NHK Photos Uploaded
July 28th, 2005
I’ve uploaded a bunch of pictures from the trip to NHK Studio Park. Check ‘em out: NHK Studio Park.
Archive
Archive for July, 2005
NHK Studios
July 27th, 2005
Today we took our class field trip to the NHK Studio Park (NHK is one of the big TV stations here), and it was incredible! We got to go onto the sets and we got to see them filming one of the big, current dramas: “義経” (ｙoshitsune). We actually got to see the actor who plays Yoshitsune go through one of the scenes.
After seeing Yoshitsune, we went to the set for “ためしてガッテン” (tameshite gatten), one of the NHK variety shows. I’ve actually seen an episode of the show, so it was pretty cool to actually be on the set. But not only were we on the set, but they let us look around, sit in the chairs that the guest sit in, and play with one of the HD cameras! After looking at this set, we went to another one for a morning program called “生活ほっとモーニング” (seikatsu hotto mo-ningu) and again, we were allowed to look around and play with the cameras. We were also allowed into the control room and people played with cutting between different cameras and stuff. It was a lot of fun. I took some pictures and I will upload them tomorrow.
Typhoon - Last Update
July 27th, 2005
What typhoon? Seriously, except for some heavy rain, nothing happened. I’m kind of upset that I went back home. Oh well.
Typhoon 7 - Update
July 26th, 2005
Posted on 7-25-2005:
It’s 7PM on Sunday and it just started pouring rain. Literally, it just started. Typhoon 7号 (gou) is forecasted to hit this area tomorrow around 6PM (about 2AM on Monday in CA). I don’t think it will be that bad, just a lot of rain. Tomorrow, I’ll be taking one of the bigger umbrellas.
Wow. It’s 5PM and it’s been raining continuously all day. The weather channels are predicting 7-8 inches of rain for today. The typhoon center should be passing through the Tokyo area around 6PM tonight, and I’m not really sure what that will bring. The reports talk about 大雨 (oo-ame) which is torrential rain as well as winds up to 60 mph… but I don’t know. I’ll just have to wait and see. Oh, and it’s still 80° outside!
日本語が分かる友達へ
July 25th, 2005
私は２つお願いがある。
１つ目は私のアンケートをしてくれますか？夏期講習のプロジェクトのため、私は１０人日本人にアンケートをしなければならないので、あなたはこのアンケートをしたいと思って、私にメールを送ってください。私はアンケートが短くてそんなに大変じゃないと思うけど、まだ書かなかった。私のトピックは「英語／英会話について」というトピックで、質問はたぶん「英会話に行ったことがある？」や「なんで英会話に行った？」や「その経験はどう思う？」のような質問だと思う。本当に簡単。それで、あなたはしたいと思えば、メールしてください、あるいはICUに来て話してください。
２つ目はちょっとまじめだと思う。あと３週間ぐらい、ICUの授業は終わって、その後私は日本に残りたいけど、そのことが本当に大変だ。日本に残るために、仕事がみつからなければならない。私は英語を教える経験があったから、そのことをしたくないと思う。実はコンピュータの仕事がもっと似合うと思う。それで、お願いことは手伝ってくれませんか？
このポストはそんなに丁寧じゃなくて、すみません。まだ日本語を習っている。
ありがとうございました。
New Photos Uploaded
July 24th, 2005
I’ve uploaded quite a few new photos, 5 new albums actually. Check ‘em out!
Fireworks and Earthquakes - Update
July 24th, 2005
Yesterday was pretty awesome. K and I went to the fireworks display in Choufu (調布). It was incredible. It lasted from about 7:20PM - 8:40PM or so. Pretty much solid fireworks. (The picture here is from my cell phone, so that’s why the quality isn’t that great).
Compared to shows in the US, it was quite a bit different. The big difference is that in Japan, they take fireworks very seriously, so whenever something really impressive happened people clapped and cheered. I actually think we were treated to some encores because of the amount of cheering and clapping. Also, there were a lot more speciality fireworks. In the US, I’ve seen the “happy face” fireworks, but here they had happy faces, hearts, glasses, spirals, numbers (’20′ and ‘05′), micky mouse, cats, and some character I couldn’t recognize but was still pretty cool. Also, some of the fireworks were absoultely huge. It was a lot of fun.
I’m sure some of you have read/heard about an earthquake in Tokyo. Well, there was a magnitude 6 earthquake in Chiba-ken (where the Narita airport is) and it was felt all over Tokyo. Except by me. K and I were outside at the time and I felt absolutely nothing, but K felt it and so did everyone around us.
So aside from that, I haven’t been doing too much. One day after class, K and I went to Inokashira Park (井の頭公園) and rented a row boat and rowed around this little lake that’s there. We manged to row around for the entire hour without capsizing and without hitting anyone else!
Also, since K usually rides her bike to ICU from the station, we’ve been walking from campus back to the station. We used to take turns on the bike, but I thought that that made me look horrible… me riding the bike while K walked behind me. So last time, I rode the bike with K sitting on the little rack that’s above the rear wheel (I believe people strap books or boxes to it). It was a lot of fun. K kept complaining about how scary it was… but I didn’t think it was that scary.