I live in Kyoto and have taught at private schools as well as at universities.  I started this in order to give professionals within a particular field a means to contribute.  We must think of education as a long term need.

In regards to the schools and organizations listed in our directory, they are located in a number of different regions in Japan.  Refugees from the Tohoku area are moving to different locales throughout Japan and thus we strive to help them in their new environments.  The schools listed have agreed to give tuition assistance for affected children.  In this way, we hope to create a model that addresses the issues resulting from the triple disasters of March 11, 2011 on a national level.  As for the lessons using Skype we have at this time one volunteer based in Australia and thus, there is the possibility for the international community becoming involved.  Surely, people are suffering financially and we hope that through these offers their burdens may be lightened ever so slightly.

After School Lessons for Tohoku Children Homepage

Can you believe there is a sign like this being displayed in a store in Osaka, the second largest city in Japan where millions of people live? Believe it! It’s something that happens all the time, maybe not so foul, but the misuse of English is prevalent in all facets of literary use throughout Japan.

In this day and age, when computers and electronic dictionaries are something most have access to, you’d think those wishing to use English would get it correct. That, however, is not the outcome, no matter what their approach. They still get it wrong; so much it has become a sort of cult for foreigners!

Foreigners living, working and/or traveling in Japan cannot go a day without seeing some sort of English faux pas. Many foreigners make it a mission to seek out bad English. Once they find it, they post their findings to the web. Many blogs and websites around the world have been created by native English speakers to display strangely written English on T-shirts, signs, billboards or other forms of English print. It’s amazing how much there is out there! It’s even funnier when you take into consideration the huge number of foreigners that now live in Japan who can provide Japanese with English support if they were ever given the chance.

Most of the grammar mistakes come from people who think they have a good enough grasp of the language to do it on their own. Some might consider them idiots while others might consider them genius, if you taken into consideration the amount of exposure they get from foreigners posting their mistakes. Just look at how much exposure the store in Shinsaibashi is getting as their sale campaign is being splashed across the web on Facebook and websites like this one.

Another reason people in Japan make grammar mistakes, aside from the fact they don’t hire out foreigners to edit their works, is they take words straight from their dictionaries and use them thinking that because their dictionary said it means what they want to say in Japanese that it can be used in English just the same way. Unfortunately, this does not apply to all or most words the English language. Just look at the different words in a Thesaurus and you’ll see how words may be similar in meaning, but are used in different ways at different times. And some words, if used in conjunction with other words, may take on a whole different meaning.

Japanese people would do well to hire out foreigners to edit their English, especially since so many of them now live in the country and work in the English industry. But then again, they might not get as much exposure if their English stopped being funny!

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The improv group performs short sketches in English and Japanese.

There is a one-drink minimum requirement for those who attend the comedy.

Call (06)6536-5369 for more information.

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