2021/5/8(土) IN-PERSON

Hi everyone!

Here are the minutes of the in-person meeting at Oyama Community Center held on May 8.

For the opening presidential remarks, reflecting the impressions about the Zoom meeting that we made a new start, he pointed out the differences between online and in-person meetings, saying both systems have good and bad points.

SM K. Narisawa and SM Noro served as the Coordinator and the Lecturer respectively.

Lecture

“Japan now has a “loneliness minister”, but how will solitude be measured? “

After the attendees read aloud the article by turns keeping in mind that what are the key words, phrases or key sentences for each sentence. Afterwards, the attendees took turns reading the article aloud, keeping in mind the key words and phrases for each sentence. And then there were discussions about them between the Lecturer and each attendee. Regarding a sentence including stating that “It is important that the expression of …. and preventive measures are pushed forward together.” The Coordinator pointed out the grammatical question about whether or not the sentence should have the subjunctive.

Here are explanations from the internet.

The subjunctive is used to express intention or proposal about the future. It requires use of the verb in its basic form rather than its normal tense form.

We don’t use the subjunctive very much in contemporary English unless we wish to sound very formal. With verbs like suggest, recommend, insist and adjectives like important, essential, imperative, crucial, vital, we often use should + infinitive instead of the subjunctive or we can use the normal tense form. The reporting verbs and adjectives above are normally followed by a that-clause in which that itself is often omitted. In your example, Olly, ‘It’s important that the lesson be funny’ sounds too formal. We would normally say: ‘It’s important that the lesson should be funny.’

In all of these examples below with should, you can substitute the subjunctive if you want to make it sound more formal or the present simple tense if you want it to be less formal: . It is essential (that) you should be given your medication by a properly qualified nurse. (Or: be given, or are given.)

. For the future well-being of the company, it is imperative (that) he should resign now. (Or: resign, or resigns.)

. It is desirable (that) he should be retained in custody, rather than released on bail. (Or: be retained, or is retained.)

. It is vital (that) he should receive some treatment (or receive, or receives) whether he be (or is) innocent or guilty of this particular crime.

Table Topics Speech

“Color affects the way people feel” (SM. Yo. Narisawa)

The speaker raised the viewpoint of how color affects appetite, saying that generally warm colors stimulate the appetite. She also said that cold colors that have soothing effects are used in schools for educational effect. Also she said that red has a strong effect on people despite the fact that the color red used in bullfighting has no particular meaning for boosting fighting power. SM Yu. Narisawa raised a question about whether or not black and white are cool colors. No one had any answers. SM Yamazaki pointed out that the colors of red and blue are used for indicating the difference in policies between the Republicans and Democrats in the US; they are used to describe states which lean republican or democratic.

“Translation technology will replace the need to learn a language. “ (SM Yu. Narisawa)

Self-proclaiming that the speaker is lazy, he said that he really hopes that anybody will be able to enjoy conversations with foreigners. SM Yamazaki raised a viewpoint that being able to have conversations with a language other than a popular language such as English would be enjoyable with the help of AI for translations.

“Your favorite holiday” (SM Noro)

For the speaker, the topic of the speech title appears to fit the person. He listed some of enjoyable activities, saying that he sometimes has experiences of tasting cool Japanese tea at his friend’s house in Shizuoka, and he cooks spicy curry just for serving his family for lunch. What’s more, he also enjoys reading English books. Currently, he’s is reading Kazuo Ishiguro’s work featuring about how society can be influenced by artificial intelligence, he said.

“How to save money.” (SM Kaneko)

The speaker wisely evaded speaking about the speech title’s issues, jokingly he pointing out his full name in kanji. His name consists of the family name using “money” and the first name “protection”. His speech naturally drew a lot of laugher. The Coordinator highly praised his sense of humor, saying that it is one of skillful strategies to maintain the flow of conversations. The attendees raised some useful words in connection with saving money such as stingy, penny pincher and frugal.

“Social circles and friends are the most important factors for happiness. “ (SM Koizumi)

The speaker strongly supported the statement, saying that he is very sociable and the core meaning of the statement fits his way of life.

“Being vegetarian is healthier than eating meat.” (SM Yamazaki)

For the speaker who stays away from meat but eats fish, meaning that he is a pescatarian, his speech overly lost track of the meaning of the speech tile with no reasons. He emphasized an aspect of being vegetarian, saying that avoiding meat is rising based on the globally growing awareness of environmental impact due to meat eating.

Prepared Speech

“Spring” (SM Koizumi)

The speaker talked about seasonal things in spring such as bamboo, greens and flowers with colorful printed materials. In his speech, he emphasized how nature has a healing power in spring in particular with his words of “colorful treasures”, saying nature gives him a lot power to live. He also indicated the wonder of bamboo shoots growing very fast. Every spring he visits his farm in Chiba Prefecture to dig them out and boil some of them by themselves, he said. The Coordinator praised his speech, describing it as literary with detailed expressions about greens and flowers.

“Japanese habits” (SM Noro)

The speaker said that he finds it interesting to learn how foreigners feel about aspects of Japanese culture especially through Youtubers. The internet programs explained how their perceptions about Japanese culture depend on how they have been living in Japan.

Here are some of them he picked up the feelings they have about Japanese behaviors.

. Their mouth start to water when they hear the word “ume”.

. They try to park their cars backwards in the parking space.

. They order beer for the first time at an izakaya.

. They feel guilty when they take a bath without a shower.

. They wave their hands when they want to say no.

SM Yo. Narizawa responded with connection with Youtube, she mainly accesses English education programs; some of them focus on lingua franca issues.

“They hide inconvenient information.” (SM Yu. Narisawa)

The speaker raised some global issues that anyone from any country might be affected by a country that has ambitious hegemonism. He pointed out the news reporting that debris could fall on an innocent country without being informed by the country responsible for the debris. He said that the problem is that the information comes from the US not from the country. He said he fears these typical behaviors of hiding anything they find inconvenient for them, even pandemic information.

“I wish I could buy a new house !” (SM Yo. Narisawa)

The speaker complained about her family’s house which they bought 30 years ago. Soon after her family began to live, six months after they moved in, they found it was heavily damaged by a typhoon, starting with some window frames soaked and in no time with some pillars gotten wet, she said. She said that their claims against the construction company ended in vain. With all the plans of new houses she has seen advertised, she hopes to buy a new house.

“Food preferences” (SM Yamazaki)

The speaker talked about his strong food preferences of avoiding meat just for the bad taste of meat that are passed on to his elder brother as well as on him. However, he said interestingly his elder sisters eat meat. In connection with the issue, he raised the issue that is brought by the internet, stating that intellectual abilities are passed on from mothers whereas children inherit emotional factors from their fathers, which seems to be contrary to his case. In response to a question, SM Kaneko said that he does not eat meat so much. However, he likes eating meat-processed foods such as ham.

Next meeting: 5/17 ZOOM 7:30-9.00 pm

5/22 IN-PERSON at Oyama Community Center 9:30-11:59 am

Coordinator: SM Noro, Lecturer: SM K. Narisawa

Reported by YAMAZAKI