Usagi Yojimbo DojoBoard

Hi Stan & Dojo folks!

I haven't been around here much recently. For most of 2012, I've been gearing up for and then in the process of moving to Japan! I'd only been here once before, but near the beginning of the year I had an interview for and ended up getting a job teaching English here! I've only been here for about 2 months now, but it has been a crazy and wonderful experience.

So I have a couple of questions...my oldest students are Junior High age and many are interested in manga and anime. When I started talking to them about it, I immediately thought of Usagi and wondered if Stan's tale might be popular here. Have any of the volumes been translated into Japanese? If so, do you know if they are available anywhere in Japan?

I recently ordered 2 copies of UY vol.1 from Amazon for my 2 junior high schools. I'm eagerly awaiting their arrival! I am curious to hear what the students think or see if they have any interest at all. We will likely have to work together to translate it, but I hope that the art and Japanese cultural elements ease that process.

Also, has there ever been an Usagi tale set on Shikoku Island? I am living in a very small town there and I think the students (and me as well) would find a story based on Shikoku to be very interesting! If there hasn't been one yet, maybe this is something to consider for the future? Something typing into the 88 Temple Pilgrimage would be very fun to read...but maybe something like this already exists? I have read all of the UY TPBs, but don't think I remember anything...but before I moved here, I wouldn't have made a mental note of it either.

Thanks for the great work! I hope my students enjoy UY as much as I have!

Usagi has never been translated into Japanese. Comparatively, very few Western comics have.

I have never written a story about Shikoku. I recently saw a couple of documentaries about the 88 Temple pilgrimage. One was a 4-parter on Travels in Japan, and I think the other was on Begin Japanology (but I could be wrong). They make me want to visit that island.

Stan Sakai wrote:Usagi has never been translated into Japanese. Comparatively, very few Western comics have.

I have never written a story about Shikoku. I recently saw a couple of documentaries about the 88 Temple pilgrimage. One was a 4-parter on Travels in Japan, and I think the other was on Begin Japanology (but I could be wrong). They make me want to visit that island.

Hi Stan! Thanks for the quick reply. I couldn't find any listings for UY in Japanese, so I thought that might be the case. I feel like most of my students only know any western comic characters from the recent decade worth of Hollywood films. It is interesting though...several are big Spider-Man fans My Japanese is terrible, but if there's a group of students interested, I might try to translate UY volume 1 together with them so they can have an English / Japanese copy in their library. I'll have to see what the interest level is when the shipment arrives from the US...

Shikoku is a beautiful place if you like getting back to nature. It's far removed from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. My wife and I drove to Kyoto a couple of weekends ago (about a 4hr drive from my town) and the differences were amazing. Kyoto is beautiful and one of my favorite cities on the planet, but it was nice to get back to the slower pace of Shikoku.

The 88 Temple pilgrimage is a very big and interesting part of the culture here. I'm sure you have plenty of stories in mind, but in my own (very biased) opinion, Shikoku would make a great backdrop for an Usagi story! When I first arrived, I was invited to dance in the Awa Odori (dance festival)...it was pretty amazing!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awa_Odori
The history and culture of Shikoku have been very fun to explore and learn more about. If you do decide to come to Shikoku sometime, please let me know. I'd be happy to send you some information or even show you around if I'm still living here when you visit.

Thanks again! Here's a view from one of my schools down into the valley where I live:

Wow!
Congratulations and good luck on your endeavor!
You are living my dream

That is a beautiful view from your school.

You say your Japanese is terrible? So how do you manage to get around and survive? It must be good enough for you to get by, huh? I know English is taught as a second language but most adults seem to not keep up with it. I would think that living in the country it is even more rare to encounter English speaking locals?

I'm headed to Japan at the end of this week. Unfortunately it will only be for a two week stay. Most of our time will be in Kamakura, but we will spend a few days at my sister-in-law's home in Ise (Mie Prefecture). Wish I could extend the trip and visit you!

Maichan: Thanks! It has been a blast so far. The views are beautiful everywhere here, but I really liked that image from my school. Glad you did too! I'm currently sitting at the same school, looking out the window at the forest covered mountains...it's lovely!

I'm working in the schools here via the JET Programme:
http://www.jetprogramme.org/
I don't know if you've heard of it or if you're serious about this being your dream, but its definitely something to look into. I applied multiple times before getting selected. It's a difficult application/interview/hiring process, but if you get in, they are extremely helpful (at least they have been in my case) in getting things set up and helping with the overall process of living in a foreign country. You get decent pay, health insurance, etc. My supervisor helped me get a cell phone, buy a car, etc. all within the first week or two of being here. The contract is for a year with mutually agreeable renewability for up to 5yrs! I'm shooting for about 3yrs, but really I'm open to just about anything. I teach English in the 2 elementary and 2 jr high public schools in my city, Mon-Fri (and the occasional weekend when there's a festival or something). Weekends and holidays off, so I'm looking forward to traveling as much as possible while I'm here!

As far as the language situation goes, I'm not really exaggeraging too much. My Japanese is pretty bad unfortunately and I hope living here will help me get it to a passable level. I took 2 years in college, but that was several years ago now. Even then, I wasn't great at it. There is very little English spoken here...not like living in Tokyo or something where the international nature of it along with the tourisim industry means that a good percentage speak some English. I'm lucky in that for being a very rural area, they are very open to non-Japanese people. They have a very popular Artist In Residency program here, so there are people from all over the world living here for a few months at a time each year. But it hasn't been easy and I hope that my Japanese skills improve quickly. Just going out to dinner last night was difficult because even though I understand a bit, I always seem to get asked a question that I've never heard before and don't know how to answer Oh well...live and (hopefully) learn...

That's really cool that you're headed this way shortly! Kamakura is pretty far from Tokushima, but Mie isn't too bad. A friend of mine here used to work in Mie and his wife's family lives there, so I've heard a good bit about it. Unfortunately it's on a different island, so getting here (or me getting there) would be a bit expensive. There's a toll bridge to get off of Shikoku, but it's about $70 each way. My wife and I drove to Kyoto a few weeks ago and the tolls alone were a decent portion of the trip. I'm hoping to go to Nara soon which isn't too far from Mie, but I don't think I'll be able to swing that within the next few weeks. Most likely November or possibly after Christmas. I hope you have a good trip though! If you have any questions, feel free to post them or PM me!

Here's one more photo...taken at the local temple on the 88 Temple Pilgrimage, looking down sort of toward where I live in the valley: