Time: 6:30pm - 9:30pm

Cost: FEW Members ¥2,000 / Guests ¥5,000 (supper and drinks included)

Venue: Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), Yurakucho Denki Building, 20th Floor (map)

Doreen Simmons is one of a couple of dozen people whose interest in sumo has led them to become experts. In her talk in March, she will first give some insights into how she gradually got to know the people and the world of sumo --learning Japanese at the same time! FEW members and guests may gain some useful hints on how to study the Japanese they need -- and how not to! In the second part of her talk, Doreen will give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the live sumo commentaries broadcast by NHK since July 1992.

Doreen is a native of Nottingham, England and has lived and worked in Tokyo for 30 years. For over 25 years, she has lived in Ryogoku, surrounded by sumo stables and located only a few minutes' walk from the Kokugikan, the great sumo arena. Already interested in sumo before she arrived, Doreen has spent large amounts of her own money and much of her spare time on different kinds of sumo activities.

A writer and lecturer on sumo since the mid-'80s, Doreen has been a regular color commentator on NHK's worldwide satellite live English-language sumo broadcasts since September 1992. She was educated at Girton College, Cambridge and was awarded an MA in Classics and Theology, as well as a Cambridge Certificate in Education.

After teaching Classics in high schools in England and Singapore, she came to Tokyo in 1973. At present, she works at the Foreign Press Center, which is a small Japanese foundation assisting foreign media, International Affairs Departments of both House of Representatives and House of Councillors, National Diet of Japan; and Planning/Cooperation Division, National Diet Library.

Doreen has also published widely, with articles appearing in Kansai Time Out, Sumo World and Mainichi Weekly. She has also since 1998 been engaged in writing a post-introductory book on sumo in collaboration with Prof. Hiromi Nema titled "All Your Sumo Questions Answered -- and a Few You Never Thought of Asking."

Contact: few@gol.com

No advance reservation required. Please note this is a women only event.