Talking about Shiga Prefecture, Japan
I made an English page for Hino-cho.
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Hino-cho%2C_Shiga
It is not yet complete, but it’s a good start. I will add more info to it, especially directions to get to various sights and maps.
If you want to write anything about Hino, go ahead and send me the text in English. I will correct/edit it and add it to the Web page if suitable. Photos are also welcome.
On Feb. 25, 2007, a Japanese speech contest for foreigners in Shiga was held at the Viva City Hall in Minami-Hikone. Thirteeen non-Japanese from eight countries gave 6-min. speeches in Japanese to a full-house audience.
One of the contestants was Jamie Thompson who is an ALT on the JET Program in Konan, Shiga. She happens to be one of the singers who sang my English version of Biwako Shuko no Uta (Lake Biwa Rowing Song). The title of her speech was “Biwako Shuko no Uta no Boken” 琵琶湖周航の歌の冒険 which can be translated as “Biwako Shuko no Uta Adventures.”
She started off by singing the first line of the song in Japanese (Ware wa umi no ko, sasuraino). Then talked about how she joined the local choir in Shiga and learned about the song and later meeting me online and agreeing to sing my English version of the song. She talked about when we announced the song to the public in June 2006 in Imazu, and how she and her sister Megan got on the NHK Nodo Jiman TV show (broadcast nationally) last Nov. (Details here. )
It was certainly one adventure after another. And now she can add one more adventure to the list because she WON this speech contest. Wow, I was dumbfounded.
Congratulations to Jamie. She received many prizes from sponsors like a case of Kirin beer, 5 boxes of curry mix, cruise tickets to Chikubushima, some money, a certificate, a plaque, and other stuff.
The speech contest was covered by the Feb. 26 morning edition of the Mainichi Shimbun and Kyoto Shimbun newspapers.
http://photoguide.jp/pix/displayimage.php?album=587&pid=17367
http://photoguide.jp/pix/displayimage.php?album=587&pid=17368
http://photoguide.jp/pix/displayimage.php?album=587&pid=17366
To held on Feb. 25, 2007 at Hikone Viva City Hall, this is a Japanese speech contest by non-Japanese in Shiga. One of the contestants is Jamie Thompson, a JET ALT in Konan-shi. She is one of the twin sisters who sang my English version of 琵琶湖周航の歌 (Lake Biwa Rowing Song).
http://photoguide.jp/txt/Biwako_Shuko_no_Uta
Her speech will be about the song. I will be attending this event, and there will also be a 交流会 afterward. So if you have time that afternoon, please come and we can have an オフ会 and I’ll introduce you to Jamie. Let me know if you can come so we can meet somewhere.
The speech contest is organized by the びわこ日本語ネットワーク。
http://www.biwa.ne.jp/~bnn/
In January, I visited Okaya, Nagano and met with a few members of the int’l exchange association and introduced this English song. They were very interested because the song was written by Oguchi Taro 小口太郎 who was from Okaya. He’s famous in Okaya and there’s a statue of him in the city, at Lake Suwa and inside Okaya City Hall.
http://photoguide.jp/pix/thumbnails.php?album=182
Oguchi was a student at Kyoto University when he wrote the song during a rowing trip on Lake Biwa in 1917.
One of the people I met in Okaya knew a friend who lived in the same neighborhood as Oguchi Taro. So the next day, they took me to see his grave and his home in the Minato area where they had a big mudflow last year (but Oguchi’s neighborhood was unaffected). I prayed at his grave (still lots of snow, as you can see in the pictures). It’s a sad story about Oguchi because he committed suicide and died at age 26 in 1924. He was depressed over being drafted into the army and also over a girl. He was a brilliant person with a promising career in science and technology.
Okaya is actually where I first heard the song in 2004 when I visited Okaya for the first time during the Onbashira Matsuri. I found the song monument and his statue at Lake Suwa by coincidence. Very surprised to see the word “Biwako” at Lake Suwa.
On March 4, the Okaya int’l exchange association will hold an event and I plan to hold a small photo exhibition to introduce the English song.
http://www.oiea.jp/jpn/aboutus/other/15thanniversary.htm
http://www.oiea.jp/jpn/aboutus/lectures/cwnichol.htm
