Jonathan's Japan Journal (ジョナサンの日本日記)

今晩、絵里という友達と一緒とおいうどんのレストランで晩ごはんを食べた。僕は肉うどんを食べた。おいしかったよ！それに、ドライブも楽しかった。それから、「モンスターズ・インク」を見た。僕が思ったとおりに、絵里はあの映画が好きだった。もちろんだね。ＰＩＸＡＲの映画は本当に面白い。映画は英語だったけど、日本語の字幕があって、映画を見ながら字幕を読んでいた。時々字幕は英語の対談と全然違ったよ。でもいい練習だったと思う。



いいよね。

Check it out!
見て！







These photos are from cultural event on May 28 that I was unable to attend. I just looked at the pictures recently and thought I'd share a few. There was also a sword-dance fellow, of whom I have a short video.

これは５月２８日の日本の文化のエベントなんだよ。行きたかったのに、道に迷うようになってしまって、行けなかった。でも写真をアップロードしようと思っていた。

Now with English! Sorry, I was rushed earlier. I also lost my original post and had to start over, which further killed my desire to write a lot. I seem to have made a lot of typos in my Japanese as well. Tsk.

昨日はだんだんよくなった。

Yesterday gradually became a good day.

午後に、外の階段の上に座って、日本語を教える本を読みだした。二週間ぐらい前に、友達が貸してくれたのに、読む時間と読むエネルギーが昨日までなかった。成語の本だけど、面白くて、自然に日本語で話すのにとても役に立つと思う。

During the afternoon, I sat outside at the top my stairs and read a book on Japanese. Mikawa Ossan let me borrow it a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't had the time and the energy to crack it open yet. It's a book about Japanese idioms and set expressions. It's useful for being able to speak naturally.

読み終えた時、階段の下の段へ見て、カマキリが見えた。でも見たことがなかったから、どんな虫か、わからなかった。アメリカにもカマキリがいるのに、ヒューストンにはあまりいないと思う。（だから、今まで見たことがなかったね。）とても面白いと思った。僕が見ている時、カマキリは止まって、それから振り返った。僕はびっくりしたよ。頭だけが動いただから。

When I was done reading, I glanced toward the bottom of the stairs and saw a praying mantis on one of the steps. But I've never seen one before and didn't know what kind of bug it was. (I suspected, of course.) They exist in America too, but you don't see them in Houston. It was quite interesting. While I watched it, the mantis stopped and craned its neck all the way back so that it was staring right at me. It surprised me and had a fairly dramatic feel to it, since only its head moved.

こういうようだった：

It was like this:



「僕を・・・見てるか。」面白かった。１０分後、部屋へ帰って、カメラを持って戻って、写真を撮った。

"Are you ... looking at me?" Interesting. After ten minutes of watching it, I noticed that it was going to park itself on the railing for a while, so I ran to get my (borrowed) digital camera and took some photos.

昨夜、絵里が電話してくれて、「蒲郡へドライブしよう！」と言った。いいよ。近い本屋で会って、ドライブを始めた。すごく楽しかった。いろいろ話したり、笑ったりしていた。絵里が車の操作がちょっとこわくても、とてもよかった。でも蒲郡へ行ったのに、海が全然見えなかった！じゃ、もう一回行かないと。仕方がないぞ！でも、ありがとう。

Yesterday evening, I got a phone call from Eri. "Let's drive to Gamagori!" she said. Heck yeah! We met at a nearby bookstore and headed down south. I had a great time. We talked and laughed about a lot of stuff. Even though Eri's driving is a bit frightening, it was fun. But even though we went down to Gamagori, we didn't get to see the ocean. Well, we'll just have to do again, won't we? There's no choice! But thanks, Eri.

土曜日の晩、一緒に「Monsters, Inc.」を見る予定だ。絵里は見たことがない！それはいけないね～。絵里が「Monsters, Inc.」が好きなはずだよ。センスがあれば・・・。ハハ！

Saturday, we're going to watch Monsters, Inc. together. Eri hasn't seen it! That's not cool at all. I'm sure she'll like it. If she has any sense ... Ha!



終わり。
I'm out.

Ah, I'm feeling pretty good (and tired) right now. I went for breakfast at the Seiyu McDonald's (two McChickens), where I practiced kanji a little bit. Then I rode down to the AEON shopping center for a while, just to be out of the house. (I played the piano, a bit of NSMB, and bought some long-desired lip balm.) After that, I went to a small park that I like to study at but haven't been to in about a couple of months. Unfortunately, there were many mosquitoes so I didn't stay too long.

今、かなり元気のようだ。今日、Ｓｅｉｙｕのマクドナルドで小さい朝ごはん（マックチキン）を食べに行って、デパートのＡＥＯＮへ行って、それに好きな小さな公園へ考えに行った。でも公園で蚊が多かったので、はやく帰った。蚊に１，２回刺されてしまった。

I hate being asked what my hobbies are. Because I don't quite know what they are.

I often state photography, but I don't often go shooting these days. All of my recent work is just casual shots at outings with friends. I should really get back into that a little bit, especially since I have a digital camera at my disposal now.

I'm interested in computers to an extent as well, and I spend a good amount of time on mine, but I don't feel that it's really a hobby. Additionally, I don't play games often at all, despite the appearance that I might present sometimes. (I just have a strong affection for a few series.)

I don't really watch television. When I was younger, I watched a lot. But in recent years, even here in Japan, I don't watch it. I think I should watch more television here for Japanese practice, but ... I don't know. Too, I like animation as an art form, but am not interested in watching most anime. At all.

I like studying Japanese, but in the past several months, it's become more of a job for me than anything. I'm essentially a college student and I expend so much time on my studies at school and on homework that when it comes time to relax, studying Japanese doesn't come to mind.

I like sketching but that's a very casual thing that I do sometimes. If I had a scanner, maybe I'd draw a bit more—I don't know. I just enjoy doodling sometimes.

I guess I haven't had the time or the energy to get into anything over here. Now I have the time to do more but the energy—or rather, the motivation—is still a bit lacking. But when I'm not doing something, I end up doing nothing, which I really don't enjoy as much as I would like to think I do, nor is it very mentally healthy.

Here in Japan, normally, almost all of my life revolves around going to school, studying, and doing homework such that, when that's all taken away, as in during this two-week break, I think I'm kind of left as too much of an empty husk of a person. Right now, outside of studying, I have nothing to do in my life. I have some appointments coming up tomorrow and on Friday—and I hope to soon have a couple of English students too, which will help in the long-term.

But right now ... I think I'm ... a bit bored. I've changed.

I just need to get out of this apartment, that's all. First, I'll eat breakfast. And then, go somewhere. If it's not raining as it has been. I used to spend a lot more time outside when I first got here. I need to return to that. It's good for the mind, for the spirit, and such. Being so mentally exhausted day after day and just coming home and plopping down has ruined whatever good habits I had. I'll just have to be dragged out of these bad habits kicking and screaming, I suppose.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

I found an interesting web page about written Japanese. There's a lot of useful information for the learner of Japanese (and potential such ones).

Kanji is such a beautiful system but is so very much more complicated than a language needs to be for its root goal of communication; thus, it is the eternal hurdle in Japanese literacy. Still, my goal is to be above average in regards to literacy and kanji ability. I hardly think that to be so overwhelming, as long as I don't overdo it.

But underdoing it, too, will lead to disaster.

Maybe I should go practice ...

ちょっと久しぶりだね。ごめん。でも、ゆっくいしてたなんだ。もうすぐもっと書こうと思っているが、今遅いから、これから寝るところのようになった。しかし、眠いのに、その前に・・・

先週の金曜日、ボランティア活動が２つあった。

まずは、幼稚園で４歳の子供と話しに行った。面白かったよ！持ってきたノートパソコンのプレゼンテーションで自己紹介とアメリカの紹介をしてあげた。その後、４歳と５歳の子供がみんなで踊ってくれたよ。とても上手に出来たと思う。特に、５歳の子供の踊りはすばらしかった！また４回行く予定だ。楽しそう。

次に、ヤマサからタクシーで岡崎のふぞくという中学校へ英語の学生と話しに行った。３人の学生と話して楽しんだ。いろんなトピックを相談していた。あの学生によると、時々日本語は外人について違和感を感じるそうだ。日本ではみんなほとんど日本人だね。非普通人がいたら、ちょっと違和感を感じるのは変じゃないね。しかし、そんな感じを打ち勝つのは大切だと思う。その３人もそう思う。

今、寝ないと。また！

Alas, the vacation is in full effect.



It seems to be customary that I begin running out of gas about one month before the end of the term. I took yesterday and today to essentially do nothing, which always leads to a mixed bag of results. Right now, I'm listening to Sade and about to reply to some overdue e-mails. But first, let me offer a brief recap of the past few days.

Wednesday

I went bowling with a large group of schoolmates in Anjo City. We bowled three times and my scores were 126, 104, and 139. (On the final game, I beat my bowling rival, Brian. Ha!) After this, we returned to Okazaki and had dinner with a few of this term's sensei. Quite pleasant, that.

Friday

This was the final day of class. We had to present a speech before our class in the morning, so the night before, I'd cobbled one together. Thing is, it ended up being two typed pages long. This for a five-minute speech. Hmmm. So the next morning, I opted to go last so that I could adjust my speech's length as need be. I ended up going second-to-last but that was sufficient, and I managed to express most of what I intended to within a slightly long but appropriate length of time (I think).

Following this, we played Jenga with our companion class, just as was done last term. And just like last term, my group's pile defied the laws of physics and never fell. Boo-yah!

Next, we congregated in Aoi Hall for the presentment of certificates to returnees. Our group's returnees were Marie, Yan, Aki, and Zaya. Following this, we went out to eat at a nearby restaurant. I had tonkatsu—delicious.



Following this, I had to return to Yamasa with Yan, Tik Ka, Zoe, and Aki because we had an appointment: we were volunteering at a Japanese kindergarten for the first time today. We'll be doing this five times in total. It's only for 30 minutes, so I figured it would be a good experience for me.

We met at the school and walked down the street. The kids—all four- and five-year-olds—we gathered in the school's auditorium. We had already visited the school and had been assigned classes, so I headed to my class, the Ajisai class of four-year-olds. Reaction to me were a bit mixed, but everyone soon warmed up to me.

We were to present a self-introduction to the kids and we were told that bringing photos would be a good idea, so I constructed a slideshow presentation and took my laptop. The kids crowded around as I showed them photos of Houston trains, the Space Shuttle, The White House, American money, and a little English. The auditorium was extremely warm, the kids were all on top of me, and I had a hot laptop on my lap. I was dripping with sweat.

But after this, we guests were instructed to take a seat on the stage. We were to presented with two dances: one by the four-year-olds and another by the five-year-olds. The four-year-olds did a very cute dance but it was really the five-year-olds that brought it home with their complicated dance to the Japanese version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast's "Be Our Guest," which I'm quite the fan of. Their dancing was surprisingly advanced.



Following this, I went to yet another volunteer assignment—this time at a middle school. The assignment was to chat with a few students for an hour—thirty minutes in English, fifteen in Japanese, and then fifteen mixed (me in Japanese, the kids in English). Though I was honestly really nervous about it and also didn't want to volunteer anymore time after signing up for the kindergarten affair, I'm glad I ended up doing it. It was very enjoyable and a good experience for me. I was assigned a group of four kids but one was absent with a cold, unfortunately. But I'll seeing them two more times.

After that, I was free. That night, though, I went to FM Okazaki to listen to the broadcast and had a really good time. It was Ohira-san's night off but he showed up anyway and ended up giving me a confection from his recent trip to Shikoku. They want me on the air a little bit for their one-year-anniversary show in a week and a half. Should be interesting. Also, they played a Kohmi Hirose song the other night. Sweet!

Saturday

I spent the latter half of Saturday with someone I've starting spending time with recently. Very pleasant indeed. It's kind of tough to get the time to be together ...

Sunday

Spent the day chilling with Mikawa Ossan. We drove to Handa City and found a very interesting shop selling all manner of figures and games. I aaaalmost bought a $4 Game Boy Pocket and some game for the heck of it, but decided to save the money. But I saw a lot of Japanese game systems that I had never seen before. (I also played New Super Mario Bros. for the first time in a while. Ha!) But basically, Mikawa Ossan and I shot the breeze all day.

Monday

Did very little during the day. (Tsk.) Went to my schoolmate Andrea's house for some lighthearted discussion and a bit of Mario Party action with a few friends. She cooked a mean ... whatever it was. And I helped. You should have seen me mincing those mushrooms and that lettuce. Bam!

Tuesday

Today, I was hoping to be more productive but did little except figure out how to refill the minutes on my cell phone. I was a bit proud of that, since it required a bit of effort and kanji research.

So, yeah, that's about it for now.

今学期の授業が金曜日に終わった。成績はＡだった！よかった～！『みんなの日本語Ｉ』と『みんなの日本語ＩＩ』を全部勉強した。次は『ニューアプローチ』という英語とふりがながない本だね。今、頭も体も疲れたから、ゆっくりしようと思っているよ。

This term ended on Friday and I got an A! Whoo! I've finished studying Minna no Nihongo I and Minna no Nihongo II and next is New Approach, which lacks English and many kanji readings. (Ulp.) Right now, my head and my body are tired, so I plan to take it easy.

More to come in the next two or three days.

もうすぐもっと書く。

Tonight, I was talking with my friend here in my room until one in the morning, at which point my neighbor to the right of me banged on the wall quite loudly. Looks like, for once, I was the bad neighbor. It brought the evening to a very quick end. I might apologize tomorrow.

今晩、友達と僕のアパートで遅くまで話していた。急に、１時に隣のアパートに住んでいる人が手で壁を打った。しまった。僕は今晩悪い隣人になったようだね。話がすぐ終わった。明日、謝るかもしれない。

I decided not to bother to apologize after all since my neighbor was a bit of a jackass for angrily banging on the wall like that instead of asking us to keep it down politely, which I think would have been an appropriate action for my first infraction. Water under the bridge, though. I think it's a new neighbor, actually.

Tomorrow is the last day of class. I have a lot to do tonight, including writing a speech, some leftover homework, and preparation for a bit of volunteer work at a nearby nursery school.

明日は今学期の最後の日。しなければならない事が３つある：スピーチを書いたり、宿題をしたり、幼稚園の準備をしたりしないと。でも、つかれたよ！

Why doesn't Yamasa have its large bike and parking lots paved? Do you know how bloody annoying it is to have to wade through the mud to park or retrieve your bike? Or how difficult it can be to get your bike to stand up in the mud?

I should mention this to somebody because it's really annoying sometimes.

今日始めて敬語の勉強が始まったよ。勉強の前に、羽田先生は敬語がそんなに難しくなくて、安心したほうがいいと言ってくださった。先生が言ったとおりに、本当に難しくなかった。もちろんもっと難しいところがあるはずだけど、no problemだと思う。

Today, our study of keigo (the upper eschelons of Japanese politeness that have driven many a person to the brink of madness, they say) commenced. Before beginning, Hada-sensei said that keigo really isn't all that difficult and that we should relax. And, sure enough, it was just as she said. I'm sure much harder keigo is out there, but it's 大丈夫, I think.

今朝大雨が急にやんで、びっくきした。台風が近く来て、この辺を通った。よかったなぁ。

It was raining profusely this morning but I was quite surprised when it stopped suddenly. A typhoon came nearby and then passed us up. Fine by me.

ジョナサンのとつげき英会話！

「It's raining cats and dogs」いうエクスプレッションは聞いたことがありますか。アメリカでは時々聞けます。「大雨」という意味ですが、「雨のふうに、空から猫と犬が降っている」という文字通りの意味です。例えば、「ワー！大雨ですね！」は英語で「Wow! It's raining cats and dogs!」という言い方がありますが、ちょっと古めかしいので、当節あまり言いません。しかし、そうなのに、アメリカ人はみんなわかります。

語源は何か、だれもわかりません。でもいろいろな学説があります。「大雨の音は猫と犬のけんかのようだ」とか「藁葺きが多い頃、大雨の時に屋上で寝ている猫と犬は屋上を通り抜けて家の中に落ちたことがあった」とか。面白いですね。

えっ！もう一回出た、あの変な話！なぜかなぁ。

昨日の漢字テストはよかった。９６．２５パーセントだった。間違えてしまった漢字は「合計」・「体重」・「運転」。先学期の最後の漢字テストは一つだけを間違えたけど、今回はちょっとがっかりした。でも今朝の最後の文法と言葉のテストもよかったと思う。でも本当によかったかどうか、せいせきをみるとすぐわかるね。

じゃ、これから晩ごはんを作ったり昼寝をしたりするとこるだと思う。

This morning, I have my last test of the quarter. I'm a bit worried about some of the vocabulary, but I expect it to go fine. Except perhaps the listening test. The difficulty of those tests seems to jump around more than House of Pain. (Oo, I know I didn't!)

今朝は今学期の最後のテスト。言葉にちょっと心配してるけど、大丈夫かもしれない。特に、聞くテストについて心配してる。聞くテストは試験中に難しさが変わる。「あ、簡単だった。え？これ、難しすぎるよ！」もうすぐＫクラスが終わる。あっ！でも明日みんなボーリングに行く予定だ。アンディさんとマリエさんの誕生日のために。きっと楽しい。



An empty train.

大雨が降ったばかりだ。テレビで台風１３号によってされた問題を見てる。例えば、風でＪＲ電車が倒れてしまったそうだ。ヤマサへ通う人、注意して！

今日は祝日なのに、ヤマサは休みじゃない。残念。

Today, I hit my head quite hard on the top of my door frame. That was about five hours ago and it still stings. Yeah, I totally slobbered like that, too.

目から火が出ている。今日、上の絵のとおりに僕がしてしまった。頭がとてもいたくなってしまった。今でも少しいたい・・・

岡崎に着いてから、「洋服の青山」という店をよく見る。「青山」はすぐ読めるようになったが、「洋服」はどういう意味か、何と読むか、ぜんぜんわからなかった。

Since moving to Okazaki, I often see a nearby store named "洋服の青山." I soon understand "青山" ("aoyama," the name of the store, literally meaning "blue mountain") but I didn't understand "洋服" at all—how to read it, what it meant ... nothing.

しかし、漢字クラスと読むクラスの勉強で、「洋服」が読めるようになったばかりだよ。この間、自転車に乗っている時に見たら、すぐわかって、とてもびっくりした！「わ、わかるよ！急に・・・読める？！やった～！」すごい！

However, by means of my kanji and reading classes, I recently came to be able to read it. As I was riding my bike the other day, I saw the sign and immediately, without effort, was able to read it. I was totally shocked. So suddenly, I understood! ("So that's what it says!") Pretty cool, that. "洋服" is pronounced "youfuku" and means "western clothes."

今日、すごく眠くても、漢字を勉強しないと。明日は今学期の最後の漢字テストだから。でも、勉強の前に、小さな昼寝をしようと思っている。元気が少ないんだ。

Today, even though I'm really sleepy, I must study kanji for tomorrow's term-end big test. But before that, I'm thinking that I'll take a nap. I've got no energy right now.

I ran a speed test on my Internet connection.
インターネット接続のスピードテストをした。



I do have a pretty good connection, I must say.
高速インターネット接続だよね！

On this topic, I found an interesting Ars Technica article about the state of American broadband.

今日の授業は「使役動詞」の勉強だった。ちょっと大変だったのに、よくわかったと思う。でも人と話す時に、わかりにくいかもしれない。でも彦坂先生と有滝先生は僕らにたくさん質問を聞かせてくださったが、わかるのに役に立った。それに、有滝先生は「寝かせる」と「起こす」のことを教えてくださった。特に、「～てください」と使役動詞が面白い。「この本、読ませてくれ。」とか「そのゲーム、遊ばせてくださいね。」とか。本当に面白い。いろんな役に立つ文法を習うのはとても好きなんだよ。

今晩「オヒラクゴキラク」を聞きに行った。スタジオの前に２人しかいなくて、しずかだった。ラジオがはっきり聞こえた。そうなのに、少ししかわからなった。でも少し分かったところがあった。オヒラクゴキラクの人で中がやさそうと思う。

放送の後で、ちょっとスタジオの前で待ってから、アオイホールへ行って、ピアノを弾いた。最近少し弾くようになった。弾く途中、学生が来て、彼とちょっとしゃべった。アオイホールでいろんな無料の物が入っている箱がおいてあって、ハンガーを見て取った。便利なプレゼントだね。

そのあとで、初めてオヒラクのさよこさんに会った。やさしそうと思う。それに、オヒラクゴキラクのさやかさんもまた会った。どうしてハンガーを持っているか、聞いてくれた。さよこさんとさやかさんの話に割り込んでしまったし、今晩の話もとても下手だったし、それで「はやく帰ったほうがいい」と思った。それはごめんなさい。

みんな、ぜひFM Okazakiを聞いて。オヒラクゴキラクは金曜日の晩。

I started writing this review a couple of months ago when I was watching the Japanese television romantic drama "Love Generation." It sat fallow for some time, but I guess I'll post so that I can delete this text file. One thing that watching the show gave me, though, is that I discovered that the lead actress did some singing, so I downloaded some of her PVs.

Well, here's the review:

"Love Generation" is a really annoying but somehow likeable show. It's a drama set in Tokyo about two stupid people that supposedly fall in love. The beginning of the series was actually pretty enjoyable. One of the series' strongest points, I feel, is the interaction between the two main characters, Teppei and Riko, who are generally fun to watch. But once they start getting together, their relationship disintegrates into stock drama issues, the sorts of relationship problems that only utter morons could ever have.

This is the kind of show in which, when the guy is confronted about various wrongdoings, he stands there in silence like a nimbus when just a few simple words could improve the situation if not fix it outright. Thing is,Teppei even does this when he's not actually guilty of anything. The idiotic "just communicate!" moments are present aplenty and are a sign of not-so-good writing. Which is a shame, because I do like watching the characters and their interactions when they're not arguing like children over some ridiculous trifle.

But unfortunately, they fall in that routine about halfway through the 11 episodes. It's just too drama-ish. (There's even an OMG-I-just-realized! scene in which Teppei runs across town in a mad rush to catch Riko before she does something undesirable, which, in this case, is hop on the bus out of town. And, of course, Teppei arrives just as Riko is about to board.) I stopped watching after the episode 8, in which Riko walks into Teppei's apartment just as he is kissing another woman, because I was fed up with them, but I decided to finish the series. About halfway through episode 9, I began watching in fast-forward (I had subtitles, so I still followed the gist). I just had to know what would happen.

The ending was largely dissatisfying. How much so? Well, Riko, who has already sworn herself to Teppei and who "can't see anybody else" but him, promises to stay with Teppei no matter what, even if he should hit her. (I've forgotten the exact wording used in the translation, unfortunately.) But then, it was already established how neutotic she was previously. And the last visual in the series is a wedding photo. The pandering is way too obvious. But that's what I get, I suppose.

うちへ帰ったところだ。

I just got home.

今日、授業中、学生はみんなぜんぜん元気じゃなかった。僕もそうだった。気分が悪くなってしまって、昼休みにうちへ帰って、昼寝をしてみて、休もうと思ってた。今学期の初めて、強く休みたかった。でも弱すぎて、学校へ戻った。戻っても頭は休みだったと思う。今日は最後の読むせんたくの授業で、がっかりした。楽しかったからです。すみません、先生。失礼しました。授業はつまらなくなかったです！心はつかれました。

Everyone was totally dead in class today. Me too. I began feeling bad, came home during lunch to nap, and almost decided to stay, but I chicken out and went back. It's good that I did, though, since today was our last reading elective class. I'm kind of disappointed about that because it was a good class. Sorry, sensei. Class wasn't boring. The spirit is just tired.

でも授業のあとで、もうすぐ帰国する友達のために、みんなでカラオケに行った！

But after class, everyone went out for a "sayonara" party for those among us who shall be leaving soon.

やっとカラオケをした！日本へ来る前にも、日本でカラオケをしたかったよ！よかった！

Finally, I did karaoke! Even before coming from America, I wanted to do karaoke in Japan.

帰国しなければならない友達はヤンさん・マリエさん・アキさん・ザヤさん。この４人の女の人のために、１２人ぐらいの学生と４人の先生が一緒に行って、歌った。ちょっと高くても、本当に楽しかった。僕が歌ったのは、酒井法子の「青い兎」・サンボマスターの「世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ」・ はっぱ隊の「やった！」（マークさんと）・Norah Jonesの「Don't Know Why」・ Little By Littleの「悲しみを優しさに」・ココナッツ娘の「常夏娘」・ 11WATERの「BE ALL RIGHT!」・そして、最後は三河おっさんの大好きな「アルゴリズム行進」。歌って、おどって、笑った。それで気分がよくなった。

The returning folks are Yan, Marie, Aki, and Zaya. For the sake of these four, about 12 students and 4 sensei went out and sang. It was a bit expensive, but I had a great time. The songs I sang were Noriko Sakai's "Aoi usagi," Sambomaster's "Sekai wa sore wo ai to yobun da ze," Norah Jones's "Don't Know Why," Little By Little's "Kanashimi wo Yasashisa ni," Coconuts Musume's "Tokonatsu musume" (Mark knew it—ha!), 11WATER's "Be All Right," Happa-tai's "Yatta!" (oh yeah!), and even "Algorithm March" (it was the last song). I sang, danced, laughed, made a fool of myself (I did the 11WATER dance because I like those moves, dang it) and ended up feeling pretty good.

今晩の一番大切のは・・・たいわん人とホンコン人とモンゴル人はカラオケがとても上手だよ。

The most important thing to take away from tonight: people from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Mongolia sing karaoke very well.

今晩の二番大切のは・・・アメリカはあまり上手じゃない。

The second most important thing: Americans aren't so good.

マリエさんは歌わなかった（ブ～）けど、ヤンさんとアキさんとザヤさんは上手に歌ってくれた。（ヤンさんが上手に歌って、びっくりした！心から涙が少し出た。ハハ！）

Marie didn't sing (boo!) but Yan, Aki, and Zaya did. (Yan was surprisingly good. Who'da thunk it! Joking, joking. Kind of.)

でも先生も歌ってくださった！ | But the sensei also sang!



カッコイイ！
Awesome.

ちょっと忘れちゃった！今日羽田先生の授業で初めて俳句を聞いた。僕は４つ書いた。読みたい？下手なのに。笑ってもいい。

（春）　創造ね　春の子どもだ　これからも
（夏）　夏なのに　さむい思いも　まだあるね
（秋）　すずしい日　おちばであそぶ　やめないな
（冬）　あたたかく　なりたいしかし　できなそう

ジャン！

書く時、「創造」の漢字を間違えて、「創設」を書いちゃったよ。

This morning's test went well. Very well, as a matter of fact. We took a very similar test at the end of the previous term and I couldn't do much more than maybe two thirds of it, but this time around I completed the whole thing and definitely got over 90% right on it (I think). Yeah, baby!

今朝のプレイスメントテストはよかったと思います。頑張って、全部できた。成績は９０％以上かもしれない。次のレベルの問題もした。難しかったけど、よく考えて当てたと思う。それしか何も出来なかった。勉強してない文法と言葉だったんだよ。

The number of people with DS'es in my class jumped to four recently. I'm just sayin'. 最近ニンテンドーＤＳを持っているクラスメートは４人に増えた。



In further fulfillment of Zoe's request, another wedding photograph taken during my time as a wedding photographer in America. Sometimes I really miss those days.

この写真はアメリカで写真家として働いていた時の結婚式の写真。あの仕事は時々大変だったのにとても楽しかったよ。

I have an important test tomorrow: next term's placement test. I need to do well on this to ensure that I move up a complete level again. I'll be righteously unhappy if I slip and have to start from the middle of this book, but I really doubt that'll happen. I'm just gonna play it cool.

明日大切なテストがある！学校のプレイスメントテストを受けないと。合格しなければならない。しっぱいすれば、すごく怒るようになる。でも僕は合格するはずだよ。じゃ、みんな、頑張ろう！もう一回一緒に勉強しよう。

先週の木曜日、有滝先生に作文を書く宿題をいただいた。今週の木曜日までの宿題だったのに、同日の授業が終わる前に出した。それは僕のチャレンジだった。でも・・・

この間、先生がみて戻してくださった。僕は作文を見て、びっくりした！作文の中に何回も「びっくり」を間違えちゃった！「びっきり」を書いちゃった！え～？！何回も「グラス」を書かなくて、「ガラス」を書いた。だけど、どちらも正しい言葉だから、この間違いがわかる。でも、「びっきり」？なぜ？作文のタイトルに正しく書いてある。そんなバカな間違い・・・恥ずかしいよね。すみません、有滝先生。

でもほかの３つの小さい間違いしかなかった。

実は作文が好きです。一枚なら。自由に自分の考えが書けるし。

あ、そう・・・。この作文は「日本での一番びっくりしたのは？」というテーマだった。僕のは「日本のレストランの水のグラスはとても小さい！」だった。後で、ここに作文をおくかもしれない。

Today turned out to be a right fine day, it did. Yup.

It started out with a bit of hiccup, though. At one point, I became frustrated with one facet of Yamasa's method of teaching, but upon reflecting on things, I realized that my problem was not with Yamasa but with academia in general. I grew rather disillusioned with it during my time in college back in Houston and the feeling returned for a while today. Sometimes, institutionalized learning can really be a bit too ... stringent, I suppose. But as for today, the feeling passed as I reminded that we were reviewing several lessons for our upcoming test and that I really like these reviews.

Today's review was good. We did grammar and listening practice. I made my usual couple of errors on the written test, but otherwise did fine. The listening practice was interesting. A few weeks ago, Zaya, the school's sole Mongolian student, complained (rather vehemently and abruptly) during class about our previous listening method. On test days, we only get to listen to the questions once, but during in-class practice, we were listening to the questions several times. Zaya don't play that and we all agreed that, indeed, listening to the questions once and then reviewing after that—and thus, emulating the testing method—would be more beneficial. So today, for the first time, that's what we did. Except for one section, which I botched completely, I did well. Good work, Zaya.

After that was Hada-sensei's class. In the parlance of today's online world, she won the Internet today. What happened had nothing to do with the Internet but nonetheless, she won it. It's really hard to explain why what she did was so hilarious because you'd have to understand the in-class dynamics to really get it, but take my word for it that it was great.

The gist of it is that today we began lesson 47 in our textbook—a lesson that has some somewhat troublesome grammar. To aid us in our understanding, she brought in some visual aids, which consisted largely of our classmate Brian's head attached to cartoon bodies and told of how it was ten years in the future and he had started his own company. (See? You really just had to be there.) The climax of this were two fantastic pictures which I am working on obtaining a copy of in order to post here. We'll see if I succeed.

So anyway, after class, I went to a Japanese preschool. ... You see, I kind of signed up to volunteer at a talk to the kids there. It happens five times for 30 minutes each time. As those who know me well are all too aware, I'm not at all the sort to volunteer for this sort of thing. But it happened.

I was pretty nervous about it and had had several second thoughts about it. Today we met with the caretakers there, though, and now I feel just fine and am even looking forward to it. The classroom that I've been assigned to has 28 four-year-olds. Wow. Looks like all that time photographing children back in Houston was mere practice for this. I have a handler, though, it should be fine. Her name is Noriko and she's a born-and-raised Okazakian. I think we'll make a good team.

Now ... I need to go shopping. I have nothing but rice in here right now.



今日の授業はとても楽しかった。彦坂先生とテストの復習をして、羽田先生と第47課の文法を勉強した。「～そうです」という文法を教えるために、特別な絵を持ってきてくださった。Ｋクラスのブライアンさんとダフニさんの結婚式の写真だったよ！え～～～！すばらしくて、すごく面白かった！たくさん笑ったよ！それに、先生が上手に作ってくださったね。ここにアップロードしたいけど、可能かどうか、まだわからない。よくできた、羽田先生。ヘヘヘ～。あ、ところで、羽田先生の服はよく似合ったと思う。

授業の後で、近くの幼稚園へ行った。「え？なぜ？」と言ってくれた？実は、ほかの学生と５回幼稚園であそぶ予定なんだよ。僕も買って出た。今日は幼稚園の人に会いに行く予定だった。行く前に、とても心配していた。それに、行った後でまだ心配していた。でも自己紹介して、幼稚園の人と話して、新しい建物で案内してもらって、だんだん安心になった。楽しそうと思う。２８人の子供のクラスでのりこさんという女の人と教える。クラスの名前は「あじさい」。頑張るぞ！僕はもしかしたら子供に人気があるかもしれない。でも幼稚園のみなさんはとてもやさしかったと思う。よろしく！

じゃ、アパートに米しかないから、Ｓｅｉｙｕへ行くところだ。

大変！今日とても眠くなって、はやく寝るつもりだった。しかし寝られなくなってしまった！今９時くらいだけど、まだはやい。なぜ寝られない？明日大きい学校試験も受けなければならないし。不眠中！珍しい出来事だ。

今日はＫクラスのザヤさんの誕生日だった。おめでとう！たった今、うちへ帰ったばかりだ。今晩、初めてＫクラスのみんなが食事を参加した。それに、彦坂先生もちょっと参加してくださった。羽田先生も新井先生も有滝先生も来たらいいと思うけど。しかし、今学期の終わりにＫクラスの先生と学生はみんなで食べると思う。仕方がないぞ！来週は先学期のアンディさんとマリエさんの誕生日。同日で、便利だね。ハハ！

最近のスケッチ。
なぜ「暑さ」と言ったか、僕もわからない。
だれを見てるか、僕もわからない。
どういう目的のために戦いたいか、僕もわからない。
でも、このスケッチが好き。あまり上手じゃなくても。

A recent sketch.
I don't know why he's saying "heat."
I don't know who he's looking at.
I don't know for what purpose he wishes to fight.
But I like this sketch. Even though it's not all that good.

There's this magazine that appears at school named JLife and I noticed something really weird about it a little while ago: faces of the multi-ethnic cartoons on the cover are recycled every month. That is to say, each month, the characters' faces are exactly the same. (The only difference I've seen are that the direction that the apparently-Hispanic character are looking was changed once.)



It's a bit bizarre, I think. But one delightful little gem came out of this. While I would imagine this to be unintentional, the idea that the stereotype exists here as well is quite amusing.

僕は少しバカをしちゃった。

昨日、三河おっさんに会いに岡崎駅で電車に乗って、東刈谷へ行った。帰るとき、彼はうちまで車を運転してくれた。よかったね。でも、今日サークルＫへ行きたかった。しかし、僕の自転車が見つかれなかった。「え？どういう意味？どろぼうに取られた？！」と思った。「大切に考えろ！・・・あっ！駅に！」そうだよ。自転車が駅にあったのを忘れちゃった。

歩いて、駅へ行きだした。面倒くさかった。空を見て、曇りだった。「急がないと。」と思って、速く歩いた。着いてから、自転車に乗って、サークルＫへ行った。サークルＫは岡の上にあるから、行くのは大変だと思う。ミニストップはサークルＫより近いのに、友達に会いにサークルＫへ行った。雨が降りそうだったのに、少ししか降らなかった。

I rode my bike to Okazaki Station yesterday to go meet Mikawa Ossan in Kariya. In the evening, he was kind enough to give me a ride back home. Simple enough, right? Well, today I wanted to go to Circle K but when I went downstairs, I couldn't find my bike. "Was it stolen?" I thought, but upon thinking about it, I remembered that my bike was still at the station. Great.

So I had to walk all the way to the station to get my bike, and I rode my bike all the way to Circle K. Even though it looked a lot like rain, only a little bit fell, fortunately.

最近、ミュージカルが好きな友達が日本語の「CATS」というミュージカルのサウンドトラックのＭＤをくれた。英語を「CATS」のサウンドトラックが大好きだから。とも面白いと思う。僕もミュージカルが好きで、うれしい。それに、「CATS」のビデオカセットと「The Phantom of the Opera」のＤＶＤを貸してくれた。どうもありがとう！見たい、見たい！

I recently got the Japanese CATS soundtrack as a gift from a very cool recently-acquired friend. I'm a big fan of the English version, so listening to it has been a treat. I haven't actually seen the play itself, but I was also lent a couple of videocassettes of CATS and a Phantom of the Opera DVD as well. Sweet! Looking forward to seeing them.

The game went as expected. That is to say, we sucked.

Actually, I sucked. My teammates were pretty good, but I was just all over the place, leaving vitals holes in our defense, doing this wrong and that wrong. It was terrible. But, hey, I warned them beforehand. I warned them! It didn't help that we faced one of the strongest teams in our (one) match either. Still, I think we only lost 10 to 8. If someone with experience and knowhow and talent had been in my spot, perhaps the team would have won. The team was stronger than expected, really.

I wish that there had been a one-on-one tournament. I didn't like having to worry about tripping over and bumping into so many people and I don't know anything of even the basic strategies of the game. (Well, a couple of things only.) And we were playing against folks who obviously play a lot.

After the match, we shooks hands with the other team. I told them that they'd done well ("よくできた！") and the girl on their team almost fell out. I guess she wasn't expecting something like that. It was kind of funny. Hey, it was all for fun, right?

After that, there was a bunch of watching other matches, including Hada-sensei's team. Some students also apparently recruited Fuma-sensei, the tallest female sensei here—perhaps the tallest sensei period. Good thinking. I hear from class L that she's pretty cool and funny.

I honestly forgot who won the tournament, though. Some three-person group ...

But most importantly, my glasses didn't get broken, my back didn't sustain any injuries, and I still have two working eyes. Actually, my back was kind of sore, but that was expected. I've become an old man.

A group of classmates went out afterwards, and I really wanted to go, but I had a prior commitment with another buddy of mine. Well, we're all going out Monday evening, so it's all right.

While I was at the court, I ran inside a couple of times to play the piano that's in Aoi Hall. A female upperclassman by the name Haku, I think, stopped by and I played a part of one of the few songs I still remember from the old days when I played and also a short diddy that I wrote a few years ago when I entered into a song-writing phase. Happily, I made a pretty sweet chord combination that I'd like to use.

今日の試合は僕のチームが負けた。１０対８だった。でも僕のせいだった。今まで１０年間ぐらいずっとバスケットボールをしていなかったので、ずごく下手だった。ティカ隊長とヨウさん（アンディさんはおなかがいたくなっちゃった。）は上手だったよ。僕だけはよく間違えちゃった。（それに、あの人の前に・・・）あとで、ほかのチームと握手した。女の人に「よくできた」と言ったら、彼女はびっくりした。え？

いる友達は面白かったと言った。

その後で、ほかのチームの試合をみて、アオイホールのピアノをひいた。羽田先生も試合に出たよ！すごいね。元気にがんばったよ。見ている先生もたくさんいた：彦坂先生（スコアを変える人）、おやいず先生（写真をとる人）、有滝先生、さの先生、など。

１０年前ぐらい、背中手術があったから、背中について心配していた。でも問題がなかった。それに、目について、とても心配していた。高校生の時の悪い経験・・・

試合が終わったら、友達は晩ごはんを食べに行くつもりだったけど、僕はほかの予定があったので、行けなかった。

ティカ隊長、ヨウさん、許してね。ヘヘ・・・

授業で「四つ」と「八つ」を間違えちゃった。よく使わないから。

明日、ヤマサのバスケットボールの試合に出る予定。本当だよ。僕は高校生の時から、ずっとしやっていない。試合は全部３対３で、チームメートはティカ隊長とアンディさん。ヤマサのアオイホールの前で行われる。Ｌクラスのホアキンさんも試合に出るつもりだと言っていた。羽田先生も試合に出ると言われていた。絶対に負けられない！

実は、はやく負けると思う。ティカ隊長は一番バスケットボールが上手と思う。僕とアンディさんはかなり下手だから。でも一番大切のは勝ちじゃないね。楽しんで頑張ったほうがいいね。チームの名前について相談していたけど、同じられなくて、かんそな名前にした。でも多分みんなもう忘れた。

ヤマサのみんな、参加してチアしてくれない？

その後で、「大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズ」の予定だよ。最後はラジオスタジオの前で放送を聞こうと思っている。

Well, I got drafted into a three-on-three basketball tournament that the school is holding tomorrow. Should be interesting, as I haven't played since I was in high school, having stopped after a very close encounter with disaster concerning my right eye. (I became rather paranoid about my eyes since.)

My teammates are my classmates Tik Ka (our fearless leader, whom I've been calling "Tik Ka-taichou," "taichou" meaning "commanding officer") and Andy. Our team has a name but we had a lot of trouble coming up and agreeing on one and ended up choosing some general name that we've probably all forgotten.

After the game, I intend to be playing Super Smash Bros. Melee with Alex, my new prey—I mean, smash buddy.

今まで、僕はの一番難しいのは
　　①「のです」の使い方
　　②「は」と「が」の使い方

「のです」について、大体わかる。とても大変だよ。
「は」と「が」について、よくわかる。時々大変だね。

でも特に、「のです」を使うのは難しい。ニュアンスに注意しなければならないし。