The Last Post!

Let’s start today’s blog of mine. This is the last post in this year.

First of all, I will write about what this year is like for me. And next, I will write about my plans on Christmas and the New Year’s Day.
In this year, I’ve had a lot of things to do in this class, writing skills class. To tell the truth, it has been hard time for me! Right after this class started, I was always nervous every day and every night. About what I had to do. But gradually I got accustomed to do my homework. Before the summer vacation, I think I had done those things better than spring. During the vacation I had been doing almost nothing to develop my writing skills. So that was not good, I think now. Today, about three months have passed since this term started. I am sure what I had done in the last term is helping me write the last essay for this term. The last essay is exactly difficult for me to write, because I had chosen a little bit confusing story. At first I could not see what the story or the author is saying and wants me to understand. I could not have exact statements. Moreover, there were not so many materials about the story. Even in Wikipedia I could not find useful information. But finally, I could find something which seems to be helpful for me. I think it is sometimes important to find information from an author’s idea or an author’s way of writing. This is what I learned in this class recently. I often try to find materials thinking of only my topic. However sometimes there are not those things which fit my thesis statement. If I am in such a situation, I have to develop my statement by the author’s biography, ideas,way of writing and so on. That sounds hard and actually it is. By thinking of not only my own topic but also those things, I think I can see the story from various points of view. I can find fresh ideas and connect those with my thesis statement more strongly. Like this, I have learned many good things from this class. Actually what I have to do is a really hard task and takes time for me to finish a lot. However, I believe that will help me from now on.


And then, secondly, let me write about how I will spend this short vacation. On Christmas, I will spend with my family and friends. I will help my mother make Christmas cake and dishes. We make it rule to have dinner together. It does not matter whether we have it in our home or in a restaurant. It is important to spend that time together. Usually, my family has dinner in each time almost every day. My sister and brother play sports in clubs in school until night. My father has a lot of work to do until midnight. So we can have dinner together only on holidays. We are not Christians, so we do not celebrate Christ. Our rule may sounds strict, but it is not. We enjoy Christmas in our way. On the New Year’s Day, we will have the first visit of the year to a shrine. And there, we will burn charms we bought last year for the next year. The shrine we go every year is one of the oldest and the most important shrines in my hometown. Many people come from various areas to warship the shrine. So we have to form a line from early morning. Of course outside is really cold and make me want to go to the rest room! Sometimes I want to go there every 30 minutes. But I like that. (I mean not the rest room but to visit the shrine.) After that, I will have rice cake which my grandma will pound. I am really looking forward to that. Rice cake is one of the most favorite foods of mine. This short vacation is surely short, but I want to enjoy myself to be refreshed.




Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year, All!

Funny moment.

Let's start today's blog of mine. This time I will write about what I did last week. On Friday, I went to Saitama to meet my friend. She lives in Saitama and is a student of Saitama University. She is from Akita too. She and I have known each other since we were high school students and we were in the same class. About a month before, we were planning to meet because we had not met for a long time. So I took a train to Saitama and took off the nearest station of her home. The station is exactly "the nearest" station, but, for me, it was not near than I had expected! It took about 20 minutes for us to get to her house by walk. It sounds it does not take so long. But there are many slopes and it was getting darker and darker outside. So I was really tired.
Around her home is really quiet and there are not so many people at night. I liked it. That is a little bit inconvenience. There are few shops we can get some food, drink, clothes and something we need in dairy life. After we got to her home, we noticed that we had not decided what or where to have for dinner. She said there was a family restaurant near her home, so we went to GUSTO. Recently I had not had enough foods. Because of that, I ordered many dishes. Even though GUSTO was just a kind of cheep restaurants, that is obviously true that I could be satisfied so much. I usual have dinner by myself. Having meals by myself is so boring for me. That is why it is really happy for me to have it with friends of mine. I do not need big dinner but delightful and sitisfying dinner. After we finished dinner, we went back home and talk about many things for about 4 hours. I was shocked when I heard that she and her boyfriend had broken up recently. They seemed to be in good relationship. I'm sorry for that.
She was not broken hearted at all but she was complaining about her being single on X'mas. She always say that her dream is to spend X'mas with a boyfriend. I like to spend X'mas with family and some close friends, so I do not cry for my being single. What the funniest thing we talked about was a girl who is one of her club members. E-mails which the girl sends to my friend are always funny, she said. The contents are usual but the way of writing is strange. Though the e-mails are for the girl's friends, the tone is really formal like a speech. The girl never use any face signs and slung. My friend showed me some the mails from the girl. I thought the exchange between my friend and the girl was like one of a boss and a subordinate. It was funny. And then she helped me dye my hair. She also wanted to dye her hair but it is forbidden by a cramming school she works as a teacher. The school is famous for strictness for not only students but also teachers. According to her, there are too many school rules. The teachers have to wear black suit, cannot dye their hair, have to clear pencil cases, have to sharp pencils without any patterns and so on. Everyone who knows that school says the school is one of the strictest schools in Kanto area. When I was a junior high school student I went to the strictest cramming school in my hometown. I hate that school to cry. So what she talked about reminded me of that memory clearly. But what I learned in the cramming school is not a waste of time. So I thought I should have enjoyed more those days. Anyway, I could have a great weekend with my friend.
By the way, I'm going to write about a movie I watched last week. The title of the movie is "Disturbia." There is no meaning of "disturbia" in the dictionary, so I do not know well. But this story is about a high school boy who hit his teacher and is put on his best behavior in his home. Because of that he cannot go out and has a lot of free time. Then he starts to peep the neighborhood. One day a pretty girl moves to his town. He likes her and makes friends with her. She and one of his friends start to peep like him. At first, it is funny and they think it is good to kill free time. But they are going to find a strange thing happening around them.　They are going to see a murder taking place in a house they are peeping!

Friend's house.

Let’s start today’s blog of mine! I will write about my last week.
On last Saturday, I was invited to one of my friends’ house near my house. Including me, there was other friend of mine. One is Ayumi and the other is Akane. Ayumi had a part time job in a department store near my house that day, so Akane and I was waiting for her in the department store for a while. When Ayumi finished her job, she said that she wanted to have Chinese noodle. (It means “Ra-men”.) So we three bought some vegitables and noodle in the store and went to Ayumi’s house. Her room was much bigger than mine! Because she was really tired, I cooked Chinese noodle. It was our dinner. I actually had dinner and took a bath in my house before I went to her house. But I was waiting for a long time and I got hungry again! We ate up noodle and start to talk about our university with each other. Ayumi goes to a university in Tokyo like me and Akane goes to a university in Yokohama. Ayumi likes to play the guitar and belongs to a music club in her university. Sometimes they have some lives in a studio. I want to listen to her playing the guitar. She has a cool guitar. Akane does not belong to any clubs but she likes to go shopping in Yokohama, so she says that she is not so bored in weekend. I also like to go shopping. We promised to go to Harajuku together to get good clothes. We have known each other since we were in high school and we were in the same class. But we could not meet before this summer vacation. Finally we could get together last week. We were excited very much! Of course we stayed up late at night. Haha. We watched videos and talked having a lot of snacks and drinks all night long. I could enjoy myself. It was 2 o’clock am that I went back home. On the next day, they said that they wanted to come to my house, so I invited them. We had “Okonomiyaki” for dinner that day. After dinner, Akane fell asleep and two of us tried to wake her up but it was in vain. She never woke up until next morning! Ayumi and I decided to watch a DVD and enjoyed it. 2 o’clock, we made our beds and slept. It was the first time for me to stay up late at night with my friends. It was really funny moments. Next morning, we went to Mister Doughnuts to have breakfast. They bought some doughnuts for me!
It was a really cold day, so it was lucky we could enter the warm store. We finished the breakfast and said good bye. We are planning to meet again soon.
Next I will write about a store which I went to last weekend. The store’s name is “One coin store”. We can buy anything by 315 yen in the shop! For example, stockings, slippers, towels, kitchen goods, mufflers, gloves, dust boxes, necklaces, rings and so on.
Those things do not seem to be cheap. All of the goods are cute and useful. I got a dust box and a muffler. The dust box is easy to use and the muffler is warm. At first I had a doubt that those things would break easily. But I can use them very much. Those items are basically for young women and colorful, cute and small. So I think men can’t enjoy. This store is located in Ikebukuro station and once introduced on TV. It seems to get famous recently. If you have time, I’ll recommend you to go there. You will like it.
By the way, on this weekend I have a nice plan. I’m going to go to “Machida Squirrels Park” with my friend in university. According to one of my friend, there is nothing but squirrels. It is very “squirrels park.” I like animals and have a dog in my parents’ house. So I miss animals and am really looking forward to see them. I do not know where is Machida, but I will be able to enjoy.

Johannes Vemeer

Let’s start today’s blog of mine! First of all I will write about my favorite magazines.
Recently, I am really into reading magazines from other countries like the U.S and the U.K. Those are called “j-14”, “pop star!” and “TOP OF THE POPS”. “j-14” is one of most popular magazines among teen agers in America. It is written about popular teen idols, popular young singers, gossips of actresses or actors, new movies, new music and embarrassing stories of the readers. I like to know about foreign countries’ popular things. At first, I decided to get those magazines, because I thought those magazine would help me learn English. Of course it is true that those are helping me. But it is rather funny than helpful. If you hear “j-14” you may think that magazine is for the 14 year-old kids. But many teen agers who go to senior high schools are also enjoying that. And then I will introduce “pop star!” It is about pop singers or bands in America. Sometimes there are some feature articles of young celebs, famous singers and popular idols. I especially like those articles. Different from Japanese magazines, there are a lot of funny color pictures, interesting information and so on. Japanese magazines tend to publish and mention about only good sides of the entertainment world. I think it is sometimes boring for us, the readers. So American magazines which like to write what the readers want to know are fresh for me. In addition to that, I can know some slang words. When I communicate with American people, sometimes I cannot understand what their slang mean. I have tried to learn those words through some sites on the internet. But I could not know how to use those very well. American magazines use much slang from point of view of young people. So those are really helpful and interesting for me. By knowing the slang, I can see what people are meaning in American dramas and enjoy those dramas a lot. And then “TOP OF THE POPS”. It is one of the most famous music magazines in the U.K. Until two years ago the TV program of TOP OF THE POPS were broadcasted. But now, there is only magazine. It is written about music all over the world such as new singles or albums, new artists, attractive movies and music scenes in the U.K. Because I was a big fan of “TOP OF THE POPS” (TV program version.), I like to read this magazine. You can get it in HMV. So you should check it out. It is really interesting!
I am thinking to try to read European magazines written in Spanish, French or Italy. I am not sure I can understand those words. But there many popular magazines in Europe and my friend who saw those says that European magazines are colorful and worth reading.
Then I will write about a movie I watched today. The title of the movie is “Girl with a pearl earring”. Do you know an artist named Johannes Vermeer who drew “Girl with a pearl earring”? He and his works are famous all over the world and I also like them. This movie is about him and a girl who is a model of the picture. It is a kind of fiction, but has realistic. In this movie, Vermeer likes a girl named Griet as a model of his works and asks her to help him make paints. She is a servant of him, so she has to accept his request. After a while, the two become fall in love each other. Of course Vermeer’s wife and daughter get angry and say to Griet “Get out of my house!” However, Vermeer and Griet want to complete the picture. Near the completion, he gives her a pearl earring because he thinks the picture is not enough and needs something else. In this scene, he makes a hole in her ear with an awl. She seemed to feel pain. I could not stare at that! At the end, Griet is fired from the house and leaves. When she is about to leave the house, Vermeer gives her that pearl earrings. And they are separated forever. It was sad story, but everything in this movie was beautiful including expressions, clothes and people.

Harajuku!

Today, I will write about where I went today.
I went to Harajuku and Omotesando with my friend. I woke up at 10 o’clock this morning. And then I found my cell phone was calling. It was from my father. On the phone, my father asked me to go to “NIKE shop” in Harajuku. I asked why I had to go.
He answered that he wanted shoes of the newest collection of NIKE in this fall. But I did not know the location of the shop and did not want to go there by only myself. So I asked my friend to come with me. The shop seemed to be open yesterday and there were many young people who wanted to get rare shoes. Because we did not about Harajuku and the shop, we had to walk around Meiji Street for many times and a long time. On the way to the shop, some people who might be students told us how to get there. It was lucky. We went “Cat Street” and finally found “NIKE shop”. We entered the shop and looked around for a few minutes. But we could not find the new shoes. We asked a shop clerk whether I could get the new shoes. He said that the new collection had not arrived at Japan yet and he did not know when those arrive. In NIKE’s HP, there are advertisements of the new collection. So at first I thought I would be able to get those. I was disappointed because though I did not know about Harajuku I took my friend who was tired and managed to go there……
I think if there are not new collections yet they should not advertise about those! I was annoyed very much. Haha! (It is a joke.) But one of shop clerks gave me his visiting card and said that if I send an e-mail to him he tell me when the new shoes come to Japan. So I was convinced and left the shop. After that we entered some shops. In a shop, there were many goods of Halloween. Those goods were funny. Especially What I wanted to try was a mask of vampire!! The mask’s mouth was bloody and had fangs. It was scary but good for Halloween parties. My friend said that she wanted to wear a costume of a witch. Because I have never had Halloween parties I want to hold a big Halloween party someday. It may be interesting.
Next is about strange girls I saw in Harajuku station. When I was waiting for my friend, I found really unbelievable girls. They seemed to be young and come from other county. As you know, in Harajuku, there are many varieties of people. But they were too much! They had pink, orange, yellow, blue, purple and blonde hair. Their clothes were like vinyl and shiny. Colors of their clothes were also pink, orange and purple. They put on black sock in right leg and pink sock in left leg. Different! The most unbelievable things they put on were their shoes. The soles were about 20 centimeters. I felt what is called “culture shock”. But in a sense, it was interesting to wear which nobody seems to wear. And they put on a lot of pierces in their faces. Those pierces were in their noses, cheeks, eyelids, eyebrows and lips. It means they had those things all over their faces!!!! I was scared. I could not help staring at them. Many people were staring them, but they never seemed to care that. I think they have their original cultures. If people like the girls are in my hometown, everybody will be surprised at them. Haha! Anyway, it was…..awful.
By the way, I talked to my grandmother for minutes. According to her, she is gonna have a short trip from tomorrow to the day after tomorrow with her friends. The friends have known with each other for a long time. So they make it rule to have trips every year. When I heard that I thought I wanted to be old soon. Even though they are getting old every year, they have many hobbies. It is great.

News of Korea

Let’s start today’s blog of mine! In these days I have been posting up my blog frequently. 　It is because there are many things I want to write about. Haha!
Firstly, I will write about one of my friends. She lives in Akita and is a university student. At the end of last month, she took part in a big event. It was a girl’s fashion show! The fashion show was held in front of a musical hall. She has long arms and long legs and looks like a half of an American and a Japanese. She likes fashion very much and has a great sense of it. At first, her friend and her seniors were going to perform in the show. But when she heard the news, she got interested in that show. So she asked for her friend and seniors and managed to be allowed to take part in that as one of the models. (I think even though she did not ask, she could do that.) The show’s sponsor was the fashion college of Akita. In the show, she could wear clothes whatever she liked to. But before the show, she had to do some rehearsals with other models. The rehearsals were held in the actual venue. The place was outside of the musical hall, so she said that she was embarrassed. Everyone walking around the place did not know about the show, so they must have thought the girls were strange, because the girls were wearing kinky clothes. This was unusual for other people.
Just before the show, she was saying that she was about to spew out because of too much strain! I heard it and laughed over and over again. But at last, the show succeeded and she was praised by many people. I think she was great. She did it.
From her experience, I think to do something standing out in front of public is wonderful. Actually it needs a lot courage and difficult to achieve. Perhaps I cannot do those things easily. I am shy and often hesitate to do something different. But if we do not want to be the same as everyone, we can change ourselves by trying to do unusual things. It will be a good experience to challenge many things we have not done before. I think it is boring to keep staying usual person until I die. So I think I will try to jump into interesting things!
Secondly, I will write about a Korean train. The train is named “Hearain” and is a sleeper train with a restaurant. Ii is for rich people in Korea and like a blue train in Japan. I saw the train in news on TV. Though it is a sleeper train, all beds in the train are doubled and passengers can have great views from the bed rooms.
When I hear the word, “sleeper trains” I think of the cheapest train. But it is because I am Japanese. In our country, we take a sleeper trains mostly when we do not have money enough to take a usual train. But in Korea, the ways of having fun in trains are changing now. If people take this train they can enjoy their trips more even though it will take a long time for them to get the destination. Actually only rich people can take that, but I think it is interesting innovation. I want to take it someday.
By the way, I have a friend lives in Korea. Of course she is Korean. Can you guess why? I will tell you. When I was a high school student, my high school decided to cooperate with a Korean high school as a sister school. In summer vacation we planned to invite some students from the sister school. Then my school was collecting host families from us. Because I was interested in Korea, I asked my family to accept a Korean student for a day. At first my mother refused, because they did not have confidence to communicate with a foreigner. However I managed to convince her. With a Korean student, I went to many famous places in Akita. It was interesting to talk about Japanese and Korean young people. So I think it is good to be host family of foreigners even though they are not good at English. If we have enthusiasm to communicate with them, they try to understand us!

What happened recently

Let’s start today’s blog of mine! I will write about many things.
Recently, one of the most famous actors in Japan, Ken Ogata died.
He was 71 years old. He had played many roles in many films. The most popular movies he was in are “Zatoichi” and “Gegegeno Kitaro”. Maybe you know, I think.
Almost everyone around him says that he was a great actor. His son, Naoto Ogata, is also an actor and says that his father was really heart full and cool. His son is famous for “Pekin Genjin”. To tell the truth, I have not watched movies which Ken Ogata was in so many. But when I saw him taken interviews I thought he had a sense of humor and know what the acting is. He seemed to be kind to other people and strict to himself. That is why he succeeded in his works. Though he died, everyone always remember him and keep respecting, I think.
Next subject is about my family.
As I said in a blog in last term, my little sister belongs to the volley ball club.
She is in the second grade in junior high school now.
But she has never gotten a particular position and taken part in any competitions.
She had never played volley ball before she entered the junior high school.　And she was not good at playing sports. So she has been practicing every day hard. But her head coach says that she is not tall and may not be able to move fast very much in the court, because she is like a freshman in her team. Since she heard the wards she has been complaining about that. She seems to know how much practice she needs to get the position. But she is not so movable, she is fighting with herself. Moreover, she also knows she should not be absent from practices if she wants to be recognized by the　head coach. Sometimes she says that she wants to quite the club. But I think she will keep making efforts and get her position someday. I hope so.
By the way, I’m crazy about “Myspace”! It is a kind of SNS. SNS is made from three words, Social Network Service. In Myspace, I can have my profile, write my blog, open my favorite pictures to public and make friends with many people from other countries.
Actually I have my “Myspace” and enjoy it very much. Especially I like to post my blog. And I have about 80 friends who not Japan. Some of them leave comments to my blog. I love to see those comments, because they say funny things. I want to make friends with people all over the world. People from other countries tell me about their countries’ popular music, actors, actresses, movies, fashions and so on. There are some favorite bands in England, so I often exchange information about them. Friends in England know well than me. I can always have a fun!! At first, I was afraid of Myspace, because we all do not know about each other in actual life. And I had heard it sometimes could be a site to get illegal encounters. In big countries like U.S.A. ore U.K., some junior high schools, high schools and universities prohibit using Myspace. But if we use it safely we can enjoy many useful functions. I have had many opportunities to communicate with foreigners and learn English. Some people are interested in Japan and ask me to tell about Japanese culture. When I tell them, they get pleased. I think it is one of international and cultural communications. I recommend you to use “Myspace”.
Finally I will introduce one of my favorite bands. The band name is Mcfly. It is from Marty Mcfly in “Back to the Future”. As you know it is an American movie. Because one of the band likes “Back to the Future” they named their band Mcfly. They are all from England and average of them is about 22 years old. They are really young, but really popular in England. When they play music they look so happy. That is why I love them very much. You should check them out!