The X-Pat Files -  December 2006

 (Brought to you by H&R Consultants)

  The X-Pat Files Community E-Newsletter provides a forum for the spread of information useful for English speakers living in Aichi.  You can use the newsletter as an informational resource, and of course you can send in information you would like to share.
  This newsletter is a community service from The Japan Real Estate and Relocation company, H&R Consultants (www.japanhomesearch.com), and is edited by counselor and life coach Sue Conolly (www.sueconolly.net).

  Contents for This Edition

  1.  Merry Christmas!
  2.  Christmas Party at Washinkan Children's Home
  3.  Shimojima
  4.  Countdown to Christmas
  5.  Yoga
  6.  Christmas Getaways
  7.  Nagoya Christmas
  8.  Meet & Greet Christmas Party
  9.  Church Services in Nagoya
 10. Compromise

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   1. Merry Christmas!
   Sue Conolly

Christmas is a lovely time in Nagoya.  The tree lights twinkle in Sakae, culminating in an explosion of Christmas light at Nagoya Station.  The corporate sponsored charity Christmas Train runs around and around on its little tracks in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel.  For those whose Christmas must be a more meaningful affair, there are any number of churches that offer services in English.

Whatever Christmas is to you, is a reflection on how you were raised and Christmas practices in your home country.  Living in Japan then is a great opportunity to reinvent Christmas for yourself, thinking about what it means to you, how and with whom you would like to spend the day.  Christmas, relieved from the family traditions of your home country, is a blank slate from which you can create whatever nice memory your heart desires. 

You can think about Christmas on many levels.  It is a time of getting what we want, and getting what we need.  We finally get a holiday from work, and presents pile up under the Christmas tree, delicious food fills us on Christmas Day before a nice long nap afterwards (this is my own personal Christmas tradition!).  It is a time of giving to those we love, not just the presents under the tree but also giving our families time, giving our families a lovely home-cooked meal, giving them a well-deserved rest after a long year.  It is a time of giving to other people - people you do know and people you don't know.  Whether it's singing christmas carols at an orphanage, or donating time or money to charities like Hope International Development Agency, your contribution to the world, is a contribution to yourself.

This newsletter is full of ideas for your Christmas celebrations this year.  Use them to make Christmas yours.

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  2. Christmas Carolling and charity lunch at Washinkan Childrens Home

Many of you already know about the Meet and Greet lunches each month, held on the second Tuesday of the month at Shooters in Fushimi.  You can find information for this event below.

In addition to the special Christmas Meet & Greet lunch this December, at which money is being raised for Washinkan Children's Home in Moriyama Ward, we are planning a special event to sing Christmas carols to the children in the home, on Sunday the 17th of December. Visiting a Japanese orphanage, eating lunch with the children and singing them some Christmas carols, is certainly a very different, special and meaningful way to spend the Christmas season.

Shooters in collaboration with The Meat Guy, have been kind enough to offer to cater this event, so that the children have the experience of a real American Christmas dinner, with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and the whole shebang. To cover lunch costs just for foreign participants, we are charging the small amount of 1000 yen per adult and 500 yen for children.

Numbers are very limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible!

RSVP to Joan Stewart
090-8546-7816
joan@stewartnudo.com

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  3.  Shimojima
thank you to Chris Z for this submission

Shimojima is a great shop near Marunouchi or Fushimi Station, that sells christmas wrapping paper, santa bags, and all your gift-wrapping needs such as ribbons and fillers.  In addition to this, they have a large range of Christmas trees, as well as a good selection of reasonably priced lights.  They also have novelty items such as dancing santa, blow up santa and dancing santa.  While they are certainly not the only place in town with Christmas fare (Jusco has a cheaper range of Christmas trees for example), it is certainly a one-stop shop for Christmas decorations, wrapping and cards.  Shimojima has an English website, and three stores in the Nagoya region.  The website also has a detailed explanation of some very cool gift-wrapping techniques so that you can wrap like a pro!
  
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  4. Countdown to Christmas

As Christmas approaches, you probably have lists of things to do, which are longer than Santas wish list.  Here are some links which will make your Christmas shopping a breeze!

The Meat Guy - for Christmas turkey, Christmas ham, and anything else that is meaty.
Foreign Buyers Club - anything you can buy from home, delivered to your home in Japan.
The Flying Pig - cheap imports from Costco, delivered to your door.
Tengu Natural Foods - for a healthy Christmas.
Village Cellars - wine from Australia and New Zealand delivered to you, or to someone else as a gift from you.
Alcotrade - wine from other parts of the world.
The Japanese Connection - Japanese gift ideas.
CD Japan - Music gift shopping from home.
HMV Japan - Music, movies, books, games etc.
Amazon.co.jp - Books, Electronics, Home & Kitchen, DVD, Music, Software, Games and more.
Two Paper Cranes - Make your own Japanese Style Christmas Cards... Japanese paper, mizuhiki cords, embellishments.

For Christmas Shopping you can walk around, try Sapore in Mizuho-ku for a great range of import foods, wines, cheeses and specialty Christmas items.  Open from 10am to 9pm daily, the phone number is 052-837-3000. 
  
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  5.  Yoga

Marie Lanlois is a Canadian yoga teacher who works in Nagoya.  She has five yoga teacher training certificates; two in Ashtanga Yoga, one in Integral Yoga (Basic Hatha), one in Vinyasa Flow and one in Yogafit, as well as having taught extensive Power Yoga. 

As well as working at three yoga studios around Nagoya (for example, this one), Marie has experience teaching students in their own home, at all levels of expertise and personal body awareness. Her personal view is that yoga is about breathing -  that without the breathing, it becomes gymnastics.  By learning to listen and focus on the breath, working with it, we will naturally, over time, be able to flow in and out of postures effortlessly.  It takes effort and concentration but once learned helps in all areas of your life, so you can apply these techniques to other situations in your life as well.

There are various elements to yoga.  The one people know most about are "asana"or the poses/postures.  However, another big part is Karma Yoga or doing good deeds, helping others.  This year, in the Christmas Spirit and also as a way of giving back some of the good that yoga has done in her life,  Marie is offering to teach some free classes, as a way to introduce it to others, give them a chance to try it at a donation price that feels comfortable to them, and at the same time help others not as fortunate as ourselves.

The first sign-up for Marie's charity yoga class will take place at the Meet & Greet Christmas party (please see below for details).  Please note, that the actual class will not take place on this day but at a date in the New Year (so you'll be making the donation in the Christmas spirit, and doing the class as part of your New Year resolve!).  Funds raised from this yoga class will be donated to Washinkan Children's Home in Nagoya, so you'll be helping others as well as helping yourself!

For more details on the charity yoga classes, please contact Marie at mlanglois84@hotmail.com.


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  6. Christmas Getaways

A great place for Christmas in my mind is Matsumoto.  The little cobbled streets and beautiful little shops lend themselves to the Christmas feeling.  It is almost European and yet quintessentially Japanese, especially if you stay in a Japanese Inn such as Marumo Ryokan (ph: 0263-32-0115).The ancient owner of this establishment informed me in cute English that this is the oldest standing residential establishment in Matsumoto, which I could really believe.  Walking from the inn, which is along the banks of the Metoba River, towards the magnificent Matsumoto Castle, I found a lovely children's book shop, an excellent bakery with tables outside on the cobbled street, and any number of gift shops in which all of the merchandise is hand-made.  Any Christmas spent in Matsumoto would be a Christmas to remember, but if you're really after a Christmas event you could go along to the Christmas concert of the Matsumoto Junior Choral Society from 2pm to 4pm on Christmas Eve at the Matsumoto Bunka Kaikan (ph: 0263-34-7100). For any trip to Matsumoto a walking map is an essential, and can be picked up at the tourist information at the station.  To get to Matsumoto you can drive towards Nagano, getting off at Matsumoto IC, or you can take the train. For detailed timetable information please see the Hyperdia website.

It's not for everyone, but sometimes it's fun to revert to childhood for a fantasy Christmas experience.  Tokyo Disney Resort and Universal Studios Japan in Osaka both are hosting fantastical Christmas events, and specials including transportation and accommodation can often be found on advertising at JR Stations, or Kintetsu Station (in the case of Osaka).  If you prefer to organize your accommodation by yourself, several good search engines like www.japanhotel.net will assist you to make a booking in English.  For detailed timetable information which includes JR and other trains, please see the Hyperdia website.

People who like gardens will love what's going on at Nabana no Sato in Nagashima (ph: 0594-41-0787).  The light up show which lasts from November until February boasts twin 15 meter Christmas trees in addition to displays all over the park.  You can get there by bus from the Meitetsu Bus Center in Nagoya, or if you drive you can use this map from Nagashima IC on the Higashi Meihan Expressway or Wangan Nagashima on the Isewangan Expressway.  The Nabana no Sato map above is in Japanese, but this map in English to the nearby Aqua Plaza Nagara will help you get there.

Fancy a quiet Christmas, far from the twinkling lights and bustling crowds of Takashimaya?  There's nothing that quite beats an off-the-track onsen experience.  While it's not traditional Christmas from home, maybe that's what makes it so attractive.  There are several onsen guides in English, including www.myguidejapan.com, and the onsen section of Outdoor Japan. For onsen that are suitable for day-trips, as well as many you can go to for free, see the Hot Springs Michelin page and Jolsen's Introduction to Hot Springs page.  For those who prefer a voice on the phone, Japan Travel Phone is a nationwide telephone service for those in need of English language assistance and travel information.  Dial 0088-22-4800 (toll-free outside Tokyo and Kyoto). Service hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.

For the more adventurous, Northstar Outdoor Adventures in the Northern Japan Alps in Nagano offers a getaway with a difference.  Snowboarding and skiing lessons, snoeshoeing and a rail park are all part of the fun.  From December 24th to the 26th, there is a Christmas special which features singer Migiwa, and a special Christmas meal.  The icing on the cake is that you can mention local charity Hope International Japan, and 5% of your bill will be donated to charity to make someone else's Christmas more special.  For more information on this special offer click here.

Merry Christmas!!

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  7. Nagoya Christmas

The Hilton Christmas Train, in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel is a charity Christmas tradition that started in 1999.  60 Corporate sponsored carriages on a total of ten trains run continuously around the tracks which wind in and out of quaint winter scenery.  The whole set is about 60 square metres, so there's plenty of room to see, and there is even facility on their website for you to enter your own personal Christmas message onto a screen in the Christmas train display.  In addition to this there is a Ginger Bread Hous display in the lobby, a massive nine meter Christmas tree, photo opportunities with Santa Claus, and Christmas Carol Singing events.

Nagoya Port Aquarium is hosting a Christmas Eve event on the 24th of December.  The aquarium will be staying open until 9pm to accommodate the festivities which include special penguin and killer whale shows, a handbell concert and a Christmas Jazz Concert at the main pool from 5pm.  From the main pool, it will also be possible to see the fireworks that are going on outside in the Nagoya Port area.  The whole area is lit up with Christmas illumination, and fireworks start from 7pm.

Nagoya's world-famous china manufacturer, Noritake have Look for the giant lighted Santa atop the eight meter tall chimney at  Noritake Garden.  In the craft centre, you can make a special stamped plate with various themes, including special seasonal ones such as Santa Claus or a Forest Bear Winter Version, for 1850 yen per plate.  There will be Christmas concerts held on the afternoon of the 23rd of December and the 24th of December, featuring voice and piano.  You will also find intricate Christmas china decorations for saleThe facility also contains an interesting historical museum.

December is the month for Christmas parties!  The CCEA (Cross Cultural Exchange Association) had theirs today, the Meet and Greet luncheon will host theirs on the 12th of December (see below for details).  Hope International Development Agency has their family Christmas party in Seto on Friday, December the 22nd and another Christmas party at Misfits on the 23rd of December.  Nagoya-Life International Mixer Party has theirs at Shooters in Fushimi, also on Saturday the 23rd.  Please see the websites for each individual organization for details.

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  8.  Meet & Greet Christmas Party

 Are you new to town?  Do you want to get out and meet new people?  Or do you just want a nice lunch in a quiet, relaxing atmosphere where you can chat with new friends and old friends?  The Meet & Greet lunch is held on the second Tuesday of the month at Shooters Sports Bar and Grill in Fushimi. 

* 3000 yen for Christmas lunch and champagne toast
* 1500 yen for kids – includes Santa’s present!
* Bring your friends, bring your kids, bring your kids’ friends!
* The same great venue, Shooters, with a special Christmas menu
* Bring your good quality used clothes, toys or books to sell
* Christmas Charity Raffle and Door Prizes
* Sign-up for Special Charity Yoga (actual class will be conducted in the New Year)
* Proceeds go to Washinkan Children’s Home in Nagoya - so you're helping others, while giving yourself a big dose of Christmas spirit!

 Date:  Tuesday, 12th of December
 Time: 11:00 am - 2:00pm  (bring your charity items for set-up at 10:50 am)
 Place: http://www.shooters-nagoya.com/
 Price: 3000 yen for Christmas lunch and champagne!
           1500 yen for children - includes a present from Santa
 RSVP:  Please RSVP by Tuesday the 5th of November.  RSVP to Sue Conolly at conolly@p-cafe.net or by phone 090-4186-9459 during office hours.

Shooters has a relaxed atmosphere and is closed during the day except for our event, so we have the run of the place.  This means that it is a VERY easy event for mothers with  babies or small children.  It also means, however, that I must ask for an RSVP so that Shooters can cater for the correct number of people, especially in regard to Santa's presents!

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  9. Church Services for the Christmas Season

Father Keith Humphries was kind enough to provide me with information for Catholic Christmas services around the Nagoya area.

At the Mikokoro Center the Sunday times will also apply to Christmas and New Year, so Sunday 24th and 31st will have three masses, first the regular Sunday at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM and then the vigil Mass at 6:00 PM.

There are also English services in Kariya (0566-21-6529) and Anjo (0566-98-7766). In both cases it would be advisable to have someone call ahead in Japanese, as there may be other events planned.

There is no midnight mass in English per se, but in Japanese, the Cathedral, Nunoike, has Masses on December 24th at 20:00, 22:00 and 24:00 hours, 25th at 7:00, 9:30, 18:00 hours (052-935-6305) and Johokubashi on the 24th at 19:00 and 22:00, 25th 10:00 (052-912-7123).

For religions other than Catholic, please refer to the links below:

List of churches that offer foreign language services: http://kikuko.web.infoseek.co.jp/english/church-list.html
Nagoya International Center List of Churches
Nagoya Union Church: http://www2.gol.com/users/fsappjmo/Union.html
Meito Church: http://www.meitochurch.com/
The Orthodox Church in Nagoya: http://www.orthodox-jp.com/nagoya/english.htm


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  10. Compromise

I would like to write today about the word "compromise".  It is a word that gets kind of a bad rap.  When you think of someone's health being "compromised", it means that their health is somewhat less than it could be.  When we talk about women making all the "compromises" in todays society, it is a feminist statement of how women are settling for less.

Let's look at this another way, though.  In the Harrison Ford movie Regarding Henry (1991), Henry is a lawyer who survives a shooting to the head and is severely "compromised".  However, as his brain recovers from the injury, he finds himself a much better person than when he began.  In his case, and in the case of many real life victims of accidents, being compromised is a major positive turning point in their life.

When thinking about women, I like to think that men and women make compromises in different ways.  Women mostly have the more flexible role in society, so in actual fact they are making a lot more day to day decisions that involve compromising.  However, do these compromises really hurt?  Or are they compromises made in their own best interest, with an end goal in sight?  I myself make several compromises a day - the rewards I get from these compromises keep me making them day after day.

For many women, and dare I say men, there are compromises being made, or being percieved to be made, that are not in the best interests of that individual.  However, does it have to be that way?

The etymology of the word "compromise" reveals that the word is actually related to the word "promise", or "mutual promise", to be exact.  Doesn't that shed a nicer light on the word?  I promise that I will not insist that my way is the only right way, if you promise the same thing.  Let's come to some agreement, and we'll both feel the benefits of our splendid compromise!

If people did not compromise, less babies would be born.  If people did not compromise, less good things would happen, because no-one would be able to decide on the one good thing that every single person agreed upon.  Organizations who are not good at compromising, are the ones that are meaningless and get nothing done, the ultimate beaurocracies.  Individuals who find it hard to compromise, also find it hard to get what they really want. 

It is a common war cry- "But I shouldn't have to compromise!!!".  Of course you should, everyone should! It is folly to think that life must be some sort of 50-50 fair game.  We need a shift in that paradigm, so that more and more people are thinking about compromises in a positive way, making as many of them as possible, differentiating between ones that will be ultimately in their own best interests and in the interests of a better world, and those that are not.

http://www.sueconolly.net/

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  That`s it for this edition of the newsletter. We hope you found it informative - please let us know what you would like to see in future editions, and we will attempt to address your issues.

  A disclaimer - While we do try to check submissions when they come to me, we do not take responsibility for the accuracy of any donated information.  Nor do we take responsibility if your experience of places and services you find through this newsletter are not as rewarding as they were for the person who originally sent in the information. Obviously everyone`s experience is different.

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