Toastmaster Magazine Reading Gathering in November

I've never felt happier attending our monthly toastmaster magazine reading gathering before. I just came back from one-month solo traveling in Japan. It felt great to be back in Taipei, to be among the warm and passionate golden ladies.

Lydia invited us to her mansion for a pot-luck dinner for our toastmaster magazine reading gathering in November. Michelle bought a huge box of assorted sushi on her way back from Yi-lan. Irene spent hours making curry chicken. Trini prepared stired fried cucumber and sweet and sour cabbage. Lydia made a huge pot of beef soup. The dinner table was decorated with delicious home made dishes. The strong and warm sensation of homecoming from the cold country to our north was beyond description.

At dinner, Trini, the Incumbent Division C Governor and Co-chair of D67 Spring Convention 2008, solicited our support of an extra educational workshop by the keynote speaker Rory Vaden before the Convention. With no reservations, I volunteered myself immediately that I would escort Toastmaster Vaden if needed. The other golden ladies jumped at my proposal and asked for a share of the privilege to accompany the young and handsome 1st runner up of 2007 World Championship of Public Speaking.

In stead of studying three articles Lydia assigned, Some "Free" Advice by John Cadley, page 16; Political Communication: The Power to Change the World by Linda McGurk, page 22; and YouTube Your Way to Better Speaking by Carmine Gallo, page 26 for two hours, we cut it short to less than 30 minutes. The first article was about shopping, and we didn't know what it had to do with toastmasters. The 2nd and 3rd articles are valuable reference articles if we could spend more time reading all the citations.

Harry Fong, the better half of Lydia, joined us for dinner after attending the autumn excursion with China Toastmasters Club members to Chu-ming Gallery in Jin-shan. We were happy to have him with us for a pleasant talk. A heavy-weight toastmaster, he mentioned about Michael Porter's "Strategy", the essence is to make a choice. I thought of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken on my way home. I need no strategy to get home, because there is only one way!

We are the World!

I am grateful to the big Toastmasters family. No matter where I go, I feel at home attending the local toastmasters clubs meetings. It is the Toastmasters who enpowers me with the sense of "We Are the World". I walk into the communities, I chat with local residents, I feel like a family member of the world. We are not alone. We have family and friends around in the world.

Traveling solo is not easy, especially for a middle-aged woman, in a foreign country. I don't know the social codes in depth, I don't know the language well, but I have a strong motive to see the world with my eyes, to hear the world with my ears, to feel the world with my body, and to love the world with my soul.

In the past month, I've received countless helping hands from strangers and acquaintances. Some helped me carry my heavy luggage at the train station, some offered inspirational words, some gave encouraging smiles, some showed warm gestures. I remember each and every of them. I am indebted to all of them for a pleasant month in Japan.

We are the world; We are the children; We are the ones who make a brighter day; So let's start giving; There's a choice we're making; We're saving our own lives; It's true we'll make a better day; Just you and me!

If there is anything I can do to the world, I won't hesitate. If there is anything I can do to the world, I will commit myself to it. I am the world. You are the world. Together we make our world a better place for all.

The Language Acquisition

We are Home sapiens. We are able to communicate with languages. It is one of our natures. We were given with the oral power and ability the day we were born!

The matter of the language acquistion is about the opportunity and responsibility. If we were born in China, we would read and write in Chinese. We speak Chinese with the people around us. We watch Chinese TV, we set our mind in Chinese. The language is natural and invisible, it is part of us without a second thought.

But, if we want to become a Chinese literate, that's another story. We must study hard and control our minds. We must read as many good books written in Chinese as possible. We must make friends with good Chinese speakers. Then we can excel ourselves to become outstanding Home sapiens in linguistics.

Learning a foreign language is likewise. We make the best use of our opportunity to acquire the language, then we shoulder the responsility to perpetuate the essence, spirit and beauty of the langauge. We must set our mind, drill our tongue on contant basis, then we excel ourselves to become sophisticated Home sapiens to build up a diversified and colorful pluralistic society.

After studying so many foreign languages, I find the most challenging ones are children talk and intimate pillow talk in a foreign language, because of lack of resources and opportunies, of course. The road to langauge acquistion is straight forward. Use it or lose it, no matter if it is a mother tongue or an acquired one.

Sapporo Pioneers Toastmasters Club

It was a posh meeting venue, located on the 2nd floor of Linkage Plaza next to Sapporo TV Station. The meeting room of 50 people was bright and white. The whiteboard, the tables, the chairs, were all in white. I arrived at the Sapporo Pinoeer Toastmasters Club 50 minutes in advance. I turned on the lights, sat in the room feeling excited that I could make it to the one and only Toastmasters club in Hokkaido this evening, the 14th of November, before returning to Taipei tomorrow.

President Sayama arrived ten minutes after me. He took my advise to rearrange the room layout for a change. As two early birds, we had a chance to discuss the toastmasters activities in general. I told him that I was very optimistic about the potential in developing Toastmasters clubs in Hokkaido. The Sapporo Pioneer is a small club but of great quality, I'm sure it will play an important role to give birth to many Toastmasters clubs in the north country of Japan in the future.

Nine members showed up for the meeting. In two hours meeting time, I could remember all their names. The meeting started on time, followed by the opening thought of Toastmaster Tobino. After Toastmaster Nakayama, Toastmaster of the Evening, introduced the meeting program, Toastmaster Uraguchi announced the Word of the Day, POSH.

I was delighted to deliver an impromptu speech on my journey in Hokkaido for five minutes before the tabletopics session. The tabletopics master Mano invited all members to comment about the Beaujolais Nouveau, which was due to lanch tomorrow, the third Thursday of November. After 10 minutes intermission, two heavyweight prepared speakers Konichi and Sato were on stage. Both of them are advanced speakers. Toastmaster Konichi delivered her fourth speech "The Press Conference" of Communicating on Television. Toastmaster Sato delivered her third speech "The Demonstration Talk" of Speaking to Inform.

I was honored to invited to add a few words after the general evaluation session. Of course, I expressed my thankfulness to my fellow toastmasters members for their posh achievements. And I encouraged them to form a Toastmaster Magazine reading group among themselves and listen to Talkingtoastmasters for the interviews with the authors of Toastmaster Magazines.

After club meeting, we went to an Izakaya for the second party. Toastmaster Ikeda was the only male among four female members, Nakayama, Konishi, Sato, and me. The Izakaya was so warm and cozy, the waitress was so sweet and friendly, the food was super delicious. While most members drank Oolung tea, I challenged a bottle of Japanese sake. I even thought about performing a short clogging dance upon request (Yes, I'm obsessed with clogging dance, and I carry my clogging dance shoes whereever I go).

We didn't leave the Izakaya untill almost 11:30PM. We hugged one another and bid goodnight in front of the Izakaya. I was told that it would snow tomorrow! Toastmaster Konishi offered me a lift back to Sapporo House. I wore a big posh smile into my dream!

Communication and Leadership Skills

If reading, writing, speaking is a matter of constant drilling and practice, so is traveling. The more often we hone our skills, the better we acquire the skills along the way.

The traveling exercise is simple and straightforward. I get up before the sun rises, I get on the train, I doze off, I get off the train, I find a hotel, I walk the city, I go to bed after the sun sets. Everyday I have a new chapter in my travelgue.

From the first Chapter in Nara to the last chapter in Sapporo, I spend hours on the trains, I walk hours in the cities. In addition to a mileage collector of the Japan railway, I'm the walker of city avenues, country alleys and mountain trails in Japan. I don't know how far and how many miles my feet sweep the falling leaves on the land everyday. I can think of nothing but move forward to the next station. I am given a new chapter everyday and I fill it with exciting pages of memories and stories. I am ready to take another challenge of traveling exercise in the near future.

The toastmastering exericse is much the same. Everyday we open our eyes, we're on the track of communication and leadership training. We act, interact, react with people around us, and we fill our days with interesting stories and memorable memories. I am ready to write another chapter of toastmastering exercise tomorrow.

Edo Wonderland--Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura

I've been thinking how to package Golden Ladies's Singing Show at Division C Christmas Party in December. It wouldn't be fun and amusing if we only copied the stars on Taiwan Television in the 70's. It might be more entertaining if we could insert a few tricks to add value to the show, such as the sign language to start our show and the clogging dance to end it.

Three stage shows were displayed at Edo Wonderland this afternoon. They are the Japanese Culture Theater, History Theater and Kasumi Ninja House to showcase the lifestyles in Edo period (1603 to 1868). Each lasted for 2o to 25 minutes. I watched each and every of them with attention. I liked the Ninja show the most, especially the fighting of ninjas in a dark and mysterious three dimensional old fashion house. Sometimes the ninjas fought on stage, sometimes on the ceilings, sometimes on the floor.

The training of the ninjas must be hard. Ninjas (patient men) learn not only the martial laws, they also learn the meditation. They are practically acertical. They eat little, they sleep little, they are invincible.

I know I can't be a ninja. It is not that I am not patient, it is that I couldn't walk through a tilted house of ninja at the Edo Wonderland. I became nausa and dizzy immediately when I got into the tilted house. I guess I am not built to live in a space out of spatial balance. I wonder how ninjas can fly on the ceiling, walk on the wall without making any sound.

Maybe I should invite golden ladies to go to a ninja school with me. If we can present a ninja show at our graduation ceremony, that would be awesome and super entertaining!

Budget Traveling in Japan

It is expensive to travel in Japan, the transportation expenses, the accommodations cost, the entertainment fees (food, drinks, admission fees to galleries and museums). Most Japanese are conversative about traveling, they don't want to end up in debt after an expensive tour, let alone their Taiwanese neighbors.

Being a foreigner, I could purchase a Japan Rail Pass at home. The JR Pass offers a quite reasonable discount of transportation fee. The more I travel in Japan, the wiser I use the trains, the hotels, the supermarkets, and public facilities.

I always keep budget traveling in mind. No matter how much I had in my pocket, I tried to save every penny for the rainy days and for the future trips. I wouldn't use cash or charge unless it was absolutely necessary. I waivered a mobile phone. I refrained from internet cafe. I visited the local markets for the fresh fruits and vegetables to supplement the vitamines and minerals. I went to the convenient stores for instant rice, noodles, soup to fill in my empty stomach. I stayed at youth hostels, reasonable hotels to contain the accommodation cost. I stayed with friends if they have an extra bed to offer.

I'm thinking maybe toastmasters can learn from their Rotarian counterparts to provide homestay services to fellow members, to promote culture exchange activities among member. We can encourage more foreign toastmasters to visit our clubs in Taipei. I'd be more than willing to offer my sweet home to traveling foreign toastmasters in town.

While traveling, life is about simplicity, necessity, accessbility and flexibility. Even though it is hard to reduce the amount of clothes, shoes, and accessories for a woman traveler like me, I've learned how to break down a long journey into several short ones. I find a center location to deposit the heavy luggage and carry the light backpack to move around in surrounding satellite towns.

Internet is no doubt a must. I felt secured and at home being able to answer emails and blog at the most welcoming free internet at the local hotel. I felt good and relaxed sitting at a small and quiet corner to connect myself to the family and friends around the world.

Japan Rail Pass--Your Sight-seeing Passport to Japan

As a foreigner, I highly recommend the special ticket offered by Japan Railways (JR) Group to travelers from abroad.

I purchased a 21 days JR Pass (Green) for 79,600 Japanese yens in Taiwan before my departure. After coming to Japan, I really made good use of it. I traveled from the south to the north, from the west to the east. It is very pleasant riding the state-of-the-art bullet trains to see the beautiful scenery in Autumn while receiving attended service from beautiful and friendly stewardess on green cars.

JR also offers special tickets to locals, but at a higher price. Take the recent one フルムーン 大人の旅は、グリーン車に乗って スローダウンしたら、新しい景色が見えてきました for instance, for couples at added ages above 88, they are entitled to enjoy 12 days JR Couple Pass (Green) for 124,400 Japanese yens for two persons.

Even though a 21 days JR Pass (Ordinary) costs 21,900 Japanese yens less. I like the green better. That is right, I am an adult, I like to have a bigger seat, I like to read the in-train magazines, I like to listen to in-train music, I like to have a cup of complimentary drink from a beautiful stewardess as soon as I am seated. But on top of that, I can find a space easily to house my luggage.

If you have a chance to visit Japan for sight-seeing in the future, don't forget to purchase a JR Pass before your departure from your country. There are two types, Green and Ordinary available. Each type comes as a 7-day, 14-day, or 21-day Pass. You will certainly enjoy the All You Can Ride experience to get on and off the trains at any station your wish! I wonder if JR group would consider lauching a 90 days Pass for foreign tourists, I'd be the first one to get it for sure.

The Productivity of Japan

Japanese are no doubt the most diligent people in the world. When I visited the elmentary school, I saw the principal and the teachers work long hours after school. When I rode the train, I saw the conductor check the timetable and road signs with care. When I stayed with a friend of mine in Tokyo, she never returned home before 9PM. She is an OL working at an overseas bank in Tokyo. Everybody in Japan seems to be hustle and bustle doing something. Just pay a visit to any train station you will see what is on my mind.

The transportation network is so well organzied and connected in Japan that people can get to almost everywhere at late hours in a big city. Tokyo is the city to showcase the efficiency of manpower. Skyrise building are lightuped till midnight, thousands of thousands salary men are burning the midnight oil in this huge power engine. Tokyo is not built in one day!

But, I think the productivity of Japan will be further upgraded if there is a Toastmasters arena for Japanese politicians.

While traveling from the south to the north, from the west to the east of Japan, I see many hard working Japanese people. They get up early and get home late. Some even stay away from home for a long period of time. These hard working people are the key to the success of Japanese economy. But, when they turn on TV, they can see nothing but frustrating news in politics. I thought Japan should be different from Taiwan, a small island full of scandals in politics. Aren't politicians supposed to work for their people?

A Welcome Party at Hotel Appeal--November 2, 2007

I'm always looking for the opportunity to promote Toastmasters clubs when I travel in Japan. Whenever I meet with English speaking Japanese, I would switch the topic to Toastmasters.

At the welcome party for Korean delegates from Wo-chou County, the sister city of Gonohe Town, I was set at the same table with all the educators, mainly the principles of elementary and high schools in Gonohe. I reminded myself of behaving properly and talking politely in front of the principles. I kept searching in my little head for the right Japanese words to break the ice with the big heads of Gonohe Town.

Alcohol is no doubt a great catalyst to break the ice. Drinks are more welcoming than food at a welcome party, especailly for Japanese. Tonight, I witness how similar Japanese and Koreans were, by the appearance, the language and even the drinking etiquettes. Nomura Maiko, a fifth graders teacher at Kamiichikawa Elementary School in Gonohe invited me to the welcome party. Nomura sensei told me never pour my own drink. I needed to wait for someone else to do the pouring. And when pouring a drink, I must always hold the bottle with two hands. I knew already "Kanpai" meant drink as you wish for Japanese and Korean, but I just kept the habit of drinking bottom up. Nomura sensei opened her eyes to my drinking capacity. I guess I just inherited my father's genes of north coutnry (my father was born in Beijing!) and it was a great pleasure to drink with people of a kind.

I became a differnt person when Principle Saito Masae of Gonohe Junior High School spoke English with me. Principle Saito used to be an English teacher. I was so impressed with his English langauge proficiency. When we began talking about Toastmasters, I was in such a great mood that I talked faster and faster to cover from the communication manuals to the club management. Principle Saito mentioned that he might have time to do something for his community after he retires next year.


Nomura sensei gave me a lift to Makiba onsen for the night. While we were in the hot spring, I thanked her for inviting me to Gonohe for the fist time while thinking of the possibility of giving birth to Toastmasters clubs in this north country.

Hachinohe Toastmasters Club

I took Shinkansen to Hachinohe, the northernmost station. At the information center, I met a lady who spoke English fluently. I thought there might be a chance to establish a Toastmasters club in Hachinohe.

Misawa Toastmasters Club is holding its biweekly meeting this evening at the Misawa Air Base. I think it is not open to the public, therefore I don't get any response from my inquiry of participating in their club meeting.

I took the advice from the lady at the information center to walk along Tanesashi Shore in the afternoon. After lunch, it started raining. I could see nobody on the street in a remote small town. I was lucky to find a community center to find a shelter for the rain. The man at the center gave me a spare umbrella upon my request. I thought it might be possible to charter a Japanese speaking Toastmasters club in town.

I arrived at the Toyoko Inn in dark, but in time for complimentary curry rice dinner from the house. I spotted a foreigner, and asked him if he spoke English. He is Abdul Rahman Hassan, from Maldives. He is at Hachinohe on a training program at a fishery factory for a month. I felt relieved that I could switch my mindset in English for a change.

Hachinohe (八戶) is the biggest town in east Aomori along with eight towns, namely ichinohe (一戶), ninohe (二戶), sannohe (三戶), gonohe (五戶), rokunohe (六戶), shichinohe (七戶), kyunohe (九戶). The names of the towns reminded me of Jiu Fen (九份) in Taipei.