SNS linked crimes target more kids

Nowadays a lot of children use SNS and are implicated in a crime. In particular, a sharp increase was seen in the number of children who became victims after downloading free communnications applications such as Line.

A research found that children had become crime victims through game and SNS websites.This problem is for not only children but also us. I tkink that we have to keep this risk at all times.

www.japantimes.co.jp/.../sns-linked-crimes-target-more-kids/

Hello guys,
I found an interesting article about confusing race with nationality.
Lately, a lot of "half" entertainers show up on TV such as Rola.
But are they really foreign entertainers?

Please check our this article below.

see you.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2014/07/23/reader-mail/confusing-race-nationality/#.U9EL-_n1D1M

Dappo herbs

Hello, everyone. I would like to introduce an article concerning "dappo" drugs and herbs today.

If you get interested after reading my summary, please refer to the article which I linked the bottom. 

Recently, fatal car accidents are increasing which caused by drivers who were under the influence of a kind of drugs or herbs, which are called "dappo drugs" or "dappo herbs" when they were drove their car.

"Dappo" means "an evasion of a low." That is why, it is not prohibited to possess dappo drugs or herbs (it is regulated to product, sell, and import them by Pharmaceutical Affairs Law.) However,  these drugs and herbs are also harmful for human bodies. This is a problem.

Another problem is that their components are easily changed slightly to evade the law.

Therefore, if the government tighten the regulations, it is not effective.

Nao Mazaki, a coordinator in the Japan branch of the of U.S.-based Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a non-profit organizations said that it is more important to educate people why we shouldn't use dappo drugs and herbs than tighten the regulations.

How do you think about this problem?

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/06/26/national/social-issues/dappo-drugs-skirt-clampdown/#.U9CPS-N_uSo

Do you agree with early retirement?

 In Japan, a lot of employees retire at the age of sixty. That's quite usual.

 Thesedays, however, more and more people retire early and start living the second life. For example, they move to the country and live in peaceful. Some of them begin engaging in farming or running a guest house. They can get stressfree!!

 How do you think about "early retirement"?

 Please check it out!

http://www.dailyfinance.com/category/early-retirement/

Climate Change

Lately, the weather has been weird.
People in some part of Japan had unexpectedly strong rain a couple days ago.
In another part, it hailed.
Do you know what's happening?

I found an interesting article on a news paper about climate.
As you know, there is a serious environmental problem called global warming.
It seems we have been reducing the emission of green house effect gas.
However, it's not enough.  That's why these abnormal weather happens.
Actually, the climate change is considered that it would bring other problems.

I think we should know what's happening on the earth and we should try to stop happening these.


Please check out the article below.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/08/world/world-climate-change/

Are you a psychopath?

Are you a psychopath?
This test may find out if you are a psychopath.

All psychopathes don't always behave in a violentway towads other people.
There is also a case that they just suffer from a serious mental illness.

Although this test may be uncertain, it is easy to check and fun.
By the way, I got 11 points.

Please check it out!
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/29/business/psychopath-test-infographic/index.html

British Airways tries monitoring how you feel in a plane with the happiness blanket

I found an interesting trial by British Airways.

It tries monitoring how passengers feel in its planes by using special blankets.
When the passengers are relax, the blankets turn to blue.
On the other hand, when the passengers are tense, the blankets turn to red.

I think it is unique and interesting, but some people consider it is intrusive.

How do you think about it?
Check the article which is linked below.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/06/30/travel/happiness-blanket-british-air/index.html?iref=allsearch

Thirty minutes over Tokyo

Do you know the episode which is named "Thirty minutes over Tokyo?"

It has never been aired in Japan even it describes about Tokyo.
The reason might be some descriptions in the episode are not appropriate to be aired in Japan.
For example, Homer throws a Japanese Emperor. And even its title is a parody of "Thirty seconds over Tokyo" which describes about the Doolittle Raid.

If you are interested in this movie, here is the brief description of it, please check it out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Seconds_Over_Tokyo

The Simpsons

Have  you ever thought about the reason why Simpsons have yellow bodies?
I don't know why I came up with this question.  But I think some of you felt something weird when we watched some episodes of it.

Actually, there is a certain reason.
When Matt Groening, the creator of the Simposons, colored the charactors in yellow, he thought that it would be great.  When peopel change the channels, they can realize the Simpsons are on TV because of the yellow bodies.

Talking of their hands, they have only four fingers on a hand.
It seems that the only character having five fingers on a hand was God.

Ain's these interesting?
Please check this web site out below.

http://www.omgfacts.com/Interesting/Ever-wondered-why-the-Simpsons-are-yello/53732?lp=1

 l want to post some explanation of Sinpsons treehouse of Horror and if you want to watch other episode of those, you can watch on Internet...maybe.

 Treehouse of Horror episodes have aired annually since the second season (1990) and each episode has three separate segments. These segments usually involve the family in some horror, science fiction, or supernatural setting and always take place outside the normal continuity of the show and are therefore considered to be non-canon.

 As of 2013, there are twenty-four Treehouse of Horror episodes, with one airing every year. They are known for being more violent than an average Simpsons episode and contain several different trademarks.

Japanese cuisine

In the class, I reported about Japanese cuisine.
The report says, "One of the top Japanese restaurants in Sydney is Tetsuya."

I found a video about Tetsuya.
So, today I want to share with you.

I don't think the cuisine of Tetsuya is Japanese cuisine.
Guys, what do you think?

Maine Lobster

Hi, everyone.
As you know, I reported about lobster in Maine in the class.

However, I lost the article and I forgot the website, so I would like to introduce how people in Maine eat lobsters on this post.






This video is just an example, but looks pretty good.
It is really common to eat steamed lobster in Maine.
I miss the lobster very much.
If you have a chance to go to Maine, by all means, you should try it.

See ya.

The video of google's self-driving car

Tourists rate Tokyo top city

I use blogger after a long time.

At this time I post a article "Tourists rate Tokyo top city".

Tokyo was voted the world's most satisfying tourist city for 2013, according to a poll by online travel site TripAdvisor.

Tokyo came out on top in  five sections: local friendliness, taxi services, cleanliness, transport and overall satisfaction.

For my part of Japanese, this result was excellent! Tokyo was considered as best city for tour.

please check next link to know more details of this topic.

www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/.../tourists-rate-tokyo-top-city/

How to study for TOEIC

Hi, I'm Kazuki.
I took TOEIC 4 days ago.

When you take TOEIC, you need to solve 200 questions.

I think you can not solve all of them within the limited time which is approximately 120 minutes ( 75 minutes for Reading sections.) without some tips to take TOEIC.

Therefore, you should learn not only English but also how to solve TOEIC.

Here is the URL which I recommend you to study.
It gives many tips to solve TOEIC and exercises.


http://www.toeic-fc.ne.jp/ca_st1.html

Studying TOEIC on YouTube

I would like to introduce one method to study TOEIC. that is to do it on Youtube.

 A lot of materials are shared on Youtube. You can practice listening section as a real test form and watch some lectures or exercises.

Web Sites For Studying TOEIC

I would like to introduce a website below for studying TOEIC.

http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2134267729150031701

This isn't a particular website but there are some websites for studying TOEIC on it.
I haven't taken any TOEIC tests but  I think this will help you study TOEIC.

Thank you.

Interesting food

 When I went to Maine, find a extremely interesting, funny gummy candy. That name is... Twizzlers!

When my hostmather said it was good taste and gave me, I did not have any opinion but "interesting"
please guess that mean...

Please try it!! You might possibly like it.

Hi, everyone.

Today, I am going to introduce one of my ramen 嵐げんこつラーメン 醤油.

I'm really bad at cooking so I don't know how to cook it.

Well, I think I can cook it if I just need to boil some water and put the noodle in it.

Anyway, I am not talking about instant needles but one we eat at a ramen restaurant.

My favorite ramen shop in Hirosaki is called らあめん花月.

I like 嵐げんこつラーメン 醤油 the best at the shop, which means storm fist ramen, soy sauce flavor, maybe.

Although I really like 塩ラーメン, I prefer the soy sauce flavored ramen at the restaurant.

A lot of garlic is used for the soup, so when I see the soup, I can see that the surface is covered with the garlic.

On the top of the ramen, there are some sliced roasted pork fillet, bamboo shoots, chopped up scallion and a boiled half egg.

Everything on the ramen does match the soup.

Actually, it is sort of heavy but tastes very good.

If you haven't tried, I highly recommend you go to the restaurant and try it.

There are a lot of kinds of ramen so if you are not good at soy sauce flavored ramen, you can choose another one.

 

Thank you.

Okroshka

Hello. I would like to introduce "okroshka (окрошка)" today.

It is Russian cold soup which contains small diced hard-boiled eggs, onions, bologna sausage, small thin strips of cucumber and mashed potatoes. It is flavored with vinegar, salt and sour cream which called "kvass."

Kvass is a fermented beverage made from black or regular rye bread. It include 1-2.5% of alcohol, however, drunk as a kind of soft drink in Russia. 

I have eaten this soup in a Russian and Uzbek restaurant which Uzbeks run in Korea with my Russian friends and I think this soup is a suitable dish for upcoming hot and humid summer in Japan.





Here is the recipe.  If you are interested in okroshka, try to make it.

http://www.mydeliciousmeals.com/recipe/russian-okroshka

My favorite food

Recentry, I made breakfast myself.
And I usually made omelet for breakfast.
The recipe of omelet is easy, and the ingredients are cheap.
But there are various seasonings for omelet. When I eat withe rice, I make omelet salty. When I eat with bread, I sweeten omelet.
If I want some ingredients, I can add the bit of sausage or ham.
You can change taste as you like! So I like omelet.

Image is from this site: http://www.cgegg.co.jp/products/006egg.html

My Golden Week in Hirosaki

Between Golden Week, there is "Cherry Blossom Festival" in Hirosaki Castle.
I went there four times.
At first time, I went there at night with my parents. After that, we went to tarvan.
The second time, I sit there for saving seat for father's party. It was good weather for reading book!
Third time I went there with my friend. We had some food at stall.
The forth time, I walk botanical garden in castle with my grand parents. There were various flowers blooming.

I tired for walking in castle, but I enjoyed the festival!

My Golden Week

I devoted my Golden Week to Yosakoi !

First, our Yosakoi circle held a cherry blossom viewing party in Hirosaki Park as a welcome party for new students. This is an annual year event. A lot of freshmen participated in the party, so we had a very good time.

Second, we joined the Yosakoi Spring Festival held in Aomori city on May 5th.  This is one of the biggest Yosakoi events in Aomori, and every year, a lot of teams from not only Aomori but Hokkaido or outside the prefecture, join this festival !

For the rest of the week, I was practicing and practicing very hard !

My Golden Week was so tough, but I really enjoyed !!

Golden Week and Food

 Last Golden Week, I went to Seibien with my friends by bicycles.
Seibien is in Hirakawa city and it is known for the stage of "The Secret World Of Arrietty".
Riding bicycles made us tired, but the scenery is beautiful filled with green.
The Japanese garden is impressive and we also could a tree which has lived from Gouzoku age!
In short, we were satisfied with this trip.

 At lunch time, we ate "Miso Curry Butter Corn Ramen".
I know it is popular in Aomori, but this was the first time to eat.
I was surprised that the taste is mild although it looks heavy.
The sense of taste is different, so I can't explain well.
If you like ramen, should try this!

No Golden Week

My classes at the University of Maine finished on May 9th, and I left the US the next day.  That's why I didn't have Golden Week this year.

I stopped in Philadelphia and Los Angels before coming back to Japan.

I'm just going to say, that was exhausting.  I couldn't sleep well in the planes because of the narrow seats.  I got a window seat in each plane so i couldn't even go to the bathroom because I would feel sorry for the person sitting next to me.  I really felt Japanese in those moments.

Anyway, I am really happy that i met you guys in this class, and I would love to get along with you all.
I still feel tired, but I will do my best in this class.


Sincerely,


Tasuku Kimura

The Golden Week

 In this year's Golden Week, I did not do anything special.I just worked every day!! A restaurant was very busy during Golden Week. Quite a lot of people came to Hirosaki to see cherry blossoms then came to the testaurant. Really any special things did not happen! So this was my Golden Week!!

About Whaling Problem

The Answer to a Question About Whaling problem

 I had a seminar today and Ayaka and I asked Mr. Sawada who is the teacher of Oceania seminar if New Zealander eat a whale or not. He taught us that in New zealand even Maori people eat a whale but they eat only a stranded whale. They eat a whales or use for something. I was surprised as I didn't expect he said so.

 Then in this discussion, a student who is one of seminar students said an interesting story. She went to Canada to study and was said "Japan should not fish whales" by two New Zealand guys. I thought there are various people with various ideas. right?

Anyway, the conclusion was New Zealander eat a whale!!!

What I did during this Golden Week

Hello, I'm Kazuki.
Today, I would like to write about "what I did during this Golden Week."

One thing what I did is going to Koriyama city in Fukushima prefecture to make an advance arrangement for an English teaching internship which starts at the end of this month.

The high school where I will do the internship is my alma mater and my supervisor is a teacher who taught me English when I was a third-grade student in this school. Since we know each other, we could talk easily.

We talked about his class which I will join during the internship and the schedule of the internship. I felt that the internship is going to be little bit difficult because there are much bigger differences of level of English knowledge among the students in his class than among students which I belonged when I was a student in there.

To attract their attention and explain in easiest ways are main subject when I teach them English. I would like to them to know how English concerns them and to get interested in learning English.

The other thing what I did is to meet my friends who have already graduated from their university.

Each of them is working in Hachinohe city, Rokkasho village, and Akita city. Two of them just graduated on this March and started working. We went to Hirosaki Park to see cherry blossoms and drank alcohol together.

It was great to see them and that I could hear about their jobs. I thought I also have to work hard to get a better job.

How did you spend during Golden week?

A way to be polite when you speak English

It may help you to be polite when you speak English.
Please check it out.

http://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2014/04/30/would-you-mind-reading-this-please/

Information about TOEFL and TOEIC that may be useful for you:

Two of the most popular English-language proficiency tests in Japan can no longer be used to obtain student visas to Britain after a British TV program exposed fraud in the test-taking process.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/25/national/toeic-toefl-axed-route-u-k-visa/

Introduction of a guy you guys might not know yet

Hi, everyone.

I'm Tasuku Kimura.

I was born in Kanagawa but I moved to Aomori when I was a kid.

So I grew up in Aomori.

I think no one knows who I am because I haven't attended the class yet.

The reason why I haven't is because I'm not in Japan.

I have been studying abroad at the University of Maine for about a year and a month.

I extended the period of my studies so I have been able to stay here longer than the others.

Therefore, I'm going to join you guys halfway though the class after I've finished the spring semester at the University of Maine.  Through this class, I would love to improve my English skills, especially my accent.

A topic I would l like to introduce is why Japanese people are poor at speaking English.  

I have found an interesting article.  I had studied English for about 8 years in Japan before I came to the US.  Sounds really great, right?  However, I bet the improvement of my English skills while I was in Japan doesn't even compare to what I've learned in the US for 3 months.  

It seems there are some reasons why we are not really good at speaking English.  

Check out this awesome article below. It might help improve your English skills.

http://japaneseruleof7.com/why-are-japanese-so-bad-at-english-5-reasons/

Thank you for reading my blog,

Tasuku Kimura

Hello everyone.

Hello everyone, I'm Moe Sasaki.
I'm from Goshogawara so I always speak Tsugaruben! I'm a member of Yosakoi circle, "HIRODAI Enbujin" and practice hard three time in a week.
Honestly I'm not good at use computer and this is my first blog. That's why I'm little nervous, but I will try to write interesting blogs.

I recommend following two topocs.
The first is food culture around the world. For example, though many Japanese eat Osechi or Ozouni on New Year's Day, what do people in other country eat on the day? I want to know what people around the world eat on a special day!
Another is about pets. In Japan, many people have a dog, but more and more people part with their pets because masters get old. Even pet is a member of the family! People should keep them until the last moment, or if people cannot do so, should they  not have a pet?

The Hague Convention

Hello, everyone! Today, I would like to introduce myself and show one topic.

Self-introduction
I'm Ayaka Sueo. I was born in Sapporo, Hokkaido. Because of my father's job relocations, besides Sapporo, once I lived in Thiba, Yamanashi and Shizuoka. So, I used to go to Tokyo Disney Resort very often when I was a child. I love Disney. One of my future's dreams is going to all Disneyland in the whole world. Therefore, I want to improve my English skills, especially speaking in this class.

Issues of international marriage -The Hague Convention
Nowadays, many people have international marriages and divorces. When they divorce, what happened to their children? In many cases, one of the parents leaves from the other with taking their children. Then, children never see the half parent. To change this situatuon and rescue those children, the Hague convention was established.

To get more information, please access this link. www.japantimes.co.jp/tag/hague-convention/

What do you think about the Hague convention?

Daylight Saving Time (DST)

Hello, everyone! I'm Kazuki Watanabe. 

I was born in Hirosaki, but where I spent the longest time in my life is Koriyama in Fukushima prefecture. I have been to Korea and learned English and Korean language for a year. I would like to improve my English communication skills especially speaking and listening through this class. 

The topic which I recommend is about Daylight Saving Time (DST). It is because that I have heard about power shortage in Japan so many times after the earthquakes on March 11th, 2011 and I think there is a possibility that DST contribute saving electricity. please check the following articles out and think about it.

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/dst/

Thank you for reading my post.

Hello, my name is Kyoauke Machida

 Hello, my name is Kyosuke Machida. In this term I take Advanced English class, then startd use the blogger! I have to post a disucussing topic here, but first of all, I introduce my self.
 I was born in Aomori and have lived here for 20 years. Since junior high school student, I have played basketball. My hobby is playing basketball and reading "Manga" ! I work at Izakaya "Za Watami". So please come to there when you wanna drink !

 Next I post a topic about English education in japan. Students are worried about making mistakes in English. Who is responsible for instilliing in students this fear of making mistakes? teacher? students? system of how to teach english? I'm going to post a link of this topic. This news says that this problem is a teacher's fault. is it really only teacher's responsibility?

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2014/01/10/our-lives/teachers-must-nurture-critical-thinking-confidence-in-english-for-a-shot-at-2020-goals/#.U1C8GqyKDcs

Reliability of information on the internet

Hi everyone!
I'm Enkhbat Enkhbaatar. I have taken this class before but didn't post anything on this blog. So, I decided to retake the course and will try to be more active and vigorous this time. Some of you might know me quite well. Anyways, let me introduce myself here. I am Mongolian citizen and came to japan in 2011 as a regular student. I was born and raised in Moscow because my parents were studying in Russia for long time. I was able to speak and understand in Russian language fluently but since my parents returned to Ulanbaatar I had almost no chance to communicate in Russian, so now I only understand in  Russian. As you know, I am in Professor Philip's seminar and researching about Cuban Missile Crisis. When I asked you about the Crisis, none of you even heard of it. So, please check this out.     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_missile_crisis or you can watch the movie here 'The thirteen days'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEL45ffs2x4.

Today, during the class, I recommended topic about the purpose of education but it seemed to me quite broad topic, so how about discussing reliability of information on the internet which I found it very interesting. Here is one article which explains how to judge the reliability of information on internet. http://www.mhhe.com/mayfieldpub/webtutor/judging.htm.
Looking forward to reading your posts. Thank you!

ICJ orderd halt whaling

In March 31, ICJ ordered to Japan  halt whaling in Antarctic.
ICJ judged the scientific investigation can't justify whaling.
And this judgment affect Japanese Pacific Whaling.

I agree with research whaling. Because the research discover the effect of environment change for ecosystem.
The whale which by-product of the research whaling in Antarctic is about 20% of domestic traffic. And it's used with out being wasted.

URL is here
http://news.yahoo.com/japan-considers-curtailing-whale-hunt-further-media-061319796.html;_ylt=AwrSyCSOuE9TvSUAd.fQtDMD

http://news.yahoo.com/world-court-rules-japans-whaling-not-scientific-ends-095413929.html

11H2088 Takuya Horikawa