Last Sunday, October 7th, I went to Tokyo Economic University to join a event of the K.U.E.L (Kanto University ESS League). This time, the theme of our discussion was "LOVE". Love is not only the love between men and women, but also the love of family or friends. So, it is difficult theme to discuss.
I was in the team No.1, and this is the photo of my teammates.
The man in purple was our leader. He is very kind and dependable. Most of them are older than me, but they are all friendly. The woman standing behind me and I are freshmen. In fact, we had another member whose name is Ai-Ling. She is from Taiwan and studying in Gakushuin Women's College.
We discussed "LOVE" about three hours. It was difficult for me, but it was also interesting. After the discussion, I found most of us have similar opinion about the love. When we discuss other topic, such as money, we have totally different ideas, I think. On the other hand, we don't have totally different ideas about love.
Through this event, I learned many interesting things, like this. Have you ever thought about "LOVE"?
Hello! This is Natsumi. It is sad that summer vacation will end. I hope you enjoyed your summer vacation.
In this time, I will introduce you the great ballet dancer, Vasav Nijinsky. The reason I will show you about him is because I had an opportunity to know him through my favorite musical revue company. Do you know him? He is famous in the ballet field. He is called as a legendary dancer. Though he performed only ten yeas, but his name is knwon to many people eventoday. Unfortunately, there is no his record of video. So, please look at this website. And look at this photo.
As this follows, he had a sacred power of dancing. I read the book written by his wife, which is about her mmemory during her time falling love eahc other. In this book,there are also some memorable scenes or anecdote about Nijinsky. It is said that many people who saw his performance said ' He seemed to be flating in the air at in a split second ' .He danced on the stage only tenyears, but thanks to his great power of dancing and jumping, he is famous until now after aboutn60 years sine he died. I think he is a heaven-sentperson or a born dancer. Because of an encounter with him and me, I begun to be interested in ballet which I had not been interested in before. He gave me new favorite thing. now, I want to know about his unique relationship, for instance, between Nijinsky and Diaghilev.
I am happy if you are interested in ballet even if it is a little.
Hello! This is Koichi. I spend a good time with my family in Hakodate, Hokkaido. I think this is a good place. Today, I'm going to introduce my home town to you.
Hakodate is one of the most historic towns. That's why there are many old stuffs.
All of them really exist in Hakodate. These pictures are like foreign countries, aren't they? Hakodate used to have a port which was allowed to trade with other countries, so Hakodate is influenced by this history.
Hakodate is also a beautiful town. I'll show you some pictures.
The first one is very famous. The night view is known as one of the most beautiful night views in the world. It is said that this night view deserves a million dollars. I think it is true. The second one shows slope. Hakodate has many slopes. The slope in this picture is the best one of them. I think almost every people in Hakodate know where it is. Although this is a picture taken during summer, this slope is also wonderful in winter.
Hakodate has many delicious food. I really suggest you should go to asaichi if you visit Hakodate. Asaichi is like Tsukiji in Tokyo. You can eat seafood.
Because asaichi is next to Hakodate Station, it is easy to visit there.
As I've explained, Hakodate is very fascinating city. If you have never visited here, you should come as soon as possible! If you have visited here before, you should come again!!
Hello! This is Natsumi. Are you enjoying your summer vacation? For me this summer is very important and priceless because it is for the first vacation since I entered the university.
By the way, I will introduse you about my favorite sport in this time. It is Shorinji Kempo(少林寺拳法） Do you know this?
Look at this website. And look at this video.
What images about images about Shorinji Kempo do you have? It looks strong or cool, isn't it?
Shorinji Kempo was born in Japan by Doshn So. Many people think its root is at China, but it is wrong. This word, 'Shorinji'sounds like it was born in China. Shorinji Kempo was born in 1947. It was hard and dark time for Japan because Japan surrendered unconditionally after World War Ⅱ. Moreover, many people lost dream of hope. My.So saw these bad situation and thoght that many great people should be created through ShorinjiKempo. Thus Shorinji Kempo wan born. The main purpose of shorinji Kempo is to build Utopia through creating people.
ShorinjinKempo has six characteristics; 拳禅一如, 力愛不二, 守主攻従, 不殺活人, 剛柔一体, 組手主体.
拳禅一如 means that '拳', which is body and '禅', is spirit, is in the one. It ia often considered that body and spirit are separated, but in ShorinjinKempo, body and spirit are the one. Shorinji Kempo is a training to acquire 拳禅一如.
力愛不二 means that in order that everyone live comfortably, it is need not only love and mercy but also reason and power.
守主攻従 shows that technoques of Shorinji Kempo start with being attacked and then we are on the defensive to attack later. This idea is based on we are not allowed to attck without being attacked.
不殺活人 means that Shorinji Kempo is not used for killing someone. It should be used for saving myself and help the other. Techniques of Shorinji Kempo makes people loss aggressive action through attack vital parts in human's body.
剛柔一体 consists with 剛 and 柔. 剛 means tsuki, 柔 means waza. This phrase can be said in another way; lips and teeth. If we have only lips, we cannot chew hard food, conversely, if we have only teeth, we cannot keep away from spilling from mouth. In that case, 剛 and 柔 cannot be separated and interacted with each other.
組手主体 means that Shorinji Kempo should be done by two persons. By doing this, we can improve my tsuki and waza.
Shorinji Kempo is very deep and has a beautiful spirit, I think. If you are interested in Shorinji Kempo, please contact with me! I will take you to a dojo in this university. There are some Shorinji Kempo club members doing training.
From September 10th, I will be housing my friend from America at my apartment in Japan for him to learn Japanese from scratch in less than a year.
I have been studying applied linguistics with a focus on cognitive science and education for the past two years, all for the purpose of successfully teaching my friend Japanese. In fact, after this, I really have no intrinsic use for my knowledge on applied linguistics. In addition, I have been saving over 2000000 yen so that I can manage all of his fees while he is here. He, like most students attending an American college, which your supposed to spend your life paying off the loans to, is financially overwhelmed, to the point he works overtime every other day while attending every single class (rather it's only Japanese students that don't) and managing to get passing scores on classes that are many times more difficult than Japanese courses.
The only precursor to this is that he has all hiragana and katakana memorized before he comes here. After that, I believe there is a great chance that he will acquire native Japanese within his less-than-a-year stay. The point is, he will learn like a baby and make mistakes like a baby, without focusing on the act of learning Japanese. He will be strictly prohibited from using English throughout his stay. He will acquire a native sense of grammar through comprehensive input from immersion, and I will be tuning his pronunciation beyond his lack of sound recognition skills. I believe he will need two months to maneuver in-house vocabulary, during which he will be provided an environment where every concrete example item in the house would be labeled with kanji and hiragana accordingly. He will converse using those concrete examples with me as I give him error feedback without any metacognitive explanation of grammar, so that he acquires Japanese as a language and not a set of consciously memorized rules in relation to English. After the critical period of two months, he will expand his vocabulary using a variety of resources he finds entertainment in, such as anime, manga, video games, and travel. This is not simply to have fun, but to avoid becoming conscious of the act of learning Japanese and to avoid the affect filter from blocking acquisition at the unconscious level. He will achieve complete coordinate bilingualism, and perhaps show a post-mature development in Piagetian formal operation.
I will be taking notes in excruciating detail throughout his stay, and he will be keeping a daily Japanese journal that I will have no direct influence on until the end of his stay. Together, we will create another case study that may add to the current research on second language acquisition. I primarily want to prove how much a waste of time the current English curriculum of Japan is, and that second language acquisition is not as difficult as most people think it is. Moreover, I want to stress that "grammar-based syllabuses" (especially as enforced in Japan) are not a short-cut method provided by education, but rather a red-herring procedure that results in inter-interlanguage.
Note, Japanese L1→English L2 acquisition is cognitively very different in nature from English L1→Japanese L2 acquisition. In fact, the latter is much easier than the former, for a variety of reasons ranging from vowel recognition to visual coherence. Nevertheless, I have much to say about the sins of ignorance found not only in the English curriculum, but the Japanese education system as a whole. I hope that our experiment will prove the various inefficiencies of the current system, and I hope you all will become the witnesses of the actuality of second language acquisition.
The Legend of Guskou Budori (2012)
Yes, as the (2012) implies, this is actually the second film adaptation of the 50-page folktale-like short story by Miyazawa Kenji, done by the staff that made the animation film for The Legend of the Galactic Railroad. Funny, I didn't realize they both started with "Legend" in English.
This was originally intended to be released in 2009, but due to problems including bankruptcy, this project was in hibernation mode until the Japanese government began to fund its production about a year ago. Despite the difficulties, the production met a fulfilling completion.
The animation staff is well known for using feline imagery of the supposedly human characters, in order to emphasize the avant-garde aspect of the fantasy genre to which these stories would fall under. It is not about the cat, but more so about not using humans, that makes this separation from human reality possible.
Like most avant-garde or surreal fantasy fiction, the story and concept are very difficult to follow, in a vector that is completely different from piecing together the puzzle of a mystery. You really have to think outside the box in order to catch the connections between the dream-like series of events that the director attempts to convey. I believe the director did a quintessential job in delineating the abstract concepts of his interpretation of the folktale.
By that, I mean the original short story is, not exactly inconclusive, but very open to liberal interpretation. It is only a 50-page story after all, and the texts within that short span seem to have little direct or linear connections with each other, much like excerpts of frames from discontinuous takes. On top of that, the director used his author's license to change the ending of the story to a more diabolical yet satisfying conclusion. Unlike most adaptations that drastically alter the story, this one is more than acceptable, so I would recommend you watch this even if you like the original. It will give you a deeper understanding of Japanese literature.
Unfortunately, I can only go about giving roundabout explanations to avoid spoilers. If this has caught your attention, the movie has been airing since July 7th. I watched this at Cinema Sunshine Ikebukuro. The screen for this movie is small there, so I would suggest you get 3rd-row seats for the best viewing experience.
The Wolf Children Ame and Yuki
This is the newest anime movie by the rising director Mamoru Hosoda, who has become famous for Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The character design is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, who is well known for the Evangelion series. This anime film had its world premiere at Paris, a month prior to the initial airing in Japan. This anime film was probably the film I was looking forward to most this year.
The most significant part of this anime is the natural scenery. All of the settings illustrated actually exist in Japan, and the mountains are located in Kamiichi Village of Toyama Prefecture. With a combination of photographic image rendering and cg-assisted free drawing, the nature is rematerialized within the anime exactly as it would be in the real world. The raindrops gathering on the lotus leaves, the children sliding down the snowy mountainside, the wolf howling with the sunrise backing the mountain summit, the animals thriving in the forest... These scenes undoubtedly leave a lasting impression on the viewer.
Generic spoiler in white. Highlight it to read.
Perhaps it was because of my very high expectations, but to be blunt, I didn't think this film was all that great. The director makes an ambitious attempt to convey family love in the style of an oriental folktale through the narration of the daughter, as shown in the trailer.
First, the story is very unbalanced, with many inequalities between the directing emphasis of the son and the daughter. The son's story is much more extraordinary, much more intense in terms of expression, much more impressive than the daughter as a whole. Moreover, the daughter's story seems very half-done, given that her story ends with no input on her communication with other humans thereafter.
There is also a conflict between the given flow of events and the moral motif. At one point, she seems to have blended with the farmers in the vicinity, but they don't come out at all after the mother realizes it. There were many parts they could have played, but conclusively speaking, it was always the mother fighting everything on her own.
Rather, probably the greatest factor is that the mother, who is the only human in the family, seems to have been the most supernatural in terms of what she is forced to overcome. In fact, it would be safe to say that this is one of those inscrutable Japanese folktales with an illogical and matter-of-fact ending. There is absolutely no depiction of family bonds whatsoever, and is simply just a mother working an unrealistic load for many years without physically or mentally breaking down, only to have her children leave her breaking the family apart. I mean look at all the work she has done. No normal human female would be able to do anything so much without dying from overworking and stress. She must be half goddess to be stronger than the father who died pitifully and went to the town dump from failing to catch a bird and falling into the river. The mother may be satisfied with the ending, but it's not exactly a satisfying ending for us, much like the kinds of endings you would get from Japanese folktales. All-in-all, Summer Wars was much better, much more amazing in story development. However, I still wish to look forward to Hosoda director's future films, because many find much potential in his works, including this one.
I watched this movie at Shinjuku Wald 9, but it's airing pretty much everywhere. Because of the vast scenery, I highly recommend getting tickets for a screen the size of at least theater 9 at Shinjku Wald 9. I would also like some feedback from people who have watched it. Feel free to comment here after reading the above spoiler.
There is one major August anime movie coming up, and that's Code Geass: Akito, the Forgotten Country. This is not a third season, but rather a 3-chapter side story that occurs in between seasons 1 and 2 of the TV series. Code Geass is one of the top ten animes in the world and is most certainly a major hit in Japan as well. Although C2 and Lelouch aren't in the fray this time, it'll no doubt be something interesting to look out for.
10 years since their last adventure, Agent J and Agent K are back. Again, it is the danger of the planet Earth, but this time Agent J has to go back in the past and save his partner's life too. Agent J partners with the younger Agent K to stop an evil alien from destroying the past and the future.
As I wrote above, it has been quite a while since I saw the last series, and this was the first time I saw it on screen. First of all, I want to say that the aliens are pretty grotesque, so be careful. Seeing them on a giant screen could get on your nerves. But of course, people get used to it.
When talking about the MIB, people imagine the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones tag. But in this film, Agent J moves along mostly with the younger version of K acted by Josh Brolin. I thought that this was quite an adventure for the series, but when I actually saw it, my bothers were gone. Josh Brolin made an awesome image of the young version of K-not just the looks, but the atmosphere too. People who were looking forward to Tommy Lee Jones' acting may feel unsatisfied, but I myself forgot that the K I was watching was a different person.
This is totally my opinion, but I think the comedy is a pretty much important thing in the MIB series. In that point, I wasn't satisfied enough. Maybe since K's life was in danger, J was more serious about the case, which chose the tension of the whole story. But, the plot itself was good, and the ending was somewhat touching(I was caught off guard). The 3 is a turning point in a series-in a good meaning or a bad one. I don't know what the staff is thinking about the MIB, but since the silence was once broken, it is a little shame if this was the ending.
