Here’s the second part of our interview with TELL Executive Director Dr. Linda Semlitz.
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Japan has one of the highest reported per capita suicide rates in the world; the average death toll is more than 30,000 people a year.
In 1973, Tokyo English Life Line was established as an English-language counterpart to Inochi no Denwa, and today the organization, now known simply as TELL, provides a wide range of counseling and community outreach services in a number of languages. TELL’s English-language Lifeline has responded to approximately 200,000 calls over the past 40 years, and TELL Counseling has provided professional counseling to over 6,500 people since its establishment in 1991.
Earlier this year, TELL marked its 40th anniversary with the launch of a fundraising campaign that aims to raise 40 million yen between April 2013 and March 2014, to enable the organization to continue to provide and expand its services to the community. Not long after the launch of the campaign, we spoke with Dr. Linda Semlitz, Executive Officer and Clinical Director of TELL Counseling, at the organization’s offices in Tokyo.
日本は世界の中でも自殺率が最も高い国の一つであり、自殺による死亡者数は、年間平均で3万人以上にのぼります。
Tokyo English Life Lineは、「日本いのち の電話」の英語版として1973年に発足しました。現在では、TELLの名称で知られており、多言語によるカウンセリングや、地域への啓蒙活動なども幅広く行なっています。
TELLは、過去40年間に渡り、約20万件の英語による電話相談に対応してきました。また、専門家によるカウンセリングを提供しているTELL カウンセリング は、1991年に設置されて以来、6500人以上に対してカウンセリングを行なっています。
今年に入ってTELLは、設立40周年を迎え、地域へのサービス提供を維持し、活動をさらに拡大していくことを目的として、2013年4月から2014年3月の間に4000万円を目標に寄付を募っています。この募金キャンペーンの開始後間もなく、TELLの東京オフィスにて、TELL カウンセリングの執行役員兼クリニカル・ディレクターであるセムリッツ・リンダ医師に話を伺うことができました。
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Here’s the second part of our interview with Japan-based craft brewers Bryan Baird and Scott Brimmer (pictured).
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Americans Bryan Baird and Scott Brimmer are Japan-based craft beer brewers who fit the Brewer’s Association definition: their businesses are small, independent and traditional.
Both Baird and Brimmer emphasize the importance of tradition in brewing great-tasting beer, and both men are expanding their family-owned breweries to meet fast-growing demand for their artisanal products.
Although I had hoped to interview Bryan and Scott together, the timing didn’t work out, so I interviewed them separately; first, Bryan at his Naka-meguro taproom, then Scott at his brewery in Kawasaki.
The interview is in two parts.
アメリカ人、ブライアン・ベアードとスコット・ブリマーは共に日本を拠点としたクラフトビール製造者で、彼らの醸造所はアメリカのビール酒造組合が定めるクラフトブルワリーの定義通り、「小規模で、独立しており、伝統的なもの」です。
ベアード氏、ブリマー氏は、共に美味しいビールを作り上げるには伝統がとても重要な事を強調しています。二人とも、彼らが作る職人技により製造される商品を求め、高まる需要に答える為、家族経営の醸造所を拡張する予定です。
ブライアンとスコットを同時にインタビューしたかったのですが、残念ながら、予定が合わず、インタビューは別々に行われました。まずブライアンを彼の中目黒の Taproomでインタビューし、その後、スコットを川崎にある彼の醸造所でインタビューしました。
インタビューは前半と後半に分かれています。
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Here’s the second part of our interview with Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki.
こちらが、藤崎一郎大使へのインタビューの後半部分です。
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Former ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki retired from Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in November of last year and returned to Tokyo from Washington to take up a position as Distinguished Visiting Professor at Sophia University.
Fujisaki-san is the great-grandson of Japan’s first prime minister, and his father was (in addition to having been a Supreme Court judge) a diplomat as well, which led to his first experience of the United States, attending junior high school in Seattle.
We spoke with the ambassador in his office at Sophia University, covering a wide range of topics including overseas education, American politics, entrepreneurship and “what it takes” to be a good diplomat.
The interview is in two parts.
藤崎一郎前駐米特命全権大使は、昨年の１１月に外務省を退職され、ワシントンから東京へ戻ってこられました。現在は上智大学の特別招聘教授を努めていらっしゃいます。
藤崎氏は日本の初代内閣総理大臣、伊藤博文の玄孫にあたり、彼の御尊父も外交官でした。御尊父の赴任先がアメリカで、一郎氏はそれがきっかけで初めて渡米され、シアトルで中学校を過ごされました。
私達は前大使の上智大学のオフィスでお話を伺いました。海外教育、アメリカの政治、起業家精神、良い外交官になる為に必要な素質など、様々なテーマについて伺いました。
インタビューは前半と後半に分かれています。
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Our next guest will be former Japanese ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki (and much more information in Japanese here).
Fujisaki-san retired from the Foreign Ministry and his Washington ambassadorship in September of last year, and is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University. He is the great-grandson of Japan’s first prime minister, and his father was (in addition to having been a Supreme Court judge) a diplomat as well, which led to his first experience of the United States, attending junior high school in Seattle.
He is known for being uncharacteristically (for a diplomat) outspoken, and we’ve got some good questions for him. Interviewing tomorrow morning, and posting later in the week.
Here’s the second part of our interview with Nancy Singleton Hachisu, author of the bestselling memoir/cookbook Japanese Farm Food.
In Part 2, we talked to Nancy about the book, and about chickens and eggs (though we did not ask which came first).
Photos – including the above shot of Nancy and Tadaaki, and nearly all of those in the book – are by Kenji Miura.
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Nancy Singleton Hachisu will be the first to tell you she’s “not the typical Japanese farmer’s wife”. Of course, the typical Japanese farmer’s wife is Japanese, which Nancy is not. And Nancy will be the first to admit she doesn’t get up at 4:00 a.m. Or even 6:00.
Further differentiating herself, last year Nancy published a bestselling memoir and cookbook, Japanese Farm Food, chronicling her life in Saitama with her husband Tadaaki, their three boys, and 2,000-3,000 free range chickens.
The book is in English only so far, but Nancy is trying to find a Japanese publisher. It’s nearly 400 pages, is filled with beautiful photographs taken by Kenji Miura, and has earned rave reviews. And it can be found in Japan via Amazon.co.jp and selected booksellers, as well as in the United States via Amazon.com and selected booksellers.
We’ve split this interview into two parts. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 will be uploaded tomorrow morning.
Nancy Singleton Hachisuが自己紹介する時にまず言う事は「典型的な日本の農家の嫁」ではないという事です。まあ、日本の典型的な農家の嫁はまず、日本人ですしね。彼女自ら、午前4時ないし6時にも起きないと教えてくれました。
さらにナンシーさんは昨年、「Japanese Farm Food」というベストセラーになった、夫理明（ただあき）さんと三人の息子さん達、及び2000から3000羽の放し飼いの鳥達との生活を綴った回顧録も含んだ料理本を出版しました。
この本は今のところまだ英語でしか出版されてはいませんが、ナンシーさんは日本においての出版社を現在探しています。その本は、およそ400ページで、三浦健司さんが撮影した美しい写真であふれており、批評家から絶賛を受けています。Amazon.com、Amazon.co.jp、および特定の書店にて購入できます。
このインタビューは前半と後半に分けてアップロードされております。
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On our next show we interview Nancy Singleton Hachisu, author of bestselling memoir/cookbook Japanese Farm Food, which is an absolutely gorgeous book. It’s just under 400 pages, packed with beautiful photographs and tells the tale of Nancy’s life as a not-Japanese farm wife in northern Saitama prefecture (less than an hour from Tokyo by bullet train).
We interviewed Nancy in her home, ate chicken meatball hot pot for lunch, met her handsome egg farmer husband Tadaaki, who offered to give us some chickens to take home to our garden (we were afraid our city upbringing would render us incapable of caring for them, so we regretfully declined), and returned home on the shinkansen with two dozen organic (and very tasty!) eggs!
Posting next week …