My Vision Of Next One Year

Maho Fukabori

     Hello, everyone. I'm sorry I have never written any blogs.
     A few days ago, Japan had a coming-of-age day. It means that I have only one year before becoming an adult. Therefore, I would like to introduce what I want to do until the day.

     First, getting a good skill of cooking. People often say that the best way to become good at cooking is to accumulate experiences. I'm believing that I will be able to get a good skill because I'm cooking dinner almost everyday for one reason since about 3 months ago!
     Second, getting much knowledge through reading many books. The first year in university passed without reading so many books. One of the things I was looking forward to do in university when I was a high school student is to reading many kinds of books, so I'm planning to read 3 books a month.
     Third, finally, I would like to become a lady who suit furisode. Slender, calm, and elegant woman is my goal. Although there is a year before becoming adult, from now, I'm sooo looking forward to wear furisode which my mother wore in her coming-of-age day next year!!

Blog #5: BRIDGE

Misaki Yoshioka

On the weekend I participated an event called "Yokohama Walk Rally" produced by an organization "BRIDGE". “BRIDGE” is an organization that helps foreign exchange students in Japan to make Japanese friends. Of course, it helps Japanese students make foreign friends studying in Japan. I participated in this event to make new foreign friends. My friend works as an staff at BRIDGE so she invited me.

   The main purpose of “Yokohama Walk Rally” is to walk around Yokohama and Minatomirai and take pictures and chat while watching the beautiful scenery. There were about 35 people participating in this event. I thought there were many foreign students than Japanese students. We split in to groups of 5~6 people. In my group, there were foreign students from Germany, Holland, and France. They could all speak English and little Japanese so it was very nice talking to them about their culture, family, school, fashion, food, and so on.

   I was surprised to her them all say that they prefer Japan than their home country. At first, I thought they were saying that because I was Japanese. However, I started to notice that they were saying it for real. For me, I really want to go to Europe and see beautiful buildings and learn more about their history. It was kind of funny to see each other seek for things we cannot reach.

   I really enjoyed this event and hope to participate if BRIDGE holds another event in the future.

Blog#5 Cafe

Kaori Motoda


  I'm doing a part-time job at EXCELSIOR CAFFE from this summer. It is cafe that is born in 1999 from DoutorCoffee Company, and it's motto is "Giving customer a relaxation and happiness through one cup of coffee".

  Since I am new, I had to remember tons of things in order to work. I even didn't know how to use register before and made many mistakes. Even  after I got used to the cashier, my next job was to remember how to make the drinks and foods, how to clean things in the store, what to do in what time, ...etc. Sometimes, there were some customers who became irritated when I was clumsy and often lost self-confidence at first. I founded out how difficult to work in a service trade since we are dealing with people, not machines. Although, because of other partners' help and supports, I managed to get acclimatized to it little by little. I was very lucky that people who are working with me are so friendly and nice. Now, it's been about 3 months since I started to work here, and there are still many goals to do a good job, but I am enjoying it.

 This is what we are recommending right now at the store. It is honey-based late, which is sweet but little bitter since it has espresso in it. The S size is 360 yen, so I guess it is quite cheaper than other coffee shops. Since EXCELSIOR is a chain store, the shops are in anywhere in the cities. If you wanted to have a break for coffee, please come by and try this!

Blog #4: Aïkido

I am going to present to you my true passion: aïkido. Aïkido is an Japanese martial art which was created in the middle of the past century. It indeed a very recent martial art. It has of course a lot in common with other martial art, as the important of breathing, meditating, respect,... but aïkido is also very special because it's the only one non-violent martial art. That's mean there is no competition, no opposition between the person who attack and the one who's defending. In fact the main goal is to protect non only myself but also the attacker of the attack. There is no longer enemies but human being who try to become more responsible.

 

It's been 10 years now since I started practicing aïkido. Aïkido is the reason why I started being interested in Japan in the first place. Even thus my teacher in France isn't Japanese, and never went to Japan, he is teaching aïkido as a real martial art, as a Budo in the pure tradition.

 Thanks to him, because of his amazing energy, his wonderful techniques, I discovered not only an great physical practice but also a way of living, a path to become a better as a human being, a beautiful art and a funny game, all at once ! I was just a teenager when I started this practice as a sport, but it changed my life. Aïkido is the reason why I started learning Japanese, the reason why I wanted to come here, the reason why I keep being interested in Japanese culture and especially in martial art.              

              

             My dream is to become one day an aikido teacher in prison. I know that is going to take many year for this dream to come true, but I am patient and I still have time. I am first dan now, I receive my black belt 4 years ago and I am about to pass the exam for the second dan. I could start teaching since I got my black belt but I want to improve my skills more before that.

          If you have any question about aïkido or if you want to see a demonstration someday, please, let me know !

Odile

Blog #4: School Festival

Misaki Yoshioka

I belong in the Gakushuin University Festival Committee. Last weekend (11/4~6) was when the festival took place. The weather was splendid; not too chilly and warm. On the last day it rained, but it was mostly sunny. The people in the committee wore the same purple jacket so that a visitor who has any questions knows who to ask. Getting ready for the festival was hard work than I have expected. Setting up the tents, putting iron plates, refrigerator, oil cooker and other kitchen utensils in place was hard labor.

My job was to unify the stalls and manage food hygiene. Many university students were participating in stall so it was a big responsibility to make them understand it was important to cook in clean sanitation. However, some of the clubs participating in the stall was cooking in insanitary conditions. It was hard to warn and advise them because they were older than me. So far, I have been explaining about some of the difficult jobs I did there were a lot of awesome things and events.

Last year, since the typhoon hit Tokyo, there were only 9000 visitors. However, this year about 39000 visitors came to Gakushuin University`s festival. This number is a record. Also, all of the stage performances were held properly. None of them were cancelled by bad weather. Last but not least, we ordered a fireworks manufacturer and set off fireworks from our baseball ground. 200 fireworks were displayed in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful.

We went through few troubles but overall it was a BIG success. If any of you came to the school festival, I thank you with all of my heart.

See you!

Blog#4 Saying "Yes"

Megumi Shoda
Hello! The school festival was just over. I enjoyed it so much.
   Recently, inspired by the movie "Yes Man", I have made my mind saying "Yes" to a various kinds of things as much as I can. And the results are not always good...sometimes I regret them. However, I have experienced many wonderful stuffs.
   First, as I mentioned in Blog#3, though it was not a big event, I had the opportunity to gather people several times to make a sign for school festival. Through this, I learned that in the group work, everyone has each role and we need each other to do group work. For example, A is good at painting, B is good at machine and so on.
   Second, it was also about the festival. Two weeks before the festival, I was asked by one of my friends, " We are planning to sell kebab at festival. Would you like to join us ?"
And I said "Yes" because I was interested in the stands (屋台).
At the festival, I was cooking meat using pan. Thankfully,a lot of people came to buy kebab so we were really busy! However, through this, I had the chance to meet this great member. Each of them had own opinion about anything and I was inspired by them.
   At first we are afraid of the results, however, If you step a little, you might have a wonderful experience! I want to keep saying "Yes" as much as I can.

YES!

Blog#4 Disney Sea

Kaori Motoda
Good Morning everyone.
Since Halloween is over, all cities are completely in a Christmas mood. You could hear Christmas songs everywhere in the stores, and lights up and illuminations has begun that everybody looks very cheerful in this season. It is one of my favorite time of the year.
   This Monday, I went to Disney Sea, which just started to decorate the whole park in a Christmas mood, with my friends.

   Not only it's almost Christmas, it has been 10 years since Tokyo Disney Sea has opened.
Therefore, the shows and monuments are different from the annual years, and light ups were very gorgeous.
   In the park, there are 7 huge Christmas trees that were also beautiful and people came around the trees to look and entranced by it, or to take pictures.
   What I also like is the food that they sell in Disney Sea. It is delicious and cute.
For example, when we went to a cafe in the park for a rest, there were cakes that were cutely decorated, breads that are shaped like a Mickey Mouse,...etc. I am sorry I don't have the picture of it.
   We got there around 18:00, that we couldn't ride much jet coasters, but we were satisfied by the splendid atmosphere and we realized how we can enjoy this amusement park in many ways.
   I've been there a few times before, but I enjoy it every time in a different way. I definitely  recommend going there before it gets too cold!