Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
If you’re planning to send winter holiday greetings this year, how about sending your friends and family back home a nengajō, a Japanese new year’s card? Nengajō can be purchased anywhere from conbini to department stores, and you can even make your own. If you are planning to send them via international airmail, the Japan Post has some guidelines to ensure that your greetings get to their destination in a timely manner.
The carbon-offset nengajô from Japan Post.
Read on for detailed instructions on writing and addressing the perfect nengajō.
Thanks to Super Awesome Happy Fun Time with Sean and Alice for the tip-off!
Japan is famous for its cute mascots, which represent everything from blood banks to local attractions. The NTT Town Page (タウンページ協賛) is currently running a contest in which you can vote for your favorite town mascot in the Yuru Character Grand Prix 2011.
Wakatama-kun from the Yuru Character Grand Prix 2011 website.
Ishikawa has six entries:
Kappuchi from Komatsu (Entry #41)
Mon-chan from Monzen (Entry #45)
Wakutama-kun from Wakura Onsen (Entry #66)
Basshon, representing Noto Heirloom Vegetables (Entry #132)
Konmaru-kun from Nanao (Entry #156)
Nyantarou from Kahoku (Entry #250)
Voting is available until 26 November. If you click the big orange button on your preferred mascot’s page, it will open your email client and make that mascot’s number the subject line. Or, email req@yurugp.jp with the number of your favorite mascot as the subject line (e.g. 66). You can vote once a day.
Leah Zoller is a former CIR (2009-11) and now works for The Art of Japan: Kanazawa/Discover Kanazawa. She voted for Wakutama-kun.
The Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League seems to be increasing its efforts to court foreign tourists via the creation of multilingual tourism websites: Hot-Ishikawa started producing an English-language quarterly tourism e-newsletter (see prior link), through which I found Gourmet Ishikawa, a new multilingual resource for dining in Ishikawa. The site may be viewed in Japanese, English, Korean, or Chinese (traditional or simplified) and has great information on not just restaurants but also Japanese dining etiquette and Ishikawan food culture.
From the June 2011 CLAIR newsletter:
The JET Programme announces the cancellation of the 2012-2013 JET Calendar and JET Diary. We would like to thank current and past participants for the many photos submitted throughout the years. (link)
I’m quite sad to see that both of these items have been cut. My JET planner has saved me on the Tokyo subway more than once, and the crucial information it contained, which included medical terminology, road signs, food labels, and laundry tag information, all within a compact, easy-to-use format, will be sorely missed.
Leah Zoller is a second-year CIR in Anamizu and is the outgoing editor of this blog.
From the Japan Post English site:
Suspension of Acceptance of International Postal Items to Canada
June 16, 2011
Japan Post Service is temporarily suspending acceptance of international postal items to Canada due to a postal strike. This suspension is effective from the date in the table below.
Destination: Canada
Starting date of suspension: June 17, 2011For postal items already accepted and on the way to Canada, Japan Post Service will return them to the sender. The postage will be refunded to the sender, if desired.
Thank you for your understanding.
Nothing says summer to me like a good mystery or horror film, and what better to kick off summer than one set in Ishikawa?
From the official Toho website.
Zero Focus, or 『ゼロの焦点』, is based on Matsumoto Seichô’s novel of the same name. Directed by Inudô Isshin, the 2009 film is a remake of the 1961 version. In the film, newlywed Uhara Teiko’s husband, a native of Ishikawa, travels to Kanazawa on a business trip and never returns. Teiko then travels to Ishikawa and finds herself caught up in a web of political intrigue.
Ishikawa has some fantastic art exhibitions ending local: local artists at the Ishikawa Nanao Museum, Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the Shiinoki Cultural Complex, and Ch’ing Dynasty glass at the Notojima Glass Art Museum. Catch these three exhibitions before they end on June 26!
Jalan.net is, by far, my favorite place to book hotels. The site has a lot of great deals and has very detailed information on the hotels: closest train station, amenities, services, photographs, maps, and what meals are included. Plus, you can search by what kind of accommodations you want: ryokan, business hotel, single, double, Japanese-style room, and so on. Until recently, Jalan was Japanese-only, but they have opened an English version of the website.
The English site features all the details of the Japanese one, and the interface is the mostly the same but has the international traveler’s’ needs in mind.
With the new JETs arriving in two months, now is the time to upload your favorite lesson plans, proposals, and notes to Entrepreneurial Teacher. Give your successor and the rest of the Ishikawa JETs the benefit of your knowledge and experience in a format they can access before they even get to Ishikawa!
For example, what recipes went over well at English Club or your international cooking lesson? What would you do differently at your next eikaiwa? What are the best games for elementary first graders? What tips do you have for writing an event proposal?
The content of ET is only as good as we make it. Get a head start on your departure preparation or your orientation material collection today!
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If you’re on the hunt for a new local ice cream, check out Noto “Mottainai” Gelato (能登のもったいないジェラート). The Japanese phrase もったいない means a variety of things depending on context, but in this case, it means “What a waste!” Why name an ice cream this? Anamizu’s Noto Wine, which prides itself on creating little waste and using most parts of the grape to make wine, has teamed up with Malga Gelato to create a gelato that uses the skin of wine grapes so as not to waste them.
Image from Malga Gelato
According to the Kanazawa Keitai Shimbun, the gelato was created during a campaign to reduce material waste during the wine-making process. The result is a rich, creamy vanilla gelato with hint of red wine and a jam-like paste of Yama Sauvignon grape peels mixed in. I love trying unusual ice cream flavors, and I really enjoyed this. It’d be great served as a classy dessert after a homemade Italian meal. According to the article linked above, 6000 units have been sold as of 15 April.
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