Daily life of an English learner

It's snowing!!

2012-01-20T12:58:00.003+09:00

It's snowing in Tokyo, which is the first time in this winter.

It rarely snow in Tokyo, but I've been feeling that it's colder this winter than usual, and I found that it was true seeing the snow.

I miss spring!

A Japanese won Ballon d'Or!!

2012-01-11T00:30:00.002+09:00

A Japanese soccer player Miss. Homare Sawa got FIFA Ballon d'Or!!
Terrific!! Incredibly great!!!!!

After women's national soccer team won the World Cup last year, "Nadeshio", which is the nickname of the women's national soccer team, has been the thing in Japan. Then this wonnderful news of captain Sawa.

Many people in Japan must be encouraged by their brilliant achievements.

The National team's coach Norio Sasaki was also awarded the Women's Coach of the Year prize.

Sasaki and Sawa with their trophies

Men's Ballon d'Or is Lionel Messi. He is awarded for the Third consecutive year!!

Messhi, you are unbelievably a great player!!!!!

Sawa and Messi shaking hands

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T21:44:00.000+09:00

As usual New Year's day, I visited a shrine, praying and drinking amazake.

Although New Year's day is always fine whether with clear blue sky in Tokyo, it was cloudy this year.

Unlike other women, I seldom see any fortune-telling, but there is one I always check. According to that, the important thing for me this year is to gain the trust of people around me.

The word of this year:

Gaining Trust

I hope all of you have a great year.

My Smart Phone! Hooray!

2011-12-24T19:07:00.001+09:00

Finally, I got my smart phone!!

Unfortunately, I've got a lot to do today so I can't use it to check its various functions.
I'll do after I come back home tomorrow.

Bye bye, my cell phone life, and hello, my smart phone life!

Finding a smart phone, which is the last one!

2011-12-24T13:03:00.001+09:00

I think I wrote in October that I would buy a smart phone for my birthday.
Its release date had been postponed, and finally it was on sale the other day!!

However, it's a very very popular model and it was sold out as soon as it was released.
I was almost giving up and thinking about buying another model. As the last try, I called from shop to shop just now.

And one shop has one!! It's the last one. Ve--ry lucky!!!!!

I'm going to the shop this evening!

I can't get over a cold.

2011-12-01T00:09:00.001+09:00

I think I've been having a cold over 2 weeks. Whew... I even don't see a sign of recovery.

Improper use of the word "Possibly"

2011-11-29T21:55:00.001+09:00

I found that I had used the word "possibly" incorrectly for a long time.

When I want to say something like "Hopefully" or "If possible", I've always said "Possibly."

For example, when a recruit agent introduce a new position to me and ask my salary expectation, I say "possibly ----- yen" instead of "hopefully --- yen."

Hmm... I wonder how they interpret what I said...

Guests from the world's happiest country

2011-11-21T20:22:00.001+09:00

The king and queen of Bhutan returned to their country yesterday after 6-day staying in Japan.

Bhutan is known as the world's happiest country. It uses the concept of GNH (Gross National Happiness) instead of GDP.

The king projects kind, gentle and warm atmosphere.

Although Bhutan is called the happiest country, it has a lot of problems like other countries, for example, against China. But I think most of Japanese people were convinced that Bhutan must be a happy country from the king's character.

I'm not so interested in countries in Asia, but I thought I want to visit Bhutan sometime in the future. It's also an interesting point for me that its established religion is Tibetan Buddhism.

An eye or eyes

2011-11-14T17:35:00.001+09:00

For Japanese people, I think plural is one of the most difficulties regarding English. In Japanese language, we rarely use plural. Even if you ate two apples, you should say "I ate apple." in Japanese. Even if you see many flowers in a garden, you should say "What beautiful flower."
(By the way, an article doesn't exist in Japanese.)

I felt strange when I saw some English idiom using "eye."
For example;

"Her beautiful hair caught my eye."
Catching only one eye, not both eyes?

"Keep your eyes peeled for new information."
"Keep an eye out for new information."

Both are almost the same meaning, but the first sentence uses "one's eye" and the second one uses "an eye."

I think that it's much better to use both eyes when you try to pay attention something. haha.

IC-embedded driver's license card

2011-11-11T18:17:00.001+09:00

I went to the department of motor vehicles to renew my driver's license. I didn't know but driver's licenses has become IC-embedded cards.

I wonder when it has changed.

It requires us to have two PINs. Those are surely not used. So I think many people would forget their PINs. haha.

New PC VAIO and WIMX

2011-11-11T17:58:00.001+09:00

I wrote in the previous article that I was going to buy a smart phone. Before that, I bought a PC last month. It's better to say that I HAD TO buy it, because my PC was almost dying.

It's been four years since I bought my old PC.
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-pc-finally.html

In this time, I bought VAIO.

It's not like I'm a VAIO fan. It's just because it was on sale.
I wanted white one but it was sold out, so I bought black one.

Also I signed up for WIMAX!
So I no longer need a cable to access the Internet in my place. Also I can access the Internet any place. It's every convenient!

Movie: Source Code

2011-11-07T21:27:00.001+09:00

The movie blurb in Japan set up an expectation that the ending was very surprising like never before. So I was looking forward to seeing it. However, I was a bit disappointed.

Hmm... The move itself wasn't so bad, but was it surprise ending?

By the way, the leading character was acted by Jake Gyllenhaal.

He acted a high school student in the movie "The Day After Tomorrow." He has grown up so fast?!?! So I checked. When he acted the high school student, he was already 24 years old!!
Look at this pic. He looks exactly a high school student, not 24 years old guy!

And next year, he appeared in the movie "Brokeback Mountain" as a gay guy.

It's always surprising that actors role various generations!

Happy Birthday to me, 2011

2011-10-17T22:42:00.000+09:00

I'm going to buy a smart phone for my birthday!

New cheese

2011-10-14T21:06:00.001+09:00

I like cheeses. My favorite ones are camembert and mozzarella.

I bought assorted cheeses today.
I found very delicious one which I've never eaten before. It's "boursin - garlic and herb."
http://www.boursincheese.com/products/boursin.htm

It doesn't seems that it's old traditional cheeses. It's tasty! But be careful. The garlic taste is strong.
There is plain type too, so I'll try it.

Movie: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

2011-10-07T22:34:00.000+09:00

http://www.apeswillrise.com/

It's the first time for me to go to see the movie on the day of the premiere. I was really looking forward to seeing it and couldn't wait.

It's just what I expected. I was quite satisfied.

Especially, psychological descriptions of the ape Cesar was great.

CGI is... CGI is CGI, not real. It can't be helped. I don't like CGI movie so much. But in this movie, Cesar's facial expression was interesting. He's gotten incredibly high intelligence. So his face sometimes looked like a human.

Look at his face. It's almost not an ape, but a human.

Even though the credits start appearing, don't leave the theater. Otherwise, you will miss one scene.

I felt scared a bit. The story is about why and how apes acquired enough to conquer the world. But the last scene indicates why and how the human perish.

Dentist

2011-10-06T20:06:00.000+09:00

I went to the dentist for the first time in a very long time to fix cavities. Probably It's been over 20 years since I last went to the dentist.

The situation of my cavities was terrible, so the nerve was removed.

Now, the anesthesia has started wearing, so it hurt!! Pain, pain pain!!

torture

2011-10-02T17:04:00.001+09:00

The second day of the schooling class is finishing in an hour. Following yesterday, it's boring. His speaking is very redundant. It's almost torture!

Boring class!

2011-10-01T11:07:00.001+09:00

I'm now attending a schooling class of my university.

Boring!!
The subject is "Management Organization" which is definitely an interesting topic for me.
The reason I'm bored must be the professor's way to explain.

He should acquire decent skills of instruction, facilitation or presentation!
I have to be patient for 3 days... terrible...

Glasses debut!

2011-09-29T21:46:00.000+09:00

Finally, I started using my glasses.
It's the first time I've worn glasses with degree. So it's hard for me to keep waring them. It's as if I get carsick. I call it "Glasses-sick."
I think that it will take time to get used to them. Whew.

2011-09-26T06:51:00.001+09:00

Today, I'm going to take my glasses after work.

I can't wait!!

I wasn't able to come back to Tokyo.

2011-09-22T22:04:00.000+09:00

Terrible typhoon hit Japan yesterday and caused great damage.

I was in Osaka on business and I was going to come back to Tokyo yesterday. However the trains were all stopped due to the typhoon and I had to stay in Osaka one more night. I had meeting early this morning so I had to take the first train to come back to Tokyo. Whew... Tired...

October is Building up English month.

2011-09-19T22:54:00.000+09:00

I'm supposed to go to headquarters in the US in November. I need to have meeting with a lot of counterparts.

I'm worried about my poor English. So I've decided that I have building up English month next month!

Finally glasses!

2011-09-18T23:07:00.002+09:00

I went to a glasses shop to order glasses. Finally, I need to have glasses in my life. Although I sometimes wear fashion glasses, it's first time I've had real glasses. (Real glasses?)

First, a shop staff checked my eye sight etc. Then I tried various lenses. It was hard to decide, I took much time making decision. Then, the next was choosing frames. It was more difficult because there were many fashionable frames. I tried wearing many frames. Many times. Whew...

My new glasses will be ready a week ago. I'll put the photo of the glasses then.

Lo----ng time no see!!

2011-09-16T19:54:00.000+09:00

I haven't wirte for more than 3 months! Long time no see. I've been so busy, and negative things happned. I've found that my direct boss always thinks about only himself and his career. So he always plays dirty pools, more like he makes underhanded deals even against subordinates. Terrible. Really terrible. But I'm fine and I'm looking toward a bright future!!

Going to Osaka

2011-06-07T23:50:00.000+09:00

I'm going to Osaka on business tomorrow and coming back to Tokyo on Friday night.

I think it's been a long time since I went to Osaka last time.

A new environment in my work has started.

2011-06-05T21:52:00.000+09:00

In my work, I'm in a new environment from this month.

Because I'm surrounded by a lot of things to learn, a lot of people to meet etc, I'm a bit tired. Of course, there are difficulties I have to cope with, but I think it's often the case in any workplaces. I'm very thankful that I'm in this great environment.

I do my best so that I can make the best use of this great opportunity.

Movie: Unkown

2011-05-31T21:44:00.000+09:00

The other movie which I watched recently is "Unknown."
When I saw the trailer, I thought I wanted to watched it.

This is what you could call a movie with a surprising ending.
Unfortunately, I could roughly predict the ending. It's often the case for me. I don't know why, but I'm often able to predict endings in the relatively beginning of movies or dramas. it definitely ruins the most enjoyable part of movies and dramas.

Anyway, the leading character, Liam Neeson is a great actor as usual.

Movie: The King's Speech

2011-05-31T00:44:00.000+09:00

I watched two movies recently. One of them is "The King's Speech."
I was going to watch it in March, but due to a bit of chaotic situation after the earthquake, I missed a chance to watch it.

Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Geoffrey Rush, all of them were great actors! And the story was quite interesting. Especially I was moved by the mind movement of the king acted by Colin Firth, and the relationship between the king and the person acted by Geoffrey Rush.

I thought that Geoffrey Rush brought out good taste in the movie.

I wasn't aware of it during watching the movie, but he is Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean!

He plays completely different characters!!

Long time no see!

2011-05-29T20:11:00.000+09:00

I haven't written articles for a while.
During that, Japan is going toward recovery step by step, there are still many problems though.
However, the situation of the nuclear power plants seems to get worse.

The position of the Prime Minister Kan is shaky, obviously. Even the people in his party are criticizing him.

As for me, my life started to go quite well! One thing which isn't going well is that my English doesn't improve at all as usual. haha.

One month after the earthquake

2011-04-11T23:36:00.004+09:00

Although it's been one month since the earthquake hit, aftershocks are still following. Quite big aftershocks hit a couple of days ago and today. Scary. People in the disaster areas must be very scared.

In terms of the earthquake and tsunami disaster, Japan has started moving toward the reconstruction. It is going to take a long time, but I believe that Japanese people can make it.
World War II aftermath, Tokyo was burnt to the ground, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki disappeared by atomic bombs. However, Japan achieved miraculous recovery. I think Japanese people have such ability.

In terms of the nuclear accident, we are not"after-accident" phase yet, we are still in the midst of the accident.

Both as to the reconstruction and as to the nuclear accident, criticism of the Japanese government has been increasing more and more.

Just after the disaster, foreign media commended Japanese people for their orderly manner, but now, their articles are mostly criticism of the Japanese government's terrible reactions.

In fact, the nationwide local elections were held yesterday and The Democratic Party (the current ruling party) suffered a crushing defeat.

In spite of the fact that many countries, people in the disaster areas, many experts and many of Japanese people criticize the Japanese government, Prime Minister Kan doesn't realize. When an expert who is a professor visited Kan to advise, Kan said about criticism of the Japanese government reactions, "I'm doing best though..." When the expert pointed out that the government's chain of command was breaking up, Kan said with a discontent look, "It's not as bad as people say." sigh... He is not only incapable and dull, but also stupid.

2 weeks after the earthquake

2011-03-25T21:17:00.000+09:00

It's been 2 weeks since the earthquake hit.
Aftershocks are still following.

About the situation of the nuclear plants, it's uncertain about the future.
The dull Japanese government's attitude worries Japanese people and throws our life into confusion.

On the other hand, the victims and other many people are trying hard to achieve the recovery. The SDF, the Fire Department, nuclear experts and many other people are trying hard to fix the nuclear plants at the site fighting against the fear of radiation. Japanese people are such strong.

I feel ill.

2011-03-23T20:33:00.000+09:00

There has been something wrong with me physically recently. I think it's due to my irregular living habits.

Live a regular life!

Highly incapable Japanese government

2011-03-21T17:36:00.000+09:00

I read an article about the earthquake in Japan reported by media of Taiwan. It's exactly what I want to say.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It says;

While the high cultural level of the Japanese people was highlighted, the Japanese government's incompetence stood out.

Although the Japanese government is incompetent, Japanese people are patient, addressing the catastrophe orderly and have gained international respect.
On the other hand, the Japanese government's incompetence is becoming a "a good lesson from a bad example" in many countries.

The Prim Minister Kan is just trying to extend life of his administration using the catastrophe and isn't fulfilling duties as a leader of a country. Other ministers and bureaucrats are very slow to react to anything. Especially their reactions to the nuclear plants accidents were terrible and......

The operation of the planned blackouts was the most serious mistake. It made Tokyo fall into chaos and paralyzed Japanese economy.

Japanese people who have the high cultural level are being inflicted by the incompetent Japanese government.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You are exactly right!!

Highly capable Hyper Rescue squads

2011-03-21T16:34:00.002+09:00

I mentioned about the Hyper Rescue squads of the Tokyo Fire Department yesterday.
Their operations were incredibly efficient and effective.

They closely and precisely analyzed and developed workable strategy before the operations. Although they faced unexpected situations at he site, their handling them was great. They immediately considered countermeasures against the unexpected situations and took actions.
It was excellent!

Compared with them, how dull the Japanese government is.

Deadly operation

2011-03-20T23:15:00.004+09:00

Discharging water to the nuclear plants is being conducted in order to cool reactors and spent nuclear fuel.

At first, the Japanese government asked the Self Defense Force to water the plants from the air, but the SDF put it on hold because of radiation. However, the situation of the plants reached a breaking point. The top of the SDF had to make a painful choice. Then the SDF started watering from the air.
Following it, the Japanese government asked the police (the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department) to water by high-pressure water cannon trucks. They were reluctant to do it at first, but the riot police did.
The next was the Tokyo Fire Department. They use fire trucks, of course.

Watering by the SDF and the Hyper Rescue squad of the Tokyo Fire Department using fire trucks is going on.

I saw a press conference of the 3 leaders of the Hyper Rescue squads today. One of them said "the squad members' morale was very high and they put forth their best efforts to it. Their families are... I'm really sorry for their families. I want to take this opportunity to apologize to and thank them". He, who is one of the tough guys of the Hyper Rescue squad, choked up with tears.

The SDF, the Fire Department, the police, technicians of nuclear, they are literally doing deadly operations for all of Japanese and Japan.

A nasty mail from a friend

2011-03-20T20:32:00.000+09:00

A friend of mine sent us VERY NASTY mail.

She is Japanese but lives out of Japan. The mail is incredibly long. To sum up;

Most Japanese people are carefree and idle spectators although they are under terrible situation.
The Japanese government are implementing press restraints and never tell any facts to Japanese people, but the nuclear plants will explode within 48 hours.
After the explosion, radiation will spread 600 km radius, and it would be stronger than the Chernobyl accident.
Even now, radiation spreads even in Tokyo, so people should escape as soon as possible.
Media in countries other than Japan say that why the Japanese government tell people the facts.

She went on and on about those in her lo---ng mail.

Can you believe that someone do such a nasty thing?

Although she doesn't live in Japan, how does she know Japanese people are carefree and idle spectators? Even people in Tokyo are affected by the events in this time and under harsh situation. But many of them say that they have to be patient considering the victims. At least, there are no people around me, who are carefree and idle spectators.

She sent the mail to dozens of people.
What is her intention? Does she want to make Japanese panic? Does she make people angry?
In the former case, we Japanese are not so stupid. In the latter case, her intention was successful.
Anyway, it's certain that she has lost many friends.

I have deleted her from my address book.

One week after the earthquake

2011-03-18T20:10:00.000+09:00

2:46pm today, a silence prayer was offered around Japan because it has been one week since the unprecedented earthquake hit.

TV is starting broadcasting some programs other than news programs, and the news programs are starting presenting news other than earthquake-related matters little by little.
However, situations, which are such as evacuees' terrible lives, nuclear power-generation plants, mess by the planned blackouts etc. aren't getting better, are even getting worse.

The evacuees' lives are cruel. Many relief goods aren't able to reach evacuate sites.

All I can do for now is just saving electricity and donation...

I'm really warried about th victims.

2011-03-15T23:50:00.003+09:00

As rescue operations are progressing a little by little, the damages are getting apparent a little by little.

Many villages and settlements were completely submerged under water and lost entirely. Yesterday, I often heard the news which said that 1 -2 hundreds bodies were found in --- area, 2 - 3 hundreds bodies were found in --- village etc. And finally the news said a thousand bodies were found at a beach. I was at a loss for words.

Evacuees are starting to talk about the situation of when tsunami attacked. Horrible. They lost their family and friends, and experienced such a horrible event. Relief goods are most necessary things for now, but I think it's also necessary to provide psychological support to them when things calm down.

Many rescue teams and experts came to Japan from other countries.
Thank you very much for all of your help!!

The nuclear plants problem have to be solved no matter what.

2011-03-15T11:49:00.001+09:00

The situation of the nuclear power-generating plants is getting worse and worse. I can't help thinking that things are getting out of hand.
That should never happen! Hang in there!

The planned blackouts turned out unplanned blackouts

2011-03-14T23:11:00.000+09:00

It was only 10 hours before the implementation of the blackouts when the electric power company (Tokyo Electric Power Company = TEPCO) announced the schedule of the blackouts. TOO late. So panic in cities was bound of arise.

Railroad companies had to cancel some of trains during a certain period of time, so they announced their cancellation schedule early this morning according to the blackouts schedule. But many people didn't know because TEPCO's announcement was too late.
Traffic lights would stop, so police had to dispatched many police officers to intersections but of course they don't have enough police officers for that.
Many shops and restaurants decided to close during a certain period of time according to the blackouts schedule.
Hospitals also had to prepare for that.
In spite of TEPCO's too late announcement, all establishments tried hard to handle.
In this situation, panic wouldn't be avoidable. However!! to make matters worse, TEPCO canceled the blackout for the 1st group areas at the very last minute! They also canceled it for the 2nd group. And they said they were not sure if they conducted the blackouts for 3rd - 5th groups. What?!?!?!?!
One more surprising thing is, one part of disaster area was included in the areas in which the blackouts were conducted and power went out at one evacuation center. Terrible.

I think people in the areas in which blackouts are conducted wouldn't complain against the blackouts. Although it's very inconvenient and panic occurs, given people in the Northeastern area, it's small thing. However, TEPCO's dull operations were terrible. Of course, TEPCO is facing a storm of criticism.
The chief Cabinet secretary criticized those TEPCO's terrible operations and TEPCO apologized the Japanese government.

The dull Japanese government and dull TEPCO are coping with the disaster in Japan now. What a horrible situation!!

TEPCO'S most important task now is to overcome the problems of nuclear power-generating plants. I mentioned the explosion in the previous article. That's the plant 1. Today, the plant 3 exploded. And the plant 2 fell into critical condition.
Even though TEPCO's employees who are doing operations are terribly dull, employees who are coping with the nuclear plants problems are experts of nuclear and plants, right? Please overcome it! No, You have to do!

I'm proud of Japanese people.

2011-03-14T00:35:00.000+09:00

Compared with the Northeastern area, the damage in Tokyo was very few. Nevertheless, it was terrible situation in Tokyo. However, people really calmed down and orderly.

I think that it's the first time that all trains and subways have stopped in Tokyo. Streets and roads were full of people who had to get home on foot spending 3 hours, 4 hours or much more. But they were just walking orderly.
All food in every convenience store were sold out, but still there were many people in each store. However, store's staff were working as usual and there was not any trouble.
Main stations were full of people who were not able to get home and so stayed there. They also calmed down and orderly, and sat down the side of streets or halls to get out of the way of people passing. (There were some people who complained against station staff though.)

Some countries complimented Japanese people's orderly behaviors.
I'm very proud of such Japanese culture and character! I also think that it was good that I was born and grew up in this country!

Planned backouts

2011-03-13T22:22:00.001+09:00

Although aftershocks don't stop, tsunami warnings are finally called off. But other than it, it seems that nothing gets better. About the situation of nuclear power-generating plants even get worse.

Due to nuclear power-generating plants problem, Japan is facing electricity shortage. So it was decided that planned blackouts will be conducted from tomorrow. Tokyo and 8 prefectures around Tokyo are divided into 5 areas and power will go off in each area for 3 hours in turns.
But!! I can't get any information about planned blackouts schedule!! I had no idea when power goes off in my area. Any TV news don't mention the schedule. It's impossible to access the website of a electric power company. I finally got the information that center of Tokyo where I live will be excluded from the planned blackouts coverage areas on the first day. But people in other areas must be worried.

The Japanese government is undependable. Especially Prim Minister Kan lacks ability in leadership. He made a speech today. It's hard to think that it's the speech of a leader of one nation. He is really dull.

Dull Kan is making a speech

A nuclear power-generating plant is in critical condition.

2011-03-12T22:18:00.002+09:00

Although it's about 31 hours after the earthquake, aftershocks are still following.

Many terrible damages are becoming apparent. Everything disappeared in areas where tsunami attacked. It is as if Hiroshima and Nagasaki just after atomic bombing.

Trains broken by tsunami

Most houses disappeared and became just woods due to tsunami.

A vessel was swept into the middle of town.

Now, one of the biggest issues is one of nuclear power-generating plants which is in critical condition. At first, the Japanese government ordered people living within a 3-kilometer radius to evacuate. Then it expanded to 10-kilometer radius, and then, now 20-kilometer radius. I hope nothing happens.

The places around the epicenter are very cold area. I wonder if all evacuees can keep warm.

Oh---, now, it's shaking. Quite big for aftershock.

Moment of the explosion of the nuclear power-generating plant

The biggest erthquake which I've ever experience

2011-03-11T23:53:00.002+09:00

The 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan around 3pm today. Although the epicenter is the northeastern region where is far from Tokyo, the shaking was incredibly strong. It's the biggest earthquake which I've ever experienced. And many aftershocks are still following. It's also the first time that I experienced such long-continued aftershocks.

The quake damage in Tokyo is not so big. Most building and houses in Tokyo are fine. However, infrastructure completely stopped. All trains and subways stopped. All highways were closed. Cars and buses can't move in roads due to traffic congestion. So people can't go home. I can see wave of people who are walking in roads to get home. All food in every convenience stores are sold out. Cell phones don't work. I felt scared seeing those scene.
Most building in Japan, especially new ones, have earthquake-proof structure, but how weak the infrastructure is.

The damage in the northeastern area where is around the epicenter is terrible. Especially, the damage of Tsunami is larger than the damage of earthquake. Tsunami took part many houses and swept away them which weren't damaged by earthquake.

TV news just announced one of the terrible damages, which is that 2 - 3 hundreds bodies were found on the road in an area. who seems to have been swept up by the tsunami.

Formal or Informal Expressions

2011-03-01T21:43:00.000+09:00

The theme of an English workshop which I attended the other day was "Conversations in the Office."
One of topics is "Formal or Informal expressions."

Some expressions that I thought is formal were informal, and vice versa. It's quite difficult.

The followings are some of the expressions which I thought are formal but actually informal.

make a plan

Police are looking into the crime.
I think you should try this restaurant.
turn in a report
Excuse me, do you have a few minutes?

But polite expressions in Japanese are MUCH more difficult. I'm sure there are many learners of Japanese language struggle with Japanese polite expressions. It might be good that I'm a learner of English, not Japanese. haha.

Which do you use "like" or "unlike"?

2011-01-27T21:27:00.000+09:00

I have been wondering which I should use "like" or "unlike" in negative sentences.

For example, I came across the following sentence.

One woman whose desk is very cluttered says;
His desk isn't covered by stacks of paper like mine.

When I heard the sentence, I thought her desk was also neat (like him). If her desk was very messy, I think she should have said, "His desk isn't covered by stacks of paper unlike mine."

If somebody says, "He doesn't like animals like John.", I wonder if John likes animals or not.

Take action! --- knowing Beer or Books and Room to Read

2011-01-16T17:34:00.001+09:00

I encountered a person who organize "Beer for Books" which raises money for childhood literacy in developing countries.
I told him that I've wanted to help all children in the wold receive education, and got his business card.

Beer for Books raises money for "Room to Read." You may know Room to Read because it's famous. I read the book "Leave Microsoft to challenge the world" written by the Room to Read's founder John Wood.

I'm really impressed both by John Wood and the organizer of Beer for Books, especially their energy. In contrast, I've just thought that I don't know where to begin.
Take action like them!

Desks go?

2011-01-10T01:16:00.001+09:00

One of the new English words I learned recently is "desks go." But actually I'm not sure what case it is used. In the context, it means a desk itself.

A person compliments her boss's desk because he keeps his desk very neat.
"I'm very impressed by your desk."

But her boss misunderstands.
"As desks go, It's nothing special. I'm not one of those power-tripping executives who think they need a desk the size of a football field to make themselves feel important."

I wonder if what "desks go" exactly means and it's used so often.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-01T23:41:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year, everybody!
I wish all of you good luck for this year.

For New Year's visit to a shrine this year, I chose Yoyogi Hachimangu. That's because the lucky direction this year for me is the South and the South-Southwest, and Yoyogi Hachimangu is in the direction from my place.

It's not so big shrine, so it was not so crowded unlike other famous and popular shrines, although I had to stand in line for about an hour.

I want to make this year the significant breakthrough year for me. I'll definitely do that.

Yoyogi Hachimangu

Golden years

2010-12-20T21:38:00.001+09:00

I just learned the word, "golden years."
I feel that it's a bit strange, because in Japan, "silver" is used for something old ages. For example, priority seats for old folks is called "silver seats", and the word "silver age" is used for old generation.

The reason "silver" is used in Japanese is, I guess that it comes from gray hair. But
I wonder why "golden" is used in English.

Tokyo Sinfornia concert - Sibelius Serenade

2010-12-10T23:11:00.001+09:00

As I wrote the previous article, I attended the classical concert tonight. The reason of why I who are not familiar with classical music went there is,

A music director contacted me through LinkedIn and introduced his orchestra Tokyo Sinfonia to me. The orchestra is quite unique. Here is detailed information.
http://www.tokyosinfonia.com/index.html

Somehow, I thought I would go. I don't know why.

I'd never attended classical concert. Surprisingly, live performance was much different from listening to CD or from on TV. It was something like... it was as if sound rushed toward the audiences, it was very grand and sometimes magical, it was as if it had a story (actually it had)... Amazing.

Tokyo Sinfonia does concerts about once a month. I'd like to attend as many of them as possible. I think I should never attended with lack of sleep though.

Listenning to clasical music with lack of sleep?!

2010-12-10T13:11:00.002+09:00

I'm attending a classical orchestra concert tonight. However, I'm undersleeping and although it's still 1pm, I'm terribly sleepy!
I need to drink a lot of coffee before going to the concert. I think sleepiness win caffeine though...

I have been busy.

2010-10-24T23:31:00.000+09:00

I've been very busy with work, so I can't have time to write my blog, there were lots of things I wanted to write.
But it seems that my work is going to calm down a little bit. I hope so.
I shouldn't let work control my life.

Happy Birthday to me, 2010!!

2010-10-17T23:16:00.001+09:00

I haven't written on my blog for about a month. I started my new job at he end of the last month and I've been incredibly busy.

My new job is... hmm... there are a lot of issues I have to solve. That's OK. That's why I'm in the company. The matter I hate most is that there are some people whose attitudes is annoying and disgusting. I should ignore them. Concentrate my tasks and missions to achieve my vision.

Today is my birthday, and I went to a nail salon. I had been doing nail art myself, but I'm going to have my nails cared in the nail salon. A small splurge. hehe.

Impossible to pronounce

2010-09-19T02:01:00.000+09:00

Long time ago, I wrote on this blog that I was bad at pronouncing "S" sound. Especially it's hard for me to pronounce "insist" and "expect."
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2008/07/hard-to-pronounce.html

I found harder words for me to pronounce. "Seriously" and "uncharacteristic."
About "seriously", there are two "S" sounds I'm bad at in the word.
"Uncharacteristic" is... it's rather "impossible to say" than "hard to pronounce." So I'm going to say "That's unlike him" instead of "That's uncharacteristic of him." I hope both of them are completely the same meaning.

Finally I signed the contract.

2010-09-16T21:12:00.000+09:00

Today, I went to sign the contract. I'm starting new job the week after next. It took only one month since an agent introduced me to this position. Very fast!

I'm very interested in the roles of the position, I'm satisfied with the salary, the people I'll work with seem nice, the working environment seems good because many employees work for a long time. Everything seems great except for the social company reputation which I have mentioned on this blog before.

So I understand that one of my roles is improving the company reputation. I'll make the company famous as one of the excellent companies in the world in 5 years!

Lunch with future colleagues?

2010-09-14T23:01:00.000+09:00

As I wrote, I'm in the screening process of one company. After I had the 2nd interview on 3rd, I met HR manager on the agent office on 7th. According to the agent, they consider me favorably, but HR director is now in the US so they can't finalize until he comes back later in this week. Meanwhile, they arrange casual lunch for me with the team members who would be my subordinates. I haven't gotten the official offer though.

I went for the lunch and met the people.
They were all nice people. I enjoyed the conversation with them.

Two of them have worked for the company for more 10 years. It seems that many employees of the company work for a long time. The job-retention rate is high. It's quite rare for foreign companies.

Movie: Vantage Point

2010-09-11T23:55:00.000+09:00

Vantage Point was one of the movies I wanted to see. It was carried on TV yesterday, so I watched it.

Hmm... it's a bit disappointing. The story is a bit boring. My impression of the movie is only too long a car chase scene. It's just the filmmaker's self-satisfaction like many other movies.
Some people commend this movie for its element of surprise. But, at least for me, there wasn't any element of surprise. It was somehow predictable.

The high school reunion

2010-09-05T20:56:00.001+09:00

I attended the high school reunion yesterday.

It was great!
Over 100 people gathered and we enjoyed meeting each other for the first time in a long time. It brought back the good memories of the past.

Some of the people didn't change, and some has changed too much to recognize them. haha.

Many of us attended the follow-up party.

I hope this kind of gathering is held sometime again.

Lethal Weapon??

2010-09-03T23:01:00.001+09:00

Whenever I study a new English dialogue, I learn a lot of new words and idioms.

I learned a new word "lethal" the other day. I thought I've never heard this word before and it was completely new for me.

However, I suddenly noticed, oh, it's lethal of the movie "Lethal Weapon" by any chance?
I see!

I got a quick response again.

2010-09-03T22:52:00.000+09:00

I had the 2nd interview today. First, I had an interview with a Japanese for an hour. Then I had an interview with HR director who is American, which means the interview was in English.
Two hours interview was a bit tough, but it went quite well. The English interview too, because mostly the interviewer spoke. haha.

And, once gain, I got an incredibly quick feedback, just 3 hours after the interview. I can advance to the next step. Next week, I am visiting the agent office to talk with the agent and a person of the company I had the interview with. So far, so good.

I got a quick response this time.

2010-08-31T23:08:00.000+09:00

I had the interview with one company today, which I mentioned the other day.
The interview went quite well, because it was conducted in Japanese. haha.
Although I once declined this position when an agent introduced me because of the company's bad reputation, I got more interested in the position through the interview.

To my surprise, I got the feedback of the interview from the company through the agent just 2 hours after finishing the interview. What a quick decision making and response! It's completely different from the company which I had an interview with last month.

I can advance to the 2nd interview. It's on this Friday. In that time, unfortunately the interview will be conducted in English, because I meet the HR director who is American. Whew...
I'm going to take as much time to prepare for that as possible.

Using possessive case or not

2010-08-28T18:37:00.000+09:00

Tim was kind enough to point out my English mistakes and explain about them in details.
(Thank you, Tim!)
One of them is the following.
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2010/08/current-situation-of-my-job-hunting.html

It's very detailed explanation, isn't it?

I've always thought that possessive case is used TOO often in English sentences, such as "She took HER glasses off", "He divorced HIS wife", "The children are enjoying THEIR English class."
In Japanese language, using a possessive case like those is very strange.
But I thought I got used to using possessive too often in English. I have picked up the habit of adding possessive case when I speak English.
However!!
Tim taught me that people say "have a future", not "have one's future." Ohhh!
I guess there are other more expressions which you shouldn't add possessive case.
That's good to know, but I have no idea what expressions I should add it or not. It can't be helped.

Anemia?

2010-08-26T23:38:00.001+09:00

When I got up this morning, I felt ill and my vision went dark purple. So I went back to bed.

I wonder if it was anemia. I've been incredibly healthy, so I have no idea about the anemia symptoms though.
Just in case, I went to buy nutritional drink with iron.
I hope there isn't any problem anymore.

The current situation of my job hunting.

2010-08-26T23:30:00.003+09:00

I got the feedback of an interview I had last month. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to advance to the next step.

I got the feedback a month after having the interview. Don't you think it's very slow response? Actually, it took no less than one and a half months to get the result of resume screening. How slow they are.
Actually, if someone asked me what kind of companies I don't want to work for, I would immediately answer that it's a company which is slow to do anything, especially making decision. I don't think such a company ~~doesn't have~~ has ~~their~~ a future. And working for a slow-pace company is stressful for me. So the result this time may be good for me. Am I too positive? (^o^)

Just after I got the negative feedback, an agent introduced me to another position. The position itself is really interesting, but the reputation of the company is bad. I usually don't care about a company such as company's size, name value, industry etc. I just care about a position, I mean it's important for me what I do in a company. However, the case of the company in this case, actually some other agents have already introduced the same position to me before, and I declined all of them due to the company's reputation.
So I once declined in this time too. But the agent emphasize on how attractive the position is for me. I agree with her. Then I decided to try to apply for the position and talk to them.
My resume screening went well and I'll have the 1st interview next week.

My bad listening comprehension #19

2010-08-23T22:07:00.000+09:00

I write the "My bad listening comprehension" series for the first time in a long time. That doesn't mean I haven't misheard English during that time, needless to say.

This time, I caught the following sentence when I did dictation.

And robot happy with our respective jobs.

Of course, this sentence is strange and I obviously misheard it.

The correct sentence is;

And we're both happy with our respective jobs.

I wonder why I can hear "robot" for "we're both." Those are different at all.
However, although I have already known the correct sentence, I can still hear it "robot."
I tried to listen to the sentence repeatedly, but it's still "robot" for me.
Whew...

My hearing wrong of the past:
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-bad-listening-comprehension-18.html

The Trick Art exhibition was a bit disappointing.

2010-08-22T17:46:00.001+09:00

I like trick art, and found that there was a trick art exhibition in a museum in my neighborhood. I went there the other day.

Hmm... those trick arts were not so surprising arts. They were ~~not~~ less impressive than I expected. It's too bad.

Dinosaur exhibition

2010-08-21T20:12:00.000+09:00

I don't know why, but I like dinosaur. I'm not familiar with their names, features or figures at all unlike small boys who love dinosaurs. But somehow, I like them, so when there is a TV program which features dinosaur, I always watch it.

I went to a dinosaur exhibition the other day. It's summer holiday for kids now, so almost all visitors were small boys and their mothers. haha.

I put some pictures.

At first, there were skeletal preparations.

Someone bites someone?!

Or a mother brings her kid?

Mammal ancestor, Exaeretodon. G,g,gross!!!

Oops! Backlight.

It's on the 52nd floor. So the view from windows were great.

You can see Tokyo tower on the right side.

Movie: Inception

2010-08-20T22:46:00.000+09:00

It was an amazing movie! And the story was very complicated. I knew it was complicated, so I read the preparation site before going to see it. It was a kind of spoiler, but I really thought that it was good to read it in advance. If I had watched the movie without the preparation, I wouldn't have understood it.

3D images were really amazing, but I was more impressed by the story's intricacies. How did Christopher Nolan come up with the story?! He has incredible imagination!!

12 hours napping

2010-08-16T04:42:00.001+09:00

I was lying on a bed yesterday and I fell asleep around 3:30pm. Then I woke up 3:30am this morning. It symbolizes my laziness...

Hang in there! Baby Panda!

2010-08-13T22:11:00.001+09:00

How cute!

3D aquarium

2010-08-12T23:54:00.001+09:00

There is a famous aquarium in Okinawa, which is "Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium." I really want to visit there sometime.

Every summer, there is an event in Tokyo which shows a part of Chraumi Aquarium in 3D display. Today, I went there for the first time.

First, there was a real tank out of the building.

Shark!!!

On the 1st and 2nd floors, there are some small displays and fixed 3D glasses. You can see 3D images looking through the glasses.

Fixed glasses looks very strange, do they?

Finally, I arrived a small theater. I was handed 3D glasses at the reception.

People are waiting for starting the 3D aquarium.

Many non-Japanese who probably tourists came there too
3D aquarium was great!! Especially a manta!! Big manta swimming slowly with elegance come out of the screen. What a grand image!
Like this.

haha. Of course it's not a real photo. And it's not a manta, but a whale shark.

I'll go to the real Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium without fail!!

Triple depressing events about my poor English

2010-08-11T22:39:00.000+09:00

A friend from Lang-8 came to Japan from the US with his girlfriend and I met them last Saturday.

We went to have sushi and had a chat. Ah---, my English is---- terrible as usual.

When I was asked by a Korea tourist,,,
When I attended the network event,,,
Then when I talked to them,,,

I have triple depressing feelings about my poor English in couple of weeks.

Documentaries about wars

2010-08-11T02:01:00.000+09:00

August is something like "the war month" in Japan, because 6th is the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, 9th is the atomic bombing in Nagasaki and 15th is the anniversary of the end of World War II (for Japan). A lot of documentaries and dramas about the war used to air on TV. So I've been getting many information about the war since I was a kids. However, those programs rarely aired recent years. I've been concerned about this situation because people would start forgetting the horrors of war and in the end nobody would know about those.

However, to my surprise, a lot of programs about war are airing this year.
As a war researcher Sand, I can't missed them!

Yesterday, I watched the documentary about Okinawa where became a horrible battlefield by the landing of American troops.
Today, I watched the documentary about the Holocaust.
And now, I'm watching the documentary about the detention in a Siberian labor camp.

I know about those things very well because I've been aggressively finding out the information about wars since I was a kid, from such as TV documentaries, exhibitions, books and so on. In spite of that, I'm still distressed and in tears.

Some of the survivors of those horrible situations never talked about their experience, even not talked to their families. From that, I can imagine that they had gone through a hell. Although some of them talk, they talk in a toneless voice, and suddenly cry. What a disastrous situation they went through.

By the way, I wonder why the detention in a Siberian labor camp isn't known so much.
Soviet interned a lot of captives and made them work in forced labor in a very cold land with little food. Besides, it was conducted AFTER THE WAR, which was the illegal acts disobeying the Potsdam Declaration. A lot of captives died. I think I can say that their life in the Siberian labor camp was more harsh than in Auschwitz Concentration Camp. In fact, the former President of the Russian Federation Yeltsin expressed that apology for the inhumane acts.

There are more programs which I should watch... no, people should watch to know the fact.

The 65th aniversatry of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki

2010-08-10T03:35:00.001+09:00

In the ceremony of Nagasaki, even the U.S. ambassador Roos didn't attend. Attending the ceremony of Hiroshima was just pretense?

It's a different topic from atomic bombing though, Convention on Cluster Munitions entered into force on 1 August 2010.
I know how dangerous cluster munitions are, but I've been feeling that this convention is very strange. Cluster munitions or antipersonnel mines (mines are prohibited in another convention) shouldn't be used, but other weapons are OK? What is the criteria to divide into OK or prohibition? Wars make human really stupid.

The US doesn't signed the convention. Obama, although you stated the elimination of nuclear weapons, is it OK to use cluster munitions and antipersonnel mines with you?

I think Nobel committee should think about strip him of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The 65th aniversatry of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

2010-08-07T01:04:00.001+09:00

August 6th is the day that America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, which is one of the most terrible horrible things humankind did.

The 65th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city has been held. This year, the UN Secretary-General and the delegates of the US, the UK and France attended for the FIRST time.

TOO late! It's been 65 years. Sixty five years has passed!!!

Obama had the U.S. ambassador Roos attend the ceremony. Huh? Come to attend yourself, Obama. He really is a person who doesn't deserve the Novel Peace Prize.

9th is the day that America dropped the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. If you have decent human feelings, I'm sure you never be able to drop the atomic bomb after knowing the miserable devastation of atomic bombing. America did though.

Networking Event

2010-08-06T00:33:00.000+09:00

I attended a networking event held by a famous business school. Of course, the purpose of the business school is soliciting students. I'm now going to a correspondence university so I'm not going to the business school so far, but I thought I was able to get some information about business and training. Attendances came from various fields. I think I should attend such events more to expand my horizons, get various information and build my network.

Having a warm feeling in the movie

2010-08-03T23:58:00.000+09:00

I wonder if the movie "Punchline" is famous and popular. I don't know why but I happened to watch it on TV a couple of times.
Leading characters are acted by Tom Hanks and Sally Field.

The story isn't so attractive to me as a whole. But I like the part which is the family bonds of the woman acted by Sally. Although her husband is a bit fat, not handsome, and commonplace person, he is very warm and faithful. if you had a husband like him, you could have a happy life. In fact, in the movie, the woman realized it at last.

My favorite scene is, one day, the woman had her hair cut and got a perm, and she ended up having terrible hairstyle. When she came back to the home from a hair salon, she was almost crying and said "I didn't mean to..." Her husband and two daughters saw her, although they were a bit surprised at her hairstyle, they tried hard to compliment her hairstyle. It has a warm feel to it.

John Goodman who played the husband.

The name "Goodman" fits the character he acted.

Simon Kjaer is in the spotlight?

2010-08-02T20:50:00.000+09:00

Recently, my blog is often accessed by people from Europe, especially Germany. It seems that they search photos of Danish soccer player Simon Kjaer, then reach the photo which I put on my blog.
Here it is;
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2010/06/sleeping-until-game-denmark-vs-japan.html

In fact, Simon Kjaer moved to VfL Wolfsburg which is a team of German Bundesliga.
But, that has been decided before. Why are they checking him recently? I wonder if he created controversy or something in Germany.

Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on VfL Wolfsburg. Unfortunately, unlike the English Premier League, the Spanish Liga Espanola and the Italian Serie A, information of Bundesliga rarely comes in Japan. I'm going to check the team website often.

My English is really bad.

2010-07-30T23:23:00.001+09:00

In my neighborhood, there are some hotels, such as Hilton and Hyatt. So you can see many tourists from abroad, especially in summer. (I never recommend foreigners to come to Japan in summer though. It's TOO humid.)

Tonight, I went to a convenience store. There were 2 young girls who seemed to be tourists from Korea. One of them asked me something in Japanese, but I wasn't able to understand her Japanese. She asked me if I can speak English. I said "Yes." Then we spoke English. They wanted to go back to their hotel but they lost.

Her English was excellent!! On the other hand, my English was terrible. I was ashamed.

Yesterday's interview, today's conversation with the Korean girl... Those made me realize that I had better improve my English.

Prepare more and more and more for job interview!

2010-07-29T23:52:00.000+09:00

I had a job interview today... in English. I prepared for that more than the previous interview in English, but it didn't go well either. I had better become be able to explain specific example in more detail.

My two recovery plan
Returning to the starting point, I'll try to do build my explanation from scratch in Japanese first.
I'll attend more English conversation clubs regularly to have more opportunities to speak English.

It's already hot and humid summer.

2010-07-19T19:27:00.001+09:00

In Tokyo, the rainy season has finished and it's very hot summer. In this long weekend, we had considerable sunshine, with high temperatures 35 degrees C. Whew... I have to be patient for about 2 months until mid-September.
Ah---, come soon, Autumn!

The World Cup 2010 the Final game - the Netherlands vs. Spain

2010-07-12T21:38:00.003+09:00

It was a VE--RY high level game, at least for me. Compared with that game, Japanese soccer is a baby soccer.

Both of the teams hardly scored. Spain finally got a goal 4 minutes from the end of extra time, then they won the World Cup.

After a big game, I always have mixed feelings to see a winner and a loser. If it is the final game at the World Cup, the difference between a winner and a loser is much bigger.

As soon as the game ended, Spain team was going crazy like kids, while the Netherlands team were not moving and dissolved in tears.

Crying Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands

A Spain goalkeeper, Iker Casillas was crying bitterly. As a captain, he must have been under intense strain and pressure. He also took a bashing about his girlfriend who is a sports reporter.
The man of the match I choose is him. Without his some miracle saving, Spain couldn't have won.

Among Spain teammates in high glee, Casillas collapses into tears.

Finally, the World Cup finished. I feel a bit lonely. The final game ended at about 6am this morning Japan time. I went to work as I had the mixed feelings after the game and an empty feeling.

Congratulations, Spain!

In the history of the World Cup, it's the first time that a team which lost their first game has won the World Cup.

===== AWARDS =====
Golden Ball for best player: Diego Forlan (Uruguay) <--- I strongly agree with it.

Golden Boot for top scorer: Thomas Mueller (Germany)
(from an article of other site) There was actually a four way tie at the top of the goalscoring chart with Mueller, David Villa (Spain), Wesley Sneijder (the Netherlands) and Diego Forlan (Uruguay) all scoring five goals each. Tie-breaker was assists, which put Mueller on top with three.

Best Young Player: Thomas Mueller (Germany) <--- I strongly agree with it.

Golden Glove for best goalkeeper: Iker Casillas (Spain)
I think he deserves the best player award.

The World Cup 2010 the Third-place match - Uruguay vs. Germany

2010-07-11T15:54:00.001+09:00

Germany won 3-2.

It was a nice game! As I wrote in the previous article, silly Japanese terrestrial broadcasts didn't air the game. So I decided to see a website which showed us text-based updates on the game in real time. That means I had to READ the game, not to WATCH the game.

But!! There was a kind of chat section in the site and many people were on the chat line. Many people were bemoaning that they weren't able to watch the game on TV. Then, some people introduced some websites which were showing the game. So I tried to access the sites. I didn't know there were such websites!!
Then, luckily, I was able to watch the game from the latter half! It was really good because it was a very good game.

With Germany team, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Philipp Lahm didn't attend the game. When I knew that, I thought Germany might not have a will to win, because they were the leading players of Germany. Klose was injured but why Podolski and Lahm... Then I found out that they caught a cold. A person who had the most terrible cold was a coach Loew. haha. A goalkeeper wasn't Manuel Neuer. I wonder if he also caught a cold, or a coach gave another goalkeeper the opportunity to attend the World Cup game.

In spite of the fact that some leading players didn't attend the game, Germany did really well. Uruguay did well too, especially Diego Forlan. His free kick in extra time was almost!!
As an aside, first name Diego seems to be a very common name in Uruguay. Among 23 players of the team, there are no less than 4 Diego!

The man of the match I chose is Thomas Mueller.

Although he is very young, he is already a leading player in Germany. As an aside again, I knew today that he is married although he is still 20 years old!

Germany placed the 3rd for the second time in a row. I guess they will advance to the final game at the next World Cup.

Congratulations! And aim at the final at the next World Cup!

The World Cup 2010 Semi-finals - Germany vs. Spain

2010-07-10T02:59:00.000+09:00

Germany lost 0-1. I'm sure that many people expected Germany to win. Their performance until before the semi-finals was outstanding. On the other hand, Spain was terrible.

However, in this semi-finals, Spain seemed to finally get their form and started to show their real abilities.

As a result, the game I want to watch is the third-place match Uruguay vs. Germany, rather than the final the Netherlands vs. Spain.
But!!!!! Any Japanese terrestrial broadcasts don't air the third-place match!!!!! They air every game in the knockout stage except for the third-place match!!!!! I can't believe the fact!!!!!

The World Cup 2010 Semi-finals - Uruguay vs. the Netherlands

2010-07-08T01:39:00.000+09:00

The game ended 2-3. Uruguay, almost! Almost!!
Although I wrote that I expected Germany and the Netherlands to win, as I was watching the game, I found myself cheering for Uruguay. Their play, especially the defense was really well. I wanted them to win.

The man of the match I choose is Diego Forlan of Uruguay.

Your World Cup hasn't ended yet, Uruguay! Aim at the 3rd place!!

European countries are strong in the end.

2010-07-07T01:32:00.001+09:00

It was said that South American countries were strong in this World Cup. However, 3 in the top 4 teams are European countries in the end.

I expect Germany and the Netherlands to play in the finals.

*-*-*-*-* comments about English in this article *-*-*-*-*
According to a dictionary, both "the final" and "the finals" are OK. I wonder if they are used interchangeably. The final game is only one unlike semi-finals and quarter-finals. In spite of that, why is it "finals"?

Oberammergau Passionsspiele (Passion Play)

2010-07-06T00:50:00.003+09:00

I watched a TV documentary about a passion play in a very small village Oberammergau with a population of 5,000 in Germany.

The play is conducted only by village people, which means all performers and staffs are the village people. It is played once every ten years since 1633 and it is being played this year.

I was very impressed that it is created by all of the village people and has a long history. A 13-year boy is participated in the play as a member of an orchestra with his family, and he performed one of person in the crowed 10 years ago when he was 3. A long time ago, a woman acted the roles of Mary Magdalene, and her granddaughter (or great-granddaughter?) acted the same role this time.

What a great event!!!
I didn't know about that but it seems to be very famous. The population of the village is only 5,000, but 500,000 people come to watch the play from around the world. It's hard to get a ticket.

Here is the information;
http://www.ammergauer-alpen.de/en/oberammergau/index.html
http://www.oberammergau-passion.com/en-us/home/home.html

I want to go to watch it next time, 2020. But actually what I'm interested in is not the play itself, but the process of creating the play by the village people.

Here it is! Germany vs. Argentina!

2010-07-04T02:27:00.002+09:00

(10:40pm)
The game starts in 20 minutes. I have to prepare for that!

(10:56pm)
OK. I've been already prepared to watch the game. I put a drink by me (with some chocolate). I opened the players' lists of both of the team on my PC. I have already gone to the bathroom. I had plenly sleep.
I'm ready!!

(in the 3th minute of the first half)
Wow! Germany got a score as soon as the game starts! After that, Germany is continuing to attack aggressively.

Thomas Mueller of Germany got a goal.

(half-time)
Germany is functioning very well as a team so far. Great.
The players of Argentina are really short-tempered as usual. That's one of the traditional features of Argentina team. The reason that Messi is not at all like them is, probably because he has been playing in Spain since he was a child.

The latter half starts. Go for it, both the teams!!

(in the 23th minute of the latter half)
Germany got a second goal.
I can't take my eyes off the game. It's a very exciting game! Watching high level of sports is really fun!

Klose often slides on the grass with his knees after getting a score.

I wonder if he doesn't burn his knees.

(in the 29th minute of the latter half)
Germany got a third goal! German Chancellor Merkel is standing in the stands with excitement!

Teammates celebrate with Arne Friedrich after his scoring.

For your information, No3. is Friedrich.

(in the 44th minute of the latter half)
Argentina seemed to lose power. Then Klose got a score again. 4-0. In this time, he showed a flip instead of sliding with his knees.
Messi, show us your real performance!!

Flipping Klose

(the game ended.)
I expected Germany to win, but it's surprising that Argentina lost a game 0-4!!
Messi is a real genius. There are some genius players in the world, especially in South America, such as Ronaldinho and Kaka. But I think Messi is a genius among genius. I'm sure that Argentina should have taken advantage of Messi. They don't use him effectively at all.
I wanted to see Messi's play more.

Messi, everyone knows you are a great player. You are still young. I'm looking forward to seeing your play in the future including the next World Cup!

Dejected Lionel Messi and Diego Maranona after the game

Germany team is incredibly strong. They seem to be rock-solid team so far.
One concern is that Mueller can't attend the next game due to getting two yellow cards. But there might be no need to worry about it, with their current condition.

The man of the match I choose is Miroslav Klose of Germany. At the previous World Cup, I mentioned he was very strong physically. Even though opponent players push or bump against him, he rarely loses his balance. Although he became 32 years old, he is still strong and shows high performance.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[A side story]
A Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio came to the stands to watch the game.
Also, one of my favorite Hollywood stars Charlize Theron, who is from South Africa and served as co-host of the World Cup draw, came to the stands, I think. But when a camera captured her, a Japanese announcer didn't mention her at all. He must not have noticed that she was Charlize Theron.

I can't wait for Germany vs. Argentina!

2010-07-03T03:03:00.000+09:00

Tomorrow, there is the game Germany vs. Argentina. I'm SO excited! Their playing styles are much different. I'm expecting them to show us an entertaining game!

Oops, it's already 3:00am. I have to go to bed.

*-*-*-*-* Comments about English in this article *-*-*-*-*
I wonder if "entertaining game" is an appropriate expression. Soccer games are not entertainment shows which are movies, amusement parks or TV shows, from Japanese point of view. I somewhat feel that the meaning of "entertainment" of English is different from the meaning of "entertainment" of Japanese. Japanese people might use it in a different way.

I realized that Japan did very well against the Netherlands.

2010-07-03T02:42:00.000+09:00

The Netherlands beat out Brazil. Brazil's performance seemed better than the Netherlands though.
Of course the Netherlands was also great. Especially Wesley Sneijder, Dirk Kuyt, to say nothing of Arjen Robben are excellent players!

I happened to find the photo of the 3 people.

In the Group E, the game the Netherlands vs. Japan was 1-0. Japan allowed the Netherlands to score only 1 goal. Watching the game The Netherlands vs. Brazil, I realized Japan played solid defense.

*-*-*-*-* comments about English in this article *-*-*-*-*
I tried to use the new idiom "to say nothing of" in this article. I just learned it the other day. I think it is the same as "not to mention."

Disgusting!

2010-07-02T22:32:00.000+09:00

My PC is often acting up.
I'm really disgusted and annoyed!!!!!!!

Consideration the difference between the male and female brain about acquiring language

2010-07-01T20:58:00.001+09:00

I tried to write the title of this article like a dissertation's one, but it ended up being too long. haha.

Recently, I found out that women are much better at acquiring English than men.

Living in English speaking countries is of great advantage to acquiring English, and I've always felt that it's almost impossible for me to be able to speak English like people who have lived abroad. In fact, among people who live in English speaking countries, 99% of women I've ever met can speak fluently. However, I've met some men whose English is not so good that I can't believe they have live abroad. Their skills of grammar, idioms and vocabulary are bad, but most of all, their pronunciation is too bad. Probably many people doubt that they have lived abroad.

I wonder why there is this difference between male and female. Female brain might be good at acquiring language, at least English. If so, actually I've thought my brain is close to male brain rather than female brain. I wonder if that's why I can't improve my English. hehe. It's just an excuse.

*-*-*-*-* comments about English in this article *-*-*-*-*
I wrote in this article, "is of great advantage to." But actually I'm not sure why "of" is necessary. Is "is a great advantage to" wrong?
Other examples are;
"is of great importance"
"is of great difficulty"
"is of much help"

I wonder why "of" is necessary and what "of" means in this case.

Cruel penalty shootout

2010-07-01T02:12:00.002+09:00

Japan lost the game by the penalty shootout. In the World Cup, I don't cheer for Japan, but I was shocked. They played much better than we expected. Deciding winner by the penalty shootout is TOO cruel. That reminds me the game England vs. Portugal in the in the quarter finals in the previous World Cup. England lost by the penalty shootout after 120-minute draining duel.

http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/draining-duel-again-world-cup-quarter.html
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/mens-crying-remains-me-my-days-as.html

Another quarter finals, Germany vs. Argentina was also finished by the penalty shootout. At that time, Germany won.

http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/after-draining-duel-world-cup-quarter.html

Also, The finals France vs. Italy ended the penalty shootout.

http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/les-bleus-vs-azzurri-world-cup-final.html

Considering a defeated team, especially a person who missed a shot, I feel pain in my chest. I hope a winner and a loser are decided in a game, and not by the penalty shootout. I don't want to see such a sad and cruel scene anymore.

England's World Cup 2010 has finished.

2010-06-28T20:57:00.001+09:00

England was beaten out by Germany, 1-4. As I wrote the last article, I thought Germany was a stronger team than England, but I wanted England to win.

The first half ended 1-2. However, it should have been actually 2-2. Due to an umpire's misjudgment, Lampard's goal was disallowed.

This is obviously a goal though...

Oh, my gosh, why isn't that a goal? Lampard

One of my favorite points about England is that they rarely complain against empires. Regarding the misjudgment this time, nobody complained against empires except for Rooney. Usually soccer players complain strenuously, even about a very small thing. The Lampard's shot was OBVIOUSLY a goal. I like such their attitude. It also applies to Germany, Denmark etc. They rarely do simulation too. That's the sportsmanship!! (That's why I don't like Portugal, especially Cristiano Ronaldo, and Italy.)

Many commentators and other people including an England's coach Capello, said that if they ended 2-2 in the first half, the subsequent strategy and deployment were different. Yes, they are right. However, even though considering it, I think Germany have won. I've known that the most weakness of England was defense. In fact, Germany got two goals easily in the latter half.
Each individual in England is excellent, but they don't work as a team. Germany is always great as a team. Always.

At the last World Cup, I tried to choose the awards from my point of view.
Here it is;
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-general-comment-on-2006-world-cup.html

At that time, I chose Lahm of Germany as a new face award. He was still 22 years old back them. But in this World Cup, he is a captain and leading his team. I'm happy with his development.

Lahm's defense is always great, but he is actually very small. 170cm.

So, whenever Germany team hug each other, Lahm is buried among a bunch of his teammates.

Unfortunately, England has to withdraw from the World Cup early. Bummer!

Beckham accompanied the England team in this World Cup.

German Chancellor Merkel and British Prime Minister Cameron watching the game

in Canada where the G20 summits is being held in.

England is...

2010-06-28T00:50:00.000+09:00

I've known that it would be hard for England to beat out Germany. But I didn't expected this terrible scores... 1-4. They played really well, but their shots were off target.
I don't have power to write anything...
I'll write about this game after I come back from work.

Anyway, I like Germany too since the last World Cup. So I hope they go on to win.

Very sleepy after taking exams, but!!

2010-06-27T20:07:00.001+09:00

Sleepy. I didn't get enough sleep last night. Moreover, since I took exams of 3 subjects today, I'm a bit tired. So I'm very sleepy now.

I think I did quite well on the exams given that I didn't prepare for them enough. From the next time, I think I should be better-prepared. The results will come through about the middle of next month. I hope they will be good.

I came up with some English questions as I wrote this article.
I wonder which is doing better, "do quite well" or "do pretty well."
Is it OK to use "come through" for exam results, like "The results will come through the next month"?

Although I'm very sleepy now, I must not sleep. Because! The can't-miss game, England vs. Germany starts 11:00pm. Just 3 hours to go!
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My fist exams at university tomorrow!

2010-06-27T00:22:00.000+09:00

In these days, I'm writing only about the World Cup, but I'm not neglecting to study English. (^.^)
I'm also doing my university studies. It's been about 3 months since I entered university and I'm taking my first exams tomorrow! (Actually it's today though.) Just keep your fingers crossed!!

The knockout stage has begun.

2010-06-27T00:09:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, there were the last games in the Group Stage, which is in the Group H.
I wanted Switzerland to advance to the next stage, but they couldn't... They were a really good team and beat out Spain in their first game though. What a pity!

Then, the group stage has finished and the knockout stage has begun.
Here is the bracket:

I hope everyone can play to the fullest! Go for it!!

Denmark's World Cup ended...

2010-06-25T22:08:00.000+09:00

Denmark didn't win... (sob)
All Japanese are very excited about Japan's wining and advancing to the next stage though.

By the way, Italy which is the defending champion couldn't advance to the next stage either. They are in the last place in the Group F.
Their play was really dull, as if they were playing in their sleep. They made a lot of unforced errors. I wondered if there was something in the team, like France.