2016年12月9日金曜日

2016年12月9日金曜日 -

Dan: Adventure World

Have you ever been to Adventure World? For those of you who have, high-five! For those of you who haven't, get going! For those of you who don't know what Adventure World is, it's a safari park / theme park located in Shirahama, Wakayama. I've lived in Japan for almost nine years, and I'd say I've been there around nine times.

I recently went there on October 30th. Actually, I had gone earlier this year during the summer, so it was a bit soon to be heading back, but I had a special reason for going back: a baby panda was born! I had missed the chance to see a baby panda last year, so I wanted to take the opportunity to see it before it grew up.

There were some strict rules on seeing it, however. It was only visible twice during the day, and for twenty minutes each time. As soon as the park opened, we rushed to the panda nursing area and ended up being first in line to see the panda. We were really excited to see it. However, the mother panda was very protective of the baby panda and covered it in her arms, making it very difficult to see. Also, we were not allowed to stand to watch the panda; we had to walk in a line, in order to allow everyone a chance to see the panda. We entered the line a total of five times, but we were unable to get a clear view of the baby panda each time. It was a bit disappointing, but we were able to glimpse it, at least.

But aside from that, the safari tour was as enjoyable as always. And I was pleasantly surprised by the dolphin show. It was different from the summer version I saw earlier this year, and the fall show was actually more interesting, despite the summer show being touted as the better one.

All in all, a good day trip!

high-five ハイタッチ
get going 急いでいって!
I'd say ~だろうと思います。
heading back 戻る
take the opportunity すかさず~する
visible 見られる
rushed to 急いでいく
ended up ~することになった
in order to ~するために
aside from that それはさておき
despite ~にもかかわらず
touted : ~だとうたわれている。

2016年12月2日金曜日

2016年12月2日金曜日 -

Charles: Arashiyama Trip

             I recently made another trip to Arashiyama in Kyoto with my wife. I live in Osaka so Kyoto is pretty close by. I was able to go for the day and be back just after dark.
    I'd visited Arashiyama about four years ago so I already knew the area pretty well but the weather was completely different this time. The first time I visited in August and it was brutally hot and muggy. The sun was blazing with intensity. Despite the heat we enjoyed the classic temples and gardens and even stopped in at the train museum which had some kind of musical act going on. Then we rode the scenic train over the river.

     This time, we visited in November. Obviously, it was much cooler and less exhausting this time. It rained a little at first, but by the time we stopped into a cafe, it was down-pouring. We lucked out though because we had a really nice view of some of the shops and the colorful mountains from our table. I could hear the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof shingles outside as I had my salmon bowl and coffee. The atmosphere was fantastic.

           Once the rain let up we walked down to the temple. We tried some kind of Japanese snack on the way there. I ordered in Japanese but I messed up my sentence with the wrong counting system. I only realized this after because the shopkeeper understood what I meant and played along. I'm not sure what the snack was called but it was a ball of mochi with some kind of strawberry cream inside and a strawberry on top. It's similar to the Japanese snack Daifuku but the strawberry was on top instead of inside. It might still be called that or some variation of that.

   The temple walk was relaxing as we didn't have any deadlines or any checklist to fill out this time. Overall, I think I enjoyed this trip more than the first time. There wasn't any outstanding event but the general atmosphere and tranquility was thoroughly enjoyable.

brutally 残忍に
muggy 蒸し暑い
blazing very hot 焼けつくような
shingles roof tiles 屋根瓦
atmosphere the mood or tone of a place 雰囲気
tranquility peacefulness, calm 静けさ
picked up increased, rose 激しくなった
down-pouring raining heavily 土砂降りにな
lucked out were lucky 運よく
pitter-patter sound of rain パラパラと
messed up ruined: 間違えて
played along continued without stopping, ignore that something is wrong 素知らぬふりをする
fill out complete:埋める