#10 What are some items which I would bring to my host family'n'friends?

I would bring Pictures, Postcards, Print-Club Picture(Purikura), and a book which tells about Japanese customs or what we do.

I chose Pictures, because it's the best way to show what we usually do in Japan. To see something is easier to understand than reading or listening. So, I prefer Pictures.

Postcards has the same reason as the pictures. The difference is that postcards could show the things which I can't take with my camera. There are lots of interesting postcards recently like sumo, traditional Japanese pictures(Ukioe or Ukiyoe) and such...

Prikura is one of Japanese culture I guess, even though some other country has one. The quality could be different. When I brought the pictures of prikura to the US, my friends there or host family said it's interesting because they didn't have exactly the same machine like Japan.

Finally, the book I picked above would help a lot when we go abroad. It would help when we explain something. That's why I chose the book. Also, it'll help when we explain about our language, Japanese if the book has both English and Japanese.

Pic. from→http://image-search.yahoo.co.jp/search?p=postcard+katsushika&ei=

#9 Love!

Talking about love, it is the most difficult topic for me to talk about... What is the love?
According to a dictionary, "love" means:
1. a strong feeling of deep affection for sb/sth, especially a member of your family friend(affection)→e.g.) a mother's, or father's love for their children
2. a strong feeling of affection for sb that you are sexually attracted to(romantic)→e.g.) They fell in love each other.
3. the strong feeling of enjoyment that sth gives you(enjoyment)→e.g.) I'm in love with movies.
4. a person, a thing or an activity that you like very much(sb/sth you like)→e.g.) He was the love of my life. (=He was the person I loved the most.)

As you know through my blog, I'm in love with comedy movies!! There is a good movie which is basically about a family love. I guess it is about family love... Anyways, The movie's name is "Cheaper by the Dozen." It's a story about a family which include parents and 12 kids. They lived in a small town. But one day, the father got a new job in a big city. So they moved. But the timing was not so good because his wife also got a job for a couple days or weeks. Then, he need to handle both the new job and taking care of his kids. As he works hard, the family starts falling apart, and the story continue.
This story is interesting, funny, sad, and happy!! This is one of my favorite movie!



(pic. from: htte://thecia.com.au/reviews/c/cheaper-by-the-dozen.shtml)

#8 My favorite actor:)

I like lots of actors... Or, should I say comedian?


I like Jim Carrey, Steve Martin, Peter Sellers, Ben Stiller and etc. So, it's difficult to choose my favorite celebrity... But I chose Robbin Williams!!(The picture below is him!)

Do you know him? He is in many movies. Because he is funny, I like him.

I've heard a story about him from my host-mom in Oregon, the US. She said that he read newspaper everyday to think about the humor in society, or what phenomenon can be funny. I don't know if it's true or not, but we can say he is a genius comedian!

I believe that the first movie of Robbin Williams I've ever seen was "Flubber." At that time, I was 2nd or 3rd grade in elementary school. So I watched in Japanese of course, and I didn't know who he was. But I liked the movie. I loved the story, the musics and his acting.

When I was in 3rd grade in junior high school, I got interested in watching movies; especially comedy movies. I'll list up his movies which I've watched: "Mork and Mindy(it is a TV show)","Jumanji", "Good Morning, Vietnam", "Dead Poet Society", "Hook", "Aladdin (just voice)", "Toys", "Mrs. Doubtfire", "Father's Day", "Patch Adams", "Death to Smoochy", "RV", "Man of The Year", "Night at The Museum", "August Rush", "Night at The museum:Battle of The Smithsonian."

I really recommend all of them except "RV" and "Man of The Year." "RV" is very funny and I like it, but a little bit gross... Then, I couldn't understand the sense of humor in "Man of The Year." It made me sleepy. I'll try to watch it again though.

My goal is to get Robbin's humor in the movie, "Good Morning, Vietnam." It is funny and a bit serious, but he speaks too fast to catch all words.

Please watch some of his movies! You would love it!!

The picture is from:
http://www.peopleclub.fr/rss/newspeople/3403/Robbin-Williams-opere-avec-succes.html

#7 What am I thinking now??

I'm thinking about today's lunch because I'm so hungry...
Other than that, I'm thinking about the assignments to do in this week... I've just finished some reports today. But I have tons of homework still :( Why??
Anyways... Without thinking about the homework, I'm thinking about going to a cinema, or to watch DVD sometime in this month. I really wanna watch comedy movie now. Do you recommend any comedy movies, or any movies? Oh, I recommend "Bruce Almighty." It's funny, interesting, and good!

#6 A Good Restaurant in Kobe

I know the restaurants only in Kobe... I mean in Sannomiya.

First of all, I recommend a Sushi-bar, which named "Sushi no Sasuke." I don't know if it's famous or not, but this is a good sushi restaurant. I've been there only twice or three times, because sushi in this restaurant is a little bit expensive compare to 100-yen sushi restaurant. So, I forget what this restaurant is like... But I think you will write what you want on a little piece of paper, and give it to the staff. Then you can eat sushi. Please go here at least once!

(I copied the photo from image-search.yahoo.co.jp)













They open everyday except Wednesday from 11:30 to 22:00.

I forget the taste a little bit, but I remember they're delicious, and also fresh! I wish I can go there again sometime.

#5 A Trip I Took Recently

I went on a bus tour with my best friend in March. It was a mystery tour, which means we don't know where we will go. So, it was an exciting tour!!
Before we decided which trip to choose, the tourism said in the information, "we will bring you to a World Heritage site, and you can stay in a hotel which has a great hot spring!" Then we decided to go!
Actually it was fun trip, because we can't guess where we're going.

We went Fukui, Ishikawa, and Toyama prefecture, and visited some tourist spots.
The first & second picture is a traditional style of Japanese architecture. It's called "a Gassho-zukuri house." I liked them because they were cool looking building!











The man on the last picture is coating Japanese(Chinese) lacquer. The lacquer is called "Urushi." He said that he need to paint it again and again to finish making one. So, he paints first, then dries it, and paint it again. It seems tough.
It was interesting to see.










This trip was totally different from the other trips which I've done before. But, it was fun! So, I want to do this kind of trip again.

#4 My home town!!

I live in a small town. It's not a countryside though.
My hometown used to have lots of nature. There was rice fields, a river with many fishes and etc. I used to play near the river in Summer with my friends. But now, although we still have the river, the bottom part is covered with concrete, and I don't like it... They still continue to maintenance the river now.

There is an elementary school next to my house. It takes about 5 min. to get to school on foot, and 2 or 3 min. if I run.

We have some supermarkets, some restaurants, rental VHS/DVD shops, and etc. But we don't have bookstore. So, I hope someone make one.
What's else I can talk about my hometown... Maybe that's it... :)