bring it
products and attracted visitors to Though most kaisen-don have an in on the day it’s caught. With aassortment of seafood, this mini one squeeze of sudachi and a splash
fishing ports.
is only kampachi (yellowtail).
of shoyu, I dug into the mounds
Naruto’s uzushio ( 渦 潮 tidalof tiny fish, savoring each bitewhirlpools) are at their peakand searching for the elusive
in autumn, and a drive up thescoop of rice hiding underneath
Naruto Skyline after that will
the generous layer of shirasu.
take you to the fishing town
Fish and rice...there’s nothingof Kitanada ( 北 灘 ). The local
more satisfying.
fishing cooperative runs an Umino-Eki ( 海の駅 ) adjacent to the
For all you seafood lovers (andactual fish market, the portside
seafood lovers-to-be), checkversion of a roadside Michi-noout your neighborhood izakaya
Eki ( 道の駅 ) with a parking lot,or seafood restaurant. They will
restrooms, retail shop, and mostsometimes offer kaisen-don as
importantly, an eatery featuring Being close to a port means generous a lunch special, and you’ll get
servings of shirasu (whitebait)
local seafood. I had the weekday
more fish for your yen. Wadajima
on your rice bowl.
lunch special, with my choice ofand Kitanada are becoming local
mini donburi and a side of sashimi or tempura. My hotspots, but the southern part of the prefecture
donburi was topped with slices of kanpachi ( カ is also promoting tourism to the region with a
ン パ チ mature yellowtail), rich and fatty as the campaign of Minami-Awa Don ( 南 阿 波 丼 ),fish prepare for the winter months. The regular rice bowls that use local seafood and more. So
kaisen-don features over a half-dozen varieties of if you’re driving through Anan, Minami, Mugi, or
seafood, and the deluxe (jyo kaisen-don 上海鮮 Kaiyo Towns, you just might get a mouthful of丼 ) version has sea urchin, salmon roe, and other tuna, pike conger, baby abalone, squid, or evendelicacies. These kaisen-don often use seasonal moray eel. Enjoy a bowl for lunch on one of yourfish, so you’re getting seafood at a reasonable weekend outings!

8

Events & Memoranda
Japanese Volunteer Teacher Training in Miyoshi
地域日本語指導ボランティア養成講座 IN 三好

三好市国際交流協会では、日本語指導ボランティア養成講座を 11 月中旬より開催します。
「みんなの日本語」Ⅰ・Ⅱのテキストにそって、48 時間で日本語の教え方を勉強します。詳細は、TOPIA ホーム
ページをご覧ください。
（日時・会場は若干変更することがあります。
）
日程（土曜日）
：

前期

青木

洋子先生

11 月 18 日、25 日

＆

			

後期

山田

多佳子先生

1 月 13 日、20 日、27 日

12 月 2 日、9 日、16 日＆

2 月 10 日、17 日

会場： 三好市池田町「保健センター」ほか
時間： 9:30 ～ 15:30（1 回原則 5 時間）
参加費：無料								（この事業は文化庁事業です。
）

Tokushima Free Wi-Fi
とくしま無料 Wi-Fi
Tokushima Free Wi-Fi is available at 112 tourist attractions and emergency areas all over Tokushima
Prefecture at high speeds of 1Gbps. Register your Email address and you can use the Wi-Fi service
for 30 minutes, and can reconnect an unlimited amount of times after. More explanations are available
online in Japanese, English, Korean and Chinese. In case of an emergency you can use Tokushima
Free Wi-Fi without registration and time limit.
					＊ www.tokushima-wifi.jp ＊Autumn Awa Odori
秋の阿波踊りIf you still didn’t get enough Awa Odori, you canvisit the Autumn Awa Odori, which has been held
every year since 2008 in Tokushima City for free.
In addition to an Awa Odori Contest, there will
be a corner where you can experience someof Tokushima's specialty products and famous
handcrafts, such as Otani Pottery, paper craft,and Indigo dyeing. If you want to travel around
Tokushima or go on the 88 temple pilgrimage,there will also be plenty of information provided at
the tourism booth.

2008 年 か ら 毎 年 秋 に 開 催 し て い る「 秋 の 阿 波

When: November 3rd (Fri, holiday) - 5th (Sun)10:00-16:00 (Doors open: 9:30)
Where: ASTY Tokushima, 1 Higashi Hama Boji,
Yamashiro-cho, Tokushima City
Cost: Free
Info: www.asty-tokushima.jp
TEL: 088-624-5111

10：00 ～ 16：00（開場 9：30 ～）お ど り 」！ 今 年 は 3 日 間 の 開 催 で、 様 々 な イ
ベ ン ト が 入 場 無 料 で お 楽 し み い た だ け ま す。
阿波踊りコンテストの他に徳島の海山里の幸や特産品の展示販売、・和紙細工・藍染め・遊山箱づくりなどの体験コーナー、四国観光の達人による観光や四国 88 ヶ所の案内・展示コーナーがあります。
日時： 11 月 3 日（金・祝）～

5 日（日）

場所： 徳島市山城町東浜傍示１－１
アスティとくしま
料金： 無料情報： www.asty-tokushima.jp
TEL： 088-624-5111

9

Events & Memoranda

Kamiyama Artist in Residence 2017 Exhibition
神山アーティスト・イン・レジデンス 2017 作品展覧会
The Kamiyama Artist in Residence is aninternational art project which started in 1999.
3 to 5 artists from in and outside of Japan are
invited annually to Kamiyama Town to strengthen
the exchange with the local citizens through thecreation and exhibition of art. On the first day ofthe exhibition, there will be an art tour in which
the artist will present and discuss their works. For
more information, please visit the homepage.

神山アーティスト・イン・レジデンスは、1999
年からスタートした国際的なアート・プロジェクトです。毎年、国内外の芸術家３~ ５人を神山町に招いて、地域住民との協働による創作活動などで交流を深め、作品展覧会を実施します。
展覧会初日には、アーティストと共に作品を巡る
アートツアーが実施される予定です。今年度の招聘アーティストなどの詳細情報は公式ホームペー
ジをご覧ください。

When: October 29th (Sun) - November 5th (Sun)
Where: Various places in Kamiyama Town
Cost: Free
Info: www.in-kamiyama.jp/art
Tel:088-676-1177

日時： 10 月 29 日（日）～ 11 月 5 日（日）場所： 神山町 各地
料金： 無料情報： www.in-kamiyama.jp/art
TEL： 088-676-1177

Machi ★ Asobi Volume 19
マチ★アソビ vol.19
After holding the first Machi Asobi event in 2009, it 2009 年秋の第 1 回開催以来、徳島市の中心市街
has attracted many people from around the coun- 地周遊型アニメイベントとして全国から多くの
try as an anime event held in the heart of Tokushiアニメファンを呼び込んでいる「マチ★アソビ」。
ma City that gives people a tour of the area at thesame time. There will be famous actors hosting 有名声優によるトークショーや、色とりどりの衣
talk shows, and a very colorful and impactful dis- 装が印象的なコスプレショーなど、徳島の街がア
play of cosplay, filling the whole city with anime! ニメ一色に彩られます！詳しいイベントの情報は
For more details visit the Machi ★ Asobi website. 「マチ★アソビ」HP にご覧ください。
When: September 23rd (Sat, holiday) 10th (Mon, holiday)
Main event: 7th (Sat) - 9th (Mon, holiday)
Where: Various places around the city &Aibahama Park
Info: Tokushima Festivity Planning DivisionTel:088-621-2146
URL: www.machiasobi.com

日時： 9 月 23 日（土・祝）～ 10 月 9 日（月・祝）
メインイベント期間：10/7
（土）
～9
（月・祝）
場所： 徳島市内中心部および藍場浜公園
お問い合わせ：徳島県にぎわいづくり課
TEL： 088-621-2146
URL： www.machiasobi.com

Counselling Service at TOPIA・トピアの相談窓口
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 isavailable in English and Japanese. Please note that although every effort will be made, we may not beable to deal with all cases.
Everyday, 10:00 - 18:00 (closed during the New Year's holidays)
Tel: 088-656-3303 or 088-656-3320 (allows three-way conversations with an interpreter)