Blog #3: Yokohama

Asumi Oda
Hello! This time, I'd like to talk about my visit to Yokohama.
Three of my friends and I went to Yokohama last Friday, because we didn't have any classes!
First, we went to the Chinatown 中華街 and we ate many kinds of.... um, I'm not sure how we call it in English... so I'll show you the picture

It's kind of like a dumpling. All of them were very tasty!

   After hanging around Chinatown, we went to Berrick Hall, which is a beautiful house built in 1930.
Since Yokohama was one of the main trading ports after Japan's period of isolation (鎖国）, many foreign traders came into Japan and started to live in Yokohama. B.R.Berrick, who use to live in this house, was a trader, too. The way they designed their houses were quite different form the way Japanese people did, and because of the long international isolation, these houses and the way they live gave Japanese people some clear image of what western countries were like.
There are still many old houses like these in Yokohama today, and we can take a look inside. In some houses, some of the rooms are now changed into a nice little cafe. You can have a cup of tea and a piece of cake.
I'll show you some pictures inside Berrick Hall.

This is his son's room. It's so sweet and the color of the wall and the shape of the window are very nice.

This is the dining room. Since Halloween is near, a lot of pumpkins were on the table.

This is the hall. I love this floor! Don't you think it looks just like a chessboard?
   Well, if you've never visited Yokohama before, I really recommend you to go there.
There are many many ways to enjoy Yokohama, I suppose, but I love taking a walk around Yamate where you can find lots of old pretty houses like this.
Asumi

Blog#3 "Me and My Girl"

Kazu Hatakeyama

Hi, everyone!

It is the second time for me to make my blog page.

It's fun♪♪

In this time, I would like to introduce our club performance at the School Festival!

I am belong to the English club in our university.

(Please check our home page which I mainly make!!)

We enjoy discussion, debate, speech and playing drama in English with about 60 members. 

Since this summer, we have been practicing the English Drama "Me and My Girl".

Perhaps some of you have already known the story,

but I will tell you the brief summary of the story just as we did in the presentation in class.

The story is set in London in the 1930's at Hareford where gorgeous, rich and good family. 

At Hareford, Earl of Hareford died without leaving heirs.   

However the late Viscount married in his youth.  They soon parted and she died and their son was born.  His name is Bill.  Bill is so naughty and lives in Lambeth with his sweetheart, Sally. 

Sally and Bill are so poor but they really love each other!

Then, Bill's aunt, Maria found Bill and wanted him to live together as  the Lord Hareford.

Bill was educated by Maria in order to be a nobleman.  However, the more Bill changes his appearance and behavior as a gentleman, the more big status difference between Bill and Sally is created. 

Therefore, Bill has a big question: which is more important for him 'love in a poor life' or 'high position in a colorless life'. 

As you easily guess, Bill chose Sally at the end. 

However, by the time he made the decision, Bill had some troubles in the Hareford.

This is the main plot of the story. 

The script we use in the play is made by my friend and we memorize all the script and play it in our own way. 

60 members are all divided into 5 groups and have a competition that chooses the best two groups for the school festival. 

Actually, it was held last Sunday and............

Our group won the competition and we were chosen to be a group for the festival!!

I am soooo happy☆

Since I am senior, I am the director and I won't play at the day. 

However, I am constructing our play including back music and lighting. 

I am very looking forward to showing our performance at the festival. 

Therefore, if you have time, please come to see our play!

☆Saturday 5th, November

☆＠富士見会館

☆11:00~

☆14:00~ (I will play in the this time.)

  

Blog # 5 :The Dangerous Liaisons by Choderlos de Laclos

 By Diane

   Hello everyone!

I will dedicate my first blog post on one of my favourite books : “The Dangerous Liaisons”, by Choderlos de Laclos. The book’s format is quite peculiar as it is an epistolary novel,(only composed of letters)thus the narration is always made by a character writing to another one.The story revolves around the French aristocracy ,(just before the revolution of 1789) and focuses on the two rivals and ex lovers the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont. 

The plot is quite intricate.It is about the determination of Valmont to seduce a married & wealthy woman :Madame de Tourvel while Madame de Merteuil’s motivation is to corrupt Cecile de Volanges,whose mother recently arranged to marry her to Merteuil’s recent lover though Cecile falls in love with her music teacher instead (Chevalier Danceny).

The two main characters: Merteuil & Valmont pretend to want to help Cecile and she confides all of her secrets to them.

They will use these later to plan their own.. “evil” scheme.

I will not develop the story further as I strongly recommend all of you who did not get a chance to get hold of this book to discover it by reading it first.

 The Dangerous Liaisons caught my eye on so many aspects, one of them being the (perversive) aim to destroy reputations with sexual conquests and trick others by adopting certain words and puns to be seen in a more flattering light.

In my opinion,It truly shows the importance of appearances in this particular environment and is ,I think,characteristic of the French culture,where being eloquent,and having verbal skills is praised,even today.

Furthermore, the fact we are reading correspondences which are not meant to be read,gives us a “voyeur” insight,where we can witness all the changes in the style of writing (thus behavior) according to who the letter is addressed to (which tells us about one’s personality and motivations).

The plot is captivating and I strongly felt sympathy towards certain characters (mostly victims of Valmont’s cruel maneuvers),as well as fascination vis-a-vis the power of the Marquise de Merteuil.

There were a few screen adaptations of this book,one of them being the critically acclaimed one by Stephen Frears ,starring an exquisitely talented John Malkovich as Valmont ,and Glenn Close,who perfectly portrays the cruel Marquise de Merteuil.

  I would still strongly advise to read the novel first.In fact,even though the adaptation may stay true to the text, Laclos’ brilliance to embody each characters remains,I feel, irreplaceable.

   

   An other adaptation,which became more popular amongst people our age is  “Cruel Intentions” by Roger Kumble,which instead of taking place in the 18th century,takes place nowadays.The names and plot lines are changed.It stars the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” main actress Sarah Michelle Gellar,Ryan Philippe (who played in“Flags of our Fathers” by Clint Eastwood)and Reese Witherspoon (who you might know from the..imperishable masterpiece.. which was “Legally Blonde”). 

I hope this brief review made you want to read this timeless novel and/or watch the screen adaptations,

See you next week in class !

Diane ;)

Blog#2 What you can do with Android device.

Shuhei Wada

Do you have an iPhone or a Android device?
I have used both of them. Now, I am a user of Android.

Today, I will introduce what you can do with the Android device.
What you can do by using android is very similar to iPhone but if you like to customize something I recommend you to have Android.

First of all, for android devices, spec of the device will be very important.
My recommendation is GalaxyS2 from Samsung.
GaraxyS2 has dual core CPU so that the speed of the phone is very fast and you can use it without any stress.

Lets move to what you can do with the Android.
First, you can customize the desktop.

This is my phone's desktop.
This is the biggest difference between iPhone and Android.
You can put anything you like on desktop.
Time table, schedule, custom clock, weather, shortcut to any application, application launcher....

You can browser the files in the device.
Android is more like a computer than iPhone.
You can create folders in SD card and browser it with file viewer.
This means you can also browser system folder and able to change it a bit.

As you can see, the font of my phone is a bit different from other phones.
I replaced the font data with another one.

Great applications for Android

This application is called Viber and this is my most favorite application.
You can download it via Android market or iPhone application store.

Free application!

The picture is chat function of the viber.
To use viber, you need only your phone numbers.
If a person who you want to talk have viber, you can talk and chat with him/her without any fee.







This application is "Ato nanhun?" あと何分？
This application notify you how long you should wait for next train.

As you see the picture, this application tells you how long you have to wait for next train by seconds.

It is also a Free Application.

This is Infrared data transfer.

Many people who do not change to Smart phone is because the infrared function is not supported with smart phones but now, many of Japan made smart phones are supported with infrared data transfer system. You can exchange phone book data by ussing infrared data transfer.
 










Finally, I recommend you to use Android if you like to use computer or you like to customize everything. 
There are many applications that are free on Android and not free on iPhone!!

However, the system of Android device is a lot more complicated than iPhone.
If you are not good at these electric devices, I recommend you to buy iPhone.
 iPhone is very simple and sophisticated.  Everyone can use it easily. Even my mother can use it.

Blog #1 : Halloween costume

Asumi Oda
Hello, everyone. This is Asumi.
Well, Halloween is coming in about two weeks!
I don't like ghost stories and all the other scary things, but I like Halloween because of the costumes!
This year, I'm more excited because now I'm making a Halloween costume for my friend!
I love sewing so I enjoy it very much.
I'm making a costume of Cruella De Vil, an evil character in the Disney movie "101 Dalmatians".
I'm using a fur, of course a fake one, for the coat and a black silky cloth for the dress.
My friend and I are looking for a nice red long pair of gloves.
And this is a picture of the fur I'm using.



It's quite fluffy!



My friend said she'll wear this costume for a Halloween concert of her favorite band.



She also said she might come to university with this costume some day, so if you saw someone who's dressed like Cruella De Vil, it's her!
If you're asked what you want to be for Halloween, do you have any character or person or animal or... anything on your mind?
     This is a song called "Cruella De Vil" from the movie "101 Dalmatians".
You will see how cruel she is and also you can get some image of the costume I'm making now.

Blog#1fear of deflation in economic

Shuhei Wada

Are you interested in economics?
I am majoring economics in this university. As I learn more about the economics, I get more interested in the economics.
Today, I would like you to know about the deflation in economic.  Many people say that deflation is good because everything become cheaper in addition, there are no countries collapsed by deflation.
Decreasing of price of products seems good for consumers. However, this means profit for producers will also decrease. 
In the economic rule, when supply is higher than demand, the price of product will decrease. Let’s say, you are abandoned at the center of barren dessert.  You really want something to drink. However, you cannot find anything to drink there. If you find the merchant selling water, you might pay 100$ for a cup of water.  In contrast, let’s say you are floating on the huge lake. Do you pay 100$ for a cup of water? I guess you won’t pay 100$ for a cup of water since the supply of water is exceeding the demand of water.

 

 
This picture is the data of deflation in Japan.
As you can see Japanese economic is in deflation from 1999s.
you can see more detailed data in Cabinet office Japanese Government
   Here is the most troublesome thing. It is the spiral in deflation.
People will have fewer income in the time of deflation. It is the problem.
When people get less income, they will think "We need to deposit money for the future" People will feel anxious about the future, then they will bank more money.
At the same time,  people will spend less money for their life. They put saving money on higher priority.
And this means demand for the people will decrease. Company will not invest if there is no demand of the products. Company will get less income because less people will buy products, then employees get less wage. And it will continue like a spiral.

Here is the video of Aso Taro who is graduated Gakushuin University.

Blog#1 Thanks Stage

Kazu Hatakeyama

It is the first time for me to make my blog page.
I'm really enjoying it!!  Wow! lol
For my first blog page, I would like to tell  you what I did on this weekend.
First of all, do you know what is any special for the day September 30th?
Of course, nobody will know the answer.
September 30th will be Japanese national holiday within a few years.
Why?
The key word is "your parents".
Yes.  It is the day for expressing your gratitude to your parents.
As you know, we have already had the Mother's day and Father's day in Japan.
However, we do not have the day for saying thanks to both of your parents at the same time.
That's why "a man" negotiated to the Japanese government in order to make the day a national holiday.
Surprisingly, the government has given official approval  to his request.
Then, Sep.30th will be "Parents Day" in Japan.

Who is the miracle man?
The man is the leader of 　"超∞大学" in Japan.
This group is a NPO in Japan and they do various kinds of things.
For example, they will do electrical parade in Tokyo to make people feel happy and act a Santa Claus in Christmas and give some presents to children.
I cannot explain all about their activities because I am not the member of the group.
Anyway, the group and the leader are so attractive and energetic.
They planed to hold the free concert to say thanks to our parents.
It was held on this weekend, Sep.30th.

I have a friend in the group and she asked me to join in the concert as a performer.
Of course I said yes and we decided to show a short musical in the concert.
Firstly, we tried to find the musical members inside and outside our university.
Fortunately, 22 members gathered and we stared practicing the musical about 3 months.
We practiced a lot, unbelievably a lot, from 12 o'clock in the midnight to 6 in the morning!

In our stage, we played the musical that we created.
The story was related to our daily life that a university boy realized how important it is to express the gratitude to his parents by his own words.
In my case, I love my parents and  want to tell my thanks to them but I cannot do that. Therefore, we created the chance to tell our true feeling through the musical which we made. 

All our effort was worthwhile, and we could get big applause from the audience.
Now I really satisfied with our stage.
I've decided that I will say thanks to my parents as much as I can from now on.
Thanks Stage CM