Soon...

I had the year-end party with my basketball teammates last Friday.
Many people got drunk. After that, some of us want to bowling and karaoke, and I stayed there until 5:00 in the morning.
I was really tired but I had a good time.

The class of this year will be finish this Friday! ...But I have a lot of assignments this week. I will be busy... I hope I can have a rest.
I'm looking forward to winter vacation!!

Christmas Tree

I went to Umeda last Saturday. There were many Christmas trees along "EST". I took the picture of the biggest one. Many people stopped and gazed at them. They were very beautiful and it made my heart warm.

Christmas is coming soon! Do you have any plan for it? I will have a party with my friends... maybe. If I have a time, I wanna go to see illuminations.

... I wanna eat cake, too!!

In Tokushima...

I went back to Tokushima last weekend. I haven't gone back there for 2 months, and it is unusual for me. I took the picture of my dog, Cookie, and it is Christmas version.

I got new cell phone. It is the new series of Docomo, 905 i. It cost 50400 yen, very expensive. Its color is yellow which is my favorite. I want to use carefully so as not to drop it.

I drove in Tokushima after a gap of 2 months and it was dangerous driving. I need more practice.

My hometown, Anan city, is called "Light town Anan" and we have a lot of LED everywhere in my town, and I saw many illumination. They were very beautiful.

I spent this weekend with my family. I enjoyed the short trip to Tokushima.

Beautiful and Moving

I went to Kyoto, Toufukuji, to see the colored leaves. They were very beautiful and I took some pictures. I felt refreshed.

You should see them for a change.

I'm sure you can spend a good time.

After seeing them, I went to theater to watch "Koizora" and it moved me to tears.

I had a good time on that day.

About the article of the Japan Times

In the article, Vegans have a long way to go yet, the writer mentioned about the vegetarian food and vegans in Japan. Recently, they are increasing but still few so they are sometimes misunderstood in Japan.

The writer has lived in Japan for almost 10 years and he has taught students all over Japan, and he wrote the students' reaction that they did when they met the people who are vegetarianism. He also used generalizations to make his article credible. He talked how in fashion the vegetarianism is now which is rare and misunderstood. It is not known so well to everyone so the writer is telling us about it by describing the students' air. He wrote the names of countries and he is telling that the vegetarianism has boom in those countries, it means that he is giving us the example of other countries. He is a vegetarian so he hopes that the vegetarianism will be booming in Japan. These are his authorities and he is trying to persuade the readers. In the last paragraph, you can see there are only a few vegetarian restaurants and vegans, so by writing the sentence, he is showing the fewness of them.

Counterterrorism

The article, "Not so welcome to Japan any longer" is about the new procedure, which will be started from November 20, in entering Japan. It obliges foreigners to be fingerprinted and photograph when they enter or reenter Japan. Only children under 16, diplomats and special-status and permanent residents can escape it.

Fingerprinting and photographing are not good policy because they are taken as a discrimination against foreigners, and they do not assure that terrorists come into Japan. They target almost everyone. However, anyone cannot recognize who is a terrorist, and we do not have their fingerprints and photographs. Therefore, the percentage that the terrorists are arrested is really low. Taking the policy of fingerprinting and photographing means that Japan sees foreigners as terrorists and it is a discrimination against them. It is also an invasion of privacy. So its effects are doubtful and many people will point out the policy.

Response to the Japan Times

In the first letter, there were 4 kinds of answers and some of 6 people said they heard from someone or someone told them about it. Therefore, they might have wrong information or misunderstanding. They did not see the discrimination that they answered but they believe what other people said. However, others used the authority like giving an example. They have seen such discrimination as they answered so their opinions are more reliable and more persuasive than former people who I mentioned.

The writer of response to the first letter said it depends on where you live which minority groups face the worst discrimination. He lives in Nagasaki and he wrote about his experiences of being discriminated so there was much information in his letter. I think the behavior some Japanese people did to him was really bad and is not allowed. However, I do not think Japanese people hate Americans because more and more Americans come to Japan and I have never seen such situations. Some old Japanese people might have prejudice but such people are few. If he thinks many Japanese people hate Americans, he should use a generalization to tell that Japanese people do such things like he mentioned in his letter not only toward him.

What is the most important in his letter is discrimination does not depend on places. Some Japanese handicapped people are actually discriminated even in Japan, that is, place does not matter. The discrimination can be happen everywhere all over the world.

Response to the article of the Japan Times

Letter 2

It is not allowed that a group of men assault one woman. The victim cannot get over the shock and sorrow. However, it is not always suspects fault and sometimes the victim has a responsibility of it. In this letter, the writer pointed out the woman's react and situation. She should make them clear, and the suspects should not be punished just because they raped her.

Also, by punishing and removing them from Japan, some problems will occur such as China and North Korea come to take Japan, as he said. Only Japan cannot prevent it and it needs the U.s. military. It does not mean that the four have no responsibility and that what they did is allowed
but it is no exaggeration to say that Japan depends on the U.S. so it is better to think about the U.S. military.

The writer of this article uses a generalization and is asking some questions of woman's behavior in first paragraph. This article makes us think about the importance of the U.S. military. By writing the present condition of Japan, the writer shows the Japanese dependence on the U.S. Therefore, we are asked to agree this generalization and the author is trying to appeal his opinion emotionally.

Why am I in IES?

I like English and I want to be a simultaneous interpreter in the future, as I said before. English is essential language for that job. That is the reason I chose IES.

I have been studying English since elementary school student. At that time, I didn't think I want to have a job which uses English in the future. One day, I saw the woman who was interpreting for a famous person on TV when I was junior high school student. Then, I thought it was the very job I wanted to have because an interpreter uses English and I can appear on TV if I can speak English very well and which is easy to hear. I have wanted to go to foreign language university since then.

It was the end of third grade in high school that I decided to come to Kansai Gaidai University. I didn't know that this university has high level English classes until I took the entrance examination. I thought all classes are same level. Therefore, I chose to take IES class just because I want to study English harder than high school but I didn't expect I take IESa. So I'm trying hard to keep up with my classmates now.

I know how hard and difficult to be a simultaneous interpreter because I took part in the program of it before. However, the figures that the instructors were interpreting were so cool and made me much more want to be.

I took this picture when I came to Kansai Gaidai University before I entered. I was studying hard to enter this university at high school at that time.

Soccer Game

I want to talk about my brother today.

He belongs to soccer club in high school. He has played it since he was kindergartner. He also has been to Germany to stay in a camp for training.

He had the game last weekend. It was nation high school championship and his team beat their competitors. His team had the penalty shoot-out and they scored a goal. That scene appeared on local newspaper! This is the picture of it.

The boys who wear green uniform are my brother's team. One of these boys is my brother! I don' t tell you which boy is my brother but I leave it to your imagination.

I want him to top this championship. I hope to watch his next game.

DRALION

I went to see "DORALION" with my family yesterday. With my family...? Yeah, I went back to Tokushima last weekend and I came back to Osaka to watch it.

I wanted to watch it since before. There were many people but the tent was smaller than I expected. It was about 3 hours performance. I watched many kinds of performances such as trampoline, rope skipping and ballet on the lights. I couldn't believe what was happening in front of me. I was excited during the show. It was too wonderful to tell you about it but I recommend you to see it!

I had 19th birthday on October 9th. I will be 20 next year but I don't want to be. This year is the last year in my teens. My friend gave me the birthday cake and I got some e-mail from my friends. I spent that day alone so I was really happy.

A language in a state of flux

I think there are many loanwords now. We can find them everywhere and we use them in daily life. It seems that they are taken as a Japanese language. Even the words we can say in Japanese, we use the loanwords to explain them. When I am using the loanwords, I feel something American. There are a lot of T-shirts which have the loanwords. I heard the foreigners do not understand the meanings when they read them. I think English looks cool and has the impact so many loanwords are used for advertisements. Also, it is easy to remember. However, we should use Japanese when we show something Japanese.
The import of English is not bad thing and it makes Japan more international. At the same time, we must not forget to improve Japanese. Recently, new words are produced such as "GIZA". We also need to better Japanese we are using now because the people who cannot use it properly. So, not we try to use the loanwords but we should review Japanese. Then we should not take the loanwords as literally. We need to paraphrase them in Japanese. By doing so, we can understand the meaning more. After all we are familiar with Japanese so it gives us stronger impression than the loanwords. We may notice the real meaning we did not know after we hear the word which is paraphrased into Japanese. In this world that many things are mixed, It is important how we are going to deal with it.

Simultaneous Interpretation

I had a great time in summer vacation. I met my old friends and went shopping. I really enjoyed the summer vacation. I couldn't tell all stories I had in summer vacation but the most biggest event was the program of simultaneous interpretation.

I took part in the program of simultaneous interpretation which took place in Tokushima. It was held by Ministry of Education and it was held in not all prefectures so some people came from Kagawa which is next to Tokushima. It was 8 days program and I had to study for 6 hours per day, and I went to Tokushima Bunri university to take it. I found the article of it on the newspaper accidentally and I applied for it right away. I thought this was a good chance to develop my English skills and to approach my dream. It cost me thirty thousand yen. I was the youngest applicant in 24 people. There were the applicant whose daughter is older than me and the woman who lives in Canada for 10 years. I didn't have the knowledge of the simultaneous interpretation so I was very nervous. I took the lectures from 2 instructors who are active in business and one of them is also working as a teacher at Tokai university. I was surprised that their performances were wonderful and it was the first time I heard the live interpretation. As a textbook, Hilary Clinton's speech, the debate of " don't ask/don't tell"policy and the news were used. It was difficult for me to keep up with other people because I didn't have the knowledge of background. However, I could get the information of the simultaneous interpretation and I could use many equipments that I can't usually use such as booth. I really nervous in booth and I didn't know what to do. The lectures were shadowing, mumbling and interpretation with watching the video and listening the voice of the cassette tape. I didn't know how hard the simultaneous interpretation is until I take that program. There were some people who gave up it. I thought my English level was the worst in the participants and sometimes I wanted to quit but I didn't give up and stuck it out. The last day of the program, we had to do simultaneous interpretation of the closing ceremony. It was the last assignment for us. My result of it was not so good but I felt a sense of achievement. The program was really hard but I could have nice experience through it and my will that I want to be an interpreter became stronger. I want to make use of what I learned in the program and I hope I can be like the instructors. I want to take part in the program next year if I can. I bought the books of the simultaneous interpretation so I want to study if I have a time.

This is one of the instructors and her name is Etsuko Okada.

SUMMER FESTIVAL

Hi, How are you doing?

Are you enjoying your summer vacation?



I went to 3 festivals. One of them was Awaodori festival. It was held for 4 days. I went to the festival with my friend twice in that period. There were many many people and it warmed up very much. Because of the movie, Bizan, more people came to Tokushima than last year. 1,300,000 people came to watch and dance Awaodori. Many university students such as Todai, Handai and Keiou took part in Awaodori as dance groups. Each Awaodori was wonderful and I really enjoyed the festival.

Local Magazine!!

I went back to my hometown,Tokushima last weekend. I stayed there for 3 days. The first day, I caught a cold so I was in bed. Also, since the typhoon attacked Tokushima, I couldn't go out. It went by Tokushima during the night and the next day, Sunday, was very sunny. I couldn't believe the typhoon came to Tokushima the day before. I went out Sunday with my driving. My driving was dangerous but it was good practice. The last day, Monday, I spent time being relaxed. Before I left Tokushima, I bought the local magazine which is for young. It is called "Town Tokushima" and everyone calls it "Tautoku". We have 2 kinds of local magazines and another is "Awawa". These are written about fashion, high school life, food and so on. They are sold only in Tokushima so only Tokushima people appear on them. They are released every months and they have a great deal of information. Let me introduce them.

This picture is the cover of magazine. About the festival in Tokushima, camp site and food are picked up this month. Other subject are sea bathing, fire works and high school girls.

This article is about menu. There are about 30 kinds of food in the magazine. They are the menu that chefs recommend.

This is the fashion grand prix. The staffs ask people who show good taste in clothes. The

reader can vote a person who is the best.

This is about the sports competition of high school. Many kinds of sports are picked up. When I was third grade in high school, my basketball team appeared on it.

High school girls are picked up in this article. It called "Miss uniform grand prix". The staffs take the picture of different kinds of high school girls in their uniform. There are boys' version. Any high school students has the chance to appear on "Tautoku" if they meet the stuffs fortunately. The reader vote them and finally the number one girl or boy is chosen.

If you want to know about Tokushima, reading the magazine is one of the best way

New picture of Cookie!!

My mother sent me this picture. Look at him!! Do you notice the change happened to him? That is his bristle. It became shorter. She cut it because he has long bristle and he feels very hot. He looks different kind of dog. Every time I look at this picture, I can't help laughing but he is very cute.

I got the ticket of basketball game, Asia cup. I called the ticket center right after the tickets were released but the connection was not made so I ran to the convenience store to buy it. I could get it and it cost 4200 yen but it is day ticket so I can watch 6 games in a day. I'm looking forward to see them.

I got another ticket of concert. Every summer, Otsuka pharmacy hold a summer concert of famous singers. About 6 groups are invited for that event every year. BENNIE K, which is my favorite singers, came to the event last summer!! This year, 4 groups will be invited. They are Ayaka, mihimaru GT, Otsuka Ai and Chattomonchi. The concert is free so a lot of people come to see it every year. Since it is held outside, it's very hot, and it is held in the middle of August. During the concert, I am beside myself with excitement.

Okonomiyaki

I had the practice of basketball July 22th. After practice, some of my teammate went to have dinner. We ate Okonomiyaki. I ate it for the first time after coming Osaka. There were some Osaka people there so I was taught how to make nice Okonomiyaki. I couldn't make it so well. Boys compared each other's Okonomiyaki and talked which is the best. The below picture is I took then.

Which is the best do you think? Back on the left side is Akinori's okonomiyaki. All of them look very delicious. It was a fun dinner.

Asia cup of basketball in Tokushima

This summer, Asia cup of basketball is going to be held in Tokushima. It is the FIBA Asia championship and Beijing Olympic qoalifier. 16 teams will come to Tokushima including Japan. It is from July 28th to August 5th. The tickets are not sell yet. I really want to watch the game. It is very rare game and we seldom have such a big event in Tokushima so I'm really looking forward to it. I wonder how wonderful the plays of professional basketball players are. The spectators must be excited.


Tokushima is being famous these days. In addition to the basketball game, two movies was made in Tokushima this year and one movie last year. Now awaodori is used in the commercial of handsoap which Taka and Toshi appear. I am happy that Tokushima is becoming famous. I want everyone to know about Tokushima more. I like my hometown very much so I'm proud of Tokushima. Some of my friends are already attracted by awadance. they sometimes dance with me. It is only 3 people so let' s dance awadance if you are interested in awadance.

The meeting of SWISH and Cookie

I had the meeting of basketball team today. I played basketball in second and third period. The meeting was started after school. There were many many people because we called the people who want to join SWISH newly. They visited just to see the practice so they don't join SWISH formally now. When I joined it, There were onlytwo girls, Yuri and I. We got 20 new members so there will be 60 people in SWISH if new members join it. I woder if I can remember all members' name.

This is my dog, Cookie. I got this photo from my mother. The subject was "Prepare for the rainy season." She bought it for him newly. He has the long mustache so ke always get wet when he walks outside in rainy day. He hates wearing the raincoat because everyone in my family laugh at him. He cares about it. So he seems sad. When my family laugh at him, he doesn't want to go for a walk. He understands he is laughed at. Therefore, we say to him," You are very cute.
How pretty you are in the raincoat!!" when he doesn't take a step. Then, he becomes happy and willings to go out to walk.

The baby hatch

I want to talk about baby hatch today. It is the worldwide problem these days. There are many countries that place the baby hatch. It is interpreted in a good way and a bad way. People say the baby hatch violate the law ,such as the prevention of child abuse and child welfare.There are different opinion about the baby hatch. I read a few opinions about it.


Letter One
In contrary opinion, the writer uses the example about the people who are disable adults. She is warning that abandoning a baby is the problem not only for his parents but also for everyone. She supposes the idea about the connection of the parents and children. Also, she writes her feeling that she felt when she heard the assertion. She explains what the Japanese is like and she does not think that if we make the baby hatch, all baby are saved.


Letter Two
In favorable opinion, the writer shows the example of the couple of junior high school students. She thinks that they had no idea after the baby was born because of fear. So she insists that she does not know but if there was the baby hatch at that time, they might use it or if they did not use it, their fear and anxiety were decreased by knowing the existence of the baby hatch. Their baby might receive the medical care. By existing the baby hatch, the parents reconsider about abandoning their baby.


My opinion

I agree to placing the baby hatch because some life are saved by it. It is better to saved the life than the baby dies. Actually, many babies were saved in other countries. The purpose of baby hatch is keeping the babies so the parents can come back to take back them if they regret abandoning them. The parents would decide to give up raising their baby after sufficient consideration. The baby hatch might be the system which accept the deserted children but it is more important to protect them quickly and safely.

There are some instances about the baby hatch. We are very sad when we hear the news that someone is killed. On the other hand, when we hear the news of saving a life, we are more happy than hearing the sad news. Therefore, it is a better way to place the baby hatch.

However, the parents should not abandon their baby. Using the baby hatch is the last way. They need to consider before giving up raising their baby. As long as the parents are delivered of the baby, they must bring up him with responsibility as parents.

This is why I agree to place the baby hatch.

Awaodori

In today's blog I'll show you a few things which are connected to my hometown.

First of all have a look at this picture:

This pictue was taken in Tokushima.


It is the picture of Awaodori which is traditional dance in Tokushima. We have the festivals in August every summer. It is the biggest festival in Tokushima. Many people from other prefectures visit Tokushima to see it. It is more than one million people. When the festival season comes, Tokushima is filled with excitement. I can't help but see it. You can see the pictures of Awaodori here.


Awaodori has two kinds of dance style and it is separated into man and woman. In man's style, they wear Tabi and Happi and use Tenugui. While woman put Kasa and wear Yukata and Geta. As for dance, men keep low waist. On the other hand, women keep their hands up. It has a music and it is called "Ohayashi". It consists of six instruments. Once you hear the music, it reminds in your heart.


There are a lot of dance groups. We call the unit "Ren". Each group has unique dance. The costumes are different from each group and many kinds of colors are used so they are attractive.


The movie,Bizan,whose material is Awaodori has begun to show recently. It picks up Awaodori widely. The movie was taken in real festival of Awaodori. We can feel excitement and special attraction through it. So, if you see the movie, you can't help seeing real Awaodori and dancing Awaodori. You should wacth it.


More and more people visit Tokushima to see it. Many people are looking forward Awaodori this year,too. I expect that a lot of people come to Tokushima because of Bizan. I hope they will enjoy Awaodori.


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A few interesting links

Today, I'm going to share with you a couple of links to websites I think are interesting.


My favorite singer group is BENNIE K so I sometimes visit thier official website. When I visit it, I check when their new CD is released or when thier concert is held and where is it. I have a daily routine of checking it.

I have the cell phone of docomo. When I feel like changing to new one, or I watch the commercial of new cell phone, I visit docomo website. There are some kinds of new cell phone on its website and it has much details about each cell phones.

Also, I sometimes check the website of Tomiokanishi high school, which is my high school. There are some pictures of building and the information about my high school. A part of my school was rehabilitated these days. My school is 110 years old.

I like watching YOUTUBE. When I have nothing to do,I look for Japanese comedy on it. It has many kinds of comedy so I enjoy watching it.

These are my favorite websites I visit sometimes.

Cookie!!

This is my dog, Cookie. He is 11 years old. His birthday is August 8th.

He is a shetland sheep dog. When I was an elementary school student, I got him from my neighbor. He is very smart and very cute. He has 5 kinds of performances. He likes to go walking so he walks twice a day. When I go to the big place, I take off the leash so that he can run freely. Then, he chases the cars which are run the road across the river. Watching it is very interesting.

I haven't seen him for a long time. Every time my mother call me, she tell me about him. According to her, he sometimes looks for me in my bed these days. I miss him very much.

New basketball team SWISH

I have joined the basketball team recently. We had the meeting twice and the second meeting was held yesterday. There were more people than I expected and I didn't know some of them. It takes me a lot of time to remember everyone's name. I want to make many friends so I'll remember their name as soon as possible. Since This team is only for the first-year students, it is easy to be friendly. We haven't started to practice yet but some of us play basketball every Thursdays when we don't have the class. It is very fun. We like basketball very much so we played it in the rain. I'm looking forward to playing it with my teammates and having a party with them!!

Commercial For suntory let's

Target Audience

This commercial is probably directed at people who want to lose weight easily and at people who want to exercise.

Also, this commercial is directed toward men and women and young to old. It's a diet water so we can drink it without circumstance.

The target audience is Japanese since the narration is Japanese and there is no subtitle but anyone might understand What kind of commercial this is.


Authority

This commercial uses the young actress. Another thing we notice is there is a sloth on the tree!!A sloth is usually move very slowly but the moment he has "let's", he begins to move agilely!! Even a sloth can move fast,if we drink it,we became lively. And the shape of bottle is easy to take.


Emotion

We know a sloth has the slow movements. Even a sloth,however,can move actively with "let's". So you want to exercise instinctively.


Logic/information

I can't say the sloth moves so fast because this sloth is not real. The commercial wants to say "let's makes you feel like exercising.

Evaluation

I think using a sloth is a good idea because the animal which seems not to move very actively moves so agilely.

However,it only makes us want to exercise, we don't know in detail,such as how much calories it contains.

On a scale of 1-10,I would rate this commercial 7.

I give it 7 because I want more information about "let's" itself. But the sloth is very cute.

20 Questions with Me

(This is an interview conducted on May 1, 2007. The interviewer was Yuji)

1.which do you prefer to go to sea or mountains?

I prefer to go to sea.

2.What is your dream?

My dream is to be an interpreter.

3.Whay is your best memory of your school days?

Sports festival.

4.What is your worst memory of your school days?

Many tasts.

5.Which do you prefer dogs or cats?

I like dogs very much.

6.What is your favorite song?

SUNRISE sung by BENNIE K

7.What is your favorite drink?

Orange juice.

8.Who is your best friend?

My best friend is Miho.

9.If you could change your sex, would you want to?

No.

10.Which do you prefer, sunny or rain?

I prefer sunny.

11.If you had 1 billion yen, what do you want to do?

I want to travel all over the world.

12.What is your favorite sound?

My favorite sound is Hip Hop.

13.What is your favorite time?

My favorite time is afternoon.

14.Which do you prefer, meat or vegetable?

I like both.

15.which do you prefer, kotatsu or fireplace?

I prefer kotatsu.

16.What is your policy?

My policy is never give up.

17.What is your treasure?

My treasure is my friends.

18.Is love more important than anything?

Yes!!

19.What do you think about yourself?

I'm indesicive.

20.What do you think about Yuji?

He is so hot and a mood maker in my class.

Hi!!

My name is Saki . I'm from Tokushima. I belonged to the basketball club when I was high school student. My hobby is listening to music. My favorite singer group is BENNIE K.

I have a dog in Tokushima. His name is Cookie. He is very cute and smart. I sometimes go for a walk with him. I like him very much.

My dream is to be an interpreter. I want to interpret for famous people. So I study hard in kansai Gaidai to realize my dream.

See you soon!!