Book review 2-2 Seasons and Celebrations

There are many celebrations in Japan. For instead, new year, coming of age day, constitution day, and children’s day.
Of course, U.S, and Canada also has many celebrations. Some of these are well known for Japanese. For instead, there are St. Valentine’s Day, Hallowe’en, and Christmas. And, there are also very important events for western country although it is unfamiliar to Japanese. These are Easter, the forth of July, and Thanks giving day and so on.

Easter is a Christian holiday on a Sunday in March or April to celebrate Jesus Christ’s return to life after his death. There is a legend in Christians that Jesus was executed by Romans in Jerusalem on Friday, and two days later he resurrected. Eggs are an important part of Easter because it means spring and new life. One Easter tradition is “egg-rolling”. People decorate eggs with different colors.
On Easter Sunday, people give chocolate Easter eggs as presents. These eggs have bees started in Europe in the 19th century and came to Britain in the 1870s. Many people go to church on Easter day. There are lots of flowers in the churches and people sing special Easter songs.

And next, do you know the Independence Day? It is not a movie! This is very very important day for American.
U.S was once a colony of England and people in the colonies had to pay taxes to England. So, they gradually became to think that American colonies want to be free from England and want their government to be in America.
And on 4 July 1776, Thomas Jefferson and his friends wrote the Declaration of independence in Philadelphia. The British and Americans fought each other until 1781 in the American war of Independence. Americans fought for independence, equality, and freedom.
In 1783, both sides agreed with the independence of America, and so the United States of America was born.
On Independence Day, there are special church events at this time, but most of the celebrations are out side because it is summer! Many families barbecue, eat, and play games in their gardens or in a park. In many towns, there are grand parades through the streets with loud music and bright colors.
Independence Day usually ends with lots of fireworks. It is like one big party.

And finally, it is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a holiday in the U.S. and Canada when families have a large meal together to celebrate and be thankful for food, health, families etc… It is celebrated in November in U.S. and in October in Canada. This event has been started hundreds of years ago.
In September 1620, English group called the Pilgrim Fathers has arrived in North America. They went away from England because of religion, and they wanted land for their families.
First, they thought that they are first person who got to America, but it was not. The first people were Indian. Sometimes the Pilgrims fought with the Indians but they also learned many things from them. The Indians showed them how to live in new land, and haw to grow and cook new kinds of fruit and vegetables.
The first winter was difficult for Pilgrims to get over. Many of them died because it was very cold and they had few foods. In the spring they started to grow food, helped by some friendly Indians, and the autumn, they celebrated for their first harvest.
The Pilgrims wanted to give thanks, not only for the harvest, but also for their new home, new life, and new friends. So, they invited Indians for party to say thanks for teaching and helping to grow some foods.
Most American and Canadian families still have a Thanksgiving Day dinner with their family. They have turkey and autumn vegetables, and pumpkin pie.

And, about St. Valentine’s Day, this event is very popular in Japan, too. However, in western country, man and woman send a gift or greeting card each other. It is not a chocolate. And also, man presents a red rose bouquet for woman.
In Japan, we, especially woman send a chocolate to man. It is not a tradition. One chocolate company used this event to boost their company sales.

This book was very interesting because some western popular event that is unfamiliar to Japanese was written in simple words. And it has many good pictures. I think that to know about the culture of foreign country is to know their history.

Good book! ( 745 words )

Summer snowman @ 31!

Do you like ice cream? Probably many boys and girls like it! And they also may feel like having a delicious ice cream because it is too hot in this time.
Then, do you know the summer snowman? It sounds that these two words summer and snowman are the clear contrary. But, it exists at 31 ice cream. Does it fascinate with you?
Now, at 31 ice cream, they have an interesting campaign! If you will order the king size ice cream, you can get one small size ice cream free. And the clerk puts the small size one on the king size one. So… it looks like a snowman!
Of course I already tried this campaign. I ordered 「nuts to you」ice cream as a king size, and 「chocolate-holic」ice cream as a small size. It was soooooo delicious and made happy! If you like ice cream, you will absolutely like it! I am about to be hooked!!
I paste the 31 official site. http://www.31ice.co.jp/

Enjoy it! ( 176 words )

a large number of books... what for??

Hello! Do you see these books? I borrowed these books at KGU library. What for?
It is for my assignments. I was given them as a summer vacation assignments.

First, I have to write about the book review in my blog. This blog is for my writing class. So I rent these English books for book review.

Second, I will investigate about my seminar topic. My main topic is Black English. It is as known as Ebonics. So, I lent Black English grammar and pronunciation and history books. I think it is very useful for my study.

Third, I want to brush up my English skill more and more during in this vacation. Especially, I want to study everyday conversation. In spring semester, I had many chances to talk with international students. But I couldn’t express my feeling and opinion so much at that time. So, I think that I will improve and make good use of my English conversation skill. (226 words)

And finally, I am planning about my future now. And I am interested to the Tukansi(通関士)(sorry, I don’t know how to say tukansi in English.) it sounds good and interesting for me, so I will collect some information about it, and consider it.

Anyway, this vacation will be busy and very full, I think.

book review 2-1 「ＧＵＣＣＩ」

Do you know the name GUCCI? I think the people all over the world may know about this name even if I don’t say for details. GUCCI is now one of the most famous fashion brands in the world. We already know about the thing what GUCCI is. But we don’t quite know about particularity and history of this. This book was written about these things in simple words.

The GUCCI was established by Guccio Gucci who is from in Italy. Guccio was born in 1881, in Florence. He was smart, and he learned English, French, and German. When he was 19, he went to London, England, and worked in the famous Savoy Hotel. At there, he saw the clothes and jewelry of rich people everyday. And visitors to the hotel had a lot of luggage with them, too. He watched them so much, and he was given inspirations and ideas for his future from them.
He went back to Florence in 1901. He got married with Aida. In 1921, they bought the little store, and stated to sell the leather products. They had five sons and one daughter. Everybody helped at the store. Parents made and sold luggage, and children took packages to customers on their bikes.
Then one day, Guccio had a wonderful idea. He hit that he use the designs of leather products for horses and handbags. it is that we already know, GG logo. The famous GG logo came from a stirrup. Many rich people liked this design, so, Guccio’s company became bigger. In Italy, Not only rich people, but also common people loved and hankered for GUCCI products because they were beautiful and expensive. Afterward, GUCCI was grown up bigger.

In the 1970s, GUCCI products became very famous for overseas of Italy. The GG logo was in fashion. Rich people wore GUCCI clothes and accessories. In the 1980s, GUCCI products were more famous than before. Maybe too famous! Many people wore Gucci, so the clothes were not new and different. The GUCCI logo suddenly went out of fashion. But today, GUCCI is in fashion again.

The 1980s and 1990s were difficult years for the Gucci family and their company. Many quarrels have been caused by among the family member because of the way of management in this company.
Paolo, Gucci’s grand son has left this company and started a new company. Other son has left their home because he was tired of this quarrel. Aldo, Gucci’s son was arrested because of tax evasion, and he was in prison for one year. This affair has shocked not only the family but also the society.
Maurizio was the last of the family at Gucci, but in 1993 he left the company. In 1995, he was shot by somebody and died. In Italy, the trial of Maurizio’s killers was in the very big attention.
The criminal was surprisingly her ex wife Patrizia. She did not want Maurizio to marry again. She wanted more and more money from him. She paid the assassin and asked to kill Maurizio.

After that, Gucci family left the company. New people and new idea came in there. Tom ford is now the boss of new GUCCI. He is from in U.S. the fashion magazines and news papers call him “the most important man in fashion” “the top man in world fashion”. His original ideas of fashion always fascinated people who are keen on fashion. And also, Mr. Ford plans the company’s advertisement, too. His advertisements are about young, rich people and their exciting lives. He thinks that GUCCI always has to be new and exciting. This is very important in fashion.

Today, GUCCI is European company. This company is getting bigger and bigger and it is becoming more and more famous. (634 words)

Open Campus!!!

Today was an Open Campus day! I went to the university as the English Lounge stuff.

By the way, did you already go to the new English Lounge?? The new one is totally different from previous one. The room is so spacious and sunny. Also this room has sink, lunch counter, and comfortable sofa. And then, surprisingly, they have liquid crystal television and dart board! Wow, that’s amazing! Students must enjoy it!

And, an Open Campus, it was really interesting! When I got to the lounge, there were few people in there. Some high school students are chatting with lounge stuff and listening to about the home stay program and exchange program of this university. It looked very useful information for students who are thinking about entry to our university. And then, some students are talking with professors about subjects of foreign language faculty. Their eyes looked serious. I also enjoyed playing dart, chatting with doctors, and having sweets!

Finally, many high school students came to the lounge and spent their own separate time. I think that we had a good advertising campaign.

We hope that many students will enter this university next spring. And, I want to put this lounge to good use when the fall semester has come! I am looking forward it!!( 215 words )

Indiana Jones 4 ! -the kingdom of crystal skull-

Recently, I went to the theater with my father to watch Indiana Jones 4.

First, I was thinking about I will go to there alone, however, I remembered my father likes adventure movie like Indiana Jones and he was watching this series (maybe 2 and 3) on TV what was televised as a publicity for latest one. So, I invited to him to go to the theater together.

After arrived the theater, we bought usual food and drink, it’s coke and pop corn. And we went in the theater room.

I can’t tell detail of this movie because many people who are watching my blog might not watch this movie yet. But it was really really exciting! There are many action scenes in this movie, so I couldn’t take my eyes off it. And also I liked some American jokes in it. This scenes made us laugh, and enjoyed. Harrison Ford, the role of Indiana Jones hardly looks his age. He is now 66 years old! He is pretty old, but he’s worn well. The story was also simple, so, we could enjoy it.

I don’t know this series will be made the sequel, but maybe the sequel will be also exciting and fun! (204 words)

Summer vacation has started!

Hello, everyone! Are you enjoying a summer vacation? The summer vacation of university is the first time for me although I am junior. So, I am looking forward to it now!! Now, I am planning to the schedule of summer vacation. First of all, I will earn and save my money for the study abroad. Although I don’t know about the result of the test of exchange student program, I will go study abroad even if I fail this test. So, I will work part time job so much in this summer. Second, I will enjoy travelling. Now, I am planning to travel somewhere in Japan. Maybe it is Tokyo, or Fukuoka. And also, I am planning to go to the beach and camp out near there with my community college friends. I am exciting about it because I have not been to the sea and camp for three years. I will have a good time and make a never forgettable memory with them. I hope You guys will enjoy your summer!! (180words)