My nickname is “Lazy Cat,” and I like it very much mainly because cats are positive role models. Many human beings are busy, making war, making nuclear power plants, but cats are lazy, doing nothing ethically or ecologically wrong.
渾名は「猫」です。人間って、戦争をやったり、原発をつくったりして忙しい奴が多いけど、猫は、道義的にも環境面でも、悪いことはしません。素晴らしい生き物です。見習いたい。Lazy Cat and English:
Last day of the Fukushima Speaking
Tour 2012 at San Francisco Airport
( PHOTO: Rachel Johnson,
Ecological Options Network )
When I was in grade school, adults around me believed that the English language didn’t have any deferential usage. They would say, “All you have to do is to add ‘please’ to your request.” It didn’t take much time to realize that they were mistaken. All the English-speaking people I made friends with were much politer than we were when they spoke to a friend or a family member: “Could I have a little more ice cream?” And no respectable husband would ever speak to his wife with such a limited vocabulary as; “Drinks,” “Meal,” or “Bath.” So I tried to find a book on deferential usage or politeness in English, but in vain. The studies on politeness in English ( and its inclusion in TESOL ) didn’t start until the early 1970s ( you can guess how old I am from this ). Later on, I found that letter-writing manuals gave us a lot of clues for politeness. All this is a thing of the past, and now we have excellent books like: 鶴田庸子（他）『英語のソーシャルスキル』（大修館）
Lazy Cat and Akita:
I was born and raised in Tokyo, and at age 25 I joined AU. Since then, I’ve been living in Akita City. I love snow country and almost everything connected with it. Tokyo is a tropical city, and it’s way too hot for a thinker ( more of a brooder ) like me. In Tokyo I wasted nearly 3 hours every day just to go to school, but here in Akita it’s just 10 minutes’ walk from my house.
Lazy Cat’s Major:
I was seriously interested in English when the Vietnam War was still very much in the news and a lot of American citizens came to Japan for pacifist causes. The friendship with those people greatly inspired me. Since then, I have been studying the relationships between culture and politics. Last year, I edited a collection of academic papers on this topic, and it’ll soon be available at bookstores and on the internet: 村上東（編）『冷戦とアメリカ 覇権国家の文化装置』（臨川書店）
大学院生の時から日本アメリカ文学会の会員です。文化と政治の関係が主たる関心事で、ナショナリズムをおちょくる傾向の強いお笑い系の作家が主たる論文のネタです。ナショナリズムの産物である文学史（文化史も）と個々の作品の関係について調べたり考えたりもしています。もともと日本の二十世紀文学（殊に現代詩）が好きでしたが、僕が学生の頃にはまだ日本現代文学研究という分野が大学にありませんでしたから、北米研究に進みました。今後は日本についても書いてゆきます。A Glimpse at Lazy Cat’s Courses:
Semi-formal outfit in the Gulf;
again, lucky-cat posture
TESOL ( Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages ) was established in this country when the diplomatic relationship with Britain was by far the most important, but after WWII we shifted our attention to American English. Politics certainly plays an important role in language education, and, along with the language itself, we will study a little bit about the political history of English teaching in Japan as minimal essentials for future teachers of English.
あと、授業と論文以外に秋大でやってきたことといえば、姉妹校関係の仕事です。自分が若い頃はまだ米ドルが360円という固定相場。英語力もなかったし、留学なんて無理でした。その恨みを晴らすべく、これからも多くの諸君を海外へ送り出したい、と思います。
