maiko-san

Last Saturday I went to Kobe Japan-German Association to take part in German Speak-Up club. The theme was about various experiences you had in your childhood. I wanted to talk about my experience when I learned German through NHK Radio program in my high school days. For that purpose I brought the old text book which was printed in 1966. Unfortunately the facilitator took up different subjects such as differences in education system between Germany and Japan. They praised the German education system where students have no homework during the summer holidays, students enjoy sports activities in the munucipal districts and students have no lessons in the afternoon, and so on. On my way back home I dropped in a coffee shop by the name of "Dou Tor". I thumbed through the textbook and found a good passage for people who want to improve writing German. An idea occurred to me suppose if I replaced "German" with "English". So, I translated the passage into En...

Today I'd like to talk about a little journey to Kyoto with German tourists. On the 6th of Octber my wife and I took them to Myoshin-ji by Hankyu train. Actually the temple is devided into smaller 47 temples. One of them is called Reiun-in where my grandfather's tomb is located. In the beginning a monk guided us to the tombstone. We prayed for my grandfather together. Inside the temple a nun showed us around the kitchen, a large tatami room and finally to the altar. She was proud of the story, that the Emperor often visited the temple a thousand years ago. I found the story a little bit boring. But I was impressed with my wife and the Germans. They were sitting straight and  eager to listen to her. After that we visited Arashiyama, where we enjoyed  walking through the bamboo forest. I felt awesome in the forest. Lastly we went back to Osaka by  Hankyu Railway. Three Japanese things that the German find "cute": 1. On a rainy day you'll find a small gadget...