Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Tanegashima

Tanegashima is an island in Kagoshima prefecture. The name had another meaning in the 16th century. It meant match lock guns because the island was where the guns arrived from Europe. 
Japanese craftsmen were really skillful when match lock guns came to Japan. They tried to copy the guns and they made the copy within a year. 


Monday, June 29, 2015

Japan Goes into Semis

Japan's women soccer team Nadeshiko has advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 over Australia at FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. 
Nadeshiko will face against England at the next match. There are two wins left to the triumph again. Among other teams, the Germany is a  really good team. They already have got 20 goals. 
Nadeshiko Japan seems good condition in this tournament. Only they have to do is to get goals. I really looking forward to seeing their victory. 

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Preservation of Matsue Castle

Matsue Castle has been nominated for a National Treasure recently. The castle deserves for the title because it is one of the 12 remaining original castles in Japan. But if some people didn't try to preserve the castle, it would disappear now. 
The castle was once about to sell at a auction in Meiji era. For Meiji government, these castles were symbols of Tokugawa government or feudalism, so they were trying to sell castles. Buyers wanted to buy them as useful materials, like iron for nails or wood for burning fuel. 
Some wealthy farmers managed to purchase the castle and save it from destruction. Their efforts made it possible for the castle tower to survive until now and at least it was nominated as a National Treasure. 

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Same-Sex Marriage

The U.S. Supreme Court has judged that the American Construction has a right to same-sex marriage. The decision was made by a 5-4 vote in the court on Friday. Fourteen states still ban on same-sex marriage in the United States, but gay people in these states will be able to get married. 
I support the decision, because I believe a marriage is simply a right between two people. No matter what gender they have. Any couples have the right to marriage. They should be guaranteed by the governmental documents to shere their everything, good things and bad things. This movement would spread all over the world in the future. But it apparently hard for some countries because of their strong religious morality. 

Friday, June 26, 2015

Fifth Seed at Wimbledon

Kei Nishikori has been named as the fifth seeded for Wimbledon. Nishikori was injured at the previous tournament, but he said that he has a good condition. 
Wimbledon is the most prominent tennis tournament. If he wins the tournament, that would be a historical event for Japanese. 

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Eel, Unagi

It's been hot recently. On a days like this hot, Japanese people including me often want to eat unagi or eel. On 24th July and 5th August this year are called "Ushi no hi" or the day eating eel. 
I really want to have una-don now. But the cost is quite expensive recently because the resource of eels have been reducing these days. To protect the resource, should we stop to eat eel?

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Nadeshiko Advances to Round 8

FIFA Women's World Cup title holder Nadeshiko Japan won over Netherlands. The next match is against Australia. 
Nadeshiko has a legend player Homare Sawa. This is her sixth World Cup. That is really awesome. This would be her last World Cup, so I really want her to get the second title. 

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup has been held in Canada. Defending champion Japan has advanced to the round of 16. The next match is against Netherlands on 23th June at 19:00 local time. 
The game would be tough, but I believe Japanese team would win the match. 

Monday, June 22, 2015

VOA Special English

VOA has been broadcasting some programs in Special English since 1959. VOA Special English uses only 1,500 limited words. The words are quite common. There are no difficulty words in the Special English programs, but they can describe everything in the limited words. 
As a English learner, I should learn these fundamental words deeply and use them correctly. It's easy to say, but it might be most difficult thing for learners. 

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Reading

My younger son doesn't like reading. He seldom read. But he's been reading a book enthusiastic. The book is titled "Eien no Zero". The book describes Japanese military pilots in World War 2. 
He likes old Japanese military plains. That would be one of the reasons he wants to read the book. Anyhow, I'm really glad he began to read books. 

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The Vietnam War President

I've been busy for work and private since this Monday. I couldn't study English a lot. Only I could do was listening to the radio in English. 
My VOA's favorite program "The Making of a Nation" went into the Vietnam War era, one of the most controversial war in the U.S. Because of that, The President Johnson even didn't get the Democrats' nominate for the next term. 
At the Republican nomination, future president Ronald Reagan run for the race and failed it in the third place. Nixon was elected and he was my childhood American President. 

Friday, June 19, 2015

93-Year-old Mother Was Murdered

A 70-year-old son killed his 93-year-old mother in Tottori prefecture. The son was caring her. 
I'm not really feel for the old son, but he might be tired of caring old mother. Older people have to take care of their parents and getting tired. Sadly some person abuse their old parents. This kind of incidents often happen.  
We have to shere the burden and help each other as much as we can. 

Thursday, June 18, 2015

Crime Makes Money

The controversial book written by the Kobe child killer has published and sold about 100,000 copies. A crime has made a huge amount of money. The killer even didn't have any punishment. 
It's really disgusting. Freedom of speech and expression should be protected. Of course I know it. I just feel disgusting. The money should not pay for the killer. 

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Japan vs Singapore

I didn't watch a World Cup qualifying game Japan and Singapore. The game ended in a scoreless draw. According to a newspaper, Japan made many of big chances and failed all of them. Of course, Singapore performed really well. 
The road to the World Cup is not easy. I'm afraid that Japanese team could not advance to the World Cup this time. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

TIME Couldn't Come

Two weeks ago, TIME magazine didn't come to my house. A mailman dropped the issue into a rain paddle and got ruined. That was June 8's one. 
The mailman came to my house a week later and apologized for the matter. I thought the issue was skipped for some reason, but it was just ruined. Then he offered to replace the ruined one. I agreed. 
I waited for the another one and it delivered, but it was June 15 issue. It's ok, but I had to ask the post office to replace it again. 

Monday, June 15, 2015

A Parking Lot

My 19-year-old son bought a new car and rent a parking lot across from my house. The parking lot is where he practiced to ride a bike with me. How many years have passed? I can still remember clearly the days in the place. No wonder I've got older. 

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Father's Day

Father's Day is on the third Sunday of June. Today is the second Sunday, but my son gave me a present for Father's Day because he'll be busy next Sunday. Thanks to my son, the gift was a nice polo shirts. I'm really glad for such a nice gift. 
He gave me some letters and pictures on Father's Day when he was a elementary student. This was the first time he bought me a present on the day after graduated from high school. He's grown up and I've got older. Time passes so fast. 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

JFK

I listened to a VOA radio program, The Making of a Nation, in this morning. Today's topic was the start of John. F. Kennedy's presidency. At that time, there was a huge conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, especially in the issue of their nuclear weapons. 
The inauguration speech of the first 20th century born president was so powerful that it was judged to be among the best in American history later. His way of speech was, of course, impressive, but I think English itself has a great power to make a speech. A good speech maker delivers a speech like a song in English. Japanese language can not be so. 

Friday, June 12, 2015

Doraemon in China

A Japanese famous animation film Doraemon made a record hit in China. Japanese movies had been banned since Japanese government bought Senkaku Islands in 2012. The relationship between Japan and China has been improved recently, so Chinese government allowed to be shown Japanese movies in the country. 
Doraemon has earned 75 million dollars for eight days. 

Thursday, June 11, 2015

POD

I bought a book about learning English. The title is "Power Ondoku Nyumon." The author is a Japanese-English interpreter who learned English all in Japan. What made him to be an interpreter is Power Ondoku, which he showed us in the book. 
I learned his method, POD, via YouTube before and tried a while, but I didn't continue to do that. It takes only 15 minutes to do the training for one set. If I have a strong will to be a good English speaker, it's not hard to continue to do the training. I'll practice the method everyday from now on and get the fluent English speaking skill. 

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Don't Publish the Book

In 1997, a 14-year-old boy killed two elementary school girl and boy, and injured three other students in Kobe. The boy did not get any severe punishment because he was too young to be punished and had mental problems. He got eight years of psychiatric treatment in some juvenile training schools. He became free in 2004. 
Now, he is about to publish a book about his murders or something. A father of a victims strongly opposed the publishing of the book. The father said that the book might hurt the victims and their families. He said he could not understand why he can do so. 
It's obvious that the book can do nothing but hurt many people. The killer never feel for others. That kind of person does exist. If he has compassion for others, he can't publish such a book. The publisher should withdraw the book immediately. 

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

Hashima Island

Hashima Island is commonly called Gunkanjima. The island is about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki. The abandoned island has been proposed to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site of The Modern Industrial Heritage Sites. 
The island had a major coal mine and it played important role for industrialization of Japan in Meiji and Taisho era. The abandoned facilities make a strong image of Gunkan, Battle Ship form distant view. 
South Korean authorities have opposed to the proposal to become a World Heritage Site. They say many Korean people were forced to become miners in the island during the Korean Annexation, so the island should not be a World Heritage Site. 
Please don't be so mad. The proposal was to be the Industrial Sites. It should include both positive and negative things.

Monday, June 8, 2015

Rainy Season

The rainy season has just started here. I don't like this season like most of the people in Japan. Foods go easily rotten or get moldy. Really annoying. 
When I was a child, however, I liked the rainy season. I liked wearing a rain coat and rain boots in the rain. I used to jump into a rain paddle and made a big splash. I sometimes went outside without a rain coat or an umbrella and soaked in the rain. That was really fun. People can change a lot. 

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Car Insurance

My 19-year-old son had estimated car insurance cost. He nearly fainted when he saw the cost. It said that he had to pay 600,000 yen for the first year. He said he could not afford it. 
My wife asked a vehicle insurance dealer to save the cost and she got a good idea. If she transfers her car's insurance to my son's and buys new one for her instead, my son can save the cost. That's not bad. She has to pay a little more money for that, though. 

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Hyojungo, Standard Japanese

I watched a TV show about Japanese language via YouTube. Contemporary standard Japanese was organized by Meiji government after Edo era ended. It was based on a Tokyo local dialect, Yamanite kotoba. Before that government officials spoke in their local language and they were hardly understand each other. That was a problem. 
Radio broadcasting played important role to spread the standard Japanese all over Japan. They even made a radio show that taught how to read Japanese with standard language for teachers. 

にほんブログ村 英語ブログへ
にほんブログ村

Friday, June 5, 2015

Tiananmen Square Protests

 Tiananmen Massacre, Tiananmen Incident or Tiananmen Crack Down, you name it, happened on June 4, 1989 in Beijing, China. I heard that most Chinese people don't know much about the incident. They even can't search the terms related the incident on the web in China. 
How many people were killed at that time? What happened there? Chinese Communist Party doesn't want to reveal the protest movement. 
I think the specific detail documents might exist somewhere in the world. I want some breve person reveal the truth someday. 

Thursday, June 4, 2015

High School Sports Tournament

Prefectural high school table tennis tournament is taking place in my city. It's held three days and today is the first day. 
My son took part in the singles and the doubles tournament. He had to withdraw from the doubles because he lost a game in the third round and he's advanced tomorrow's second round of the singles. 
I hurried up to the place but I couldn't catch up my son's game. I'll be there tomorrow, so I would like to watch my son's game. 

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Kei Failed

Kei Nishikori couldn't advance to the semifinals of the French Open Tennis. He lost the game against Tsonga with a 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 3-6. 
At the first two sets, he couldn't play well, but he gained after two sets. Unfortunately he lost the final set. 
Two Gland Slams has left this year. Could he get the first one soon? 

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Kei Reaches Quarters

Kei Nishikori has advanced to the French Open Tennis quarterfinals. It was the first time in more than 80 years for Japanese players to reach the quarterfinals. 
His next match is against a French player, so it would be a tough game for him. The audiences would be against him. But he has been playing well in this tournament, so I believe he will keep going to the final.
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Monday, June 1, 2015

The Heysel Disaster

I listened to a BBC radio show this morning. The program featured the Heysel Stadium disaster. It occurred on 29 May 1985 in the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, before the start of the 1985 European Football Cup Final between Juventus of Italy and Liverpool of England. 
Drunken fans of the Liverpool got over the fences to the place where Juventus fans mainly seated. The people mostly Juventus fans tried to escape from the attacks, and eventually they crushed and squeezed against the concrete walls. 
Thirty-nine people were killed and many other people were seriously injured in the accident. How come they had to die while waiting for a soccer match? I hardly believe it, but the game was played after the incident. 
Sadly, this kind of violences often happen in soccer games, between fans or players. Football fans and players should not forget the tragedy and I hope it never happens again.