ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

On my way home from Kanonji, I visited a Baskin Robbins. I had seen them on previous trips home, but never stopped. I am very happy that I took the time to visit them. I ate some rocki road ice cream and it was delicious.  

I don't often get the chance to go to Takamatsu and so recently when I found myself there, I decided to check out Ritsurin Garden and it was so beautiful! I can't wait to go again sometime!
  

There are plenty of “Chinatowns” all over the world, where Chinese food, souvenirs, and culture can be experienced. For the past few centuries, Chinese people have immigrated to locations all over the world, and Japan has its fair share of Chinese immigrants.
The people basically settled in three main locations in Japan and made sections of the cities they lived in part of their own culture. These cities are Yokohama, Kobe, and Nagasaki.

I recently visited the Nagasaki Chinatown. It was small, but full of wonderful food shops, restaurants, and Chinese culture. It was a great experience. Please give it a try if you are craving Chinese food and culture!
  

One of the coolest things to see in Legoland in Florida is the statues they have. They are all made out of legos!

They had this statue of a camel and his rider in the Egypt part of the park.



This statue of a car is full-sized! I wonder how many legos it took to build it?



This is my favorite statue. I really like this wizard.



Do they have these in Japan's Legoland? I want to go see!  

Did you celebrate Pocky day? I tried this one. It's 60% cacao and it made me thirsty but it was delicious! Pocky was one of the first Japanese candies that we got in America. We had chocolate, strawberry, and matcha flavored ones. They didn't change the name of it, but we didn't know that it was pronounce "Poe-Kee" We called it "PA-Kee" To this day, I still have to think before I say the name.   

I can't get enough of how beautiful the architecture of Japan is. When I see something like this I want to learn more about the history of it and where this idea came from. I'm fascinated with this image because it must have a deeper meaning and I always want to find out about it. I will keep looking for interesting things like these.
  

Welcome to the November, where we celebrate not one, not three, but four distinct origins of Meteor showers! Despite recent overcast weather, one might catch a glimpse of a shooting star from The Taurid, Leonid, Alpha Monocerotid, or Orionid meteor showers. You can view a calendar of peak times here:
https://starwalk.space/en/news/night-sky-tonight-november
While you'll recognize three of the four showers' names from their respective constellation of origin (as discussed in previous posts, Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, and Orion the Hunter), you may be wondering the same question as I: "what the heck is Alpha Monocerotid?"
The Constellation Monoceros is a fairly dim and lesser-known constellation right in the middle of Orion, Cancer, Gemini, and Canis Major. You might recognize the root word "mono", meaning one, and cero, meaning horn. For example, "triceratops" simply means "three horns" while "rhinoceros" means "nose horn". You probably know Monoceros by its much more common name: Unicorn.
  

I still have so much I have to get figured out for this month!!! I have no idea what I want to cook next week, and honestly I don't know if I'll be able to cook some of the ideas I have, because of my oven! I don't know if it's me not knowing how it works (which is a real possibility, I have really only been cooking using my stovetop or ordering food) or if the oven function doesn't work properly. It's driving me BONKERS!!! Someone send help please!!! I'm going to be digging through my manuals later to see if I can figure this out. If it really is broken though, I will probably be going shopping this weekend!  

Every time I drive into Kanonji, I'm excited to see this beautiful patch of morning glories that grow by the train tracks. I love flowers so much! I've really been enjoying all the different flower seasons in Japan. What's your favorite flower?  

Hello Everyone! I'm Bear Japan is known for its beautiful landscapes, disciplined and hardworking people, gorgeous aesthetics, an example of a great country, and of course its animation. This blog entails Japanese animation specifically an anime that has taken the world by storm called Demon Slayer *Kimetsu No Yaiba". I am fascinated with this anime in particular because of the story, well-fleshed-out characters, power system scaling (Breathing Styles), the feeling of suspense, and its mesmerizing animation. To put it into perspective Demon Slayer's animation looks like a painting it reminds me of The Great Wave of Kanagawa.








Japanese animation and stories that transcend barriers of language and personality. I think that Japanese animation is at the top worldwide and it shows through their passion, dedication, stories, characters, and animation. Demon Slayer is one of many examples of how Japanese anime is better than any other animation out there. Japan simply does it right!!








  

I took this photo on my way home from Kanonji. It was late at night, and very dark. When I found a place to park I pulled over so I could take some time to watch the stars. I do wish that I knew better places for stargazing.  

There’s an area of Miami called Wynwood that’s famous for its trendy art. Check out this art of an etch-a-sketch from back in the day!   

One of my favorite parts of every year are the festivals! Last month, I was super excited to go to Saijo Festival and see all of the beautiful Danjiri be carried up to Isono Shrine and then also see all of them go into the river! It was so fun!
  

I live in the city of Utazu in Kagawa. It is between Marugame and Sakaide, which each have populations of over 100,000 people; the second and third largest cities in Kagawa after Takamatsu.

Utazu has about 20,000 people, but it is a fun and relaxing city. It has stunning views of the sunset and sunrise over the Seto Ohashi Bridge that leads to Okayama on the main island of Honshu.

If you get down to the water area near the Utazu Aquarium, you can get a great view of the bridge that goes over to Honshu. Take a camera or your cell phone if it is sunrise or sunset – you will get great pictures!

  

A few years ago, we went to Legoland, in America. There are several Legoland parks in America. We went to the park that is in Florida.



There were lots of fun rides and things to do at the park. We really liked riding this little train.



There's a Legoland in Japan, too! We haven't been there yet, but my kids really want to go. I'm curious to see how it compares to the park in Florida!

Do you like legos? Have you ever been to Legoland?  

My favorite Kpop group did a Mermaid concept in their last music video. I was inspired by them to be a mermaid for halloween!

I'm so proud of my mermaid costume this year. I spent a lot of time painting scales onto the skirt. I made the end of the tail out of felt. I used a new kind of fabric paint. The necklace was my favorite accessory! I felt really pretty during Halloween. It's going to be hard to top next year!  

I had the opportunity to visit Zentsuji temple and I was mesmerized by how beautiful it was. I saw many people lined up to get their books stamped so I joined them and I got my book stamped as well. I look forward to completing my book with all 88 temples on it.
  

Early November will be a great opportunity for stargazing. Divided into the "southern taurids" which peaked this past weekend, and the "northern taurids" peaking on the twelfth of November. The taurids are known for large, slow meteors, known as fireballs. As named, they appear to radiate from the constellation Taurus, the bull. Just after midnight to early morning should be a good time to view the sky, as the wind dies down as the temperature cools and there is less dust in the air to obscure the view.  

Now that it's November, I have a lot of things to plan! I've decided that I'm going to host a Thanksgiving dinner this year for my friends, so I have a lot to do! Luckily people have already been volunteering to bring dishes, so I won't be cooking the entire meal myself. I have to figure out what to substitute for the turkey though. I also have to get my travel plans finalized for my trip home to visit my family for Christmas and New Year's. I'm really excited to go home and visit, I've really missed my family! I still can't believe I've been here for nine months, it's mind-boggling. I've also got a few other things to take care of over this next month, so it's going to be very busy for me! Wish me luck!  

I started a small garden on my balcony this year. It's mostly been flowers and herbs because not much else can grow up here on the fourth floor, but I was shocked to discover the other day that after 6 months, my tomato plant ACTUALLY has some tomatoes on it!! I'm excited to see if I'll actually be able to eat them!