Midori's blog

went to SOUTH KOREA

2006-02-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

I went to South Korea for the trip for 3days with my mother. It was so much fun there! As many japanese people know, the korean dramas and movies get popular in recent years. My mother and i are ones of people who get into the korean dramas and movies. I especially like "Changum-no-chikai-". From the history, Korea and Japan had many wars against and Japan innovated Korea, so there are still many ploblems between Korea and Japan. So, It is said that Korea is the closest country in the distance but is so far away from Japan in relationship. However, many japanese started knowing about Korea from the Korean drmas and movies. Many japanese people get to visit Korea recently. I feel the relashionship and feeling for each countires are getting closer.
We visited the remaked traditional Korean vilage, Changum-park which the film was taken , the world heritage which is the suiwonkazyou, and old age courts. They are so beautiful and I felt the history form them. The best place is the Changum-park because i love this drama. I tried the traditional Korean clothe there with my mother. It was so much fun.
We ate the Kimuchi every time we ate. Some food was too hot but it was good experience. I think korean people eat more vegitable than Japanese.
I had so much fun there.
I wanna go there again!

This semester will be over

2006-01-25T01:20:00.001-08:00

I have only one exam left. I have a Korean quiz tomorrow at the first period. I have to leave home at 6:40 for my first period...I hope i can get up.
We gonna finish IESb. wow! I can not believe it.
Everyone, lets have a great time tomorrow at the restraunt! yeah!

Ｍｙ

2006-01-25T01:20:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year

2006-01-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

A Happy New Year!!! 2006. I hope everyone have the best year.

I went to stay over at Yuu's house with saki, towa and Miki. That was crazy fun. We stayed untill maybe 4 in the morning. We talked a lot. OH, and we ate a lot too. We did nabe. Yuu drove us to the grocery store near her house ,and we bought staffs for nabe. We cooked nabe , but acutally I just cut the negi. Yuu seems to help her mother cooking a lot because she did good job on cooking. We ate many snacks like cows. OH, my gash. you can not imagine how much we ate.

Thanks a lot Yuu. I hope we can stay over Miki's house next time soon!!! Right, Miki? hehehe

The Chrysanthemum Dolls

2005-12-10T04:06:00.000-08:00

I went to the chrysanthemum doll exhibition with Saki. I like this flower. This chrysanthemum doll is japanese traditional art and has been enjoyded for about 100 years. But, people lost interest in it, so this exchibition won't be opened anymore. Hirakata city tried to protect this traditional skill to make dolls , but there are only 3 experts now. Im sad to know that japanese traditional arts are disappearing.

55% people agree

2005-11-24T06:08:00.000-08:00

I wrote about the plastic bags in last one. Darren suggests that stores should charge people for plastic bags. I got a good news from KOBE newspaper. 55%people agree with paying plastic bags when they go shopping and 54% people think coffee or fast food shops should use cups or plates that can be used again. Japanese Environment Agency started considering making the law of charging people for plastic bags. People’s thinking way for environment is changing in good way. People start thinking about that they have to protect environment even if they feel little inconvenience.
if you have a time, visit Dan's blog! http://krahdan.blogspot.com/
Dan misses everyone ...(;_;)he said HI to everyone!

Bring your own bag!

2005-11-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

I went JUSCO in my town today. I just bought small staff and I did not need a plastic bag for it. So, I refused to get the one. A woman who works there thanked me and gave me a card to collect stamps. I did not know what it was, so she explained for me. If I refuse the plastic bag and bring my bag, I get one stamp. When I get 20 stamps on the card, that card can be used as 100 yen discount card. I think it is really good idea to encourage people to bring their own bags and not to use plastic bags. If many people stop wasting many plastic bags, it saves natural resources!

School Festival

2005-11-02T05:55:00.000-08:00

Here comes Gaidai Festival! YEah, I remember how busy we were last year for fast food shop. I will go to see Wakate Geinin show on 3rd and see my friends on 4th. Ihope we goona have fun. Congraturation for everyone who passed all exams for studyabroad. SUGOI!!! Great! I am so happy for you guyes.

happy news

2005-10-04T21:32:00.000-07:00

All of my friend who applied for studying abroad passed first judgment. They applied with paper which wrote the reason why they want to study abroad and what they want to do. They still have to have English exams and interviews but I am happy for them now! I know my friends work really hard and they will pass the all exams and interviews too! Good luck everyone !!!!

Japanese way of teaching

2005-10-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

We had a history quiz in Darren’s class yesterday. I knew only few answers on the sheet. I felt so stupid because other members of my group knew the all answers. I asked why they were so good at History and one of them said his old history teacher was great teacher whose way of talking made him interested in History. His old history teacher talked many interesting stories beside the things that students had to remember. I remember my old history teacher just made students memorize what happened in the past and none of them did interesting stories. People criticize Japanese teaching style for just memorizing things. I agree with it. Even if English is the tool of communicating, many Japanese teachers teach English vocabularies and grammar and make students just memorize those things. Students do not have changes to practice English by expressing feeling in English. I hope the way of teaching in Japan will change in a way of make students interested in studying.

Hello

2005-09-27T22:01:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted last time. How was summer vacation, everyone? I hope all of you guys enjoyed it a lot. It was really fun at the MIchika's house early in August, since I love swimming.
I'd like to write what i want to do in this semster. There must be a lot of reading in this sememster too, but my reading speed is really slow and need to be improved. I only read the Animal Farm over thte Summer....I should have read more. I will work on a reading speed. I want to improve the Skill of skiming.

Dear Scott

2005-07-17T18:11:00.000-07:00

The last day of your class is coming. Time pass so fast....I can not believe that first semester is almost over. How was IESB this year? We might not be the best students but I hope you enjoy with us. Your class was so fun that i did not want to miss any. The Social sicence is difficutl but it never bored me because of the way you teach. My brain works like crazy every day to think about the Global Issues , but at the same time, I had a lot of fun in your class. I am interested in the enviromental problem in the world and I might want to do someting related with it in my futre but I do not know how these enviromental problem relates any jobs....I look for it more in Summer. Your class affects my life a lot. Your class means me a lot. I will miss your class a lot. ....You not only teach us the global problems, but also you make action. You try not to use the air conditioner in our class and your office. You show us how we can do little things to save natural resources. I have not used the air conditioner at my house yet. Am I a good student? Japan might not be your favorit country but students here like your class and you. please, Just do not forget about it. I hope eveything gonna go well with you. Thank you for teaching us. Midori Fujiwara

Team -6 train !!!!!!

2005-07-11T19:32:00.000-07:00

I got to the train with all advertisement about "Team -6" from Osaka to Kyobasi in JR line. I did not know what is "team -6" project, but I went to the site www.team-6.jp and found out what it is. This is asking people to join the group that think about Global warming. They introduce how we individualy can do things in our daily lives to reduce CO2. They do not only say ..like..." we have to reduce 6 percents of the green house effect ", but also tell us how we can act . they also tell how how the Global warming happening...ect. Mr. Koizumi is one of members of this gruop. There are many other famous people join this group such Hikawa Kiyosi, Watanabe Maraina, Isida Jyunnichi, and Tu-torial....
I think it is really good that tell us how we individual can do and motivate people to do it. It is worth to visit this site....!!!

Evaluation Sheet

2005-07-10T19:26:00.000-07:00

This semester is coming to the end, and it is time to write the evaluation sheets for teachers. I think it is really sad that some students do not take this opportunity important. Even if some teachers do not care what students say, I believe most of them do care. It is sad to hear from Peter that some students wrote like" I do not like you " or " you are ugly " to another femal teacher. I think students who did it are really stupid. I want them to think how they feel if they get the grade saying " you are ugly and i do not like you,,,that is why you get F. " from teachers. This evaluetion sheets are for making better enviroment to study. So, both students and teachers should think this opportunity is important.

People! Vote !

2005-07-08T07:10:00.000-07:00

On July 3rd, we had an election for the governor of Hyogo-ken. I went to vote with my sister at a few minites before 8, which is the ended time. I know one vote is not gonna change anything in Hyogo ken but if people vote, it has a strong power to change things. One vote seems really small, but acutally nothing gonna change without that one vote. I hope people gonna go to vote more. Even if representatives use our tax illegaly, people who did not vote do not have a right to say things. I think shools should teach students the importance of voting more even if students are young like the age of junior high school.

recycling paper

2005-07-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

Saki, Kazutaka, and Iare interested in collecting paper to recycle it like scott mentioned it in his blog before. I searched about organizations or companies that collect used paper, but most of them say they will take it if the amount of paper is more than 300kg. I really want to do something to help enviroment, but i am really disappointed at there seem not to be much we individualy can do. I might find the good way to recycle paper if i look into it more, though. well,,,it was at least good that i could know how to recycle paper in the factory from some sites ...

Highlighters (pens)

2005-07-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have already used about 3 or 4 highlighters since April. When i think how many used highlighter I have thrown away, I wonder if there is the way to recycle these kind of pens. Or, can't I just buy the inks inside of highlighters?I have never seen those. If some one know abot it, please let me know.

the Heat island phenomenon

2005-06-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

In an Architecture class, I learned about the heat island phenomenon. It might not be called like this in English, so I would like to explain. The temperature in the city rises up more than that around the city because people use the airconditioners more in city. The airconditioners creat the heat ...and ...There are ohter reasons too. The asphalts reflect the heart, and there are not engouh trees in city to make shade. I watches the weather on The TV every morning and they shows Osaka is about 2 degrees higher than Kobe. It is scary that the temprature gets higher and higher......I can understand why Scott wants to get out from Japan....it is too hot in Japan...My teacher in an Architecture told us that when people build something, it should be done without destroying the environment. It is difficult, but he said the environment issues are highly concerned more than before now when someting are built. Some companies got together to build new company buildings with a lot of trees. In the buildings of that erea looks like the park....I am happy to know people think about the environment more recently.

Energy ! from ocean

2005-06-11T04:53:00.000-07:00

I was really surprised to know that we can get energy from tidal wave. The way is the kinda like dam is put under the sea and waves make funs turn. Then, drive generations to create enegy. Since Japan is surrounded by the ocean, Japan can invent the way to get enery from ocean. However, as i read more about the Tidal power, tehre are some disadvantages too. This system can harm animals that depend on tides. Can fish go around as easy as they are now if there are huge walls or funs in the ocean? hummm....We need to work on it carefuly.

sad story

2005-06-02T05:13:00.000-07:00

I see many different types of people in the way to school on the train everyday. Many things that happen in the way to school sometimes make me really sad. Most Japanese people do not talk or help strangers (people think they want to help, but they do not make an action.) I saw the boy who looked like having a stomachache in the osaka station and he sat down and could not move. It was in the Osaka station in the morning and many people were rushing to exchange the trains. Can you guess what those people did? They just ignored him.Some looked really annoied by him siting on the hall way. I could not stand seeing the situation. Sure, they had to be hurry to get the next train but , they could have stopped for just a moment and asked him if he was ok. I went to see him and then, another woman came to see him too. She took him to the rest room for sick people. I missed the train that i had to get in that day but it was okay. It was not a big deal. I was so sad to see the all people who looked smart with the suits ignored him......

My experience.

2005-05-20T02:08:00.000-07:00

Isn't it so scary to think if an earth quake happens now in Osaka. ? It is unexpected disaster; you don't know when it will happen. It might happen when you are sleeping, cooking, taking calss, being on a train, taking the bath,walking outside, or shopping in the underground. I experienced the Hansinn Awazi earth quake when i was 10 years old. It was really scary and saw the sky truned kinda black and dark red toward Nagata era, I thought i was gonna die. It was abvious that a big fire were happning, and I worried about my grand parents living in Nagata. I found out later in next day, that my grand parents were safe and the fire was around the shopping erea, not around my grandparents ' house. I was really satisfied with that news, but I couldn't know anything about what happned or were happning right after the earthquake. Because any of electricites didn't work...Can't use phone, TV,....no light....the food in the refrigerator got rotten ...no water...no taking bath....no flashing toitet...no gas.....It was crazy. Fortunately, this situation didn't last long around my erea, but it lasted for a few monthes around nagata, hyogo-ku, and takatori.... I really appreciated what we had in our lives at that time. It was all natural to me to use electricities, water, gas,transporation,house,,,everything., but Once I lost everything except house even if it was about a few days, we had many trobles. We shouldn't think they are for us forever.

Air conditioner

2005-05-12T21:44:00.000-07:00

The summer is coming soon and it is the time i suffer form the air conditioner. I always bring extra clothes in summer because i think the air conditioner makes room too cold in everywhere. I feel good when i just come into the building or train from outside but a few minuties later, I get freezing. I remember that there was the TV commercial saying do not make your room too cold in summer not to use electricity too much, and not to produce CO2. It is impossible to live w/o an air conditioner now but we can at least try not to make rooms toooo cold in order not to produce CO2. there are many things we can do for the glabal warming. ^-^

UTAGE

2005-05-04T21:00:00.000-07:00

I went toUTAGE 2005 IN OSAKA with Towa yesterday. It was really fun although there were so crowded. I only wish they had more free food for just tasting, though. I liked the section of japanese region food. Ikuradon form Hokkaido was perfect! I also enjoyed looking what kind of food were famous in each region. I saw the donate box from Unicef and We did donate. I think it is really importand that we make an action from what we leaned from scott'S class.

We should do something

2005-05-03T08:49:00.000-07:00

In scott's class, we talked about what we can do for poor people. I remember that I talked it several times when i was an erememtary school student, but I doubt if i worked active for it after we talked about it. We can think of manything that seem we can do for poor, but Do we really do something in daily lives? When we said we can donate money to them, Scott asked us for many details like how, when,and how much....I realized that we need to make an action not only thinking about what we can do. I think it is really good idea that donating 1 yen everytime we go to the convenience store. 1 yen is nothing for us, but it should help somebody in poor countires. and it is easy to keep doing it. thank you someone who suggest this idea!

it is so scary

2005-04-25T06:34:00.000-07:00

The terrible train accident happended today in fukuchiyama line. I just can't believe it....this is not my line but when i think about taking trains is just daily thing....it is so scary. I can't stop crying when i think about people who died, got injured in and thier family. They mut have never expected this would happen when they left home this mornig. They must have said good-bye like they do everyday for leaving, ......thier family can't see them forever.
I am so scared.....I don't want to take trains any more.... I hope people who died went to the heaven without felling hurt any where......My heart breaks...

global warming

2005-04-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

I put the serious title but i just want to talk about it with my easy words. I guess everyone knows what the global warming is. When i was an elementry school student, I have heard of it at first time. I thought it was really scarely but I didn't think of it seriously because it seemed like far away in future. However, I have been thinking about it more seriously and what we can do for it. People understand this problem in the world, but it is hard for us to care about it every time in our life. We don't want to change our life if we have a high quailty on it. we want to drive a car, use paper to write essay, buy new staffs and thorow away thing...and such. But, I belive small change in each person can will change the situation better. What do you think we can do in our daily life? ? ? ? I think people in Kansai Gaidai should use "used paper" more when they print out something. I see many people use new paper for just unimportant staff. I think if we use "used paper" for little sthing to print, we can save amout of paper, which means many trees!

My goal for IES

2005-04-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

I know I can't read as quicly as other do from last year, so i want to improve a reading skill.It seems that we have reading homework a lot this year and if i keep reading with slow reading speed, I will never finish it up. I really want to brush up my reading speed and have some time to do something else. Oh, my computer sill is also terrible. My teacher had us to make blog, and I was already confused at making this blog a little bit. I hope to get used to using computer more and to be good at it. I would like to study abroad next year and i have heard that studens use computer for assiment a lot out there. I want to get used to doing web assiment before I study abroad.

My First Blog

2005-04-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is my first blog.