maiko-san

C1 Examination for Goethe-Institute in wrirting expressions (65 minutes) Today  many people write emails as a means of communication. What advantages and disadvantages of emails do you see when you compare them to writing a letter? State your thoughts, considering following 4 points. 1. Examples for email (Your personal experiences) 2. Meaning of email in your coutry 3. Argument for these communications 4. Your personal opinion A large amount of people write more email than a letter these days in Japan. I find the means of email totally modern. Thanks to Microsoft Corp. personal comupters developed dramatically in 1990s. The advantages of email are simple, fast and free of charges. Furthermore adresees can pick up your email anytime he likes without wasting his important time. Here I'd like to show you examples. I used to write emails to an American. About 10 minutes later I got an answer from him. It was surprising that I was able to receive it so fast. I could h...

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my memory of New Year Holidays in my  childhood, in Koenji, Tokyo. One the Eve of New Year, my mother bought a pine tree and decorated the front door of our house with it. When the wall-clock hit 12:00 O'clock midnight, I ate "over the year noodles" with my family, hearing temples' bell ringig 108 times. On the first day of January we ate for breakfast  Ozoni made of Bonito's soup, a rectangular shaped rice cake and various vegetables. My mother cooked the best Ozoni in my life. After breakfast I went outside to see Aki-Chan, my best friend in the neighborhood. We went to an elementary school nearby. On the school ground we flew kites high up in the sky. Then we dropped in Aki-chan's house where we played various games together, for example a banker's game, a baseball game produced by Epox Company. We had lots of fun. During the course of time Aki-chan went to Gakushuin school while I went to S...

Hello everyone! Today I'd like to introduce to you a book entitled "Seduction". It was written by an Austrian author by the name of Marlene Streeuwitz. She was born in Viena in 1950. At a university she studied law, slavish and cultural history. After graduation she worked as a film director and pesided over theater performances and TV dramas. I decided to read this novel, because Goethe-Institute recommended that those who take intitute's C2 examination should read the book beforehand and write a review of the book during the examination. The main character is a 30-year-old young woman named Helene Gebhradt, who is a single mother. For she married Greror in her early 20s. But soon he walked out on her because of his secretary. Therefore Helene had to take care of thier small daughters, Barbara and Katharina, while she worked for a PR company to get a salary. At the same time she was always looking for right guys to satisfy her sexual desire. She had a best friend...

Good morning, everyone! Today I'd like to talk about relationships between nature and health. For years I suffer from tinnitus or ringing sounds in ears and in the head as well. My tinnitus drives me crazy when I stay alone in the high-rise apartment. I believe the air pressure of the 20th floor's height has a bad effect  on my ear-ringing. My doctor says that my disease is incurable; All you have to do is to learn to live with tinnitus. Now I'm going to tell you how I deal with this obstinate disease. Every morning I go shopping to a supermarket to buy fruits, vegetables, Cokes and snacks for my family. That's a good excercise for my blood circulation. After that I drop in "Doutor" to drink an iced coffee that costs me 220 Yen. When I hear rock and roll music in the 1970s in the cafe, it kind of heals me. You know, music therapy works out. I make it a point of taking a German book with me. I try to read at least half a page to get accustomed to the la...

Our class teacher took us to Hakone in summer in the 2nd year of Seikei elementary school. We spent a couple of nights at Senkyorou-inn and Kanpourou-inn. Senkyorou stood on the hill far away from the center of the village. The inn was a shabby-looking house. When it was dark it seemed to me as if a lot of witches lived in there. We called it a spooky house. On the other hand Kanporou-inn was a big gorgeous Ryokan near the Ashinoko-lake. When I ate lunch with other classmates on a large 100 Tatami room, I noticed a beautiful white flower through the window by the staircase. I asked a middle aged woman who waited on me, "I was wondering what's the name of the flower." She answered the flower is a lily. After that I went out into the garden and found so many beautiful lilies blooming beside the pond. Later on I visited Chicago on my buisness trip and took part in a seminar held by the mother company named Amoco Chemical. A beauftiful young blonde woman happened to sit nex...

I was born in 1948 in a small farmhouse in Toyoda near Tokyo. I remember that my father in his farmer's clothes working diligently on the field, harvesting fruits and vegetables, while my mother was busy watering plants. She wore a worn-out work trousers(in Japanese "monpe" ). One day my mother took me out for a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny, and  warm day. As a matter of fact we were surrounded by the green forest, the small Asakawa-river and the yellow rice field. At a far distance in the west I could see the blue colored Keio train chugging along in the direction of Shinjuku. In the west I enjoyed watching the small Takao Mountain on the edge of Tokyo. It was the first time in my life that I encountered nature. It was so peaceful. However, I belatedly got to know that my family had lived in so many different regions in Nagano Prefecture during the Pacific War. After the War they ended up living far out in Toyoda from downtown Tokyo. Because of the bad t...

A couple of weeks ago I left Minoo at 11:30 as usual and arrived at my condominum exactly at 13:00. I was surprised to see all the three elevators were not in operation. The front desk manager said that they would repair the elevators until 14:30 Therefore I  had to climb up the stairs all the way up to the 20th floor. When I reached my apartment, I was so exhausted that I wanted to take a nap. On the spur of the moment, there was an annoucement over the speaker. It says, "Fire! Fire" The fire broke out on the 14th floor. Please proceed to the emergency exit and calm down while you are evacuating." They made the same annoucement over and over again. My wife didn't think about it seriously. But I was frantic. I dashed out to the elevator hall where I met Mrs. Lawyer who also lives on the 20th floor. She said she would check out on the 14th floor and went down the emergecy stairs. All of a sudden the annoucement has been changed. It says, "Fi...

A week ago I was walking down undergraound shopping arcade (Osaka Whitey) on my way back home. All of a sudden a strange man in his late 60s approached me and spoke to me. "Wow, it's YOU! We haven't seen each other for the last 20 years. Oh, it's a pity that you have become such an old chap!" At first I had a feeling I knew him, but his name didn't occurr to me. I thought he was also working for my former company, one of my colleagues. So, I asked him, "Excuse me, but were we working together? He said somthing to the effect that he was not exactly working with me in the same company. But he was responsible for delivering goods for my former company. He was getting impatient and insisted, " Yuck, Don't tell me you forgot me. Do remember me, please." In the course of time I felt guilty that I forgot him. I thought if we'd talk each other a bit, then I would remember him. I asked him, "Why don't we drop in a coffee shop around her...

Good morning, everyone. Recently I set up a German Book Reading Club with one of my frineds named Hidenori. I rent a seminar room in Ekimae Third Building. The book is entitled "The Diary of a Young Girl" or in German "Anne Frank Tagebuch". How are we going to organize the meeting? I suggested Hidenori that maybe we should adopt the method of Harry Potter Book Reading Club. For starters each of us reads the designated page in German and then translates into Japanese. On the 7th of October the Harry Potter Book Reading Club was held. We are now reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Seven participants read their own part in English, then translated into Japanese. Including a small talk, we read three and a half pages within the time frame of 1 hour and 20 minutes. I told Hidenori about it and he agreed with me. I am glad to hear that because we can read only two pages within timeframe of only an hour. Now I'd like briefly touch on An...

As you know , my subject this morning is a pronunciation practice. In a few seconds I'm going to explain to you about  a pronuncation tip on "i" and "i:". But first, I'd like to give  a talk on my summer school when I was a child. So, I would like you to see a photo that shows a sumo-wrestling match on the beach.  At that time I was a pupil at Seikei Elementary School in Tokyo. In July, 1958 I went by ship to from Takehashi Pier to Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture with my classmates and Seikei University students as swimming trainers. In accordance with the school rules we had to wear a red swimming cap and a red loincloth. The disadvantage of the red loin cloth was that of course I was ashamed to wear it, because I didn't want my puberty hair to be seen. On the contrary the advantage of it was that the red color is so conspicuous that the trainers could grasp the loin cloth easily and save pupils when they were about to be drowned. Inc...

Today I'd like to talk about my embarrasssing experience Ｉ had last week. My wife was proud of her healthy teeth. As a matter of fact she laughs at me every time I go to my favorite dentist in Minoo. She said, " I never kow of somebody who loves a dentist like you," Then she used to open her mouth wide opne and show off her white teeth. For years she had been going to the same dentist nearby for only teeth-inspection and cleaning. All of a sudden she got a warning from him that her engagement was the worst of all. To top that off he gave her a whole set of false teeth made of rubber and ordered her to wear it when she goes to bed. He explained to her that the bad engagement leads to tinnitus. What kind of frame-up is this!? When she came home, she seemed to be disappointed. Hearing her story I got a gut feeling  that the dentist's business is going down because of a cut-throat competition. He wants to make money in every which way. So, I s...

Last Saturday I took part in a German conversation session at Japan Germany Society in Sannomiya. I discussed about  a theme "Summer Vacation" with other 12 members. Especially for this meeting everyone was supposed to bring"Tsumami"(garnish or snack) to the conversation table. I brought "Gliko Pocky" and a small pack of peanuts. I was surprised to see many housewives bringing various feasts, such as Tenpura-Sushi, Onigiri, German potates to the table. In return the host of the club served each member a bier (Asahi Super Dry). I was glad to see the bier, because I usually drink a lower grade bier (Kirin Tanrei).  I was a little bit nervous, when a mature German woman sat next to me. For I was thinking of a compliment to her Tsumami all the time. Her brown-bag turned out to be Onigiri and mini-tomatoes with spicy basil. Compared to my wife's Onigiri her Onigiri was a little bit sweet. When I said so, it seemed she made a face. So I tried to...

Godd morning, everyone. Today my session is divided into two parts. For starters I have a letter from a Japanese poet in ancient times. Let me read out to you. Please guess who wrote this poet. I have a couple of suggestions for you. 1. The writer lived in the Nara Period 2. He was famous for composing love songs when he went on a journey with Emperor Shomu 3 Manyoshu(Japanese Anthology) contains his 13 Tanka and 37 Haiku. Mrs. Inoue, you're right. Answer: Yamabe no Akahito (700-736) Now we're moving on to the second part of the session. Please take a look at the book in my hand. It's entilted "The Complete Letter Writer".  There are so many kinds of writing letters, such as "Invitations and Announcements", "Letter of Condolences", "Thank-you Letters and Acknowledgements" and so on. I thumbed through the book and picked out "Friendly Letters", because it is the easiest way to learn how to write a letter in  English. ...

First of all, I'd like to talk about a friend of my wife's. Her name is Nishida-san. She is as old as my wife since they were at school together. Although Nishida-san married a rich man, she suffered from lung cander for years. When Nishida-san shuddered to think of seeing her doctor alone, my wife went with her to the hospital. They both were in the examining room to hear the results of X-ray inspection. On the 25th of July,  Osaka firework festival by the name of Tenjin-Matsuri was held on the Okawa River in front of my wife's high-rise apartment. It was nice of my wife to invite Nishida-san to her house on that day. Because Nishida-san had confided in my wife that this summer could be  her last chance to see the wonderful firework. It seemed that Nishida-san was pessmisitic about the doctor's prognosis of her disease. When Nishida-san visited my wife with her husband, she gave my wife a nice present.  Actually my wife was taken aback ...

When I was 25 years old, I lived in a company dormitory for singles in a country town, Kashiwara-shi, Osaka. The company also provided another dormitory in Asiya City. The Ashiya dormitory is located in an upscale residential town. So, they gave a party party every weekend. A lot of company girls gathrered around and we sang a song together and danced until late in the evening. The chief of the Kashiwara dormitory committee gave a deep thought about this. He was of opinion that we should launch an attractive event to compete with the Ashiya dorm. After the summer vacation was over, he decided to organize Osaka Bon Dancing Festival in September at the Kashiwara dormitory. Immediately we prepared stalls for goldfish, cotton candies and shooting games and so on. I was responsible for lending a Japanese drum("Wadaiko"). I drove to Kyoto to meet with the president of a small chemical company, our client. It was nice of him to lend us an old "Wadaiko". ...

Welcome home Iida-san. We're very happy to have you back with us. I hope you'll enjoy learning English with us again. I've got an important announcement to make. While you were away from us, we have a newcomer. I'd like to introduce to you Mrs. Fujii. She lives in Ikeda-city and goes to her second house in Sanda with her husband on weekends. But I'm sure you will be hung up on her, because she is one of the most attractive and creati woman in this club. As for other memebers of our club, first, I'd like to thank Mrs. Inoue. You volunteered for an accountant, as Mrs. Kitajima tentatively left the club last April. You've done a good job! Next, Mrs Yamaguchi, I am always grateful to you for reserving the classroom every month. And Shimazu-san, thank you for bringing the cassete tape recorder to the classroom each time our English lessons take place. Lastly, I'd like to thank Mrs. Kashiwagi for booking a Japanese restaurant "Shohei" for today...

Condition           AMERI-THINK                                  JAPAN-THINK cut finger:            Band-Aid                                          hospital professional bandage from                                                         ...

My wife always makes me the garbage throw away. She just throws a reproachful look at me and points to the inflammable garbage filled with 40 -liter transparent plastic bags and household rubbish. The rubbish heap is located in the cellar of our condominium. First, I throw the flammable garbage in the big garbage diposal machine. Then the machine rattles and howls ominously. The sound gives me the creeeps. After that I select carefully plastic bottles, beer cans, glass bottles, old paper, batteries, fluorescent lights and ink cartridges. Finally, I throw them away  respectively in the proper blue boxes. I find this job toilsome and boring. Sometimes I have a feeling that I want to throw myself with the garbage into big disposal machine. For better or worse my wife isn't in the least interested in collecting the garbage. After all I'm disposable at 65.

That was the title at German-Japan-Society last month. I discussed about this theme with 10 participants. As I am not the member of the club, I was the last one to speak. I was impatient and anxious. But I could tell them at least the following story. "Well, I can not tell you much about meal, because I can not cook. But I'm responsible for buying things at a supermarket every morning. One day I watched vegetables carefully. We have quite a few vegetables in season, such as spinach, radish, soybeans, garlic, cucumber, soybeans and tomatoes. There were so many choices that I didn't know which vegetables to buy. When it comes to choosing, I am lame. Soon I left the supermarket and dropped in a coffee shop to read a German novel. When I came home, I was surprised to see two cartons of ripe tomatoes sent to us from my wife's friend. I took a picture of them. Now I'd  like to show you these mature tomatoes. So please pass along this photo. Immediately my wife ma...

In my hand I have several photos that show different kinds of colorful teadrinks. You can see respectively  at far right Matcha Latte , in the middle Gyokuro and far left Bubble Tea. They are all from the eastern part of Asia. What fancy brand names they've got!  They call "Pink Milk Tea". "Ginger Latte"　and "Matcha Taro". When they drink, they stir colorful ingriedents like "Popping Baba" and "Rainbow Jelly" . They dispense with sugar. These Asian drinks are now in fashion in Europe and America as well. Starbucks Coffee Shops will be soon replaced with Matcha Tea Houses. Especially European teenagers are fond of Bubble Tea. The key is they don't drink at home but out in the tea-bars and coffee lounges. For a start the Germans built tea-bars and coffee lounges in Berlin, because they craved for something exotic. After that it became in fashion in the cofffe towns, Viena. It looks like everyone in Europe is getting tired of cof...

Today I'd like to talk about "Preparing the Way for the Final Speech." Now that your draft is done and your edit-reading is completed. Perhaps what you see is a little frightening, because once again you're dealing with the fear of unknown; I mean the reactions of the audience. As far as I am concerned, I practiced my speech in all different places. Firstly when I attendeed World Sales Meeting in Atlanta, U.S.A., making a presentation was a must. I stayed at a cozy resort hotel. It was nice of Michel, a French salesperson, to lend me a pointer. In my room I hung up Power Point Slides on the wall. Pointing at each slide I practiced my speech 10 times. It looks like that my voice was loud enough to have embarrassed a customer in the next room. A bell boy came up to me and said, "Sir, would you mind turning down the TV? A neighbor is complaining." Secondly when I was a Master of the Evening for Toastmasters English Speaking Club in Osaka, I practiced my spee...

-Why does "fat chance" and "slim chance" mean the same thing? -Why do we sing "Take me out to the ball game" when we are already there? -Why are they called "stands" when they are made for sitting? -Why is called "after dark" when it really is "after light"? -Why are a "wise man" and a "wise guy" opposite? -Why do "overlook" and "oversee" mean opposite? -If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular? -If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right? -Why is bra singular and panties plural? -Why everyone calls me "pussy-whipped", when my wife is not Hilary Clinton?

sources: "Delivered From Evil" The Saga of World War 2 by Robert Leckie "Incredibly, three dictators-Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin- all three the sons of devout, doting mothers at whose knees they learned to recite their prayers, all three educated in church schools, and all emerged as atheists and persecutors of religion. But Soso was clever enough to shield his true beliefs from the Russian fathers who replaced the Gerogian teachers in 1890, when he was eleven. Generally he had his teachers' esteem as a superior student, and his years at the theological school were formative and without major incident. There was one near-tragic accident: Soso fell beneath a horse-drawn carriage and lay close to death for some time. Blood poisoning complicated his condition, but again he survived: this time with a malformed left arm two to three inches shorter than the other. Stalin was always deeply conscious of this deformity, as he would be of his height when he joined the compa...

In the Year 2000 I began to work for a medical company in Nagaoka. I left my family in Tokyo and relocated to Nagaoka alone. The company was involved with sales of oxgeon concentrator machine for patients who suffered from COPD(Chronic Oppressive Pulmonary Disease) for example, emphysema, asthma and bronchitis. Actually I was in charge of 20 hospitals and 200 patients. According to the company policy, believe it or not, we were allowed to visit  hospital wings where we demonstrated the correct way to handle the machine.The company also enlarged interpretation of sales person's job descriptions that entailed a visit to pateints' house without doctor's permit. Sounds strange?  But that's how Japanese home -care medical business was carried out. One day I was working alone overtime in the office. My watch says 9:00 pm. I said to myself, "It's time I went home now." As I was about to switch off lights, the telephone on the desk rang loud a...

Today I gave a lesson on "personal experience speech" to 8 participants. Utilizing "Speech Communication" by Cambridge Publishing Co as a textbook, I told them how to fill out "Personal Experience Preparation Worksheet." The trick is that you give a speech on the unforgettable event in your life, as if you relived the incident. I'm sure that would make the audience relive your experience at the same time. If you want to talk about a happy moment in your life, make them happy. If you want to refer to a sad incident in your life, make them sad, too. Now I'd like to show you how the preparation worksheet looks like.                                                                ...

in 1971 My father bought me a Mitsubishi Colt 1000 Fastback. It was a compact white sedan with a 50 horse-power engine. I asked a Mitsubishi salesperson when he brought the car to my house, "What's the advantage of owning this car?" He replied politely, "Young man, forget Toyota Corolla 1100 or Nissan Sunny 1000. This car is equipped with the most endurable engine for this class. We are proud of the fact that we won the Southern- Cross- Rally  in Australia 5 times in a row. In short, you can drive up to the top of Fuji-san. It's piece of cake." I wondered if there were any hilly off-roads in Tokyo. But it doesn't matter. After all my father paid for the car. In summer my father asked me to take him for a drive to Nagano. He was supposed to give a lecture on German philosophy for local school teachers. At that time there was no Central Highway. So I took the route 20 and headed for Kofu Basin. It was a hot and muggy day. As the car was small, air-con...

Is Japan, which stands on the three interfaced tectonic-plates in the Pacific Ocean, allowed to operate nuclear power plants independently? About 10% of the total earthquakes in the world occurs in Japan. We have already built 55 nuclear power plants. For better or worse none is in operation since the Great East Japan Earthquake. But it is expected one nuclear power plant will operate again.. I suggest that Japan stopped operating nuclear power plants. It would take 10,000 years to destroy plutonium.  On the contrary German Prime Minister Merkel decided immediately  to stop operating seven nuclear power plants in Germany just after learning the catastrophy in Fukushima. On top of that  she's determined to abolish all nuclear power plants by the year 2022. She's a physicist. She knows what she is doing. In stead of atomic energy Japan should develop solar engery, wind energy and geothermal energy. For the t...

Every month "German Movie Evening" is held at the German consulate in Umeda Sky-Building. I happened to get a free ticket last week. So I dropped in the building to see a movie, entitled "All About Friedrich von Schiller". Schiller is a German poet, playwright and historian, comparable with the greatest artist, Johann Wolfgang Goethe. Upon entering the consulate a  blond chick gave me a onceover and checked my body and a briefcase with a detector. I felt as if I was at the customs at Osaka Airport before going on board the airplane. Besides there were already many German people in the wide open room waiting for the movie to begin. The movie  started with Schiller's life as a medical officer in the military academy in Stuttgart. It's a shame that they provided the Japanese audience with only German subtitles. At first I was nervous, because I didn't catch what actors were talking about.  But I rememebered  German lessons in which a Goethe I...

(INTRODUCTION) Do you think it's possible to have an expereince that is dangerous, happy, sad, uncomfotable, and very scary at the same time? I had one, and I 'll remember it for the rest of my life. (BODY) On March 20th, 1995 I escaped from Tokyo Metropolitan Subway which was splashed with sarin by the terrorist group named Aum Shinri-kyo. I was waiting for a subway train at Kasumigaseki on my way to the office. I waited, waited and waited. But the train never pulled in. Meahnwhile the platform was full of commuting people. Someone said, "It stinks!" I had intuition that something strange has happened. Then I raced up the staris out on the streets. I saw a lot of fire-engines, patrol cars and amubulances going back and forth with full speed. I had to take a taxi to the office. An American vice president screamed, "God damned! Schoko did it!" I said, "Jesus Christ! What's the hell is going on?" Terri suggested that we watch news on TV. The...

In 1961 I entered Seikei Junior High School located in Kichijo-ji. Masafumi came to our class in September. Up until then, he lived in Seattle, USA with his family. His father worked as a representative of Mitsubishi Trading Company for three years. It goes without saying his English was excellent. He spoke English just like cool American guys, although he sometimes used slang words. Everyone was impressed when he stood up and made a speech. At the same time all classmates envied him and wanted to speak English like him. Of all the classmates he sat next to me by chance. He was friendly and especially nice to me. Moreover he didn't bother to teach me English. I learned English from him during a break and lunch time. First of all he corrected my pronunciation. I practiced the word "hungry" 100 times. He commuted to Kichijo-ji by Inokashira Line. One day he told me an interesting story. I was surprised to hear Masafumi telling off a nasty American kid in the train. For...

Last Monday I left "Harry Potter Club" at 11:30 and visited a psychosomatic therapist near Minoo Station for my tinnitus treatment. There were 10 patients already in the waiting room. I figured out that my counselling time would be somewhere around 13:00 to say the least. Wow, I couldn't wait that long. So I told an employee  at the reception desk. "Medicine only!" Soon she gave me the prescription for the drugs. I was supposed to submit it to a pharmacy in return for the medicine. When I was passing Minoo Station, all of a sudden I had a feeling that I wanted to say "Hello" to my favorite dentist. I raced up the spiral stairs of the station building. On the second floor I met a young cute hygiene assistent. I wanted to say that I was glad to see you! But I couldn't. By way of excuse I bought a toothbrush and 2 sizes of interdental brushes. In the meantime I looked surreptiously through the doorways. The beautiful dentist in the new blue uniform ...

Today I'd like to talk about Aspirin. Aspirin is acetylsalicylic acid, one of the earliest synthetic drugs. It was introduced in 1899 by a German chemist by the name of Felix Hoffmann in order to get the known effects salicyclic acid (relieving pain and lowering raised body-temperature) in a form that could be taken by mouth. It has proved to be a valuable remedy, both for relieving everyday aches and pains and for the distressing  and useless inflammation of rheumatic diseases. But like any other effective drug, aspirin has its drawbacks. Even standard doses are very apt to cause some bleeding in the stomach, and larger doses have adverse effects on numerous organs. To date about 40,000 tons of Aspirin are sold all over the world. It is surprising that its ingredient has never been changed for more than 100 years. A recent reserach shows that it could be the preventitive medicine for bowel cancer, stomach cancer and cardiac infarction. What medicine do you take when you have ...

I went on a trip to Germany 7 years ago. My flight with Royal Dutch Airlines has been delayed for a long time in Amsterdam. Furthermore my destination was changed from Nuernberg to Muenchen. But thanks to the Dutch, they  gave us a bus-ride from Muenchen to the Nuernberg Airport. Finally I made it in Nurnberg at 2:00 in the morning and entered  Inter -City -Hotel in front of the station . I was so exhausted that I wanted to get into my room right away and sleep like a log. At the reception, a short, chubby man was waiting for me. I just wanted to show him a voucher which I acquired from HIS, a Japanese travel agency in Duesseldorf. But he insisted that I turn in also my credit card. "Why?"  He smiled and said politely, "Well, Mr. Kaneko, once you get into your room you'd like some refreshment and watch TV or say, a video. To make a long story short, don't you like watching beautiful German ladies with big titties?" His brown eyes twinkled behind the gold-ri...

Today I'd like to talk to you about a French landscape painter, Jean Francois Millet. His pictures centered on poor farmers in the country side. Now I'd like to briefly touch on his two masterpieces out of his many paintings. 1. "Angelus" 2. "Gleaners" When I was a little kid, my mother hanged these pictures on the wall of the dining room. I was moved by these pictures with a striking contrast between light and shadow. "Angelus" means that a bell that is rung three times a day in Roman Catholic churches to tell the people when to say a particular prayer. Millet described a famer couple praying for good harvest after work in the fields when the sun was about to sink. Or are they praying for their dead son? Anyway the church bell must have kept ringing when they prayed. In case of "Gleaners" he depicted that poor farmers were diligently collecting bits of grain after harvest. Maybe it has something to do with the story from the Bible. ...

Other than the Ekimae building, I found recently three shops where I enjoy spending my free time. Firstly, McDonald's. It's located near JR Fukushima Station. You can buy  a premium roast coffee" at the price of 120 Yen. Moreover you're allowed to smoke in the morning from 5:00 am until 10:30 am. I like this shop, because I can write a script for the English lesson. Secondly there is a Karaoke shop next to the Mcdonald's. You can enjoy singig Karaoke with free beverages at the price of 160 Yen an hour. Last not but least I'd like to introduce a video rental store by the name of "Tsutaya". You can rent old movies for one week at the price of 190 Yen. They also provide you with a special discount for the elderly(over 60 years old). Last week I rented a video entitled "Dresden". Do you know where Dresden is located? It's located in the eastern part of Germanyneighboring Poland and Czechoslovakia. It used to be the second largest city a...