RE: Yet more answers...

["Joshua A. Reyer" <jreyer@grn.mmtr.or.jp>]

> > To be an supporting member it costs 50,000 yen (about $500US)
> for one year.
>
> If you play your cards right regarding the exchange rate, you can probably
> get this level of membership for about $350-$400, as the Japanese yen
varies
> widely in strength against the dollar.  Is it possible to pay for several
> years of membership at once?  Next time the ex. rate is Y140-$1, I might
buy
> a few years of membership.

I don't know if one can pay for several years at once, but I suppose it's
possible.  Alas, the quirkiness of the global market makes it quite
difficult to predict the next time the yen will make another Susanoumi
bungee jump.

> > If you are the full blast balls to the wall member
>
> Is this a direct translation? ;)  If so, what is the Japanese equivalent
of
> "full blast balls to the wall"? ;)

In this case, "full blast balls to the wall member" comes out in Japanese as
"Sei-kai-in", where "sei" is the kanji meaning "tadashii" (meaning "right,
just, correct").  Kai-in just means "member" (member of an association, if
you wanna get real technical).  In consideration of the astronomical member
dues for the "sei-kai-in" option, I took a bit of poetic license when
translating... :-)

> > Supporting members get to participate in asageiko(!)
>
> Nothing like asageiko at the Hirazuka Wakamatsu Beya Love Club.

And Stephen Messer, in one fell swoop, alters forever how the entire mailing
list will view Asanowaka and Asanosho from now on...

:-)

Josh Reyer

> sjm
>