Gauging interest on loosely organized events, sepcifically for the Kyushu crew

[Allen J. Phelps]

Hey all,

I'm a new ALT living in Kagoshima prefecture, I'm slowly but surely
getting myself established here, (I just got my Gaijin Card so I'm
praying the local Best store finally got my phone in stock, but that's
a whole story to itself.) Anyway, I just wanted to say it would be
cool to try to organize some events around Kyushu. Maybe nights
\weekends out every other month or so. I'm hoping to scope out the
Kagoshima city scene as soon as the dust settles on orientation, and
I'll try to write up my thoughts for the night life portion of the
group.

Basically, my idea is to try to host some mini retreats around the
Kyushuu area. Completely informal, maybe just suggest a hotel and
meeting point in a city and just spend a weekend hanging out. Anyway,
if people are interested we could try to get something going. It could
be a good way to meet people and get to see different city around the
island (by day and night.) If you could see yourself participating
post and we can open up some dialog and maybe throw something
together. Alternatively, anyone else interested in travelling or
offering up floor space in Kyushu let me know. My door's always open
as well if anyone is wanting to check out Kagoshima.

Peace,
Allen

[Austin Bell]

Hi everyone,

I am also a new ALT living in Akita prefecture. (Yes, I looked up
Kagoshima/Kyushu since my geography of Japan is a little rusty, and
I'm just about as far away as possible) I feel that was pretty much a
trend at orientation as I met some of you at our night out.

Things are going well so far as I'm finally settling into my apartment
and getting everything setup. I am actually lucky enough to have
Internet and a phone, so all I'm waiting on now is the car.

We do have a small representation up in the north of Honshu, so it
would be great if we could organize something as well. I would love
to go to Kyushu, but I don't think I'll be making the trek anytime
soon. For those of you lucky enough to be placed in the frozen tundra
part of Japan, hit me up if you're interested in getting together.

I also remember something about a ski weekend?? That sounds pretty
amazing, and I hope it's true!

Take care all, and hopefully we'll get this group going. Oh! My
floor is also open to travelers...

Take care,
Austin

[Kiwi]

Hi Allen,

Welcome to Kyushu!

...my floor is also welcome to the stranded gaijin traveler. I'd
offer to host an event, but it's a bit of a trek to my little part of
inaka (rural) Japan... I'm a Nagasaki prefectural islander in
Tsushima. It's a ~20000 yen roundtrip airplane ticket out here (~35
min-flight from the Nagasaki or Fukuoka airport) or ~14000 yen for the
roundtrip ferry (only from Fukuoka and either 2 hours or 6 depending
on ferry type).. and my apartment is about a 2-hour drive from the
airport or ferry terminal. In short, it's way out there, and the glbt
scene is non-existant. (Although we do have amazing beaches and some
beautiful mountains... so if people did want to come, there's fabulous
trekking/scuba diving/sea kayaking to be had).

I'd love to come to mainland events, though, if you city folk could
organize informal shindigs ^^

Cheers,
Kim

On Aug 18, 1:50 pm, "Allen J. Phelps" <allena...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Alex]

Hey Everyone,

I am a new ALT as well located in Kumamoto City. I have had internet
for a while now and I just recently got a cell. I would be interested
to see if anyone in the Kyushu area would be up for taking a trip to
Fukuoka, Miyazaki, or another city that we can agree upon. If this
sounds like something you wish to do, let me know! As for the night
life here in KC, there are some clubs that I've heard of, but so far
I've made it to mostly bars, which have been nice. I am lucky to find
myself located centrally, within 10 minutes of downtown by bike with
enough room for guests. This city has plenty to do, lots of different
restaurants, and its gaijin friendly as far as I can tell. Let me know
if you wish to visit the city and need somewhere to crash!

Best,
Alex

On Aug 18, 1:50 pm, "Allen J. Phelps" <allena...@gmail.com> wrote:

[rain_endless]

Hi all,

My name is Amy, and I'm a new JET in Gunma prefecture, north of
Saitama and Tokyo in Honshu. So far, it sounds like we're all really
far apart, but I'm totally up for organizing some larger events we
could get together for. I think it would be great if we made a trip to
Osaka (great queer scene there) or another trip to Nichome. In fact,
it would be fun to seek out the queer scene in places we don't know
about as well.

Here are some big things that happen in Japan every year:
-Naked Man Festival
-Tokyo Pride Parade
-Pride Parades at other large cities such as Osaka and Sapporo
-Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Film Fest (I'm very interested in this one)
-Penis Matsuri
-Vagina Matsuri

I think it would also be great if we could get ahold of Mark
McClellan, premier scholar and writer on the subject of queer issues
in Japan, and ask him to give us a lecture. (For a bio, look here:
http://cccs.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=16143&pid=16337 For an example
of a book he wrote, which I highly recommend, look here:
http://cccs.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=16337&pid=0 )

What do you guys think of these ideas?

I also hope to organize some local-level get-togethers, but so far I
haven't met any queer JETs in my prefecture but one.

[Matthew Barbee]

I just wanted to put my hand in the air and say that I'm in kyuushu
too, miyazaki to be exact. To my knowledge, I'm the only LGBT JET in
my small part of the world. While that affords me some appreciated
anonimity, it would be nice to get together with any of you all
sometime. My place and city is up for hosting an event. Maybe I can
bump heads with Allen and see if something can come together soon.

By the way, my name's Matthew. I was one of the presenters at the
Tokyo Orientation for group B.

pha...@yahoo.com

Matthew Barbee
>