2018年5月25日金曜日

2018年5月25日金曜日 -

Hugh: Fushimi Inari Taisha – Kyoto.

Have you ever been to Fushimi Inari Shrine? I have so let me tell you a story about the first time I went.

Every fairytale begins with, “Once Upon a Time” so...

“Once upon a time, there was a man called Hugh who was a novice in Japan. I say a novice because this was his first time in Japan, his first time in Kyoto and he had only been there for 5 days.

 Anyway, back to the story… “his first time in Kyoto, he decided to go to Fushimi Inari Shrine. He arrived a little late in the day, around 4pm but was allowed entry, by the shrine staff. It was out of this world and he had never seen anything, quite like it.

There was a path of endless red gates which led all the way up the mountain. In his mind, these were gates leading up to heaven.” I digress... “...after following the gates up whilst drinking a can of Energy drink (when taking a break) every 500 meters or so, he started to lose track of time and hardly noticed that darkness, was setting in.
Soon after, the shrine lanterns switched on and he discovered that he was well and truly, lost!! He was resigned to the fact that he'd be unable to find his way out (he still had a few cans of Energy drink in his bag) so after finding a bench, he decided to hunker down, for the night.

A few cans of Energy drink later and perhaps a few hours later, it was now dark and he heard a noise. 'What was that? Is that someone, calling out?' He found himself thinking. Is that someone shouting, 'hello, hello?'

Yes, it was and a few moments later, a security guard came and led an embarrassed man, out of Fushimi Inari Shrine, two hours after it closed.

So, all's well, that ends, well.”

Join me soon for, “Fushimi Inari, the return.”

Word Bank:
Novice ：A beginner：初心者
Once upon a time：A phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events：昔々あるところに
Endless ：Being or seeming to be, without an end：果てしなく続く
Digress：To stray temporarily, from a topic：話がそれる
Out of this world ：Unbelievably amazing：この世のものとは思えないほど素晴らしい
Resigned to ：To make oneself accept a situation：仕方なく～する
Hunker down ：Take shelter ：  しゃがみ込む
Setting in ： Beginning or coming：
All's well that ends well ：Everything has turned out well even though, the outcome was uncertain. ：終わりよければ総てよし

2018年5月19日土曜日

2018年5月19日土曜日 -

NING YIQING: 西安 Xi'an

这个月有日本的“黄金周”，这个黄金周大家去哪里旅游了呢？下次如果有时间的话，欢迎大家来我的故乡--西安旅游！
        西安古称“长安”，是陕西省的省会城市，是秦、汉、唐等13个朝代的都城。秦始皇兵马俑、钟楼、大雁塔、华清池、明城墙等众多名胜古迹都在这里。是一座文化底蕴深厚的历史名城。
        西安四季分明，最适合旅游的时间是3月到5月和9月到11月，所以黄金周去是最舒适的季节！


        西安也是一个古典与现代相互融合的城市，在这里你在市中心会看到古典的规模宏大的具有六百年历史的钟鼓楼，尤其是在夜间，在霓虹灯的照射下，这座古城曾经的繁华尽收眼底！在西安你也可以找到最现代化的购物中心--赛格购物中心，它拥有亚洲最长的天梯，长达50.3米的室内扶梯，各大名牌应有尽有。当然也有很多日本的品牌，比如服装品牌“优衣库”，餐饮品牌“吉野家”“丸龟制面”等等。
        大家去过西安吗？是什么时候去的呢？有什么印象深刻的事情呢？西安的变化非常大，如果有时间的话，一定要去感受一下这座历史名城！

wiki
We had Golden week this month in Japan. Where did you travel for golden week? If you have time next time, please visit my hometown, Xi'an!
Xi'an used to be called “Chang-an”, it’s the capital city of Shaanxi Province and was the capital for 13 dynasties including Qian, Han and Tang. Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses, Bell Tower, Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Huaqing Pool, Ming City Wall and many other historical sites are all here. It is a historic city with deep cultural heritage.
Xi'an has four distinct seasons, the best time for traveling is from March to May and from September to November, so Golden Week is the most comfortable season!
Xi’an is a completely integrated city, where you can feel both an ancient and modern atmosphere.  Here you will see the historic and grand six hundred-year-old Bell and Drum Tower in the city center.
wiki
Especially at night, under the illumination of neon lights, you can truly see this anciet city's past! In Xi'an, you can also find the most modern shopping mall, SEG Mall. It has the longest ladder in Asia, a 50.3 meter indoor escalator, and all major brands are available. Of course there are many Japanese brands as well, like Uniqlo, Yoshinoya, and Marugame noodles, etc.
Have you ever been to Xi’an? When did you go? Did any impressive things happen there? As Xi’an is changing very rapidly, if you have time, please visit and enjoy this great historical city.
：：
黄金周Huángjīn zhōu：Golden week：ゴールデンウィーク
旅游lǚyóu：travel：旅行
故乡gùxiāng：hometown：故郷
都城dūchéng：capital：首都
秦始皇qínshǐhuáng：Emperor Qin Shihuang：秦の始皇帝
分明fēnmíng：distinct：はっきりと分かれている
舒适shūshì：comfortable：居心地がいい
霓虹灯níhóngdēng： neon lights：ネオンライト
尽收眼底jǐn shōu yǎndǐ：can truly see：すべてが見える

大名牌dà míngpái：major brands：有名ブランド

2018年5月11日金曜日

2018年5月11日金曜日 -

Tony： My Golden Week


This year my family didn't make any travel plans for Golden Week. We decided to stay in Kansai, try to find some local things to do, clean the house, and maybe sell a few things on Mercari. Living in Osaka means there is no shortage of things to do, but we didn't even want to catch a train, so for a bit of adventure we chose to walk from one end of our local shopping street to the other for the first time in years. 
       It took no time at all to find something new. There was a new pizza restaurant with a karate dojo on the second floor. Previously a florist had been in that building. The pizza shop owner was out front, and after we introduced ourselves he told us that he'd been living in New York for the last five years, fell in love with the pizza there, and now that he was back in Japan all he could think about was recreating the pizza that he'd fallen in love with.  We went back a day later and ate awesome pizza!
       Past the pizza shop things looked the same. A stationary shop with faded advertisements, a coffee shop with a picture of Arnold Shwarzenegger in the window, an off-brand 100-yen shop, a bike shop, a Chinese restaurant, a senbei shop, a korokke shop, a candy shop, a takoyaki stand, a socks shop. Really normal stuff for a local shopping street. But, something seemed missing.
       It was my son who noticed. Toyota's Karaage was gone! I'd been buying fried chicken from Toyota-San for the past 17 years! His shop was gone and nothing had replaced it. The steel shutters were down, and there was no notice on the door. The shop next door sold tofu, and the old guy who ran it was out front, recognized us, and waved us over.


       “What happened to Toyota-San?” I asked.
       “He retired,” said the old guy, with a short, sharp wave of his hand. He looked irritated.
       “That seems kind of early,” I said. “He wasn't even sixty yet, was he?”
       The tofu seller eyes flashed and his lips pressed thin.
       “Early? Yes it was early! I'm seventy-one and here I am working everyday and Toyota-San retires before he's even sixty. Some peoples' luck! He won the damn lottery!”
       We talked a little longer, I bought some tofu, and then we went home.
       Congratulations to Toyota-San, but I'm going to miss his karaage. He was a master.

Shortage：不足
one end of ～ to the other：～の端から端まで
Previously：以前
out front：店頭に立っている
now that：今や～なので
faded：色あせた
replaced：替えられる
Some peoples' luck! ：ラッキーな人もいるものだ！
lottery：宝くじなどのくじ
miss：食べたくなる

2018年5月11日金曜日 -

Anna Moric - Travel


Although I don't talk about it very much, when I first came to Japan, I decided to make a “mission” for myself to make my experience here even more fun. It will probably take a very long time to complete, but I decided that I want to visit all forty-eight prefectures at least once. I've now lived in Japan almost five years, and so far I've been to ten different prefectures. Hopefully, by the end of the year, that number will increase to twelve.

When I was living in America, I rarely traveled anywhere within my own country, since my family mostly only traveled to places where our other family members were living, or places that they knew well. Since my hometown is in the countryside, the only way to travel was by car, and to travel somewhere far away could take over one day to drive. Now that I live in Japan, transportation is much more convenient, and even without a car it's very easy to go wherever you want compared to where I lived before. That's one of the points I like best about living here.

When I travel in Japan, I usually take the bus if I have time. It's usually the cheapest option, and traveling by bus feels much more fun to me since it's like an adventure. I don't like flying very much, and I've never taken the bullet train before, so I'm glad there are so many places I can go by bus in Japan, even if they're far away from Osaka. Riding the bus really lets you feel the distance you're traveling, since it's much slower than a plane or the bullet train, so you can understand and see the places you go much better. I really like driving through Shizuoka because the mountains and ocean are so beautiful.

After this year, the part of Japan I want to go to the most is Shikoku! I've never been there before, and all the pictures I see look so nice and calm. If I have a chance, I want to be able to experience the Japanese countryside for a while.




Mission：使命
Increase：増加する
Rarely：めったに～しない
Transportation：交通機関
Compared to：～に比べ
option：選択肢
even if：たとえ～だとしても
the bullet train：新幹線

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