紅葉狩り!

Yesterday I went on an all alone adventure to Mt. Takao.
I have been carefully watching the 紅葉前線 since the start of this month. And yesterday was a perfect sunny day with the perfect timing to view momiji on Mt. Takao according to this page.
http://kouyou.nihon-kankou.or.jp/list/result.php?m=1&c=03&c2=13

Some appetetizers..continue reading~

Climbing the mountain was a little bit hard but a refreshing experience. I felt that I'm a stronger person after reaching the top.
There were a lot of trails to reach the top each with different features. I chose one randomly and started my way up.

The autumn colors were amazing, and the AMAZING 100% clear view of Mt. Fuji was the reward of reaching the top!

「富士山こんなにきれいに見えるなんて知らなかった」、隣の日本人さんはそう言ってた！

天日さん＆富士山ｗ Amani san and Fuji san

On the way down, I went from a different trail. It was really wonderful with a river flowing all the way down..BUT VERY DANGEROUS!..in some places one wrong step and bye bye~ enjoy a free fall..seriously.

..Another thing, in this trip I discovered a very nice side of Japanese people tht you rarely see in the busy daily life.
On your way up or down, most people that you encounter will greet you with a nice warm "konnichi wa"! It felt really nice.
I believe this "konnichi wa" holds alot inside.
"You and me are sharing the joy of watching this beatiful nature and are doing our best to reach the top, we are the same in this, so regardless where you came from, konnichi wa!:)"
This is how it meant to me.

I took more than 300 pictures! Will post the best here.
So I will leave the rest to the pictures!

Hope you enjoyed this!
Alot of comments please!! :)

感動

IM　WATCHING　THIS　NOW　FROM　THE　TOP　OF　MT　TAKAO．今度のポストおたのしみに！

If you don't comment...=p

Another unforgettable sunset

I've just enjoyed a very beautiful scene..
Fuji san against the autumn sunset sky~

Thanks to the lodge's 7th floor !

....I think that there is no camera that is better than one's own eyes. I took many pictures but no one could deliver the scene the way I saw it... (―、―;)
Enjoy!

リサイクル

すごいと思わない？？ｗ＾＾

カマキリ Mantis

I met this BIG mantis at the lodge entrance the other day. It was around 20cm long!
Believe it or not, I am interested in such non-ordinary insects...I know my interests are very unpredictable! ^^;

A picture to give an idea about it's size

Look at the eyes in the following picture, he is truly posing for the camera!! （＾▽＾）

はい！チーズ！ｗ
say cheeese!!

I wanted to keep it as a pet, but unfortunately I was in a hurry that morning :p

テスト

携帯ブログ試してみる

Tokyo from 250m above ground level

Yesterday was a perfect clear weather. So I decided to go to Tokyo tower for the first time.
Tokyo tower is the highest building in Tokyo.
Actually I feel ashamed of saying "for the first time" since I am already here for more than half a year. ^^;

Clear weather = High probability of seeing Fujisan
It was around 2:30 PM when I arrived there. The view of Tokyo from above was amazing, but it was very bright that mountains weren't very clear.

Roppongi hills and Shinjuku in the far background

Rainbow Bridge and Fuji TV building(The one with the shiny ball)


Nice feeling

Autumn colors

But at last I was able to enjoy seeing Mount Fuji for about 10 mintues. It only appeared at sunset time. I enjoyed the most beautiful sunset I ever saw in my life.. The sun hiding behind mount Fuji with a whole spectrum of sunset colors.. It can't be described by words..

The VERY sad fact is that by sunset time, my Camera's battery was already dead... I really felt sooo frustrated!! T_T But I could take some shots by my sooo-uncool-mobile camera .. hope it delivers at least a small part of the idea.. (The last 4 pictures)

This was the last picture I could take before my camera died.. If I just saved some battery power..just for 5 more minutes!! I would have been able to take high quality pics of the sunset Fuji...T_T

The sun hiding behind mount Fuji :

Tower at night

By the way I can see the upper part of Tokyo tower from my room.

View from my room.
A tree turning red, Roppongi hills and the upper part of Tokyo Tower

Until next time..

Of reuse and space utilization

Today I made a small extension to my kitchen! .. or what's called a "kitchen area" according to the lodge terminology lol
Now I will call this the hot drinks area.
I am very happy with it that I took a memorial picture :D

This following picture is for my dish washing liquid. I bought this during my first week here..which means half a year ago~

The used amount is much less than the half!

This would happen under 2 possibilities ->
A) I rarely wash my dishes
B) I don't have much dishes to start with.

The answer is a mix of the two above reasons :p
What I do is "Dish Washing on-Demand"..which means I wash a dish when I need it.

The last picture is for something that I saw today in the place that my neighbor Ocha san once referred to as a "Visual Crime".
I really wanted to laugh when I saw it. See and judge~!

That's all for today~

Wonderful fall-colored sunset

Today was my first lab meeting presentation. Thank God, It went way too smoothly.
Now its 4:20AM . You might wonder why am I still awake until now. But the truth is that I woke up 1 hour ago ^^;
Today I came back home at 5:00PM and slept all the time until now. I was very busy preparing for my presentation so last night I only slept 2 hours.. that's why I allowed my poor self to sleep until now.

Soon it will be the time for 紅葉(もみじ/こうよう = Autumn Leaves) .. I would love it if I can do some 紅葉見（？）ｗ .
Actually these are times of the year that one wishes to go to Kyoto!!

Anyway, here are some pictures I took for today's sunset. It was really nice beyond words..

それでは！

人生の目標進む君へ

Introducing one of my favorite J-pop songs.
Singing along with songs can always be a good practice to improve your pronunciation skills.
This is how I started actually. In my high school days I used to sing Japanese songs reading lyrics written in Romaji without understanding a single word! w
Enjoy!

Tabidachi by Greeeen

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Lyrics:

作詩：GReeeeN 作曲：GReeeeN
午前0時　明日　旅立つ君ヘ
僕の気持ち　手紙に託すよ
朝焼け　いつもの駅で　ただ「気をつけて」と
笑えるように　yeah

※人生の目標進む君へ　後ずさりなんか出来ないリレー
泣いて帰ったら許さねー!　踏ん張れ!頑張れ!まだ知らない地で
人生の1ページ刻む旅路『不安』と『孤独』で少し寂しい
でもそれは僕も同じだから　笑顔で送り出すと決めたから※

あれは去年　春の出来事で
駅のホームで　君にぶつかって
スゴイ法則　見つけ出せたんだよ
『恋に落ちる=時間じゃない』

夕暮れ色染まる君の自転車を　2人乗りで駅まで
笑い　走れたのは　今じゃ昔

明日　旅立つ君へ
僕の気持ち　手紙に託すよ
朝焼け　いつもの駅で　ただ「気をつけて」と
笑えるように

あの日　君が　いつものデートで
僕に「あのね、言いづらいんだけど、、、、」
夢を求めて　旅立つと言ったね
君の涙と共に

夕暮れ色染まる君の横で　肩を落とすのは　もう止めた!
「行っておいで!」と　涙こらえ

2人の距離を　埋める言葉を　探し　選んで　君に送るよ
隣でいつも　笑ってた君　でも大丈夫
わかっているよ　君が好きだから

小さな手に　大きなカバンを　抱え君は
「少しの間、、、」と
朝焼け　いつもの駅にホラ　桜の花びらが舞い降りた

午前0時　明日　旅立つ君へ
僕の気持ち　手紙に託すよ
朝焼け　いつもの駅で　ただ「気をつけて」と
笑えるように　「またね」と言えるように

(※くり返し)

Step by step into a busy life

This is a fresh picture that I took minutes ago of my desk in the lab. It's 8:40 PM and it's still VERY EARLY to go back home..
Recently life is becoming very busy for me and I spend looooong times in the lab. Most of the time I come here at 10:00AM and leave near 11:00PM.
In other words, I use my home for sleeping only!

I have to submit my research topic (only the title)during the coming 2 days and I need to do a lot of reading before I decide~!

I forgot to blog about the fact that I was allowed to take the Japanese language intensive course level 4 !
I am really glad, even though I know this is going to make me much busier but improving my Japanese is also one of my goals.
Actually the selection was very strict because people are not usually allowed to take the intensive course twice, to give chances for new students. (We can apply but whether we are allowed to take it or not depends on #1: Number of new students, #2: result at a placement exam #3: result of an interview)...at last I was the only student of class3 who was allowed to take level 4 ^^; I am gonna miss my nice class 3 friends~

By the way, the "summer memories" series is still incomplete. I think I still have 2 or 3 more posts about it..will hopefully do them soon, but with the current commenting statistics I dont feel encouraged to write them any time soon :p
ganbarimasu!

I ate Nattou

先ほど初めて納豆を食べちゃった！全然大丈夫だった！
Believe it or not, I ate nattou for the first time in my life a while ago! It was totally ok! I don't know why its considered the ultimate challenge for foreigners regarding eating Japanese food... :D some times its said that its an indicator on how much you are used to Japan.

Read about Nattou on wikipedia here

My latest digital work

Do these faces look familiar?! :D
Apparently some 4 students of TOUDAI chose to be characters of the hit anime that I am going to make.......if I have the chance to live another life! :D

(c)2008 K-chan All rights reserved!

光速電神アルベガス ラスト話

! لن نسمح لكم ابدا" باحتلال أرضنا الجميلة! السيف القاطع

Hearing this line again really brought back so many memories.
It might be funny but I was really emotionally moved!w
This is one of the most memorable anime of my childhood, and this episode in particular is the most memorable one.
I wonder if anyone of this blog visitors have the same experience.

It's the last episode of 光速電神アルベガス、الشجعان الثلاثة
I watched it now and I was like:（T。T） ..felt exactly the same way I did more than 12 years ago! Voices, music, script, names,Alpha,Beta,Gamma..everything!! ..and that DAILAN thing that used to freak me out! :D
I also had my own السيف القاطع which was a plastic toy sword.
...which makes me realize for the 100th time that I was raised with Japanese Anime...w


Highly recommended to watch!!!!　（Video in 2 parts）

4649!

日本語コースの成果 :: 「最後の作文」

「最後の作文」はクラス３の皆さんが選んだ最後の作文の題目です。
なんて変な題目だなーと思う人がいるかもしれませんが、この題目にはちょっと寂しい気持ちが入ってます。

この作文「プロジェクトｗ」の目標は皆それぞれの国の有名なことについて作文を書くことでした。
私はぺトラについて書きました。
それは比較的に難しかったけど非常に勉強になりました。それに、自分の国について作文を書けるようになって本当に嬉しかったです。
「最後の作文」を楽しんでください～

＊＊＊＊＊＊ぺトラ遺跡＊＊＊＊＊＊

「エル．ハズネ」ぺトラの一番有名な建物。

ヨルダンと言うと、青いアカバの海や月の地面に似ている美しいワーディラムや地方で最も低い場所として有名な死海などの観光地を必ず思い浮かべます。しかし、その中で一番人気なのはぺトラの遺跡なのではないかと思います。
ぺトラはバラ色の町として知られていて、もともと紀元前400年ごろに、ナバテア人という砂漠の遊牧民に作られて、彼らの首都になったそうです。

ナバテア人たちは、商業の盛んな民族だったので、敵に攻撃されないように首都を安全なところに建てるのは重要でした。それで、ヨルダンの南の巨岩や奇岩がたくさんある砂漠を選んで、見つからないようにぺトラをそこに建てました。その結果、ぺトラは周りの砂漠からまったく見えません。

ぺトラの遺跡が発見されたのは19世紀ごろで、スイス人のイスラム学者によってです。
それは比較的最近なので、ぺトラは上手くかくされた町の代表として考えられています。
ぺトラは発見されたときから、人気がどんどん出てきて、1985年に世界遺産に最も古い時代の遺跡の一つとして登録されて、2007年に新世界七不思議にも登録されました。
さて、ぺトラはほかの遺跡に対して特別なところだとおもわれています。どうしてかというと、理由がたくさんありますが、その中での一番主要なのはぺトラの建造物です。
具体的に言うと、町には入口が一つしかありません。それは、「シーク」と呼ばれている細長い岩の谷にある道です。

シーク

高さ100メートルで、はば２メートルのところもあります。長さ1.5キロメートルのシークを進んで行くとそこの暗さが突然(とつぜん)消えて、明るくて高い「エル．ハズネ」というぺトラの一番有名な建物のすがたが現れます。

シークを歩き続けると明るいバラ色のぺトラが突然現れます。

不思議なことにぺトラの建物は基本的に全部岩が削られてできています。しかも建てられた時代は昔だったのにそのようなりっぱな建物ができたのはとても難しくてすばらしいのです。また、この突然の色や景色の変化は他の世界中の遺跡にはありません。
現代は観光客がいろいろな国からぺトラに来て、馬やラクダに楽しく乗ってシークを通ります。そしてシークを出たら、エル．ハズネだけではなくていろいろなことも楽しむことができます。例えば、たくさんのおみやげの売店では砂漠の砂から作られた砂ボトルも買えます。しかも最も有名なアラブコーヒーが伝統的なテントで体験できます。

砂ボトル。人気のあるペトラで買えるおみやげ。

ぺトラは２０００年以上の間ずっと変わらないままで、まるで時間の流れにちょうせんしているみたいです。それはナバテア人の優秀な文化を表すのではないかと思います。このようにヨルダンで観光する人にとって、ぺトラはとても人気のある観光地です。あなたもいかがでしょうか？