Jason Packman

👤 Explorations in Self

👤 心への探求

I grew up near the San Francisco Airport. So close our windows shook everytime a 747 came in to land. However, I always dreamed of flying away to somewhere else, going on adventures. Reading science fiction writes like Isaac Asimov and Bruce Sterling and travel writers like Paul Theroux and Joe Kane just whetted my appitite to travel. I finally headed abroad to Japan in 1995. My mom thought I wouldn't like it and never want to leave again. She was wrong on that and now I have spent the majority of my adult life in Japan with no plans to go anywhere else. Some interests have come and gone, but I still like traveling, either far way by train, bus, or ferry, or nearby by bicycle. I've always liked movies, too. Not just streaming movies, but going to movie theaters to watch them, wheher going to the While traveling I check out sites from the Tora-san films. In addition to making many friends because of my interest in Tora-san, I have been on TV here in Japan not once but twice because of Tora-san. I've also always been interested in the sacred and the unseen, whether watching Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers talk myth, exploring shrines and temples around Japan, or going back to attending weekly Mass as a cradle Catholic. I also enjoy checking out churches, temples, shrines as well as locally owned shops and restaurants as well as museums. I was able to do all of that in 2024 on a trip through the Goto Islands during Holy Week. Recently on Sundays you can find me at one of our nearby Catholic Churches for Sunday Mass followed by my Japanese lesson in Machida, as I continue to work towards passing the JLPT level N1.

カリフォルニア州で育ち、ロサンゼルス、シンガポール、小千谷、横浜、ラホヤに住んできました。現在は神奈川県相模原市に拠点を置き、英語教育や翻訳を通じて、言語や文化をつなぐ仕事をしています。趣味は長距離サイクリングと読書です。

🌍 Explorations in Community

🌍 つながりへの探求

I am a member of my local neighorhood association, known as chonaikai in Japanese as well as particpate in a daily, neibourhood rajio taiso. I have also paricipated in encouraging an inclusive society while I lived in Japan. Going back to when I was a participanton the JET programme in the late 1990s in Niigata, I helped organize meetings with the local non-Japanese population, which lead to local Japanese classes as well as a multilingual poster on the rules of garbage collection. More recently, I have paricipated on advisory panels for the Governor of Kanagawa and the City of Sagamihara to discuss issues and propose policies to promote and encourage an inclusive society at the prefectural and municipal level.

2016年から神奈川県国際施策推進懇談会の委員を務め、現在は相模原市で多文化共生の推進に取り組んでいます。地域社会の多様性を支えるための提案を続けています。

💼 Explorations in Practice

💼 営みへの探求

Any time two people get together they are negotiating meaning, whether it is two native speakers of a language or two non native speakers coming from a different background, or it is a reader of a translated text. Teaching to me isn't just providing facts, grammar, vocabulary to my students. It is, instead, creating a space for students to feel comfortable in this process while giving them the tools to successfully communicate.

人が人に会う時、意味の交渉する。ネイティブ・スピーカーとお互いに会話したり、母語話者が違うでも、英語で使ってお互いに会話したり、だれか翻訳したテクストを読むときも、意味の交渉する。教師の仕事は事実、文法、単語に渡すことではなくて、空間に作って交渉をして、相手に意味が同意できるように自信を教えることだと思います。

✍️ Explorations in Voice

✍️ 声への探求

• Personal Blog 個人のブログ
  • A Few Days in Obihiro 帯広の日々（英語）
  • The Shinjuku Seven Lucky Gods Pilgrimage 新宿七福神の巡り（英語）
• Company Blog 会社のブログ
  • Choosing Students the New-Fashioned Way レッスン中で生徒の選びかった　（英語）
  • Occasionally Something Beautiful 時々美しくなり　（英語）

📷 Explorations in Sight

📷 視野への探求

Obihiro, Japan

帯広

Chijimi Yukata, Niigata

新潟市で縮浴衣

Travel memories

旅の思い出

Travel memories

旅の思い出

🌏 Explorations in Space

🌏 空間への探求

• Tokyo National Museum — I went here on my first trip to Tokyo. These days I am a member and go to see the Zen and Buddhist sculpure sections in the main building and the Chinese paintings in Room 8 of the Toyokan several times a year.— 初めて東京に来た時に行った博物館だけど、、今は会員になって、東京でよく楽しんでいる場所です。本館2階の禅コーナーと1階の仏教彫刻、東洋館4階の中国絵画をよく見に行く。
• Another Local Spot — Why you recommend it— なぜおすすめするのか
• A Hidden Gem — What you discovered there— そこで発見したこと

🎧 Explorations in Sound

🎧 響きへの探求

• The Archers — Can't start a day right without knowing what is happening to the folk in Ambridge.— １５分後、あしたが何になるかなと悩んで楽しみ
• Pray As You Go — 15 minutes of Ingatian spirituality everyday— イグナチオの霊性として15分のポッドキャスト
• Folk Forward — Every time I listen to this contemporary folk station from soma fm I end up having one or two new favorite songs.— 現代のアメリカフォークを楽しめるインターネットラジオがいつでも楽しく聞いている。

🔗 Explorations in Text

🔗 言葉への探求

• The Aashi Shinbun — I happily pay for a subscription just for the weekly Aesthetic Portfolio column (Bi no rirekisho)、which focuses on one piece of art being shown somewhere in Japan that week.— 毎週で美の履歴書を喜んで読める。そのため、朝日新聞をうれしく定期購読している。
• Brutus — Started picking up the magazine regularly so I can keep up to date with culture in Japan and worldwide— ずっと前に興味あるテーマがあったら買ったが、最近毎回を買うようになった。なんか、新しい経験を待っている。
• Cricbuzz — Currently following the Caribbean Premier League and looking forward to the Ashes later on this year.— クリケットが興味になってこのサイトがよく読んでいる。今、Caribbean Premier Leagueを見て、秋になるとオーストラリア対イギリスのThe Ashesというシリーズを楽しみにして