Thursday, June 30, 2016

June 30th

It's June 30th today. Six months has passed this year. I've been busy for work, so l couldn't study English much. But I could listen to English audiobooks. That was good. 
Next six months, I'll make some time for building vocabulary and continue to enjoy audiobooks.
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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

JAL Pilot Arrested

A LAJ copilot was arrested because he drank too much and hit a police officer in Kanazawa. He and other pilot had been drinking together. He was supporst to board a JAL plane next morning, but he couldn't. He had been in a police office, so the flight was canceled. 
He mustn't drink alcohol before flight in 12 hours. He broke the regulation. It was too dangerous. Airline companies have to keep safe operation. They have to supervise pilots strictly. 
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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

EU Official Language

English is probably the most common language in the world. But the status won't last in the European Union due to Brexit. 
When the U.K. complete withdraw from EU, no country use English as the official first language in the EU. French and German will be the official language in the EU. English will become one of working languages in the union.
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Monday, June 27, 2016

Great Confusion

The U.K. takes representative democracy. They has parliamentary cabinet system. Their important issues should discus in their cabinet and parliament. But they have decided to leave the European Union by referendum. Referendum? 
After the referendum, many people in the U.K. regret the result especially younger people. The majority of younger people were for stay the E.U. They said that they didn't want to decided their future by elderly people. Elderly people voted to leave the E.U. 
It's obvious it was the PM's failure. How come Mr. Cameron decided to conduct the referendum for such an important issue? He should've imagine today's result. If he could've think this result, he wouldn't conduct the voting. It was too much dangerous gamble.  
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Sunday, June 26, 2016

Happy Twenties Birthday

My family celebrated my son's late twenties birthday today. His birthday was February 2nd, but my son was busy for work then, so we had to wait to celebrate it until today. 
We went to a sushi restaurant without conveyer belts. There we had many dishes like sashimi, boiled fish and of course sushi. We were happy together tonight. 
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Saturday, June 25, 2016

For Eiken

I got my Eiken 1st grade exam result. I checked it on the web. My score was 1886 of 2550. I failed it. Of course I knew it. 
I think I'll take the next test. I'll learn vocabulary a little and read books and articles in English as much as I can. I declared like that again and again, but...
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Friday, June 24, 2016

UK Referendum

UK voters chose to leave EU by referendum. I thought UK would stay in European Union, so I was really astonished by the result. 
About 52% people voted leaving EU. The news has shook the world including Japanese markets. Stock prices has declined by 1,200 yen for the first time in 14 years and Yen has soared to 99 yen per dollar for the first time in 2 years. 
I'm not sure how this referendum will influence our daily lives. But it's obvious that the result will change the world. 
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Thursday, June 23, 2016

2016 Election

2016 Upper House Election has just started. Teens, 18 and 19 years old, can vote for the first time in history. I live in Shimsne prefecture. Shimsne used to have one upper house member, but it has changed. Both Shimsne and Tottori can choose only one upper house member because of the small population.  
I don't like that rule. The constitution should be changed. At least one member should be chosen from each prefectures.
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Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Paper Towns Now

I'm listening to an audiobook titled "Paper Towns" written by John Green. I have 40 minutes left. 
At first, I thought that this story was similar to "Looking for Alaska". I assumed Margo, the heroine, wouldn't be found. But I was wrong. She was found. 
Anyway, I enjoy listening to the novel. But to tell you the truth, I sometime lost concentration on the novel for some reason and I missed some plots. I think I'll listen to the audiobook again after finished it. 
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Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Reading Newspaper

The New York Times Weekly arrives every Monday. I've been trying to read every articles in a week, but I failed. I changed my mind on that. 
I should choose one or two articles and read these articles in detail. I should use dictionary while reading the articles. That myght help my English abilities especially building vocabulary. 
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Monday, June 20, 2016

Bear Attacks

Bears have been seen many places all over Japan this year. The number of sighting of brown bears have been increasing this year. The figure has reached more than 1,200 so far. Sadly, four people were killed by bear attacks in Akita prefecture. 
If you go into mountains, you have to be careful. You shouldn't go into forest alone. Ringing a bell would keep bears out. 
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Sunday, June 19, 2016

In Tottori

I went to watch my son's table tennis match in Tottori. I leave my house at 6 am and reached there at 8. 
The game began at 9 am. I took a video of the game. He looked very nervous. He couldn't perform well and lost the game. His day was ended. 
It might be a good experience for him. He would do much better next event.  
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Saturday, June 18, 2016

Go to Tottori

My wife and I will go to watch my son's table tennis game tomorrow. He takes part in Chugoku High School Table Tennis Championships in Tottori. His first game starts at 9 am, so we have to leave here at 6 tomorrow morning. 
I want to watch his games as much as I can, but I can't go every games because of my work. I have only one day off in a week on Sunday. I'm glad I can go to watch this taurnament. I'll take a video tomorrow. 
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Friday, June 17, 2016

Chugoku High School Table Tennis

My son went to Tottori for participate in Chugoku High School Table Tennis Championships. He could pass the prefectural qualifier for the games. 
It's quite a big taurnament, so it would be hard to get a win. I hope he'll win at least the first round. My wife and I will go to the taurnament. I reall look forward to see his games. 
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Thursday, June 16, 2016

Listening to "Good in Bed"

I'm listening to an English audiobook "Good in Bed". Now, I'm at chapter 18 of 20. A chubby woman was dumped by her boyfriend and became pregnant his child. She decided to give birth to the child alone. And the story went up and down. I really enjoy the story and love the heroine, Cannie. She has both wit and humor. 
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Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Governor's Resignation

Tokyo governor Masuzoe will step down on June 21th because of his money scandal. Until yesterday, he begged to remain his position, but he changed his mind this morning. 
I don't think his resignation ends this scandal. The Tokyo assembly or authority should investigate Masuzoe's political funds problems to the last. 
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Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Gov. Masuzoe

The Metropolitan Assembly members likely to pass no-confidence bill on Governor Masuzoe. He still wants to work as the Tokyo Governor. He said to the assembly that he remains in his position at least on September because he wants to go to Rio Olympics as Tokyo Governor. 
If a no-confidence is passed, Masuzoe has to decided whether he steps down from the position or dissolve the assembly. 
He can't stay the position any more. He should step down as soon as possible.  
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Monday, June 13, 2016

Studying for Eiken

I checked my Eiken exam result. It made me disappointed. Of course, I'm the one to blame. 
I'll continue to enjoy reading and listening to things in English, but I have to do more in order to get Eiken 1st grade. The first thing I have to do is building vocabulary. I don't like using word books, but I shouldn't say that. 
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Sunday, June 12, 2016

Taking Eiken

I took Eiken 1st grade today. Actually, I didn't do it well. There were lots of unfamiliar words for me. Obviously, I didn't study for the test.
I'll try to get the 1st grade near future. For starters, I'll get more and more English vocabulary. I'll start from now on.  
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Saturday, June 11, 2016

Eiken Day

I'll take Eiken 1st grade tomorrow. It's a tough English test for me. I don't think I deserve to have 1st grade. I don't have good ability for the grade. I'll just have enough sleep tonight. Wish me luck!
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Friday, June 10, 2016

Japan Times and Eiken

The Japan Times criticized Eiken, an English test for Japanese, even they have been published many workbooks for the test. The article was too long to read as a newspaper article. I was tired from reading that. 
They said that the vocabulary segment was too difficult and the listening section was too easy as its top grade. The reporter checked up these words in the test by using COCA. And true, these words rarely could be seen in magazines and newspapers. Did the corpus work correctly? Maybe, correct. 
I don't study for Eiken, just taking the test for fun. So I don't care much about the article. And to tell the truth, I don't like articles of the Japan Times for some reasons. 
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Thursday, June 9, 2016

New Audiobook Title

I started a new audiobook, "Good in Bed". The author was Jennifer Weiner as the same author of "In Her Shoes" which I previously listened to. 
The beginning of the story was really interesting. I was immediately hooked on the story and I'm looking forward to the rest of it. 
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Wednesday, June 8, 2016

A Poem in the Audiobook

I finished an audiobook, "In Her Shoes" by Jennifer Weiner. It was really nice. 
The last chapter, Maggie recited a poem like,

 'i carry your heart with me(i carry it in my heart)i am never without it(anywhere i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done by only me is your doing,my darling) ...'

I don't think I could understand well the poem, but I was really moved by the poem. No reason. It was a E.E. Cummings' poem. It sounded so nice. I think I should read his poems later. 
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Tuesday, June 7, 2016

A Record Has Stopped

Japan National High School Athletic Meet is held every summer. The qualifiers are taking place every prefectures now. Last Sunday, a news shook table tennis players. In Kyoto, Higashiyama High School table tennis team failed to go to the National Taurnament for the first time in 66 years! 
They had been advanced every year for 65 years. But, it stopped. Heian High School did it. I was really sorry about that. I'm sure that one can surpass the record forever. 
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Monday, June 6, 2016

My Son on the Newspaper

My son visited the prefectural police academy to have a job recture. He had a media interview there and the article with picture was on today's newspaper. 
He said to the reporter that he could understand the work of police because he had the job training event. He said that he wanted to be a policeman more than before. 
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Sunday, June 5, 2016

Police Academy

My younger son went to an open campus event of the prefectural police academy. Young people who want to be a police officer visit to the event. He always says he will be a motorcycle policeman. 
There were some demonstrations in the event. A police helicopter landed and took off the heliport there. He had a criminal identification experience like TV dramas. He got into a police car, a Legacy. 
He said that he had a good experience today and had a strongly desire to be a police officer. 
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Saturday, June 4, 2016

Rain Rain Rain

A weather forecast said that the rainy season has come to Chugoku area. That would last six weeks. Things, bread, clothes, shoes, bathroom and so on, easily become covered with mould. I don't like rainy season. 
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Friday, June 3, 2016

Missing Boy Found Alive

A seven-year-boy Yamato Tanooka was found in a Self Defense Force's facility this morning in Hokkaido. He was left alone by his parents as punishment on Saturday. Several minutes later, he disappeared. Since then, hundreds of people searched him, but they could not find him until this morning. 
It was a miracle. It was still cold this time in Hokkaido, and the boy didn't eat anything in almost a week. The tap water and the mats in the facility helped him. I was very worried about the missing, so this finding made me happy. 
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Thursday, June 2, 2016

Listening to an Audiobook

I enjoy listening to "In Her Shoes" with Audible. I'm at Chapter 19 of 60 now. I watched the film version of the novel and it has helped me to understand the audiobook. That was because the film was quite true to the original novel. 
To tell the truth, I tried to read the novel in English several years ago, but I quit that. I think I'll try to read the book later. 
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Wednesday, June 1, 2016

High School Soutai

My younger son went to Masuda city to take part in Shimsne High School Soutai. He is a table tennis player. He couldn't join his high school team taurnament members, but he'll take part in singles and doubles taurnament. 
If he gets good results, he'll advance to All Japan High School Table Tennis Championships. It would be tough for him, but a miracle will happen sometime. I hope he'll perform well in the taurnament. 
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