A member of staff said over 50 examinees participated in the interview test at three designated places in Japan. This time, I decided to take it in Tokyo.

Once I got the place, which was a school, a member of staff led me to a waiting room. After a while, another staff came to the room and asked us to go to another room. We, the examinees, moved to the room for the interview in pairs. In the room, there was each paper on each table for us. You can choose the one task out of two. The one is the domestic topics concerning world heritage sites and tourism, and the other is the foreign ones. I picked the domestic one because I found it easy to answer the questions.

The interview test itself went well. I talked about the death of a prominent RAKUGO storyteller, Danshi Tatekawa, a hotspring in my prefecture, Hiraizumi city, which was registered as a world heritage site lately, and the world heritage site in Japan that I would like to explain to the examiner. Let me guess. Things went well.

I’m going to know the result next month. I can’t wait.

DEAD SPACE is the one.

This game was launched in 2008. The descriptions in the game were so terrible and grotesque that it was not allowed to be sold in Japan. You can obtain only the imported one. Of course it’s not the one translated in Japanese.

Here’s the outline. In 25th century, people were out of the earth in order to gather materials that were already run out there. One day in 2508, distress signals of SOS from a huge mining ship ‘USG ISHIMURA’ were gave out. USG Kellion, a ship, was sent in order to research and solve the problems. Isaac Clarke, who was an engineer to USG Kellion, was in worry watching a footage from his ex-girlfriend, Nicole, who worked in ISHIMURA. USG Kellion had hardly docked with USG ISHIMURA when an explosion took place on USG Kellion. Isaac and other crews had a narrow escape from the explosion and landed ISHIMURA. There was no hint in ISHIMURA that any crews of ISHIMURA existed on the ship. Instead, something terrible was waiting for Isaac.

The word ISHIMURA is totaly a Japanese word. You can see several chinese characters in the game. The development staff of this game are said to have respect for a prominent game: Biohazard(Resident Evil). Also, the atmosphere in the game is so similar to those of the movie ‘Alien’ or ‘The Thing’.

As I wrote above, I know what the ending is going on, but my heart can’t help pounding with fear. It’s a very interesting game.

I’ve been trying to record my plays and upload them on YouTube. I’m so glad if you enjoy them.

Something happened around the Nile Valley about fifty years ago. The construction of Aswan High Dam led to the threat for numerous ancient Nubian treasures. The passions to protect invaluable treasures and artefacts there transcended national interestes and pride. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) kicked off the first international campaign, which was to safeguard such treasures and artefacts in grave danger. That was the first activity to initiate the world heritage convention.

In 1972, UNESCO called sites which should be preserved Cultural, Natural, and Mixed Heritage sites. The member states of UNESCO ratified the international treaty generally known as the World Heritage Convention. 148 countries are registered as members to date. We have 936 registered heritage sites on the earth as of June, 2011. In Japan, 16 sites are registered as the sites so far.

The World Heritage Committee, the subsidiary organization to UNESCO, is the one who certifies world heritage sites. Member states which ratified the convention hand in a recommendation to register sites in their countries as the world heritage sites. The states can submit the application once in a year. The World Heritage Committee deliberate over the claim if it is adequate or not.

As I wrote, over 900 world heritage sites are all over the world. Itsukushima Shinto Shrine in Japan, Machu Picchu in Peru, Mont-Saint-Michel and its Bay in France, etc. are where I would like to visit someday.

Nothing is more terrible than ignorance. Koichiro Matsuura, a Japanese, was the former Director-General of UNESCO, who was the very person to trigger the USA’s back to UNESCO. He reformed UNESCO from within.

Our new business just kicked off
I’m not sure if I informed you of the exact day on which we started our new business. We have already done, actually. What we have been trying in Kagoshima(the prefecture where we do our new business) is definitely different from what we have done before. Totally new experiences have been bothering me, though, I have really been feeling I’m now in growth as a business person. I’ll let you know what happened to us in Kagoshima in another article, someday.

A RAKUGO recital went well
Last September, I had a RAKUGO recital in Tokyo. Personally speaking, it went well.

I, this time, played a drama about a love affair between a wife and a sales person, which was the title named ‘kami-ire(wallet)’.

The story is a comical one, like this. A wife just sent a love letter to a sales person who regularly visited her husband. The sales person didn’t think it was a good thing, but he came to see her as she demanded at a night the husband was away. The wife insisted to do the THING with him, but he tried to refuse it. With women’s wise technique, the wife had finally reached for the top of the mountain of him(lol) in one way or another. The bad sign, however, just appeared right after the right time. The husband just came back home at the right moment the wife and the sales person were about to become one. The sales person had a narrow escape and went back his home unwitnessed. But he noticed he left his wallet behind the wife’s bedroom. What was worse, he still kept the love letter the wife wrote in his wallet. What if the husband found the wallet and read the letter?

One of the most famous and prominent RAKUGO storytellers, Kokontei Shinchoh, also played this drama. I do like him. That’s the reason why I decided to try this play.

The RAKUGO teacher just gave me a DVD of the recital. I must say ‘thanks to my natural loud voice’. I could hardly hear what some of storytellers in the DVD were saying. Their voices were too small and inaudible!

My next stage is going to be held in March. I’m now getting on a new play.

I just made sure correct and polite procedures on drinking Japanese tea before writing this article. Let me say I’m sorry at first. I just gave up reading articles explaining the proper ways to drink Japanese tea. You find it difficult to understand all of them. The processes are so many and complicated. Moreover, there are a lot of traditions on how to drink Japanese traditional tea, and the various traditions have different styles. I ended up making it simple.

First, you need to make sure which side of the plates and the bowls that you are given to is the frontside, which is called sho-men in Japanese. Basically, the side that you are facing at the first time when the hosts serve is the frontside of the plates or the bowls. Hosts show you the frontside so that you enjoy appreciating it. The thing is that the frontside of the plates or the bowls is just the spot you appreciate, but the one you put to your lips. What should I do, then?

You need to hold up the bowl with your right hand, and cradle the bottom of the bowl with your left hand. Now, the frontside of the bowl is looking at your face. Rotate the bowl in clockwise direction. Two times at a right angle. The frontside of the bowl and your face should be pointing out in the same direction. Now is the time you sipped. ‘Bottoms up!’ is the worst choice you make. The word ‘sip’ is an absolutely adequate expression while you are drinking Japanese traditional tea.

After you finish drinking the tea, you have to rotate the bowl again: two times at a right angle in counterclockwise. Then, the frontside of the bowl should come back to you and smile at you calmly. You can appreciate the beauty of the craftsmanship of the bowl again. After that, rotate the bowl again so that you show the host the frontside, and put it down on the floor. With some words like ‘gochisousamadeshita‘, your exotic adventure will finish. (As a matter of fact, I just omitted several processes from the proper ways. I think you should copy the ways that someone else is doing at the time you try it in real.)

You can taste some Japanese cake when you drink Japanese traditional tea. Make sure which the frontside of it is.

This is the tea that I tasted in Inuyama.

I’m just indicating the directions in which you have to rotate before/after you sipping tea. I showed you wrong information before. I corrected it.

This tea ceremony house is designated as the national treasure in Japan.

The tea ceremony house has a beautiful garden around it.

I would like you to appreciate the sounds that waterdrops make. This musical instrument is called suikinkutsu, under which a porcelain bin is buried and it echoes with waterdrops. The sounds will make you relieved.

–

Can we control our own destinies? Or the fates just show us a way and we have to go along it? Some people might say that we have to make our way and our goals on our own. David Norris, a senatorial candidate, has been struggling to climb up the stairs named ‘honor’. However, he stumbled over a scandal on his way. He dropped by the bathroom in disappointment so that he arranged for his speech. A sudden advice for his address just came out from the bathroom, in which no one was supposed to be. Elise Sellas was the one who was in possession of the advice. David and Elise, they didn’t need much time to embrace and kiss each other. They fell in love, which meant they started against their own destiny. Men in traditional suits with hats, who worked for an unknown organization called ‘the Adjustment Bureau’, had been observing David and Elise with books in their hands. According to their books, David was becoming the president of the United States of America, and Elise was grabbing the glorious name as a dancer. The books, however, also indicated that they would become eligible for such honorable status without seeing each other. Loving at first sight, coming across again, talking with each other happily, growing their own love, those were not supposed to be. The agents of the Adjustment Bureau were trying to prevent David and Elise from closing in many ways. The more the agents were disturbing them, the larger their love became. Did this sci-fi Romeo and Juliet open their fate by their own?

–

What makes me attracted Matt Damon? He is not that handsome(sorry!), but he has something remarkable. Maybe his smart character draws my attention. Flexibility might be one of his features. He acted a bit tactless guy in ‘Ocean’s Eleven’, brought us ‘laugh out loud’ in ‘Stuck On You’, and made us excited in ‘The Bourne Identity’. He can show us a variety of atomospheres in different roles.

As for the movie itself, the story went on as I expected. So typical that I’m sure you will be able to enjoy the movie without thinking seriously.

By the way, what do you think of your own destiny? Do you think that you have been making your own life by your own? Or by your fate?

One more thing, I at first thought Will Smith joined this movie when I saw an agent of the Adjustment Bureau. It was not Will Smith, but Anthony Mackie. He is so similar to Will Smith, isn’t he? Here, it is.

Which place do you want?
My friend just asked me to take a trip for the Philippines. Other friend also offered me a short stay in England. I have something to do in Hokkaido. Hmmm, which place do you want to go?

The shop around the corner just opened
I already have such a page in Japanese, though, I decided to have another one in English. The name of the site is The Shop Around the Corner. You have a good taste if you have ever heard of this name before. It is named after the bookstore in the movie: You’ve Got Mail. I hope I will post many articles in the page. Now I just uploaded only one article, though.

I must upgrade my computer so that I play this game
Please take a look at the two footages.

Tomb Raider, you might know the name as the titles of the movies. Angelina Jolie acted in the movies as Lara Croft. Actually, Tomb Raider is a popular series of games, and the movies were created from the games.

I would like you to watch this footage.

Zombie game again!

Hmmm, as I said, my computer is already outdated. I think I should buy a new one or upgrade my computer in order to play these games.

I met this strange dish by chance when I dropped by a tavern with my friend. The words ‘sashimi of jellyfish’ on the menu just drew my attention. Here, it is.

Actually, it’s difficult to describe the taste of this dish. I would like you to imagine and enjoy the texture rather than the taste. Let me search for an adequate expression about the texture from my limited vocabulary. How does it sound: crunchy?

Only a few kinds of jellyfish are used as sashimis: bizen jellyfish and echizen jellyfish. As I said, you can’t expect the taste too much from this cuisine; however, it is said that this cuisine is hearty as a Chinese medicine.

In contrast, I would like you to enjoy the taste rather than the texture: sashimis of horse. We call it basashi.

There is an anecdote regarding basashi. It is believed that samurai warriors fighting at Korean Peninsula in 1592-1598 were forced to eat horses due to the lack of food. After the war, the samurai warriors brought the custom back to Japan and spread it from Kumamoto prefecture: the hometown of the high-ranked samurai warrior at the war, Kiyomasa Kato.

The taste of basashi is different on parts of horse. You can enjoy basashi with soy sauce, sliced leeks, etc.

I just had a dream one day in which I was thinking why we often forget to add them and how we reduce such a mistake. I thought in my dream that we have to pay attention to subjects of English sentences more than those of Japanese sentences.

As you know, you often omit subjects when you speak/write Japanese. Additionally, we don’t care the number of the subjects that you refer to while speaking/writing Japanese;It doesn’t matter whether or not the subject is singular. I guess such a characteristic of Japanese doesn’t give us a chance to develop our sense that cares about verbs.

I used to play FPS games with my friends, and my friends used to report an enemy/enemies through Skype like this, ‘teki hakken! when we were under clan wars. It might have literally mean, ‘I got enemy!(no articles)’, but you didn’t at least know how many enemies the friend had encountered. If the friend had encounters multiple enemies, we would have helped him. If not so, we would not have needed to do it. We had to make sure how many enemies he got after his words. It gave our enemies enough time to attack us. The leader of our clan often suggested that we reported the specific number of the enemies clearly.

Omitting subjects when you speak/write Japanese is also to help us make awkward sentences in English. I don’t know why, but almost conversations in Japanese go well without any problems, except when the speakers/writers are fighting with each other. Maybe, Japanese don’t want to show who(or what) has responsibilities for the actions which are indicated in the sentences. We sometimes become confused when we don’t know who is the subject or who is taking the action during conversations. Let me show an example. I don’t know if I will be able to demonstrate a Japanese conversation in English properly.

A: Hey, you have to hear this. My mother just bought computer.(We don’t need to make sure if the mother bought one computer.)
B: Wow, that’s great.
A: — is not good at computing. (B has to guess the subject is A’s mother.)
B: But — will learn it soon, right?(A has to perceive A’s mother is the subject.)
A: Yeah, but — think — should help her.(B has to guess the subjects are A.)

Hmm, I don’t think it’s a good sample. Anyway, you have to pay attention to subjects while speaking/writing in English; you have to bear in mind who the subjects are or what the subjects are. You will be able to polish your sentences with such an idea like holistic medicines.

A personal note
You might have been dissapointed in me not joining in one activity that you recommend: the one about English writing. I’m not in the mood. That’s all. There’s no other reasons. Don’t make the topic complicated. It’s not the one regarding ‘respect’ or so.

game game game
I’ve been saying I’m busy. My old friend, however, asked me to join the clan he belongs, which is a group of players of an online game. I was so glad to see him online again, but his words ‘I want you to join in our clan’ made me wonder. I haven’t been onlinye and played the game for two years. It means that I have already become a noob(someone might say I’ve been a noob since I started playing the game. I saw someone leaving their comments saying ‘weak’ on my YouTube channel lol).

Yes. I was right. I was surprised at my damn play. I didn’t know what was going on my mates fighting in different spots(I used to be at least able to make sure what was happening to my mates and know what I had to do at the time). I totally forgot where I had to throw grenades(I used to be able to aim enemies in the distance with grenades who planting a bomb). Most snipers on the game shot me in the head(Except great snipers, I was able to manage such snipers with my AK. I was good at tap shooting.)

Oh, god.

By the way, I’ve been thinking that I record my play of games and upload it with my voice(in English) on Facebook(not YouTube). My computer needs updating, though.

Useless to translate from Japanese into English
Some English learners in Japan say they need to learn English writing by translating what they are trying to say from Japanese into English quickly. I don’t think so. You might not be able to throw away Japanese senses from your English as long as you think in Japanese while speaking/writing in English. I just had a funny dream relating to the topic. Let me show you it. Hmm, maybe I should have written it in another article.

Someone said to me in my dream after she finished taking a bath, ‘yoi ohuro deshita.’ Yoi ohuro deshita literally means ‘it was a good(luxury, great, nice, etc.-shaped) bathtub.’ She didn’t mean to say like that. She was supposed to say, ‘I felt relaxed taking a bath. I had a comfortable time there.’ In my dream, however, she said to me in English, ‘it was a good bath.’ Did the appearance of the bathtub in my dream attract her so much? I was laughing at what she was saying in my dream.

By the way, sometimes Japanese say when they take a bath before others do, ‘saki ni ohuro itadakimasu.’ It literally means, ‘I’ll obtain the bath first.’ The phrase itadakimasu might remind you of the one when you start eating. It can be used when you take a bath before someone else does, especially for the elderly.

saki ni ohuro itadakimasu and yoi ohuro deshita, I think you should remember them and use them effectively when you visit someone in Japan.

Wait a minute, was I the one who had the dream. I was the one who produced such a funny English in my dream, not her. lol