KCC NEWS Vol.72 1st, April, 2022

Kashiwa Cross-cultural Center

APRIL, 2022

Kashiwa Cross-cultural Center,Palette Kashiwa
2-7-1-301 Kashiwa,
Kashiwa,Chiba,Japan 277-0005■TEL: 04-7157-0281 ■FAX: 04-7165-7321■E-MAIL: kcc@kira-kira.jp■URL: https: //www.kcc.kira-kira.jp

Vol.
72

Message from Kashiwa Cross-cultural Center
Kashiwa Cross-cultural Center ( KCC) , an organization that supports world peace, opposes Russia' s war of aggression
against Ukraine from a humanitarian standpoint. We mourn the lives lost in this war, both Ukrainian and Russian. We
would like to express our deepest sympathies to the victims of the war and to those who have had to evacuate theirhomes. We sincerely support those who are brave enough to be advocates for the anti-war movements in Russia.
To raise funds to support Ukrainians refugees, a donation box has been set up in front of the KCC office. If you would
like to help, please contribute.

Cross-cultural Teatime “Sports and the Great Outdoors in Canada”
Date and Time: Saturday, April 9, 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Place: Palette Kashiwa, Multi-purpose Space A
Content: Along with sports in Canada, the wonders of thegreat outdoors and the various activities in nature will beintroduced. In addition, there will be a quiz time aboutCanada.
Lecturer: Dr. Connor Bottrell ( Kavli Institute for the Physics
and Mathematics of the Universe, the University of Tokyo)
Number of participants: 27Dr. Connor Bottrell
Saltspring Island
Participation fee: ￥400
Application: Sign up directly at the KCC office, or send an email to boshu-1@kira-kira.jp by Thursday, April 7.

Free Legal Advice and Administrative
Procedure Support for Foreign Residents

Online Interactions with People Around the Worldby KEYS (Kashiwa Exchange Youth Society)To foreign residents. Are you in need of help?
Lawyers and administrative procedure specialists
are available for consultation. You can ask forspecialist’ s advice on issues such as family or
partner violence, divorce, visa procedures, andproblems at work.
Reservation necessary.
Date and Time: Wednesday, April 27,
1:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m.
Place: Palette Kashiwa, Room A
Reservation: the KCC office

Date and Time: Sundays, April 10, M ay 8, and June 12,
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Place: Palette Kashiwa or online (ZOOM, etc.)
Participants: Elementary, middle and high school,
and university students living in Kashiwa orattending schools in the city.
The first 20
applicants for each day.
Content: Real-time communication with people across the worldusing online tools such as ZOOM.
Application: Sign up directly at the KCC office, or send an email
to boshu-1@kira-kira.jp from 9:00 a.m. on Friday, April 1.

Online study meeting for KIRA members“Skills Development: Hosting a ZOOM Meeting (first half)”
Date and Time: Thursday, April 21, 8:00 p.m. - 9:10 p.m.
Participation fee: Free
Number of participants: 25
Lecturer: Kumiko Yamaguchi (Interactive Training in Communication - Japan)
Application: Sign up at the KCC office, or send an email toboshu-1@ kira-kira.jp with your name and phone number.
We will send you the invitation link on the day.
Next meeting: Thursday, May26, 8:00 p.m. - 9:10 p.m.
“Skills Development: Hosting a ZOOM Meeting (second half)
Plans for this year: “Easy Japanese,” “Vocalization for Successful Presentations," "SDGs," etc.
Please be sure to include the event nam e, y our nam e and phone num ber when apply ing by em ail. The events m ay be cancelled or cha
nged depending on the CO V ID-19 infection status. Please contact the office for details.

KCC NEWS Vol.72 1st, April, 2022
2nd Cross-cultural Teatime“Indonesia -What We Saw and Felt in the Lives of About 30 Years There -“ (March 5)
Mr. Yoshihiro Nakagawara and his wife Yoko talked about their life inIndonesia for 30 years since 1986. The following summarizes their talk.
Indonesia is five times as large as Japan, consisting of 16, 000 islands.
Indonesia is a country where diversified traditional and rich cultural practices
are in harmony with modernity. The unified language called Indonesian( essential for the unification of the nation) , which is based on the Malay
language, was established and developed as a national language afterMr.and Mrs.Nakagawara
independence in 1945 after a long history. Indonesian people are so friendly
to Japan that 700, 000 people are learning Japanese. This is the largest population of Japanese
language learners in the world. I lived away from my family in Indonesia due to work. My other family
members lived in another part of Indonesia due to our chilren’s education. In the years following theAsian currency crisis in 1998, there was political and economic turmoil, new democratic movements,
attacks on Chinese and foreign companies, including political and ideological suicide bombings.
Sometimes, I felt that our lives were in danger. Each family member promised to be careful and survive
by themselves no matter what. During this period, connections with people dispatched to Indonesia
from other parts of the world became stronger. It is a pleasant memory for us.

Camden Day (March 13)

Camden Day was held to commemorate the exchange between Friendship
City Camden in Australia and Kashiwa City. In the first part, the town ofCamden was introduced, and the history of the Youth Exchange Programs
was explained. In the second part, Mr.Warren Dunk, President of CamdenInternational Friendship Association (CIFA) along with other CIFA members
who have been involved in the exchange programs for a long time,presented a video letter to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the exchange.
In the final part, Ms. Monique Dunk, who has been to Kashiwa several times, ZOOM Meeting with Ms. Monique Dunk
was invited as a guest speaker for a Q& A session in which she answered questions from the audience via
ZOOM. There were concerns about whether we would be able to continue to interact with Camden as before,
as Youth Exchange Programs have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these concerns,Camden Day, held via the new means of online communication, was a great success.

International Assistance
W ith your cooperation, we collect flawed postcards, used postage stamps, foreign coins, etc. to donate
to international support activities. This time, we sent used postage stamps to "Green Earth Defense
Fund" and flawed postcards to "Vaccines for the W orld's Children". The thank-you postcard from the"Green Earth Defense Fund," stated that from April 2020 to March 2021, they bought 153 saplings with
25,400 yen from the sales of telephone cards, and 6,645 saplings with 1,096,517 yen from the sales ofused postage stamps. In addition, they purchased 911 saplings with 150, 320 yen from the sales offlawed postcards, and 38 saplings with 6,400 yen from the sales of foreign coins.
Thank you all for your continued support.

Thinking About SDGs by KEYS (Kashiwa Exchange Youth Society)You have probably heard of the Sustainable Development
Goals(SDGs). They are specific goals adopted by the United
Nations that must be achieved by 2030 in order for theworld to be sustainable.
Last year, KEYS began learning more about SDGs. We aretrying to improve our understanding of the 17 SDGs inEnglish and Japanese through games and other activities.
We focus on what we have observed around us and what wehave learned from the news, such as the problems of
microplastics found in the sea, poverty, food crisis, equal education, and creating comfortable cities
to live in. We would like to continue learning about SDGs to maintain a green and nature-filled earth.

KCC NEWS Vol.72 1st, April, 2022

"Translators translating the Kawaraban into English

and the Tagengo Oshirase into multiple languages”

We introduce the translators and a native checker of English translation of Kawaraban ( posted on ourwebsite),and translators of Chinese, Korean and Spanish translation of Tagengo Oshirase(multilingual notices).

English Translation of Kawaraban○Yuko Saito
I am a member of the KIRA Kashiwanoha subcommittee. I became a licensed guideinterpreter in 2015 and was guiding foreigners visiting Japan. However, I lost my job due tothe corona pandemic. At that time, I was asked to translate the Kawaraban into English. The
most difficult thing about translating into English is that it is difficult to faithfully translate theoriginal author' s intentions because Japanese is an ambiguous language. When translating
into English, a Japanese dictionary is a must. The English version of Kawaraban is madepossible by the cooperation of many people, including contributors, English translators, anEnglish teacher for the final check, a designer, and proofreaders. I hope as many people aspossible will read it.
○Hiroko Sugiyama
I grew up in Kashiwa in the Showa Era, attending elementary, middle and high schools, all in
the city. I became involved in KIRA-Torrance activities when I was sent to Torrance in 1977. In those days, I wasinspired, so I studied and passed Eiken Grade 1 and the Guide Interpreter exams. Last year, I returned to Kashiwa fromIwate after 30 years and became a KIRA member. Actually, I was away from English for a long time due to the care ofmy mother and I was worried about the Kawaraban translation. However, I was thrilled with Mr. Karl Takauye’ scorrections! They made me aware of the flaws in my writing, not to mention my grammatical mistakes. I discovered
new things about what I thought I knew. I feel like I am back in school.
○Karl Takauye : English Native Checker
Aloha! I am a KIRA member and supporter for KEYS (Kashiwa Exchange Youth Society). My hometown is Honolulu,Hawaii, but I have been living in Japan with my wife Sharleen since 2002. Currently, I am a full-time English teacher at
Seibudai-Chiba Junior and Senior High School in Noda city. However, most of my time in Japan was spent teaching invarious Kashiwa city elementary schools and junior high schools, as well as Kashiwa Municipal High School. In my freetime, I enjoy photography, reading, watching movies, listening to music and traveling with my wife.

Tagengo-Oshirase (multilingual notices)○Chinese: Dong Bingyu, Yoshiki Tanigawa
My wife and I work together to translate Tagengo- Oshirase. My wife does thetranslation and I check it against the Japanese to see if there are any unnatural parts.
Translating foreign words to Japanese seems to be a bit difficult even for my wife,
who is a native Chinese speaker. It has been eight years since we started translating
Tagengo-Oshirase. While translating, I try to look up proper nouns and place nameson the Internet to see how they are translated. Often, if I still don' t understand aword, I use the alphabet to convey the Japanese pronunciation. For example, "パレット 柏" is spelled as "Palette Kashiwa". I find this is useful when you ask where to go
when you are lost, or ask Japanese people other things .
○Spanish: Kenji Yahagi
I have been working in Spanish translation for about six months now. I learned Spanish in Mexico when I was in myforties. However, as I will soon be latter-stage elderly , I feel sorry for myself that my Spanish ability has declined like arusty, leaking kettle. While being encouraged by a good friend, I am working on the translation of the notices inJapanese using many katakana characters in the hope that I can help others. I usually enjoy farming. Every day, I justwish for health and peace for people all over the world, including me.
○Isabel Murayama: Spanish Native Checker
I am a second-generation Japanese born in Peru, South America, and came to Japan 31 years ago. I have worked as
an advisor for foreigners at the International Relations Office ( currently the Collaboration Promotion Division) ofKashiwa City Hall for 28 years. I have been a freelance translator and Spanish teacher. Since September 2009, I haveworked as a translator for Kashiwa International Relations Association, and as a ntive Spanish checker since last June.
When I check Spanish translations, I realize that Spanish is a really difficult language. I am glad it is my mother tongue.
○Korean: Mie Enokizono
It has been 25 years since I came to Japan. I have been a Korean language instructor at the Kashiwa International
Relations Association since coming to Kashiwa almost 20 years ago. I find it difficult to translate Tagengo-Oshirase into
Korean, even if I have been doing it for years.
I feel that I will continue to do my best. The past three years have been filled with depressing news due to the corona
pandemic including event cancellations. I hope to be able to tell you happy and cheerful news from now on.

KCC NEWS Vol.72 1st, April, 2022

Japanese Shonan Classes (New Term 4/7 -)Online Classes
Thu

10:00 a.m.- 11:30 a.m.

Japanese Intermediate and up

Sun

10:00 a.m.- 11:30 a.m.

Beginner I, Intermediate I (2 classes)

In Person Classes (Shonan Community Center)Thu

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Intermediate I

Sun

10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Beginner I

Japanese Kashiwa Classes（New Term 4/5 -）Online Classes
Tue

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Elementary Japanese I (Unit 23 -)Wed

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Japanese Conversation for Beginners 2 B

Wed

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Elementary Japanese I (Unit 19 -)Thu

10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Beginning Conversation I (Beginner, Beginning 1)

Thu

1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

Beginner Conversation 2 A

Fri

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.

Elementary Japanese Ⅱ (Unit 44 -)Sat

9:30 a.m. - 11:20 a.m.

Intermediate Conversation

In-person Classes （Pallette Kashiwa 4/9 -）Sun

10:00 a.m .- 11:30 a.m.

Elementary Japanese I（Unit 4 -）Consultation for Foreign Residents

Kashiwa information Delivery Service

Monday: Spanish
Tuesday: Korean (only the 2nd and 4th Tuesday)
Wednesday: Chinese
Thursday: English
Friday: Chinese※ 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. everyday
Consultation Counter for Foreign Residents ( MainCity Hall 3F)
TEL: 04 - 7168 - 1033 No reservation required.

Sign up to receive email announcements fromthe city, such as information about earthquakes,
fires, crime, and infectious disease
outbreaks in the language of yourchoice. Send a blank email to thisaddress to register.
Also, please read Kashiwa CityMagazine. It contains information
about COVID-19 vaccination.

Information about
COVID-19 for Foreign Residents

Available in multiple languages

Questions?
Please contact the office ofKashiwa Cross-cultural Center (KCC)

Tel: 04-7157-0281
Fax: 04-7165-7321
Hours: 8:30 - 17:15
Closed on Sundays and national holidays

KCC Newsletter Edited and Published by: Kashiwa Cross-cultural Center designated administrator Specified non-profit organization,Kashiwa International Relations Association General Affairs Committee Public Relations Division