Ten things I want to do

1. Go to the three best traveling spot in Japan 2. Go to a really good Onsen(hot spring) 3. Go to the North east Japan for volunteering 4. Join a club (a easy going sport club) in ICU 5. Find a part time job that gives me learning and satisfaction 6. Clean my room 7. Find a partner 8. Read "Les Miserable" 9. Read more novels 10. Go to the Chofu stadium and cheer for F.C. Tokyo These are the ten things that I want to do. Doing these will help me make my life a lot more enjoyable, so I would like them to come true.

The Reason I Study

I study because it will help me to know things better, understand things that I have not know before. University academics is, for me, a chance to discover what I really know for myself, which is in a sense something to do with the unavoidable curiosity within myself. I do get tired sometimes, especially at the end of the term, but I really hope to finish what I have started and get to a higher point of understanding on the topic after the term. That is why I spend a lot of energy in studying and putting the priority first. I am sleepy, tired, and lazy, but I really want to fight this fatigue and accomplish my goal in academics this term.

Weekend in Jindaiji

I spent my last Saturday going to Jindaiji. It was really great to be there when the leaves on the trees are colorful and starting to fall down which make me feel that the season is now autumn. I ate Soba at one of the shops there, and while I waited, I read the starting line of Basho's "Okunohosomichi". When I finished eating, I went out of the shop and went for a walk to where all the temples are, walking along the old fashioned street, the main feature of Jindaiji. I went up the stares of the street and entered a botanical park there. It cost me 500 yen. I thought it was a bit expensive for me to pay, but it was actually really nice being there with so many kinds of plants and trees in one of the best seasons in the year. I breathed the clean air, pondered on many thoughts as I walked, ate some ice cream, and out of all, I really enjoyed the nature. In the end, I thought it was worth the price. I went out of the park, and got some baked sweet potato and went home. It was a great way to spend my weekend.

How was SE? What did I learn/discover during this course?

I think I got a lot familiar with writing my thoughts freely in English. Before, I think I would have rather chosen to write my thoughts in Japanese, but now I think I can do the same in English. I even realized that there are feelings that are easier to express in English. I think my thoughts and feelings have become more closely attached to English thought process through this course. I also got used to using a blog. I had the experience of using a blog before, but I had never tried one as a blog owner. In this class, I had to run my own blog, and I was the one fully responsible for posting blog articles to proceed my blog. So I think it has become a good experience that might be useful in the future. Finally, I think out of all, the greatest thing I might have learned from this course is to write about myself in whatever way it feels comfortable for me. It is great to show a writing to other people, but first, writing is for yourself. This means that you don't really need to be so curious what other people may look at it. Writing is first for your own pleasure and to understand yourself better. Publishing is a different step, but I think writing something that you really want to write will eventually result to something that other people also find a value. These are the three things I learned from this class.

ICU Fes Symposium "Differences between the new dorms and the old dorms on ICU campus"

I participated in a symposium about "the difference between new dorms and old dorms in ICU campus" during the ICU festival. There were one panelist from each dorms to discuss with each other on the difference between the old and the new, and I participated as a representative from the 2nd Men's Dormitory. The discussion was mainly about the problem of 2 years system or 4 years system. In the current system, the residents in the new dorms can only stay at the dorm for 2 years, but in the old dorms, residents can live there for four years (basically until they graduate). There are merits and demerits for each system. If you can stay at one dorm for four years, there will be interaction with many generations, either elder or younger, and the residents get to learn a lot from that kind hybrid dorm. In 2 years system, you will have more interaction with peers in your same grade, but you will have less time to build up relationships, traditions within the dorm, and etc. It is required to look at this issue from many perspectives in making a decision of what kind of system to apply to the new dorms that ICU is planning to build in the future. I thought it was a really important issued since I am getting a lot out of living in a dorm, and I personally think whether or not the dorm is 2 years system or 4 years system makes a whole lot of difference.

Midnight City

Reading Reflections on "The Anointed" by Dr. Kathleen Hill

I've read "The Anointed"written by Dr. Kathleen Hill

It is the short story that she introduced to us in our class.

As she explained to us, the story was about a boy, Norman, whose father eventually commits suicide. The main character observes Norman, at school, mainly in music class, and also at her aunts house neighborhood, where Norman often came to visit his father who never responded to his visits.

It was really interesting to me, the way Miss Hughes was depicted in the story. The descriptions on various expression that she bears on her face made me really think of what she would be like if she were in front of me. "The silent mask"really made me think of what was really inside her mind, when she assumed that on her face. 

Norman was also really interesting to me, although I could hardly grasp what kind of person he really is, reading the story.  I also wondered what has happened already to Norman and his family at the point where the story started since, aside from his father, his mother never appeared in the story.

There are many factors in the story, that made me really curious about, at the same time I also enjoyed the uncertainty, or the mystery there. I also played the music as I read the story and it was the most fascinating thing to listen and read the depiction of the piece at the same time. I also thought it was wonderful to feel the dynamics of music contributing to the development of the story bringing me to a much closer sense of actually being there.

I found Miss Hughes comment on Mozart's Lacrimosa at the end of the story really interesting.

"If you listen closely, I know you cannot fail to hear something else: the tale of how our grief; the desire for what we do not have, the desire for what is forever denied us, may at length—when embraced as our destiny—become indistinguishable from our joy."

I found this comment really profound and pondered over what this really means to Norman, or further to myself.

The story ends, but there remains the uncertainty. What was the expression on Normans face that nobody has seen before, that looks into "the eternity"? 

"What has happened to him after that?" 

I think the latter one might be the feeling that Ms. Hill was talking about in our class, why she started to write this story. I thought, what Ms. Hill tried to do through writing this was not to create Norman's story that followed the incident, but a retrospective, creative, re-construction of her memory she had with Norman and her surrounding environment during that time of her age.

I would like to thank Ms. Hill for giving me this opportunity to read her story and,

If I have any chance sharing my thoughts with you on this, that would be most wonderful.