Favorite CD

Today, I wanna talk about CD I listen to these days.

This CD must be famous in Japan because of the TV drama "Pride." I actually do not like songs everyone likes, but this is an exception. The lyrics of songs are very cool. The last song of this CD, Bohemian Rhapsody, is awesome!! It is one of the greatest songs!!

Next is Roberta Flack. "Killing Me Softly" is famous, but a song I like is "Jesse." This song's tempo is slow and soft. And kind of sad song. However, I recommed you listening to this CD when you wanna relax. Jesse is a very good song.

I wanna introduce Masato Tomobe. He is one of the greatest singers of folk music in Japan. I bought this about 2 years ago, and I became the fan of him. Folk music is very instructive. I love it!

Last, this is a song of Clip Crhymerz, Kasaneru Tsumiki. My friend introduced to me first about 2 years ago, but I did not listen to. And I came to like this 1 years ago and have been listening. The group act in Fukuoka!! Yeah........Fukuoka!! This song always cheers me up when I am disappointed. So when you are disappointed, I recommend you listening to this.

Inatyutakkyubu

The other day, I was very surprised. My friends did not know this comic, Ike Inatyutakkyubu. I was very disappointed and I could not recover for a sec.

This comic is so interesting. Everybody must laugh. When I read this comic, when I was a high school student, I wondered if my high school life was really enjoyable. And I could spend high school time happily.

How could people who have never read this spend high school life?

The writer of this comic, Minoru Furuya, is very interestimg. If you are interested in this comic, you should read other comics of him, too.

This is a site of wikipedia of Inatyu.

Oh!!

In summer vacation, I found this statue at a furniture shop. I like a strange thing and when I saw this, I thought I should take a photo.

This statue looks cute and makes me warm. Look at this girl's face! It's very innocent.

Let's think what she want to say or feel.

"Oh! What is gonna blow from this cylinder? I want to try. No, wait, wait!" This may be common. This can be conceived easily.

Let's think and put it as a comment!

Depression

When I am depressed, I always go somewhere. On 3rd November, I went to Mt. Hiei. The altitude was very high and I was surprised.

It was fine day, so view was great as you can see.

It cost about 2,500 yen from Hirakata. I was actually surprised first because it was a little bit expensive, but the experience was priceless.

When you are depressed, I recommend going somewhere beautiful like this place.

Today, I want to talk about how the writer of the letter “Common protection and control” persuades readers.

First, this issue of fingerprinting is about Japanese system, and the writer is Japanese. So, he talks from a viewpoint of Japanese people who are protected by this system.

Next, he shows some points as logic. First thing is that people don’t need to be afraid of fingerprinting if they have nothing to hide. Second, people should sacrifice freedoms and rights to be protected from modern dangers such as terrorism. This is a general form of security and not unusual thing.

Finally, he concluded that innocent people should not be killed. No one has the right to kill them. For that the have world has to think about how to protect them and fingerprinting is one of the ways. These sentences seem to have logical and emotional appeals. It is because he does not say that the fact innocent people are killed is sad, but this seems to work to human’s feeling.

The writer insist that protecting lives is much important than human rights. For the explanation, he insists from a viewpoint of Japanese people and foreigners should endure for the safety.

Fingerprinting

Today, I want to respond to an article “Not so welcome to Japan any longer.”

This article is about fingerprinting and photographing. Japan has decided to start new scheme which inflicts foreigners on fingerprinting. Foreigners have to do them when they come to Japan every time. This scheme will be started from Nov. 20.

Justice ministry decided to start this program. It’s because to prevent terrorists from coming into Japan and catch them if they did something dangerous.

As responses to the article, there are 4 articles. “Fingerprinting not so stupid,” “Will entry checks cross the line?”, “Smart terrorists won't be stopped” and “Fingerprint all Japanese visitors.”
These articles say fingerprinting system must for people who are banned re-entering, it is against human rights, or it can not prevent terrorists from entering.


My Opinion

Fingerprinting is not uncommon thing. Also In Korea, there was a system of fingerprinting. It was because some people of North Korea tried to kill the prime minister of Korea. However the system was banned because it was criticized as an invasion of human right.

America have started fingerprinting for prevent terrorism. However, it is also said as the invasion of human rights. In Brazil, the government did fingerprinting to American visitors as revenge, and it became a problem of diplomacy.

Both of the cases of American and Korea, they were criticized that they invaded human rights. However, they were for safe of people who live in the area.

There are criticisms like the articles which say there are intelligent terrorists, Japanese themselves commit a big crime, or this system is meaningless. However, if this system is effective more or less, it should be done because it may be helpful.

2 letters about Japanese discrimination

Today, I want to talk about two letters about Japanese discrimination. First letter, Views From The Street, is about comments and examples of it. Second one, Ebb and flow of discrimination, is an opinion against the first letter.



The problem between these letters is people of first letter say Chinese are discriminated well, but the author of second letter says American, too.



Dewood, the author of second letter, says it depends on place. In Nagasaki, American people are also discriminated. I’ve never heard American people are discriminated hard, but if the things Dewood says are true, discrimination may be not for Chinese people and depends on place.



However, when thinking which people are more discriminated, it must be happened more often to Chinese. I often saw Japanese complain or got sullen when they saw Chinese speak on a train.



Now, I insist that people who are discriminated are not only Chinese but also Korean and North Korean. Korean and North Korean people seem to be discriminated more often than Chinese people. In Japan, there is a word “chonkoh.” This is used to discriminate Korean and North Korean, and most people know this word.



To make a thing worse, the problem of North Korea made a nuclear bombs and threatens Japan also would be a cause of discrimination.



Japanese people exactly discriminate people from other countries. People who are discriminated depend on place. However, Korean and North Korean people must be discriminated more often than Chinese and American people on Japan.

Three letters about the rape

In the article “Four marines investigated for rape,” a matter the author says is people who raped were marines of U.S. The author shows the response of the U.S. Marine Corps Iwakuni Air Station and Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba. These responses seem convincing.


Now, let’s move on to “Don't judge marines too fast” which is against the previous article. This author says there is nothing we can know from the invitation, and insist the importance of U.S. military. The author says how do Japanese protect themselves If U.S. military remove from Japan?


This importance of U.S. military is convincing. By showing Japanese defense system which relies on U.S. the author makes Japanese people think they should not punish the four marines. However, this letter seems to hide the fact of rape.


There is a letter “Disgusting outlook on women” against “Don't judge marines too fast.” The author says Japan does not allow U.S military to do whatever they want to. This is logical and this letter completely criticizes Sandoval well.


These three letters are convincing each other, but the one of Sandoval seems weak. And the one of Egan criticizes Sandoval well. It’s difficult to decide if the rape is true, but the letters against the four are much stronger.

When I entered this college, I didn’t know the IES system. I wanted to play or hung out with my friends in a college life. It is because I studied hard in high school time. However my friend who was in the same high school with me said he wanted in IES and study hard. So I thought I had to change my mind and study. So I surely was not willing to study in IES at first.

However as the time went by, I have felt it was nice to study in IES because the difference between a student who is not in IES and me have been seen. It was very clear in listening skill, writing skill, and speaking skill.

IES class for me is the good opportunity to improve my English skill. Besides it, we can know about foreign countries because we are studying about cultures. The way to write an essay or make a movie is very unique. We would have never known such things if we were not in IES (especially in IESA). I once had hated them because I wanted to study about the useful conversation like what the polite or impolite words. However my high school teacher said to me “To study how to write an essay or make a movie is very rare and interesting. You could have never known if you were not in the class. It would be helpful in the future somehow.”

So I don’t regret being in IES. It is happy to be able to study with people who have high level ability in English, sometimes homework is a little bit hard though.

Music friend

On Friday, I went to a concert hole to see a female singer. She is one of my favorite singers. The concert started at 7:00, and she sang from 8:30. She sang her new songs and they were very good. When I had seen first she had sang a little bit damn songs, but she sang cheerful songs in the concert. I like both of them.

After she sang, I talked to her and I bought her CD. This is her website.

After the concert, when I went to Hirakata station on my way home, I saw two people singing. I have talked to them once. I asked them if they remember me, and they said yes. So I talked to them and sang songs. They told me how to compose songs, when they started singing, and their career.

To have friends whose habits are the same of yours must be very helpful. To talk with them must help you achieve your dream. How about looking for them in a school, in a town, or on the website if you do not have the friends?

Last monday (October 8th)

Yesterday, I went to Kuzuha for a change and shopping. There is Kuzuha mall and I like to go there. You can check the mall from this website.

There were a lot of people there because the day was a holiday. These day, I had not been far from Hirakata city and seen a lot of people, so I excited then. To see people and get into cheeful atmosphere are very fun for me. They made me happy.

I went to Villege Vangard, my favorite general store, and I found some interesting things.

First one is "70 Japanese Gestures." We read a print about nonverbal communication so I was interested in this book. There are 70 Japanese gestures in this book, and when I was reading this I often thought like "oh, surely there is a gesture like this!" If you are interested in Japanese nonverbal gestures, I recommend readind this book.

Second thing is a movie, "Coffee and Cigarettes." I wae interested in the title and this jacket. This is what we call black-and-white movie, but it also interested me.

The directer is Jim Jarmusch who made "Night On The Planet." I like this movie and so I wanted to see this all the more.

There are trivial conversation scenes, in which people are smoking and drinking coffee. There is no scenes like making people moved or excited. However this movie was interesting........ a little bit boring, though. If you like smoking (I do not like so much) and coffee (I like cocoa better than coffee), how about watching this movie?

Gairaigo

I sometimes see the word which Japanese take it to English, for example, the word “Terebi (TV) Game.” I also thought this word is English, and I figured out this is mixed and made by Japanese. The correct word is “Video Game.” The word like this is called waseieigo. In the process of taking English into Japan, words are sometimes changed. When Japanese talks with foreigners, misunderstanding may happens because of it. From this point, we may have to avoid taking gairaigo into Japan.

The thing which we have to pay attention is politician and even Prime Minister use gairaigo. The Diet must be solemn. Using gairaigo in the Diet seems that the entire Japan is violated by gairaigo.　

These days, one person became famous on TV. His name is Lou Oshiba. He uses English words partly in the sentence he speaks. For example cacchi (derived from “catch”), and tugyaza (derived from “together”). He first uses English words like these and explain the meaning of it after that. The words or the way he speaks is called “” Lougo” (Lou words), it is popular with young people.

Many people may think the way he speaks is confusing. I don’t know why he needs to use English words like these above. However, for young people, it seems fun. Besides, though Tomoko Otake says that katakana is used to show off their knowledge, moreover, I think people like otaku or young people who use katakana or Lougo make sure their relationship. People who know words they use are companions.

Gairaigo or katakana may be the word which can be used easily instead of kanji which has stiff image, and it may shows changes of the culture from traditional one to modern one.

My summer vacation

During the summer vacation, I took trips to 3 spots in Japan.

First place is Yakushima of Kagoshima prefecture.
I went to there with my friends. When I was a high school student, I thought I wanted to go somewhere to see great nature. At that time, I was tired because of study for entrance exam. I asked some my friends whether they could go with me or not, and 2 friends said they could.

After graduating high school, we talked precisely about when and how we got there. We decided to take the bus to Kagoshima and ship to Yakushima. On October 28th, we left for there.

Yakushima is an island where a lot of nature exists. I was moved because I couldn’t see nature like that in a daily life.
Yakushima is a place where became a stage of “Mononokehime”, a movie of Hayao Miyazaki. There is a forest called “Mononokehimenomori.” We went to there. It was a very fine whether. It took about 2 hours to see that and that was really like a forest in the movie. There are many kinds of mosses, woods, and plants which exist only in Yakushima. We were always surprised at power of nature. We could take a good rest at Yakushima.


Second place is Hiroshima prefecture.
I went to there with friends by car. We have a friend in Kure City of Hiroshima, so we decided to stay his house.

First day, on September 4th, we got to his house spending 3 hours and just stayed his house.

Second day, we went to Onomiti City. Onomiti City is a place which became a stage of a comic “Pastel” and we wanted to see there. Onomichi has roads and buildings where history remains and I was very interested. View was also beautiful. We bubbled over and turned seeing the place where the stage of the comic and enjoyed.

Third day, we went to Miyazima. This is a place where Shinto shrine is famous. We got there by taking the ship. When we got off the ship, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were a lot of dears in front of us. An old man sold rice crackers and we could give them. We have been crowded momentarily at the time we had the rice crackers. There might be 20 dears. They ate my T- short and pant, too.
After feeding, we started to go to see the shrine. We can go through the torii of the shrine in the morning, but in the afternoon, we can’t because it is soaked to the sea. We couldn’t go through because it was at 2 o’clock.
There were many oversea tourists and I felt this place was really famous.

The big things I did in summer vacation were only these, but I could take a good rest in my hometown and spend happy summer vacation.

Last blog of first semester

This is the Last blog of first semester!! Yeah!!! y,y,y,y......Yeah!!!!!! It was fast that time passed. However, it is just romanticizing. The class and homework was a little hard.



When I entered the college and IESa, I thought I resigned the class. It was because homework was hard for me, and I wanted to use time to do something to come true my dream. Moreover, I heard from my teachers of high school that the college life was very fun. However, the college life was not fun for me.



As time passed, however, it became fun. It was because I came to be interested in English more, but moreover, because of friends. I have made a lot of friends in this class and on campus.



I appreciate you! I'm looking forward to the next semester,too!

Travel 2

I traveled again last Sunday. I started from at 5 o'clock p.m. After 15 minutes left, I found a board written " Ikimonohureainosato." I got the urge for going.

I pedaled the bicycle about 4.5 kilometer since I have found the board. It was already 6 o'clock.
I arrived the place " Ikimonohureainosato." It was a mountain. I was surprised because I imagined a plain or a field.

I decided to climb the mountain. After 5 minutes left, I found this waterfall. I was very surprised because I have never seen any waterfalls. Besides of it, I did not think there was a waterfall in such a place!

In Osaka, there are nature more than you think. Travel and find your own favorite place!

You can see more pictures from this site. I climbed this mountain, and I took pictures like these.

Skateboarding!

I began to skateboarding when I was in second grade at high school. At that time I practiced hard everyday. However it was difficult, and I stopped skateboarding.

In class of presentation, I saw Hiromitsu and Hiroki were inspeting about skateboarding. I came to begin to skateboarding, and I started yesterday.

Because of the blank, I could't like the past, but it was very fun.

Watch this video. This is unbelievable!!

Kunimi mountain

Three weeks ago, I traveled by bicycle. I traveled like " This road is beautiful, so I'll go." "What is this? I want to see, so I'll go."



1 hour after startin' off, I arrived a mountain. Maybe the entrance is hard for everyone to find. I found it by accident.



The road of the mountain was dark, and crows were croaking. However it was exciting.



Like the story which we read in a Phillip's class, you should travel alone without searching in advance. You can experience authentic travel!!






This is a picture I took using my mobile phone.

You can see more pictures from this site. I saw really and directly the scenes of those pictures!!

Jigsaw puzzle

I want you to look at this picture.






This is a jigsaw puzzle of Micky Mouse. It has 108 pieces. I bought this maybe a two months ago.

That day in the night, I felt lonely and bored. "I want something I can absorb in." I thought. I went to Don Quixote to find it. I strolled in the store searching an interesting thing. "Video Games?... no. It's a little bit expensive." "A new DVD? ... no. Maybe I will get bored soon" I thoght like that pickin' up and seein' these things.

Then, I found this jigsaw pazzle by accindent. " Jigsaw pazzle?... it seems interesting!" I thought.

However, it was a little bit expensive more than I expected. The total cost of the pieces and a case was 1600 yen. I hesitated to buy it, but I bought.

After coming back home, I started off makin' it. It was interesting to fit the pieces. "Ah Is this piece here? ... no. Oh, it's here!" The moment I put the piece to correct place was exciting.
"Maybe I can spend three days without getting bored because of this pazzle!" I thoght.

However, I made it for 2 hours. It costed 16oo yen to play for 2 hours. It was a little bit expensive. Maybe the cost was because of the character, Micky. So I recommend you to buy the puzzle of unfamouse character.

Let's buy a jigsaw puzzle and hang it on the wall!!

Baby Drop Off

Today, I'll talk about Baby Drop Off.

Two people talk about facility for unwanted infants. I want to analyze how they try to explain or make us believe.

Letter 1

The author talks about his experience. She works with disabled adults, some of whom were abandoned, and she says overcoming losses of significant people is a major issue for such people.

The author talks about the facts. People can abandon infant children, but a 3-year-old toddler were found in the facility.

Using one's experiences allows readers to be in there or feel the author's feelings. I could know why she want to insist like Letter 1 because I could know her situation. The more we know the person, the more we can trust. Using experience is good way.

Using facts is more effective because they are "facts." Facts allow readers to trust easily. We can think about the problem carefully because it was occured actually.

Letter 2

The author shows an occurence in Japan some years ago. A baby of a junior high school student and her boyfriend wa abandoned in a nearby temple in cold weather and died.

Showing a fact makes people trust easily. This is an effect way.

My opinion

I agree with the author of Letter 1. Perhaps there are some people who can not afford to raise children because of money problem. However, are all people who abandon their child suffering from money problem or in the situation that they really can not raise their child? I think not they aren't.

Surely, the Baby Hatch is a good idea. This can save children from death. However, People should rather live with thier children in any case than abondon them. So, I agree the idea of the agency. This is big scale, but the goverment should do. I think it's better way to save children better than set the Baby Hatch.

Hutarigoto

Today I'll show you this picture.






Do you know this? This is a book made by Kazunobu Mineta, a vocal of Ging Nang Boyz, and Inoma, a vocal and bass of Onani Machine.

First content of this book is that they go to girls' house who selected by random and talk with them. About school which the girl goes to, about what she thinks now, or about love, they talk many things. It's very interesting.

Second content is that they talk with Kankuro Kudo, a writer, Jun Miura, a musician and writer, and Haru, a musician. They talk about music, girls, or occurrences of every day. These topics are meaningless and trivial but very interesting.

If you want to know about Kazunobu Mineta, go to this site. You can read his dialog and know his occurrences of the day he renew.

If you want to know about Ging Nang Boyz, go to The Official Site of Ging Nang Boyz. You can know the information of the band. For example, there are information about magazines or radio which they appear, or you can buy goods.


Then this is The Official Site Of Onani Machine. You can know about the news, their profiles and so on. You can read a novel which Inoma writes.


I like Kazunobu Mineta and Inoma and their bands. Kazunobu Mineta was a vocal of Going Steady. A rock band which I listened first was the band. At that time I was very impressed by it and I listened to it many times.


I did not know Inoma until I was a high school student of third year, and after listening to the band, Onani Machine, I have came to like it and it is one of my favorite bands.

Please watch the videos of the two bands.


Ging Nang Boyz



Onani Machine

Don't you think they are hot?

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

First, I introduce Gabugabu diary of Kazunobu Mineta. I always check this website when I surf the Internet. This website is made by Kazunobu Mineta, a vocal of Ging Nang Boyz.

After checking it, I see Youtube. This is very famouse website. I usually see the music videos of the singers who I like.

Finally, I introduce Mytube. Most people know Youtube. However do you know it? If you are interested in it, check it out!

1. Human Beatbox

This place is Osakakoenmae, and it was May 12th. I played human beatbox with many people.

When I saw the people playing there, I was very surprised because everyone played very well.
However, we have had own skills that others could not play, and we played it by turns. We taught each other how to make sounds, and increase the variety of sound.

When we were playing, a man who had a long flute spoke to us. " Can I join? " he said. He played the flute and we played human beatbox at the same time.

I'm looking forward to the next gathering. If you want to see it, please tell me.

Let's play video games!

These days I feel lonely at home. I don't like it very much. However, I found the way to remove loneliness! That's playing a video game! I'm playng Dragon Quest 8. It's so interesting. I must go home and play it!

Commercial of Gatsby (an analysis)

In today's entry I want to talk about the following television commercial, which you can sometimes see on Japanese TV.



Target

First, the commercial is probably directed at young men, because the actor is a young man, who want to buy hair wax or who want to know information about it. There is no woman in this commercial, so I think it's not for women.

In this commercial, he gets older. This can be thought if you are also old, let's live with good hair style. So it's also for old men.

People who want to buy hair wax want to know the difference of many kind of wax. What is the wax for? For twisting, or for flowing? How hard is the wax? Hard or Soft?

Tne commercial is directed toward people who are young menand who want to be cool, because the person who is in it is young and cool. Besides it, this commercia is also directed toward to middle age or old people because there is a figure of old peron.

The target this commercial aim is Japanese because there is only Japanese in it.

Authority

His name is Masahiro Motoki. He is an actor. He appears many CM, dramas, and movies. Iemon,Toyota, and so on. The movies he appears got many prizes. I think he is popular in Japan.

The company of this production is Gatsby. Gatsby is one of the famous company of hair wax. I think there are many people who have the production of it.

Emotion

The commercial is interesting. From the start to the end it tries to make people laugh.His clothes, hairstyle, and the background are very interesting. I think there aren't people like him around us. His movement and his grave face make this commercial fun.

He sees directly viewer. This drows viewer's attention. I think it is why people want to watch whole this commercial.

He says “Gatsby” many times. It makes people remorize the company easily.

Logic/information

Viewers for this commercial can learn some things about the production. The color, shape, how long this can hold your hairstyle, and viewer can know that if you use this prodution, you can set hairstyle like him.

Evaluation

This commercial is very interesting, attracts many people, and make people have soft image to this production. People who don't have this can be familiar with this. People who have this also can it.

He is singing. I think is is the best point of this commercial. This song says "Let's live with cool hair style. Life is marvelous! " We can memorize easily this. I can sing this. So we can remember the commercial whenever.

So, I think this commercial is good.

20 questions with me

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

1. Why have you decided to come to this university?

Because I want to talk with foreigners.

2. What is your goal in IESA?

To come to speak English fluently and get teachers' all knowledge.

3. What do you think about Mr. Clark?

He is intelligent. I think he knows many kind of things.

4.What do you think about Mr. Duarte?

He is also intelligent and unique.

5. What do you think the word that describes IESA is?

To be more indivisual.

6. Where do you want to go for studing abroad?

I want to go to America. There is no reason.

7.Have you ever been abroad?

Yes. I have been to Australia on a school trip.

8. What would you do if you won the lottery?

I would contribute half of money to somthing like UNISEF, and save or use the rest.

9. Who is the person you respect most?

Kazunobu Mineta

10. What is your teasure in your life?

Friends.

11. What is your favorite singer?

Bob Dylan.

12. What is the most shameful thing you have done before?

My existence itself is shameful.

13.What is the happiest thing you have had before?

A comic of Nananan Kiriko.

14. What part-time job do you do?

I don't do.

15. What is your dream?

To live ordinary with person who I love.

16. What is your maxim in your life?

Make uninteresting world interesting.

17. What would you do if the world were to dissappear tomorrow?

I would roll.

18. What do you think is the perfect man for you?

No one.

19. What do you wish if you could make only one thing come true?

I wish that I could fly.

20. What is love?

To recieve partner. If you want to know what love is, listen to a song "Love" of John Lennon.

My name is Suguru...no,it's a joke.Well,my name is Suguru.

I like music.Music always help me live.

I'm very negative.Some times I want to die. However I don't die because I'm afraid of dying.

I don't want to tell about myself because I like to be mysterious.However,I don't like to be alone basically.Please speak to me actively.