親睦会（しんぼくかい）Shin - boku - kai/ 忘年会（ぼうねんかい）

Japaese4all has organized several shinbokukai (a 'let's get to know each other' gathering) and now plans to arrange them on a regular basis.
The meetings are held in a Japanese restaurant and the aim is that students have a chance both to meet each other as well as Japanese people while enjoying Japanese food and drink.
This meeting is strictly for those who are willing to speak just Japanese - in other words no other language should be spoken. To make our shin-boku-kai as useful as possible - and of course enjoyable - students were asked to bring:
(1) a couple of photos that you would like to talk about
(2) a 2-minute self-introduction in Japanese in which you can talk about eg your hobbies and your reasons for studying Japanese so that students have as much chance as possible to talk to different people we also moved round.
Next Shinbokukai will take place sometime in the year 2010.

An evening of Japanese conversation - James

One of the best aspects of my lessons with Udagawa-sensei is that they are one-to-one, so I benefit from intensive and dedicated tuition each week, which is structured to my needs and goals.
But having lessons on my own does mean that I don't usually get to meet any of the other students who are also benefiting in the same way from Udagawa-sensei's teaching. That is one of the reasons why he recently arranged a get-together for his students.


The get-together was called a shin-boku-kai (which, roughly translated, means a party for making new friends). For extra authenticity, it was held in a Japanese restaurant in central London. Udagawa-sensei imposed just one rule on the students who attended the party: they could communicate only in Japanese for the whole evening. To encourage everyone to adhere to this rule, Udagawa-sensei invited, and encouraged his students to invite, native Japanese speakers, who were then strategically interspersed with the students.
The result was that we all had a fantastic opportunity to practise what we had learned in our lessons by engaging, to whatever degree our progress with the language permitted, in conversation with fluent Japanese speakers for an entire evening. Despite some initial reticence, all of the students soon relaxed under the influence of the enthusiastic Japanese guests and a growing party spirit.
Throughout the evening everyone did their best to adhere to Udagawa-sensei's one rule. The experience gave us all a very clear idea of what we have achieved so far in learning Japanese - which was very satisfying - and also of how much we can still improve and learn - which was daunting, but inspiring.


The shin-boku-kai was not the first get-together arranged by Udagawa-sensei for his students. There have previously been a bonenkai (end of year party) and a shin-nenkai (new year party). The format is always the same, with the same rule about speaking only Japanese. Because, after all, that is the main point of the evening - together, of course, with the chance to meet fellow students and to share our experiences of Udagawa-sensei's teaching and the knowledge of the language it has given us.
These parties are always fun, as well as being a rare and very valuable opportunity to practise Japanese conversation with native Japanese speakers in a social setting. I am sure that all of those who went to the shin-boku-kai are looking forward to the next get-together and another occasion to put into practice what we have learned in our lessons with Udagawa-sensei.

Ben - It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening

The Bonenkai was a fantastic opportunity to meet fellow students and celebrate the end of the year.
Udagawa-sensei made sure that there was a native Japanese speaker on each table so that there was ample opportunity to speak and practice Japanese, as well as sampling the excellent food that Tomoe restaurant had to offer.
Everyone was very friendly and talkative and it was good to find out more about other students experiences of Japan.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening and I look forward to the Shinnenkai!

Andrew - The bounenkai was a great opportunity to meet native speakers ...

The bounenkai was a great opportunity to meet native speakers (which is sometimes a hard thing to do outside Japan) and thus be given ample chances to speak in Japanese.
Coupled with eating delicious Japanese food it's a very enjoyable experience.

Dan Munslow- Account Director, Aztec Event Services

I was daunted by the prospect of having to spend a whole evening speaking only japanese.
I was quietly confident as my wife, who is Japanese, would be there to help me.
I had to speak about my self for 2 minutes and brought 2 photographs to talk about.
Udagawa Sensei moved my wife to another table as soon as he could and made sure that i only spoke Japanese.
I have been studying japanese to 2 months now and have learned to read and write hiragana and katakana and have just started to speak a few words! Spending most of the time correcting bad habits.

wedding I enjoyed speaking the little Japanese i know and I could monitor my progress by being able to understand most of the conversations that were happening. There was a good mix of students and native Japanese ready to jump in a correct mistakes or add the odd English word for me!
It was great to meet other students of different abilities.
Very good to practice in a more relaxed atmosphere although i wont be drinking 2 asahi next time as i think that clouded my mind towards the end of the evening.
Good food at Tomoe . Looking forward to the next one. Thanks Udagawa Sensei.
ぼく　の　にほんご　は　まだまだ　です
がんばります
ダン (March, 2009)

Bonen-kai (忘年会）and Shin-boku-kai （親睦会）- Shaun De Boo

Udagawa san has organised several gatherings of his students and their friends in Japanese Restaurants in order to enjoy Japanese food and conversation.
I have found these events a really useful to practise my language skills and also to taste different Japanese food. Some of the guests at the meals have been Japanese friends of students and it is good to be able to discuss every day things with native Japanese speakers.
There is only one rule (日本語だけで　- attendees should speak in Japanese). Actually, it is really important for English students, like me, to speak in Japanese as we have limited opportunities to speak Japanese and so to be able to speak in a friendly and relaxed situation where it is OK to make a mistake is really good.
In fact, today a Japanese colleague told me that my Japanese had improved after attending the shin-boku-kai last weekend. (March, 2009)

Chris Hughes & Vera Rybinova

JapaneseOnlyAlthough we were looking forward to the shin-boku-kai it was also a daunting prospect as Kazuo sensei encourages the party to speak only in Japanese the whole time!
However, soon any feeling of trepidation disappeared as everyone was so friendly and willing to wait while you thought through what you wanted to say. Moreover it was held in an excellent restaurant, so there was much food to share and talk about.
We had all prepared a few simple things to talk about beforehand, which also eased us into the evening, and shortly after the start of the evening we were listening to each others stories and lapping up new words and sentences.
We took away some top advice - to watch lots of Japanese TV! Looking forward to the next one (with only mild apprehension now!)

Thanks for orgainsing the shinbokukai. - Jonathan

It was well-organised and a great chance to make new contacts?as well as?to speak Japanese to new people (both native and non-native speakers)?in a new situation.
I look forward to the next one!
Best regards to everyone.

Enjoyable evening speaking Japanese - Kenichi

I'm Udagawa-sensei's son and went along because I haven't properly spoken in Japanese for a long time now, so I wanted to get some practice.
It was at first, incredibly strange meeting someone for the first time and talking to someone in a foreign language knowing that you could both speak English, but I got into the swing of things and fairly quickly found myself digging around in my brain for those words that had temporarily vanished into the ether.
It was a really valuable evening, and not as tiring as I thought it would be speaking in Japanese for the whole time.
It was really interesting talking to the other guests and I will probably come to the next one too!
One complaint, the Dynamite Sushi really did not live up to its name.

非常に貴重な体験でした - Toyoshima Kun

This is the first time that I attended the Shimbokukai. I found it unusual to have to speak Japanese throughout the evening especially because I live in London so I have to communicate in English.
However, I found it uniquely valuable. I was very surprised to see how fluent/high the level of students' speech/understanding was. This enabled me to enjoy the evening as well.
I look forward to the next one.
今回はじめて親睦会に 参加させていただきました。 普段はできるだけ英語を話すよう心がけているのが、逆に日本語のみというのは奇妙な感じでしたが、非常に貴重な体験でした。 個人的な理由で時間が限られていたため、場が盛り上がってきたところ で離れなければならなかったことだけが悔やまれます。
それにしても実際そこであった方たちの理解度の高さと話し方のスムースさには少なからず驚かされました。 彼らのおかげで楽しいひと時をすごすことができ、また自分ももっとがんばろうという気にさせてもらいました。 お酒が入り少し暴走した感もありますが、そこは慣れない事ということでお許しください。
ジェームズさん、ショーンさんお疲れさまでした。
それと、ジョナサン、ご結婚おめでとうございます。
また次の機会にみなさんとお会いするのを楽しみにしています。
宇田川先生
先日はどうもお疲れ様さまでした。あれだけの人数の集まる会をセッティングするのはさぞかし大変だったと思いますが、その甲斐あって大成功だったのではないでしょうか。

ぼく個人としては、昨年お会いしたショーンさんやジェームズさん、そして今回同じテーブルになったクリスさんやダンさんなど、普段の生活では会う機会の少ないイプの人たちとの会話を十二分に楽しませてもらいました。 食べ物も素晴らしく、ベンやアンドリューらも大満足だったようです。あの値段であれほどのものがだせるとはさすがトモエであり、また先生たちの綿密な計画のたまものかと。クローディアとは少しだけしだけしか話せませんでしたが元気な女の子ですね。
今回も忘年会の企画ご苦労様でした。 先生の企画する集まりはいつもとてもいい刺激になるので、また呼んでください。 では、 Merry Chrsitmas & Happy New Year !

楽しくお話させて頂きました / I really enjoyed talking to these students - Yumi

日本語の親睦会でUdagawa先生の生徒さんとお話させて頂いて　皆さん真面目な方ばかりといいますか、とても一生懸命に日本語を勉強したいという思いが、かなり伝わってきました。 皆さん　日本に興味をもたれています方なので、ある意味日本人みたいなところもあって楽しくお話させて頂きました。
3年ぐらいしか勉強していない方もかなり日本語が話せた事に驚きました。 日本に住んでいるならまだしも　ロンドンで日本語を勉強しているだけでは話す機会がそれほどあるわけでもないに、日本に充分住める実力があると思います。 日本語を話す機会がもっとたくさんあれば、かなりの速さでうまくなる感じがします。
また　宜しくお願い致します。
優美
I had a good opportunity to talk to Udagawa Sensei's students. I understand that they are very hard-working and they have a strong interest in Japanese culture.
I really enjoyed talking to these students from whom I found something common with Japanese people.
I was surprised to realize how well some students could express themselves even though they have learnt Japanese for only around three years. I feel they would be able to survive easily in Japan and they would be able to improve much faster if they had a chance to live there.
I look forward to meeting them again.