Net is gone インタネット 繋げられない

Okay, as of today it is going to become very difficult for me to use the internet around here. The lobby access is going to be gone as of today. So for a while I will not be writing much here.

やれやれ、今日から　ロビーのインタネットを使えなくなります。
だから　とりあえず　あまり　書かないかもしれない

Later.
またね

セッカク.. After all my effort..

Here's what I have been up to.
最近僕がやった事です。
The facts only.
真だけです。

4-A Class
四級Aの授業
My most difficult class's final.
僕の一番難しい授業の期末の試験です。

1.My time spent studying.
2.Contents of the test.
3.My study style:
4.The teachers teaching style.
5. Commentary (to occur after the test comes back)

①勉強する時間。
②試験の中身
③僕の勉強し方
④先生の教え方
⑤解説「試験が返した後書く」

1. My time spent studying:
①勉強する時間。
This is an example of how I study for a difficult final. In my defense I do study as the semester progresses, also. That aside: This is what I did during the three days leading up to the test and the day of the test until the test.
これは僕の難しい期末の試験の普通な勉強し方です。　僕はこの勉強し方以外本当に勉強していますよ。　ところで　次のことは試験の前の三日にしたことです。

A.Saturday From 11:00 until 24:00am I was in the lobbying studying.
Interruptions were: going to the bathroom eating supper and a trip to QQ for foods.
壱。　土曜日　　１１００から２４００まで僕はずっとロビーで勉強しました。　中で　時々　トレイに行ったり　晩御飯を食べたり　９９「QQ」へ食べ物を買いに行ったりしました。

B.Sunday From 13:00 until 19:00 studied grammar.
Yuudai came over and helped me understand the grammar
Interrruptons were: A nabe party in the evening for food, and a trip to QQ.
弐日曜日 １３００から１９００ま　文法を勉強しました。
ユウダイは手伝ってくれました。
途中で　一回　９９「QQ」へ食べ物を買いに行きました。
そして　日曜日の晩で留学生達と鍋パーティをしました。

C.Monday From 16:00 until 1:00am the next day studied.
I slept until1500 then after eating started my studies
By the way, I went to bed at midnight which means I slept for 15 hours straight. (Studying apparently does a number on ones body.)
参月曜日　　１６００から０１００次の日の午前まで勉強しました。
１５００まで寝って　起きてから食べた後勉強するのは始まりした。
ところで　前の日僕は深夜に寝ました。　　「勉強し過ぎて調子が悪くなるみたい」

D.Tuesday woke up at 8:00 Started study about 9:00 after food and a shower. Studied until the test at 12:45. One interruption, it took 20min from the time I left the dorms entrance till I got to the 4th floor of the building I have class in, where I studied until the test.
D.火曜日　８時に朝ご飯を食べたりシャワーに入ったりした後勉強するのは始まりました。１２４５時に試験が始まる前に　ずっとべんきょうしました。　でも 会館の出口から授業の建物の四階まで２０分で走ってから試験まで勉強しました。

Total hours in study in 4 days: Aprox 33 hours.
四日の間で勉強した時間のトータル：３３時間ぐらい

2. Contents of the Test:

②試験の中身

A. A new article. This was a new article entitled: “The most scary thing” 134 lines. Also approximately 20 paragraphs of topic based information with an actual 40+ paragraphs if you count every paragraph separation in the article.

壱．新しい記事が出ました。「いちばん怖いもの」と言う記事　１３４行 そして２０トピック的な段落があったんだけど　記事の段落を分け方で４０段落以上ありました。

B. A new vocab list. Two pages of vocabulary words, two columns, and they are only written once in Kanji and once in Hiragana.

弐．新しい単語リストも出ました。　二枚で二コラムで全部は漢字と平仮名です。

C. The actual 4 page Test. I do not currently have this back yet so I am running from memory. The first two pages were questions about the new article. Questions like What does "insert never before seen grammar/word/phrase" mean? What are you afraid of? and What was the main character afraid of? Choose from the list below and if you are off by one this question is wrong. The last two pages were exactly like past tests except that past tests were only one page long. This means those last pages were all sentences taken from past tests. The third being sentences with words underlined that needed either Kanji written or the already present Kanji's reading. The last page was pieces of grammar that we were expected to create a sentence for each.
参。本当の試験は今の所持っていませんが来週先生が返すからとりあえず記憶を頼りに書いています。　試験は四枚。

最初の二枚は　記事と関係がある質問だけが出しました。

例えば　「不明な事、文法か言葉かセリフ、ここに入れて」の意味は何ですか？　あなたには一番怖いことは何ですか？　筆者には怖いものは何ですか。　したのリストから選んでください。　　一つだけあれば違ったら違います。　

最後の二枚は先の試験達と同じです。　実に先の試験から取った質問ばかりが出しました。　　

D. A one and a half hour time limit.

四．一時間半の時限。

3. My Study Style.
③僕の勉強し方

A.Firstly there were six previous articles in this class and six tests in relation to them if you don’t count the final. I organized these after simplifying their names.

壱．最初に学期で期末の試験以外記事は六つだって普通な試験は六つでした。記事の名前を簡単にした後記事を整理しました。

-くしゃみ(Sneeze) 1 page/枚 8 paragraphs/段落

-Body (Body Language/ボディランゲージ 1 page/枚 9 paragraphs/段落

-飲み会(drinking party）? page/枚 5 paragraphs/段落

(This one I had borrowed from a classmate and hand wrote the entire thing since I lost my copy, この記事はクラスメートから借りてもらったので僕のコピーは僕の手作りでした。)

-冷める(cooling)　1 big page/大きい一枚 17 paragraphs/段落

-Bus (バス) 2 pages of text/二枚の文章 most/最高 21 least/最低 8 paragraphs/段落

-叫ぶ(scream) 3 pages of text/三枚の文章most/最高 35 least/最低 10 paragraphs/段落

Scream has a lot of mini paragraphs that consist of nothing more than “I like you”

叫ぶには「好きだ！」と書いたちちゃいな文章がいっぱいあります。

The final:　Scary, 4 pages.　At most 43 at least 20 paragraphs

期末の試験： 怖い,　四枚　最高４３ 最低２０　段落

Yeah, it’s the longest. はい、一番長いのはですよ。

B.Finding the material I needed to memorize

弐．覚えなければならなかった材料の見つけ方

First, I would take each article and read it. While reading it I write down any words or compounds that I might have trouble with. Thus I had a list of vocab one page front and back for each article.

最初に記事をもう一回読みました。　あまり覚えていない言葉や複合語を書きながら読んでいました。　記事を一つは一枚で前と後ろに集めました。

C.Kanji Memorization

参．漢字覚え方

Then after that I took each page and looked up every Kanji I didn’t know well. I wrote it once, and then wrote down it’s readings. Then I entered the words I still needed to work on into a note book and practiced from that daily. This was done for only one week.

先の事の後よこ知らない漢字をすべて調べました。　その後一回書いて読み方を書きました。　まだよこ知ってない言葉を書き方の練習の本で書いて毎日練習しました。　「これは一週間の間ですよ」

3.The teachers teaching style

③先生の教え方

A.Article distribution

壱．記事の事

In class, we receive an article and a word list for that article. Then we study for it for the about two class periods. The next class after that we have a test which lasts for about fifteen minutes. The rest of that class we start the next article.

授業で記事と単語リストが出ます。　次の二つの授業ぐらいでその記事を勉強しました。次の授業で１５分の時限の試験が出ます。　試験が終わってから次の記事を始まります。　

B. The teacher’s in class teaching style

弐．先生の授業で教え方

Okay, I am still just slowly working on this. The summary for now is that if I failed this class, I am going to be talking to somebody about this. That aside, the speech today went well.

茨 Thorns.

Well guys. I wrote that huge post and then just dropped off the face of the earth, sorry. Karate has started back up. These last few days I was doing my part time job teaching English. Sunday I played soccer with the more actively japanese speaking section of the dorms, and we are going to do a nabe party next week. I started helping out with Shizuoka’s English Speaking Society this monday. The week following my trip was apparently testing week. Also in about 2 weeks I have finals so you might not hear from me much anyway.

やれやれ。。　御免なさい　久し振り何かを書きました。

空手の部活はもう始まった。　昨日と今日英会話のバイトをしていました。　日曜日日本語をよく喋っている人達とサッカーをしました。　来週僕達は　鍋をする予定です。　　今週ESSを手伝うのは始まりました。　旅行を帰ってから試験ばかりだったので　ちょっと　大変でした。　そして　そろそろ　週末の試験があるので　何かを格の時間があるかどうかが分かりません。　御免なさい！

This is my next movie report. Just so that people don’t complain to me, when I watch a movie I am almost always studying something else while watching. Which is the main reason I watch each movie 2 or more times.

僕の次の映画レポート。　参考までに　映画を見ながら　何かを勉強しているから　よく　二回か三回　同じ映画を見ます。

Recently I watched, Trick 1 +2 the movies (there is also a TV series for each), Chakushin Ari 1, and Saikano (actually Saishuu heiki kanojo, Last Weapon Girlfriend).

Trick is basically a series revolving around magician style magic and ousting people who call themselves gods because they can fool the general populace with their “magic.” I really like the series it is really funny and teaches a lot about how to do “magic.”　

トリック。　手品。　偽者神様。　面白い冗談は

ア　イ　タ　イ　　　　横に読んだら　　

イ　マ　カ　ラ　

シ　ス　ラ　ナ　　　　　　　上から下まで読んだら

テ　　　ハ　イ　

面白いね？

Okay, I said I laughed through Chakushin Ari Final… yeah. I didn’t do that for the first in the series, and I am really glad I watched it for the first time in the morning. It’s scary. Maybe not on the level of the Ring or the Grudge (haven’t seen either) but it’s scary. This movie drove me nuts. While the third one killed someone off nearly every 15 minutes, this one killed off 2 people really quickly then left you suspended for the rest of the movie. I still don’t know if the two main characters are really alive or not. Yeesh.

着信あり　一番目は　怖い！！！！　それだけ。

Saikano. Before I begin I must report that the main character in this movie looks somewhat like my tutor, so it was weird watching the movie. This movie is based off of the manga and an anime exists. The story is high school guy falls in love with high school girl who turns out to be mostly machine. In fact she is a weapon. The last weapon able to defend the earth. I won’t tell you how it ends but the story is a SAD love story. Not sad in the sense that it was badly made, but that it set out to be a tear jerker to the very end. Oh yeah and unlike chakushin ari 1, nearly everyone does die.

最終兵器彼女. 日本人だったら　聞いた事あると思うけど　悲しい映画。　

Tuesday this week I had a presentation on International studies. Here’s the jist of it:

今週のは　国際の授業の為に英語のスピーチをしました。　ちょっと御免なさい英語だけ　あります：

Chapter 6 English Version (5 日本語)　日本への疑問　The Japanese Question.

Title: The Struggle to Reorient Japanese Purpose

The main focus of this chapter is Nakasone Yasuhiro’s (中曽根康弘) time as Prime Minister and his efforts to redirect Japan’s future onto a path separate from the Yoshida doctrine (吉田ドクトリン).

Nakasone entered office with this motto; “to settle all accounts on postwar political issues (戦後政治の総決算).” This motto was the summit of his political career. His political actions in the years leading up to his election revealed his position as a political nationalist.

- A 7000 word essay to Macarthur (マッカーサー) at the time of the Dulles (ダレス)-Yoshida negotiations concerning constitutional amendment and independent defense. (Mostly ignored by Macarthur but it was a bold maneuver considering Nakasone was about half Yoshida’s age.)

-During his role as director-general of the Japanese Defense Agency (防衛庁長官) from 1970 to 1971 he advocated a more autonomous defense (自主防衛) for Japan. Again little came of his efforts due mostly in part to his short term in office (18months).

-Just before his election in 1982 he wrote an article expressing his distaste for the Yoshida doctrine and his goal to transcend the San Francisco System (サンフランシスコ体制).

With the political failure of Suzuki (鈴木) and Nationalist mood of the 1980’s, the political climate in 1982 was ideal for the rise of the maverick Nakasone to that of Prime Minister. Following his election a man by the name of Koyama (香山) wrote of Japan’s need for a Grand Design. This man’s influence helped to push Nakasone out of simple nationalism and into a broader, nationally advantageous sense for the future.

The three key characteristics that set Nakasone’s approach apart from those who came before him are as follows:

1. A top-down style emphasizing his role as leader.

2. Use of the limits of his foreign policy power to the maximum advantage.

3. Use of a high number of self appointed private councils to help promote his own ideals, and special effort to influence the composition of official councils too.

During his reign he had a grand design to reorient Japan’s future. The book conveniently separates his grand design’s goals into four key parts:

1. Japan would no longer be a follower nation.

-Nakasone believed that while Japan would be the world leaders technologically, economically and scientifically, a widely held notion, it was necessary to be leaders politically as well.

-The information society (情報化社会) was a topic he often dwelled on as the basis for Japan becoming world leaders.

2. Japan would be prepared for global leadership.

-His means for this goal was to essentially retool major Japanese institutions to function properly in the international world. I.e. an International State (国際国家)

-As influenced by his years with the Administration Reform Commission (臨調) he sought a liberalization of these institutions.

-At a summit with the USA concerning trade deficits in 1986 using a council he hand-picked Nakasone released what was labeled the “maekawa report (前川).” The report entailed a vague list of actions to be taken to reform Japan’s economy

-A second maekawa report was filed the following year with a slight expansion on its propositions. However, both emphasized changes in Japan’s economic structure to better suit international expectations.

3. A new liberal nationalism would be based in the country’s national interests.

-Rather than reverting back to a prewar nationalism, Nakasone sought a way to form a new forward-looking, international, and self confident Japanese.

-To achieve a general change in the national consciousness Nakasone set about reworking Japan’s education system. Using yet another hand picked council he tried to bypass the Ministry of Education to initiate his changes. However, due to compromises made during the process it looked like little would come of his efforts in that area.

-To help Japanese to be more international, Nakasone understood that the schools would need to be more open to international influences. In short, he tried to remove obstacles to the hiring of foreign teachers and integration of foreign students into schools.

-Nakasone believed that Japanese self-confidence would stem from history and tradition. Thereby he took a radical step in yet again using a hand picked council to make a trip to the Yasukuni shrine in 1985(40 years after the war) constitutional. Even his own picked group couldn’t reach a conclusion and in the end issued a vague report implying a consensus. His trip to the Yasukuni had disastrous results, and due to riots in China and Korea he absented himself from the shrine the following year.

-Despite having a new kind of nationalism, one based in Japan’s national interest and not inferiority, even Nakasone was prone to old habits of thought. For example, in a LDP seminar in Shizuoka, 1986, he boasted about the achievements of Japan from a homogenous perspective. He later apologized for the action, but it just goes to show how hard changing the ideals of a nation is when even the advocate is having difficulties.

4. Japan would assume an active role in global strategic affairs.

-For this very controversial goal, Nakisone attempted to remove the passive political image of Japan by making frequent strategic affairs based trips to other nations. This included a surprise trip to Seoul to acquire financial aid for the defense of Japan.

-In dialogue with the America, he even went so far as to make commitments far beyond Japan’s National Defense budget of 1%.

-He also made an attempt to increase the National Defense budget, and while he technically did succeed it was a marginal increase of four thousandths.

Nakasone was only partially successful in his goals for Japan’s future. The majority of his tangible successes were minor while they were quite symbolic. He broke the 1% ceiling set up by the Yoshida doctrine, challenged the psychological background of the doctrine, and left Japan with a more active role politically with its allies. Also, as a side note, Koyama who had influenced him onto a more global path wrote an article in 1985 that expressed an essential antithesis for all that Nakasone sought to change.

End. 終

If you read through that, good for you! If you didn’t, well that’s okay too. It’s really not all that interesting anyway unless you wanted to know about what was going on in Japan politically in the 1980s…

本当に全部を読んだ人達、感謝しています。　読まなかったら　いいんですよ。　本当にそんな面白くないと思うけど　政治の興味があったら　一九八○で　日本の歴史と関係があることと書きましたよ。

One final thing. I think I said above that I have finals in two week. That is not true. I just found out I have one week to prepare for my hardest final 4-C. Japanese grammar and Kanji for level 4 students. I am level 3 taking a level 4 class. ONE WEEK IS NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! However, I will try my best!

最後の事。　終末の試験は後二週間と書きましたね。　本当じゃないです。　今日先生は僕達に知らせました。後一週間、　四級C「文法と漢字の授業です」の週末の試験があります。僕は三級だけど四級の授業を二つを取っています。　一番難しいのは五級です。　一週間は十分じゃないんですよ！　だけど　頑張ります！　

Later! 又ね！

Okay, I really wrote this Tuesday but It has taken me until now to finish and post it. I really didn’t finish. I wanted to but I must study.

ちょっと　ブログを書くのは休憩を取っています。　来週の火曜日　最初の終末の試験があるからです。　勉強しなければなりません。　御免なさい！！

Short P.S. I spent an hour doing maintenance on my bike and now it runs smoother and better. Then on the way home the next day, it rained.

僕の自転車を。。。洗った？　直した？　なんと言えばいいかな。。　でも　もっと　早く走るようになって来ました。 次の日帰っている時雨が降っていた。。

参、弐、壱：行こう！ 3,2,1:Let's go!

Happy New Year!

あけましておめでとうございます！

Merry Christmas!

メリークリスマス！

I know I already said those but this is going to be a really long post about what I did the week following the 1st of the year. Okay?

もうそのことを言ったんだけどこの御正月の後のポストは凄く長くなると思います。　いいですか？

New Year’s Eve, I hung out with Takeshi, his girlfriend, Christene, Diana, and Nick. We went out and ate. Then parting with Takeshi and his girlfriend we joined up with some of the Germans and went to a bar.　I had a Guinness. You know, being Irish and all.

正月の晩、　たけしとたけしの彼女とクリと美妃と一緒に遊びました。　食べてからたけしとたけしの彼女を分けました。　ドイツ人たちと居酒屋に行きました。　居酒屋で　僕はGuinnessをはじめて飲みました。　家族はアイルランドと関係が有るんだからです。

Before midnight we stopped at a local shrine and had soba and amazake (the dregs from when they make sake). It was awesome, the group of guys there was really cool.

深夜の前に　近い神社で止まりました。　　そばを食べたり甘酒を飲んだりしました。 神社にいた人達は凄く面白かったです。

The first of the year we met with Nick, Takeshi and his girlfriend, Kumiko, Diana, Yudai, Takuma, David, Misato, and Ramu. Together, we went to a shrine again. Besides the usual, mikuji (fortunetelling), tying up the mikuji for luck, ringing the bell, and clapping, David and I got a koi mikuji charm (love fortune charm) because it would be funny. I was hoping for a black heart because it would have been cool, but we both got pink.

御正月の日　ニックとたけしとたけしの彼女とクミコと美妃とユウダイとタクマとデビッドとミサトとラムに会ってから　もう一回神社に行きました。　普通のこと以外　デビッドと一緒に　恋の御籤（みくじ）のcharmを手に入れました。　実に僕は　かっこいいので黒のはをほしかったんだけどデビッドと僕はピンクのが出ました。

Also, thanks to Misato, I had ozeni, a traditional Japanese New Year’s food with mochi. I hear people die from it each year, which is think is possible if you try and put that un-chewable mochi ball in your mouth at once.

そして,　みさとのおかげで、おぜにを食べました。　毎年　その食べ物のせい人が死んだそうです。　　全部一口で食べたらそれはそうだと思います。　

Starting the second I did a little traveling. In an unusual way. I used a ticket called the Seishun 18. I went to Fukuyama, Hiroshima, and Shimane. Now if you were Japanese you just jumped when I said Shimane, because while the other two are cities, shimane is like saying you went to Iowa, or some other completely countryside place(except in Japan).

普通じゃない生き方を使って　旅行しました。　青春十八切符を使いました。

はい、島根に行きましたよ。　

Cultural note:

Bathroom maps! It would seem that all the major stations are under some level of construction and that the maps for the bathrooms are increasing or something. Every station I stopped in had those maps. Interesting

文化：

御手洗いの地図！　大きい駅のは　ちょっと　工業がありそうですから　トレイの地図が増えています。　僕が止まってトレイを使った駅で全部地図が持っていました。興味深い。。　

I spent the first day of the trip on a train. I left home about six in the morning and boarded a train in Shizuoka and headed for Fukuyama. 11 hours later… I arrived. Okay, the original goal was Fukyama, but I on the way I was contacted by Ouji who was temporarily in Okayama. I met up with him and Yuka and four other people I met for the first time. From there we, Ouji, Yuka and I went to Fukuyama. Dinner was really cool, we had a special kind of tea that blooms, literally, when it’s ready.

最初の日は電車で走っていました。　朝で六時　いきました。　静岡から福山まで走った。　　あと十一時間　到着でした。　 いや。本当に岡山に行きました。　途中にその時岡山にいた友達が連絡したわけです。 有香と王子と僕は岡山から福山まで行きました。　夕御飯で特別の花が咲くお茶を飲みました。

Cultural note:

Platform passes!! We got these passes that allowed us to go to the platform so we could see Yuka off. I didn’t even know they existed but it’s cool to know.

文化：

やっぱり説明をし易くてなったら　見送るようになれるチケットです。

After staying up most of the night we saw Yuka off in the early morning, barely. After seeing her off we went back “home” and everyone slept most of the day away, but that afternoon we went to the top of a mountain and saw a lot of the surrounding area. The scenery is really cool when seen from a high place. Also, they showed us a beach where they said they used to take Yuka when she was little.

ぎりぎり　次の朝早い　有香を見送りました。　見送ってから　皆　寝てしまいました。　皆が起きてから　近い山の頂に行きました。　やっぱり高いところから景色は凄く綺麗！ 両親はユカの子供のころによこ連れて行った岸に見せてくれました。

We ate lunch with Yuka’s grandparents, which consisted of real tea ceremony and a whole lot of other fun things.

ユカのおばあさんとおじいさんと御飯を食べました。　楽しかったです。

Cultural note:　

Yuka’s father showed me Japanese armor, and let me touch it!! I was really surprised because it seems almost inpenetrable. All the areas that look like cloth are really chain mail with solid metal beads put in the middle of each link and then wrapped in a very breathable cloth. Random, he also had a replica spanish armor. He had to break the sword that was with it because of the no weapon law in Japan.

文化：

ユカのお父さんは日本のよろいを見せて下さりました。　凄くビックリしてしまいました。　空き通す事出来ないと思います。　そしてスペインのよろいも持っていました。 でも武器を持ち禁止の規則だからお父さんはスペインよろいの刀が壊しました。　

Ouji and I stayed overnight with the Yuka’s parents and slept in the next day. After doing some more contacting of friends in Hiroshima, we ate at Mossburger with with Yuka’s parents. From there we went to Hiroshima, where we eventually met up with Mariko at the station. She helped us get to the hotel that Yuka’s parents had helped us pick out. After checking in, we soon met up with kishi and went to out to eat. After that we went and did karaoke for an hour at a place called Billy the Kid.

王子と僕はもう一泊ユカの両親の家に泊まりました。　広島にいる友達にもっと連絡してからMossburgerでユカの両親と一緒にたべました。 その後広島へ行って広島駅でマリコに落ち合いました。床の両親が見つけるのを手伝ってくれたホテルを見せてくれました。チェックインした後　きっしとまりこと　居酒屋へ食べに行きました。　そのあとカラオケをしました。

The next day we got up late and joined Natsumi, Emi, and Yuu for lunch. It was really a lot of fun getting to see them again. We did Purikura with them. Then we went and met up with Yoko, Miyuki, Yui and Manami at Starbucks. Yoko and Miyuki left us and we were joined by Eri and Tomomi, while Ouji and I were shooting things at an arcade. With that group we also did Purikura. Then as we were eating Supper with them at a “don” place (bowls of stuff) Mariko joined us. Because the rest of them had to head home before the last trains, we went and did karaoke with just mariko. It was fine though because it gave ouji and I a chance to test out songs we had no confidence in. After a long day of play we went back to the hotel and crashed.

翌日遅く起きてナツミとエミとユウと昼ごはんを食べました。　久しぶりだから　楽しんでいました。ぷリくらの後王子と僕はスタバで　ヨコとミユキとユイとマナミに会いました。　ゲームセンターで王子と僕はシューティングゲームで何かを撃った後　ヨコとミユキが　そのグループともぷリくらをしました。　皆と丼を食べました。　皆は最後の電車に行く前に行かなければなりませんでしたから　皆と別れたんだけど　マリコと　三時間ぐらいカラオケをしました。。。そのあと勿論　ホテルへ戻ってから　寝てしまいました。

The next day, besides sleeping we hung out with Emi. We went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial and saw the atomic bomb dome, the eternal flame, and Sadako’s memorial.

次の日寝る以外　エミと遊びました。 僕達は広島の原爆ドームやサダコメモリアルやいつも燃えている火を見に行きました。

Cultural note:

Purikura are little photos that you take by getting in a booth. It’s more of a girl thing, but if a guy is brought to do it apparently it is okay. However, if only guys went, that would be really weird.

文化：

ぷりくらは小さな写真を取っているブースです。　女のことだと思うけど　女は男の人を連れて行ったらいいと思います。　でも　男だけ言ったら　凄く変です。

In the afternoon, after accidentally going to the train station instead of the bus station we boarded a bus for shimane. After about three hours of enjoying the scenery and sleeping we arrived in Ikemura and met up with Ayaka and her mother. We had inoshishi(wild boar?pig?) with them in shabu-shabu style. Inoshishi is the animal for this year. Also we had Ayu a kind of fish, that we were given whole. It was good.

昼で最初にちょっと間違えました。　駅まで行ったんだけどバススティションに行くつもりでした。　その後益田行きのバスに乗りました。　景色を見たり寝たり過ごした三時間の後到着して　アヤカとお母さんに会いました。　晩御飯はしゃぶしゃぶのいのししを食べました。　今年の動物ですね。 鮎も食べました。　美味しかったです。

Cultural note:

A little off topic but this is about the way you ride a bus in Japan. You get on you take a ticket. When you get off the number on the board that matches your ticket shows the cost. You drop the change and the ticket in the thing and get off. That’s all.

文化：

ところで日本でバスの乗り方についてです。　乗る時チケットを取ります。　チケットに番号と書きました。　　。。。あ、そう　日本語が読めたら皆はもう知っているね。。

I stayed up until about 1 in the morning and chatted with Ayaka, Hitomi, and their mother. It was a lot of fun! She showed me raw cotton and a fresh yuzu(something like a lemon but different).

深夜までアヤカと姉さんとお母さん話して寝ました。　凄く楽しかった。綿とゆずを見せてくれました。

Cultural note:

I think that Shimane is really pretty. Okay, so that's not cultural but...It has a lot of mountains and is mainly made up of farms. Japanese farms are a lot closer that American farms. The gap between one farm house and the next is really big in America. About 2 miles or so I think. Also, Japanese farmland doesn’t seem to have any empty space, its all used. America on the other hand, spaces between buildings on farms are almost big enough for a Japanese field.

文化：

僕にとって島根は綺麗です。　それは文化と関係が無いんだけど。。。沢山の山があってほとんど農場です。　でも日本風に農場のほう亜米利加風により近いです。　亜米利加には農場の家と農場の家の間はとても大きいです。　２-３キロメートルぐらいと思います。　そして日本の農場は空いている土があまりなさそうです。　亜米利加では　時々使っていない土があります。　

The next day, we got the tour of some attractions in Shimane. First, we went to their grandmothers restaurant and had tea. Then we saw a really old storehouse, visited a really old catholic church, and walked up to a shrine. After that we went and saw washi(literally japanese paper) making place.

次の日島根でツアーしました。　最初にアヤカのおばあさんのレストランへお茶を飲みに行きました。　その後とても古い倉敷を見たりとても古いカトリック教会を見たり神社まで歩いていたりしました。 それから和紙を作っている店に行きました。

Cultural note:

Maybe I should call this the gadgetry note… This little light thing has a fan on it with brushes on the back. When the wind blows it gets cleaned.

文化：

多分これはがジェットノート。。　この光の事は自己浄化できます。　

Another Cultural note!

Look, it’s a vending machine! While you wait, it makes it hot for you too! That’s really all I wanted to say about this. Also, it was really good.

別の文化！

見て自動販売機ですよ！ 待っていたら食べ物を暖かくなります。　それだけ言いたかったんです。 そして　美味しかったです。

This picture is of the snow that we saw on our way back to Hiroshima from Shimane. There was a possiblity that we couldn’t go by bus back because of the snow, but we could.

この写真は島根から広島まで帰っている途中に見ました。　雪がいっぱい降っていたからバスで帰られない可能性があったんだけどバスで帰りました。

Last thing about the trip, Ouji and I made the trip from Hiroshima all the way back to Shizuoka by the normal trains. It took more than thirteen hours but cost us barely anything because of the seishun 18 ticket. 　Yay!

最後の旅行と関係があることは王子と僕は広島から静岡まで普通な列車で帰ってきました。　十三時間以上かかりましたけど　青春十八切符を使ったので安くなりました。

Not importatant but I found out that I actually saw Chaku (chawk) shin (sheen) Ari(are-ee) Final, which is the third one. There are two others and I will probably watch them both soon.

意味が無いけど。。本当に着信ありFinalを見たんだから他の二つをそろそろ見るかもしれません。

Later ya’ll! じゃまたね！

百合「ゆり」 Lily

Hey this is to wish all of you a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

皆さん！　　あけましておめでとうございます！！！

I took this picture just yesterday and thought that everyone needed to see it! There was a single white lily blooming among the bikes in front of the dorms. I think it is very interesting and very pretty!

昨日子の写真を撮った。　寮の前の駐車場で一つのLilyと言う花のタイプが　咲いた。　　凄く面白くて綺麗だと思う！　

　

Just so you now that I did stuff to celebrate New Years Day, I went out with some friends in the afternoon and then went somewhere else after that and as the evening drew on and midnight approached we stopped by a Shinto Shrine to see how Japanese celebrate New Years. We got some free soba and amazake (the dregs of the sake making process) out of it. YAY!

ね。　そして　昨日の晩神社に行った。　　凄く面白かった

For now I think that is all because I will be in Hiroshima soon...
とりあえずこれだけでいいとおもいます。　僕はそろそろ広島へ行くから。。。

LATER! またね！

朝霞 「ちょうか」 Morning Mist

Well, more has happened yet again. 世界の終末はまだ遠い

Things of note this time:　　　今度の面白い事は

This is the reason for the title.

この霞は　タイトルの意味

Mass in Japanese around Christmas Time:

It's in Japanese, I think is about the only real difference. They even brought out the incense for Christmas. They had a Nativity set up too. The difference was after mass. Normally their might be some kind of celebration but this time it was very Japanese in stlyle. They gave us packages with candy in them and also we could sit down and have some Tonkotsu(a kind of soup). I really enjoyed that.

日本語のミサは　英語のとまったく同じ。。　　ミサの後は　豚骨があったんだけど。。　それだけ　変わった。

Christmas Day:
After staying up until just after midnight to officially celebrate Christmas I went to bed and then during the day.... umm, can anyone say "staying in ones room all day"? I probably should because the one time I came out in the evening got locked out while up on the roof. I didn't bring my cell phone up that time so I couldn't contact anyone and the lights were off in the kitchen, but worst of all it had started to rain... so, I found the fire escape and jumped a story down to get off the roof... yeah it was really interesting. I hope that doesn't happen again, but now I know that there is a way I can get off the roof uninjured, yeah and I am always bringing the cell with me now anywhere I go.... Although the day I have to email someone to say I am stuck on the roof will be quite embarrasing, I think.

クリスマスイブに　ぼくは　友達達と　深夜まで　飲みながら　話した。　　そのあと　メリークリスマス！　と言ってから寝に部屋に戻った。　　　次の日　 僕は　ずっと　部屋で　ファイナルファンタジーXIIのゲームをしているところだった。　　でも　晩では　面白い話が　ある。　　　僕は　屋上へ上がった んだけど　下がっている時　ドアを開けられなかった、　誰かは　いつの間にか　ドアが鍵を掛けた。　　雨が降って始まったし　もう夜だし　台所で　電気は もう消したし　他の下がり方を捜した。　屋根から非常階段に飛び降りた。。　　そんなこと　もう一回　ちょっと　したくないけど　ちょっと　したい。　　 まだは　飛び降りなければならないこと　凄くしたくないけど　やっぱり　ちょっと楽しかったから　。。。

One other thing about Christmas. Here is a picture, but just so everyone knows that I was celebrating Christmas in my own way. I had a glass of Soymilk, karaage(think Japanese McNuggets!) with broccoli, and a bowl of nata de coco, while playing Final Fantasy 12 and watching The Muppet Christmas Carol! :)

クリスマスの日の写真。　　豆乳「ミルクのアレルギーがあるけん」とから揚げとブロコリとナタデココを食べながら　ファイナルファンタジーXIIをやりながら　Muppet　Christmas　Carolと言う映画を見た。　　いいクリスマスと思う。　：）

Hamamatsu, My first Trip there:
I went to Hamamatsu to see some friends and we ended up spending the afternoon bowling and the evening at an Izakaya. Well, almost until morning too. It was a lot of fun singing Karaoke with them. The main bulk of the group was from the Shizuoka Summer tour last year. Okay so I haven't said the most interesting part. We all walked from the Train Station (駅) to the Izakaya in basically Typhoon weather. We were mostly drenched by the time we got there too. Not to mentioned my umbrella was destroyed by the wind, and I think that happened to some of the others too. But we made it, it was an awesome feeling.

浜松へ行った！　友達達と　駅から　居酒屋まで　台風で　歩いた。　　僕の傘は　壊れた。　でもね　楽しかった。。。　：）

Movie Watching!!!
Umm, yeah this isn't all that significant really but....
I went to Tsutaya on a whim and was going to rent CD that they didn't end up having. I had been looking for the band "Nobody knows" because I like their song called こころおどり（Heart dance?). However, while I was searching I was attacked by some movies.... I had fun trying to convince that guy there that I knew what I was talking about. I told him I wanted to rent the movies for 1 day, especially since it was already 5 in the afternoon. I think I had to repeat it twice. Oh well.
風の谷のナウシカ
For those of you who can't read that title it is Nausicaa Valley of the Wind. It's a Hayao Miyazaki Movie. I actually watched it twice and would have to say it is a very good movie. Although the story is a little excessively nature oriented as is true to most Miyazaki movies. I would reccommend this movie to almost anyone.

風の谷のナウシカ。。　いい映画。　それだけで十分と思う、　僕は　みやざきの映画が　好きだから。

着信あり
Yeah... You have an email（to your cell phone!!)... that's the rough meaning of the title. It's a pretty sad horror movie. Sad as in not made well. You know, a horror where almost everyone dies. I don't recommend wasting your time or money on this one. I think I was laughing through most of it.... which was mostly because of the overbearing seriousness expressions on the characters. The basic story is an over bullied high school girl unsucsessfully tries to kill herself, and while her body is in a unconcious state at the hospital she exacts revenge on her class by means of a cursed phone. A phone that is linked a little girl who was killed by her sister... lovely story. The phone sends a message out to whoever is chosen and they get a message from an unknown sender with the message:
転送すればシナナイ(If transfer this message you won't die.)

Basically if you don't send it, you die, but if you do the person you sent it to dies. So you can either die, or kill one of your classmates.... yuck.
What makes it really weird is that all the students have rental phones and are on trip in Korea, I think. While the killer is in Japan still. Why am I explaining this in detail.... okay next movie. Wait, that's all for now.

この映画は。。。　見たほうがいいかどうかが分からないけど　面白かった。　　　説明は難しいけど　転送すればシナナイ　のEメールを受けたら　転送しな かったら　死ぬ。　でも　転送したら　受けた人は　死ぬ、　君の代わり。　　弱肉強食じゃない　この映画の殺人は　最初に　自殺してみたけど失敗した、　 まだ生きていたのに　意識が無かった。　ずっと　寝ている時　高校生のクラスメートたちを　呪いケイタイで　殺した。。。　怖いね？　　じゃない。。。　 僕は　笑いながら　見た。。。　

Finally!!! I need to properly thank my parents for the DS, and the friend who transported it. THANKS!! I acquired the 漢検(Kanji Shiken, Kanji test) game and have already spent way too many hours tinkering with it. That was mostly what I did the 27+28, even while watching movies, inbetween researching stuff for my trip to Hiroshima, and the when not doing normal studies.

最後のことは　家族に感謝している　亜米利加から持ってきた友達にも。　　　漢字試験の為のゲームを買った！！！　　　よく　やっている。。。　：）

Life goes on in an unending cycle. 命が永遠に続けている。

Later　　またね！

Wait did you think that was all??? それだけと思った？　もっとあるよ。

Time for Cultural stuff, besides you know just having fun I observe things.
The first thing is a sign outside the bathrooms at the Station in Hamamatsu. Even my Japanese friends think that this is really weird, but there was a map of the bathroom. Yes, I confirmed there were that many stalls in the men's bathroom. Not sure about the women's but that is beside the point. "Oh, remember if you get lost in the bathroom step outside and check the map???" Yeah... strange.　　　Okay, seriously though it is probably for the blind because of the amount of braille it had on it.

文化の関係がある時間！　　浜松の駅では　トレイの外の壁に　トレイの地図が見つけた！　　僕の日本人の友達によると　そんなことは凄く変。　　調べたん だけど　地図は正しかった。。　やっぱりね。　　”迷ったら　トレイの外の地図を調べてくれ。”　　うける。　　でもね　本当に　見えない人たちの為に置 いたと思っている。　　　　　　　

I think that is all for now. とりあえずのは　それだけでいいね？

忘年会 Bounenkai

Where, Oh, where has the time gone?
It has actually been a few days since I posted anything. Right?

Lets see...
Fridays Lesson: My Neighbor Totoro(トナリノトトロ). Yeah, instead of doing anything our teacher let us watch that movie without subtitles. Yeah that's all I wanted to say about that.

Haircut: The guys really coool!!! I also finally got my haircut after, what? I guess about 3 months... yeah. Okay, back to the guy. He actually chatted with me the entire time he was cutting my hair, which he did by means of only a pair of scissors and a comb. You know how they occasionally show the over expressive artist as having his or her whole body move along with the actions being performed be they painting, hair dressing or whatever. Well, this guy did that as he was cutting my hair. It's not like the person is just standing there and casually doing the job. He had every part of himself in it. Despite that he would occasianally chat with me but his eyes never strayed from his project. That was awesome, but at the same time could be an example of his extremist trait. Hmm.

Classical Concert: Takuma invited us to a classical concert consisting of members from school. One of his friends was in the concert. The music was awesome. I don't have too many words for it, mostly because I forgot to get a program. I also can't name any of the songs except one; t=0. It was the intro to one of the coolest songs I have ever heard. It was really long but it was supposed to be a representation of the universe. "t=0" was the intro, but it was really unique because it occurred before the conductor appeared. True to it's calculus based, time equals zero meaning. Before anything occurred or any action happened. The "t=0" part consisted of mostly darkness, no conductor and all the players start out at the same time building to a crescendo and then falling back to silence. Then the conductor came out as the lights lit up and the next movement let up to a real crescendo that was called the big bang. Then it progressed through time. It was really cool!
For an encore at the concert they did Christmas songs, or should I say a medly of them. That was funny because they all put hats on that looked like santa hats. Plus the conductor got really animated during that part. :)

Gusto (ガスと): This a restaurant chain that Justin introduced me and Ouji to. For 180en you can attach an all you want to drink drink bar option. Also, they have this thing called a Hamburg. No, it is not a hamburger. It is more like meatloaf in the shape of a hamburger and is actually filling. :)

Bounenkai: Hung out with the Karate Circle for a nomikai(飲み会) then did all night karaoke...midnight until 6am. I actually expected that to happen so I slept until noon Saturday, so that I could just stay up all day... I hope it goes the way I planned.
Well, near as I can tell a bounenkai has no speciality to the group I was with. It was just an excuse to get together and eat and drink. It was a lot of fun for me because I actually seem to get to know these people at these things, and I speak japanese for hours on end!!
In actuality this kind of party is a "Forget the year" party. Since the new year is coming the theory is that you talk about anything and everything you want to forget from this last year to clean your slate before the new year.

Well, the last thing I should say is that because of the all night karaoke thing I was able to witness sunrise here from the roof of the dorms. It is soooooo cool!!!!

Tonights Christmas Eve so remember to put your stockings up!! :)