British Culture

As you know, I went to England this summer (SEA program). England was a very nice country, and I had a good time there. However, there were many cultural differences and I was surprised very much. I'll introduce some of them to you.
First example is that people in England don't want to work. In Japan, most of shops open until 9 or 10 P.M. and moreover, restaurants, pubs, or bars open until midnight. I thought it natural, but in England, a lot of shops close at 5:30 in the evening! People working at shops might think it better to go back home and sleep a lot than to work hard and get money. I couldn't believe it.
Second, there were lots of physical contacts between a child and his/her mother or father. My host mother had a daughter, Gracie, and she was already 16 years old. She loved her mother very much, and surprisingly, they had physical contacts everyday. For example, Gracie slept in the mother's bed together, with her arms flung aroung her mother's neck. Hugging and kissing are everyday occurences. I imagine that I do the same thing with my mother, and it gives me cold shivers! I love my mother so much, but I cannot have such a physical contact with her.
Third, as Ken said today, there were many difficult TV programs in BBC, and people liked talking about these issues. My host mother liked watching TV programs like about global warming, natural disasters, behaviors of young people, and educational systems. She always asked me, "What do you think?" and "What happens in Japan?", even when having dinner. In Japan, we seldom talk about serious problems when having lunch or dinner, and instead, usually talk about trifling things and laugh a lot.
Incidents like these examples may occur not only in England but in other countries. They surprise us a lot, but knowing other cultures is very interesting. I'd like to visit many foreign countries, and find many cultural differences :)

Be a blood donor!

Have you ever donated blood? Yeah, I have :) Today, I did it and it was my 5 times!

When I first donated blood, I was still in my high school. But before experiencing it, I already knew about blood donation, because my mother was a blood donor. As you know, when an event is held, a mobile blood bank comes there. Then, doctors and nurces in a Red Cross Society appeal to many people to donate blood. Even when there are no events, a mobile blood bank comes to schools or offices regularly. My mother always gathered informations about these opportunities, and she never missed them. As far as I know, she has experienced blood donation more than 30 times. And she got a souvenir! (I don't remember clearly, but I don't think it was a useful thing...)

I was really wondering why my mother did such a thing many times, though she might feel pain. So, I asked her. Then, she said, "Just because I like it!" I couldn't believe it. I asked her again if she really liked it, and this time, she said, "Yeah, it's true. But not only because I like it. My blood will save someone! That's wonderful, isn't it? Actually I feel pain when donating blood, but that doesn't matter much, thinking it will save someone's life!" I was surprised very much to hear that, but at the same time, I was proud of my mother. And I decided to be a blood donor like her.

Recently, the number of blood donors has been decreasing. This is a serious problem. There are a lot of possibilities that we have an accident, and need a blood transfusion. It is a problem really familiar to us. So, let's be a blood donor! :)

Polite Japanese

Yesterday, I made friends with David, who entered ICU in September. He has been learning Japanese since he was in America. When we introduced each other, his Japanese surprised me very much. He said "David to moushimasu. Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu." Also, when my friends, Mio, Kanako and I asked some questions, he answered "Hai" or "Iie"! Do we use such a polite phrase? I suppose many people answer "Un" instead of "Hai". I was shocked by this incident.
Recently, a lot of young people have been using bad, incorrect Japanese. There are many words called "Wakamono-kotoba". I used them a lot when I was in high school, and I thought it cool. Words or phrases I used made sense only among my friends, so my mother always said, "Please stop using such a bad Japanese! I can't understand anything!" Now I know her feeling. I never hear the conversasion of young girls without feeling uncomfortable.
Many people say that Japanese is one of the most beautiful languages. I strongly agree to that. Japanese has a lot of wonderful words related to nature, seasons, and also has "Keigo", which expresses respect for others. They sounds a little old-fashioned especially for young people, but I think we should be proud of our language and try to speak POLITE Japanese. Before we learn English or other languages, we ought to think about our own language again.

Which Are The World's Cleanest Cities?

I found the nice article on the net that "Which are the world's cleanest cities?" This is from Forbes, the most popular business information magazine. In this article, many cities are ranked according to their cleanness of air, water and soil. (It is not the ranking of beautiful tourist spots!) That is surprising and interesting, so let me introduce it.

The first prize is Calgary in Canada. (the first photo) Calgary is one of the oldest cities in Canada, and it used to be enriched thanks to oil and natural gas. Now winter sports and tourism are popular there. It is so beautiful, isn't it? I want to visit it!!!

The second cleanest city is Honolulu in Hawaii. (the second photo) As you know, Honolulu is very famous for its lovely landscape. In this city, the system of public transportation is completed, so the air is clean. I like hu-la, the dance in Hawaii, but I've never been to Hawaii :( I want to go there and dance hu-la!

The third prize is Helsinki in Finland. It is the city to contact about trade and communication, and the center of politics and business in Finland. People there use a streetcar and a subway, not using their own cars, when going to work. That is good for nature and environment.

After best 3 cities, Ottawa in Canada, Minneapolis in U.S., and Oslo in Norway come.

There are 2 cities I like in the sixth prize, the same as Oslo. These are Stockholm in Sweden (the third photo), and Zurich in Switzerland (the fourth photo, I like it the best!!). Stockholm is the center of politics and economics in Sweden. There is no heavy industries, and instead, the service industry has developed. Zurich is the most important city among areas people use German, and it is called "the city having the highest standard of living in the world".

Other cities introduced in this article are Boston in U.S., Auckland in New Zealand, Dublin in Ireland, Amsterdam in Holland, Lyons in France, and Kobe in Japan.

The most surprising thing is that among 25 cleanest cities, there are 5 cities in Canada, Calgary, Ottawa, Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto! I should have chosen Canada when going to SEA program... No no no, I'm happy to study in England! :P

In the near future, I want to visit all of these cities, and see them by my eyes :)

What do you think about this ranking?

children≠children

I'm working at the theme park for children. Children can experience more than 70 jobs, such as a fire fighter, a pilot, a fashion model, a baker, a newspaper reporter, a director of TV program, an idol singer and so on. The size of facilities like buildings, cars, and traffic lights is 2/3 of the real ones in our life.



I'm very surprised at this environment when I first entered the theme park. It is not only because children can go through many jobs according to their interests, but also 2 big reasons.



First, at this theme park, children are not "children". They are treated as "adults". All of the staff don't call a child "○○chan" or "○○kun", as we always do, instead they use "○○san" for each child. Also, there is a rule that we should use Keigo when talking to children. By acting like this, children will be able to feel that they are recognized as "adults", the same as us. Of course, parents can't enter the pavilion with their children. What they can do is just watching over their children from outside. I think these ideas are good for children themselves. From early age, they will be independent, and be able to decide by their own.


Second, children can learn many things in addition to having experience of many jobs. For example, when a child try to work as an electrical engineer, he/she has to learn about global warming, because it is related to the job very much in that one of the reasons of global warming is thermal power generation. Another example, if a child wants to drive, he/she must get a driver's license. In order to do that, studying the traffic rules and passing the exam are necessary. Thus, children can have both entertainment and education.


I wish I had an opportunity like this when I was a child. I would like all children to come to the theme park, and learn a lot of things.

My Funny Sister

As you can see in this picture, I have a younger sister, Ayasa. She is now 14 years old, and goes to junior high school. She belongs to the volleyball club, and always moves around and gets some exercises. She loves movies, so her dream is to be a movie director. She is also interested in the remains of ancient Egypt.

When I am with Ayasa, something funny always happens. One day, Ayasa was studying Kanji. There was a question that asked solvers to write Kanji of a word which is underlined and written in kana. She said to me, "Hey, my sister! There is a strange question!" "Where is it？" I said. "Here. This sentence says that my uncle likes 「Ryouko」! Ryouko is a wowan's name, isn't it?" She said to me. I said to her, "What? The uncle likes Ryouko? Who is Ryouko?" She shouted, "I want to know that!" "Can you show me your textbook?" I asked, and my sister answered, "Sure!"

As soon as I looked her text, I bursted out laughing. "Ayasa, look at the word very carefully! It says 「Ryokou」, which means travel! It isn't 「Ryouko」, a woman's name!" "…Oh, no! I'm sooooo surprised! It isn't Ryouko but Ryokou the uncle likes! He just likes traveling!"

This is only one example of funny happening. I'm very happy to have a sister like Ayasa!

My dream is to be CA, a cabin attendant. I have been felt that the job of CA is hard, but is worth doing. And I also think that working as CA is suitable to me. I have two reasons to think so.

First, I simply like an airplane and the sky. Before traveling somewhare, I'm always looking forward to spending my time in the plane much more than visiting a foreign country and seeing the sights there. I also like the feeling that my body rises into the air when the plane takes off. A wonderful view from the window of the plane moves me deeply. I never get on the plane without wishing I could work there!

Second, I love to give people a lot of hospitality. For example, I always pour something to drink into glasses and distribute them to my friends, and hand my friends spoons and forks, waiting for a good chance in a restaurant. Everytime I'm with my friends, family, and any other people, I'd like to make them comfortable.

I'm now studying English hard in order to realize my dream. After we graduate from ICU, please take a plane that I'm a member of the crew in!

My life before coming to ICU compared with my life

There are two different points in my life now, compered with that of junior high school and high school.

One is that I came to speak English positively. I could not do that very much until I came to ICU, because I did not have confidence in my English. I was ashamed of making mistakes. However, after entering ICU, I have realized that it is not important to make a mistake or not. What is very meaningful is trying to use English without being shy.

The other is that it is necessary to express my own idea by writing or speaking. When I went to high school, I did not often speak up in class. I felt it was O.K. if I did not say my opinion in front of my classmates. Even if there was a question about class or text, I thought that it was better to forget it than to ask a teacher. However, in ICU, it is so important to express what I think, listen to others' ideas and have a discussion.

Therefore, the most differences between my life in high school and that in college are these two points, to be active to speak English and to have my own opinion. I felt happy to realize that!