ファシリテーター(先生)ブログ

【トラビスのブログ８】New Year’s Cards in America

こんにちは😊

今日も引き続きトラビスのブログ、New Year’s Cardについてのブログです。

またまた時期外れではありますが、日米の文化の違いがわかって面白いですので

是非読んでみて下さいね。

下段に語彙も付けています。

In America, we don’t send New Year’s Cards like in Japan. It is a little different. First of all, most people don’t send anything at all. Those people who do send something usually send something for Christmas or the Holiday Season, and not for the relatively unimportant New Year.

Also people don’t send postcards (or at least I have never seen any). Usually they send a letter with an included picture or collage. My mom is one of those rare people who sends a letter. She spends a few hours typing it up. She describes the interesting things that happened during the year and has a paragraph or two for each person in the family. My wife, who is Japanese, had a interesting reaction when she first read one of these letter. She didn’t like it! She felt like the letter was just bragging or talking only about themselves… so self-absorbed! It was normal for me and I never thought about it before, but after seeing that reaction, I have to agree.

And what is more, these letters are quite long! It is a good thing that they are not common because I would not want to read more than a few of these. They are one or two pages typed! That is five to ten minutes for me to read. They are especially long when you are not interested in the content…

Recently, I think these letters are starting to disappear. Now that everyone is on Facebook, it is so easy to stay up-to-date with the details (usually too many details) of even acquaintances you have only even met once! In Japan, New Year’s Cards are still useful to help you update your address book. But the Christmas letter, and it’s pure narcissism, has almost completely been replaced by social networks. A good thing? I don’t know…

relatively・・・比較的

collage・・・コラージュ（新聞や写真などの切り抜きを貼り付けたもの。添付の写真のようなものを指します）

bragging・・・自慢

self-absorbed・・・自己完結的な（自分の関心ごとに没頭した）

what is more・・・その上、さらに

common・・・一般的な、日常的な、普及している

content・・・内容、中身

stay up-to-date・・・常に最新の情報に通じている

acquaintance・・・知り合い

narcisissam・・・自己愛、ナルシシズム

replaced by — ・・・　—にとって代わられる

【トラビスのブログ７】New Years in America

こんにちは😊

今日は久しぶりにトラビスのブログです。

ちょっと季節はずれにはなってしまいましたが、アメリカのニューイヤーについてです。

日本のお正月とはだいぶ様子が違うようですね。また国内で時差があるのも面白いですよね。

シンプルな文章で書いていますので、是非読んでみて下さい。下段に語彙もつけています！

When I first came to Japan, I was surprised because, in Japan, Christmas is not a very important holiday. Likewise, Japanese may be surprised to hear that, in America, the New Year is not very important either!

In Japan the New Year last around a week and many people travel around the country to visit family and friends. In America, however, the New Year is not about family or friends at all.

New Year’s celebration is only one day, on the night of New Year’s Eve. This is usually a big party. Some people have a home party and others go to a public place and celebrate. The main event of the party is the countdown at midnight. Perhaps you know the famous countdown in Times Square New York? This countdown is broadcast on tv and many people watch. At the strike of midnight, everyone cheers out loud yelling “Happy New Year”. At the moment of the new year, couples should kiss. If you aren’t dating or married, you may be kissed by a friend or even stranger anyways! After this countdown, the party continues just as any other party. This is the end of New Year’s celebrations in America.

An interesting note about the countdown in New York is that, because America has many different time zones, in my hometown of Reno I will usually watch the countdown live at 9pm! They reair the footage again at midnight, depending on where you live.

Many people do go to parties and celebrate, but many (most?) people just stay at home. If they are awake at midnight, they might watch the countdown on TV. Otherwise it is just another day.

likewise・・・同じように、同様に

yell・・・（大声で）叫ぶ

reair・・・再放送する

footage・・・映像

*Photo by Aurelien Guichard (Flickr: New York City) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

【キースのブログ】My First Kickboxing Match in Japan

こんにちは😊

今日はキースのブログです。

ご存知の方のいらっしゃるかと思いますが、キースはMartial Art (武術）のインストラクターとしても

ジムで教えています。

先日、日本で初の試合に出場したときのことを書いてくれました。

試合自体もさることながら、日本での初の体験が面白かったようです。

ボキャブラリーを下に付けていますので、是非読んでみてくださいね。

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog, sorry about that. I’ve been very busy with study, work, and training. But, I’ll be more active from now on!

Some of you may know that I love martial arts. I have been training for about 6-years now. I practice Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some of you may also know the old Japanese organisation known as “PRIDE”. That kind of sport is what I enjoy doing!

I thought I would share something exciting I did recently. On Sunday afternoon, I had my first amateur kickboxing fight in this beautiful country. It was held at ACROS Fukuoka.

I thought I definitely won the fight, but it ended up being a draw. I’m a little disappointed, but I don’t mind. I’ll definitely win next time!

It was a little intimidating when I arrived at ACROS. There were dozens of people, all from different gyms all over Fukuoka (and probably from other parts of Japan!). However, I was a little surprised. I thought I would be much more nervous than I was!

I didn’t have any butterflies in my stomach at all. I knew that I had trained hard, and that I was ready to win.

I’m very happy with my performance, and hopefully the next time I write a blog about this subject, I can report my win!

I had been training much longer than my opponent, but he was definitely a tough person. I punched and kicked him a lot, but he kept moving forward, and he didn’t give up. Many martial artists have this kind of quality, and it is something I respect a lot.

Hats off to him for putting up a good fight! (Hats off to him = Congratulations)

One thing I found quite funny about that day, is that I was the only foreign fighter. Before the fight, the announcer calls out the name of each fighter, and the gym they train out of. All day, they had been calling out Japanese names, but when it was my turn, everyone in the Event Hall heard “KEITH ANDREW DEAN”, and several people turned around to look at me. Until now, that’s probably the most I’ve ever felt like I really ‘stand out’ in Japan!

Anyway, all in all, it was a great experience, and I will definitely fight again in the future.

I had one fight in Australia, but that was 5 years ago, and I’ve all but forgotten.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I’ll have another blog for you soon!

intimidating 怖い

have butterflies in one’s stomach （緊張で）ドキドキする、そわそわする、落ち着かない

put up　　　戦って抵抗する、挑む

stand out　　目立つ、注目を浴びる

all in all　　全体として

all but　　　ほとんど全て忘れてしまった　　

【キースのブログ７】Visit to Nokonoshima

こんにちは😊

今日はキースのブログです。

先日、能古島に行ってきたときのことを書いてくれました。

本当に綺麗な写真ばかりですが、綺麗な花や景色を素直に綺麗と思うキースの感受性もステキだなと思います。

いつものように分かりやすい英語で書いてくれてますので是非読んでみて下さいね。

After months and months of wanting to go, I finally managed to visit Nokonoshima recently!

About 8 months ago, I saw a photograph of Nokonoshima and immediately thought that I had to visit there one day, and around a week ago, I finally did!

I visited with my girlfriend, and when we arrived at Nokonoshima, we had our first problem. Should we walk to the Island Park, or catch a bus?We decided to walk, and I’m glad we did! The walk was peaceful, and there were many beautiful sights that we would not have seen if we caught the bus.

Before coming to Nokonoshima, I didn’t actually do any research. All I had seen was a beautiful photograph of a field of flowers, so I wasn’t really sure what there was to do at the Island Park. It turned out there was quite a lot! From restaurants, croquet (Noko-noko-ball), gift shops, all the way to animal pens where you could feed goats!

Walking in the Island Park was really fun, and very relaxing. One of my favourite things to do is just walk around parks in Fukuoka, and this was definitely the best up until now!

My girlfriend wanted to see the Rapeseed Blossoms (菜の花), which were at the end of the Island Park, so we slowly made our way there.

Once we arrived, I saw, quite possibly, the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life.

The flowers were like an ocean of yellow. I had never seen anything even close to this before, so seeing this field of flowers really was something truly special.

I’m really having trouble describing it with words. It’s something you have to see for yourselves, so if you haven’t seen them yet, you definitely should!

After we arrived, we decided it was time to eat, and being the Australian that I am, I had to eat barbeque!

It was a bit expensive (2700 yen each), but worth it.

The restaurant was right next to the blossoms. I felt like an Australian again. Sitting next to beautiful scenery, beer in hand and meat on the barbie! (barbeque)

The food was delicious, and I wanted to order more, but I couldn’t afford it…

The barbeque set came with beef, pork skewers, chicken skewers, sausage, onigiri, squid, scallops and vegetables.

After our stomachs were full, we did another lap of the park to see everything it had to offer. There was a light-up of the Nanohana field in the evening, so we waited until sunset and walked back.

It was beautiful at night, but I think I preferred it during the day with the sun lighting up the flowers.

After that, we simply walked to the bus and made our way home.

Nokonoshima was a beautiful place, and I’ll definitely be going back sometime. The Cosmos flowers bloom in October, which I must go to!

My next stop on the list is Umi no Naka Michi and Shikanoshima, so I’ll have another blog of those places sometime soon!

【キースのブログ6】Two Days in the Countryside. My visit to Amakusa

こんにちは😊

今日はキースのブログです。

２週間前に天草に行って、ホームステイ、ドルフィンウォッチングや料理体験などを

満喫してきたときのことについて書いてくれました。

天草でのホストファミリーのおもてなしに感動したようで、益々日本のことも好きになってくれたみたいです😊

とても読みやすい英語で書かれていますし、写真も載せていますので

是非読んでみてくださいね。

＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿

Two Days in the Countryside. My visit to Amakusa

Two weeks ago, I went on a tour to Amakusa in Kumamoto. This is only the second time I had been to the Japanese countryside, so I was very excited!

The bus ride was very long, but time passed quickly. I enjoyed simply looking at the beautiful scenery during the ride to our first destination, which was a seaside restaurant. The restaurant was called ‘Ripple Land’, which is right near a place called ‘Ariake Octopus Street’.

The food was delicious! We had rice, octopus, vegetable tempura, sashimi and some sides. I have only eaten octopus a few times in Japan, and this was definitely the best I have had so far.

After eating at the restaurant, my friends and I walked down to the sea to relax before we left for our next destination.

From ‘Ariake Octopus Street’, we soon arrived at our next destination, which was dolphin watching!

The tour group split into two small groups, and we rode on separate boats. The dolphin watching was a full hour, but the time passed so quickly! I didn’t know what to expect. I had never been dolphin watching before, so I only expected to see a few dolphins, but I was completely wrong! They were everywhere, hundreds of dolphins! There were about 5 different boats on the water, all with tourists wanting to see the dolphins. It was a great feeling, sitting on the front of the boat, surrounded by beautiful scenery and the clean country air.

After the dolphin watching, it was starting to get late, so we headed to our accommodation. I didn’t read my tour information before this day, so I didn’t actually know where we were staying, so I was very surprised to find out that I would be doing a homestay for a night! I will admit that I was a bit nervous. I had never done a homestay before, and I am still not very confident with my level of Japanese. But, my host family were some of the nicest people I had ever met in my entire life.

When we arrived at their house, they showed us to the dining room, and a feast had been prepared! There were two huge plates of sashimi, a nabe pot, a mountain of yakitori skewers, and my favourite of all, beer.

I was with two of my friends, and there was no way we could eat all of this! But, we certainly did our best.

In such a short amount of time, I really grew to like my host family, so when I go back to Amakusa I will definitely contact them again.

The next day, after saying goodbye to our host family, we still had a few places of the tour still to visit.

First was a place called ‘Yamagoya’, here we learned how to make some Japanese food! We made a few different things, and everyone participated.

I don’t know the name of it, but the first thing was made with sweet potato, egg, sugar, salt, flour, and then fried in oil. I don’t know what it was, but it tasted great!

We also made onigiri, which I was terrible at. My onigiri looked more like cubes, but we all had a laugh about it, and made some other strange shapes like triangles and circles, which were then named the ‘pyramid’ and the ‘baseball’ onigiri.

Once we finished making everything, we all sat around a large table to eat the food we had made.

The people at Yamagoya were really friendly, and it really was a great experience learning how to cook from them.

From here, it was a short drive to an olive oil farm called ‘Avilo’. Here, we did an olive oil tasting. Now, I have been to wine tastings before, but never an olive oil tasting.

I felt a little strange when I thought about drinking olive oil because I had never done that before.

The ladies who hosted the tour first talked about the creation process of olive oil, but I didn’t understand any of it.

There were 3 different types of olive oil to taste. One was called ‘mild’, one was ‘spicy’, and one was just plain olive oil.

Even though I had never done something like this before, I was very surprised how different they tasted! I never knew olive oil could have such different flavours. If I had the money, I would have bought some right there.

After visiting Avilo, I was genuinely sad that we only had 1 more destination before we had to return. I was really enjoying Amakusa.

Our last destination was just a short visit to a large market. It was similar to a supermarket, but with much fresher products. But what surprised me was how cheap everything was! Some vegetables were 30-40% cheaper than supermarkets in Fukuoka, and much fresher. It’s probably a good thing that I did not bring any money, because I would have spent it all at this market. Maybe next time…

We were here for around half an hour before we returned to Fukuoka, said our goodbyes, and returned to our homes.

Amakusa was an amazing experience. Even now, two weeks later, I still miss the beautiful scenery and country air.

I will definitely visit Amakusa and my host family again sometime.Amakusa is the type of place I would like to live someday in the future. A nice big house surrounded by greenery and mountain views.

It’s hard to explain, but what I miss the most is the air and the atmosphere. It’s something you just can’t experience when you’re near a big city.

I’m happy I had the opportunity to visit the Japanese countryside, it’s definitely something I want to do again!

【ジェシカのブログ１】Setsubun in Fukuoka / 福岡の節分

こんにちは😊

今日はジェシカが節分について書いてくれましたので、ご紹介したいと思います。

節分の日に住吉神社に行ったそうで、そのことと合わせて、

日本の節分についての解説までいれてくれました。

ぜひぜひ読んでみて下さい。

意外に知らなかったり忘れてしまっている節分についてと英語を同時に学べます！

What is Setsubun?

Though not a public holiday, Setsubun is one of Japan’s most distinctive festivals. It even has its own emoji: that red-faced, angry-looking guy is an oni, or demon, which the Setsubun rituals are designed to drive out.

You’ll start seeing oni faces for real around the end of January, ready for Setsubun festivities on February 3rd. The date marks the last day of winter — according to the old Japanese lunar calendar, if not the weather — and the celebrations are a way of preparing for spring and the new beginnings ahead.

That’s where the oni comes in: it represents the bad fortune that you want to steer clear of in the coming year. Luckily oni can be scared off with something very simple — soybeans.

In a ritual called mamemaki, or bean throwing, you take roasted soybeans (fuku mame, lucky beans) and throw them at an oni to drive it away. Where do you find an oni? Anyone who doesn’t mind putting on a demon mask — or scaring a few small children — can play the part. If there aren’t any volunteers, you can simply throw the fuku mame outside your front door to represent ridding your home of bad luck.

The most important thing is what you say while you’re doing it: “Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!”, which means “Demons out! Good luck in!”

For even better fortune, pick up the beans after you’ve thrown them: eating the same number as your age is thought to be extra lucky.

Setsubun in Fukuoka

As well as private celebrations in homes and schools, you can join in public Setsubun festivities all over Fukuoka.

At Kushida Shrine in Hakata, for example, visitors enter the grounds through the mouth of an enormous grinning face — an otafuku, or smiling woman, who represents happiness and good fortune. The otafuku mask at Kushida Shrine is said to be one of the largest in Japan. People gather in the courtyard to catch lucky beans thrown into the crowd by priests and their helpers — and you might even spot kabuki actors taking a break from performances at the nearby Hakataza theatre to take part in the festivities.

Sumiyoshi Shrine in Hakata also hosts an all-day Setsubun celebration. Starting at 11am and ending at 6pm, there are mamemaki ceremonies every hour on the hour. Each one begins with a priest shooting three arrows made of reeds over the audience’s heads from a special peach-wood bow as another way of driving out evil spirits. (Don’t worry, the arrows aren’t sharp.)

Then you have a few minutes to try and catch the little packets of soybeans that the organisers chuck into the crowd — but be warned, you’ll face stiff competition from the other people there! During my visit I spotted several older visitors holding up bags or even hats to try and catch as many lucky beans as possible. Setsubun is one (rare) occasion in Japan when it’s not only acceptable but expected to push to the front!

After the bean throwing take some time to wander past the food stalls set up by the shrine’s entrance, where you can pick up ehou-maki, a long maki roll made with seven ingredients to represent Japan’s seven gods of good fortune. Unlike usual maki rolls, these ones aren’t cut into bite-sized pieces — so that your happiness in the year ahead won’t be divided, either.

When you eat your ehou-maki, be sure to face the right ehou — lucky direction — for that year. (2017 was north-north-west, 2018 is south-south-east and 2019 is east-north-east.) Turn the right way, close your eyes and tuck in while thinking about everything you hope to achieve in the coming months — and above all, don’t speak! Ehou-maki are meant to be eaten in silence to give your wishes for the future the best chance of coming true.

【キースのブログ５】A Day Trip to Yanagawa

こんにちは😊

今日はキースのブログです。

柳川への日帰り旅行について書いてくれました。

福岡に住み始めて、今まで行ったことのある一番遠い場所が姪浜だったというキース。

柳川への日帰り旅行はかなりエキサイティングだったみたいです。

とっても分かりやすい英語で書かれていますので、是非読んでみてくださいね。

A Day Trip to Yanagawa

A while ago, I was lucky enough to visit Yanagawa for a day with my girlfriend.

Before this trip, the furthest away I had been from Chiyo is Meinohama, so I was pretty excited to get a bit further out of the city.

The journey itself was nice and relaxing, just sitting on the train, watching the beautiful countryside as it passed by.

I hadn’t eaten breakfast that day, so we immediately headed to an Eel restaurant that my girlfriend knew about. I’ve eaten eel before, but only in Australia, so this was my first Japanese experience with eating eel.

I have to say, you can’t even compare the two. The eel I had eaten in Australia was certainly good, but it was nothing compared the restaurant I visited in Yanagawa.

We ate two different types of eel and various vegetables. All were delicious, and I definitely want to visit again!

One thing that I was a little worried about was the small pile of eel bones that was in a small dish. I thought that eating them might have a risk of injuring my throat, as normal fish bones can do, but to my surprise, even the bones tasted great!

After we finished eating, we headed to what Yanagawa is most famous for, the boat rides down the river.This was one of the most relaxing things I have done in Fukuoka.

The most impressive thing about it all was the guide. My guess is that he was around 70+ years old, and he steered this boat for the full hour without a single issue. At the same time, he talked about the history of Yanagawa and even about the flowers that we saw during the trip. I couldn’t understand half of it, but that didn’t matter. I was having too much fun.

The highlight of the boat ride was definitely going underneath the bridges. The boatman would duck down and begin to sing, and everyone on the boat would get into it!

They mentioned that you can book a boat ride in the evening, with candles lighting the river. I will definitely be visiting Yanagawa again for one of these evening boat rides.

Once we had eaten the delicious eel and rode the riverboats, there wasn’t that much else to do in Yanagawa, so for a few hours, we just walked around Yanagawa.

All in all, Yanagawa is a beautiful place that I definitely want to visit again. If you haven’t been to Yanagawa before, I definitely recommend it for a day trip!

It costs around 1700 yen for the train, 3000 yen for a meal and around 1000 yen for the boatride. Fairly cheap for an entire day of entertainment!

【トラビスのブログ６】Christmas In America

こんにちは😊

今日はトラビスのブログ。アメリカのクリスマスについて書いてくれました。

やはり日本のクリスマスとはずいぶん様子が違うみたいですね。

それにしてもプレゼントを楽しみにして早起きしちゃうトラビス少年。かわいいですね。

英語初心者の方にも中級以上の方にも楽しんで頂ける内容となっていますので是非ご一読ください！

I was very surprised when I saw Christmas in Japan for the first time. Kentucky Fried Chicken? Strawberry cake? A holiday for couples? This is not Christmas!

I am often asked ‘If you don’t eat fried chicken on Christmas, what do you eat?’ There are no simple answers for this question. Unlike Thanksgiving, a month before, Christmas’s menu is not set in stone. I assume most families have their own unique traditions. For example, my family has a different dinner every year. One year, we even had a ‘cooking competition’ where each family member made a dish. A winning dish was chosen at the end of the night. The most important thing about Christmas is not food, but the time spent together with our family, having conversations, and perhaps even partaking in some eggnog.

Family is great, but my favorite part of Christmas is the presents! I think I am still very young at heart. But if you think about it, presents are really awesome. When you are young receiving a present is so fun and exciting. When you get older giving presents becomes the fun part. But either way, some of my best Christmas memories are waiting in anticipation to open all those presents. On Christmas morning, I was always the first person in my family to wake up. After staring at the presents, which seemed to be begging me to be opened, I woke up my siblings and parents because I couldn’t wait any longer. When everyone was finally awake, the ‘present opening frenzy’ could finally commence.

Unfortunately, there is a dark side of gift giving as well. After opening your final present and realizing there are no more, there is a sudden feeling of disappointment or depression. After all that waiting, when Christmas is finally over it is a little sad. I often thought ‘What is it over…? Now what do I do…?’

Furthermore, Christmas has been hijacked by companies and stores in order to sell stuff. Nowadays stores start their sales as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday and the following Friday is called ‘Black Friday’. Many stores have VERY amazing sales. But these sales are usually limited quantities so you have to get up early (or stay up very late!) in order to rush into the store as soon as it opens or you will miss your chance. Or perhaps you have seen ‘Cyber Monday’. Many people don’t want to go outside into the real world. Instead, they buy their gifts online. Many stores offer discounts to items bought on ‘Cyber Monday’, the Monday following Thanksgiving. ‘Cyber Monday’ focuses especially on deals of ‘cyber’ or electronic goods. In my opinion, these sale days are just commercialism going too far and denigrating the family nature of Christmas.

Japan is missing this ‘real’ Christmas. But it is OK. During my time in Japan I have grown to love New Years as well. Japanese New Year’s, like American Christmas, is mostly about meeting and spending time with your family. Japanese New Year’s even has a little bit of gift giving in the Otoshidama. But, I do admit I miss the pile of presents under the Christmas tree and the anticipation of finally getting to open them…

こんにちは😊

今日は２月よりカフェの仲間に加わった、ジュリアのブログです。

カードなどクラフトが趣味のジュリア。カードについて思いを書いてくれました。

ジュリアが以下に書いていますように、デジタルの時代だからこそ、手書きのカードは思いが伝わりますよね。

以下、シンプルな内容ですので是非読んでみて下さいね😊

Hello, my name is Julia! I am a new facilitator at Global Cafe and am greatly enjoying my time conversing with all of you! Everybody who comes into the Cafe is wonderfully unique, and I love hearing about your various interests and experiences!

My brand of cards is called “Tach of Love” because Tachibana is my last name…Tach…Touch…get it? It’s a pun! (Play on words). Anyway, show someone a “Tach” of love today!

*snail mail・・・人が配達する従来の郵便（電子メールに比べるとカタツムリのようにのろいというところから）

こんにちは😊

今日も引き続きトラビスのブログ、New Year’s Cardについてのブログです。

またまた時期外れではありますが、日米の文化の違いがわかって面白いですので

是非読んでみて下さいね。

下段に語彙も付けています。

In America, we don’t send New Year’s Cards like in Japan. It is a little different. First of all, most people don’t send anything at all. Those people who do send something usually send something for Christmas or the Holiday Season, and not for the relatively unimportant New Year.

And what is more, these letters are quite long! It is a good thing that they are not common because I would not want to read more than a few of these. They are one or two pages typed! That is five to ten minutes for me to read. They are especially long when you are not interested in the content…

relatively・・・比較的

collage・・・コラージュ（新聞や写真などの切り抜きを貼り付けたもの。添付の写真のようなものを指します）

bragging・・・自慢

self-absorbed・・・自己完結的な（自分の関心ごとに没頭した）

what is more・・・その上、さらに

common・・・一般的な、日常的な、普及している

content・・・内容、中身

stay up-to-date・・・常に最新の情報に通じている

acquaintance・・・知り合い

narcisissam・・・自己愛、ナルシシズム

replaced by — ・・・ —にとって代わられる

こんにちは😊

今日は久しぶりにトラビスのブログです。

ちょっと季節はずれにはなってしまいましたが、アメリカのニューイヤーについてです。

日本のお正月とはだいぶ様子が違うようですね。また国内で時差があるのも面白いですよね。

シンプルな文章で書いていますので、是非読んでみて下さい。下段に語彙もつけています！

When I first came to Japan, I was surprised because, in Japan, Christmas is not a very important holiday. Likewise, Japanese may be surprised to hear that, in America, the New Year is not very important either!

In Japan the New Year last around a week and many people travel around the country to visit family and friends. In America, however, the New Year is not about family or friends at all.

An interesting note about the countdown in New York is that, because America has many different time zones, in my hometown of Reno I will usually watch the countdown live at 9pm! They reair the footage again at midnight, depending on where you live.

Many people do go to parties and celebrate, but many (most?) people just stay at home. If they are awake at midnight, they might watch the countdown on TV. Otherwise it is just another day.

likewise・・・同じように、同様に

yell・・・（大声で）叫ぶ

reair・・・再放送する

footage・・・映像

Hey everyone!

It’s been a while since I wrote my last blog, sorry about that. I’ve been very busy with study, work, and training. But, I’ll be more active from now on!

Some of you may know that I love martial arts. I have been training for about 6-years now. I practice Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing) and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some of you may also know the old Japanese organisation known as “PRIDE”. That kind of sport is what I enjoy doing!

I thought I would share something exciting I did recently. On Sunday afternoon, I had my first amateur kickboxing fight in this beautiful country. It was held at ACROS Fukuoka.

I thought I definitely won the fight, but it ended up being a draw. I’m a little disappointed, but I don’t mind. I’ll definitely win next time!

It was a little intimidating when I arrived at ACROS. There were dozens of people, all from different gyms all over Fukuoka (and probably from other parts of Japan!). However, I was a little surprised. I thought I would be much more nervous than I was!

I didn’t have any butterflies in my stomach at all. I knew that I had trained hard, and that I was ready to win.

I’m very happy with my performance, and hopefully the next time I write a blog about this subject, I can report my win!

I had been training much longer than my opponent, but he was definitely a tough person. I punched and kicked him a lot, but he kept moving forward, and he didn’t give up. Many martial artists have this kind of quality, and it is something I respect a lot.

Hats off to him for putting up a good fight! (Hats off to him = Congratulations)

Anyway, all in all, it was a great experience, and I will definitely fight again in the future.

I had one fight in Australia, but that was 5 years ago, and I’ve all but forgotten.

Thanks for reading, everyone! I’ll have another blog for you soon!

intimidating 怖い

have butterflies in one’s stomach （緊張で）ドキドキする、そわそわする、落ち着かない

put up 戦って抵抗する、挑む

stand out 目立つ、注目を浴びる

all in all 全体として

all but ほとんど全て忘れてしまった

After months and months of wanting to go, I finally managed to visit Nokonoshima recently!

About 8 months ago, I saw a photograph of Nokonoshima and immediately thought that I had to visit there one day, and around a week ago, I finally did!

I visited with my girlfriend, and when we arrived at Nokonoshima, we had our first problem. Should we walk to the Island Park, or catch a bus?We decided to walk, and I’m glad we did! The walk was peaceful, and there were many beautiful sights that we would not have seen if we caught the bus.

Walking in the Island Park was really fun, and very relaxing. One of my favourite things to do is just walk around parks in Fukuoka, and this was definitely the best up until now!

My girlfriend wanted to see the Rapeseed Blossoms (菜の花), which were at the end of the Island Park, so we slowly made our way there.

Once we arrived, I saw, quite possibly, the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my life.

The flowers were like an ocean of yellow. I had never seen anything even close to this before, so seeing this field of flowers really was something truly special.

I’m really having trouble describing it with words. It’s something you have to see for yourselves, so if you haven’t seen them yet, you definitely should!

After we arrived, we decided it was time to eat, and being the Australian that I am, I had to eat barbeque!

It was a bit expensive (2700 yen each), but worth it.

The restaurant was right next to the blossoms. I felt like an Australian again. Sitting next to beautiful scenery, beer in hand and meat on the barbie! (barbeque)

The food was delicious, and I wanted to order more, but I couldn’t afford it…

The barbeque set came with beef, pork skewers, chicken skewers, sausage, onigiri, squid, scallops and vegetables.

After our stomachs were full, we did another lap of the park to see everything it had to offer. There was a light-up of the Nanohana field in the evening, so we waited until sunset and walked back.

It was beautiful at night, but I think I preferred it during the day with the sun lighting up the flowers.

After that, we simply walked to the bus and made our way home.

Nokonoshima was a beautiful place, and I’ll definitely be going back sometime. The Cosmos flowers bloom in October, which I must go to!

My next stop on the list is Umi no Naka Michi and Shikanoshima, so I’ll have another blog of those places sometime soon!

Two Days in the Countryside. My visit to Amakusa

Two weeks ago, I went on a tour to Amakusa in Kumamoto. This is only the second time I had been to the Japanese countryside, so I was very excited!

The bus ride was very long, but time passed quickly. I enjoyed simply looking at the beautiful scenery during the ride to our first destination, which was a seaside restaurant. The restaurant was called ‘Ripple Land’, which is right near a place called ‘Ariake Octopus Street’.

The food was delicious! We had rice, octopus, vegetable tempura, sashimi and some sides. I have only eaten octopus a few times in Japan, and this was definitely the best I have had so far.

replaced by — ・・・　—にとって代わられる

put up　　　戦って抵抗する、挑む

stand out　　目立つ、注目を浴びる

all in all　　全体として

all but　　　ほとんど全て忘れてしまった　　