Short trip: KOTOHIRA

This weekend, I and my family went to hot spring- Konpira.
Here is very famous for the shrine which has 1368 stairs!
Some of you know that I visited this shrine last year.
Yes, this is my second time to walk up so many stairs!!

This picture is the shrine at the top! After finishing going up, we were completely exhausted!

This is the Akashi Strait Bridge. It connects between Honsyu-island and Awaji-island.

Kotohira is in Kagawa prefecture in Shikoku-island.

So, we have to cross this bridge to go to Shikoku-island!

Carnival, Carnival, Carnival!!!!!

I traveled in Italy & France last month.

Some of you know that I've really wanted to visit there.

Finally, my dream came true! Yay!

First picture is Venezian Carnival in Venice.
There were so many people wearing unique costumes!
REALLY interesting!!

Second picture is Carnival in Nice in France.

Do you know who he is??

He was the head of the Parade!

Third picture is Garden in Menton.

Here is the border town between France & Italy.

This 'Taj Mahal' is made of lemons and oranges!

So beautiful!

In this trip, I could see lots of things and people.

They are my treasure!

And I strongly felt that it is a really good idea to learn the language which is spoken in the country! Next time, I want to communicate with French people in France, and with Italian people in Italy!!

A Happy New Year! 2007

A new year has just begun!

How did you spend the last day of 2006???
I spent OH-MISOKA (New year's eve) with my family, watching TV and eating SOBA.
We all stayed up late at night, then after a new year's coming, we hit the sack.

On the new year's day, my relatives came to my house and we had big dinner together.
I and my mother were really busy on new year's day!!!
This year's dinner was FUGU! (balloonfish) We prepared for Nabe. Soooooooo gooooood!!!!

This is the year of boar (wild pig) in Chinese astrology. I was also born in the year of boar.
I hope this year will be a good year!
And, I wish you a lot of happiness in this year!!!

blog 11: English outside of class

Today, we finished our class in 2006! Christmas and New year are coming soon!! Amazing!!
This semester is super busy for me because I take 3 English classes and one extra class with foreign exchange students. I have to use English EVERYDAY!
I hope it helps my English skills... but now I am afraid of forgetting EVERYTHING during vacation!

Then, I will talk about this question,
"What are some good ways to use English outside of the classroom?"

My answer is to put ourselves into English. It is a good idea to make friends with English speaker, and listen to English songs, and watch movies without subtitles! and so on. The best way is to make friends. Communication is good for our listening and speaking.

As I wrote before, becoming Japanese conversation partner is one of the way to make friends with non-Japanese people. Also, KGU has a lot of program connected with overseas. We can use them!

#10: Animal Therapy

Do you like a cat?
I have a cat in my house. She is super pretty!
She makes me happy, too!
So, I think animal therapy is really effective.

Shungo and Yuka gave us very good information about robot animal. I was surprised because I only knew the robot animal, 'Aibo.'

They asked us the discussion question, "Does Robot therapy have the same effect as animal therapy?" My answer is ...it depends.

Actually, Paro seems to be a real animal. It is so cute. Some people may feel better, and they may not feel lonely. It is ture, but I think it is still different from real animals. We can easily expect its actions. And it is kind of same as stuffed animals, because it has no body temparature.

When people who have Paro or robot animal become tired of them, perhaps people will just throw them away. It is sometimes good because we don't have to see the death of our pet. However, I think we are selfish.

To have a robot animal is NOT spenting time with it, but just using it. Then, I think there are some differences, so it is hard for me to robot therapy has the same effect.

My Hometown

December 10th- I walked around my hometown with my mother.
I live in Minato-ku, in Osaka city. As you know, 'Minato' means a port.
Actually, we have a port which is called 'Osaka-ko.'(means Osaka harbor)
Osaka-ko is usually called 'TEMPO-ZAN.'
Tempo-zan is the lowest mountain in Japan. It is only 4-5 meters above sea level! We can't find where the mountain is! Amazing!
And there is a famous aquarium called 'Kaiyu-kan.' If you have free time, please visit here and me! -Indeed, I live near Tempo-zan, and it takes 10 minues to get there by bicycle.


This picture is the scean that the ship put out to sea from Tempo-zan.

#9: Food in Japan and Turkey

As I wrote about Turkey in last blog, I have also tried Turkish food!
They are basically oily, but it doesn't taste bad.

I tried rice and pizza in Turkey.
This is pizza in Turkey.
It is called 'Pide.'
Ingredients are minced meat, cheese, etc...
It is a little bit spicy, but yummy!





This meat is kebabu, and rice is pilaf.
These are my favorite dish in Turkey.
Rice is a little bit different from Japanese one, but I like it very much! Yummy!



I could eat Turkish food, and it was good! However, I thought Japanese dishes are the most delicious in all over the world! I am really Japanese! hehe.