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.