Japan AIDS Prevention Awareness Network

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Student Writing

In the Season of Cherry Blossoms

by Cherry

Those were the last words, she said.

When he raised his head,
He could see the cherry blossoms through the window.
It was just beautiful.

"I'm sorry that a promise to go to see cherry blossoms together couldn't come true forever."
He burst into tears.

Ten years later...

Now it is the season again.
He is seeing beautiful cherry blossoms.
Through the window from his bed.
But he is not alone.
She is always in his heart.
They are still fighting together against AIDS.
In the Test Room
Minako Takeda
"Next please."

A high school girl came in.
She looked upset.
She began to speak firstly.

"Today I am absent from school.
But my mom thinks I am in school now.
I can not tell a truth that I want to take a test for HIV.
So..."

"Do not worry.
You don't need to tell any information,
even your name."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"So it can be a secret between only you and me.
You can just take a test.
Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay now."
She smiled.

"Now let's begin"

"Next please."

A young man came in.
He looked nervous.
He had no words during taking a test.

After the test,
he asked one thing.

"How much?"
"You don't need to pay money.
You can just take a test."

"Thanks."

He made a little bow.
Then he went out.

Next day

There is a sign board on the wall.

WE DON'T NEED YOUR NAME.
WE DON'T NEED FEES.

YOU CAN JUST TAKE A TEST.
YOU CAN SAVE YOUR PARTNER.

When three students at a Tokyo high school became pregnant over the past year and decided to keep their babies, teachers and officials blamed a hit TV drama involving a 14-year-old middle school student who had a baby. Teachers arranged a lecture by an obstetrician who explained about pregnancy, STDs, and birth control.

"When I surveyed students at a provincial university, about 10 percent of female students in the class said they'd had an abortion," said Hisashi Sekiguchi, a sex education lecturer at Chiba University.

"Many teenagers don't have basic knowledge about, for example, the menstrual cycle and how women become pregnant," Sekiguchi said. "Young Japanese are very vulnerable compared with their counterparts in other industrialized countries."

Six years ago, the number of teenagers having abortions in Kochi Prefecture hit 21.3 per 1,000, far above the national average of 13 per 1,000. Kochi's prefectural government set up a consultation center for young people, called Prink, in a Kochi shopping mall. Open 1-7 p.m. daily except Wednesdays, Prink offers computers, magazines, and private consultations. By the end of the last fiscal year, some 7,000 young people had visited Prink, about 70 percent of them girls. Some 80 percent of consultations were about sex, mainly pregnancy and STDs. In 2005, the number of teenage abortions in Kochi Prefecture had dropped to 15.9 per 1,000.

Aomori Prefecture established a study panel that started peer counseling to combat rising abortion rates and offer information about birth control and avoiding STDs.

Saitama Prefectural University Professor Sachiko Suzuki and colleagues wrote a pamphlet for pregnant teens, made possible by a subsidy from the central government. After distributing 2,000 copies, she was deluged with requests for more.

Surveillance figures announced Wednesday by the Japanese Foundation for AIDS Prevention reveal that Japan experienced a record number of new HIV cases in 2006: 914, an 8.8 percent increase from 2005. In addition, 390 patients received an AIDS diagnosis.
Sex between men was the most common route of transmission. Among the newly infected, men outnumbered women 15 to one.
Despite the spike in new infections, Japan's HIV/AIDS caseload remains low by global standards. According to foundation figures, 13,778 people are known to be HIV-positive among the nation's 127.7 million people.
However, the upward trend puts Japan at odds with most other developed nations, where new HIV infections are decreasing and most new cases are heterosexuals. According to a foundation spokesperson, "This is because Japan is still lagging well behind compared with Europe or the United States" in terms of HIV knowledge and sex education in schools. "There are also cultural factors preventing people from wearing condoms, asking their partners to wear one or having their partners get tested before intercourse."
One bright spot: The number of Japanese presenting for HIV testing in 2006 was up 16.2 percent from 2005, an indication of growing awareness of the virus.

WORKSHEETS by Kathy Riley

Jigsaw reading passages
Public Speaking: A Persuasive Speech

HIV/AIDS Seminar Worksheets
developed by Louise Haynes, director of JAPANetwork and AIDS educator in Japan since 1995.

This 12-week course covers many aspects of the AIDS pandemic, including AIDS in Japan: June 2006, History (World); History (Japan); Discrimination; War, conflicts, rape and HIV; Women, Power and HIV; HIV/AIDS - What is it?; Testing, Treatment, Statistics; STDs & Talking with Your Partner; Sex trafficking;- Poverty, Education, Orphans; Government spending and AIDS

For more information select this link.

Here's a quick teaching idea from Marc Helgesen

Toward the end of class, we have our students make their own ribbons (we bring cloth, scissors and safety pins). We encourage them to wear the homemade ribbon which encourages conversations -- including stuff they have learned!

HIV/AIDS figures as of October 1, 2006 from the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare Web Site at http://api-net.jfap.or.jp/mhw/survey/mhw_survey.htm.
HIV/AIDS Statistics for the period of July - September 2006

Download as Word document

2005 Pairwork Quiz
Download this 1-page worksheet. Have your students practice asking questions about HIV/AIDS info worldwide and in Japan.

What You Should Know: The HIV/AIDS Workbook for the Japanese EFL Classroom
by Louise Haynes

This workbook has PHOTOCOPIABLE worksheets, activity ideas, a teacher's guide for each worksheet, listening activities, and a list of recourses for teachers. The workbook (without listening activites) is available for download FREE at http://www.japanetwork.org/whatyoushouldknow.pdf
Note: If you downloaded or received a copy prior to Dec. 1st, 2004, a corrected copy of "Listening Activity: Masako and Tomomi: Part 1" is available at http://www.japanetwork.org/wysk24.pdf, and updated Teacher's Guide is available at http://www.japanetwork.org/wysk_updates_12_04.pdf. The latest version of the workbook has been updated.

Put it on your calendar...

13th Annual World AIDS Day Parade and Candlelight Memorial

Date: Friday, December 1st, 2008
Quicktime videos of the parade and memorial

Need testing information? Call the Japan HIV Center AIDS Hotline for AIDS information and test center information in your area:

When teaching about AIDS in your classroom, does homophobia rear its head amongst your students? How to deal with homophobia in class? Check out the Rainbow Educators' Network web site for help in how to address gay, lesbian and bisexual issues in the EFL classroom.

The Japan AIDS Prevention Awareness Network site is hosted by Global OnLine Japan. Check the GOL site for information about the variety of services GOL provides.