Linda Ohama

Today we attended a lecture of Linda Ohama, a famous movie director. We watched some parts of her movie called Obachan no Garden. In this movie, we could learn how hard time her grandmother had. Also, the movie has shown the comlpex situation that she and her family had.

One of the most interesting point to me was that her grandmother and mother never tried to teach Japanese because they thought being Japanese was dagerous. Recently, I watched a TV drama about Japanese-American people during the World War 2. The difference between Ohama family and the family in the TV drama was the attitude toward the fact that they are Japanese (to some extent). Ohama family didn't like to be Japanese because of Canadians' discrimination. In contrast, The family in the TV program had pride of being Japanese despite Americans' discrimination.

It was good experience to listen to her story.

Digital camera

Hello.
These days, people like to tale pictures whenever they find something interesting. Now we can post pictures on our website such as this blog page.

I've never had my own digital camera, so I can't post pictures in high quality (though I can use my cellphone to take a picture but I can take only grainy photos). Recently, Bic Camera was opened at Hachioji station. When I went there for the first time, I found that I can buy a digital camere at a cost of about 10,000 yen. I really want it! But I've spent too much money on November. I have to wait until December comes.

Speech Communication

I have Speech Communication class in 5th period on Tuesday. In the class, I have make a script and power point slides for my speech. Most of the students in my class are in the 2nd grade. There are only 5 or 6 students in the 1st grade in my class. 20(?) of 6, only.

Since they are making graet speaches, I have to prepare well for my turn. Maybe my turn will be in the next class. The problem is that I can't use a computer well, so I have trouble when I want to make power point slides.

This problem is connected to IT Kosyu-kai. If do it well, I can make better slides though there is not much time left (almost no time, hahaha).

Need time to relax

I have classes on Monday,Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. 4 days a week. However, I have no holiday because I have a part-time job on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. The rest of the week. Since I have to go to work 3 days a week, now I feel my work place is second school. The work is hard, but I'm enjoying it. Only less than 2 months have passed since I started this job, but because my senior staff are so kind that they tell me how to do the work with care.

Anyway, I need some time to rest. But now, I have to make my script for a debate in Speech Communication class on Tuesday... It will take me a long time, I guess...

Too small cafeteria

I guess most of the students in Aoyama Gakuin university say that they usually get in trouble when they want to eat lunch at cafeteria because they cannot find vacant seats. Some use seats that are reserved by circles called Sa-seki. They can avoid taking a long time to find them.

Anyway, what we can say is the cafeteria is too small. I want to appeal that the university should make another cafeteria, or they should make it larger. That's too much trouble for us.

Since this is a private school that has large extra money, the school has to use it usefully. Rather than hiring unnecessary guard officers. The number of them even increased! They would say we are guiding students to school safely, but we are no longer kids!

The important money, where has it gone?

Ameba

I started another blog though I'm not sure that I will keep it. Anyway, Japanese blog web sites are quite interesting. We can make our own characters ourselves and chat with poeple through those characters. One of the most popular web site is Ameblo. Now it is a huge site that a lot of people are using and enjoying. On the blog, of course we can make our characters called Pigg and also have our own rooms which we can get a makeover.

I made my Pigg a little while ago. The character looks just alike myself! I really want you to check out my Pigg.lol It's such a funny.
http://ameblo.jp/hstk--ia3/
If you have interest in Ameblo, why don't you start it?

Can't sleep

Good evening or rather morning. First, I can say that I don't like to stay up late. I want to go to bed at 12 o'clock or a little later, but these days, I go to bed at 3 a.m. or later. To make myself feel sleepy, I usually drink scotch (I have to say I drink it because I love it). Mostly, I drink Cutty Sark but today I bought Johnnie Walker Red Label. And I'm drinking it now. This is good though I would say Cutty Sark is better. Anyway, I don't feel sleepy now. It's already 4 a.m.

However, once I start to sleep, another trouble would happen. I can't wake up! I don't usually feel hard to wake up in the morning, but these days, somehow, I tend to fall back to sleep... The cause is clear. It's the time to sleep. I cannot sleep at night, and I cannot wake up in the morning because of my sleeping time. Negatine chain...

What I can do is turn to my heroic whisky... I can see my hopeless future...

Interesting story: a dream

I was sleeping for a while. Maybe about 30 minutes. And I had a dream while I was sleeping. Let me talk about that dream.


I was in Niigata, around my home. In reality, I can see a lot of cats around my home and some of them are my friends ( though I am not sure they are thinking I am their friend, but they always come to me when they find me). I was walking in the street. It was near from a Japanese bar that my friend's father is running. A big cat faced me. A big cat, as big as a car. He said, "Why are you here? You shouldn't be here. This is our place. You must find your place. You must find what you have to do now." "Our? Who are they? You mean cats?" I asked. "We are cats, and you are one, but you are not a cat. We are cats including you, but you are a humanbeing. You musn't be here," the cat said. "I am a cat, but also a humanbeing, right?" I asked. "That's right, a poor little cat," the cat laughed. "I can't understand what you mean. If I am one of you, I mean..., a cat, I wanna join you. Let me be here!" I said.

Somebody called my name behind my back, but it might not be my name. I am not sure it was my name. I turned around and saw who it was. It was myself. He (I) talked me, "You musn't be our side. Stay there and never turn to us. It's too dangerous." "Dangerous? What is dangerous? I guess you're a part of me, so I should accept me," I said to him (me). "No, you are a part of me. Obey and respect me. That's my order to you. Obey and respect me. Stay there with your cat-like friends!" he (I) shouted. I turned around to speak to the big cat, but it wasn't there. I could see only a tail. A tail of a cat. "See, they left a hint for you to get there," somebody said to me from somewhere. " There? Where is that? Where should I go?" I shouted and turned around. No one was there. Somebody was laughing at me. "Where are you? Who is it?" I shouted. "You are still here, a poor little cat," the big cat appeared and said, "I said you nusn't be here. You are a part of me, so you must obey and respect me!" it ordered me. "Are you myself? You looks like a cat! Just a cat!" I shouted. "I'm yourself. Everything you see is yourself. You are right, a poor little boy," I said to me. Suddenly, I got blind.

I tried to see something. I tried to open my eyes. But I couldn't. At that moment, somebody patted my shoulder. I turned around, but no one was there (I wasn't blind, suddenly, i don't know why). Just nothing was there. No human, no cat, no street, no house, no car, no nature, no building, no color (not white, I couldn't find what color the world had), no sun, no wind, no feeling. I was no where. I was just no where.

Suddenly, a voice was there, "It's all your fault. All your fault, a poor thing." I wanted to say something, but I couldn't speak it up, even I didn't know what I wanted to say. "What do you want to do? Who are you? I am yourself, but you don't know who are you. You have to understand who you should be. Think about people around you. Who are they? They are yourself? Never. They are theirselves. So who are you? Who Are You?" it asked. "I don't know who I am. I don't know what I should do. Who am I? Who are you? And what is MYSELF?" I cried. "That's correct. It's YOURSELF. And it's MYSELF. You are me, and I am you. Who are we? We never know. We just never know...," a voice said and disappeared. I also disappeared, willingly, slowly. Then I was nowhere. I was nothing.

I can't understand what that meant now, but I could felt that I was nowhere and I was nothing. Anyway, that was the dream I had.

The night before holidays

Mostly, I stay up late at night before holidays. What I need are beer, something to eat, a book and light. Then the night will be a great private space that no one can invade. I wuold do what I want to do, not things that I am forced to do, feel better than I feel in the daytime, get sleepy, out of control and  then sleep will come swallowing me and itself. That's the night. That's the night just before holidays that I expect (though I usually miss that kind of night because of some invaders that I hate....).

This is a piece of a person of leisure's mind. No one cares. It's a first-person world that everyone has for each. No one cares.

Well, I need some more beer. Or whisky. Ah, There is. Cutty Sark, my favorite scotch for now or forever. I'll enjoy my night with a good navel and attractive scotch. In first-person world.

Remember, this is a piece of a stupid man's mind. No attention is needed.
Bye-bye...
And have a nice holiday.

Luck, and thank Maru

Have you finished that damn IT assignment? Well, I've not. I want to finish it at once and all of you (some of you have already finished, I heard) want to do so, but I can't because of lack of ability to use computers! Why did this university set this assignment even which is requiredt to be done for greduation? However, actually, in reality, it is needed for people to use computers especially in the offices of aimost all countries. To get a job, we must be good at it to some extent.

Today, luckily,the great device came to me. Some piece of papers, actually. They are really helpful because they are just the instruction for IT Koshu-kai! With this, I will be able to finish it earlier than I expected. Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you, Maru!hahaha.

See you next class.

IE Writing Essay #2 Classification 1st Draft

Types of Religions

     There are a variety of religions in the world. Generally speaking, Japanese pay less attention to religions. However, most of the people in the world have their religions and try to be religious. Three religions would be picked up as the most famous religions in the world. They are so popular that almost all people around the world know and each has unique features which are attracting believers. Therefore, it can be said that religions can be classified on the basis of their faith: Christianity, Islam and Buddhism.

     The first type of religions is Christianity. People who have faith in Christianity are called Christians. They believe in Jesus Christ, who is said to really exist in this world many years ago. People can learn a lot about this religion from the Bible because Christianity is mainly based on it, which shows what Jesus Christ did or preached. A lot of missionaries devoted their lives to propagate Christ’s teachings. Therefore, there are thousands of churches all over the world and Christians can pray or confess there. Also, they contributed to found missionary schools such as Aoyama Gakuin University, which was established by the missionaries of Methosist Church (The Wesley Center Online, 2007). Christians have some different styles to worship: prayer, confession, singing hymns or going to church to listen to preachers. The unique features of Christianity can be seen in church. One of them is that they cross themselves with their hand in the end of prayer saying “Amen.” Another one is confession that Christians go to church and confess their sins to a priest. Christianity is believed in mainly by people from Western nations which are playing important roles in the world. What is more, Aoyama Gakuin University’s educational philosophy is based on Christ’s teachings and lessons. That means students who belong to it should deeply understand the features of Christianity.

     The second type is Islam. Those who believe in Allah, the one and only God of Islam, are called Muslims. “Muslims also believe that Islam is completed and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before, including through the prophets Abraham, Moses and Jesus” (Wikipedia, 2010). They consider the Koran to be both unaltered and the final revelation from the God and they read it to the particular rhythm only in Arabic. They have to have faith in six important things: Allah, angels, revelations, prophets, afterlife and predestination. Also, they have five duties given by God: Shahadah (the basic creed of Islam that must be recited), Salah (daily prayers), Sawm (fasting), Zakat (alms-giving) and Haji (pilgrimage to Mecca). The most remarkable custom of Muslims is Zakat. At particular times, they kneel down to Mecca, which is the sacred place for them, in a particular way reciting that there is no worship except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. This characteristic duty would be seen anywhere in Islamic countries. These days, people in the world, especially those who are from Western countries, have a bad stereotype of Islam that Muslims are so dangerous that they easily kill foreigners and themselves for their God. Those who have a negative stereotype of Islam should learn it further and step closer to Muslims for a good relationship.

     The last one is Buddhism, which is believed in mainly around Asia. There are a variety of denominations. Each has different Okyo, a kind of revelation, and manners for prayer. Regardless of differences of denominations, those who believe in Buddhism are called Buddhists. They have faith in Buddha’s teachings and statements written on revelations, but strictly speaking, Buddha is not God. Buddha means those who could be spiritually awakened. “Gautama Siddhartha finally achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha. The Mahabodhi Temple at the site of Buddha’s enlightenment, is now a pilgrimage site” (BBC, 2002) and he is the only person who achieved it, so generally he is called Buddha. The important and unique point of Buddhism is Buddhists have no concept of having God though there are a lot of Hotoke (a kind of God, but not exactly God). Therefore, Buddhists go to temples, sit in Japanese fashion called Seiza and fold hands not to worship, but to attain enlightenment. Even some of Buddhists themselves are misunderstanding the concept of their own religion.

     There are various kinds of religions that attract faithful people in the world. They have their own features which are far different from others. People should learn deeply about the religions that they want to believe in. Also, they must understand other religions to respect each other’s religion and try to get closer in order to have a better world than now. Therefore, it is the best way to classify religions on the basis of their faith for finding a religion that suits each person and life in a peaceful world without religious stereotypes.

Works Cited:

Telford, John. “The Life of John Wesley by John Telford.” The Wesley Center Online. 2007.

     <http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-life-of-john-wesley-by-john-telford/>

“Islam.” Wikipedia. 18 Nov. 2010.

     <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam#Five_pillars>

“The Buddha.” BBC. 2 Oct. 2002.

     <http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/history/history.shtml>

IE Writing Point Outline #2 Types of Religions

Types of Religions

Point Outline

1.    Introduction

A variety of religions in the world: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc

They have their own various features and the Gods.

Thesis Statement: Religions in the world can be classified on the basis of their faith.

2.    Christianity: Jesus Christ, churches, the Bible, cross oneself, confession

Islam: Allah, mosques, the Koran, Kneel down to pray, Zakat

Buddhism: Buddha, temples, Okyo, Seiza, fold hands to pray

3.    Conclusion

There are a variety of religions in the world and each has their own interesting features. People should understand differences of the religions and then the world will get closer.

Effective way to learn languages

Hi. I'm studying Chinese, some of you know.  I heard Syunichi took the French test. I have to take Chinese one someday. To improve my Chinese ability, I bought a vocabulary book. Isn't it interesting to study foreign languages??  I love it!

The problem is English. We have ability for English to some extent, so we have to find some effective ways to learn English further. Ultimately, that would be study abroad. I really want to. Really.

I think it is one of the effective ways to listening to The Beatles' music. Their songs are easy to listen to. That means, it's useful to study English thogh they are British and use British English. Here is the video of "Help." This is used for many things, especially TV programs. And how young they are!!lol They are the very origin of all kind of music.


The CREATOR's music... Find other videos of them and watch!

Finished the essay

Good morning. Well, I've stayed up too late. It's already morning...

Anyway, I finished the essay for IE Writing class on Monday. I chose the topic: type of religions. I explained some features of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism. It took about 5 hours and I did it well, I hope... However, you know, religion is one of the most boring and difficult topic for essay, so my essay might be terrible one this time, no, again. When it comes to the previous essay, thanks to Mr. Anderson, I've got AA (100% of 100%!!!), so I could say I've done it well except that it was boring. I think some of you have the same problem as mine. How can I write a more interesting or a more attracting essay? Who can answer this difficult question?

Yes, I've finished it. Then I will able to enjoy this weekend though I have the part-time jod on Sunday. But I like to work in my workplace. Staffs are kind, customers are rich, I can eat toast for free, it tastes great, jazz is always floating, coffee smells good... Yeah, I like it.

I'll take a short sleep and head to Yokahama!

What I hate... With deep hatred

Friday is a bad day for me. I have a science class in third period. We have to take 4 Aoyama Standard classes for graduation and one of them must be a science class. How come we, students belonging to literature department, are forced to take a science class???? I can't beleive it!!!

I must not get bad grades because sooner or later I'm planning to take a test for study abroad program. Maybe it would be next year. Anyway, I mean, the class, the damn science class is tooooooo difficult. The teacher always uses technical terms that generally people cannot understand. What's worse, he lectures as if all students were correctly understanding all of them with no surprize. What a nonsense!

I will fight well. I won't be beaten, by that DAMN NONSENSE class!

Yokohama

I'm planning to go to Yokahama next Saturday. Somebody live in around Yokahama now? If you do, tell me about Yokohamma because I'm not familiar with things there. Especially, the transportation. I don't know how to get where I want to go: Minatomirai, Chinatown (Chuka-Gai) and more interesting places....

Another thing I'm anxious about on the day is the weather. These days, it's getting colder and colder. We have to wear thick jackets even in the daytime. Also, the weather forecast is saying that it will be rainy next Saturday. Rain plus cold temperature equals hell..... Hope it will be fine day.

I'll search the Internet for some imformation on Yokohama.

KASABIAN

This is the No.1 band I've ever seen before. Kasabian are a band from UK,which have already released 3 great albums, Kasabian (2004), Empire (2006), and West Ryder Pauper Lunatis Asylum (2009). And they are working on the 4th album now!!! Ahhhhhh!!!
Members are introduced below.

L to R

Ian Matthews - drums

Chris Edwards - bass

Tom Meighan - lead vocals

Sergio Pizzorno - guitar, backing vocals



I can't explain how great they are because they have too many factors to be stars. The best way to understand their greatness is to listen to their songs or performances in their gigs. Here is one of the examples that you can watch on YouTube. What I want you to know is this is just the tip of the iceberg (this phrase is Muru's favorite one, he uses it frequently in his writing, hahaha). So, watch the video of "Shoot the Runner" from 2nd album, Empire.

Marvelous....
Shoot the runner, shoot, shoot the runner!!!
I'm king and she's my queen, bitch!!!

The Cove (again)

This Cove really shocked me. The point this movie is focusing on is interesting. Japanese should watch this movie and think about this problem toghther deeply. And in my opinion, hunting dolphins should be restricted. After watching this movie, I realized we, human beings eat many animals every day. When it comes to dolphins, we need more consideration because dolphins are mammal, the same species as us. In some ways, there is no difference between killing dolphins and killing someone in the street.

The story given by Mr. richardson in IE Core class today gave me a new viewpoint. It's the veiwpoint against Japanese government. Government is hiding the danger of toxic stuffs that is contained in dolphins' bodies and it should be blamed for this fact. Thousands timestoxic stuffs! Government are killing us by hiding the fact though scientists have already proved the danger of dolphin meats.

Diseases caused by toxic stuffs can happen to anybody, anywhere in Japan because foods from the sea contains them and Japanese have sea foods including dolphins. I want to say that we must be careful about sea foods. However, we usually eat them in our everyday life. That means we cannot fully care about toxic stuffs. This is a big matter. We are forced to face this problem and are always afraid of it. To pretend bad results such as diseases, Japan (Japanese government) should restrict hunting dolphins.

New kind of jazz

These days, I'm interested in arrangement jazz, which is made by European Jazz Trio. They are jazz musicians and their music style is interesting. They release other msicians' songs in fresh jazz arrangements. Songs in many new kinds were released by them: pop songs, rock songs, classical songs and on and on... They are worth listening to because you can feel your favorite songs in new kind.

It Could Happen To You

Great stuff!

Everyday I get lazier and lazier

I guess all of you had your own aims when you entered this university. Most of the students swear to do something when they enter thier universities. But few of them can keep those promise because they would be busy studying, having parties, sleeping (too long time), whatever. Now I'm the one who can't keep my promise after the entrance. I want to try hard to keep it and do it well, but my lazy heart always kill the will and I get lazy...

As the first step for my meanful life, I started practicing jazz drums in earnest. (Don't say it is your hobby. Don't say it isn't effort.lol) I would like you people to understand I'm doing it in earnest (maybe). See how things I do will go CALMLY, please.

Too young to die

I was about to die last Friday all because of Too much drink. we had an alumni association and went to Shoya, a Japanese bar. In short, I was forced to drink too much by my friends. And then I was dying. what's worse, I fell down and got unconscious. Finally, somebody called an ambulance. I was taken to big hospital in Bunkyo-ku. Thanks to my friends and rescues, I was able to get well and go home. So, I was taken in an ambulance for the first time because of alcohol.......lol Guys, I want to tell you, well, do NOT drink TOO MUCH and NEVER force anybody to drink. That is what I want to tell you from this precious experience.

Take care, in any ways....lol
Thank all poeple who helped and saved me.

For all drink lovers

Hi there. I'm drinking scotch. I love it, really love it. I want to ask those who love to drink. Whay do you usually have with sake. I mean, what do you have for Otumami? I usually have nuts, especially peanuts. It's great for beer, whisky, wine, cocktail, whatever. I guess some of you have snacks with sake, but I don't like to have them with sake... I strongly recommend nuts.
I've had all nuts that I had, so I'm gonna buy now thiugh I have to study Chinese....

I bought dumsticks, drum brushes, a drumstick case and practice pad. They cost me 10,000 yen. But they were worth buying. The drumsticks I bought were from my favorite brand. It was a good shopping.

IE Writing 3 Final Draft

Should University Students be Required to do Overseas Volunteer Work?

     The world is becoming internationalized rapidly these days. Now it is clear that there are developed (rich) countries and developing (poor) countries in the same world. Some of the developing countries need developed countries’ help, especially that of young people in those countries. Aoyama Gakuin University is one of the universities that have a volunteer circle. Although there must be some dangerous circumstances in poor countries, university students should actively join the overseas volunteer work because their help is needed.

     One thing students can expect is attack, stealing or robbery by native people. People in poor countries tend to be starved for food and expensive things and sometimes get aggressive to attack and rob volunteers. Especially in a country at war, attack is so dangerous that volunteers are killed or held hostage. According to an online article, it reported, “In August, Mr. Kazuya Ito, a Japanese volunteer worker, was kidnapped and killed in eastern Afghanistan” (The Japan Times Online, 2008). Volunteers may get closer in their volunteer group, and then they can be careless. At that moment, natives easily attack the group and take their belongings. If students are planning to visit a developing country to do volunteer work, they must know well about the country and during their stay there, they must watch their belongings every moment. That is the best way to prevent tragic trouble.

     Another negative thing is diseases. The climate can cause serious diseases. What’s worse, most developing countries are unsanitary. Volunteers easily contract bad diseases such as cholera and dysentery because they don’t get used to those situations. There is no facility and treatment tool, so the possibility that the diseases kill volunteers is extremely high. Also, in those situations, it is difficult to get medicines to treat diseases. Therefore, once volunteers contract a disease, there would be little hope that they can get well.

     In contrast, overseas volunteer work gives students great experience and they can learn a lot of things from it. There are two important points about experience. One of them is “to find opportunities that reflect your interests, call on your skills and capabilities, go with your lifestyle, and suit your personality” (ABC News, 2007). Students can learn something in their own ways and the experience they can have will be a part of them after finishing volunteer works. Any experience will greatly improve them. Students will be able to make use of what they got in their volunteer works in different fields someday. The other important thing is learning the culture of the country. By learning it, they can break stereotypes of the country and find good points. It leads to making a good relationship between the students’ country and the country they visit. This can be the first step for world peace that is needed in this complex world.

     Overseas volunteer work gives another lesson to students. The lesson is that nothing is so precious as life. However poor the people are, however dirty the people are, even if the country is at war, there is nothing more important than one life. It also can lead to a good relationship because no one tries to beat other countries if he or she knows the importance of life. Therefore, people can make a better world that their children can feel comfortable wherever in the world they are.

     Overseas volunteer work has both good points and bad points. It would be bad and dangerous if volunteers are careless or ignorant. On the contrary, it can be good because they can understand the essential things for their lives. Although bad things can be expected, university students should do overseas volunteer work.

Works Cited:

“Afghanistan in Trouble.” The Japan Times Online. 16 Dec. 2008.

<http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ed20081216a2.html>

Wine, Bill. “Volunteers Gain While They Give Health Article.” ABC News. 17 Oct. 2007.

     <http://health.abcnews.go.com/sw/wl-volunteers-gain-while-they-give>

Discussion Sheet #1

Hisataka Kuzumi  8 November 2010

Source of the Article:

“First-time director takes on Murakami”. The Japan Times. 22 October 2010

<http://search.japantimes.co.jp/print/ff20101022i1.html>

Who? ----- Robert Logevall

What? ----- adapted a story by a best-selling novel to the screen

When? ----- finished in 2007

Where? ----- Los Angeles, America

Why? ----- Logevall wanted to use Haruki Murakami’s story to craft his first film

How? ----- made it depart from the original work

Vocabulary:

Embark – to start something, especially something new, difficult, or exciting

Intriguing – something that is intriguing is very interesting because it is strange, mysterious, or unexpected

Protagonist – the most important character in a play, film, or story

Surreal – a situation or experience that is surreal is very strange and difficult to understand, like something from a dream

Detachment – the state of not reacting to or being involved in something in an emotional way

Summary:

Many filmmakers say that adapting a story by a best-selling novel to the screen is quite difficult. However, Robert Logevall used one of Haruki Murakami’s novel to craft his first film as a director. The movie made significant departure from the original work. He set the story in Koreatown, Los Angeles, and handpicked actors and actress from many different countries. The film has already made it to Japanese shores.

My Opinion:

I love Haruki Murakami’s novels, and of course, I have many of them. Also, I’m reading novel of him. That’s why I chose this topic for this discussion sheet. Actually, I don’t like his works to be made into movies. The spiritual and mysterious world that he portrays is the great point in his works. Readers can’t imagine the exact view in his world, so they can develop the scene in their own style. If his stories are made into movies and people can see one fixed view and the figure of a character, his works will lose their good points. It was good that Logevall challenged the difficulty of making best-selling novels into movies. Challenge makes people stronger and tough. However, though I want to see the film that Logevall made, I don’t want my favorite author’s masterpieces to be made into films.

The Cove

We've seen The Cove in IE Core class today. What impress me the most was the blood-colored shore where dolphins were terribly hunt. The cry of dolphins doring hunting  was mornful...

The movie was really controversial. I thought Japanese people should see it and think about hunting dophins. Even if people from other countries insist that hunting dolphins should be banned, it would work only a little. The best way is that Japanese emphasize the prohibition against it. And the another important point is that those who insist on prohibition against it shouldn't be aggressive against the fisherman who hunt dolphins. That will make the situation much worse.

Anyway, at least, hunting dolphins should be limited to some extent. We must consider dolphins' life as well as fishermen's feeling or the particuler Japanese culture.

Essay for IE Writing 2 #2

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn

11310108  Hisataka Kuzumi 

     Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was one of the great painters in the world in 1600s.  He was born in Leiden, the Netherlands in 1606 and entered the University of Leiden in 1620. However, because he had a greater inclination towards painting, he was soon apprenticed to a Leiden historic painter, Jacob van Swanenburgh.   After he had a brief apprenticeship with the famous painter, Peter Lastman, who gave an important influence to Rembrandt’s paintings in Amsterdam, he opened a studio in Leiden.  Then, he started to paint a lot of works.

     It is said that Rembrandt had produced over 600 paintings, nearly 400 etchings and 2,000 drawings.  Mostly, his works are characterized by his painting style called chiaroscuro.  We can find that he used many different ways to paint and make his works better.  All of his works are marvelous.  You can enjoy his works much better than before if you understand the background of his works and what he was feeling.  This time, I am going to introduce his styles of painting and works by classifying them into three periods as a painter.

     The first period was 1620 – 1634.  In the earlier term of this period, Rembrandt mostly produced many of his religious paintings.  Most of his self portraits were also drawn.  During this period, he was seeking his best style of painting and tried painting in different styles.  Around 1630, he started to use realistic style and produced portraits, and then he became famous as a good painter.  In 1632, he finally produced one of his famous portraits, “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp,” which is possessed in The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis.  He married a daughter of a lawyer and mayor of Leeuwarden, Saskia van Uylenburgh.  She was a good wife and he was inspired by her, so his painting style slightly changed after his marriage.  In this period, he had grown up into a famous painter and found his basic painting style, so we can say the first period was the origin of Rembrandt as a painter.

     The second period was 1635 – 1654.  He couldn’t be satisfied with realistic style and tried expressing human spirit.  He succeeded and was rich enough to start to collect art works around 1636.  However, his private life was not happy.  His son had been born in 1635 and died within 2 months.  His two daughters also had died soon after their births in 1638 and 1640.  What was worse, his loving wife, Saskia died in 1642 though he got a son who would die earlier than his father.  He suffered from those terrible incidents, but his ability of painting matured and he produced his famous great work, “De compagnie van kapitein Frans Banning Cocq en luitenant Willem van Ruytenburgh,” though this work took a lot of criticism those days.  In this term, he faced a lot of difficulties and had deep sorrow, but he developed his great ability and works and became one of the famous special painters.

     The third period was 1655 – 1669.  In 1650s, Anglo-Dutch Wars had broken out and Rembrandt got so big a damage economically that he got an adjudication of bankruptcy.  In this period, his style changed again.  Paintings increased in size, colors became richer and brush strokes more pronounced.  His works came to express deeper emotion and attracted a lot of people.  In 1669, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn died in Amsterdam and was buried in an unmarked grave in the Westerkerk.

     Rembrandt was a gifted painter who could express deep mind and emotion by using light parts and dark parts.  Now, a lot of museums and galleries own his great works which attract people all over the world.  He has also inspired many painters both who are famous and not famous, but no one can use chiaroscuro better than him.  By knowing how the painter is like or what happened to him, we can enjoy the painter’s works further, and more or less, you can feel what the painter want people to feel or what his works are saying.  Isn’t it like we are talking with a legendary painter and his works?  Rembrandt harmenszoon van Rijn and his works are giving you this lesson.

  

Essay for IE Writing 2 #1

The Comparison of Human Beings and Chimpanzees

          Human beings and monkeys are the mammals.  These two mammals have many points in common.  Especially, chimpanzees resemble human beings.  They have to respect and know each other in order to live together peacefully.

          Both human beings and chimpanzees are the primates.  Human beings walk on two feet.  That means they do not knuckle-walk.  In mammals this is the feature which only human beings have.  Since they stand and walk on two feet, their hands have greatly developed and they can use their hands freely.  This would be one of the most effective factors in the development of human beings’ civilization.  Chimpanzees have DNA similar to human beings’.  There is only 1~4% difference between them.  Therefore their physical features are really similar to human beings’.  However, in terms of appearances, the most remarkable difference is their hair which covers most of their bodies.  They can keep their temperature with it though human beings have to wear clothes.  It is said that they look like an old man if their hair is all shaved.

          Both human beings and chimpanzees are the most intelligent mammals in the world.  Human beings use languages and letters when they tell someone what they want to tell.  They can know what others are thinking or feeling.  Also, both of them can use tools.  Human beings can use them in order to make something else.  This is clear evidence that shows they are extremely intelligent.  Chimpanzees are good at guessing and feeling other chimpanzees’ feelings and decide how they behave.  They can use tools when they get food.  Using tools suggests that they can think what the best way of achieving their goals is.  Because there are a lot of dangerous creatures in their habitants, they are very cautious.  They can find out where their enemies are and escape from them quickly.

          Both human beings and chimpanzees belong to the society.  Human beings are originally members of the society because they can’t survive all by themselves.  For example, they are the members of families, schools, clubs, companies, and so on.  As members, they have to learn manners in order to keep good relationships.  Chimpanzees make herds which are a kind of their society and live in those groups.  They have bosses in each herd and must respect them.  Mothers have to have babies and raise them up.  Living in such groups is really important for them because they can easily protect female chimpanzees and babies and get enemies out of their territories.  However, they have a strange habit that adult chimpanzees sometimes kill their babies.  Though many scholars have studied this habit for a long time, they’ve never found the clear reason for this.

          Both human beings and chimpanzees have two types of sex.  Of course, they are male and female.  The number of male human beings is almost the same as that of females.  Therefore the ratio of the numbers is well-balanced.  However, when chimpanzees are adult, the number of male chimpanzees is less than that of females.  Concretely, the ratio of the number of male and female chimpanzees is 1:2 though when they are born, it is 1:1.  This is because male chimpanzees can kill other male chimpanzees in other herds.

          Both human beings and chimpanzees need communication to keep good relationship.  Human beings have so developed brains that they can use languages to communicate with each other.  This is one of the unique features of human beings.  However, it is not the only means of communication.  They can use non-verbal communication such as expressions or body languages.  As technology has been rapidly developing, it is said that people can easily have an access to others and communicate with them now by means of e-mail or the Internet.  Chimpanzees also can use expressions or body languages though they can’t use languages.  Mostly, they touch other’s bodies when they communicate with them.  Especially, when they want to show their respects or friendships, they groom with each other.  A scientist suggested that we can find which chimpanzee is the boss of the group by seeing the members grooming.

          Now, the number of chimpanzees is rapidly decreasing.  We human beings must think how the relationships with chimpanzees are and understand what human beings or chimpanzees are in order to stop decrease in the number of chimpanzees and live together on the earth.  This will lead studies of chimpanzees forward and we human beings can understand our origins.  If we can understand them more clearly than now, we can learn differences further and make better relationships with chimpanzees, the mammal which especially resembles us, chimpanzees.

Discussion Sheet for IE Core 2 #3

Hisataka Kuzumi    26 June 2010

Source of the Article:

“Japanese No.1 when it comes to pizza”. Asahi Shimbun. 26 June 2010

<http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201006250439.html>.

Who? – Akinari Makishima who lives in Nagoya

What? – won the big championship for pizza

When? – Tuesday 25 may 2010

Where? – Naples, Italy

Why? – his pizza attracted many people

How? – beat out 150 contenders

Vocabulary

Brick – a hard block of baked clay used for building walls, houses etc.

Pizzeria – a restaurant that serves pizza

Authentic – done or made in the traditional or original way

Apprentice – someone who works for an employer for a fixed period of time in order to learn a particular skill or job

Dough – a mixture of flour and water ready to be baked into bread, pastry etc.

Summary:

Akinari Makishima won the ninth international pizzaiolo championship in the birthplace of Neapolitan pizza, Naples on May 25. His pizza fascinated many customers and judges, then he beat out 150 contenders and won the first prize. He want customers to smile and enjoy seeing them smile. Even after becoming No.1 pizzaiolo in the world, his cooking style never changes and still, he visits his master every year to learn more, staying for two weeks each time.

My Opinion:

I like pizza very much and I often eat some even after I started to live apart from my family. When I read this article, it seemed a little strange to me because a Japanese chef became the No.1 chef of Italian food. However, I realized that this kind of strange victory is quite important for international relationship. This article can show that one of Japanese people is trying to understand and learn a foreign culture. Now, people from foreign countries are deeply interested in Japanese culture such as food, clothing and history. This is the best way to understand each country. Especially, food is one of the most familiar examples to us. The taste of pizza is important but pizza is playing another vital role.

Discussion Sheet for IE Core 2 #2

Hisataka Kuzumi

Source of the Article:

“’Pac-Man’ news conference set for June 15 in LA”. Asahi Shimbun. 5 June 2010

<http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201006040363.html>

Who? --- Namco Bandai Games Inc.

What? --- is going to hold a news conference

When? --- Tuesday 15 June 2010

Where? --- Club Nokia in Los Angeles

Why? --- Making the 30^th anniversary of the release of the “Pac-Man” arcade game

How? --- The company is set to announce its development and marketing plans

Vocabulary

Incorporated. (Inc.) – used after the name of a company in the US to show that it has become a corporation

Conference – a large formal meeting where a lot of people discuss important matters such as business, politics, or science, especially for several years

Coincide – to happen at the same time as something else, especially by change

Adjacent – a room, building, piece of land etc. that is adjacent to something is next to it

Retaliation – action against someone who has done something bad to you

Summary:

Namco Bandai Games Inc. (NBGI) is going to hold a news conference at Club Nokia in Los Angeles in order to make the 30^th anniversary of the release of the “Pac-Man” arcade game. “Pac-Man”, which was especially popular in the US, burst onto the gaming scene in1980, and it was an instant worldwide hit because of simple but deep gameplay. NBGI will announce its plans to offer new games, character goods and anime for years to come. You can get one of the new games, which is expected to interact with Twitter, on its web site.

My Opinion:

“Pac-Man” is one of the most famous games in the world. When I read this article, I was happy to know that the new “Pac-Man” will be offered. However, I wonder whether this project to release new product with the brand of “Pac-Man” will succeed. Mostly, products which had been popular and disappeared and became famous again years later were easily lost interest, for example, Tamagotchi or Hyper Yo-yo. Therefore, I’m afraid that the new goods of “Pac-Man” could be like them. It is so great and interesting game that I don’t want it to disappear again. If it is released, I’m planning to buy and enjoy it.

Questions:

1.    Have you ever played “Pac-Man”? Explain what did you feel when you did it.

2.    If you were a representative of NBGI, what do you do to make people know about the new “Pac-Man?”

3.    What do you think of NBGI’s new project?

Discussion Sheet for IE Core 2 #1

Source of the Article

“Uniqlo to expand tenfold in China”.  The Asahi Shimbun  15 May 2010

<http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201005140460.html>.

Who? --- Fast Retailing Co.

What? --- increased its outlets

When? --- Saturday15 May 2010

Where? --- Shanghai

Why? --- Keeping up with the country’s growing apparel market

How? --- Aiming to chalking up 1 trillion yen

Vocabulary

Retailing --- to be sold for a particular price in a shop

Operator --- a person or company that operates a particular business

Outlets --- a shop, company, or organization through which products are sold

Tenfold --- ten times as much or as many of something

Chalk --- to succeed in getting something, especially points in a game

Summary

Fast Retailing Co., operator of the Uniqlo plans to increase its outlets in China by more than tenfold to 1,000 by 2020. According to President Tadashi Yanai, the company aims to chalk up 1 trillion yen in China. China can replace the U.S. as the world’s largest clothing market as well as the car market. The company has about 800 Uniqlo stores in Japan and 64 in China. Many of the new outlets in china will be large enough to sale 1 billion yen each.

My Opinion

Uniqlo is a great clothing chain. I often go and buy some clothes in Hachioji. When I read this article, I was proud of Uniqlo as a Japanese man. These days, a lot of Japanese companies have been expanding their business into new areas, especially foreign countries. This situation is really good and can make impression of Japan far better and stronger. Though the government of Japan has a lot of debt, expanding companies suggest that Japan can earn a lot and can be one of the world’s leaders.

Book Report for IE Core2 #2

BOOK REPORT                                   11310108  Hisataka Kuzumi

Groom, Winston. Forrest Gump. New York: Pocket Books. 248 pages. 1986.

RESPONDING TO THE PLOT: (e) Which incidents in the novel did you find wonderful, surprising, comical, or even shocking?

     There were a lot of incidents that interested me. Forrest Gump, the main character of this novel, achieved many great feats. Though all of them were quite amazing, the most wonderful things that he did were his rescue in the Vietnam War and his foundation of the shrimping company.

The first one is his rescue. When he was a college student, he made friends with Bubba, who convinced him to enter the shrimping business with him when the Vietnam War is over. Forrest and Bubba enlisted in the army after their college graduation and were sent to Vietnam and started patrol with the 9^th Infantry Division. After several months of patrolling, their platoon was attacked by Vietnamese soldiers. While he was retreating, he rescued many of men in his unit though Bubba, his best friend in the army, was killed in the action, and after the terrible war, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. If I were him, I couldn’t have saved my fellows while I’m in danger and about to be killed because I don’t want to die in the war. However, he was brave enough to look for his fellows and finally saved them from the battle field. That’s why I thought it wonderful. Also, I want a close friendship with someone that can make me do something special in order to make him or her happy. I have some close friends but I’m not sure that there are such great friendships as Forrest had with Bubba with my friends. The second one is his foundation of the shrimping company. He promised his best friend to start shrimping business. Though Bubba, the friend, had died in the Vietnam War, he kept the promise and started shrimping alone. At the time, he already had large money, but he spent most of them to start the business in order to keep his promise. This is the wonderful point. You can read how sincere and honest he was. I, myself, sometimes can’t keep even small and easy promises. However, Forrest tried to keep that difficult promise though that challenge might have changed his life badly. After I read this story, I thought I should be more brave and sincere. If I can be like him, I will be trusted better than before by everybody.

ANALYZING 7 LITERARY TERMS:

Setting: In the late 20^th century. The main character is born in Savannah, Georgia but there are many incidents all over the world.

Point of View: this story is told from the first person. The person shows his feelings frequently.

Conflict: Forrest loved a woman, Jenny, and she loved him, too. However, he had to see her go far away though he wanted her to stay with him. He got confused because of her.

Climax: The climax of this story was when Forrest met Jenny again and finally married her. He found that the boy who was with her when he met her was, in fact, his son. These 3 guys would start a new life as a family.

Symbol: The symbol of this story is “Forrest’s personality.” His personality is a little different from those of ordinary persons’. Because of his strange personality, he is able to achieve something special.

Irony: When Forrest was gotten into the army hospital after he rescued soldiers in his unit from battle field, he met Dan, his superior in the army, and Dan went back to his country earlier than him. After his foundation of his shrimping company, he met Dan again and was laughed at because hero in the Vietnam War started to shrimp unexpectedly, but Dan would finally become a crew of Forrest’s ship.

Theme: “Whether you can behave in character or not” is the theme of this story and you can read it everywhere in this novel. Forrest faced a lot of difficult and strange situations. He overcome them in character and changed the situations into better ones.

REFLECTING ON THE STORY: (h) What is something you learned from the story?

     What I learned from this story is that you should carry things which came into your mind out as soon as possible. In this novel, Forrest did what he wanted to do just when he wanted to do it and finally things went better. I usually regret not having done something I wanted to do or I had to do. He is quick about everything but I am the opposite. If I were like Forrest, my life could have been more exciting, and of course, there would have been no regret. I’m writing this report because I thought I should do soon. Maybe, I’m just carrying what I learned from him out.

     Still, I have hesitation in doing something just when I think of doing so. This hesitation may come from fear or laziness. As I showed, I’m opposite to Forrest. He is not only quick but also brave and industrious. This personality led him to some good situations though he had to face some difficulties. After reading this story, I realized that I have been avoiding difficulties in order not to suffer from something bad. I may be trying to make everything go well without doing my best. Now, I know I have to change my mind and struggle to make my life much better than my present small boring life. Forrest Gump, the strange hero, told me how to spend my life meaningfully.