小学校"中退"→通信高校編入→ｶﾚｯｼﾞ卒業（豪州・ｶﾅﾀﾞ・NZ）→国際英語教師資格→ＴＯＥＩＣ920→英会話ｽｸｰﾙﾏﾈｰｼﾞｬｰ→高校卒業→ＴＯＥＩＣ975→短大卒業→日米大学
（Blog of a teacher of Japanese & English from the Rising Sun. Rock the World !）
I just learnt this rock'n piece, which drove me to put it up here.
Not knowing this singer too well, I can’t help but find this song super-rock! This ain’t a mere bunch of rowdy sounds put together, yet is an artistic piece with a tuneful harmony and elements of beauty of the “interactive sound”, if I put it in some way, that each part of the song multiplies one another.
He ain’t looking any younger, yet does look tremendously manly and indeed vigorous, does he not?
I will be like HIM conquering, or living together in the very best way, with my age, no matter how old I get. XDRock it!! Yeah, true, IT'S MY LIFE!!
I have quit Facebook, which is no matter to me, as I just recently began making use of the site which is, actually very minor in Japan (as small as 2% of Japan’s population are reported to be in use of it). Not being able to give expression to what I ended up feeling about it, hmm, I somehow found myself in the midst of, sort of, unutterable vanity. So let me keep off it until when I might reconsider it. :D
フェイスブックはやめた。少ししか使わなかったけど。
Well, there are times in life, at the very least to me, in which you are unable to get yourself out of some form of whirling current, you see what I am attempting to signify or to let it be visualized here? Leave it.
少し音楽を聞きたい気分のこの頃。
I am not a frequent listener to Japanese songs, but this song which I chanced to click on, does strike the right chord and rock me deeply. It is in Japanese, but hope you find, especially its tune catchy and cool. The same band as what’s in the previous article. The vocalist’s voice indeed sounds captivating to me, as well as the sound of the bass.
I am somehow feeling uplifted and discovered this funky rock’n theme song for Sazae-san, one of the most popular Japanese Anime broadcast for more than a decade on TV.
This band, which I just bumplted into, plays songs well-known in Japan with their taste, which sounds even more bad-ass for me. So, let’s roll! Take a listen, though it is in Japanese. I, myself, do play the guitar as well, and particularly, am fond of this form of sound of it. Also, the girl’s voice is so clear.
It’s been a bit while since I got back to my work in Kyoto; to my teaching job. Feeling “I’ve got back”, and also seeing as if the days last week in Nagoya had been something like a mirage or something now.
Well, let me introduce two of my favourite songs.
The first is well-known Japanese song translated into English, sung by Eric Martin of Mr.Big and Debbie Gibson that I previously picked up below. The melody is tuneful and catchy as well as its lyrics in English as well. Hope you also find it cool. The title is Japanese meaning like “I’d love you more than anybody else in the world.”
And the second is of AKB48 an immensely popular female idol group from Japan. It enjoys dozens of copies sold and they are literally seen as “idols”. The song is in Japanese and they sing the significance of encouragement and overcoming yourself with efforts. I actually learnt this group since coming back to Japan in 2009. I had never known them till then..
Howdy folks? I am staying in Nagoya for my college now, at a guesthouse half or more of whose guests are overseas guys and I am speaking English a lot, feeling good. :)
I go back to Kyoto tomorrow. This is my last stay in Nagoya so far as I have no more classes left here before graduation in March. I got reunited with my good friend from Israel as well. A lot of fun at a bar (me, drinking juice though)
Ah I talked with an Italian girl who came all the way from Italy to attend a concert of Arashi; Japanese idol group, paying a lot ! It was just.. Wow for me. From Italy for a concert!? Well, anyways.
Oh I chanced to talk to two girls originally born in Fiji and now living Australia and New Zealand. What a coincidence!
A bit late Happy New Year!! I do hope this year 2012 shall be very brilliant to every one of you!
少し遅いハッピーニューイヤー！(・v・)/ 今年が素晴らしい年になります様に！
The picture is the Japanese special traditional cuisine: Osechi. I had it this year as well ! Each ingredient in it has got each meaning something to do with your health or luck.
Apart from my job as a manager at a private English school, my new year’s resolutions (I’ve arguably got to put Goals here though) are:
スクールマネージャーとしての仕事は変わりませんが、それ以外に今年の抱負を。
First off, to be transferred into a junior at a university in my city, then proceed to gain as many credits as I could so that, desirably, I may graduate in two years which is the shortest duration. My major is English literature, which shall be, immensely backbreaking, I can already speculate it.., but I have the sole way to take, just go ahead ! Just as your information, distance learning courses of universities in Japan are well known to be so hard to successfully graduate, which is said somewhere around only 10% of all the students can complete the courses within the shortest period of time. I won’t lose my nerve!!
Second, I also belong to a college in Florida, the U.S. as a correspondence student majoring in theology, which is also.. laborious!! It requires you to read appro. 4,500 pages in total, which would not be too easy for those who speak English as their mother tongue either, then it is a lot more for me having to consult a dictionary each time. (><) Yet, this is what I have wished to study on the most, so I do not find it too much, just a matter of time and my concentration.. I will to work on this study as much as I can as well this year!! My last goal is to proceed to an affiliated university and graduate from both universities, in Japan and the US.
Btw, tuition fees for all the colleges are, thankfully, affordable, well still high for me though. Commonly it costs you 1million yen($13,000) annually if you study at university in Japan, whilst the distance-learning courses are around 20thousand yen($2,600) a year. The college in Florida is owned on a scholarship or offerings, so the fee is virtually free or at most $500 for the entire course. Really I thank for this.
Well, I am still with my ambition to change my job to a better one where possible, despite that fact that it is not too common nor easy for you over 30 years of age to do so in Japan’s society. I would like to put myself in a better setting, which is my honest hope. It is not easy to find such a job with a five-day week (because I will often have classes on weekends), especially in an education field that I want, but I shan’t give up! :)
Let me render my true thanks to the above for being able to have Christmas safely this year as well ! Thank you !I wish to celebrate Jesus' birthday in my heart.
Btw, our sort of custom here in Japan is having cake on Christmas.
This is Yu Darvish the one said to be the best baseball pitcher of Japan; half-Iranian and half-Japanese. Seems his father is quite fluent in English, yet he is not so. hmm. Well, cool English clip featuring Japanese baseball players anyways.
Would you pray for my mum? I noticed that something was wrong with my mother this morning, who had been very fine and full of energy. I had not seen her too much because I have work for 12 to 15 hours a day and come home in the morning for the past months.
She said to me in her weak and smal voice, which is also unusual, that she had got unable to grasp or speak clearly as ever the day before yesterday, suddently, and now she is unable to even email with her phone nor talk now, for which she weeped bitterly.
She has been diagnosed as cerebral infarction. I believe in prayers and God's healing.
Today, let me introduce my proud city Kyoto with the history as the capital of Japan for more than 1200 years until around 150 years ago. Do you know where the emperor's house is? It is still in Kyoto even now, so they; the imperial House come back to Kyoto at times, but that is when this city with narrow roads that are already congested on a daily basis gets even more crowded because the main road is closed and the traffic is regulated for them to go on... Maybe not really welcome in that sense, therefore?
Well, Kyoto is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Japan and indeed a very special place with its unique settings with the time honored buidings that are preserved by the government because they cannot be rebuilt once they are demolished.
We have dozens of shrines and temples with rich nature where you could see coexistence between buildings made of natural material and well kept nature; like Japanese gardens.
New structures in Kyoto and colour used for them are strictly restricted by the landscape ordinance, which is why you do not see any skyscrapers or those tall buildings that you can see in Osaka the business city next to Kyoto here. Bright colours such as Orange, Yellow etc. are not to be used too much here and you are to have the approval of the city before using whatever colour you want to for your building or signboards. One instance of this is the signboards for McDonald's in Kyoto, which are often in brown though they are red in other cities.
Kyoto is coloured in pink in spring with Sakura: cherry trees and in vivid red with maple leaves in fall. Summer is just scorching and winter is freezing with high humidity.
It was a good opportunity for me to rediscover and rerecognize that I was living abroad, and now that I am back home, I am appreciating this city and its atmosphere. Objectively speaking, the air is different from that of Osaka or Tokyo because it has more nature. Each has each feature, but I prefer Kyoto with nature and old wooden structures rather than sky scrapers and more neon lights. Coming back from, such as Aichi where my college is, I do feel it is easier for me to breathe getting off the bus, maybe air has got more moisture? I don’t know. I will not say Kyoto is the best, yet just I like it as my hometown. Just as information, Kyoto is a sister city of Paris, France.
To those who will to dance away forgetting everything !
I learnt this freaking and funky dance song when it was payed with the news I was watching online. It was a topic for chocolate consumption in China, then this "choco choco"catchy stuff was being played as BGM !
Had no difficulty getting to this on youtube with the keywords "cholate song".
Look, how moving and touching her singing in Japanese is !! I, as a native Japanese, cannot help being thrilled listening to her cover song of the "Sukiyaki". She also appears to have covered some Japanese popular songs in English as far as I gather. Wow, Che'Nelle.., I remeber her ! She was born in Malaysia, raised in Australia and now resides in the US.
I was, at last, able to have an adequate sleep of more than 15 hours or so, for I can barely sleep for somewhere between 4 and 6 on weekdays.., frequntly coming home in the early morning. (＞＜) Nackered, yet it can't be helped.
Well, so for a change and a pastime, I am inclined to take a listen to songs when I have a day off. Let me introduce two of my favourites.
Been a while, for my life has got so hectic with loads of everyday work since getting promoted to school manager that I've got to come home early in the morning at around 5 or at the latest 7.. (＞＜) Yet, thankfully and finally, I could manage to have a long sleep of 14 hours today! Rejuvenated!
Now, I have got such a privilege to teach one student in the ninth grade that is a representative speech contestant of my city Kyoto for the national English speech contest held next month. It does feel tremendous responsibility for me, whilst concurrently is rewarding. I shall do my best for her praying!
Well, let me introduce the website on which you can watch latest news clips from New Zealand, which you can also download to put in your i-pod as podcast. Such American English News programmes available online as well as CBS would be fairly well known to many English learners I assume, yet I doubt that ones from Oceania are known well in the world, like Australia, NZ and Fiji, the last two of which I pick up here.
Here is it for One News of New Zealand. It automatically moves onto next once the first one finishes. It should be its national broadcasting corporation.
And here is for Fiji 6pm News. Unfortunately you've got to click on each title to download to play. Bit troublesome, but worth if you wish to have a glance at what Fiji news programme would be like. Just for your information, the “6pm News” is one the channel called Fiji One. Yet literally that’s the only one on TV apart from satellite pay ones. You need an aerial for it. :)
Also let me put Australian Network as well for English learners, which is of great use. No wonder English education is the third biggest export of Australia. That's such huge business out there and they have succeeded in the field.
こちらはお勧めのオーストラリアの、英語学習者向けのサイト。色々な動画等あってすごく役に立ちますよ～☆ Hope you enjoy it! (^ ^)/
From the album of Debbie Gibson ”Ms. Vocalist” that features Japanese great popular songs translated into and sung in English. Marvelous and it ought to sound just as tuneful and catchy as the originals, right? I leaｒnt this album covering Japanese songs in English was released just last year in 2010 ! To my surprise. Listen up!
I am going to put two songs that have changed and greatly influenced my life since fist heard them.
He is a legendary singer of Japan; Yutaka Ozaki. He had sung all frustration of society and adults and also his belief in things. Died at the age of 26, whose cause has been kept unknown to public.
In the first song below; “Graduation”, he sings his struggles against schools and adults and that he had wanted to free from them all, with the phrase “the graduation from this rule.” And also belief in people’s warmth and trust.
I first learnt this song on TV, probably, when I was still in high school (full-time high school). I had tremendous difficulty graduating from high school, and it is just in 2010 when I finally graduated from high school that I belonged for 10 years. You know, this song is not just a mere song to like and hum following the fashion, its lyrics, correctly the lyrics of his songs do overlap with my life itself.
I dropped out of even elementary school right in the middle. My knowledge and skill of my Japanese language was far lower than those of other classmates as I entered a junior high school let alone English which I began studying from scratch 5 or 6 years ago.
The second song has left a similar impression on me. The song is called “To be myself “. You know, it may be one of the hardest things in life to be what you actually are. Just to be yourself, to be myself, it sings , you have to keep fighting and winning in this cold society.
Yes. Simply, I am in favour of it. And it has jolted my soul ever since first hearing it. You need not a bunch of theories or teachings here. It is a matter of, simply, what you feel or how you feel, which could go beyond words.
Anyways, I like these. And I also would like not to forget the passion for life and how it is significant to keep believing one thing and to follow it through.
Finally, the last clip is one of Ozaki’s very famous songs "I love you" covered in English by Debbie Gibson.
Hi you folks! It’s been such long ever since! Sorry should I have discouraged you in any ways.
Well, let me introduce two overseas TV figures that I am a fan of.
The first, Russel Perters; an Indian Canadian is one you might find whose words a bit offensive in terms of racism.., actually which he fully acknowledges and dares pick it up on the stage to make it all fun. And he is indeed observable to express the depictions of features of each people. Well, I am not gonna recommend him to you.. as you could not be fond of him, just introduce him with relatively moderate clip of his comedy show. Check it out!
The second is Katrina Kaif from India. Doesn’t she look like Indian if you know how Indian people look? Yes, she does. Whilst, does she not necessarily look like Indian? No, she doesn’t. Btw, do you know I was in an Indian community during half my stay overseas as a local college student? Many of my good friends were Indian, so were my class teachers, a couple of whom I am still in touch with. Yet I learnt few Indian words.., for I had no notion of or interest at all in learning it, but only English during the period of my stay abroad. Getting back to the one I introduce today, Katrina Kaif is a British Indian. She was born to an Indian father and an English mother, so her English is splendid, also because of her travelling to move around the world throughout her life. She is well-known as a Bollywood actress in India, NOT Hollywood, just to remind you. I am gonna put a reference to it as well.
Well, I could take what’s laughed at in the shows as racism etc, yet somehow it is made so funny and charming in some sense. She speaks English with various British accents, amazingly! This has gained so much popularity that even Tony Blair the former prime minister of the UK appears in the show. She is transformed to be from a student to a grandmother with a special makeup. It airs on BBC two.
For those who have no idea what “Pop Gospel” is like, here are some praises or hymns what we call. Whatever the rhythm or tempo of the songs is, the lyrics and the heart of the one that sings are towards Jesus.
This sort of gospel songs are especially popular in Australia and a great number of brilliant praises are from Hillsong church there. Their youth band is called United and is the seond one below.
I was browsing through Utada’s clips on yourube to come across BoA’s English interview, then found that she has made her debut in the US. Wow, so just let me put up her very debut single in the US together with her English interview.
As is already widely known, now that she has hugely succeed both in her country Korea and Japan where she has been performing since the middle of her teens, she is brought being referred to as “the Best of Asia”, yeah no question to that in many aspects or she could be seen as more like representative of Asia; as Utada was raised in the U.S. BoA with her brilliant success is still at the young age of 24.
