How was Sophomore English?

This class was quite interesting for me because writiting in this class was so fun despite the fact that clearly it is the part of English Learning Program which is famous for its severeness. In the normal ELP class, we have to discuss very difficult topic and write long academic essay. On the other hand, in this class we can discuss fun topic and decide the topic of writting as long as it is rerated to ourselves. The most interedting thing I did in this course is making English Haiku. For me it was the first time to make Haiku, and making and publishing it was so embarassing, but I realized that even I have little sense of expressing season to the letter. Finally, I want to say thank you to all of the SE members. Someone gave me useful ideas ,and others read my blog or piece of writing and gave me comments. Thanks to you, I enjoyed the class and found new aspects of myself. I hope both I and you guys continue writting about yourself after the class!

My Favorite Place

 

Today I'm gonna introduce about one of the my favorite places around here, Jindaizi. I think it is unfortunate that many of ICU students have not been there although they have heard of it. Jindaizi is famous for its beautiful sights, good atmosphere as it looks Edo era, and delicious soba. You can see 4 beautiful things depending on the season. In Spring(around Golden Week), you can see beautiful flower on the tree, which is called Nanzya Monzya, and it is very rare tree especially in Tokyo. In summer, you can see a lot of fireflies in Jindaizi. Jindaizi has a lot of clear spring water and at night of the summer many of fireflies fry around there. In Autumn, you can see many beautiful colored leaves, because there are a lot of Kaede trees. In winter, you can see tree Peony(in Japanese, 牡丹の花). When Jindaizi is covered with snow, it looks more beautiful. When you visit Jindaizi, one thing you have to do necessarily is to eat Jindaizi soba. It became famous since the Edo era, and tastes quite delicious! Also you can enjoy eating Japanese snacks(Wagashi) as well. Why don't you go to Jindaizi, readers!!!

Crazy Guys in Ginkgo House-2

This time I'm gonna write about most American guy I've ever known. His name is James Vo, and he was the OYR student from California, San Diego. At first he looked very shy because he did not get used to the life in Japan at that time and seldom played with the dorm mates. So I didn't talk to him well then although we got in the Ginkgo house at the same time, September 1. However, after a few month passed, he became familiar with Japanese culture and people, and I came to get along well with him. In fact, he is NOT a shy person at all, but rather freaking fanny and crazy guy!! He made me drink alcohol so many times even in the examination period, so I often went to the test in the condition of getting drunk still. Also he was my funny English teacher as well. What he taught me was not the normal English, but the BAD English including slang, such as f word, asshole, jerk, and so on...(I cannot introduce all of the word I learned from him because some of them are so terrible one lol) Thanks to him, now I can say bad things in English and can quarrel with foreign people! Now he has gone back to California, but I hope someday I meet him again and talk to him with his American English!!!

James is at the right side!

What's my view about religion?

Actually I don't have particular religion such as Christianity or Islam, but I have a belief in my heart instead and behave myself basing on it in the daily life. In my view, everyone has belief or faith personally, and religion is just a kind of belief. It is said that Japan is a non-religious country and Japanese people tend to concern about it comparing to other countries. However, necessarily they have their own belief and it takes a great role everyday. For example, when I went to Australia in this spring vacation, I was strongly surprised that almost no one including adults obeyed a traffic signal. That is, a lot of people crossed the road before the light turned green. In Japan, many people wait for the light to change, even though there is no car approaching. They probably take it for granted, but I think this is a kind of belief because they see it as the matter of course. Therefore I think that even I have "religion" which can be base regulating my daily behavior.

What does "love" mean to me?

This question is so tough to answer bacause love is the very ambiguous word. Therefore I change the question to easier one, like this: what is the difference between "love" and "like" for me?
We usually use "like" to whatever we feel plesant such as friend, animal or place. On the other hand, we use "love" to what we feel strong attachment such as family, boy or girl friend. I don't say like "Oh, this sleeping dog under the bench is so cute! I love it!". In this situation, I use "like" instead of "love". However, I usually use "love" to my pets.Why?
I think it is because I see what I love as if it is like me and what I like as the other one which is totally independent from me. For example, I would get upset and cry for a very long time if my pet passed away because we've lived together very long time and he is the part of my heart. On the other hand, if I see a dead body of a dog, I'd just feel pity for it. This is just the one case, but I can come up with many another cases.

This is the difference  between what we use "love" to and what we use "like" to, for me.

What is "happiness" to me?

I feel happy when I am appreciated by others. I cannot try hard to do something if there is no one who would praise me after finishing it. For example, while I write a report which is given as the assignment of the class I can read a lot of books and articles for it and can rewrite it many times for the better one, because I know the teacher of the class would check it out and give it proper grade based on the contents. For me when I get A on that report, it means that my effort is appreciated. That is why I feel happy when I get a good grade on the class.
Of course I get happiness when I am with my family, intimate friends, or girl friend, but I think it is for the same reason.

What do I want to my obituary to say?

When I die, I want to be written as if I was such a great person. I'd feel happy at the heaven if people see my obituary and respect me, even though all of the content of it is not true!

Therefore, I hope my obituaty to be just like following.

Shoto Tanaka passed away at his belonging dormitory on Oct.31, 2012. He was born and brought up in Chiba prefecture, and went to International Christian University in Tokyo. He had a good enthusiasm for studying, and always tried to search a way for world peace. His proffesor said that he was a talented student such as comes only once in a hundred years, and was said to receive Novel Peace Prize in the near future.
Prease send your condolences to his facebook page.
Also if you have some memorial gifts, please send it to his home. Thank you.

Crazy Guys in Ginkgo House-1

Today I'm gonna write about one of the greatest friends in Ginkgo house, Leon Daisuke Oberbaeumer.
He was the OYR studesnts from Germany, and is the half-Japanese and half-German but looks like German. We got along well soon because both me and him started the life at Ginkgo house at the same time, and we helped each other to live till getting use to the house.
He's majoring in International relations which I'm most interested in and has a lot of knowledge about International issue and politics, so we studied together so many times and occasionally spent all night discussing the current topic about IR.
The most precious memory with him is the trip to Cairns in Australia. This spring vacation we stayed there about a week and had a lot of fun doing like shopping, swimming, and diving in the sea of Great  Barrier Reef. He can speak Japanese, German, and English fluently and helped me at many occasions.
I respect him for his outgoing character, deep knowledge and high skill of language.
Now he has gone to French for his studying at graduating school, but I believe he'll come back to Japan and we can meet and play then(because he's citizenship is Japanese!).



The guy next to me is Leon!!!

The Reason for Taking Mark's Class

I chose this class for the job-hunting in the near future. In the interviewing for a job, we are required to express ourself clearly such as our good and weak point, experiences in the past, or vision of the future. However, I were not given the opportunities of expressing and thinking about myself well in the scool I went, and so I am not good at talking about my sense of values as well as myself. Therefore, in this class, I want to practice letting other people know about me clealy through presentation, blogging, creating a poem of myself, and those things. I believe that the skills I would get from these kind of training will bring me confidence at the job-hunting.

By the way, according to the syllabus, this class focuses on personal writting. We will have to write journals on the blog every week, and create a storyabout ourselves. Actually, I like to write something because I can organize ideas or thoughts in the head through writting, and it can lead to find new parts of myself. I will try to find new Shoto Tanaka in this class.