Tokyo Global Society

Lets get together at the historical Asakusa and see both the new and old Japan.
Whether it be your first time or a returner, you will meet new people both Japanese and Foreign, while seeing Asakusa through a different perspective.

◆Date: May ３０th at Asakusa
◆Time: 11:00-15:00
◆Meeting up: 11am　@ Asakusa Station Exit4
◆Cost: The cost for this event is just lunch which we will decide as a group where to eat afterwords!

We have prepared a game involving unique pictures of Asakusa’s spots which you will have to take pictures of while sightseeing and exploring the area.
◆Game:
You will have to find the same place and take the same pictures by cooperating with your group members; each group has 3 pelople.
・picture examples

When we finish taking pictures, we all will have lunch together and talk with each other group members.

If you are interested, contact us!
Email: tgs-asakusa@tokyoglobalsociety.com

Yamato

Design your own future
TokyoGlobalSociety

The “Inaka” Project 5/4-5/5.2010

◆Part 0. Beginning
Two weeks ago, Shingo and Yamato asked me “what is one thing that you would like to do the most in Japan?” I have always enjoyed the nature and the simple lifestyle. However, since coming to Tokyo, I have not get any chance to stay in the countryside and meet local people who live there. Therefore, I answered them, “I would love to visit local farmers, and stay with them for awhile to see how their life is”. Then, with the phrase “Just make it happen!” Shingo and Yamato decided to make my dreams come true. Thanks to B-TGS’s dedication of time and planning, that the “Inaka” Project is taking place on the golden week!!

I was told it is going to be an overnight trip to the countryside. All the other details are kept confidential among the B-TGS members in order to make the project a surprise!! Nagisa, Shingo, and Yamato come to pick me up and we are so excited about our journey to the countryside. Though three of their hometowns in Japan are considered more countryside, they have not been to countryside for awhile. Thus, we are all looking forward to be recharged by the refreshing air, the blue sea, and the green mountains.

◆Part 1. Let’s be silly.

Thanks to three of the B-TGS members driving for more than 2 hours and bringing me to Kyonan in Chiba prefecture. We had picnic next to the beautiful paddy field. After lunch, Yamato came with a mysterious smile and said that in order to experience living in the countryside, I should be a scarecrow to protect the crops. So, here I was as a scarecrow standing in the farm. All I can say is that I truly respect the hard work a scarecrow does, standing on the farm alone with the same pose.

After the scarecrow experience, Yamato asked me if I know what holiday is May 5th in Japan. On “Kodomo no hi” (Children’s Day), each family will hang koinobori (fish flags) outside of their roof. In order to celebrate Kodomo no hi, we made huge koinobori out of sleeping bags. Each of us presented our koinobori and gave it a name.

◆Part 2. Meeting the Locals

After experiencing being a scarecrow, making the koinobori, my next task is to find a place for us to stay. Yamato told me, we did not book any hotels, so we could find a local farmer who is willing to have four of us for an overnight stay, or we would have to sleep in the koinobori next to the paddy fields…

We decided to try our luck by carrying our luggage and walked around the area. I was a bit worried about asking people who I do not know such a big favor, but my 3 sweet B-TGS colleagues gave me a lot of courage.

The first house we approached was with a very friendly grandmom. However, there were 6 family members in her house so there was no more room available for us. I was very nervous to use my broken Japanese to ask for a place for us to stay, but B-TGS was my best teammate and kept cueing me how to express my request in respect form while we search for the next house.

Then, we walked along the patty fields for another 10 minutes, we saw two ladies working in a flower field. I explained our project and how my sweet TGS friends were trying to make my dream coming true. The lady told us she understand our good intension and asked us to wait a bit because she asked her husband to see if we can stay overnight.

While we are waiting for her husband, otousan (the father), I was practicing my lines again and again.
「私は、日本の田舎での生活を経験したいんです。私達を一晩泊めてもらえませんか？お願いします」

The friendly otousan said yes and invited us to have dinner with them. All of us cannot forget this cheerful moment and all feel how lovely Japan is.

otousan asked our name, major, and our future career plan. When it was my turn, I introduced my family name, Wang, ¨ooji no oo”, and otousan called me “Wang chan” right away. “Chan” in Japanese usually is used between good and close friends; hence, when otousan called Wang chan, we all laughed.

Then, otousan took out four “meisi” which was unlike traditional business card, but was printed with a beautiful paragraph that has been otousan’s motto: 「今日の出逢い」にありがとう『すべてのよきことが、なだれのごとくおきますように』 ( I am thankful for meeting you today. It is truly a pleasure.…) otousan wrote our name on each card and asked us to remember this beautiful moment.

Okaasan came out from kitchen with a big bucket of rice. She had been preparing so much food while we were chatting with otousan. Every dish was made from the veggies they grow in the farm.

Otousan took out the best “nihonshu” (Japanese wine) for us and told us so many jokes and brain storming quizzes.

After dinner, we went to a walk with otousan. The night in the countryside is not boring at all; the starry sky was accompanied with the sound of frogs and insects.

Meanwhile, okaasan was working in the kitchen making sponge cake and butter cake to sell in the farmer’s market tomorrow. okaasan is very talented on cooking that she has been on TV 3 times already to introduce how she make flower sushi rolls, and how to use rice flour to make sponge cake.

Nagisa and I really wanted to help okaasan to make hanasushi, so we asked okaasan when she usually wakes up to prepare for the food she would sell in farmer’s market. It is 5 in the morning that okaasan and otousan wake up, so we would like to get up as the same time as they do. Before going to bed, Nagisa and I talked about how amazing it is to meet such a nice family with hospitality and love.

The next morning, we joined the walk with otousan and Gonta, his pet dog.

Okaasan had already started working in the kitchen. She taught us how to make hanasushi: from the Anpanman (Red Bean Bread Man), the rose, the rabbit, the pear, the calla lilly, to the Camellia. It was truly an art piece!

otousan came to help packing and putting on the price tags. Then, Nagisa and i took over the sushi rolling bamboo and making hanasushi for our breakfast. It was the best cooking lesson ever!!

(Yamato looks sleepy.)

After the big breakfast, we asked otousan how he managed to work during the harvest season. We were thinking the inaka project could keep going by bringing TGS members who would like to experience Japanese countryside life to help otousan working in the farm during the harvest season.
Okaasan was worried about that nobody would like to work so hard with the heat in summer. We will work on this project and let not only international students, but also Japanese students know how beautiful Japan is and how lovely Japanese people are.
————————-added by Yamato—————————————————-
If you are interested in Inaka-life and want to participate in this project,
Please contact us: join@tokyoglobalsociety.com
—————————————————————————————————–

Around 9:00, we had to say goodbye to obaasan, otoudan, and okaasan. Otousan came with a box of oranges and said that he just went picking the fresh oranges from the field this morning.

(Shingo with the oranges)

Okaasan gave us the hanasushi lunch boxes and rice balls and asked us to enjoy them on the way back to Tokyo. They drove us back to the farmer’s market, where we parked our car. Otousan asked us to wait a seconds, and he ran to the market. He came back with a bouquet of beautiful flowers.

None of us want to say goodbye. The touching feelings of how simple and warm human relationship could be will stay in our hearts forever and the story will be continued.

Frances Wang

———————————————————————————
On driving back to Tokyo, Frances said “I have not been to Karaoke”.
Then I asked her “You wanna go to Karaoke, right?”.
She answered “Umm,,I want”
So, all we have to say is “Just make it happen”, and then we went to Karaoke exhausted with the trip.lol

In B-TGS, if you say you want to do something, we just make it happen.

Yamato

Design your own future
TokyoGlobalSociety

第二回B-TGSは台湾からの留学生Frances Wangちゃんの「田舎へ行きたい！」という言葉から始まりました。彼女は有名人が田舎へいきなり行って泊まる主旨の日本のテレビ番組「田舎に泊まろう」を見て感化されたようです。

そこでメンバーであるInoue-san,Yamato,Shingoと私Nagisaは、いかにFrancesを喜ばせるか、驚かせるか、田舎じゃなきゃ体験できないことをできるかについて、何度もミーティングを重ねました。さらに今回の日程はＧＷの最終日ということで、混雑に巻き込まれないような場所を地図で探しました。

結局最終的に決まったことは
１、行き先は千葉県安房郡
２、世界初？案山子（かかし）をやらせてもらう。つまり「かかす」
３、寝袋にペイントをしてこいのぼりを作る（子供の日だし）
４、夜は民家へ、アポなし交渉→宿泊。失敗したら寝袋で野宿。

一応私も女の子なので、４については本当どうなるか恐かったです。野宿の場合、朝起きたらムカデが顔にはりついてたらどうしようとか、ヘビとかもいるんじゃないかとか、さらに村の人に「なんとか様の祟りじゃー」とか言われたらどうしようとか。民家に泊めてもらったとしても、恐い家でトラブルに巻き込まれたりするんじゃないかとか、こんな時代に見知らぬ人を泊める人はいるのだろうかと色々不安に思いました。

そんなこんなでもう当日。Shingo&NagisaはYamatoの家におじゃまして、お昼に食べるお弁当を作りました。

鮭＆明太子おにぎり、にらたま、ししゃも、ハンバーグなどFrancesは喜んでくれるだろうだろうなぁと想像しながらたくさん作りました！

その後レンタカーを借りて、Francesを迎えに行き、運転すること４時間。

千葉県安房郡に到着！澄んだ空気の中でホトトギスが鳴いていました。

汗水たらして作った美味しいお弁当を食べ、Francesにかかしについて説明した後、用意した案山子セット（麦わら帽子・甚平・長靴）を見せるとFrancesは大爆笑でした。

Francesは遠くから見ても近くから見ても、紛れもなく案山子でした。

その後、こいのぼりペイントをしました。
みんなそれぞれ自分のこいのぼりを作り、

名前も付けて、

泳がせたり、

食べられたりして大満足。

トイレのために道の駅富楽里へ移動し、Francesに今晩の宿は予約をしていないことを説明し、すべては交渉次第だと４人で確認しました。

この時Francesを含めみんな緊張していました。
私達は車を道の駅に泊め、歩いて農業をしている地元の人はいないか探しました。

民家を求めて歩きまわること１時間。。。一度は断られたりしながらも、

ついに、出会うことができました。

私達の運命の人・永井さん一家に。

永井さんの奥さんは、最初は顔が強張っていたし、「この辺にも民宿があるのよ？」と勧められたので、やっぱり無理かなと思ったけれど、「日本の田舎の暮らしそのものを体験したいんです！」というFrancesの強い思いが通じ、私達を一晩受け入れてくれました。

永井さん一家は二つの一軒家に永井さん夫婦とおばあちゃんで住んでいました。
私達が先ほど寄った道の駅富楽里へ、奥さんの手作りケーキと手作り巻き寿司とお花を出荷していました。自分達で作ったお米でケーキ・お寿司を作っています。その料理の腕前はテレビ番組に呼ばれるほどです。

お父さん（正一さん）は、いきなり訪ねてきた私達に嫌な顔を一つもせず、おいしいごちそうとたくさんのジョークを飛ばしてくれとっておきのお酒をふるまってくれました。静かに遠くから見ていたおばあちゃんも、急な客へとソラマメを取ってきてくれました。

夕飯を食べながら、正一さんはまだ若者である何も知らない私達に、人生の先輩として色々な話をしてくださいました。

「はじめて会った日を大切にしなきゃいけないんだ。20年後、30年後にその人が助けてくれるかもしれないから」

たくさんご飯を食べた後、正一さんは納屋の中を見せてくれたり、

夜の田んぼの散歩に連れて行ってくれました。

夜の田んぼにはカエルの鳴き声がこだまし、とても幻想的でした。

家に戻ると奥さんの玉江さんは明日道の駅へ出荷するケーキを作っていました。

玉江さんは料理のことから家族のことまで色々な話をしてくださいました。

次の日は５時半に起き、みんなで正一さんと愛犬ゴン太のお散歩についていきました。

家に帰ってからはFrancesと私で米粉で作ったケーキと巻き寿司の出荷のお手伝いをしました。


値段を貼ったり出荷する所までついていかせていただいて、全てが初めての体験でした。

滞在時間は数字にすると短いものでしたが、得たものは数え切れないほどたくさんあって、なによりも正一さんと玉江さんとおばあちゃんが楽しそうに話しかけてくれる姿が嬉しかったです。

Francesも帰りの車で「おかあさん（玉江さん）と料理が出来て嬉しかった。そういうことをしたかったんだ。I love 田舎！」と言ってくれて、今回の計画は大成功だと思いました。Francesが喜んでくれただけでなく、私達日本人三人にとっても、日本の良さを再認識する貴重な経験になりました。

Nagisa Orihara

Nagisa, Yamato and I hang out in the sandwitch shop called Sabway in order to talk about this event after the hanami party.
What we discussed was how we could make it funnier and more exciting, which means we thought it was boring that we just went an drank in Shinbashi. We discussed it for about two hours. Inouse-san joined us in the middle of the meeting. Then, we dicided that we take him to Izakaya with dressing him up like a business person, make him go inside alone and see what he would do without us in Izakaya.
花見が終わった後、Kiahから要望を聞き出したナギサ、大和、俺の三人は外苑前のサブウェイにいき、今後の展開について話しました。議題は専らどうやったらただ新橋の古くさい居酒屋にいって酒を飲むだけのイベントをより面白く、馬鹿っぽくできるのかということでした。途中で井上さんも戦線に加わり、いつもにも増して熱い、熱い議論が展開され、その話の馬鹿さ加減のせいかどうかは分からないのですが、俺たちの周りを避けるように他の客たちは腰をかけていました。「居酒屋でそのままバイトさせよう」だの、「上司と部下になりきってロールプレイしよう」だの、いろいろ意見を出して約２時間、最終的にはコスプレして居酒屋まで行き、着いた所でKiahだけを一人店に入らせ、十数分放置プレイするというものでした。

Afterwards, we went to Shinbashi to find Izakaya where Kiah would want to go.
その後、新橋に理想の居酒屋を探すために行き、酒を飲みかわしながら、みなでKiahがいかに驚くかどうかを想像しながら笑いあいました。帰り際、駅の前で俺の「あ〜、クラブ行きたかったなぁ」という不注意な発言のせいで、大和、ナギサと共にクラブに行かざるを得なくなったのは秘密にしておきます。

Thus, when someone want to do something with us, we always focus not on whether it can be realized, but on how it can be realized and stupider.
というように、俺たちは誰かが何かしたいと言い出した時、それが実現可能かどうかを吟味するのではなく、それをいかに実現するか、かついかに面白く、非合理的に達成にするのかということを思考基軸に据え、こうした活動をおこなっています。

Shingo Futami

”Just make it happen!”
B-TGS

This first event for BTGS began for me at the TGS Hanami party.

Yamato and Shingo asked me what I wanted to do in Japan before going back to Hawaii. I love Japanese food and the way Japanese people enjoy savory dishes after work with a cold beer. A personal favorite is “yakitori,” grilled chicken on a stick. I had always wanted to go to a small yakitori restaurant/izakaya, hidden in a small alley way and sit around with other strangers, enjoying the salty, goodness of chicken grilled over charcoal.

To make this first event something different, Yamato came up with the idea to all dress up in suits and to pretend to be salary men going out for a drink after work. Not having a suit, Yamato brought me his extra suit and we all met up at Shimbashi station at 9pm.

After we all dressed up and met at the station, Nagisa, Shingo, Yamato and I wandered down the streets of Shimbashi in search of a restaurant. After walking around for ten minutes, we came up on a funky looking izakaya, specializing in yakitori.

As we approached the entrance to enter the restaurant, Yamato and the others stopped suddenly stopped and told me to enter alone and to start without them.



This sudden change in plans shocked me and made me uncomfortable at first. But by then I realized that this restaurant was picked in advance and that the others had already come here last week and made reservations for tonight. Not being able to see the inside of the restaurant from the outside due to the drapes, I walked into to bar alone and sat down at the counter, not knowing what was really going on.

Right away the old man/chef behind the counter smoking a cigarette asked me what I wanted. Being alone, I ordered a beer and a few different types of yakitori. After sitting there in my suit with other business men and drinkers for twenty minutes, the gang finally came in and joined me.

This event was really neat because it showed me a part of Japan that I could not find alone and it gave me an experience that I will never forget. Panic and surprise turned into a laughs and conversation, and Im really glad that BTGS gave me this opportunity see a different side of Japan.

Kiah Gilbert

今回協力してくださった「鳥藤」さん。どうもありがとうございました。
JR新橋駅から徒歩５分。ちょっと裏通りに入ったところにあります。
焼き鳥だけでなく、新鮮な鳥を使った鳥わさなど、絶品料理をリーズナブルな価格で楽しめます。
焼き鳥を焼いてくれるおやじさんとお兄さんは若干強面ですが、今回の企画に快く協力してくださる温かい方々でした。
今回の企画とは別に個人的に飲みにいきたくなりました（笑）
「鳥藤」：http://www.e-mise-atta.net/minato/torifuji.htm

Yamato

”Just make it happen!”
B-TGS