Black or White

We watched "Black or White" , Michael Jacjson's pv.
I watched it for the first time.

I think he would like to appeal that there is no difference whether people are white or not.
Additionally, he would like to say people should not discriminate by the race of people.

I was so astonished by the news of his death.
I thought he was crazy before, but I heard some news about him on TV, I feel bad about it.
I hope he has a good time and enjoy music in the heaven.

Michael Joseph Jackson "BLACK or WHITE?"

Our class watched a video named "BLACK or WHITE?" which is a Micheal Jackson's CD single and the video is the PV. In this PV, Micheal is a medium(we learned the word "medium" in our class today!) and he is trying to tell us something. I think what he tells is that there is no border on the earth because quite a lot of people with various races are appearing in the PV. Additionally, even if you are a white man, black man or xanthous man(it means "yellow man"), you can understand other people and other people can understand you as well. In short, we are all same, we are all human-beings.

"We are all a part of God's great big family~♪"

"Love is all we need~♪"

"We are the world, we are the children~♪"

You must know this song! The title is "We Are The World"

I also hope like Micheal that the border on the earth will disappear and we all human-beings will become equal, then we will be able to understand each other!!

LOVE and PEACE

See you then!

Black or White

Today, we saw Michael Jackson's pv, "Black or White." I saw it for the first time. I think this video has strong messages. At first, music is freedom for everyone. People should enjoy music. Let's sing and dance together. At the same time, everyone has freedom without regard to age, sex, race and generation.
Although I was not an enthusiastic fan of Michael Jackson, I was really shocked at the news of his sudden death. I like his songs and dancing. To look back his life, he had a lot of troubles because he was famous and popular man. I hope he can have a good time without caring other people in the heaven.

Michael Jackson

I think this is my first time to watch his music video. Before I watch this video, I consider him eccentric person by his gossip about sexual abuse to children and cosmetic surgery. But, this Video drove away my wrong impression because he was so cool. Now, I can understand why many people like him. I think this video describes that skin color doesn't decide who you are and the message is to overcome the difference of our sense of values. I interpret the message from

the scenes that many different people including native American were dancing with Michael Jackson. It is very impressive and I realized that he is really an excellent man. By the way, Do you know why his skin color became white? Most Japanese Media reported that he wanted to be white or he gave up being black. Neither of these report is true. The fact is he was sick called Vitiligo. It causes the loss of producing pigment in your skin. So, the reason he wore mask and sunglasses is to protect his skin from ultraviolet rays. I think it is shameful that the Media reported about it humorously and I am so sorry for him. May he rest in Peace!

Twitter is...

I think it is good because we can know that the person is doing now. I found that my favorite rock band joins twitter. It is natural that if someone you like such as actors or musicians write twitter, you are interested in it. Aren't you? So am I. But, I'm so lazy. So I think I'll be tired of it soon even if I use it.

BBQ

I had BBQ in futakosinchi on sunday. But the weather was so bad. So we have to work so hard. After BBQ I back to my home and sleep.

manner

I looked the manner poster in ie class. But I never seen the poster. So I want to see the poster in private. The poster is so simple, so we can understand what that want to say.

Media

Today, we can get a lot of information from the media. It includes TV, newspapers, internet, etc. You can say that now we cannot live without them, and it is really necessary for us. Many people have accounts of SNS like mixi, facebook, myspace, blog, messanger, skype, etc, and enjoy their time on the accounts. We can make friends and good connections and tell your friends about yourself and the events you did. We can also share information, so we can know a lot of new things. I think it is a good thing for people who are not good at talking face to face, so I recommend using those accounts.

Twitter

I checked Twitter the other day! It looks very easy and useful to tell the situation. But it is little bit troublesome because unless having machinery, we can't update our information. Maybe we don't have time to update many times. I think that it is useful for TV entertainer or so. It is very nice for fans to know what they are doing because usually we can't know the daily life of them! I have account of Facebook. I use it very much because I can keep in touch with friends who live far away. And it contains not only uploading statement but also photos etc. So I think it is useful than Twitter.
I'm going to visit Odaiba with my friend from Australia soon! can't wait!

My opinion about manner

I have seen those posters at some Tokyo metro stations. I think they are good to show what is good or bad to people. But, I also think those manners on the posters are all common senses and we should understand about them without seeing the posters.
And I can't stand someone sits on the train spreading his or her laps . If I sit next on him or her, I feel unpleasant. They can sit without spreading laps!

Media

There are many ways which tell us information. Thanks to them, we can know many information timely and certainly. In addition, each of them have each distinction, so we can choose the way according to the situations. Recently, I often use the Internet to get information which I want to know. The Internet is useful to so so, because it gets information faster than the newspapers or TV. But I think the Internet have disadventage, too. It is that the Internet have some wrong information and uncertain information. In fact, there are many accidents with Internet. So we have to care about getting infornation from each media.

Yesterday, I went to bowling with my friends of circle. We enjoyed it, but the clerks were angry. Because we took too long time for one game. So we have to hurry! In addition, we drank then, so we couldn't do as usual>< We could enjoy it, so that's no problem:)

media

I like watching TV very much. I see news in the morning, variety show and drama at night. I enjoy it. At the same time, I can know a lot of things, for example, happenings of foreign countries, politics and so on. However, we should be careful to them because their information can be false. Moreover, media have strong influence. Both people sending and people recieving have to think deeply.

Manner poster :D

I think manner posters are a great idea to realize how bad manners annoy people. However, I don't think these posters are really improving bad manners on the train. I still see people who are listening to music in a loud volume,talking on a phone and fixing make-up. I think people who are behaving bad manners never realize their actions are annoying people around them. So are these posters accomplishing its goal? I feel its just attracting people who are passing by and giving enjoyment.

I wonder why are they only on Tokyo Metro.

This picture is Yurika being excited because she saw this poster for the first time at Roppongi station this Saturday!lol

About Media

I think that a lot of information is too much by mass media. Sometimes there is unnecessary information.
We are confused by incorrect informaeion, so I want mass media to spread only correct and true information and at the same time we have to judge and distinguish incorrect information.

Too Hot!!

Today is very hot(><)!!!!
Last weekend, I play with friends of my part time job and we went to karaoke.
I had fun time. Playing with friends I do not usually do is fun for me. Although these days I am very too busy and tired, I can reflesh by playing. However this week I have to prepare for book report 2, so I will be busy><.

My favorite ones

Manner Posters

I knew these posters last summer and I thought it's a good idea to let people know what not to do in the train. I hadn't realized that same guy is in every poster until Dr. Armstrong told us on last Friday. It's really funny. I feel irritated that people talk on the phone, throw up, spit, and eat some smelly foods in the train. I can't understand people who don't care other people around them.

Last Saturday night, some guy was spitting in the train and that was really really disguisting. I think he should have wiped his spit at least....

I love this poster best!

posters

I sometimes see Mr. Yorifuji's manner posters on the trains or in stations. I think it is a good idea to make manner posters because people can mind their manners when they saw them. The train's manners are very important and people must know them. There are pictures on those posters, so they are easy to understand what we should not do. I often see people who do not obey the rules of trains. We need not to forget those manners when we use trains.

Manner Poster

I've seen the manner posters on train or at station. I thought that these posters are very funny and it is fun to see each poster. But it is proper that not to do the action of posters. I wonder why Japanese can't do something natural. Lately there are so many people who don't have common knowledge even adults. I even think that common knowledge doesn't exist.

Twitter

I'm kind of interested in Twitter. I've heard of it when I was in the U.S. But I had no idea what that is and i didn't care at all.
It's interesting that 140 letters at maximum and you can read people's messages around the world.
But since I can't keep up with writing down diary or blog regularly , I don't think I will make Twitter account. I think Twitter is very useful for short conversation though.

About Media

On Friday or Saturday, I watched a TV program about a sarin accident which occured in Nagano in 1994.Through this TV program, I realized how influential media are.

At first, many news programs said that Kouno Yoshiyuki might be a climinal. In fact, he was a victim of the accident and he and his wife suffered from the sarin. However, many news programs convey the information about the accident without enough proof, and he and his family suffered from the harassing such as silent calling. And this continued by the time it turned out that this accident was caused by Omu shinrikyou.
Finally, many media apologized to him, but we cannot forget this accident.

I think mass media have very big effect on our information so they have to convey true information and be resiponsible for what they convey.

Poster

I had never seen the poster which Dr.Armstrong showed us.
However, today, when I went to Shinjyuku with my elder sister to go shopping, I saw the poster at the station.
I think the poster makes us funny and that is really good.
Most of the manner poster is not funny that is the reason why we don't attract attention to it.
I think we have to more strict about manners and inculcate people's mind that breach of manners is not cool.

Poster

I saw the manner poster at Tokyo Metro for the first time at last class.

I think it is funny, simple and clear.
It is easy to understand. It is good for every people.

I hope public manner improve more by watching these posters.

Manner posters

I knew the existance of manner posters that serve the nine lines of the Tokyo Metro subway system by Bunpei Yorifuji for the first time at the last IE class. I honestly have never seen them before!! Then, I searched the manner posters in google and I found many posters. I'll show you some!!

I've not seen the person like this yet(^^;)

I love it(^o^)/

Both pictures are too funny!! \(>v<)/ I like the pictures Yorifuji drew and the way of painting! It's very simple and easy to understand! Also I like his way of reminder! The word "let's" doesn't make us think it is our duty and I feel it has a lot of warmth - like you can do it!

I think these social reminder is necessary for us because actually there are many people noticed they had caused some people trouble, thanks to these pictures. Even if these pictres are there, some people might not correct their wrong. However I'm sure these pictures help many people!

It should be continued in the future!

See you !!

Twitter.com

I'd never know about Twitter before Dr. Armstrong told us.

I think Twitter is similar to mixi. I am mixi user but I never wrote my journal or post my picture.That's because I am lazy and I also don't want to do it. I don't know even how to post. I think I don't need everyone to know about my private life. On the other hand, I want to know my friends life. This is the reason why I continue mixi.
I think these Internet services like Twitter and mixi is really useful to communicate with people.
However, it is sometimes become a weapon to heart people, I think. Is this the reason why Dr.Armstrong never participate Twitter?

Tokyo Metro Poster

I have seen this poster many times. The first time I saw it, I thought the things written on the poster was perfectly natural. Why did they need to make this type of poster? Women don't want to put make up on the train, they're just using time wisely. Drunk people don't want to barf in the train or sleep on the seats, they just don't feel well. Of course, it doesn't feel good looking at people throwing up, but they can't help it. Is it only me who think this way?

poster

Last Tuesday Dr. Armstrong showed us some posters but I have never seen them. I think these that posters are very unique. Most of posters emphasizes messages than designs. So they are sometimes boring. However, I think these posters have both messages and fun.
There are a lot of posters around us, for example, release of CDs or books, shops, sale information and special events. People don't tend to think of them deeply. Posters have various messages. In particular, messages for bad manner and smoking are very important. We should see wider area.

Media

Today, we have a lot of media.
And it gives us the various information.
But I do not know whether its information is true or not.
I think we are controlled by media.
Now, Michael Jackson's news appear, a while ago, the media was full of new flu.
But now new flu is happening.
We cannot already get information of it...
It is very bad point of media.

Twitter

Twitter is really useful.
I sometimes use it to know whether the train is overdue or not.
This information is fast and useful.

I have not joined it yet, only reading;(
But I want to join it if I have a free time.

Please do it at home

I have seen this kind of posters on the train some times.
But not until Dr. Armstrong introduced us the posters, I never cared about them because what the posters mean ia common sense.
I never put on making-up or lying on the sofa on the train, however I've seen some peoploe doing so. While I want nobody to do so, I cannot warn people who seem not to care manner.
So I think this kind of poster is needed to recognize us what manner is again.

On the other hands, I think it is not a good tendency that Japanese come to be less careful about manner. We should act neatly and try not to annoy others in public without any warnings. So we need to make sure how we should act in public again.

Poster

I have not seen the poster.
This time was the first time.

I thought all most of the Japanese, including me, have no moral mind, today.
So there are many posters in Japan like this.
Moreover, the age have changed.
Women who make up in the train are not ashamed, because everyone do the same thing in the train.
I thought The time when the age have changed was our parents age.
Grandmothers and grandfathers have moral mind and they take attention to something like making up.
But my parents age people pretend not to look at that thing.
We, our age people should have more moral mind.

Got manners?

Today, Dr. Armstrong showed us an article of a graphic artist who has produced a different kind of manners poster. I was really pleased that FINALLY someone has said something about people(generally businessman and college students) who vomit on trains and platforms. I think people who do so should take a good look at these posters and realise that it's something you are not supposed to do and other people are disgusted by these acts! However, I have a different point of view from the poster when it comes to the issue that women shouldn't put on their makeup on trains. I am used to seeing women putting on makeup on trains and it doesn't bother me at all.
The older generation tend to dislike watching women do so, but maybe it's just a generation gap.
If I could make a poster like these, I would draw a picture of a man reading an obscene manga or a dirty magazine on a train and write "Please do it in your own room" on top of it.

Michael has died

I can't believe it!!
Michael Jackson has died.

Everyone's talking about it.
There must be tons twittering about it too.
THE POWER OF THE MEDIA IS ENORMOUS!!

twitter

I think twitter is something very concise and wonderful.
Maybe if we make a movie with kids twitting and taking over school
might be fun.

Whew

It's been almost a full year since I came to Japan, and I think I've never been this busy in my life but I think I'm managing. During this time I've actually noticed something peculiar about how the Japanese don't really think about subtle implications when they interact with someone. For example I know an American man who married a Japanese woman. On the man's birthday his wife bought him a nose hair clipper. Now the man was worried about how his wife might be insinuating that his nose hair is always sticking out, but from his wife's perspective she was just simply buying it because it was his birthday. I can relate to this and I've had some times when I've wondered if the Japanese person I'm talking to is actually hinting at something when ever they say something that seems out of place. I've learned to not think too deeply about it but then if I overdo it then people will think I'm "KY"... Coping with different cultures is hard :(

Twitter

The amount of reputation twitter is gaining for its role as a de facto news source is a bit absurd. The media (I'm looking at you CNN) are over glorifying twitter. They claim that twitter will herald a new era of citizen journalism but what they fail to realize is that these "journalisms" lack a critical aspect: credibility. How do we know that what these people are twittering are entirely true? The fact is that we don't. With big news corporations there are at least regulations that prevent these kind of faux news (no pun intended). Some may say that if the majority of the people are writing about it, it must be true, but then groups of people can coordinate to write something that is completely untrue or biased,l effectively making the story the majority; couple this with something that appeals to people's emotions (i.e. shocking photos, touching stories, etc.) and voila, you get people believing in it. My guess is that someday some organizations such as an internet forum will attempt to orchestrate something like this and end up duping the entire world. This kind of discredit to services such as twitter will actually be necessary. It's a bit unnerving how easy it is for us to believe information fed to us given the right circumstances.

Paparazzi

Omg! This blog's background changed! Cool!

Reflecting on tegoyuri's blog, I believe paparazzi are a tough job. Even though they are actually destroying celebrity's privacy, they can't just scamp their job because we are able to get celebrity's information due to their effort.lol I know that in Hollywood, paparazzi are just rude! and outrageous manner! But what if there weren't any paparazzi? We won't be able to know any of the interesting news about talents, which I believe most of the people have seen at least once on TV or Internet sites or magazines.

Oh! One thing I was surprised today was that we discussed about "Twitter" in different class :) It was in Ibunka communication class. When I heard the word Twitter in that class, I was proud of myself that "I know Twitter"!lol Thanks to Dr. Armstrong!

The media

I have been wondering how the media influences our thought and the situations in the world, in the United States the media is manly concerned of the number of the viewers they get. As a consequence they air those new that attract the viewer`s eyes such as the news of Iraq. The media is a source of our understanding of the world and if it`s unreliable, how can we understand the world clearly? In addition to the fact, most of the news stems from the same source such as AP wire survices, therefore, it`s really difficult to get the news that viewed the world events from the different point of view. I think we have to revolutionalize the media and out use of it.

Twitter: What are you doing?

I have never taken part in twitter and also I've never participated in mixi;; because it is very hard for me to write own journal and I don't like to check my friend's one - I feel I sneak a look at someone's private, or I hardly use my cell-phone every day and I haven't done packet discount since I bought my cell-phone for the first time!!(I know it is available by PC, but it takes a lot of time.) I always use it only to send e-mail or call someone. Of course my friends are all surprised after I talk about that. Dr. Armstrong also have never taken part in Twitter or mixi. That amazed me, but he said that he is always read a lot of books, so I think he feels the things like twitter is waste of time. He loves to read some books but he doesn't like that he can't gain any knowledge, I think. Am I wrong, Dr Armstrong?

Although I've never used twitter at the individual level, I think it is very good tool to share personal life with others because you can talk with everyone every time and everywhere. It is filled with fun, I think. However, I think there are some bad points to use twitter, for instance, we become to be the people who seldom talke with our family and tha bond with them will be thinner and weaker. It is very horrible and we somehow try to pretend this.

Anyway, I won't participate in twitter forever!!

Twitter

I can't understand why Dr. Armstrong doesn't decide to take part in twitter. He doesn't seems to be too lazy to write its articles. He also doesn't seems to not good at using computer. May be he is secretive. I'm so interested in twitter because he said Paris Hilton takes part in it. I likeParis Hilton so muchi!!! I'd like to check twitter someday. But I'm not good at using computer and don't like to use it, so it would be later that I check it...

shigeaki!!

Yesterday, I saw a scandal news on the Internet about one of the members of my favorite group NEWS seen at kyabakura the other day. I don't know whether this is truth, but I think that paparazzi should give him more privacy. Even this news isn't true, if it's broad casted everyone will believe that it's telling the truth. So, I try not to believe too much on TV.

Mirage

I think that robot represents humans and goldfish represents other living creatures in the nature.

I thought the robot was in the ocean but he was just walking on the ground, so i was confused. But I believe he was in the ocean. He was looking for fresh water out of plants. Robot can't drink salt water like humans i think. He even took water out of some plant in which the gold fish was living. I thought the goldfish was gonna die. The water was necessary to not only the robot but also goldfish. I thought the short film wanted to tell us the importance of symbiosis. Because he could get water out of the plant, he could survive and because he let goldfish stay in his stomach, the gold fish could survive.

twitter and poster

I think twitter is different from other social networking service like mixi and my space. the most unique point is the way to communicate with other users. I just contribute my trivial muttering like " I want to eat sushi " or " I'm tired because I was up all night" and other user who notices my comment, replies to me. I think it is easy and plain communication style. But, I don't want to join twitter because it's troublesome for me to contribute my muttering intentionally.I think it's a waste of time to do such a it's a waste of time to do such a thing while I think it will be fun to see other muttering. I found the Japanese version and I may join it if I the Japanese version and I may join it if I feel like iｔ.




I'm surprised Dr. Armstrong told us that the poster which reminds us manner in subway stations in Tokyo is very beautiful and well-designed because I' ve never thought it's beautiful every time I see the poster. Actually, my friends were laughing about the sentence like " let's do it home" and the expressionless face drawn in the poster. Honestly, It was funny for me, too. But, I realized I was wrong after reading the articles distributed in class. In fact, the poster is more attractive than other posters because of the simple colors and composition. That's why we could notice the poster. But, I think it is difficult whether people follow the message, especially in rush hour. people tend to act egocentrically in this time because they are tired because of jam-packed train. Of course, whereas there are few old people or the handicapped, sometimes, they were there by chance. How many people could do something for them in rush hour? I have rarely seen such a person. What is the best plan to solve the problem?

To Yusaku.

Great photo, Yusaku:] It makes you realize actually how high Mt. Fuji is from this photo! Must have been a really tough challenge for you to climb Akadake. I heard some people die climbing up there during winters so I am really glad that you made it back alive! I'm curious which mountain you are going to climb next:)

twitter?

I was absent last class because of this.


From the top of Mt.Akadake(2,899m)
What a mountain... I'd say Mt.Fuji is the national symbol of Japan! But I dare say this picture is rubbish. The real one is millions times more beautiful than this picture.


I like this new dark backscreen of this blog. It's much easier to read:)

Is this week's topic of this blog "Twitter"? Well, I googled it and read some gidelines, but it looks tiresome to do for me...don't know, maybe it's fun once I started but it just doesn't attract me for now.

Friday to Sunday

I had been to the Lake Yamanaka!! this camp was so hard. we, managers couldn't sleep well because we had alot of things to do, for example, washing and preparetion of meal. It was so hard, but, when the party had started, the hard work went to complete obilion! We had a good time at night party.

social remainders

In today's class, we saw a handout titled
"Punchy posters urge Tokyoites to mind their
manners"

Let me first describe my overall impression
of this piece of paper. I think these pictures
successfully illustrate what is going on there,
that is, how embarassing their manners are, and
how they are responded to by others. These
posters are appealing in an effective and force-
ful manner to our visual perception. Conveying
a lot of things and convincing it would be even
without a word. Amazing and literally "punchy".

Next, I go on to the necessity or effectiveness
of "social remainders". Basically, I agree with
the idea. Some people may say it should be taught
at school or at home, not through social remainders.
There is, of course, something in this kind of
opinion, but given the current state of things,
just because s/he is in a teaching or "respectable"
position, it does not automatically mean that s/he
acts morally and can set an example to follow. We
know countless cases where parents and teachers
commit immorarities these days.

Things are getting a little bit complicated, but the
bottom line is, the idea of teaching respectable
manners in itself is good, but who will teach?

If social remainders are elaborated and based on the
consensus of well-mannared people, they will serve
as teachers(a received standard/roll models). To me,
it seems a more viable solution at least than we
naively expect all(or many of the) teachers and
parents to live enough morally to set an example.

Mirage

We watched the short film "Mirage" in last class. The character in the film was only robot but I think it represents us, human. Because we can't live without water. Also human is always looking for everything we want. And as scene the robot got water from a plant which was last one, human don't care about others. We take action without attention for others and make much of us. After all we think only ourselves and egoistic.

Father's Day

Last Sunday was Father's Day, so I hung out with my family. First, we went bowling. I haven't played it with them for a long time, so I was so excited. We played three games that day, and all of my scores were over 100. It was really good for me because I usually get around 90. Next, we went for a dinner to a grilled restaurant near our house. We had a coupon, so could eat lots of meat with cheap prices. After we went back home, I gave chocolate to my dad (but I ate half of it..lol) and we enjoyed Wii. I could have really fun time with them.

Days

I have been very busy recently! Because I have lots of things to do..almost end of term papers including book report for IE class. And I also have part-time job for days a week..last week, I had to take complaint of customers. They were very angry with us and bawled at us even we didn't do mistake anything. I felt down so much about it. I want to quit this job..haha
Last week , wednesday, I and circle friends went for a movie "Angels and Demons".yay! It was fun for me, but one of them thought it wasn't interesting because the original book was better. There are lot of grotesque and painful scene in it, I felt bad after the movie. I want to read the book of it so much now!

Power to the people

Unbelievable......

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/06/21/intv.nasr.neda.cnn

If you pay attention, you hear "twitter" at 2:30~

Then this video came up next :



I was going to post how I thought Twitter wasn't all that appealing to me since I prefer long posts but after watching these videos I remembered the time when YouTube first got famous. I remember I was astonished thinking "wow, this is a revolution!"

Young people with the power of the internet could seriously shake things hard.
If the internet went into North Korea that country would change for sure.
I remember seeing a Democracy-Now! banner that said
"In the face of war, facts are your only weapon"

I really hope more and more people will make great use of the media. Not only twitter or facebook, but independent news and also music.
M.I.A. a Sri Lankan refugee which her lyrics are inspired by the status quo of Sri Lanka now, wrote in her song "20 Dollar" :
"I put people on the map who never seen a map."


.........And what are we doing?

Mirage

The short piece of movie seemed to be thought-provoking, but
I couldn't understand well what it was driving at. Other
pieces we watched were also a little too difficult for me,
the one whose main character was a Snoopy-like creature,
for example.

mirage

I saw the video "Mirage" last Tuesday. I felt sad to watch this video because the robot was the image of human in the future. People can't live without water as well as the robot. Also, people can't live without other creatures. When the robot robbed the fish of water, the robot seemed very sad. After that, he put the fish into his body. He had a kind mind as well as people. We have to think of the environment in the future.

Twitter, mixi

Jme, thanks for answering to my question! Tell me if you signed up for Twitter! I think its a great idea if we use Twitter in some kind of way for class like one of the assignments. Maybe we could make community like mixi and chat there.lol I like how you describe twitter as "mini mixi".

I sometimes think that those networking service site are scary. Because you can meet people who you can't see their face and talk with them, and how can you find out that they are telling the truth to you or maybe lying? I always have a fear to open my personal information to those kind of networking services. So in mixi, I open my diaries and photos to people who are my-mixi and if there's someone who I don't know applied for my-mixi to me I will definitely refuse them. I guess to protect our personal information, we have to be aware about the negative side of media.

Twitter

I really do not think it`s a good invention that can make a difference---for the moment we`re using twitter to inform people of an accident or sth like that, we can actually do sth focusing on , experiencing with much more deep insight, what`s happening before our eyes. Cosidering twitter from a different point of view, I want to ask the people who are using it how they can make time to face to the computers, I guess they have a plenty of free time.

unagi

I ate Unagi yesterday. It was very nice.

However, I thought unagi is good but the sause is not sweet. I like amadare so that I like Yoshinoya's unajuu than this expensive one.

how green r u

I'm not green too. But, when I was elementary school student, I took a bath in dark bathroom not to use much electricity. So, my mother was surprised and said to light on. Now, I try to reduce energy to use but I'm not sure I can reduce it.
By the way, I'm going to go to Enoshima and clean the beach. Enoshima is famous for its beach and many people visit there in Summer. But, some of them leave a lot of garbage. So, the beach is always dirty.

How Green R U?

I don't think I am enough green. Because I often waste foods, electricity, water and so on. I know that I have to care about these things more and more. For example, I have to cut the time to run the water when I take the bath, I have to eat food which I don't like, I have to turn off the switch fo the air conditioner, light of the room... There are many thing that I can care in my ordinaly life!! I promise that I keep this in my mind!

Recently, there are tooooo many homework, aren't there? I am very worry that I won't be able to finish them by the deadline X( I'll do my best.

How Green R U

In my case, I refuse a vinyl bag when I pay the bill in the supermarket and jam foods into my own bag. I think simply it is obstacle for me because it is only one time to use it when I bring food into my room. That's reason. When I was a boy fresh from the country, I always receive the vinyl bags. But, I noticed they are no useful ways except to bring food and it is the cause to increase garbage in my room. So, I decided not to receive the vinyl bags. Also, I always buy compact fluorescent lamps when the previous one is no longer used. Actually, it is more expensive than incandescent light bulbs and it takes a little much time to be well-lighted.
But, the good points of compact fluorescent lamps are to save the more cost of energy consumption and to stand longer use than incandescent light bulbs. At first, I don't use them because incandescent light bulbs are cheaper than them overwhelmingly. However, their energy held only 2 months and decided to buy them. It was when I receive the electricity bills that I really feel the marvelous effect of them. I think you know what I want to say. Anyway, I think the most important thing to protect earth is not to share too heavy a burden for us. I don't think my action is too heavy. Refusing the vinyl bag and buying compact fluorescent lamps can't be too heavy. If you have other plans, please tell me.

How green R U?

To protect the environment is very important for the earth, (we know, of course). What I often do for the environment is saving on electricity because it can also save my electric bill!! And as well as electricity, I also try to save on water. On the other day, I got an assignment at a Aoyama Standard class. The professor told us to examine the budget of water we use per a day and hand in a report. As he said, I examined my budget and thought "I use toooooooo much water!!!". The reason came from the budget in bathroom.
I live in a dormitory now and each room has a bathroom with a toilet, so I always take a shower only without taking a bath. However, despite this, I use too much water. I think it's because the faucet (the device thet controls the flow of water from a pipe) is divided into two parts- cold water and hot water. Because it is hard for me to adjust the temperature of the water, I often let water flowing witout stopping it. That causes me to use more water than general.
Thus I noticed I use water so much and I thought I have to care about it. Therefore I started saving water recentry. Of caurse about electricity, I have saved on it for a long time and I will have saved as well forever as my mother told me to do so.

Noticing if we use how much quantity on electricity, water, and so on is less easy and we have few chance to notice it, but we should notice and improve it somehow!!


See you later/~

Today and yesterday

Yesterday, I went to the International Exhibition Hall which is placed near the Odaiba.
A big scale of clothing sale was held there. I get some cloth :) After the sale, I went to Ginza for celebrating my father's birthday. I had a great day.

Today was raining day. Since my hair become kinky when it rains, I hate rainy season:(
I had the test of TOFEL today and I went to Komaba exam station. This was the first time to receive exam in that station. Of course, I searched the place on the Internet yesterday, but I lost my way to go Komaba exam station today. I walked and walked...my map almost wet and its letters were hazed over,my hair was kinky and I got wet. I had a bad day and today was the day that I hate rain more.
Do you like rainy season? if your answer is "yes", please teach me how to like this season.

Mirage

Last Tuesday, we watched a short film, "Mirage". This story is about a robot who looked for water and tried to collect it to keep living. There were only a little water from flowers, so he could not get it a lot. When he kept walking, he found a tank of water. He decided to break it and got water, but a fish came out from the tank and it seemed to need water, too. He hesitated at first, but decided to put it in the water in his body.
I think this film shows importance of water. We, humans, also cannot live without water, but usually do not think about it in our daily lives. If there are only a little water, we have to share them and help each other like the robot.

mirage

The short animation that I watched last Tuesday was so complicated to me. That robot boy needed water in his stomach to live. So, he broke something like balloon filled of water to get water. But the gold fish(?) was in there. when he broke it, the fish fell down on the ground. he felt sorry for the fish. And he put the fish in his stomach......I can't understood the last well.
Then, what happened to them?

Mirage

Last Tuesday I saw a short movie, "Mirage".
This is a story about a robot boy who need to collect water to keep living.
I think this robot boy resembled human because he needed water.
He got water from plants, but it seemed that there were not much water,
and it is hard work for him to collect water.
At the end of this movie, he found much water and robbed water of a fish.
But he finally helped the fish by taking him in his water tank.

It is hard for us to think there were no water.
So, we tend to think it is natural fot us to get water without any difficulty.
But, water is also what the earth provide us,
and we should not take it for granted that we can get water every time.
And if we lost water, we would share little water with other creatures like the robot boy did in the movie.


This movie enabled me to think about water, about which we don't tend to think.

Rainy day

It is rainy today;(

Speaking of rain, there is a global environmental problem, acid precipitate.
It influences not only Japan but also all over the world.
The tree is dead because of it, since acid precipitate is absorbed from roots.
Moreover, buildings are destroyed.

Nowadays, people works for it.
However, Japanese people have little interest in acid precipitate.
I think we must know more about environment issue.

Twitter

I didn't know about Twitter until Dr. Armstrong talked about it during class. As Yuri did, I also searched for Twitter on the Internet. I also thought it was something like Mixi or myspace, but it seemed like it was a really simple blog. Twitter might be good for people like me who can't continue blogs since there is limitation in the character. I am not really sure of the negative points since I have never used Twitter before, but the positive point is that you are able to protect and block your messaging. Maybe it is possible to think as a "mini" Mixi.

Yuri- I didn't make an account yet but really interested in it so thinking about making one. It would be great if we used Twitter in some kind of way for class.

twitter

I went to Twitter.com straightaway when I came back to home yesterday after class.
During the class, I thought Twitter was like mixi but after I visited Twitter.com , I noticed the difference between mixi that you can express your feelings by a little bit of characters. Sometimes there are times that I want to express my feelings with a single word or communicate with others like chatting. So I'm very interested to sign up for Twitter right now.lol
Did anyone made an account?

Mirage

I am writing about Mirage again.
I begin to read The Time Traveler written by H. G. Wells.
Wells wrote the future world where two people live is.
One is Eloi who have beauty, but are short and rack of intelligence because they want the development of technology.
They do not need their intelligence in the future, so they are rack of intelligence.
I think a boy robot's body is like Eloi.
Because of the development of technology, a boy robot became also the strange body.
His body is the result of the development of technology.
Today, we, including me, ask for the moon, so we decline ourselves things.

Mirage

On last Tuesday, we watched "Mirage" which was created by Korean creator.
I found it difficult because I know it has profound messages.

Mirage is an effect caused by hot air which makes you think that you can see objects when they are not actually there.
Through I watched the video, I thought that human is a mirage. I mean human disappeared easily if we don't depend on nature as mirage. Mirage never happen when there isn't hot air and hot air is a natural phenomenon.
Nature create human and human create nature.
I think that is a cycle.

Mirage

We watched Mirage on last Tuesday.
Mirage means illusion and it is not good meaning in Japanese.

The boy robot's body save some water.
If he is rack of water, he is weak.
This means water is his life.
He wanted water, so he broke the fruit which is in gold fish.
Gold fish also needs water.
The boy robot picked it up in his body.
We should share a lot of things to live together.

oushou

Today, I went to Gyouzano Oushou with my friends Ayaka and Yuson. A old　woman sit next to us and talk to us. At first we interested in her talk but after tha dinner came, her talk went boring. We wanted to concente on eating. We ate most of foods but 2noodles were left. Because we were full. Then, the woman pointed out our leftovers. "Oh, what a waste! Rich person are different to me. ohhhh" We felt sad. I decide not to go to Oushou again.

Mirage

We watched the silm, Mirage last Tuesday.

I think he was conflicted between his physiological desire and the life of the goldfish.
He chose his desire.
But he put it into him and the goldfish was brought back to life.

According to this film, I think all creatures in this world cannot live without water.

Tomorrow

Hi!
We will have no class tomorrow!
I usually have two Chinease Class on Saturday, so it is hard for me to take enough rest on weekends.
Although I have many things to do such as homework, I will sleep for many hours and make myself rest. I am really happy now.
If it is fine tomorrow, I am going to wash cloths.
These days we have much rain especially in evenings.
I don't want to keep cloths which need wasing.
So I hope it will sunny tomorrow.

I want to make good use of this weekend.
See you!

MIRAGE

We watched the film, MIRAGE in last Tuesday.
The action and thoughts of the robot symbolize human beings.　　The robot has to gain water to live and this is necessary for him, so he tried to kill fish to get water. However he put it into water( his body )after having gained water. This display his tenderness, guilt, and so on. The relationships between the robot and the fish look like the relationships between human and animals, I think.

new environment

Starting a new life as a Aoyamagaguin student, environment around me has totally changed. One of the biggest change is that I'm not living with my family and most of the people are strangers to me. I found it a bit difficult at first, but I'm used to it now. I made new friends and I managed to live on my own. I think I'm good at fitting into a new environment. But sometimes I miss my family.

short movies

I thought for all the people watching this blog.
I found some funny short films so I'll just share it with you.

THE GOD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkLje7omeRk
Dessert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DYxZHGELno

Mirage

First of all the moment I saw the movie I thought the movie's robot looked like this music video from Bjork called "All Is Full Of Love". Everyone CHECK IT OUT!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjAoBKagWQA
The story from my point of view was that in order to survive,we need to make sacrifices. Especially for this robot it seemed like it needed fresh water, and it is a very limited source compared to the sea water. After showing the sacrifice, the robot put the fish into him and made it come back to life. Maybe this was something where the director wanted us to think of the different ways we might find to live with other species, and also rethink of what we humans are doing to the environment.

MIRAGE

We watched the film, MIRAGE in last Tuesday.
The action and thoughts of the robot symbolize human beings.　　The robot has to gain water to live and this is necessary for him, so he tried to kill fish to get water. However he put it into water( his body )after having gained water. This display his tenderness, guilt, and so on. The relationships between the robot and the fish look like the relationships between human and animals, I think.

hair salon

I went to hair salon on Monday to dye my hair to bright brown^^ but, since i dyed my hair to black for a cheer leading championship it was difficult to make my hair to color brown... so I will try to go to the salon again as soon as possible...

Mirage

I think the video shows the natural providence. The robot can't live without water, so he try to get water with every means which he can do. Also, we do for gerring food. For example,we kill the animals to eat. We live with helping each other.

Mirage

The short film we watched on last class, Mirage, made me to think what human always do as some people have already said...As the robot was looking for the water to survive his life, human is also looking for something every time to live or to save its life. The robot almost kill the fish to get water, which shows human kills other lives to save himself. I think we cannot do anything about it such as killing other lives to live, but we shouldn't forget about it and try to save other lives such as the environment.

Today

I am going to go the lake Yamanaka for the soccer camp, one of group activities. I'm a manager of soccer club. I want to enjoy this!

mirage

The movie "Mirage"was trying to express about the necessities for human. In the movie, the robot boy was about to die when his energy(water) was almost gone. This represents how humans are being alive by some kind of energy for example food. Next, the boy found a tap water and decided to climb to the top to get water from there. This shows that human are always searching for what they want which I agree to Yusaku's opinion that it is implying humans possessiveness.
I felt this movie was trying to let us understand the connection between the human and the nature.
And I also agree to Kotaro's opinion which says that we tend to overlook what we really have to cherish when we are fulfilled with our necessities. For example, in the movie, the boy broke the tap water to charge his energy without thinking about the tree. But when he heard the tree's anger voice, he stopped filling his body with water because he realized that the fish also needed water to survive.

The second thought on Mirage

Writing the last comment I remember the scene the robot pierce the egg-like sphere filled with the water. I thought the scene has some relations to the situation of this world, which is the happening of war and the absence of peace. There has been wars stem from the need of resources , but I guess if we can share the resource with every other countries and nurture the people in its environment, then we can save a lot of lives.

Art into words 4: Mirage

Watching the video called `Mirage` I was reminded of the miracle of my existence nurtured by the surrounding enviroment and the care from others. I had been very indifferent to the careness I received from others, naive, I know, but the living cycle of fish, the robot and the ocean was so compelling to me that I realized the importance of careing others and nurturing.
When we are filled with the feeling of warmth so long we`re inclined to overlook the kindness, I think.

Mirage

We watched a movie 'Mirage' in our last class.
In this movie, there is a robot, I think this is the symbol of human being. He has a person's face and mechanical body. And he searched water to be alive. Dr. Armstrong told us, 70% of human beings' bodies are water, and we cannot live three days without water. On the other hand, I noticed tha there were some lights in this movie. I thought something that have light were creatures which have lives, for example flowers. That is to say, that were nature.
I felt that human beings and nature need each other and live together. So if one of two disappeared, another would die soon. I rethink we have to protect the nature for our lives in the future.

Mirage

Hi!!
Our class watched a video named "mirage" on last Tuesday and the video told each of us something. The moving image mainly represents "Circle" and "Circle" stands for coexistence between human-beings and nature. In this video, there is a robot, which is a symbol of human, and he searched for water eagerly. This action means that human needs water and without this, we will die in about three days. And this is a weakness point for human-beings. When he serched for water, he found an object concluding a lot of water. He tried to pull out water from the object and finally he decided to destroy it and did so. After he got plenty of water, a fish appeared from the object. He was very surprised, being depressed by it. He caught the fish as quickly as possible and put it in the place where is he always save water, (and the place is a part of his body). He rescued the fish!!

This action told us the importance of coexistance between human-beings and nature and we have got to protect nature without destroying it. The robot of the video represents too developed human and we believe we can do everything, but in fact, we are very very weak without any water. Nature doesn't have will at all and wasn't developed like human, but we human and nature could be the same at the point of weakness.

In addition, the end of the video, the scene the robot is in the sea is the same one as the first. We can also see "Circle" from it.

The video is no language, so we have to understand by only the image. However watching and being able to understand the meaning of the video is very enjoyable, I think.

See you soon!!

video

About the video that we watched on last Friday, it was weird but i felt interesting, too. I thought that the robot-like boy represented human. Inside his body, there was water and the water kept disappearing from his body really fast. I`m not sure if I took the message from the creater right, but I think that water represent human's desire. People never stop wanting something and when they get satisfied, they hope to get more. So I thought that water in the movie and human`s desire were similar.

＜＜In＜＜Reverse＜＜

What a boring day. I woke up with a sore throat and a runny nose and the next day at school was awful. Then I saw this TV show where they were talking about house dust and mold. I spent the whole day cleaning my room. I can now lick the flooring!
How many of you vaccum without wiping the floor with water first? Because if you are, youre not cleaning anything!

The thing I hat about Japan is the weather! I hate the rainy season. And you using a bed is probably not a good Idea. (ticks!!) I'm sleeping in a different room in a futon right now. I can't wait till summer is over. I hate getting sweaty. Its the best when its a little cold outside so I can wear my hoodies. <3 class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Dojo vol. 22 I didn't even have tickets but I somehow ended up in the venue ahahahaha. This band called Misery Index put on a brutal show!


The last band that played was on stage forever. I went out because it was so boring. The vocalist just kept windmilling his hair.


I met all the bands that played, but my friend and I were talking about how death metal bands are less talkative compared to metalcore bands. This other band that played called Cannibal Corpse almost seemed annoyed when approached by fans. Do you think a band's way of interacting with fans can change depending on the genre of the music they play??

I guess I had a nice time, but I was more upset about how if I got to Shibuya 10 minutes earlier, I would've been able to meet Lady Gaga. (My friend got a picture with her!)

But instead I took photos with this butch dude from Misery Index haha



And everyone loves my banana pencil case :]



Also, some of my friends publish this magazine called No Name Magazine.
Starting this month, it will finally be available at Tower Records and other places. Please check it out! (This month's issue comes with a free CD!)

Disney

Yesterday I went to Disneyland with my friends because today is my birthday. It rained hard so it wasn't so crowded there. We rode 12 atractions in four hours. I really enjoyed Disneyland!!! Moreover, at just 12 o'clock, they gave me birthday cake and prasents. I was very surprised at it. I felt happy. In evening, I watched the movue with other friend. Unfortunatelly, it was so dull.. But I had a good time with my precious friends.

Good for the environment!!

The other day, there was this television show about growing vegetables at home. After my family watched that show, we went out to buy seeds. We got tomato, herb, basil, aloe, and other seeds. Hope it wouldn't die since our family usually forget to give water to it.

Mirage

Last Thursday, I watched the short movie "Mirage". the word means a dream, hope, or wish that cannot come true. I think the title is very suitable for the content after watching it because I think it signifies the our foolish expectations which caused the pursuit of too much resources for our wrong idea about the environment.I suppose the story tells us about the future of humans who pursues the all kinds of resources like water and oil and implies the black future if we continue our way of living. we know the truth and there many ways to avoid the serious situation. But, it is too heavy a burden for us to do the ways from the points of economy in this time while the means to ease a burden of the environment are developed steadily. Is it really possible to realize the coexistence of human and nature like the last scene of the movie? I was lost in thought after watching it.　

Mirage

In the movie, the robot reflects some features that we have. He needs water. He was dazzled by the water and exploited it as much as possible without thinking the consequences; dead plants behind him are the symbol of environmental destruction by human. We often succumb to temptation right in front of us even if we know it will have an unpleasant effect on us in the future. The robot implies this feature of human and this temptation is the Mirage. He also implies the possessiveness( not liking to share things with others) of human. He stopped the tap supplied by the tree on the roof so that he could monopolize it.
As he killed the fruit hanging under the tree, he heard something criticizing voice from the tree. Having heard the voice, he regretted what he did and saved the fish coming out of the fruit. Finally, the robot and the fish swimming happily in the water. This means that environmental problem can be solved, and human and nature can live together if we reconsider what we do to the environment and take actions for it.

Mirage

I watched some abstract video again today. It was "Mirage". there was a robot. He looks so grotesque that I couldn't like him. In this video, there was some demonstration that Water is very important for oue lives. But, I don't know why he, a robot was searching for water regardless he doesn't need water to live because he is a robot. Maybe, he thought he is a human.

Lonesome George

I remember lonesome George when I hear the word " natural selection". George is Galapagos giant tortoise. Galapagos Islands are famous for natural selection because Darwin discovered theory of evolution in the islands. Galapagos giant tortoises are different island to island. George lives in Pinta Island that is one of Galapagos Islands. But all his company were killed by human. So, he has been alone since then. He had children once but they were already died before they incubated.

Natural selection

The short film we watched in the last class is mysterious and a little bit nonunderstandable..But our group thought that the enemies tried to breed the birds more stronger one and control everything including nature. However their conspiracy was not success. After all, they were dead killing by birds. We can learn that we can't control nature. Also we have to take care of nature and nature will take care of us, too. It means we have to coexist with all of creature on earth and we can't live without nature.
I'm just reading book for my book report..umm many pages have left yet.
I have a plan to go for supper with my senior tomorrow night!It should be fun:)
I'm sooo sleepy...off to bed.

My sister

My sister came back home last Saturday from NY which she lives in right now. I was so excited to talk with her because I did not see her for a year. Saturday night, I talked with her a lot of things and shared information around us. I was really happy to share them and could have a good time:) I think I cannot spend time with her a lot because I have my part-time job and many homework. However, I will make a time for her to talk and hang out in this summer.

too busy!!!!!

These days, everyday I am busy. I have to read a book for my book report, write an essey, lean by heart a poem and prepare for my plesentation on next Thursday!!! I feel being pushed for time. People tend to get angry when they can't afford to relax. So, I am nervous these days. Anyone, please help me!!

Bookkeeping test

I finished "the official business skill test in bookkeeping" on last Sunday!! I did my best, but I'm very nervous about my result of the test;; I want to pass it!! Besides this test, I have one more test "Kanji official examination" on next Sunday. (>_<;;) I'm sooo busy! \(^o^;)/..... However, I'm feeling luckey because I can learn so many things these days and thanks to entering university, I have a lot of time to study what I want to know!! There are quite a few things I can know around me, so I have to think it's happy!! I also want to pass STEP 1st grade in the near future. I know it is very very hard to pass, but I want!! It's because I'm learning English at this university!! I study for me, so I don't want to regret and now I want to do what I can do for my future job!! I think "To have own dream" will encourage us to learn more. I have a dream to be a flight attendant, so I can try and try without giving up!! Moreover, I have the person who supports me-my mother!!, so I can hang tough!!

Though after finishing "Kanji official examination"　I(our classs) have Book Report No.2 , I want to do my best to the end!!


See you Then!! (._.)ノシ

dead tired

I went to Kokugakuin University to sit in for the EIKEN exam
yesterday. It came home to me how poor I am at listening to,
and writing, English and determined to work harder on it.

But thanks at least partly to "media discussion", I am around
70% satisfied with how I did on vocabulary & reading sections
in the exam.

ONEPIECE

I get absorbed in reading comics now. The name of the comics is ONEPICE. A chief character is a pirate named RUFY, and these comics tell their great adventure. It is very interesting. Read by all means.

yesterday

I worked at the movie theater from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. My movie theater wasn't so crowded except ROOKIES and Terminator 4. I want to watch them. However, I wonder this movie theater will be closed someday. After that, I went to Big Boy, restaurant of hamburger steak, with my family because my birthday will come soon. I ate a lot of food. It was very delicious and I felt happy.

Yesterday:)

I and my friends of my basketball circle joined the basketball tournament in Aoyama Gakuin University on Sunday, 14th June.
We had a game at 11:45, but our seniors' team had at 11:25. One of the member overslept, and I joined the seniors' team and I played basketball with seniors since last December. I was very glad. In addition, we won the game:)
But, next my team had a game. And the competitor was strong X( We lost the game;
I was so regrettable!!
After our game, we watched the game of our juniors of boys in our circle. The last 10 seconds, they were tie with the competitor. But at last 1 second, the competitor goaled!! So they lost the game. We are shocked though it was not my team.
I could enjoy the tournament:)

Saturday night

I went bowling with my part-time job members on Saturday night. I got a call from my manager and was asked to hang out with him and other members. This was my first time to hang out with them, so I was so excited to go. The manager picked me up at my house by his car and went Spoccha. 　We divided into four groups and competed with each other. I was satisfied about my scores because I could scored nearly 100. However, the guys include the manager were really good at bowling. They scored nearly 200 every time. I could really enjoy the time and hope I will be good at it like them.

Weekend

This weekend, I and my friends held a birthday party.
We have been good friends since high school students, and we have held bitrhday parties four times. however this time was special, because my friends became 20 year old, and this is very memorial!!

I and one of my friend bought present for them and cakes and went to other friend's house in Tachikawa.
We enjoyed eating nave which we always make at birthday parties and gave my friends present.
As I mentioned, this time was special. So we gave more expensive presents than usual and my friends seemed to be very happy to get presents, and this made me happy!!

I really enjoyed the birthday party and had prescious time there.

hard weekend

Today I took the exam, EIKEN pre-1 grade at university. It was really difficult for me to solve! Because it contains lots of new vocaburalies which have difficult meanings even in Japanese.
I think.. I will falt ..agh:( But I will try next time! So I'm not disappointed now, just do my best for the next! And also I have TOEIC the end of this month. I have to keep studying harder. Though it is very tough for me to do it, I just want to improve my English skills!
The payday comes tomorrow !!!yay! I really want to hang out with lots money;)

Natural Selection

I watched a short film " Natural Selection" last Tuesday. I think the theme of that film is that human shoud create other creatures or not. But, that was too complicated to understand. I think the film looks like "Jurassic Park" because the chicks on the film were like new kind. I think in the film, white faced people created them. And old man and young man tried to stole them and liberate into the nature. It's difficult to understand.

Work

Today, I did part time job from 14:00 to 21:00.
My part time emvironment is good, but sometimes not good.
There are four people including employee, but today only three people.
I thought today is very bad day, however, Today is very good day.
We should clean after the shop is close.
We helped with each other, so we finished it firstly.
After work, we talked about various things!
I enjoyed it:)

Nature Film

We watched a short movie on last Tuesday.

Today

I went to Yokohama after a long time.
I have a sore throat because I sang too much;(
But I had a good time.

When got off a train in Fuchinobe, it rained cats and dogs.
I was too shocked because I hunged the washing out and went outin this morning;(
I will have to do the washing tomorrow again...

No pain no gain.

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for reading my long boring outrageous posts.
Talking about Tattoos (again), I love the way how Chris described tattoos by saying, I quote, "The ink on their body has a special meaning to them. They're body is not only a canvas, but more like a album or diary!" Chris, You really nailed it! I think that's absolutely right, and I couldn't agree more. But, like Yuri and Tomo said, people who are inked in Japan are confronted with many difficulties and it really annoys me. To tell the truth, I don't know why people still, in this kind of environment, get inked. Some people get inked just because it looks cool and don't think of the consequences, and some others just have a thing called "a scratch addiction", I guess. I know there is a tribe in the deep forest of the Amazon that ink themselves because they believe that their soul escapes their body if their body isn't decorated colourfully. So I think it's really difficult to say why people get tattoos. There are several reasons why I have tattoos(oops, I just said it ), but the most fundamental reason is because my tattoos represent who I am. Tattoos are my philosophy of life.

A Circle.

When we read an article about the Native Americans in class, and learned how they symbolized a circle, it reminded me of the "Round Table". I learned at school that, King Arthur created a round table which implies that everyone who sits there has equal status. It was used to prevent quarrels among his barons, none of whom would accept a lower place than the others. In other words, a round/circle table was utilized to bring peace and harmony to the meeting. Speaking of a circle, there is something similar to this in Kanji as well. The Kanji 　和(wa)　means "peace" or "harmony" and the Kanji for a circle =輪(wa) has the same sound. Maybe it's just a coincidence but I think it makes sense, and our ancestors had a similar way of thinking as the Native Americans. What do you think?

PS. My Japanese name is 和男(Kazuo), therefore when a foreigner asks me what my Japanese name means I say "A peaceful man"!!:)
Oh yes,by the way, if there's anyone who's interested in reading the book Empire of Sings written by Roland Barthes-a French semiotician who Dr.Armstrong mentioned, there is a Japanese translated version too called 表徴の帝国.
It is reeeeeaaaaally puzzling but worth reading.

Green Survey

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Environment in living alone

I stayed at my friend's house the other day.
She cooked very well and speedy because she lives alone, so she often cook.
She often serves her cooking up for me and my friends.
I was impressed that she cook delicious foods for us even in the morning.

I think that environment to live away from our parents is important and useful for us.
Parents do everything for us, so we usually do not do housework.
By living alone we can learn all kinds housework, such as cooking, cleaning, and so on.
Moreover, we can become tough and strong in new environment because we do not rely on our parents. we also appreciate parents.
We can grow up mentally, so environment to live alone is good, I think.

Last Tuesday Film

It was interested for me in all film we watched in class.
Protecting four eggs also saves lives on the earth and
four birds suggest hope for the future, I think.
They think that person they see first is parent.
So,if four birds saw aliens first, what's happend?, I think.

natural selection

I enjoyed the movie which I saw in the last class because it looked like SF movie. However, I was really surprised at the scene that four birds killed men. Those birds were very terrible.
I think natural selection expresses the bond of company especially parents. So birds saved main character. Also, there is a risk in the movie, that is to say, people proceed to wrong way. If those birds met the bad man for the first time, they would save the bad man.

star trek

I think most American know the name and some of them have the memory to be really into it when they were young. It was the classic SF TV series and influence many other SF movies and TV series released after it. In Japan, it is released in the name of Utyudaisakusen and also became a big fad among boys.So, many lovers of Star trek could hardly wait to watch it which had been seven years since the last movie was made.Honestly, I have never watched the movies and TV series. But, I am one of them who are looking forward to watch it. There are two reasons why I want to watch it. First of all, the director is J.J.Abrams who directed M:I:3 and produced Clover field. I love both movies. And he is also the creator of LOST. It is very famous TV series all over the world. And, There is the most important reason. It's Simon Pegg. I think there are few people who know the name. It is natural because the most movies he appeared were released by DVD and even some of them are not released in Japan. But, his movies are really funny and crazy. If you like comedy, you will like him. I want to recommend "Shawn of the dead" and "Hot Fuzz" the one is a parody of the classic horror, "Dawn of the dead".the other is also a parody of Hollywood action movies. the common point is the two movies are really funny. I don't know why these movies are not taken up by mass media. I suppose the reason is clear. No stars, no CG and no big budget. I also think there are too many movies of sequels to the popular movie series like terminator, transformer and angels and demons. I know it is a difficult situation for movie industry, but I don't like the situation filled with such movies. In Star Trek, though there are no Hollywood stars, it recorded the top box-office success in this year compared to terminator. I hope it will become the lead to change the difficult situation and hasten to reconsider the way of making films in Hollywood.


http://hotfuzz.gyao.jp/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhBGFqldAvk

good environment for children

Last Thursday, I went to Sagamihara city as a volunteer to help the social welfare foundation to take care of children temporary. Even to be courteous, the place doesn't have a good location. There are only two rooms in an apartment. When I was guided into the rooms by the person in charge, I was so shocked. Honestly, I doubted whether it is possible to take care of them. But, Children didn' t seem to be distressed by that surroundings. According to him, most children arrive the room about the 3: 30 p.m. and they play baseball and ride bicycles in a small space near the apartment with him until 5:00 p.m. After that, They clean the rooms and wait for their parents to come for them. I was nervous because I have never experienced this type of volunteer. In fact, children seemed to be afraid of me. But, they got to open their minds to me as we played baseball and dodge ball. Though it was so good to see their smiles, it was very hard to play with them because they sometimes talk nonsensical ideas and grabbed my clothes. I was surprised their vitality. However,I noticed the two rooms are not proper space for them to work off their excess energies. The person in charge told me it is difficult to play outside since there are no park near the apartment and there is a curfew for them. So, I 'm considering a good solution. And, if you are interested in volunteer, please enter the bottom site.


http://www.sagamiharashishakyo.or.jp/volunteer/

one-eighth

Tomo:
I'm surprised someone even knew about the movie. I actually didn't mind the movie. Too bad it didn't get much publicity though. My sister sucks at acting when shes under pressure. I actually was on set a few times. It seemed fun and all, but I can never be an actor. Memorizing a whole book(script) in 2 months is just a miracle. The DVD should be out soon.

And about the tattoos. Well yeah we know its hard to change whats always been that way, but that's the whole point. There are many obstinate close minded people out there but if you think about it, you're judging people who how they look. And for people who actually have really nice tattoos that qualify as body art, its sad to cut off colorful people with that special creative mindset. And isn't Japan all about the future? Technology? Design? Its ironic how we need creative people in almost every industry but they encourage us to be/think dull.
Now I haven't and never will change. Just like when I was in Kindergarten, if someone told me I can't color out of the lines, if someone took my colored pencils away from me....nuh uh I won't let that happen to me.
Also, getting inked isn't about hurting your self. That part is insignificant. I already stated in my initial post but I'll leave it up to Anthony to speculate why people get tattoos.
Oh and Jeffree Star has cool tattoos!


Most of them are done by Kat Von D!




Anyway, did you just see Lady Gaga?
I don't know why but I like her. Shes the new Roisin Murphy!

Tomorrow I have a tight schedule! Gym, hair salon, Shopping for my dad's b-day+fathers day gift then I have a all-night show. Its actually a festival they have once in a while. It's going to be at Kawasaki Club Citta if anyone wants to come. :]

To Chris

You met Kento!!
That is so awesome!!!
And I like Trivium too!!

Wow. I know your sister she was in a movie
I really wanted to see!! 5 octave is amazing enough for me.lol
Now I'm sure of going to Tsutaya and rent it.....unbelievable....orz

About the tattoo.
I do agree that Japan is a little picky about it, but I think the cultural background is
something that is hard to take away. Changing the environment is a hard thing, and it's
going to take a long time for Japanese people to be cool with tattoos when there already
picky about the hair styles at work.
For me, I don't know what is so good about your hearting yourself and put something
that will never be erased, but I do like watching them.lol

Every color tells a story

I know I know. I'm cheating because I've only posted once so far this week. But I have so much I have to say.

A few weeks ago, I went to go see one of my favorite bands, Trivium.
I've been a long time fan and so I was super excited.

Before the show, I was in Shinjuku to meet my friend Adam who was in Japan as a rodie/translator for Bring Me The Horizon.
The show starts at 7pm, and I got to the venue at 4pm but there already was a long line of fans waiting. ugh, their such idols. Adam used to play in a band called Versus The Night which I followed around in my mid teens. Late night partying!! woohoo. No I'm just kidding. :P But if it weren't for this band, I wouldn't have the wonderful friends I have now.

from there I headed straight to Yokohama Bay Hall from where I was to see Trivium.
I didn't make it to the opening act for the Trivium show, but it turns out I got an after show pass! yaaay!


Trivium put on a great show as usual. They're always precise when playing live with their riffs and solos. The venue was packed and energetic! The great thing about metal fans is that they are more united and solid as a whole compared to other fans such as hardcore or pop-rock fans.

After the show was over I was super excited to meet my favorite shogun-man Matt!(vocalist-guitarist for Tivium)

Matt remembered who I was was since I see him almost every time he comes to Japan.
He's always generous! He even told me that I don't need to get tickets from now on, and all I have to do is mail him and he'll put me on the guest list!

This guy was from the opening band. He's younger than my friend and I but is already playing with Trivium!

But not only that, but this little 12 year old drummer, Kento actually got to play drums on one song that night. I was so surprised because I've seen him on TV several times!

For some reason, I was so proud of him and felt like I was his father. haha


I absolutely like his tattoos!


And after reading Anthony's post on tattoos, I would like to write how I feel about them.

First off it makes me laugh every time people link tattoos to yakuza in this day and age.

That's like my mother.
Shes thinks piercings = suicidal. Hand-bra = porn.
It goes without saying she thinks tattoos = yakuza.

She once printed this paper from a website where this one lady was analyzing how people with body art are suicidal and left it on my desk. AHHAHAAHA
She also made a HUGE deal when my sister posed semi-nude in a photoshoot. It was part of the art and it was Rolling Stone magazine which is supervised by professionals for god's sake. I remember how my mom will be yelling on the phone saying how embarrassed she is that her daughter's promiscuousness and how she can never show up in front of her relatives.

People at gyms who say that tattoos=yakuzas are actually showing the world their lack of education and lack of sociability to the world. How funny is that?
Most of my friends including myself have tattoos.
Are we yakuzas? Of course not!
unfortunately my friend got in trouble when her tattoo was peeking out of her bikini at the gym's pool. Mine is easy to hide but I still have to be careful.

Most people nowadays with tattoos have see them in the classification of "body art". The ink on their body has a special meaning to them. They're body is not only a canvas, but more like a album or diary!
You get to decorate your own body! I'm usually fascinated my people's tattoos, not appalled by them. (except for really awfully done tattoos)

Its like when this band called Otep released a EP called "Jihad" but it was taken off shelves for the EP title. Jihad means "to struggle" but people only see it as a "holy war" linking it to terrorism. Writers who say the band is supporting terrorism is actually writing and letting readers know about their(the writer's) lack of professional journalism.

I hope people like them get a dictionary from Santa. Or better, "social skills" from santa.

It almost like stereotyping. When we encounter something new, we get worried. We have to classify it and label it in order to feel calm. Not everything needs to be in place.....right?


Oh well, hopefully in 10 more years this will change. We need more celebrities like Yamamoto Kid, Amuro Namie to sport tattoos on the media so tattoos will be more at hand.


I'm off to bed now. I hope I dream about being a lion in the ocean or something.

And I would like to thank Orly's Sheer Defence nail hardener for making this all possible. <3