German Christmas Market

I visited the German Christmas market (in German, we call it "Weihnachtsmarkt") in Osaka last Sunday. It was my first visit to the market in Japan. At the market we could eat potatoes("Bratkartoffeln"), sausages("Wurst"), cakes("Kuchen") and sweets(like "Stollen") and drink Beer. I didn't drink it but I ate all of them. My favorite food for Christmas is Stollen. It is famous in Germany and it tastes like cake. In Japan, it is expensive but we can buy cheaper in Germany. If you have chance to eat it, please try it! Speaking of drink, hot chocolate is famous, too. If we order it, they will offer it in a cute cup, which is different in each year. This year's cup is like a snow man. By the way, a Christmas tree in the market is famous, too. Its height is 27m and this is the same size the tree in Rockefeller, Times Square, New York. They were the highest tree all over the world in 1993 so it is called one of the tallest trees. If you have free time to visit there, you should go there!

About Experiments Using Animals

I agree on using animals when conducting experiments. Because of them, we can live safely with using chemicals, like shampoo, soap, medicine and so on. If we couldn't examine these chemicals by using them, we wouldn't live comfortably and safely. Maybe some of you say experiments are cruel to them. However, facilities are ready to accept them and today's experiments are done in minimum necessary degree. Nowadays, many chemicals without these experiments are sold in many places, so you can buy them if you hate animal examinations. However they won't fade out, they are necessary for us to live, I think.

Sochi Olympic

This photo is about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games torch in Lake Baikal. When I see it, I was so surprised because the torch was under the water! The news said the torch for this Olympic went not only on the earth but also space and under the water. I thought it was carried on the ground so I was really astonished. I don't know why the fire don't die. I wonder why they did under the water and why it didn't die. Talking of the Olympic, the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games will be held. I'm so excited because I may see the torch and games. Maybe the torch won't go under the see and in the space but the Olympic will be interviewed well in Japan and around the world.

Studying abroad

More Japanese students should study abroad. These days, I heard Japanese students don't study abroad because it's expensive, they are worry about speaking English, living there, and so on. However, studying abroad is good for you. First, we can know foreign countries and life there well. You can travel there anytime but you can know and see only life in tourist resorts. On the contrary, you know 'real' life if you study abroad. Second, you can learn what you want without your mother tongue. It must be difficult for you but making effort to understand or learn must give you good result. If you learn the same thing in your mother tongue, you won't study harder than do it in another language, because you can understand it well. So I think more students should study abroad.

Starry Sky

 

When I was an elementary student, I read a book said "These days, many young people walk the street with looking below by using their cellphones or thinking bad things, and so on. However, you can see the very beautiful sky if you see above." This sentence impressed me so much, so I became to look the sky. I like the best the blue and starry sky. If I can see them, I don't care of my mistakes, and other bad things. This picture is one of Galaxy NGC 4945. I know a little about space and astronomy but I thought this photo was so beautiful. This galaxy is approximately 13 million light years from earth, which surprised me so much! I wonder how big the space is. This photo motive me to want to travel the space in the future.

Attacked on Philippine

Look at the picture below. At first, I felt it was of a so beautiful earth, however I felt little strange. A big typhoon was on Philippine and attacked it. Then I understood that this photo is a typhoon,  "Haiyan" which damaged Philippine. The news about it says more than approximately ten thousand of people were killed in it. I can't know the fact exactly because the government can't examine it, too. I hope Japan help for victims to live their usual life soon and revive Philippine. I've never been to Philippine but I was so shocked when I saw pictures of the damaged cities. I and my family have never been experienced and damaged by disasters like typhoons, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on. Therefore, I think we should be careful from now on. We can't prevent the disasters but we can do to protect our lives.

Autumn

This autumn, I was so busy because our club had concert in the school festival. That's why I couldn't enjoy so much. We played famous musics like "Radetzky March", "Hungarian Dance No.5" and so on in the concert. It was very good and many people listened it, so we were very happy and satisfied. However, I've been in a bad condition since the end of it. I don't catch a cold, but I had a fever little bit. I don't know why I'm sick so I was in bed these days. Therefore, I couldn't go outside. By the way, in autumn, many people may go to Kyoto for sightseeing. A friend of mine, who live in Kyoto, hate the beautiful sight in Kyoto, because the city will be crowded by the visitors and they live in Kyoto have to clean many fallen leaves off their houses and gardens. I've never thought about them so that was really astonishing for me! However, I like the landscape in Kyoto so much.

About My Health

Today, I want to talk about my health. I think I`m healthy to some degrees. I can say two points. First, I always try to eat and drink good foods for me. And perhaps I`m a small eater(I`ve never been on a diet in my life because it is bad for my health, I think). When I go to restaurant with my friends, they always say that "you have a small appetite", "you should eat more!" But I`m really full so I can`t eat any more. Therefore I don`t eat too much. The other point is I`ve never caught flu and been in hospital. Of course, I catch a cold some times every year, but I`ve never had a serious illness and fracture. However, I have to sleep more than others, I suppose. If I sleep for eight hours a certain day before twelve o`clock, I would take a nap in the class the next day. Maybe I need more then nine hours` sleep. One day, I could sleep for about twelve hours! My parents worried about that but I didn`t feel bad. This is because I said I`m healthy to some degrees.

One of The Great City I`ve visited

I want to talk about Honfleur in France. Maybe almost of you don`t know because this city isn`t as famous as Paris. However I like Honfleur so I introduce it in four points.
First, you don`t have to worry about the language. Honfleur is located in northern France near the St. Michaels` Mountain. You can go there by bus from Paris in about two hours. It is near the Britain so people in this town can speak French and English. So if you worry about the language, you needn`t do that.
Second, the food is delicious. This city has harbour so you can eat good seafood. I like the food in it better than that in Paris.
Third, you can feel 'the foreign country' because not so much Japanese come here. You know, this city isn`t more famous than Paris. That`s why Japanese rarely come. If you want to feel France, you should go there.
Finally, its location is good. Look at this picture.

This city has long history and buildings painted in various colors. This is why many painters like Eugène Boudin painted this city. In addition, this city has many good place to sightseeing like the Church of Saint-Catherine, the houses of Satie and so on.

 

My Character

Today, I want to talk about my character.
First, I`m often said to be a serious person. According my friends` talk, I always study hard, practice and do everything in my daily life, such as English, club activities, and so on. Because I think I am a constant lounger and like to play games more than to study, I don`t think like those. But I`m glad to be said that. Secondly, my friends say I am a kind person. They say you`re willing to help others and do what nobody wants to do. I want everyone around me to be happy, so maybe the former is true.
On the other hand, I suppose I`m very shy when I meet people who I`ve never met. I want to talk them so much but I can`t. So I began to change myself for speaking with exchange students in my university. It was very interesting so I think I can change! In addition, I think I`m very quick-tempered. So I manage to calm down and think the things from many viewpoints when I get angry.

Which story is true?

These two stories are about my experiences with animals. Please guess wich story is true.

1. When I stayed countryside in Australia in summer three years ago, my home stay family lived nearby the National Park. So if I walked around their house, I could hear birds` song every day. Speaking of birds, I like ones, especially eagles, hawks, parrots and kingfishers. In the country, a famous kingfisher named Laughing Kookaburra is there. I like it so much that I wanted to see it in real. I could hear their songs every day but I could`t see. The last day of my stay, I walked along a pond by the house. Suddenly, I saw something with white and brown. That was the kookaburra! I was satisfied with that. Then I like kookaburra the most in the Australian animals.

2. When I was a high school student, I traveled Hawaii with my family in summer for about one week. The climate was mild and the food was delicious so I satisfied with it. But I had a dream that I wanted to swim with wild dolphins. I love them so much and I`d already done with dolphins in Kochi, but they weren`t wild ones. So I was eagered to do with 'wild' dolphins. The dolphins in Hawaii are called Hawaiian Spinner Dolphins. They are smaller then others so I heard we can swim with them easily. We went to the middle of sea with guides and some tourists by boat. Suddenly, one of the guide said the dolphins were under the boat. I jumped into the sea and looked below. I could see about five and swim with them. This experience is the best one I`ve ever did!

My Summer Vacation

My summer was so busy but fun because I had club activities.
I went to Saga and Fukuoka by ship. The room was too small to do anything except sleeping. But I could see beautiful sights and stars. The first photo is the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge.

The third and fourth day, our club held concerts. We played not only famous classical music but popular music like `My Neighbor Totoro`. I could`t play the violin well, but I enjoyed so much! The second photo is a hole in Fukuoka.

 

 

This experience gave me so many things. I became to play it better and wanted many people to listen to our music so I`m practicing the violin hard!

A Certain Story

The man`s son was very kind, brave and had heart. He was very proud of his son. To the man, the son is the only family because his wife died in the past. The son worked at a company in the World Trade Center, which is one of the most famous business companies. The son used to live in the country far from the city, but he came to this town, when he was 18 years old. He studied hard at the college and became an honor student. Then the son entered the company and had worked for 10 years. The son married, had home and lived happily in the city. However, in September 11, 2001, the terrorism occurred by Islamic terrorist group. At the time, the son worked at the company so he could`t understand what happened. Some people died by the impact, some people ran away and he followed to escape from the building. But he thought he should help the coworker so he returned. The last scene, he was witnessed, was the situation. Then he became the missing. Five years later, his father in photo came to the site of the building. He visited here from the country. He prayed for the son and kissed the son`s name on the stone monument.

My Favorte Season

My favorite season is autumn. I have four reasons.　First is the climate. Like summer and winter has extremes temperature. So if you want to do something outside, you feel too hot or cold. But like spring or autumn is very comfortable to do. Then you`ll think “why you like autumn the best?” Because I have another reasons.　Second is the food, for instance rice, fish and fruits. Most of Japanese live on rice. In autumn, we can get new rice because rice is harvested in autumn. So we can eat new and delicious rice. And we can also eat the fish in the height of season. The fish, like sermons, pacific saurirs, smelts and so on, are very good condition to eat in autumn. So they taste so good. I like fish very much, so this season is very good for me. The fruit is good, too. You can eat many kinds of fruits like grapes, apples, kiwis, mandarin oranges, pears and so on. I love fruits, too so I eat many fruits.　Third is the sight. In Japan, many trees and mountains are there, so you can see the trees turn red or yellow. This sight is worth seeing. Look at these pictures, taken in Kyoto. I think they are so beautiful! In fact, many tourists come there to watch them. I have never been there in autumn, so I want to go someday!　Last is the proverb. As a proverb in Japan says, autumn with the sky clear and blue, and horses growing stout. This means the sky is clear and blue, and foods are delicious so horses get fat. Japanese think autumn is the most special season of the four like above reasons.  Maybe above reasons make us think like that. So I like autumn the best.

The Place I lived

              Düsseldorf, located in Ruhr area near Frankfurt in Germany, is the place I lived. This city has five good points, so I`ll introduce these. First, this city is famous for industry and economy so many Japanese live. Because of this, Japanese school, many Japanese supermarkets and Japanese restaurants are there. Second, this has beautiful landscape like River Rhine, three castles named Düsseldorfer Schloss, Schloss Benrath and Schloss Jägerhof and Köenigsallee. River Rhine is famous one in Germany and Köenigsallee is the main street of this town. Third, this has traditional foods like Alt beer and Sauerbraten, which is sausage marinated. I like Sauerbraten the best of German ones! Fourth, this city is famous for sports. The soccer team of this city is one of the Fußball-Bundesliga(this means very big professional association football league like FIFA in Japan) Finally, this city is very comfortable to live in. This is because transportation is developed well so you can go somewhere by train or by car. If you go there for business trip, you`ll feel cozy, though there is in foreign country.

 

When is a Good Time for Travel

I think the summer season is a good time for travel. I give you some reasons for thinking like this. First, you can travel longer than usual because you have summer vacation or vacances. For example, you can go to trip abroad more than 7 days in summer but in winter you can`t do like that easily. Secondly, you can exercise outdoors like camping, swimming in the sea or river and so on. In my experience, I swam in Hanauma Bay, in Hawaii. This bay has beautiful clear blue sea and colorful fish. (By the way, I think one of the reason that most Japanese want to go to Hawaii is we like summer and Hawaii is always summer. This is because many Japanese celebrity go there even in January.) Finally, you are so elevated in summer. So you want to go out and do sports more than in winter. Why don`t we travel in summer?

What did I do in the last holiday

I went to the school festival`s of my high school last Sunday. So, I`ll tell you about it. My high school always holds it in May. But this year, the festival was held in April because one of the buildings is reconstructing. This is a photo of it. You can see one of them crushed.

By the way, in every school festival, students decide one slogan and prepare for the festival in the name of it. This year`s slogan is "奏　(Kanade)".  It means that each student esteems one`s individuality and cope for festival together. Actually, they made good one, I think.

 



The school festival of mine is the place of what students do in daily activities. Following are some examples. The drama club and ESS plays a drama and the music clubs like the classical guitar, the chorus and the strings orchestra club held the united concert. (We call it  it "Gōdō-concert", for short "Gō-con"). The history club shows us the history of this year`s theme like Disney`s history. The exercising clubs like basketball, softball, tennis and so on provide you food because they can`t play their sports in this festival of course.
This time, I don`t have much time, so only watched `Gō-con`. The string orchestra club, which I was belonged to, played `Brook Green Suite`, `Over the Rainbow` and `Morning in Slag Ravine and Carrying You`. Probably, you know 'Over the Rainbow' and 'Carrying You' so I attach here the others.  `Brook Green Suite` is composed by Gustav Holst, who is famous for `The Planet`. `Over the Rainbow` is formed by Yip Harburg and Harold Arlen and used in  The Wizard of Oz. `Morning in Slag Ravine and Carrying You` is written by Joe Hisaishi and used in the movie, Laputa: Castle in the Sky by Hayao Miyazaki. This concert was more wonderful, exciting and better than I did! I want to go next school festival and to listen `Gō-con`.

Recent Life

Hello, I`m a 1st-grade KGU student and studying in International Studies.

I used to go to school on foot and by train when I was a high school student, but now I go by bicycle.
I don`t like exercise hard, and it`s very hard for me.
But I think it`s good for my health.

I like reading books, but I couldn't read them because of entrance examination.
So I read book especially mystery novels for example Keigo Higashino, Shichiri Nakayama, Takeru Kaido and so on.

In addition, I like listening music, too.
I always listen to classical music and Irish, but also listen to J-pops.
If you know some good books and music, please tell me.


And I love traveling.
So, I want to tell you about my trip.

Just a few weeks ago, I traveled Kyoto.
In Kyoto, I went to Kiyomizu-dera, Sanjūsangen-dō and so on.

Below is Kiyomizu-dera and Bottom is Sanjūsangen-dō.
These temples were built in ancient age.

First, Kiyomizu-dera is one of the most famous temple in Japan because this is the Unesco World Heritage.
If you go there, you can see beautiful sight of Kyoto.

And Sanjūsangen-dō is famous for its statues.
They are 1000 statues of Kannon, one of God in East Asian Buddhism.
They are made by gold, so they shined.

I want to see and know many places.
Please tell me about your trip.