tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85036245811397174162024-03-06T04:24:47.260+09:00Yuri's ReportYurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.comBlogger57125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-37044598501048264412011-05-07T21:27:00.000+09:002011-05-07T21:27:01.153+09:00How to say “Hello” in the Japanese language.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuS752AzcPGzdANscrQchw7gp1d_Hh0Cest5ryivCa_O8HyEfZkuZtss4txmUefDIFwQuYNhYluSLclVBeyQXy6_Hf5Z5-FHeYtqiVtxGTC3IzroIimNb1uNr4qQUvUJp0u-Bb05kh994/s1600/IMGP1337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuS752AzcPGzdANscrQchw7gp1d_Hh0Cest5ryivCa_O8HyEfZkuZtss4txmUefDIFwQuYNhYluSLclVBeyQXy6_Hf5Z5-FHeYtqiVtxGTC3IzroIimNb1uNr4qQUvUJp0u-Bb05kh994/s320/IMGP1337.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I have heard that native English speakers do not like to repeat what they have just said. Is this right? For example, when you say “Hello”, you would say some other greetings instead of repeating it. When you are said “Nice to meet you”, you would use “You, too” or some other expression instead of repeating “Nice to meet you” without any change.<br />
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What I hear is that if you don’t show your vocabulary extensive, you would be regarded to be childish in your countries. However, in Japan, you don’t need to change phrases you have just heard. “Hello” is “Konnichiwa”, and when you are said, “Konnichiwa”, you should reply with “Konnichiwa”. If it is after sunset, people will say “Konbanwa”, so you should respond with “Konbanwa.” No Japanese people would think your vocabulary is poor or that you are not greeting from your heart when you repeat a greeting. <br />
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To be honest, I do not see why you would need to demonstrate various expressions all the time when you speak in English. Why? If I may add, many native English speakers always seem to try to present their power, strength and ability as well as their vocabulary. I believe that it must be only natural in some countries, but things are opposite in Japan. People try to avoid showing things off. <br />
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This is one example for real about one ex-Yokozuna who was in the highest rank in Sumo. Have you seen Sumo? It’s the traditional Japanese-style wrestling. When a sumo-wrestler from a foreign country held up his fists when he became a champion, Japanese people criticized him saying “He showed off his victory.” We prefer coolness. He showed off what he had done too much and people hated it.<br />
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Now, there is another example in Tokyo. I was in a train which was in a station with the doors open. When a woman was about to get on, the doors started closing. One American man held the door with his hands and let the woman through. The sensor of the doors may have detected an error, the doors opened again, and we heard an announcement saying that they had troubles with the doors. The American man held up his fists smiling, yelling and looking around, and then looked at people nearby. No one responded him or said anything there. I was just surprised to see how an American man showed off his strength.<br />
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Anyway, you do not need to represent your strength or rich vocabulary in Japan. You may say why showing your strength is connected with your wide vocabulary, but proving your large vocabulary all the time seems to be demonstrating your ability for me. If you do the worst that could happen is Japanese people may dislike you. However, showing your ability and vocabulary must be only too natural for you, and you might not understand what I mean here. Just keep in mind, if you are planning to visit Japan, "THE NAIL THAT STICKS OUT GETS BANGED DOWN." Demonstrating your abilities too much is sometimes regarded as destroying the harmony in my country.<br />
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I ask for your kind understanding that I just want to say there are many differences among countries, and don’t mean to offend any foreign cultures. I just hope this will help you if you have a chance to work with Japanese people in the future. Lastly, I just want you know; if Japanese people do not seem to be with a confident, they just prefer to be humility and are not fool.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: magenta;">Thanks, Koir and Gakuchoh!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-22378249537298771002011-04-10T22:54:00.000+09:002011-04-10T22:54:01.791+09:00One Month after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNz-wiHoe3yBFnZgDfyC3PRzyhNN18qmoW9TPFPFzu8CAaRv2Q1Ru3Hi_vdPbmutvuVfckWlFLUzAWg5ZS4MQAeEZ-i5bYcFOlh5jv7yKKmYazeRZxRK_NEKzaWZpdpERZrzSEkdOi8Is/s1600/IMGP1313.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNz-wiHoe3yBFnZgDfyC3PRzyhNN18qmoW9TPFPFzu8CAaRv2Q1Ru3Hi_vdPbmutvuVfckWlFLUzAWg5ZS4MQAeEZ-i5bYcFOlh5jv7yKKmYazeRZxRK_NEKzaWZpdpERZrzSEkdOi8Is/s320/IMGP1313.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One Month has passed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Almost everything seems to be back the way it was in my town.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are still aftershocks almost every day, but we usually have many of them in this country anyway.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I live next to Tokyo, and far from the affected area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Watching the disaster areas on TV, frankly speaking, I cannot help wondering why they lived in those dangerous lower areas near the sea, and every time I can believe that you, non-Japanese people, would be curious why Japanese people live in this dangerous country with many earthquakes. Just as I cannot move out of my land, they cannot leave their towns.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A great number of countries have offered assistance to Japan. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They say it is 116 countries and regions. I wanted to write all the names of them here, but it is too many to type. </span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I can’t thank them enough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you. </span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Thank you very much, dogsbody70, RealJames, JamboP26 and Koir!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">You have helped me correcting my English, and your countries have offered a helping hand to Japan.</span><br />
<span style="color: magenta;">I don’t know what to say.</span><br />
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</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-11137526085066694532011-03-29T23:08:00.001+09:002011-04-28T23:10:48.384+09:0018 days after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKKXLZ8ta_btjCkyhGLfvptT-wQ6ueNlAYxsDX05tiR6wR1yxKd1eEVmM6EKZ4Jz4xR4eXKN4-tu-A3InCHZcEJcqmoACQv8jkqcJ04UOSZDLjd7lyqdwsD4vTUxte1DbmebhfUaznA0/s1600/IMGP1302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKKXLZ8ta_btjCkyhGLfvptT-wQ6ueNlAYxsDX05tiR6wR1yxKd1eEVmM6EKZ4Jz4xR4eXKN4-tu-A3InCHZcEJcqmoACQv8jkqcJ04UOSZDLjd7lyqdwsD4vTUxte1DbmebhfUaznA0/s320/IMGP1302.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I bought a new mobile phone last week.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My old one didn’t receive earthquake early warnings.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new phone sounds an alarm every time an emergency earthquake alert is issued.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even if I am fast asleep, my phone will wake me up a little bit before the earthquake occurs.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition, my old phone’s battery had been running out too fast.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I decide to buy a new mobile phone every three years at least. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were some people who phoned for help while under the rubble after the Earthquakes.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My cell-phone charms are a small flash light and a whistle.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If a massive earthquake occurred and I’m buried under the rubble, I would search for an exit in the dark with my flashlight. You might say you would use your cell phone’s backlight, but the battery life is precious under the circumstances. I would use my flashlight.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If there is not an exit, I would use my whistle to alert the rescue team to my position. Nine days after the Earthquake, a 16 year old boy and his grandmother were found in their ruined kitchen. He said he had heard the rescue workers, but the rescuers didn’t hear his voice for days.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can you imagine that you cry out for help in the dark and the rescue team doesn’t hear you?</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think there may have been many people who cried out for help, but usually people cannot cry loud enough.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve had this whistle for years. When I saw the movie “Titanic”, the heroine blew a whistle for help, I thought I should have a whistle with me.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I really recommend that you should have one. Really.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">JumboP26, Koir, thanks for helping!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-68659116186191314132011-03-21T21:21:00.001+09:002011-03-23T10:15:10.337+09:00Ten days after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgrZ9c-_q8mnM0PUrR09L3Iwx4uhoSjX76WYbxweagKMvc87z8cZoTeTh54WAX3ymu65Bk9bwbj8NKlcAE9_gWd-q8doMdR3JSVt4ZbetJfF7Fk0qeusZfmVL-5U2yKLggjQPrls_-rk/s1600/IMGP1098.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTgrZ9c-_q8mnM0PUrR09L3Iwx4uhoSjX76WYbxweagKMvc87z8cZoTeTh54WAX3ymu65Bk9bwbj8NKlcAE9_gWd-q8doMdR3JSVt4ZbetJfF7Fk0qeusZfmVL-5U2yKLggjQPrls_-rk/s320/IMGP1098.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div align="left" class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ten days have passed.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The sense of distrust for the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) seems to be increasing among people. There seem to be some reasons for this. One of them is that most operators in the nuclear power plant left the worksite just after the earthquake occurred, and the rest tried to mend the plant, but they were short of staff. Some people say this is why the situation got worse. The second reason is that the Company does not tell when blackouts start, and it disturbed the railway service. There was kind of panic in many stations for a few days. TEPCO is battering Japanese economy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, there is a rumour that says the company housing of TEPCO doesn’t have a blackout. That means that most people have a hard time with the blackouts, but TEPCO employees don’t. I don’t know if this rumour is true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I met one of my friends today. She said she hasn’t had a blackout yet. And she also said she lives in front of TEPCO’s company housing. She and I live in the same city.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">JamboP26, thanks for correcting.</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-40531180961847023962011-03-18T21:14:00.000+09:002011-03-18T21:14:37.986+09:00Six days after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy4wi1PRRUIZ0xohabecaV8PepqckVKEgo1OZ3CwKC8yjgJQu8hikqc7pZr2z7GHxFPlDWN-NbP6x8J-FKUZhsd79bVMe-Bu4BuUxsxEJPEc4f7gswypOKHqfIS2q0nPlCPyrAJdekAY/s1600/IMGP1100.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihy4wi1PRRUIZ0xohabecaV8PepqckVKEgo1OZ3CwKC8yjgJQu8hikqc7pZr2z7GHxFPlDWN-NbP6x8J-FKUZhsd79bVMe-Bu4BuUxsxEJPEc4f7gswypOKHqfIS2q0nPlCPyrAJdekAY/s320/IMGP1100.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Six days have passed.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many people have registered a strong complaint by phone with Tokyo Electric Power Company for the random information of the blackouts. If this goes on, so many people would go bankrupt because many factories and shops can’t operate.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night, I did not expect a blackout, but it happened suddenly. The schedule had said it would start at 12:20PM, but it didn’t. Then, at around 6:40PM, it started.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was cooking dinner, and about to use a mixer. With a clunk, the light went out.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had to eat pot noodles. I realized why many people buy a lot of bread and it has been sold out for a week. We can eat bread without electricity. My IH cooking heater needs electricity to cook things.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, at about 9:20 this morning, I went to a supermarket. There was a very long line of shoppers which ran around the corner of the block.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I succeeded buying bread! And five pot noodles.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, it’s only 30 minutes to today’s blackout if the schedule is correct.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: purple;">Thanks for helping, JamboP26!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-39074986747445035232011-03-15T19:06:00.002+09:002011-04-14T14:59:55.947+09:00Four days after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4eaXp0kSUy42usOuWZ2OvKhrzReAvHdQ2_WO-c6t9EyIoxcK56msR98i9KIUH-sCGaJM2O1DXGmpkqylt4esoXoO_oHQY6ISqwsGPTj_r6uvFsfSm2Ed8cKegOXx5TLfMqP5lCaXOdU/s1600/2011.3.15.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT4eaXp0kSUy42usOuWZ2OvKhrzReAvHdQ2_WO-c6t9EyIoxcK56msR98i9KIUH-sCGaJM2O1DXGmpkqylt4esoXoO_oHQY6ISqwsGPTj_r6uvFsfSm2Ed8cKegOXx5TLfMqP5lCaXOdU/s320/2011.3.15.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Four days have passed since the Earthquakes occurred. Japan is at the edge of a radioactive accident now. The leaking radioactivity level is increasing. I believe this is more serious than the earthquakes. <br />
In addition, as most power plants have stopped and the Government is enforcing planned outages, the capital region is in total confusion.<br />
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Last night, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) didn’t tell where and when today’s blackouts would be happening.<br />
At about 4 AM this morning, an earthquake occurred which woke me up. I turned on the TV to check the epicenter and the intensity, and saw that the blackout would be from 6:20 AM to 10 AM in this area today.<br />
They should have informed us earlier! Other people must have thought the same. The gross incompetence of TEPCO has disrupted many factories, shops, train services and many other economic activities.<br />
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Since 4 AM is too early to slip out of bed, I fell back to sleep. Three hours later, I got up thinking the blackout would be on but it wasn't. Then, it was almost 10 o'clock with the light still on, so I thought there might not be a blackout today. I went to a supermarket.<br />
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There was a long line of shoppers waiting to enter the building. Batteries, flashlights, candles, portable gas stoves, small gas canisters, rice, pot noodles, bottled water, milk, eggs, bread and some other things had been sold out already.<br />
My first priority was cat food today, and I was able to buy three bags of it. I also bought some bacon and rice cakes on impulse.<br />
When I got home, it was almost 11 AM, the blackout had not yet started.<br />
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But then, a city office vehicle was driving down the road beside my house announcing that the blackout would be from 11 AM to 2 PM. It was only five minutes to 11 AM.<br />
Again, they should have informed us earlier! How could they change their plans so randomly?<br />
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The electric company has been saying that there would not be radiation leakage any more, but the situation is getting worse. Is TEPCO knocking Japan down!?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Koir and Gkuchoh, thanks!! </span></span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-11545812215777148962011-03-14T20:36:00.000+09:002011-03-14T20:36:12.291+09:00Three days after the Massive Earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8FomoWJjGWnXJhaq6cEgWCvOnHQnYG9AUjh0IFV0Qd_8qA7TNomRr4dhADznG-4QdaHIgc_V3Sjhm6UFmZXJClHEPs0MW2RwD-S2CAQn48pTzyEP0gK46Vp6OA5MLEZgrgloy8mN8lE/s1600/TS3A1095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR8FomoWJjGWnXJhaq6cEgWCvOnHQnYG9AUjh0IFV0Qd_8qA7TNomRr4dhADznG-4QdaHIgc_V3Sjhm6UFmZXJClHEPs0MW2RwD-S2CAQn48pTzyEP0gK46Vp6OA5MLEZgrgloy8mN8lE/s320/TS3A1095.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Three days have passed. We still have many aftershocks here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Prime Minister of Japan announced that they are starting rolling blackouts in the northern half of Japan last night, but not when they start.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This morning, many commuters were surprised to learn many trains weren't running. The people made long lines around stations in the capital region.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I checked the internet and they said these rolling blackouts will continue until the end of April and possibly into summer.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I thought I needed a big bucket to flush the toilet because it doesn’t work when blackouts happen. So I went to a supermarket nearby. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were so many people around the shop, something I hadn’t seen before. Too many people were in the supermarket, and many were walking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think they started buying up food because they had learned many factories had stopped and that food would be scarce.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My first priority was not food but a big bucket. I left there and went to a small local hardware store. Since the shop is small, I believed there would not be too many people and they would not have sold all their buckets.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bingo!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There were only a few people buying small tanks. I was able to find a big bucket!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One hour from now, the blackout will be here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you!</span><br />
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_blackout<br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Koir, thank you as always!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-29745744476878889102011-03-13T23:10:00.000+09:002011-03-13T23:10:31.123+09:00Two days after the massive earthquakes in Japan.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqDutaIXy9ETy4sQFBsmGnkliVzMrifZE195tlnWT1ldfKgqfCMjoH2W265Yaog60pR2IgbTHV5IhzplybYT1cPJh8vadLA0ArB6YrdJDdOgvRTP8IJ8Mn0Z93Lw1oJcNrXpXpJj-X7k/s1600/2011.3.13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeqDutaIXy9ETy4sQFBsmGnkliVzMrifZE195tlnWT1ldfKgqfCMjoH2W265Yaog60pR2IgbTHV5IhzplybYT1cPJh8vadLA0ArB6YrdJDdOgvRTP8IJ8Mn0Z93Lw1oJcNrXpXpJj-X7k/s320/2011.3.13.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two days have passed since the earthquakes here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There is only news about the accidents in the newspapers. All of the TV channels have been broadcasting solely about this disaster. They are showing videos from the time the biggest earthquake and tsunami occurred, giving explanations of how radioactivity leaked, reporting where and how many people have been isolated, and commenting on the many rescue teams from foreign countries that are arriving to help us. (We really, really appreciate it. Right now, the announcer is saying that teams from the US, China, Germany, Switzerland and some other countries have come. )</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I live in Kawasaki city, Kanagawa prefecture which is located next to Tokyo. We have only had the usual sized earthquakes here, however, bottles of water are scarce in stores. I saw some men buy all the boxes of bottled water in a supermarket. I think they have two reasons to do so. The first reason may be that tap water has been smelling of Chlorine since the day before yesterday. We usually drink tap water and don’t store bottled water, so we need to buy bottled ones now. (I believe we will be able to drink tap water after boiling it.) The second might be that they think there will be some larger earthquakes near here and we might lose the lifelines that we have, because the seismic activity seems to be coming nearer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some of the shoppers’ eyes seemed to be panicked. There are no more butane gas cartridges in stores around here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you for reading this gloomy story!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">coltostallion, thank you for helping!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-13139047184277629662011-03-12T13:50:00.000+09:002011-03-12T13:50:42.773+09:00Massive earthquakes occurred yesterday in Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeYUSIveFOcNAZ7IQT_iix5byOAPMKL_DegYMPkgmfoDBcnfGgHJ-Hl3XL_d5VRe-btfvKdLoSIvyXxRwxBTiPZ1VDPd6FhAF5WTK9mzj7RPoVVGjPjBG-eVqz1wgnc2p2KShECBoWyE/s1600/2011.3.12.60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" q6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeYUSIveFOcNAZ7IQT_iix5byOAPMKL_DegYMPkgmfoDBcnfGgHJ-Hl3XL_d5VRe-btfvKdLoSIvyXxRwxBTiPZ1VDPd6FhAF5WTK9mzj7RPoVVGjPjBG-eVqz1wgnc2p2KShECBoWyE/s320/2011.3.12.60.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Around 2:50 p.m. yesterday, an earthquake happened. I changed the TV channel to NHK as usual. I always watch NHK when an earthquake occurs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The breaking news appeared on the top of the TV screen, and it said a massive earthquake had occurred. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Suddenly, the power went out and the TV turned off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was long-period oscillation, so I thought the epicenter was far from here.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I put my emergency belt bag on, took the radio and my cell phone, and left the house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The ground kept shaking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve had many earthquakes here in Japan, but I’ve never this big.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I heard a car alarm from a vehicle left in a nearby parking lot.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The neighbors came out of their house.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We thought our house might collapse.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I looked up to the power poles and lines to check if they fell down. At the same time, I saw a passenger aircraft flying to the west. This was not the usual flight path, so I thought HANEDA airport must have been closed and the airplane had been diverted. My house is near the airport.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I learned that the main source was in the Pacific near the Tohoku area located in the east-north part of Japan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I wanted to know if my family was safe, but the phone was not working.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I tried to email many times with my mobile, but I only succeeded twice before the battery power got too low.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I regretted that I hadn’t bought a small power-generating equipment to charge up my phone.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The blackout finished about 9:30 last night.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Luckily, all of my family members were safe.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My house doesn’t have any problems now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, I see the TV footage of the disastrous tsunami.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They say the number of missing is over 1300.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now I don’t know what I can do. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Koir, thank you for correcting my English as always.</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-42098057771092954282010-11-07T22:23:00.000+09:002010-11-07T22:23:43.360+09:00Comments from Alejandro in Chile<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvn0YlKCab2sz3WJ5-GQhWd2g9eZrA-KPNZAwMEi-QM6bSS9i8IjHUv9hHq8mjnCRYhpQHQwc57wj190YMYx8iY2NaIAmaxGGejUPGF3ktaJWdQ5TT2SS6sRb6NUT9Ph006Sif8yc64qc/s1600/Shibuya.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvn0YlKCab2sz3WJ5-GQhWd2g9eZrA-KPNZAwMEi-QM6bSS9i8IjHUv9hHq8mjnCRYhpQHQwc57wj190YMYx8iY2NaIAmaxGGejUPGF3ktaJWdQ5TT2SS6sRb6NUT9Ph006Sif8yc64qc/s320/Shibuya.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Alejandro : I find this to be a very interesting topic. I would like to simply add that one of my teachers at the center where I study Japanese here in Chile seems to dislike using the word 'gaijin' as well, and prefers 'gaikokujin'. Her rationale was, if I remember correctly, that, while 'gaijin' is not derogatory in itself, 'gaikokujin' suggests a respect for the other person (being more formal), whereas the former has no such connotation, and could therefore be interpreted as being impolite. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yuri : Alejandro, thank you for reading and answering.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most Japanese people say the word “gaijin” without knowing that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It might be causing troubles between people from foreign countries and Japanese. What can we do for that???</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-85892008714659259112010-11-04T17:20:00.000+09:002010-11-04T17:20:06.790+09:00My Answers to Columbine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjp0N39cR-a1uCS8nVXcbwgimvDKX7HQ09S0lq8r1Z2mDy2Raw59GYoOR1WdT8pubgYIeeFR1rWQI8eIn8fjwpVfT4aOINbLzkvhcAyM3FOHvFSh4kki9aMOmL_Cuk8Ks6FQn2NUx4SUg/s1600/kamata1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjp0N39cR-a1uCS8nVXcbwgimvDKX7HQ09S0lq8r1Z2mDy2Raw59GYoOR1WdT8pubgYIeeFR1rWQI8eIn8fjwpVfT4aOINbLzkvhcAyM3FOHvFSh4kki9aMOmL_Cuk8Ks6FQn2NUx4SUg/s320/kamata1.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="color: magenta;">(C=Columbine, Y=Yuri)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : ユリさんの質問に関しては、ちょっと複雑と思います。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I didn’t know the issue was controversial or complicated.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">この問題が物議を醸しているとも複雑だとも知りません でした。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you for answering. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">答えてくださってありがとうございます。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : 外国人は日本について学び始めると、必ず『日本人は外 国の事をよく分からない』や 『日本人に取って、外国 人が宇宙人みたいん』の意見を聞いています。それはや っぱり正しくないですが、何か普通になりました。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : Yes, the comments are right. Most Japanese people don’t know or understand foreign countries well. Let me say this, though, many people in foreign countries don’t understand Japan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">その通りです。ほとんどの日本人は外国のことを知らな いし、理解していません。でも言わせていただければ、 外国にいる外国人の方たちは、日本を理解していません 。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : もちろん、その意見は大学で、日本人の友達で、直して いますが、日本の社会をよく分からないの人の中で、そ のような意見に信じている人はいっぱいんです。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : Those comments about Japanese people are correct, I’d say.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most Japanese people have never met people from foreign countries. When those people first meet a person from a foreign country, the Japanese people would be so impressed and overreact.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">私としては、そういうコメントは正しいと思います。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">外国人の方に会ったことがない日本人はたくさんいます 。そういう人たち初めて外国の方にお会いしたら、もの すごく驚いて過剰反応するでしょう。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I think you would say you don’t understand why those Japanese people are surprised meeting foreigners.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">でも多分あなたは、どうして日本人が外国人と会ったか らといって驚くのか、わからないでしょうね。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have you imagined that you have never met people who are not your race? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">人種の違う人と会ったことがなかったらと、想像してみ たことはありますか?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : それにも、日本の社会に着いて勉強し始めるの人でも、 他の外人から変な意見と聞いています。「日本人があな たの事を『外人』と呼ぶ、悪口だ。人種差別的な響きが ある.」だから、日本人は「外人」を付けると、外国人達、「実は、日本人さんは私の事がすきじゃないの?ばか</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">にするの?」と心配します。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I see. I didn’t know the word was such infamous. I got it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">そうだったんですか。そんなに評判の悪い言葉だとは知 りませんでした。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : 多分、この考え違いの理由は:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1)英語で、人を国籍で呼ぶのは人種差別的な響きがあります。たとえば『ジャップ』『パッキ (パキスタン人)』</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I know that “Jap” is a derogatory term, but how about “Japanese”?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I call you English, is that a discrimination?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : 2)ある子どもは外国人を見ると「あ、外人!外人だ! 」道の中に呼ぶので、日本人の大人も「外人」を付ける 、何か子どもぽいです。みて、みて、僕のペット外人の 感じがあります。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : If there are many people from Western countries in Japan, those children wouldn’t say like that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">もし西洋の方が大勢日本にいたしたら、そういう子供た ちもそんなことは言わないと思いますよ。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, when you are called gaijin loudly on the street, you would hate it. I understand it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">でも、道で大声で外人と呼ばれたら、嫌ですよね。わか ります。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : 3)有名な人は「外人」は悪事と言います。たとえば、 デビト。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : Columbine, sorry; I don’t see what this sentence means.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Who is デビト?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(This man was ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debito_Arudou)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : 4)自分の国にいるでも、日本語に取ってまだ『外人』です。そして、それが好きじゃないんです。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I know that! I have heard it many times.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’d like to write a bit about this issue later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : and various other reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, I don't mind being called 'gaijin' by someone I don't know, unless it's people openly pointing and bawling it, or kids making a fuss, then I might tell them (in japanese) that they're being rude.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : In the city in Japan, I think such things would not happen, while in rural places, it’s likely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : I don't mind if a friend uses it now and then as a joke, or ironically, but I don't like it when people use it all the time. Even if ~you~ don't think it's got a bad meaning, the foreign community generally does, so if I let everyone call me 'gaijin' all the time, I'll have to deal with my foreign friends asking me why I allow it, don't I find it demeaning, don't I realize it's a bad thing, and so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I see. I will never say “gaijin” anymore.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : Also it lumps us all together, like it doesn't matter who or where we come from, the thing is we're Not-Japanese.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : Yes, the Japanese people like to lumps people all together.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We often lump ourselves all together. It may be difficult to understand why you don’t like to be lumped together to most Japanese people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : I've also had conversations like "gaijin cause a lot of crime in Japan; these days loads of drug dealers and prostitutes are gaijin....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I agree with you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m sure that there are more Japanese criminals than foreign criminals, but the Japanese people like to say so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : Oh, Hi Columbine! Everyone, this is my friend Columbine, she's gaijin." I think you can see why sometimes it's really frustrating!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I must say here there are differences.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In Japan, if one of my friends come to with someone, and said “this is my friend, and she is gaijin”, other friends and I would be really interested in the person, and try to be friends with the person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And I would say “I have a foreign friend!” to many other friends.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe that many Japanese people want to be friends with foreign people, but they can’t because of the language.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I was in England and my friend said “this is my friend, and she is gaijin”, I would feel nothing, and say “Hi, I’m Japanese.”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m sorry; I don’t understand what you feel.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : Also if you're white, a lot of Japanese people seem to think 'gaijin' means 'american', so it can be annoying for Europeans to be introduced as 'gaijin' and then get asked about America.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : OK, this is understandable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It must be frustrating.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am really sorry to hear that.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">C : So for me, if you have to refer to me by something other than my name, please use my actual nationality, イギリス人、or I'd rather be called 外国人 than がいじん、even if it's more formal. The formality actually means that both the japanese people using it and all the foreigners KNOW for sure there's no bad meaning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Y : I will say外国人 or イギリス人. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your comments are really instructive and helpful. (^_^)/~~</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">勉強になりました。どうもありがとう。</span><br />
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</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-39255567942965025562010-11-04T17:18:00.000+09:002010-11-04T17:18:11.267+09:00Columbine’s Comments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3KBA8E0I71qCFAXr32KhW5Yjz5A0i3ZR1rh5jEgdsODWA091NMpfOlL4CX8RNqQtYMtmlM4B5HGwHqB2SCN8sGy0VUecBf7jfM535h3VcOCFhIWYA6fOIFoJK1Yr8Dnvy01QLMC3teA/s1600/Shinbashi2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP3KBA8E0I71qCFAXr32KhW5Yjz5A0i3ZR1rh5jEgdsODWA091NMpfOlL4CX8RNqQtYMtmlM4B5HGwHqB2SCN8sGy0VUecBf7jfM535h3VcOCFhIWYA6fOIFoJK1Yr8Dnvy01QLMC3teA/s320/Shinbashi2.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Hi Yuri (^_^)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a really interesting topic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have any questions about the changes i've made, please ask me. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ユリさんの質問に関しては、ちょっと複雑と思います。 外国人は日本について学び始めると、必ず『日本人は外 国の事をよく分からない』や 『日本人に取って、外国 人が宇宙人みたいん』の意見を聞いています。それはや っぱり正しくないですが、何か普通になりました。もち ろん、その意見は大学で、日本人の友達で、直していま すが、日本の社会をよく分からないの人の中で、そのよ うな意見に信じている人はいっぱいんです。それにも、 日本の社会に着いて勉強し始めるの人でも、他の外人か ら変な意見と聞いています。「日本人があなたの事を『 外人』と呼ぶ、悪口だ。人種差別的な響きがある.」だから、日本人は「外人」を付けると、外国人達、「実は、日本人さんは私の事がすきじゃないの?ばかにするの?」と心配します。多分、この考え違いの理由は:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1)英語で、人を国籍で呼ぶのは人種差別的な響きがあります。たとえば『ジャップ』『パッキ (パキスタン人)』</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2)ある子どもは外国人を見ると「あ、外人!外人だ! 」道の中に呼ぶので、日本人の大人も「外人」を付ける 、何か子どもぽいです。みて、みて、僕のペット外人の 感じがあります。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3)有名な人は「外人」は悪事と言います。たとえば、 デビト。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4)自分の国にいるでも、日本語に取ってまだ『外人』です。そして、それが好きじゃないんです。</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">and various other reasons.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For me, I don't mind being called 'gaijin' by someone I don't know, unless it's people openly pointing and bawling it, or kids making a fuss, then I might tell them (in japanese) that they're being rude. I don't mind if a friend uses it now and then as a joke, or ironically, but I don't like it when people use it all the time. Even if ~you~ don't think it's got a bad meaning, the foreign community generally does, so if I let everyone call me 'gaijin' all the time, I'll have to deal with my foreign friends asking me why I allow it, don't I find it demeaning, don't I realize it's a bad thing, and so on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also it lumps us all together, like it doesn't matter who or where we come from, the thing is we're Not-Japanese. I've also had conversations like "gaijin cause a lot of crime in Japan; these days loads of drug dealers and prostitutes are gaijin.... Oh, Hi Columbine! Everyone, this is my friend Columbine, she's gaijin." I think you can see why sometimes it's really frustrating! Also if you're white, a lot of Japanese people seem to think 'gaijin' means 'american', so it can be annoying for Europeans to be introduced as 'gaijin' and then get asked about America. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So for me, if you have to refer to me by something other than my name, please use my actual nationality, イギリス人、or I'd rather be called 外国人 than がいじん、even if it's more formal. The formality actually means that both the japanese people using it and all the foreigners KNOW for sure there's no bad meaning.</span><br />
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</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-77250714244331902502010-11-04T17:14:00.000+09:002010-11-04T17:14:59.795+09:00Gaijin<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQeR3ZdDt6cxkOqzxOnsRtI95U1pdxMDA5Xrncb-TQcZA-sP1hS5Q5_nWuZncjndF_Pe09FKaN56ivOxwzUtCGaySkiqzwqVfvgLjIW9aFrWekeEY84UivvjCZIQ2iiD9aImvfhyphenhyphen_wuE/s1600/Shinbashismall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieQeR3ZdDt6cxkOqzxOnsRtI95U1pdxMDA5Xrncb-TQcZA-sP1hS5Q5_nWuZncjndF_Pe09FKaN56ivOxwzUtCGaySkiqzwqVfvgLjIW9aFrWekeEY84UivvjCZIQ2iiD9aImvfhyphenhyphen_wuE/s320/Shinbashismall.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Wikipedia says that Gaijin (外人) is a Japanese word meaning "non-Japanese", or "alien".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have heard foreign people hate being called “gaijin”. Is that right?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I went on a trip in Japan with an American friend a few years ago. When we took a taxi, I was talking to the driver in Japanese and I said the word “gaijin” in the conversation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My friend wasn’t able to understand Japanese. She had started studying Japanese, but she didn’t even know how to say “mother” or “father”.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However, she seemed to catch the word “gaijin”, and got upset.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most Japanese people believe that “gaijin” means “people from foreign countries” without any further meaning. We can say “gaikokujin(外国人)” and “gaikoku kara irasshatta kata(外国からいらっしゃった方)”, but the first one sounds too formal and the second one is too long to say.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Since I didn’t know my friend didn’t like to be called “gaijin”, that I was shocked to know she was angry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe the definitions in Wiki are a bit wrong. The Japanese people don’t mean anything negative by the word. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’d like to know why and how the word has become associated with a bad meaning or impression.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you know any reasons, let me know, please.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And, what should I say instead of gaijin???</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Columbine, thanks for helping.</span><br />
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</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-38091165014267626082010-10-19T15:35:00.002+09:002010-10-19T15:35:29.402+09:00NightmaresThis is what I have been dreaming of in the past week.<br />
About one week ago, I bought a lot of herrings in a dream.<br />
I bought too many herrings, so I didn't feel like cooking them.<br />
After that the herrings appeared in my dreams every night. I knew I should hurry up, or the fish would go rotten, but I didn’t. You probably know the feeling that you should finish a difficult task before it's too late, right? For example; preparing for an examination in school or cleaning the fan in the kitchen. When you postpone tough things to do, you feel uncomfortable, don’t you?<br />
I have been feeling uneasy over the past week without knowing why.<br />
This morning I dreamed I finally picked up one of the herrings. It was rotten. <br />
I put many rotten herrings into a plastic bag. Fortunately, the last one was safe!<br />
I sliced the fish and baked it with potato in my dream.<br />
And that's how my nightmares ended.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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Koir, JamboP26 and Columbine, thank you!Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-24101436590340280812010-09-26T16:38:00.000+09:002010-09-26T16:38:10.951+09:00Japanese HonorificsOne of my American friends asked me two questions about Japan. This was one of them.<br />
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The Contract318 : My first question is: What is the meaning of calling someone _____chan vs _____san. In my Japanese class we are called by our last names with san at the end, which I think means Mr./Mrs. However, many times in manga people say "-chan" at the end. Is this something said just between friends?<br />
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Answer : Yes.<br />
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The Japanese language has five common honorifics to add at the end of names of people.<br />
“San”, “chan”, “kun” “sama” and “dono”.<br />
“Dono” is used scarcely. You write it when you direct letters to lower ranking people. That means that writing the honorific makes you appear bossy.<br />
When my younger brother has wrote to me using it, I got angry and complained. He said that he writes many letters to his patients with the honorific every day, and he had used it out of pure habit. He is a doctor. I believe he is arrogant.<br />
I think only Tennoh (the Japanese Emperor) can use that when he writes to Japanese people. <br />
When you write letters, you must write “sama”.<br />
“Sama” is also used to call customers. Shop assistants and clerks usually address their customers with “sama”.<br />
By the way, we call god/gods “kamisama”. This “sama” is the honorific.<br />
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When you call your boss and fellow workmates, you should add “san” to their family names.<br />
If you are very elderly, you can address young subordinates with “kun”. However, I don’t recommend it.<br />
If you are a male student, you would address your male friends with “kun” or just their names without an honorific, and would address your female friends with “san”. If the person is your girlfriend, you can address her without an honorific as well.<br />
If you are a female student, you would address your female friends with “san”. When the friends are very close, you can address them with “chan”.<br />
When you are an adult, you must be very friendly to address friends with “chan” or to be addressed with “chan”.<br />
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Is it complicated?<br />
Don’t worry. You can always say “san”. <br />
Good luck!<br />
Thank you!!<br />
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Koir, ColinHowel and Columbine, thanks for helping!Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-30270632608986128042010-09-23T20:42:00.000+09:002010-09-23T20:42:03.620+09:00What “Freeter” IsIf you write the Japanese word フリーター in English, it would be “freeter” (both singular and plural), and that means a person or people who work(s) part-time. <br />
Once one of my English teachers asked me what “freeter” was.<br />
I wasn’t able to explain that then because it’s really complicated.<br />
Let me try it here.<br />
Freeter is a shortened version of “freearbeiter”. <br />
“Free” is from the English word “freelancing”, and “arbeit” is from the German word “arbeiten”(work).<br />
Then, the last part “er” is the English way to make nouns from verbs. For example, play and player. <br />
Arbeiten is pronounced arubaito in Japan, which means part time job(s). The origin is that medical students used to say they “arbeiten” when they cut corpses to study human bodies. They meant it was hard work. My father (who is a surgeon) used to say that cutting corpse heads in two is tiring activity. Japanese medical students studied German because early Japanese medical information was from Germany. This word has spread and been changed to mean 'part time work'.<br />
Anyway, “arbeiter” means “part time worker” now.<br />
In this word “freeter”, “free” means “without permanent position” or “freelancing”, and many young people can’t get permanent positions recently. Most of them become freeter. You might think “freelancing” implies independence and flexibility, but these people only have instability. They can earn little.<br />
This is a big problem in Japan. I guess your country might be so, too.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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Koir, Columbine, dogsbody70, ColinHowell and JamboP26, thanks a lot!Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-18588055094940893162010-09-13T21:08:00.002+09:002010-09-13T21:08:38.655+09:00A DreamThis was my dream this morning.<br />
I was desperate for the bathroom in the dream. I seemed to be on a big ship or a huge vehicle, and was about to attend a meeting. I decided to visit the bathroom before the meeting starts when the floor shook violently. I stumbled back several steps, then saw many people coming down the hall. I pushed my way through the crowd with great effort. The ground kept shaking and I went backward again. I felt as though I were a tiny boat in a hurricane. <br />
Next I saw a stairway in front of me. My destination seemed to be on the upper floor.<br />
I crawled up the stairs because the floor kept shaking widely. The ship must have been in a huge typhoon. After tumbling down twice, I managed to reach the top step and reached out my hand. Except now it wasn't a step but a big vaulting box I had to clear.<br />
Since the floor was shaking so much, I had to climb over the box. Behind it was the door and I rushed at it. <br />
Finally I opened the door and woke up.<br />
I felt really tired.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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Koir, JamboP26 and dogsbody70, thank you very much for your help.Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-91349370145751518732010-09-02T14:48:00.002+09:002010-09-02T14:48:49.483+09:00Kakusan’s comment Ⅱ(This is Kakusan’s response to my post titled “Why Japan prefers a monocultural society : Part 2)<br />
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Indeed, in order to maintain the very diversity that I espouse, it is sometimes necessary to follow a policy of isolationism or protectionism. When a unique variation is in danger of being crushed by overwhelming external force, for instance, something must be done to preserve it. If that is the course that the Japanese people, or any people, decide through a democratic process to follow, then that is entirely their prerogative.<br />
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We too face problems with foreign wildlife out-competing our native species, such as the red squirrel.<br />
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Yurisan, I do not mean to imply that you need to be large! That was in reference to animals and plants in general. In humans in particular high heterozygosity serves as a guard against the genetic defects that can arise through inbreeding. It results in offspring that are more resistant to all sorts of diseases. Let me be clear, I am not advocating some kind of eugenic cross-breeding programme! I was merely pointing out that diversity has it's advantages in various arenas, and so it should not surprise us to find that multiculturalism, in an analogy with genetic diversity, can also be advantageous.<br />
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I agree that studying abroad is a good thing. However, I think there are some things that you learn from living next door to someone who came from another country, or growing up in the same class at school as someone from another culture, that you cannot learn from reading or from spending a short time with people in another country.<br />
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I genuinely believe that a spirit of common understanding is fostered over the long-term by multicultural societies. I acknowledge that clashes happen, and that they can have terrible consequences, but in the long run when we are confronted every day by the reality that we are all human beings, it is very difficult to foster baseless prejudice.<br />
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As for the UK and the US, I contend that the crime rates are hardly attributable to multiculturalism. The fact is that we used to have police on the streets walking the beat, and if anyone were to shout for help a policeman would be there. Nowadays the police spend most of their time doing paperwork, eating curry and getting into car chases. Now that's a slightly simplistic take on the problem, but suffice it to say that it represents the main cause for the current climate and attitude towards crime. <br />
...I did not mean to accuse the Japanese of bigotry! I apologise if I was unclear — I meant that human beings in general tend to find reasons to discriminate against, segregate and persecute others. These are usually false reasons, and such people would hate others even if they couldn't find a reason. The supposed reasons are just a way of rationalising baseless hatred.<br />
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I understand about Christianity in Japan in the 17th century. It was the same all over the world. The views of the Church at that time were very bigoted, albeit well-intentioned for the most part. The majority of missionaries thought they were doing God's work and making the world a better place, and in some cases they did a lot of good. However, many of the Church's doctrines were harmful and certainly overbearing. So the reaction of the Japanese, who already had their own very effective ethical code, was entirely understandable and quite natural in my opinion. I don't think there is ever a good reason for killing, but certainly some reaction to suppress the cultural invasion was inevitable.<br />
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I understand what you are saying about starting in a new workplace. In fact I usually tend to be like that myself, but I know what you mean about Western people in general. Rest assured that we're not all like that! I appreciate that some precious aspects of diversity can be lost by assimilation, and this is a great shame. As with the out-competition of native species, this is something to be avoided and I feel that protective measures are most certainly warranted in such situations. You are most certainly entitled to be yourselves, I do not deny that. All I am saying is that we can learn a lot about who we are as human beings by living alongside people who do things differently and come from a different background.<br />
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On the other hand I accept that there is a danger, in an environment of total multiculturalism, of losing one's roots and of losing the uniqueness of our own cultures. In order to prevent this some protectionism is warranted, as long as we remember that we are still a part of a greater whole.Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-87911003920211837902010-08-22T13:24:00.000+09:002010-08-22T13:24:37.709+09:00My nephewThis is a story of my brother’s son who is three years old.<br />
One day, his family and I went shopping together. My brother was looking for a hydroscope for his son, but the shop did not stock suitable hydroscopes for children.<br />
During the car ride home, my nephew said to his father.<br />
“Papa, will you buy me a hydroscope? Will you buy me a hydroscope?”<br />
He repeated that endlessly.<br />
Then my brother said, “I hear you. If you repeat once more, I won’t buy one for you.”<br />
The child answered, “OK, since I won’t say that any more, then buy me a hydroscope. Since I won’t say that any more, then buy me a hydroscope, please!”<br />
He started repeating that endlessly.<br />
We just had to grin.<br />
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Thank you.<br />
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Koir, klint and dogsbody70, thank you!Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-72744086368786693432010-08-16T23:51:00.000+09:002010-08-16T23:51:21.087+09:00Why Japan prefers a monocultural society : Part 2This is my response to Kakusa’s comments.<br />
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Kakusan: Of course in the case of the Potato Famine, there were many other historical factors that induced the dependence upon potatoes, but when one has the choice it is certainly preferable not to rely upon a single variety of crops.<br />
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Yuri: In Ogasawara Islands which is located in the south of Tokyo, there were about 350 endemic insects, but alien species are exterminating most of them. In particular, a green anole (lizard) has had a profound impact on the native insects and plants. This is only one example and alien species have been doing a lot of damage to endemic insects, plants, fish and animals throughout Japan.<br />
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Kakusan: In genetics, too, we see that if we have two specimens that are weak due to high homozygosity, but they are highly heterozygous with respect to one another, so to speak, their offspring will be much stronger, larger and healthier.<br />
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Yuri: I do not see why you need to be large. I do not fight hand-in-hand combat or hunt animals. I’m sure that I have enough muscle strength, and Japan has the world’s highest longevity rate. I think this means Japanese people are healthy.<br />
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Kakusan: However, if one society comprises many cultures rather than just one, then it is much more likely that the society as a whole will be able to find within itself those cultural resources with which to equip itself against the new difficulty. In this way, we can learn from those who are different from us how best to cope with unfamiliar situations.<br />
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Yuri: We can learn from other countries because we can study abroad when necessary. I do not see why you need to live together in one society.<br />
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Kakusan: In turn this eventually leads to a more peaceful society.<br />
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Yuri: Do you know that Japan is very safe and girls can walk outside alone in the middle of the night wearing skirts and high heels? I do not think the UK and the US are more peaceful.<br />
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Kakusan: People will always find reasons to hate one another. Whether they be religion, culture or skin colour,<br />
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Yuri: The Japanese do not hate people because of religion or skin colour. I do not see why you hate people for such reasons. Japan persecuted Christianity in the 17th century, but that was just to prevent being colonized by Western countries.<br />
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Kakusan: I understand what you are saying about "reading between the lines" and hearing what is left unsaid. However, when we have to learn how to do this with a new group of people with different mores, we leave our "comfort zone" and both exercise a new area of our brain and learn something about ourselves which could not have otherwise been revealed.<br />
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Yuri: In Japan, when you are starting out in a new workplace, after introducing yourself, you communicate that you know hardly anything and ask to be shown the ropes. This is the Japanese way to say things. We do not expect our co-workers to tell us everything, but we act like this because we find the attitude of self-confidence when you first meet people despicable. On the other hand, Western people always show their self-confidence, and if you were to act like the Japanese, your co-workers would hate or look down on you, right? I believe this way of behaving comes from the Japanese spirit. Do we need to change our culture and spirit? I do not want to.<br />
When we go abroad, we conform to your way, but in Japan, we want to be ourselves.<br />
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Kakusan: Obviously there is the long-term history of the "Bamboo Curtain",<br />
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Yuri: My response about this topic seems to become long.<br />
I will write next time.<br />
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Kakusan: So, to take a very broad, overall message from history, one could get the impression that Japanese interactions with the "outside" have had a tremendously unfortunate negative tendency.<br />
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Yuri: Yes. In addition, our culture and spirit is different from yours; so when you behave ordinary, sometimes we can’t help feeling you are overbearing because we do not have the culture of debate. I think Japanese people sometimes feel we have been argued down by foreign people.<br />
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Kakusan: In this sense, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Japan has benefited from an exclusive kind of "multiculturalism of ideas" in a way that few other nations can claim to have done.<br />
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Yuri: Yes, you are right. So, I do not see why we have to live with foreign people when we can get a lot of information about foreign countries easily.<br />
I don’t dislike foreign people, I love foreign countries, but still I personally prefer to live in a monocultural society rather than a multicultural one.<br />
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Thank you!<br />
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Kakusan, thank you for the revision.Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-21115820111135904102010-08-16T23:38:00.000+09:002010-08-16T23:38:18.275+09:00Jdn-san from Poland's QuestionsThese questions are from jdn-san concerning my previous post about Binbohgami-The God of Poverty.<br />
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<i>How do I invite Fukunokami(the god of fortune)? <br />
How to ward off Binbohgami(the god of poverty)?</i><br />
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The answer is : Don’t be lazy. The Binbohgami loves lazy people.<br />
Keep your room warm, especially on New Year’s Eve. Binbohgami hates a warm room. On the other hand, Fukunokami loves it.<br />
Keep your room clean through a whole year.<br />
Then, be good and kind to everyone around you.<br />
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There is a story that the Binbohgami appeared at the house of a poor man. He showed the Binbohgami gracious hospitality. Then, the Binbohgami turned to the Fukunokami.<br />
This story means that you should welcome everyone even if the person seems to wish you harm.<br />
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Can you do that?<br />
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Jdn-san, thanks for the questions.<br />
Columbine, thanks for the revision!Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-17749764755577531222010-08-13T11:54:00.001+09:002010-08-14T13:37:25.172+09:00How to Say Good Night in Japanese.<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Oyasuminasai(お休みなさい)” is usually translated as Good Night.</span><P><br />
<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I translate Good Night word for word into Japanese, it’s “ii yoru”. Good is ii, and Night is yoru.</span></P><br />
<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I translate “oyasuminasai” into English literally, it means “Get rest, please”. It is in imperative form.</span></P><br />
<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perhaps you would think this expression is said only to a person who is going to bed. However, you can say that both when you are going to bed and when another person is going to bed.</span></P><br />
<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This might sound strange to you because we can say it when the listener isn’t going to bed. When you are going to bed, how you can say “Get rest” to other people who are not going to bed? </span></P><br />
<P><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m sorry, I have no idea! </span></P><br />
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<span style="color: magenta;">Thanks, Koir, as always!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-67196133975135890522010-08-08T11:02:00.000+09:002010-08-08T11:02:21.807+09:00Bon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQzdpAEDkXQrMBnS-QJwVLGRxOjCXBPbNC5cMRDxjljpvrIvkbmq_Lfu24vtlbYvmhKw7NTECmPMo8tnCWUpvn1L9YmYlg3jihYqspUei77-gLaiN8oiEaMqieSdXTmgwZr2mW_7b-Ak/s1600/grave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQzdpAEDkXQrMBnS-QJwVLGRxOjCXBPbNC5cMRDxjljpvrIvkbmq_Lfu24vtlbYvmhKw7NTECmPMo8tnCWUpvn1L9YmYlg3jihYqspUei77-gLaiN8oiEaMqieSdXTmgwZr2mW_7b-Ak/s320/grave.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bon(or Obon) is one of the Japanese Buddhist customs to honor the spirits of ancestors. It takes places around August 15th in many areas all aver Japan.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">During the Bon period, many people receive company holidays and visit their ancestors’ grave. We believe that the spirits of ancestors return to this world during this period.</span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also believe that the bad spirits come to this world from Hell when Bon starts. It is said that the maw of hell is opening, and they stay around water and drag people into their world. So many Japanese people avoid playing around a river, a lake, or a beach around Bon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still, many people die in water during the Bon period. Do you believe this?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">P.S. If you have any questions about my post or Japanese customs, don’ hesitate to ask!</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Columbine, thanks!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-56302357854365410882010-07-31T12:58:00.001+09:002010-07-31T21:43:14.331+09:00Customs of Japan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA0W-ItBORQm__8M54zTXkAzcfFIfsEDC2nopHaUjPZAfE6wwPPZdOzDPA5Y5BVwiZXbKanRB2SMKi960HL23W1-f-TZsqcDL5kxF3LLa5gUp_MmwhQLnRjWq9kQcvwRlAsnsashyphenhyphenR94/s1600/Pouring.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" bx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA0W-ItBORQm__8M54zTXkAzcfFIfsEDC2nopHaUjPZAfE6wwPPZdOzDPA5Y5BVwiZXbKanRB2SMKi960HL23W1-f-TZsqcDL5kxF3LLa5gUp_MmwhQLnRjWq9kQcvwRlAsnsashyphenhyphenR94/s320/Pouring.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you come to Japan and go drinking with Japanese people, some of them will say, “Let’s start with beer!” and then you’ll all give a toast. If you want to behave like the Japanese, you'll need to pour for other people, even when you are not a host or a hostess. This is a kind of Japanese tradition, and how Japanese people communicate each other while drinking. </span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The legal drinking age is twenty years old here. When there are unmarried young women, you should look after their glasses carefully, because a woman can’t pour for herself. If an unmarried young woman pours for herself, it is said that she will not be able to get married. So a woman has to wait until someone notices her glass. If a woman wants to be poured, she pours for someone, and then the person will notice her empty glass and pour for her.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is this too much of a bother? Perhaps, but if you are a man, I think this could be a good excuse to speak to a young woman who you like. Good luck!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thank you!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">P.S. If you have questions about my post or Japanese customs, don't hesitate to ask.</span><br />
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<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Columbine, thanks!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8503624581139717416.post-53924793530016119132010-07-21T16:15:00.000+09:002010-07-21T16:15:14.466+09:00Kakusan's Comment<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is Kakusan's response to my last post.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Kakusan(UK) : Hi Yurisan!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I found your observation very interesting. I grew up in the UK in a very multicultural background, and I think I can understand the reasons behind this premise that ethnic diversity is beneficial. So I have put together a few of my own thoughts on the matter below.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">My grandmother came from Ireland. You may have heard of the Irish Potato Famine. This was a terrible time of starvation and poverty in Irish history, during which around a million people died and a similar number left the country in order to survive. What caused this was, in part, what we call a monoculture. This is when a farmer, or a whole agricultural sector, becomes dependent upon one variety of crop for survival. It is typified by enormous plantations of one type of crop, stretching as far as the eye can see. The problem is that, if there is one parasite or pest to which this crop is susceptible and this pest happens upon one of these plantations, then the entire sector will fall at once. This will result in mass poverty and starvation, precisely as in the Irish Potato Famine where Irish farmers became overly dependent upon the potato. One way to avoid this is to grow different strains of a crop, or different crops entirely, such that one avoids "putting all one's eggs in one basket". In this way, when a parasite comes along, it will only destroy those sectors of the crops that are susceptible, and the farmers will still have a proportion of their produce left to rely upon. Thus famine will be prevented. Of course in the case of the Potato Famine, there were many other historical factors that induced the dependence upon potatoes, but when one has the choice it is certainly preferable not to rely upon a single variety of crops.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In genetics, too, we see that if we have two specimens that are weak due to high homozygosity, but they are highly heterozygous with respect to one another, so to speak, their offspring will be much stronger, larger and healthier. This has been confirmed by observations in both plants and animals, and even in humans, for example in Sickle-Cell Anaemia. (Heterozygot Advantage) This is commonly called hybrid vigour or heterosis. The simplest examples of the converse of this are things like the health problems found in historically in-bred families of the European aristocracy. Here, it is clear that there is strength in diversity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">The proposal is that a parallel can be drawn with human culture. There is strength in ethnic diversity.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In a society, when a new difficulty arises, there may not be an effective launching-point into dealing with that difficulty contained within all cultures. In other words, some groups may be culturally better equipped to deal with, say, social revolution, war or poverty, than others. However, if one society comprises many cultures rather than just one, then it is much more likely that the society as a whole will be able to find within itself those cultural resources with which to equip itself against the new difficulty. In this way, we can learn from those who are different from us how best to cope with unfamiliar situations. Thus, we can pool the experience of millennia of life on this planet, rather than excluding ourselves from one sector or another of that information, and so be better equipped to deal with life.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In my personal experience, I grew up around other children, particularly at secondary school, who came from different backgrounds or were second or even first generation immigrants. It was fascinating for me to discover different perspectives in my peers, and most importantly this experience enabled me to be objectively critical of my own pre-conceived notions. This stimulus was already around me as I grew up and began to formulate my own way of thinking. One can read about other cultures ad infinitum, but there is no replacement for this personal experience. Moreover, one finds that, when children are exposed to variety in this way, even if there is bigotry in the parents, very often the children will be much more tolerant of different cultures, backgrounds and points of view. In turn this eventually leads to a more peaceful society.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">People will always find reasons to hate one another. Whether they be religion, culture or skin colour, we must not allow this to contaminate those purported reasons themselves. I believe that there is strength in cultural diversity, and great potential both for personal growth by exposure to it and for development of society by implementing it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I understand what you are saying about "reading between the lines" and hearing what is left unsaid. However, when we have to learn how to do this with a new group of people with different mores, we leave our "comfort zone" and both exercise a new area of our brain and learn something about ourselves which could not have otherwise been revealed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I also think I have some idea as to why the Japanese may be cautious about multiculturalism. Obviously there is the long-term history of the "Bamboo Curtain", but also in more recent history Japanese people were not always welcome in western cultures such as North America, despite the U.S. cultural bombardment of Japan in the post-war relationship. I understand also that in the late 19th and early 20th century Japan was keen to demonstrate her ability to maintain an empire to rival any European colonial power, and that sentiments like this led to Japan's involvement in WWI on the side of the Allies, but ultimately in WWII on the side of the Axis powers, which obviously led to the final conclusion. So, to take a very broad, overall message from history, one could get the impression that Japanese interactions with the "outside" have had a tremendously unfortunate negative tendency. Having said that, of course, the post-war period has seen unimaginable growth and prosperity through international trade and very selective adoption of certain features of foreign cultures. This really is a dramatic reversal in my eyes (although I do not wish at all to downplay the effect of the admirable Japanese work ethic and many other excellent native cultural features), and in some sense suggests that Japan is much more multicultural on the level of ideas, although clearly not on the level of individuals actually living in Japan, than one might think. In this sense, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Japan has benefited from an exclusive kind of "multiculturalism of ideas" in a way that few other nations can claim to have done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">So, what do you think Yurisan? I hope I have been able to explain a little where this position is coming from and how I think it relates to "the Japanese way" of looking at multiculturalism, so to speak, without rambling on too much!</span>Yurihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06874825808787702128noreply@blogger.com0