Only Child

As some of you know, I am an only child. When I was a little girl, my friends often envied me because I monopolized all the toys and sweets in the house. In return, I envied my friends who had brothers or sisters because they often followed and played with their siblings and other friends. Even today I sometimes wish I had brothers or sisters.

My father has an elder brother and a younger brother. They have a good relationship and sometimes visit each other. Once a year, they gather at the eldest brother's house and chat about their children, their jobs, and their boyhood memories over a couple of drinks. Whenever I see their gathering, I think having brothers or sisters is great when we grow up.

One of my best friends has an elder sister, and she often goes shopping, travels and eats out with her. She tells me that she can talk with her sister about her worries which are secret from her parents. Also, her sister is a good adviser for her.

I have wanted to have brothers or sisters since my childhood. Generally speaking, an only child is spoiled, selfish and unsociable, which may apply to me. For me, even a quarrel between siblings sometimes looks happy, although it might be frustrating for them.

I don't know what having brothers or sisters is like. What do you think about it? And if you have siblings, have you ever wished you were an only child?

My brother

Yesterday (June 6th) was my brother's sixteenth birthday. My elder sister and I gave him a gift voucher for the SATY shopping center because he really likes to buy clothes and shoes.

Now he is a first-year student in Tsu high school, from which I graduated three years ago. He goes there with his friends on foot every day. Although he gets up late every morning, he has never be late for school, I think.

My brother belongs to the tennis club in Tsu high school. He is a good player and used to be captain of the team when he was a junior high school student. We sometimes play tennis, but I always lose ...

He asks me many many many questions about mathematics and English every evening. He doesn't like being left with his questions unanswered, so when he asks me I must reply to every one of them, which can be a bit exhausting.

My brother is naughty, noisy, and stubborn. But he has a sense of humor: his stories make my family laugh. Though he is cunning as a fox, I think he is the most wonderful brother in the world.

Like shopping?

Shopping is one of my pleasures. I like buying clothes, shoes, hats and so on, but I also like just looking at those goods around the shops without buying. I'm not so rich and I can't shop frequently, but when I do shop I am very happy and I feel my stress gets reduced, in a way.

The other day, I went shopping at Jazz-Dream Nagashima. As the Japanese may know, it is one of the biggest shopping malls in Japan and they sell clothes and other goods. This is one of my favorite places to go shopping! I bought a LEGO T-shirt and a skirt there. It's a little large for me to walk around in and my legs got muscular pain after wearing it...

My shopping habits are a bit strange, I think. I can't easily decide what to buy, so it takes me a long time to do my shopping. At first I don't buy anything and stroll through the shop, looking around, talking with my friends etc.. When I find a piece of clothing which I like, I keep it in my mind and continue looking for other nice pieces. At last I pick up some pieces to choose from, and then I decide which one to buy. It takes me much time and physical strength! But those are my basic habits... Some of my friends choose their clothes intuitively; I am envious!

After shopping I also enjoy thinking about the combination of the clothes I bought with the ones I've already got.

How do you enjoy your shopping? Are your shopping habits contrary or similar to mine? Or is there anyone who dislikes shopping? For me, shopping is lots of fun.

Hello guys

Hi everyone!

How are you doing? Do you guys in Mie University remember me? Anyway, I'm doing fine in Nabari.

I suppose most of you in the English department want to be English teachers. If you need any information about teaching, don't hesitate to ask me. I don't know if I can answer all the questions you have, though.

Now, I'm teaching English to high school students. The school I'm working for is not an academic one, but the students are very good and they're fun to be with. However, it is sometimes hard to deal with their problems. And of course I rarely have holidays as I had in university.

I have many questions for you, too. I want to know how I can make an interesting English conversation class and a writing class. I want advice not only from teachers and those who speak English but also from students.

Today, I'm eating out with co-workers. Have a nice weekend!

A female firefighter

My father is a firefighter. He fights fires, helps injured people and carries them to hospitals in an ambulance, trains for several situations, and maintains fire engines and ambulance cars so as they are ready to depart any time. He looks very tired when he comes home, so I think a firefighter’s work is both physically and spiritually hard.

When I asked him whether women worked as a firefighters, his answer was “No”. Although some women work at the fire station, they do not work at the scene.

But a few days ago, I found an article in a newspaper about a newly appointed female firefighter. She is the first woman in Mie prefecture who works as a firefighter, not at the office but at the scene. She is 18 years old now and enters a fire brigade this spring.

The article tells the story of her decision to become a firefighter. She belonged to a softball club in her high school days, and she was such a good player that she was very important on her team. One day, she hurt her leg in the game and was carried away by an ambulance car, so her team lost the game. While she was being carried away, a firefighter told her that she could play softball again after her leg was healed. He encouraged her, and she decided she also wanted to encourage and help suffering people. After that, she studied very hard to pass the test, and at last her effort bore fruit! She said, “It is very hard to work as an equal with men, but I am determined to give my best.”

I was surprised and moved when I read the article, because the young woman fixed her eyes on her future, put in an effort, and made her dream come true.

Local Festivals

Festivals excite and entertain people, don't they? I am looking forward to this weekend, for a festival is to be held in my town! It is called the Saioh-matsuri Festival and it is the biggest event of the year in Meiwa. Saioh is the Imperial princess who served the God of the Grand Shrine of Ise in ancient Japan of the Heian era. My town Meiwa, especially Saiku, has a long history related to the ancient Emperors of Japan. There are some excavations and a museum in Saiku. In the Saiku Historical Museum, you can see a lot of exhibitions and explore the culture of the ancient Saiku. So the Saioh and Saiku are very popular among us, and the Saioh-matsuri Festival is one of our pleasures.

Local festivals such as the Saioh-matsuri Festival, I think, have three good points.

First, they are, of course, enjoyable entertainments. At the Saioh-matsuri Festival people enjoy a beautiful parade, music, folk dance, and various performances. Also, many booths and stalls sell foods, sweets, and so on.

Secondly, local festivals unite people's hearts. As the Saioh-matsuri Festival is coming up, we can find advertisements and flags for it all over the town, and attention is paid to the big event by almost all local people. People share common feelings through a festival.

Thirdly, local festivals give you an opportunity to learn local culture. Any festival has native, unique characteristics, and most of them have come down to us through a long period of time and shaped local culture in the process. It is very important for us to learn the culture and customs of other times in our hometown. And a local festival might be a cue to do so.

Thus local festivals are of great significance. The Saioh-matsuri Festival also makes me feel my love for my hometown. Local festivals are the embodiments of love for one's home!

Das Experiment

I love movies very much. So I'd like to talk about a movie that made a deep impression on me.

I'm studying Social Psychology now, and I take a seminar about the field. A member of the seminar recommended a movie to me that relates to social psychology. I soon became interested in it because the movie is based on a real-life experiment. The title of the movie is Es in Japan. But it is a German movie made in 2001 and its title is Das Experiment (The Experiment in the United States). When the movie was over, I felt fear because it depicted the dark nature that everyone has.

The movie is inspired by the Stanford Prison Experiment of the 1970s and based on the novel Black Box by Mario Giordano. The experiment was conducted by Prof. Philip G. Zimbardo, who has been teaching at Stanford University for over thirty years. In 1971, college student volunteers were asked to role-play as prisoners and guards in a simulated prison for two weeks. But the guards quickly became so sadistic, and the prisoners so depressed, that the experiment was abandoned after just six days. In the movie, this process is described more shockingly and violently; some fictional drama was added, for example, ordinary people take the place of the college student volunteers.

The brilliance of this movie is the change of characters of the guards. They are given great power to keep order in the prison, and are placed in circumstances where they dominate over weak prisoners. They quickly become more aggressive and begin to abuse their power. To make matters worse, each abuse on the part of the guards leads to rebellion on the part of the prisoners in an escalating sequence of violence with murderous consequences. But they are ordinary people rather than sadists or criminals, which suggests that uniforms and the roles they are assigned may amplify underlying psychological tendencies under such circumstances.

We don’t necessarily have anything to do with such things mentioned above. Still, Das Experiment will make you think about human nature. This is an excellent film; I recommend it to everyone, but the destructive potential of human nature may disturb you.

You may also find these movie reviews informative.

My Grandfather Died

On May 29th, my grandfather on my mother's side died because of disease. He had been in hospital for half a year, but his disease was very severe and he was not strong enough to undergo an operation so that doctors had no way to cure him. Though he underwent anticancer drug treatment, he got weaker and weaker day by day and, at last, he died.

I was very surprised and sad when I heard this news, but I had little realization because I didn't want to believe it. On the 30th, I went back to Nara to attend his funeral. When I saw his face lying still in death, I had a full realization and his face reminded me of the good days he and I had. He was strict with his children and grandchildren, so I was often scolded by him. But now I realized it was his love.

He often told me about his youth. He survived wars and experienced hard times. I liked listening to his stories. But now he can't scold me with love or tell his brave stories any more!

I'm shocked about his death. Have you had a similar kind of experience? And how did you get over the grief? Please tell me!