Seasons Greetings from Japan

I wish you all a merry Christmas and

a New Year full of happiness!

May your plans and hopes be realized this year, too!

Coldplay - Lost!

Just because I'm losing

Doesn't mean I'm lost

Doesn't mean I'll stop

Doesn't mean I'll cross

負けそうになっているからといって

途方に暮れてるワケじゃない

やめようとしているワケじゃない

向こう側に行こうとしてるわけでもない

Just because I'm hurting

Doesn't mean I'm hurt

Doesn't mean I didn't get what I deserve

No better and no worse

痛みを感じているからといって

傷ついているワケじゃない

自分にふさわしい価値あるものが手に入らなかったわけでもない

良くも悪くも

I just got lost

Every river that I've tried to cross

And every door I ever tried was locked

Ooh-Oh, And I'm just waiting till the shine wears off...

ただ、道に迷っただけだよ

渡ろうとした川という川

開こうとしたドアというドアは

すべて鍵がかかっていた

だから私はひたすら待っているんだ

光りの輝きが薄れるのを

You might be a big fish

In a little pond

Doesn't mean you've won

'Cause along may come

A bigger one

君は小さな池の中の

大きな魚かもしれないけれど

だからといって君が勝ったワケじゃない

もっと大物がじきにやってくるかもしれないのだから

And you'll be lost!

Every river that you tried to cross

Every gun you ever held went off

Ooh-Oh, And I'm just waiting till the firing stopped

そしたら君の負けだろう

君が渡ろうとした川という川

君が手にした銃という銃はみんな暴発

私はただ待っているんだ、発砲が止むのを

Ooh-Oh, And I'm just waiting till the shine wears off

Ooh-Oh, And I'm just waiting till the shine wears off

Ooh-Oh, And I'm just waiting till the shine wears off

そして私はただひたすら待っているんだ、光りの輝きが薄れるのを

そして私はただひたすら待っているんだ、光りの輝きが薄れるのを

Viva la Vida or
Death and All His Friends
by Coldplay

Released : 11 June 2008
Genre : Alternative Rock

December!!!! The recent's photostream

Whoa! December has come!
Time flies. Well, It's officially cold here in west Japan, which means it's making it harder for me to get out of my bed at 7 every morning. Actually I don't need to wake up that early during this semester because all of my classes begin after noon, but I make it a rule to get up at 7am, just not to spend my days by being too lazy. Brilliant,ain't I?lol

I had so many events during the past 2 weeks - School festival, mid-term exams, a mock court in my seminar class(I played a role of defendant of a certain civil case and...WON!!Thanks Mr. Judge) , etc,. I have finally got my job hunting started while keeping studying for civil exam, which has not allowed me to get enough time to relax.The worst thing for me is that I have less time to go to English café at my uni, so my chance to talk with the international students in English has been getting limited. I love spending my time at the English café, 'cause this is the only chance for me to practice speaking English with native speakers. There are always some exchange students who speak English at the Café, and any students can come whenever they want. Every day a lot of students who want to improve their English skills come in and out all time.Since this café was opened 5ish months ago, I've dropped by there quite often like when I have no class. I wish there had been this café last year too, I had more free time than now so I could have been there every day. :'-(

Whatever. Recently I've been a bit busy like this, but still I'll keep studying English(Hopefully I'd like to try next TOEIC!). I've got plenty of photos in my hard drive that need to be posted, so today I'm going to post some of them. Pardon me for the randomness. Here we go!

School festival Nov. 21st - 23rd

The school festival, one of our biggest events of the year, lasted 3 days and there were lots of people coming from around the city, or even from out of the city. I could go there only on the first day, but I  walked around with my friends & tried out lots of foods served at lots of stalls run by each club/circle.They were pretty good.


Every year,as soon as December starts, all the things around my town totally get into  Christmas mode. The center of my city,especially around the station is decorated with lovely Christmas illumination. Also Christmas songs are played here and there. They make me feel happy and also remind me of the coming of year's end. I LOVE this Christmas mood to the max,even though it seems like I'm going to be spending it alone this year,too! Well, I'm okay with it though. Cheers to being single! lol

This year's (a bit early)Christmas present to myself! I spent what little money I had on this new indigo-colored coat...Omg WHERE'S MY MONEY!!


(Note to all - This is not me!lol)

Around the station

My next-door neighbor! Lovely, isn't it?

Woooo I have lots of events in December! I've got many invitations to 忘年会, year-end parties from my friends and I'm wondering which ones I should join.The only problem at the moment is money...What do I do?!

Anyways, it's gonna be fun!!:D I hope you enjoy your end of the year,too!

Quick Update: Facebook Trick!

Alright, I've got just 10 mins before I leave home! Today I'm gonna show  you a special 
facebook trick that one of my friends told me!This is just for fun ----> Try it! NOW! :D


Open the Facebook mainpage(Click the image above and log in!), Press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, enter key then right click! After that, click anywhere on the page and then press up & down and see what happens!
To stop this - simply log out then back in again!


This really trips me out! 


Oops gotta go now...It's raining today I don't feel I wanna go to school right now...:(

But anyways, have a nice day everyone!

What will you choose to survive?

Woooooooo it's been ages since I wrote last!I've been busy lately and had no time to write...but I'm doing pretty good. Thank you!


At the end of last month I attended a seminar for job hunting held at uni. Currently I am studying for a civil exam which I am going to take next summer, but I'm going to try some private companies as well.I decided to attend this seminar for the purpose of getting some information about how to start job hunting.
The seminar consisted not only of lectures by some staffs who have been informally promised employment but also of an interactive program;This time I experienced a group discussion, which is often taken as a way of job interviews by most of the large companies in Japan. This time we discussed a quite interesting topic, so here I'm going to introduce what we talked about.


Question:
Suppose your boat had been washed up on shore of an unknown inhabited island. You have nothing with you right now. If you're given just 3 things from the list below, what would you choose? Pick three!
Situation; There's no dangerous animal on the island, but there's only a tree and drinkable water.


1. a cell phone
2. a knife
3. a throwaway lighter
4. a white, large cloth
5. a rope
6. an illustrated guidebook to plants
7. a smoke pot
8. one of your friends
9. a blanket
10. some recreation stuff like cards


First off, we discarded a cell-phone, a smoke pot and the recreation stuff from the list, because we thought they were all the most unreliable and useless things to survive on an inhabited island.Then we chose a knife. The main reason is that we can use a knife in many ways and we thought we wouldn't be able to find any other substitutable stuff on the island.One of my American friends once told me that some of American people always carry a knife in their bags, not only for self-defense but as a "tool". He told me that, for example, when they need to cut a piece of paper or a rope, a knife would become a very useful tool.
Secondly,we chose a white, large cloth. There was no information about how large the cloth was, but anyway, we thought this also would be useful in many ways. We might be able to make a small tent with the cloth, or also we can use it as a blanket(at this point we removed the "blanket" from the choice) Also, if we wave it like a flag, we can ask for help to get out of the island.
At this point, a lighter, a rope,an illustrated guidebook to plants and a friend were still remaining in the list.First we removed a rope.Of course sometimes it can be useful, but we didn't get any ideas of situations when a rope is needed just for survival. And even if we became in need of it, we might be able to make it with some plants like ivy or something like that on the island instead.Next,a plants guidebook was turned down(personally I think this one should have been dropped from the list first but somehow it remained till the last stage).
A lighter, or a friend. On the very last stage,it took us quite a long time to decide either of them. Especially regarding a friend, our opinions were completely divided because, as you  probably guess, it has both aspects of a very important advantage and a fatal disadvantage.Of course having one of your closest friends with you on an unknown inhabited island will benefit you a lot;You'll feel more secure and never need to feel lonely.Also you might be able to find and share the best ideas to survive which you would have never thought up if without your friend. 
However, on the other hand,to live with your friend can be a serious burden when you try to survive on the island; Foods.If there were plenty of things we can eat on the island,we might not need to worry about this problem, but if not? What if there were only a few edible stuff on the island? With your friend, you have to reduce what you get to eat by half.Even if there was drinkable water, still, something that can be a precondition to survive would be simply to have enough foods with you.Also, even if the friend is your closest friend,you might not always get along with the friend; sometimes you might fall out with him/her, especially in such a tense situation like when you have a matter of life and death.
Thus, after all, we selected a lighter, for the reason of having less risk compared to the case of a friend.


A knife, a large white cloth, and a lighter. This was the conclusion that we reached in the end. We talked it over for the 20 minutes, which became a very precious experience for me because recently I don't often have a chance to talk over something except my major, law, with my friends in my daily life.But through this discussion, I learned again that sharing ideas and opinions with friends is very important.


Right,now it's your turn. If you think about this question, what would you choose?

2009.10.10. Driving across Awaji & Kagawa

Last week I went for a drive to 淡路島Awaji island/Hyogo, and 香川Kagawa located on Shikoku island, with my family. Our weekend-small trip plans always come out of the blue and the destinations are decided just about 5 minutes before we leave our home, and usually, with no detailed plan.I like it though.

Click the pictures below to see the larger versions:)

This is 明石海峡大橋 Akashi-Kaikyo bridge, the world's longest bridge which links Kobe on the mainland of Honshu and Awaji island.The length of the bridge is about 4km. 

This one is 大鳴門橋 Onaruto-Bridge,connecting Awaji island with Shikoku island

Our route map:]

栗林公園 Ritsurin Garden / Kagawa (栗林 chestnut grove) 
 This garden is one of the most famous and most beautiful historical parks in Japan. This park contains a tea house, various  exhibits , as well as various folk art and craft items for sale.It generally takes one to two hours to walk to see through the park.There are various bridges,pine trees, footpaths and small hills which offer a beautiful view of the park and the surrounding scenery, most notably Mt. Shuin 紫雲山 at the western border of the park.

There are thousands of Koi in every small lake in the park.They were beautiful yet huge, which kinda scared me =s

A view from the hill in Ritsurin Garden. Beautiful, isn't it? 

A view of a beautiful Sunset from Awaji PA

A night view of Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge (called pearl-bridge)

It was such a beautiful, and  a perfect fall day for driving.We saw some small fall festivals being held to celebrate a good harvest on the way in Shikoku, which was quite interesting for me cause they were celebrating in their own local,traditional and unique ways.I've never experienced to grow things like grains, but from their performance, I could see how much having a good harvest supports their lives and how important it is to them.

It's officially getting colder. All the leaves in the University campus have been turning yellow, as if they were getting ready for winter. People enjoying reading and playing in the park makes me fell happy and relaxed. I just love this atmosphere and all the smells of fall. 

Would like to see more photos? Click here!

Today's proverb - Don't put all your eggs in the man.