KKC News vol.67 Nov 2021

KASHIWA CROSS-CULTURAL CENTER

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

KCC
NEWSLETTERNOVEMBER, 2021

Refreshing Autumn Walking TourOn the third walking tour, we’ll visit historic shrines and temples in theKashiwatanaka area. Let’s enjoy a half-day trip to explore a local history
while interacting with each other.
Date: November 14 (Sun)*To be postponed in case of rain; November 21 (Sun)Meeting: 13:00 at Kashiwanoha Campus Station East Exit
Breakup: 16:00 at Kashiwanoha Campus Station West exit
Walking course: Kashiwanoha Campus Station>>Kichijoin temple>>Himemiya
shrine>>Tenman shrine>>Ioji temple
Capacity: about 20
Fee: freeApplication: Directly to KCC office counter by November 10 (Wed) or byemail; boshu-2@kira-kira.jp
What to bring: drinks and towels
Desirable outfit: comfortable clothes and shoes

Himemiya shrine

Tenman srine

Kashiwa Citizen Activity Festa
Date: November 23 (holiday)
Place: Double Deck at Kashiwa Station East Exit, Wood Deck, Howdy Mall, Palette Kashiwa
Many volunteer groups in the city will participate. At Palette Kashiwa, we will introduce international
exchange activities in Kashiwa city and Foodbank KCC. In addition to KCC, there are organizations in thecity that collect food donations to provide them to people in need. We accept food donations for theorganizations from 10:00 to 16:00. Please come to see.

Cross-cultural Tea Time: The Hapsburg Empire and the fate of ethnic minorities
The main theme of this speech is about the Hapsburg Empire that had lasted
until World War 1 since being elected Holy Roman Emperor in the Middle
Ages, and the different ways of life taken by two ethnic minorities under thecontrol of the empire,
and also food and culture related to the empire.
Date and time: November 27 (Sat), 13:00-14:30
Place; Palette Kashiwa ABC
Lecturer: Mr.Toshimitsu Ishigure, Former Ambassador Extraordinary andNational Flag of the
Plenipotentiary of Slovenia
Hapsburg Empire
Capacity: 39in 15th century
Fee: 300 yen
Application: directly to KCC office counterby November 25 (Thurs) orby email; boshu-1@kira-kira.jp

The 6th food Bank KCC for Foreign Residents
Date and time: November 28 (Sun), 12:30-14:30
Place: Palette A
Food: Canned food, dried noodles, bottled water and sweets are
distributed free of charge.
* Distribution will end as soon as we run out of stock. If you want,please come early.
* Please bring an eco-bag.

Inquiries: KCC office, 04-7157-0281

Mr. Toshimitsu
Ishigure

Announcement from other organization:“Online Study Session” for KIRA members

Date and Time: November 18 (Thurs), 20:00-21:00
Contents: Introduction and experience of online interaction withdomestic/overseas
Lecturer: Kumiko Yamaguchi (Interactive Training inCommunication-Japan)
Fee: free
Capacity: 25
Apply at KCC office or send your name and phone
number to boshu-1@kira-kira.jp. We will provide
you with necessary class information.

<Request>
Please make sure to write the name of an event, your name and phone number when applying by emails.

KCC Questionnaires for Students in Language Classes 2020
In KCC, 18 language classes in total are being held. (7 English, 6 Korean, 2Chinese, 3 Spanish classes)
At the end of November, 2021, we did questionnaires to their students.
Following is the results. The results include KIRA classes (3 English classes, 2Korean classes and 2 Chinese classes) in Kashiwanoha.

100①Number of Students
The number of students are the following order: English,Korean, Spanish, Chinese.
English is the most popular because of its huge popularity ofspeakers in the world. Regarding Korean classes, the number
became small compared to when we had the Korean boom. Lastyear the courses started from the second semester due to thepandemic. The number of the students decreased from 281 to236, which means as much as 45 people gave up taking thecourses.

7550250English

KoreanChineseSpanish②Purpose of Learning

VolunteerActivities
Job 5%
8%

International Exchanges
17%
Travel37%

Travels and self-enlightenment make up 70 percent while 25
percent of the purpose is international interaction andvolunteer activities, and 5 percent was for jobs. There are many
retired people seeking some fun in their life after finishingparenting. The small number of young people is attributed tothe time schedule of the course. They can’t take classes on
weekdays because of their work.

Self-enlightenment
33%③Gender Ratio

100755027%

57%

35%

90%

73%

25010%

65%

43%
EnglishChineseKorean

8%3% 2% 40s
6%■Female ■Male④Ratio
by AgeUnknown 20s 30s

Spanish50s
16%

Over70s
33%

60s
32%

73 percent of all the courses are women, and 27 percent aremen, which means women are more interested in our courses
than men do.
Women are overwhelmingly the majority, especially in Koreanclasses. Korean dramas and celebrities are highly popular inJapan. In addition, the country is relatively easy to access, sothey want to learn Korean to go shopping in Korea.

70 percent of the students are in their 60s or above and below
50s are 27 percent. Elderlies are the majority since they havemore leisure time. Only 3 percent are in their 20s, which isextremely few. The reasons are that it’s difficult for them tojoin the day time and week day classes since they have schools
and work.

The History of Foreign Language Lessons
Our foreign language lessons trace back to 2004, when Japanese volunteers started teaching “English
Lessons for Beginners''. Those easy and useful classes such as “Travel English” and “English for HostFamilies” were quite popular especially among housewives. We added English, Spanish, Chinese andKorean classes by native speakers as we acquire more and more demand from students. At first, eachlanguage course had one class, however, with the increase in number of students, we started offeringclasses according to certain levels. Actually, Korean classes were very popular when there was a Koreanboom. In 2009, English classes and Korean classes opened in Kashiwa-no-ha as well. Number ofsemesters were changed from three to two in 2014, and the number of classes became about forty.
While classes during weekdays are popular among those who retired from their job and housewives, theones on Saturdays have more workers and students.
Answering those voices from students saying “We want somewhere to show my improvements.”, the first
English speech contest was held in 2009 whose participants were not only the ones taking our lessons,but also other citizens and high school students. To make it as exciting as possible, awards such as theMayer Award. Instructors from Torrance and tutors of the classes joined as judges. Since then, thecontest has been held every year, and the number of participants have been increasing with the citizens
and those who went to Torrance as delegates. It is one of the casual international events in this city
because families, friends, and teachers of participants come to cheer them up.

Let’s Talk in English“Let’s Talk in English” has been held since January 11th, 2008,
with the demands from citizens that they want opportunities
to casually talk with foreign citizens. It started as “Let’s talkwith Dave” held by Dave Brown, who was a tutor of English
classes. 4 people joined the first event. At first, the tutor wasa volunteer. In return, each participant paid 100 yen to get thetutor a present. Gradually, the number of students and tutors
increased. Then, in 2011, the name of the event was changed to“Let’s Talk in English”. At the same time, tutors came to get
paid. Having become even easier to participate in ever since
it’s held in Palette Kashiwa, we sometimes have more than tenattendees. The current tutor Steve is the tenth tutor, and thetutors are always native speakers. There are a variety of topics
of conversation such as seasonal events and general things.
Since it’s held on Saturdays, many young people, sometimes
even with their children, join it.
We would like everyone to feel free to participate even if yourEnglish is not fluent because this is not a lesson.
Every 3rd Saturday 12:00pm-1:00pm@Palette Kashiwa. No
reservation and fee required. (No event in August andDecember)

Learn about Japanese Culture Online
Since it’s difficult to hold events in person in this pandemic situation,
we are introducing Japanese culture through online platforms such as
Youtube. This May, our staff learned three kinds of calligraphy, andposted about it. Also, the video “Flower Arrangement” we uploaded last
fall was made with English subtitles, which is our new attempt.
In October, a lecture on how to use Furoshiki (a wrapping cloth) by aGeneral Foundational Juridical Person “Furoshiki Study Club” wasbroadcasted online at“Kashiwa de International Exchange Festa 2021”. We will upload this on
Youtube as well. We are looking forward to having this kind of eventwith everyone. In the meantime, we will try to make the best use ofonline content so that everyone can know more about Japaneseculture.

Introducing many ways to use furoshiki

NOVEMBER EventsJapanese Classes
Online Classes
Thurs 10:00 - 11:30
Japanese Intermediate and up

Information about COVID-19 forforeign residents
Available in multiple languages

Sun 10:00 - 11:30
Beginning I, Intermediate I (2 classes)
In Person Classes
Thurs 10:00 - 12:00
Intermediate I at Shonan Community Center

Online Japanese Kashiwa Classes
Tue 10:00 - 11:30
Japanese for all Beginning II (1st of the 28lessons)Tue 19:00 - 20:30
Japanese for all Beginning I (1st of the 14lessons)Wed 10:00 - 11:30
Japanese intermediate and up
Wed 19:00 - 20:30
Japanese for all Beginning I (1st of the 8lessons)Thurs 10:00 - 11:30
Beginning Conversation I (Beginner, Beginning1)
Thurs 13:00 - 14:30
Beginning Conversation 2 (Beginning 2)
Fri 19:00 - 20:30
Japanese for all Beginning II (1st of the 36lessons)
Sat 9:30 - 11:20
Intermediate Conversation

Free legal advice and administrative
procedure support for foreign residents
Lawyers and administrative procedurespecialists will be available to help foreign
residents with legal questions anddocuments. Any questions or problems are
all right, such as visa, domestic violence,divorce, or trouble at the workplace. Please
register beforehand.
Date and Time: Nov 24 (WED) 13:00 - 17:00
Place: Palette Kashiwa
Reservation: KCC (Kashiwa Cross-culturalCenter) OfficeConsultation for Foreign Residents
Monday: Spanish
Tuesday: Koren (Only the 2nd and the 4thTuesday)
Wednesday: Chinese
Thursday: English
Friday: Chinese※1pm-5pm everyday
Consultation Counter for Foreign Residents(Main city hall 3F)
TEL: 04-7168-1033
No reservation neededKashiwa information delivery service
Sign up to receive email announcements from thecity, such as information about earthquakes,
fires, crime, and infectious disease outbreaks in
the language of your choice. Send a blank email
to this address to register.

Also, please read Kashiwa
City Magazine. It contains
information about COVID19 vaccination.

Questions? Please contact the office of Kashiwa 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