Tokyo swing

Tokyo sky tree is now growing. The construction will be done in 2012.

Kudanshita at sunset

Ginza dining and Mitsukoshi terrace

Pig soxes

Twin eggs

Detective Conan

My mother and I went to my grandmother's house and three of us visited my grandpa's grave. On the way back, we dropped in at a restaurant and ate grilled wild chicken. The restaurant was in the mountainous area and so out of coverage of cell phone service.

After we came back to my grandmother's house, I received the missed call notice from my father. He called me when we were outside the communication service. So I called him back and guess what he asked!

"How did the wild chicken taste like?"

How did you know that dad?! I was speechless!

He explained; when he called me, the message said "This person you are calling is now outside the coverage." and he thought maybe we went to the restaurant in the mountain and were having that delicious chicken for lunch. My dad was like Sherlock Holmes! Amazing~~

Autumn sky

Weekend

My Esyptian friend and his family are coming to Oita this weekend. Even after my graduation he remembers that it's my hometown. Very nice of him. I'm looking forward to showing them around.

Wedding invitation

My friend is going to get married in November and she invited me to her wedding! She asked me to give a speech as a representative of her friends. It's such a great honor but I'm nervous...><

suicide prevention day

Is the government trying to decrease the suicide rate because it causes huge economic loss to the country? With over 30000 people committing suicide it costs $32 billion to the economy? Does this figure really help to prevent suicide??

If you are so depressed and feel there is no point of living, you will not care about the economical influence. There should be another approach. This public announcement seems to be trying hard to save the country's financial crisis, not the people's healthy lives.

The problem lies in people's attitude toward depression, a lingering perception that persists; still many people tend to view depression as weakness and mental illnesses as a stigma. There is something to do with culture and competition. If somebody got mental illness and cannot work any more, he or she is no longer "useful" to the employer. and the culture, where it's difficult for colleagues to be friends, makes it difficult to get help. Our tendency to keep emotions inside, which is considered to be a dignity, sometimes hampers us to voice what we think weakness, as well.

I wonder which is true, the situation doesn't change because they think it's out of their control, or, because they found an advantage in that system that is good enough to keep it going? It's really strange for me that many things are not changing even though many many people complain it and want to change it. Do they hate or fear of being considered a freak?

Reference:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/Suicide hit hard on Japan's economy

Thanks to online-shopping

I recently ordered the best-seller book "My darling is a foreigner" at last! I have been wanted to read this series but I couldn't find a bookstore which sells it. The good thing is that every line has an English translation. It's easier to know the everyday conversational English.

As for the story, (I'm not sure if it's a story because it's non-fiction), it was so fun! I was amazed how Tony speaks such good Japanese and know so many things about Japanese culture. He is more knowledgeable than an ordinary Japanese like me. His questions are so interesting and hard to give a good answer. 「やれああしろこうしろ」の「やれ」って何？とか。

Of course they have some quarrels once in a while but it seems more of a personal dispute rather than cultural difference. What is important is that the two try to understand each other and tell how they feel honestly instead of hiding their true thought. It's only possible when both of them want to keep the relationship and try to find ways to do so. Very nice story.

"My darling is a foreigner" was originally a comic book but since it went best-seller, they made a film out of it. I'm going to borrow a DVD of it soon..

The chicken and the egg

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? It is one of the famous paradox that people have thought for hundreds of years.

Scientists in Sheffield and Warwick Universities found that chicken comes first by using a super computer to zoom in on shell-making process while a new shell is forming. They discovered a protein, OC17, plays critical role in shell-forming and is found only inside a chicken's ovaries. That means, therefore, the chicken comes first, they say.

But the chicken which has OC17 was once in an egg, so where did the egg come from? Is their discovery really an evidence that the chicken was the first? I think the egg came first, if I am to give an answer of this rather philosophic query. When the fowl evolved from reptiles, the gene was changed in a way that the offspring of "the last reptile" becomes "the first bird". In other words, at the very moment of evolution, the reptile laid an egg of a bird. So it is the egg that first carried the new genes of chicken. The beginning was the egg because it is the first form of new generation.

I'm very curious as to how other people think about this life's oldest question.

Reference:

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1007/100716-chicken_or_the_egg_mystery.html

sunday

talked with my friend over the phone in the morning. He moved to Tokyo after graduation with MC and is going to live there for good. We have been friends for four years and still keep on a good friendship. We are in the similar condition now: both are in cities with no friends. He recently chose an apartment to start his new life and is getting ready to form new relationships from scratch. When I told him I cannot sleep well these days thinking too many things that stick to my mind, he said "Take it easy, don't think too much. It won't help". And we talked about our mutual friends coming to Tokyo next month and about what happening to him and other people... He said he is also very lonely in the biggest city in Japan. He always makes me laugh and opens up everything including both good and bad news so it's very nice to talk with him. It feels easier for me to be myself when somebody is frank without show-offs. Revealing their weak points, failures and fear is not something that everyone can do.

Composition

TOPIC: Agree or Disagree: Gambling should be banned

Gambling should be banned because it has undesirable effects on the society such as high crime rates, family disputes and it promotes vices such as smoking or drinking which are harmful to health.

If one rolls a dice and gets huge amount of money at one time, s/he cannot stop playing it. Gambling can be addictive because of the joy of winning even though losses are most of the case. Gamblers may be more likely to commit crimes in order to get money so that they can play some more. That is why such form of entertainment can lead to crime activities.

Gambling also has bad effects on family relations. If a father spends too much time and money on gambling, he would be always preoccupied on thinking ways to always win and spend little or no time for his family, which leads to divorce cases and "casino widows". Therefore, gambling should be prohibited to prevent such events.

It is very common for gamblers to smoke or to drink during the plays so casinos are often full of tabacco fumes and alcohol. Even if one does not smoke, the second-hand smoke will damage his/her health. For the three reasons mentioned above, prohibition of gambling can make society better.

Great dinner

Hearing loss

The other day I noticed that I played my iPod so loudly at the station. The volume was set so high so that I hear the music despite the roar of the train. When I got home and played it again it was so noisy. Loud music was featured in several news and books.

The quotation of one of the famous rock musicians' high school year book went: "If it ain't loud, it ain't rock". Now when his head is accidentally covered by his pillow, he hear the alarm clock faint thick, thick, thick, not the blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In noisy restaurants he observes the mouth of his friend so that he understands the conversation.

One in six boomers have hearing loss like his, a report says. They are the first generation of rock'n'roll music. Aging conspires with long-time exposure to loud music and causes deafness to them. A number find themselves jacking up the volume on their television, cringing at boisterous parties, and shouting "What!?" into their cell phones. Not only loud music but also factory noise, construction din and roar of subways can be to blame.

Since portable music devices have become so common, we should be careful not to abuse our ears; otherwise we might develop hearing loss when we get older and regret what we did. There are some helpful options: the noise-cancelling function provides clearer music and lets you lower the volume of your music devices. Also you can set a limit to the volume on the new generation of iPod so that you won't injure your ears even when the volume gets accidentally increased.

References:

The New York Times, June 12th 2007