Hearn by Harris - Recitation contests and Volunteering

My time as a volunteer with the local library in Taisha came to an end in July 2009 after almost 4 years of service.
My leaving coincided with a library event being held on Saturday, July 4th (a date that holds no special significance in Japan).
I organized a one-hour seminar looking at the writings of Lafcadio Hearn, known in Japan as Koizumi Yakumo.

more information about Lafcadio Hearn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn

A small audience of mostly friends and former students attended the event, where I recited 5 of Hearn's speeches. I show excerpts from two of those performances in this video.

Full text of "A Living God"
http://www.inamuranohi.jp/english_b.html

An interesting re-interpretation of the story for children, omitting the grandfather and making the young boy the central hero
http://www.storiestogrowby.com/stories/tidal_wave_body.html

The text of "Sayonara" (go to pages 691-693)
http://tinyurl.com/yklwg4a

Coaching my Jr High students for the three speech contests my main Jr High attended each year was a highlight of my ALT schedule. Taisha Chu had great success every year, and more importantly the students that participated gained so much self-confidence in their ability to understand and use English.
And I got to really know some fantastic kids. One such student is Hitoshi, featured in another video here on my channel, who competed in my very first speech contest and won a prize (3rd place out of about 40 students) reciting "A Living God."

I hope you enjoyed the stories.

-Jason

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[tkmyr]

I came upon the Wikipedia page independently. I found this vlog after seeing his early history in Japan and wondering if you had anything on it. Do you have any videos where you visit the museum ?Thank you adding to my mini-Hearn immersion tonight.

[myargonauts]

@tkmyr I should make a video in Matsue where I'm touring a few of the Hearn landmarks, but so far I have not made that video yet

[tokyocooney]

Thanks for adding this. Great context!

[myargonauts]

no worries - I'll have to seek out that cemetery when I'm in Tokyo.

[ryokosdesire]

People in Matsue just can't seem to get enough Lafcadio Hearn. This is actually the first time I have heard anything he has written. Not bad.

[myargonauts]

he has some great scary stories about ghosts and dead people and severed heads... "O"

the two I read are more sedate, but he's worth checking out.

[crazyninjaful]

「日本デビュー」っていう外人はマジ　キモッ！ｗ

[MrEbm14]

Jason, I suggest you buy a copy of the Man'yōshū. It was a required text for my Japanese history class some 15 years ago. There are a lot of parallels in regards to Hearn's articulations about landscape and simplicity. The book was written during Nara, so nothing is contemporary.

[goodboy20022002]

Excellent vlog.

[myargonauts]

yeah - sometimes the contests are on a weekend, or during school and not many ALTs show up - so it's always great when you can go and cheer on your students.