http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/rss Minoru's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Sat May 18 11:02:39 UTC 2013 Sat May 18 11:02:39 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8 I'm going to visit New Orleans, Houston, San Diego, and Los Angeles.
It should be fun :D

I'm going to stay in Los Angeles for 3 weeks or more, so I'm looking forward to making friends there as I did in New York. I should find friends too who I go to amusement parks with, because I don't want to go those places by myself lol.

Posted at Tue Jul 10 16:57:20 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1573591 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1573591 Minoru Tue Jul 10 16:57:20 UTC 2012 part 2: http://lang-8.com/mino/journals/1559406/For-people-who-want-to-visit-or-live-in-Japan-%2528part-2%2529
and part 3 too: http://lang-8.com/mino/journals/1561164/For-people-who-want-to-visit-or-live-in-Japan-%2528part-3%2529

Today, I’ll talk about “Foods and products” in Japan.

“Foods and products”

Tourists from other countries say that restaurants in Japan are expensive. But actually, some restaurants are not expensive at all.
There are so many cheap chain restaurants in Japan, such as “Yoshinoya (吉野家)”, “Matsuya (松屋)”, “Sukiya (すき家)”, “Fujisoba (富士そば)”, and “Saizeriya (サイゼリヤ)”.
In those restaurants, a “gyudon (beef-on-rice dish)” is 280 yen ($3.5), a “soba (buckwheat noodles)” is 280 yen ($3.5, actually you can find cheaper soba), a doria (this is so good) is 299 yen ($3.62), and a glass of wine is 100 yen ($1.2).
Those prices include tax, and you don’t pay tips in Japan.
I calculate them as 1 dollar is 80 yen. As you may know, yen is way expensive now, so if it’s not, those prices in dollar get way cheaper.

Japanese products are also sometimes very cheap.
You can find many cheap products on Rakuten:
“Rakuten Global Market”
http://global.rakuten.com/en/
They also have expensive products, but there are so many shops which register on this e-bay website that price competition is so severe, which makes those prices cheaper.
And, Japan is a small country, so sometimes, those shops don’t ask you to pay for shipping fee.

If you want to buy books, Amazon is good:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/
They sell books cheaply without shipping fee. What’s more, you often receive books within a couple days.
They also have so many books written in English:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/In-English/b/ref=topnav_switchLang?ie=UTF8&node=1094656

Japanese consumers are so strict about price and quality, and basically, we are conservative. I think Japanese consumers are the hardest ones in the world to be satisfied with products or service. That’s why, I think, there are also always cheap and not bad quality products or service in Japan.


If you hesitate to come to Japan just because of money, I want you to take consider the above things.
I would be so happy if you decide to visit or live in Japan. I’m looking forward to seeing you in Japan :)

Posted at Mon Jul 09 04:22:33 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1570827 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1570827 Minoru Mon Jul 09 04:22:33 UTC 2012 and part 2 as well: http://lang-8.com/mino/journals/1559406/For-people-who-want-to-visit-or-live-in-Japan-%2528part-2%2529


“Jobs”

It’s not difficult to get a job in Japan at all if you are a native English speaker, who has a bachelor degree and was born in America, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand (maybe Singapore and South Africa too?). It’s because it’s very popular to study English in English conversation schools. It’s getting more popular in Japan. Even if you don’t have a visa for living in Japan, those schools support for you to get a working visa, and you can get one.

See this website:
http://www.jibunmirai.co.jp/foreigner/working.html
It’s for the most famous English conversation school called “NOVA”.
If you work 5 days a week, you can get 253,000 yen a month (apx. $3,200/month).
One class consists of about 3 or 4 students and 1 teacher, so it’s not so hard.

If you want to teach English in public school, such as elementary school, middle school or high school, there’s another option, which is more formal one.
“The JET Program”
http://www.jetprogramme.org/index.html
This program is very popular for people who want to teach English in Japan's schools, so that means, it’s sometimes also difficult to be in this program.
That website says, if you work as a teacher in this program, you get 3.36 million yen in the first year (apx. $42,000/year). If you can update the contract, you get 3.6 million yen in the second year.
Basically, you can’t choose an area in which you want to work, but I think it’s very good to work in kind of country side too, because you can know more typical Japanese stuff.
As you know, schools have three vacations in the summer, winter and spring. It means you can enjoy traveling around Japan too.

I really want you to consider to work in Japan.

Next time, I’ll talk about “Foods and products”.


Posted at Tue Jul 03 04:56:52 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1561164 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1561164 Minoru Tue Jul 03 04:56:52 UTC 2012

“Accommodations”

It’s true that living and staying in a hotel or house in Tokyo is expensive.
But, I want to introduce cheaper ways to you.

First, if you stay in Japan for a short while, just stay in my apartment for FREE lol. I’d love to offer my room unless you are a stranger.
Anyway, I guess I should show other options too haha. The below is the case of Tokyo.

Dormitory style of hostel is cheap.
“Tokyo Backpackers”
http://tokyo-backpackers.com/en/?mid=OurHouse
It’s about $26/night, and they offer a weekly or monthly discount too.
If you need a private bedroom, this hotel gives you good price.
“Economy Hotel New Azuma”
http://www.myfavorite.bz/azuma/pc/index.html
It’s $31/night, and they also offer a long term discount.

If you want to live in Japan, I think you can have a great time in share houses.
“Sakura House”
http://www.sakura-house.com/en/
“Oakhouse”
http://www.oakhouse.jp/eng/
“e-GuestHouse”
http://e-guest.jp/en/
According to these websites, it’s from around $600/month.

Hm… I think there are cheaper accommodations, but it was hard to find them in English websites. Actually, old private wooden apartments are cheaper.
Anyway, If you stay in outside of Tokyo, such as Chiba, Kanagawa (Yokohama), and Saitama, it’s much cheaper, and you still can visit Tokyo within less than an hour.

Next time, I’ll talk about “Jobs”.

Posted at Mon Jul 02 04:32:31 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1559406 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1559406 Minoru Mon Jul 02 04:32:31 UTC 2012 So, starting today, I want to show you that it’s not very expensive (you might still think it's expensive though haha), and you also have a couple ways to live in Japan with a good job.


“Airplane tickets”

Japan is very far from America or Canada. This time, I will show you how much the airplane tickets are.
From Los Angeles to Tokyo: One-way ticket is $469 (nonstop). Round-trip ticket is $818 (nonstop respectively).
From New York to Tokyo: One-way ticket is $646 (one stop). Round-trip ticket is $1,188 (one stop respectively).
From Vancouver to Tokyo: One-way ticket is $645 (one stop). Round-trip ticket is $1,121 (one stop respectively).
From Toronto to Tokyo: One-way ticket is $799 (one stop). Round-trip ticket is $1,490 (one stop respectively).

I found those tickets in the website called “KAYAK”.
http://www.kayak.com/
If you want to buy tickets in that cheap price, you have to buy one more than a couple month before.

Next time, I’ll talk about “Accommodations”.

Posted at Fri Jun 29 06:42:33 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1554674 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1554674 Minoru Fri Jun 29 06:42:33 UTC 2012
When I was searching, I found a 14 year old Japanese girl, who won at "Amateur Night" at the theater.
Her name is Saho Aono (青野紗穂). You can see that in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJb1e6Hzqv0

She's going to perform on the 20th of this month:
http://www.apollotheater.org/amateur-night-events/details/200-amateur-night

I'll be there! Let's go there, anyone who wants to go :)

Posted at Thu Jun 14 19:26:13 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1531042 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1531042 Minoru Thu Jun 14 19:26:13 UTC 2012
I'm planning to stay the city for about one month.
I don't know how I can enjoy New York life well, so please give me any advice.
And, feel free to meet with me if you live in New York because I want to make many friends here!
I live in Harlem, Manhattan now :)


Up to come here, I enjoyed travelling in Washington D.C. and Philadelphia.
With my girlfriend, we went to many museums and joined a couple free guide walking tours. Smithsonian Museums, which is in DC, are all free, so I really recommend you to visit them and spend a few days. In addition, if you join free guide tours as well, you can save so much money.

This is the website for(of?) tours: http://www.freetoursbyfoot.com/

Thank you for reading :)

Posted at Thu Jun 14 02:13:14 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1529746 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1529746 Minoru Thu Jun 14 02:13:14 UTC 2012 When I talk with native English speakers, I sometimes can't understand what they say.
When I go to museums, I sometimes can't understand what they say because of my lack of vocab.
When I read English news websites, I feel tired so early because of my shortage of English knowledge.

If you are good at some language, you can enjoy the life where that language is used.
If not, it's a shame, isn't it?

Do you have such experiences?

Posted at Sat Jun 09 03:20:40 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1521189 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1521189 Minoru Sat Jun 09 03:20:40 UTC 2012
Oh, and if you live in DC and you are free, let's meet up :)

Thank you for your help.

Posted at Wed Jun 06 14:59:03 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1516228 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1516228 Minoru Wed Jun 06 14:59:03 UTC 2012
Actually, this is the second time to visit there, but I'm still so excited.

If you live in DC, let's meet up and tell me about the city and America :)

Posted at Mon Jun 04 14:26:21 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1512539 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1512539 Minoru Mon Jun 04 14:26:21 UTC 2012 As you know, both are about the future, but "be going to" is about more firm plan.

For example, when I say "I'm going to visit America next month", it sometimes implies I already bought a plane ticket. However, in the case of "I will visit America next month", there's still much possible chance for the plan to be changed.
Any grammar book, even one published in U.K. or America says so.

However, when I talked about those things to my girlfriend, who is American, she said, "'Will' and 'be going to' are the totally same. 'Be going to (e.g. I'm gonna)' is more used in casual talking though".

I'm wondering if it's true or not. Is it too slight difference? Or, it depends on regions or generations?

I appreciate it if you give me your opinions about that.

Posted at Sat Jun 02 02:58:30 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1508258 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1508258 Minoru Sat Jun 02 02:58:30 UTC 2012


We took a subway to Old Montreal.

At first, we went to a restaurant of Poutine, which is originated and popular in Canada.
I liked it!

After that, we went to “Notre-Dame Basilica” which is the main attraction for us.
It was so gorgeous and there were so many tourists.

We ate dinner in Chinatown next to Old Montreal.

The next day, we took a bus back to Toronto.


Montreal was very beautiful city.
There were a lot of churches, which are, I think, Catholic ones.
I heard that Canadians are kinder than Americans, and I think it’s true. What’s more, people in Montreal were kinder than in Toronto. Through the Montreal trip, two guys in total helped us when we were looking at a map.
Japanese people are also very kind, but we are also shy. It means we sometimes don’t help people even if we want to.

People in Montreal speak French, but once we say “Hi”, all of them switched to (a?) frequent English. Even a hobo did that. I thought that the hobo could get a job easily in Japan because she was bilingual.

We had a good time in Montreal :)

Posted at Fri Jun 01 20:21:05 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1507953 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1507953 Minoru Fri Jun 01 20:21:05 UTC 2012


We went to “Mary Queen of the World Cathedral” first on the day.
And then, we walked through the underground city, which is a counterpart of PATH in Toronto, to a subway station.
We took the subway to “Plateau Mont-Royal”. We enjoyed the pretty town, though a (the?) vegetarian restaurant which my ex-roommate recommended me was closed (close?).
After that, we went to a (the?) famous bagel shop called “Fairmount Bagel”. For your information, smoke meat and bagels in Montreal are famous.

We took a bus to “Oratoire St. Joseph” too.
The church is 263m above sea level, which is for Catholic.
It was so grand.
We also enjoyed beautiful night view of Montreal near the church.

Posted at Fri Jun 01 18:59:43 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1507865 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1507865 Minoru Fri Jun 01 18:59:43 UTC 2012


I had stayed in Montreal for 4 days from 16th to 19th with my gf.
Because a bus from Pennsylvania to Toronto, which my gf was taking, was late for about 2 and a half hours, we couldn’t take another bus from Toronto to Montreal. However, we managed to change the bus to the next one for free, so It was okay.

We got Montreal at 7 in the evening. It took about 6 hours.

Montreal is a town in Quebec, northeast of Toronto, where people speak French.
What I noticed as soon as I arrived was English words are written under French words in signs. It's opposite Toronto case.

We headed to a hotel. The hotel was along the main street in Montreal and near a coach terminal.

We were tired at that day so we changed our plan a little bit and after we ate Thai food at the food court in Eaton Centre, we went back to the hotel.


Note: I might not be able to reply to comments immediately. I’ll say sorry in advance.


Posted at Sat May 19 22:41:21 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1485180 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1485180 Minoru Sat May 19 22:41:21 UTC 2012 I got 820 grads out of 990 at that time, and I took the exam this time while I expected I would get good score. But, I couldn’t concentrate on a listening part so I couldn’t feel a good response (手応えが無かった).
However, it’s okay because I get the ideas of solution for learning English every time I take the test. It seems to be very nice to take the exam sometimes.
I’m planning that I’ll take the exam again on July 7th in New York.

Yesterday, I went out to play bowling with my friends. I got 125 points. It’s sort of okay haha.
I met a lot of Canadian friends yesterday too and I enjoyed myself, whereas I felt kind of sad because I can’t see them once after a few days when I leave Toronto.

Oh! Today is my girlfriend’s birthday! She is actually 19 years old!
Happy birthday~♪

Posted at Sun May 13 01:32:01 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1473430 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1473430 Minoru Sun May 13 01:32:01 UTC 2012
Today, I was talking with my Japanese roommate about those things, and then we got the same opinion. "Many foreigners consider Japan as a good or attractive country because of the culture or products, but actually, what we want them to give their attention to about Japan is our personality".

Me and he has left Japan, and then, now that we can see Japan with another view and compare Japan to other countries, we like Japanese personality very much.

After that devastating disaster in Japan, you might have had chances to know about Japanese personality through the media. However, I want you all to come to Japan and I want you to "feel" it.

I would love to offer my help to you willingly if you come to Japan :)
Oh, but please wait until this August because I'm in Canada now lol
I lived in Tokyo :)

Posted at Fri May 11 03:34:48 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1470691 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1470691 Minoru Fri May 11 03:34:48 UTC 2012 If you cook by yourself, you can choose foods what you want to eat or are good for your health, you can save money, and you can reduce a lot of garbage.
While I was living in Tokyo by myself, I almost hadn’t been cooking so that I bought (used to buy?) “bento”, which is a meal with plastic box every day. Bento which are sold in convenience stores usually have preservative. As you may tell, buying those foods are not good in some points.

Once I go back to Japan from Canada and America, I want to try more cooking!

Posted at Tue May 08 06:01:22 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1465762 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1465762 Minoru Tue May 08 06:01:22 UTC 2012
However, Lang-8 is not only for improving language skills. There are so many things I can learn from people's journals and communications.

Now that I'm in Toronto, Canada, and will be in America for 3 months starting this month, so I'm thinking of more real relationship. I'll use Lang-8 for a communication tool rather than English practice. Of course, I use that for learning English too though haha

I think it's very nice if I can meet those friends (and you!) while I travel, which is very flexible in America, and it's also very, very nice if you visit Japan and see me, or even stay in my house (you can save money! haha), which would be in Tokyo (now, I don't have my own house, but I probably do a few months after I go back).

I want to see you. If you are in America, I might see you then!

Lang-8 is pretty nice :D

Posted at Sat May 05 03:45:54 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1460320 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1460320 Minoru Sat May 05 03:45:54 UTC 2012 Actually though, I often post journals on another SNS in Japanese, or often post on Facebook.
So, please check my Facebook page too and be friends with me :D
https://www.facebook.com/minorukai0807

Anyway, I took a TOEIC exam the other day, which is "Test Of English for International Communication (TOEIC)". The exam is popular only in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan, I guess.
However, the test is getting more and more important because businesses("companies" is better?) need us English skill more and more.
The exam is too difficult....no, it used to be too difficult for me in the past, but not now so much.

I got 820 points out of 990 the last month. That result doesn't always satisfy me ("I'm not always satisfied with that result" is better?), but I was kind of relieved because I could be sure that my English skill got much better than before (I got 705 points January last year).

Anyway! I'm in Toronto, Canada now, and I'm going to America the 21st of this month. I'll stay there for almost three months.

I'm lucky :)

Posted at Fri May 04 01:49:00 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1458538 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1458538 Minoru Fri May 04 01:49:00 UTC 2012 The first week: I just hung up in Toronto.
The second week: I enjoyed Toronto with my girlfriend, who lives in America and visited Toronto.
The third week: I was looking for a share house.
The fourth week: now.


Btw, I haven't communicated with people very much yet.
I want to make friends here more, so please contact with me anyone who lives in Toronto, not only Canadians. Of course, I like to be friends with all over the world too!

Especially, for example, people who...

・eat out with me
・want to learn Japanese language or culture,
・want to work volunteer jobs together (I'm looking for now),
・or want to go see a basketball game of NBA with me, etc.

I just want to make friends, so never mind the list above. Feel free to contact with me!

This is my Facebook account: http://www.facebook.com/minorukai0807
Feel free to add me on your Facebook, even if you are not supposed to meet me :)

Thank you.

Posted at Sun Mar 25 19:27:06 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1384236 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1384236 Minoru Sun Mar 25 19:27:06 UTC 2012
Lately, I've been searching a share house but it hasn't been working well, because I'll stay at Toronto for another 2 months and owners don't prefer short term contracts.

But, I've got a room today :) I'll move there tomorrow. I changed my plan a little bit because, as I said, it's hard to find a 2 month term apartment. I've contracted (booked) the house for one week for now, which has private bedrooms and shared kitchen, bathrooms, etc. It takes $245/week (not so bad) and it's far from the downtown (about an hour), so I'll look for other houses again later, though I might extend that stay. In this way, I can move from town to town and can meet many people. Anyway, when I sent emails to owners, most of them ignored, but no one ignore my phone call, of course haha. I thought I shouldn't have hesitated to call!

Posted at Sat Mar 17 01:09:26 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1368242 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1368242 Minoru Sat Mar 17 01:09:26 UTC 2012
After the earthquake, we didn't care how tiny each of our supports were very much. We just did. If you don't do anything, there's no change in the first place, but if you do something, there might be a change. We shouldn't give up before we try. That's why I donated for the earthquake damage without thinking how much support I can give.

Anyway, at 2:46 pm (in Toronto, 0:46 am), I'll observe a silent prayer.

Posted at Sun Mar 11 04:52:45 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1358149 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1358149 Minoru Sun Mar 11 04:52:45 UTC 2012 I’ve been trying to change my habits for about 6 years, especially mental ones.
When I feel bad, upset, or not like doing something, I don’t want to regard the reasons of those feelings as “just because”.
In most situations, you can analyze those feelings logically. If you ask yourself “why?”, and you get the answer, and you should ask “why” again toward the answer. As you repeat that again and again, you can reach real reason which is related to feeling or emotion. After I practiced this method, I can understand why I’m upset when I am, in most cases. Most things are worthless to be upset or frustrated. After you realize your own real feelings in deep level (actually, it’s not in deep), you sometimes can think it’s not a big deal or something like that. You would know how you deal with yourself.

In our life, there are so many common ideas. We tend to forget to consider about common ideas. I think they are kind of habits because we believe those ideas without thinking. With habits, we possibly hurt someone’s feeling.

Anyway, for me, it’s very very easy to guess if someone is too proud to show their embarrassing things. It’s very obvious not only for me but, I think, also for others that people who don’t like to be thought as stupid act another way than the others. I’m not sure if the word of “stupid” is matched with what I try to mean, but I hope it makes sense. Actually, there are so many things we really don’t have to consider. If you can analyze your real feelings willingly(actively?), you can take lots of things easy.

Knowing of yourself is very important. I won’t lose myself because I always try to know my real feelings.

I'm still a little too immature to talk about those things though...lol

Posted at Mon Feb 13 08:56:57 UTC 2012
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1313120 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1313120 Minoru Mon Feb 13 08:56:57 UTC 2012
サジタリウス by 1000say

I've listened to a(maybe I can't put "a" in this case, right?) 1000say's song for the first time in ages. The bass vocal is very cool. I've seen their live a few times and the drummer was amazing. I talked with them a few times, but of course, I guess they don't remember me. lol

Posted at Mon Dec 19 09:32:14 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1232241 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1232241 Minoru Mon Dec 19 09:32:14 UTC 2011 There was something to do first after I came to Melbourne. That is seeing a dentist. It’s because one of my upper left teeth repeats hurting and receding starting four months ago, and what’s more, to my surprise, I chipped another tooth of mine when I was eating nuts. I couldn’t help worrying about my teeth, so I looked for a Japanese dentist and I saw the dentist. She was born and raised in Australia, so her Japanese was not so good. So, we talked in Japanese and English. She spoke English a little slowly and very clearly, so I could get most of what she was saying.

As I said in the title (or Like the title?), I’ll go back to Japan.
As a result of the exam, it was clarified for there to be a very bad tooth, which was eaten away up to a nerve. Lately, I sometimes had an eye pain, so I was suspecting about that, and it was correct… The cause was a nerve in my teeth. There are also other decayed teeth (which is common, bad teeth, rotten teeth, cavities or decayed teeth?). Even if I only cure the worst tooth, it costs from 1,000 to 4,000 bucks. Curing teeth are not coverage of my travel insurance, and a cost of dental care in Australia is very expensive, so I’ve decided to go back to Japan where I can use a public health insurance.

It’s very common sense for working holiday makers to go to a dentist before we come. So, this time, it’s totally my fault because of my laziness. I have never had decayed teeth in my schooldays, so I had totally been careless.

It’s ashamed rather than disappointed.
Just after the diagnosis, I was depressed, but now, I calm down. I came to Melbourne all the say, I will enjoy the city for a few days left.

I haven’t decided yet if I’ll come back to Australia.



15日、ゴールドコーストを早朝に飛行機で出発し、メルボルンにやって来ました。メルボルンはかなり都会で、街中をトラム(路面電車)が走っています。
メルボルンに来てまずやらなければいけないことがありました。歯医者に行くということです。というのが、4ヶ月ほど前から左上の奥歯が痛んだり収まったりの繰り返しで、先日は何と他の歯がナッツを食べてる時に欠けました。さすがに心配になり、日本人の歯医者を探して診察。その女性はオーストラリア生まれオーストラリア育ちで日本語が実はそんなに堪能で無いため、日本語と英語を織りまぜながらの会話になりました。ですがゆっくり、そして綺麗な発音だったので、ほぼ全て聞き取れることが出来ました。

タイトルにもありますが、日本に帰国することになりました。
その診察の結果、一本かなり状態の悪い歯があり、神経まで侵されてしまってるそうでした。最近眼痛が頻繁に起こるようになってきたので「まさかなぁ」と思ってましたが、予想が的中してしまいました。歯の神経が原因でした。他にもいくつか虫歯があるそうで、一番状態の悪いその歯を直すだけでも10万円から40万円かかるそうです。海外旅行保険の補償範囲ではないですし、オーストラリアの歯科医療費はとても高いので、健康保険の適用される日本で治療することにしました。

ワーホリに行く前に歯の診察を受けておくのは常識で、今回の事はそれを怠った自分の完全な責任です。学生時代は全く虫歯になったことが無かったので、完全に油断していました。

情けないのを通り越して恥ずかしい限りです。
診察後はずいぶん落ち込んでいましたが、だいぶ落ち着いてきました。せっかくなのであと数日、メルボルンの街を観光して帰りたいと思います。

オーストラリアにまた帰ってくるかどうかは未定です。

Posted at Sat Dec 17 13:02:52 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1229907 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1229907 Minoru Sat Dec 17 13:02:52 UTC 2011
I’m going to wake up (get up is better?) at 4 tomorrow morning, and I’m leaving at 6:20 by plane (airplane is better?) for the next city. I’ll look for an apartment and I’m supposed to stay there for 2 or 3 months.

Where do you think is it? (What city do you think is it? is better?)



オーストラリアに来て気付いたんですが、アデレードのファームに行った時以外は、未だ電柱と電線を見ていません。大きな街は電線は全て地中にあるようです。東京もいつかそうなってくれないかなって期待してますが、きっと莫大なお金がかかりますよね・・・。

明日は朝4時に起床、6時20分の飛行機でゴールドコーストから次の街へ発ちます。今度はアパートを探して2,3ヶ月滞在する予定です。

さて、どこでしょう？？


Posted at Wed Dec 14 12:56:47 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1226040 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1226040 Minoru Wed Dec 14 12:56:47 UTC 2011 As I heard that Gold Coast is a tourist city, when I arrived there, I realized it really was!
The beach seemed (to be?) endless. If you look back the inland from the beach, you can see (the?) serried ranks of many tall buildings. What’s more, there are lots of fashionable shops, so Gold Coast is a good city for sightseeing.
I might like Gold Coast the most of the cities where I visited.
Regarding my backpackers hostel, although it costs 30 bucks a night, which is in a radius of standard fee, the hostel was like a standard resort hotel rather than it is because there are a toilet, a shower room, a TV and a fridge in each room. My roommates were an around 80 year old Aussie guy and, a Korean and an Italian guys(guy?). They are all fun.

On 10th, when I was strolling (is the word of “stroll” common?), I found a shop called “Condom Kingdom”. I thought “Kingdom?? What is the kingdom like??”, so I wanted to go in the shop, but I couldn’t because it’s embarrassing to go in by myself, so I just passed by the store without any pictures lol.



9日、ブリスベンから電車とバスを1時間半ほど乗り継ぎ、ゴールドコーストのサーファーズパラダイスにやってきました！
ゴールドコーストは観光都市と聞いていましたが、着いてみたら噂通り、ハワイを思わせるような観光都市でした！
ビーチは見渡す限り延々と続いているし、ビーチから街を振り向けばホテルがぎっしり並んでいるし、お洒落なお店もいっぱいあるし、旅行で来るには自信を持ってオススメ出来る街です。
今まで周ったオーストラリアの街では一番好きかもしれません。
今泊まってるバックパッカーズホステルも、一泊$30のまあ標準に収まる範囲内の料金ですが、バックパッカーズホステルというよりはごく普通のリゾートホテルで、トイレ・シャワー室・テレビ・冷蔵庫も各部屋に備えられており、プール・テニスコート・ジャグジー・ビリヤード・ゲームセンターなどもあります。
ルームメイトはオージーの80歳ぐらいのおじいさんと、韓国人とイタリア人の青年です。みんな気さくで楽しいです。

10日、街をぶらぶら歩いていたら、コンドームキングダムというお店がありました。「どんな王国(キングダム)やねん！」と思い、中に入ってみたかったですが、さすがに一人で入るのは恥ずかしかったので写真も撮らずに通り過ぎました(笑)。

Posted at Tue Dec 13 22:20:06 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1225207 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1225207 Minoru Tue Dec 13 22:20:06 UTC 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HMtMg1t9Kbc#!

This is a video about the March earthquake.

Posted at Tue Dec 13 12:10:25 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1224561 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1224561 Minoru Tue Dec 13 12:10:25 UTC 2011
When you mention 1 a.m. or 2 a.m., which do you use "at 2 at night" or "at 2 in the morning"?

I heard a very interest thing. It's about the definition of "night" and "evening". I think most Japanese think that "night" is starting after dawn to around 3 or 4 a.m. or so, and "evening" is around dawn, maybe...lol
However, actually, "night" starts around 10 p.m., and "evening" is starting around 6 to before "night" (ugh...maybe..I'm not sure lol).

Tell me your opinion :)

Thank you!

Posted at Thu Dec 08 00:04:25 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1217177 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1217177 Minoru Thu Dec 08 00:04:25 UTC 2011
In my room of the backpackers hostel, there are two English (from England). Their English has way stronger accent than normal British accent, so even though I concentrate on their speaking, I can’t get what they speak. They say a “fuck” once or more every 3 sentence.
The other day night, an incident was happened. In top bunk bed – I was in the bottom - one of them brought a girl and they started having sex from 1:30 at night. The bed was creaking, the girl was panting without hesitating, and, underwear, a water bottle and a blanket were fallen, so I couldn’t sleep for that “2 hours” while they were enjoying themselves. Another German roommate went out because of that.
After that, although I managed to sleep for 4 hours well, according to the German roommate, the other English also had sex with a girl that he brought while I was sleeping. I didn’t wake up lol.
I’ve heard a few times that some of Europeans (not most) don’t care about those things. I was pissed off and I thought they should rent another room for 2 people.



ブリスベンの生活はすでに飽きてしまい、早く次の街に移りたいんですが、ネットで注文した物が届くのを待ってる為、また図書館でこもって勉強してるという日々です。

今滞在してるバックパッカーの部屋にはイングランド人が2人いるのですが、いわゆるイギリス英語の訛りよりもさらに訛っていて、集中して聞いていても何を言ってるのかさっぱりです。3文に一回は”FUCK”って言ってます。
先日の夜、事件が起こりました。自分が寝てる2段ベッドの上の段で、そのイギリス人が女性を連れ込み、深夜1時半からセックスを始めました・・・。ベッドはギシギシ音を立てて揺れているし、女性は遠慮なしに喘ぎ声を出してるし、下着やペットボトルやブランケットは落ちてくるし、結局セックスしていたその「2時間」は眠れませんでした。ルームメイトのドイツ人の女性は途中で部屋から出ていきました。
結局事が済んだ後、4時間半ほどぐっすり寝たんですが、そのドイツ人のルームメイトの話によると、その後、もう一人のイングランド人も女性を連れ込みセックスしていたそうです。僕は起きなかったですが(笑)
噂には聞いていましたが、ヨーロッパ人(一部の人)は他の人がいてもお構いなしでセックスするんですね。正直ムカつきましたし、するなら2人部屋借りてやれよって感じです。

Posted at Wed Dec 07 14:59:04 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1216723 http://www.lang-8.com/mino/journals/1216723 Minoru Wed Dec 07 14:59:04 UTC 2011