May 21, 2007

Hello Students,

In this week's Community News we take a quick look at Japan's rivers. Natural and unnatural disasters involving rivers are not rare news in Japan. Newspapers here have featured shocking headlines in the past year, such as:

Water, Water Everywhere

The word for river is kawa (川 or 河). The second Kanji is usually used when discussing a large river or a specific (usually foreign) river.

As elsewhere, Japan's rivers start high up in the mountains and flow to the sea. But due to Japan's topography, its rivers have unique natural characteristics. Two thirds of the islands of Japan are mountainous, and because even the widest part of the Japanese archipelago has a width of less than 300 kilometers (about 180 miles), the rivers are numerous and short. The steep slopes along the river basins give rise to fast flows, often with torrents and rapids along the way to the sea.

River Trivia

The longest river in Japan is the Shinano River, a 228-mile stretch that runs north through Niigata and Nagano prefectures and empties into the Sea of Japan.

During the Japanese rainy season (tsuyu 梅雨), which starts in June and lasts through the middle of July, and the typhoon season, which generally peaks in September, floods along the rivers are commonplace.

The dense population and intensive land use have meant that the nation's rivers have been heavily altered by man—dams, canals, erosion control barriers, and irrigation systems rein in most of Japan's rivers. While these measures control flooding and increase useable land, there is an increasing awareness of the ecological damage to the rivers, especially during the last 50 years. A decrease in supply of sand and gravels to estuaries, an extreme loss of ecosystems in urban areas, and agricultural pollution of rivers even in sparsely-populated countryside are all signs of years of river abuse and misuse.

Concrete Rivers?

A typical urban canal—this used to be a winding mountain stream. The controlled flow provides a great irrigation system for the neighboring rice field, and the high concrete walls and adjustable water storage tanks reduce the dangers of flooding. However, down-river developments like this are contributing to coastal land erosion and have taken away the natural beauty of many rivers.

But Japan is learning fast, and is now trying to reverse the environmental damage of the past decades. Before embarking on any large-scale water supply or river safety project, every developing nation in Asia can benefit from a look at the U-turns being made here. Dam construction—a huge source of the environmental damage to river systems—has been reduced considerably. New dam projects now face resistance from the local community and opposition from environmental groups. And, much to the delight of local communities, smaller rivers—once straightened into concrete canals devoid of vegetation—have been recurved and restocked with new fish cultures.

New JOI Teacher Starts May 23

KOGA Mie

This month we add one more to the growing ranks of teachers at our online Japanese school. Koga sensei joins the Intermediate and Advanced FlexLessons team, which includes Momii sensei, Okazaki sensei, Fujinawa sensei, Mizuno sensei, and Hidaka sensei. Koga sensei's private Japanese lessons will cater to JLPT 1 and 2 learners as well, so if you are considering taking these ultimate tests of your Japanese ability, we recommend trying out her lessons.

Support Tips

	About the Alternate Rooms: Every JOI classroom has an alternate room, which is used in case of problems or maintenance with the original classroom. Occasionally during class, there may be a problem with the classroom servers. In this case, the teacher will instruct you to change to the alternate room. You can find the URL for each classroom's alternate room at the top of the text chat. If the teacher instructs you to change classes click on the URL, and go to the new room. Note: The alternate room URL is also shown on your Current Reservations page next to the classroom name. In other cases, your class time may coincide with the regular (but randomly timed) maintenance routine. During the maintenance routine, the classrooms are emptied with a message like: "This is room is about to be rebooted : You will be ejected from this room" Don't panic—just go to the Alternate Room. If you don't have enough time to click on the alternate room URL before being ejected, you can find the URL on your Current Reservations page next to the classroom name.
	Are you having problems hearing in the classroom? Have you checked that your headphone volume is turned up and that the jack is in the correct plug-in of your computer? For more info, please read this FAQ.
	Is your classroom exhibiting strange behavior (clicking noises, delays, and so on)? If McAfee anti-virus or other security software is installed on your computer, it may be interfering with the classroom software. Please read more here.
	The classroom software is not Unicode-compatible. To be able to type and see Japanese in the text chat area of the classroom, you need to install a simple utility application from Microsoft. For details, please check here.
	A hint to make sure you're heard in the classroom: After finishing what you have to say, keep the button pressed for just a second longer. If you release the button too soon, your last word or two gets clipped off.
	Don't be shy! Take a minute and add your comment to the Message Board. Other JOI students would definitely like to hear your take on Japanese culture and language.

Thanks, everyone, for helping make JOI a great online Japanese school! I hope you're having fun learning Japanese online. And don't forget about the lesson blog (login required)—take a look and post a comment in English or Japanese.

If you have other questions, be sure to check out the FAQs, or if you don't find an answer there, write me at support@japonin.com.

Regards,
 
Moses
JOI Support