Don’t you naturally wear a mask when you go outside today? Don’t you even feel insecure sometimes when you go outside without a mask? In both 2021 and 2022, more than 85 % of Japanese people wore masks in public. On the other hand, in the U.S., 69% of American people wore masks in public in April of 2021; however, the percentage decreased to less than 45% in March of 2022. In Sweden, 43% of Swedish people wore masks in public in April of 2021, but only 12 % of them wore masks in April of 2022.

 

The numbers above include people who are above 18 years old. In Japan, it is recommended that even 2-year-old children wear masks. I have a daughter who is one and a half years old. It is unrealistic to put masks on children around that age. They would be full of drool, and I can’t even imagine how many times we would have to change their masks because they get too wet. Even if 2-year-old children wear masks, they share toys at nursery school, and they put everything in their mouth, they lick their hands, and they touch everything. Therefore, I feel wearing a mask would not prevent them from making close contact at that age.

 

Even for adults, wearing a mask all the time is hard; however, it is good manners to wear a mask when you are in public today. In my opinion, there are few things you have to be careful of. First, wearing masks all the time can cause oxygen deficiency. When you wear a mask, you inhale the carbon dioxide that you have exhaled, and that can lead to the lack of oxygen. It can cause headache, decrease immunity, decrease concentration, and increase anxiety and irritation. Second, wearing a mask in summer can increase the risk of heatstroke. When you wear a mask in summer, try to avoid vigorous exercise and keep in mind not to get dehydrated. Don’t forget you can take off your mask when you are two meters away from other people. It is important to wear masks to avoid getting infected, but at the same time, you should be careful when you wear a mask. I’m looking forward to the day when we do not have to wear masks, so I can see people’s smiles and their expressions.

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Tuấn Kiệt Jr.@pexels.com

 

 

Blog Quiz

 

 

Q1. Which country wears masks the least?

A: Japan

B: Sweden

C: The U.S.

 

Q2. In the author’s opinion, why is it unrealistic for 2-year-old children to wear masks?

A: Because most of the masks are too big.

B: Because they do not like to wear masks.

C: Because they are usually full of drool and the masks get too wet.

 

Q3: According to the author, what are two things we have to be careful of when we wear masks?

A: Heatstroke

B: Masks getting too wet

C: Changing masks every day

D: Oxygen deficiency

E: The materials of the masks

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

Q1. B

Q2. C

Q3. A & D

My daughter is a super-friendly two-year-old girl. Every time she goes to the park near our house, she tries to talk to the children there. My husband and I are happy about her outgoing attitude. Some people had said that this social distancing under the Covid-19 pandemic would harm the children's ability to communicate, but her attitude seemed to drown out our concerns.

 

Her motivation is great, but there is always something wrong. Her routine at the park is like this. First, she approaches the targeted child. Then, she speaks to them. This is the strange part. She describes what the child is doing: "(He’s) playing with the ball," "(She’s) riding her bike," and so on. The children she talks to usually ignore her or give her a quick glance and resume what they were doing as if nothing had happened. If you were nearby, you would feel sorry for my little one. The problem is not only about what she says. She usually talks to older children, like primary school students. In their eyes, a two-year-old is just a baby. Babies are not good for their playmates.

 

Looking back on my own childhood, I don't remember how I made friends. Do you remember what you did? Perhaps I made friends during activities in kindergarten or when I had the opportunity to meet the children of my parents’ friends, and we played together. I never really thought much about how I made friends myself.

 

Let us look at her situation. She also goes to daycare every day. But there are few children, and she has only about 10 friends there. According to the teachers, she is having a good time with her friends there. Since parents are not allowed to enter the nursing rooms to see their children, we learn how our children are doing through the notebook we exchange with the teachers. When my friends bring their children to our home, of course she’s happy to play with them. The other day, my friends came over to see us from Nagoya with their children. Their four-year-old daughter was kind enough to take care of my daughter, and they became nice friends right away! I wish they would live around here.

 

As a parent, I want to fulfill her desire to make more friends. One option might be to send her to a larger daycare or kindergarten. Another option would be to send her to a music club or an exercise class. We’d like to take her to places where she can interact with other children. But the important thing is that when she gets a little older, she will have the skills to initiate friendships on her own. I hope she will bring her best friends to our home in the future.

 

 

Photo Credit: Anna Shvets@pexels.com

 

 

Blog Quiz

 

Q1. What is the second thing the author’s daughter does when she finds children at the park?

 

Q2. According to the daycare teacher, how is the author’s daughter doing at school?

 

Q3. How old was the author’s friends’ daughter?

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

A1. She talks to the children.

A2. She’s having a good time with her friends.

A3. Four years old.

My students in a business administration presentation class asked this question and in groups researched and presented on five companies that you may not have heard of doing interesting things. Here is a description of them.

 

One interesting company is called Caulipower, which has a range of food in which high calorie ingredients are replaced with low-calorie cauliflower. The presenter opened by asking the audience if they like eating junk food. Most of the audience raised their hands. Then she followed up by asking for a show of hands of people who think junk food is bad for them. Again, almost everyone raised their hands. However, with Caulipower, people can eat pizza, pasta, and even fried chicken made with low-calorie ingredients. The group presented some interesting charts comparing the calorie differences between Caulipower and its rivals and displayed some pictures of mouth-watering examples of tasty meals, such as Buffalo wings pizzas and cauliflower linguine. In addition, the products are gluten-free. The presenters ended with the company slogan, urging the audience to come on and “Join the Vegolution!”

 

Another delicious-sounding company was Oishii Farms, founded by a Japanese CEO and operating in the United States, which uses vertical farming to produce strawberries all year round. The strawberries are just like those that you can get in Japan, and the environment they are grown in is exactly like a perfect day in Japan and yet, the farms are in New Jersey in the United States. Furthermore, there is no need for pesticides or GMOs. The presenters made good use of satellite images to show where the farms are located and pointed out that there were opportunities within the company for those with skills in sales or engineering.

 

Innovation can also include how people live. Two companies were presented that aimed to revolutionize our lifestyles, and these were Sonder and VR Chat. Sonder is ranked as the number one most innovative travel company by the online magazine Fast Company. It is a competitor of Airbnb and has a similar booking system, but it also includes design and furnishing to guarantee quality accommodation. Finally, VR Chat takes its customers into cyberspace using virtual reality. In addition, those who work for the company have a lot of freedom by being able to work from home, play games, and work on their own projects.

 

From food to virtual reality, innovative technology, and social concerns means work opportunities will continue to change in the future. There are many more innovative companies in the world, so consider researching something fresh and interesting!

 

 

Photo Credit: Solare Flares@pexels.com

 

 

Blog Quiz

Q1. What makes Caulipower low calorie?

Q2. Where is the strawberry farm run by Oishii farms?

Q3. Which company is a big rival for Sonder?

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

A1. High calorie ingredients are substituted with cauliflower

A2. In New Jersey, USA

A3. Airbnb

In the past, how we listened to music was fairly simple. Personally, I listened to the radio, watched music TV channels, and bought music in stores to listen to on cassette players or CD players. Then came the technological changes of MP3 players, such as the iPod by Apple. The rest is history. But has this changed how we consume music?

 

Growing up in the United States, a big emphasis was put on listening to the radio. Radio was simple, and each radio station had its own themes: top 20 music, country, hip-hop, classic rock, classical, and so on. People listened to what they were interested in, and this was the best way to listen to the newest music. Now people listen to playlists online that are curated by the music apps or services to listen to the latest music. Now listening to specific artists is easier than ever. However, listening to a new playlist is not so different from what I did when I was younger, listening to the radio. Each playlist is like a different radio station with its own music genres and music selection that brings the same excitement as when I was young.

 

I’ve recently found new types of music I like and found songs that I’d never imagined I would enjoy. For example, I’ve been enjoying country music for the last few months. As a young boy, I’d never have imagined enjoying country music, but listening to a “New Music” playlist, sometimes country music is played, which has caught my ear. So maybe you can even find something new you might like, or there might be a genre of music you thought you didn’t like that might grow on you.

 

From listening to playlists for studying, top music, or even new genre playlists, there are so many new and old types of music that are more easily accessible. Instead of listening to the radio in the car or using a radio at home, we can listen to the newest music on our PCs or on our phones. However, the joys of hearing new music have never been more easily accessible. Even though the radio has lost popularity, finding new music will continue to be something that excites all people. The next time you open up your music app, try a new playlist. Listen to something new or something different. Give it a try. You never know what you might enjoy.

Photo Credit: Charlotte May@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

 

Q1. How did people listen to new music in the past?

a. Music applications

b. Concerts

c. Radios

 

Q2. In the past, what device did the author use to listen to music?

a. Smart phone

b. CD player

c. MP3 Player

 

Q3. What genre of music did the author like after listening to a new music playlist?

a. Top 20 music

b. Rock music

c. Country music

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

Q1. C

Q2. B

Q3. C

If you like watching and listening to authentic spoken World Englishes or first language content with English subtitles, you’ll love the YouTube channel Great Big Story (GBS). It’s a great archive for discovering a diverse variety of people, places, and things all over the world. Each short video allows the viewer to experience new perspectives and widen their understanding and imagination, not only about what occurs on this planet daily, but also the new possibilities they may adopt in their own lives.

 

GBS had described itself as “a global media company devoted to cinematic storytelling”. Based in New York with an office in London, GBS was creating micro-documentaries (about 5 minutes long) and short films and releasing them on YouTube. This came to an end after five years in October, 2020, when the parent company CNN shut them down, citing dwindling advertising revenues due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Sadly, the weekly YouTube uploads stopped. Despite this, GBS still has an amazing 6.03 million subscribers, demonstrating that the available content continues to maintain popularity. The topics featured in the videos are mostly obscure, niche vignettes which are compelling and fascinating to watch.

 

I first heard about GBS from a former English teaching colleague way back in 2016, about a year after the channel had been launched. I realized immediately it was a gold mine of content for English lessons and wasted no time hitting the subscribe button. In no time, I’d binge-watched at least half a dozen videos and was well and truly hooked! Very quickly it became much more than a go-to-site for English language lesson content. I was watching every upload as soon as it was available. I still remember my first Great Big Story with its punchy title, “I live in a plane.” This particular two-minute documentary tells the story of a Portland-based aeronautics enthusiast, Bruce Campbell, who lives in a converted 1960s Boeing 727 jet deep in a forest. It was mind-blowing to see how spacious the plane’s interior was when all the seats and fixtures had been removed. Campbell had installed basic living necessities and improved on existing features to make a home out of something that had been destined for the scrap heap. In just two minutes, I had a concrete understanding of the idea of “repurposing” which as we move forward into our climate-challenged future is something we need to take heed of. Watch a Great Big Story video today, and have your eyes opened!

 

 

 

Photo Credit: Joyce Busola@unsplash.com

 

 

 

Blog Quiz

 

Select the meaning of the word or phrase as it is used in the text.

 

Q1. dwindling

a. increasing

b. decreasing

c. neither increasing or decreasing

 

Q2. a gold mine

a. a good source of something

b. a money maker

c. an underground place where gold is found

 

Q3. go-to-site

a. travel website

b. preferred and often used website

c. English learning website

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

Q1. B

Q2. A

Q3. B

Have you ever experienced culture shock? You may be familiar with the term as a description of the emotions you feel while traveling or living abroad and encountering feelings of shock, disappointment, or loneliness due to differences from your home country and culture. More shocking than regular culture shock, however, is another type of culture shock known as “reverse culture shock.”

 

Reverse culture shock is the shock you feel when returning to your home country after spending time living abroad. Reverse culture shock is interesting because not everyone experiences it, but for those who do, it can be a very strange experience bringing about many complex emotions.

 

Five years ago, I visited my hometown in the United States, and I experienced very strong reverse culture shock. What is very normal in the US made me feel shocked after living many years in Japan. Below I have described three of my reverse culture shock experiences:

 

Reverse Culture Shock Experience #1: Everyone in the US Is Always Smiling

One thing I forgot about the US from years of living in Japan is that everyone in the US is always smiling. In Japan, you may only smile in photos or when you feel happy, but in the US, it is common for people to smile often as a sign of friendliness. It is common in the US to smile at strangers, and staff at stores and supermarkets frequently smile at customers. I felt strong reverse culture shock when I saw complete strangers everywhere in the US smiling at me so often!

 

Reverse Culture Shock Experience # 2: Everyone Does Small Talk and Even with Strangers

Small talk is a normal way to “break the ice” when speaking to people, but what about doing small talk with complete strangers? It may sound strange, but small talk with complete strangers is very normal in the US. People frequently do small talk and strike up conversations with each other while out shopping, at the gym, or even while waiting at a bus stop. Once while shopping during New Year’s Eve at my neighborhood mall, the cashier began asking me about my plans for the night. Another time, while waiting at a bus stop reading a book, another person who had also read the same book, began asking me about my thoughts on it! It might be strange in other cultures, but small talk and talking to complete strangers in the US is very common and a sign of friendliness.

 

Reverse Culture Shock Experience # 3: Everyone Dresses Very Casually

Another source of reverse culture shock for me whenever I visit the US is how casual everyone dresses. Jeans, T-shirts, sneakers, and sweatpants are a common outfit for many Americans. Compared to Japan, where many people are often focused on their appearance and looking very nice before going outside, it almost feels like everyone in the US is competing against each other to dress in the most casual way possible!

 

 

Photo Credit: Ketut Subiyanto@pexels.com

 

 

Blog Quiz

Q1. What is culture shock?

Q2. What is reverse culture shock?

Q3. What are the three examples of reverse culture shock mentioned in the

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

A1. The emotions you feel while traveling or living abroad and encountering feelings of shock, disappointment, or loneliness due to differences from your home country and culture.

A2. Reverse culture shock is the shock you feel when returning to your home country after spending time living abroad.

A3. 1. Everyone in the US is always smiling. 2. Small talk is very common. 3. Everyone dresses very casually.

At Ritsumeikan, we are very fortunate because two of the most famous temples in Kyoto, Kinkaku-ji and Ryoan-ji, are just a few minutes walk from our campus. As most people know, Kinkaku-ji is famous for the Golden Pavilion, and Ryoan-ji is famous for its karesansui garden. In English, karesansui gardens are known as dry landscape gardens or Zen gardens.

 

There are many famous dry landscape gardens in Kyoto, and many of them, like Ryoan-ji, were made hundreds of years ago. However, did you know that some of the most famous Zen gardens in Kyoto were made less than a hundred years ago? And they were designed by the same person? Do you know who that person is?

 

The answer is Mirei Shigemori (1896-1975). Shigemori studied traditional Japanese culture growing up, including flower arrangement, tea ceremony, and philosophy. However, his gardens are famous for being a mixture of the traditional and modern. He designed more than 200 gardens, including many at temples and shrines, both in Kyoto and in other places in Japan.

 

He thought gardens are art forms like painting and sculpture. In fact, one of his disciples said that Shigemori viewed gardens as works of art, not living environments. In fact, some of his gardens were influenced by the paintings of famous European artists, such as Kandinsky, Matisse, and Mondrian.

 

Some of Mirei Shigemori’s most famous gardens in Kyoto are at Tofuku-ji; Zuiho-in, a sub-temple of Daitoku-ji; and Matsuo Taisha Shrine. All of these gardens are quite unique.

 

At Tofuku-ji, he designed both the “Garden of the Big Dipper” and the “Garden of Eight Phases.” The “Garden of the Big Dipper” is based on the constellation the Big Dipper, and Shigemori used seven columns taken from the temple’s outhouse to represent the stars in the constellation. The “Garden of Eight Phases” is named after the eight phases in the life of the Buddha and features stones that represent islands in a sea of white gravel.

 

At Zuiho-in, Shigemori made the “Garden of the Solitary Meditation” and the “Quietly Sleeping Garden.” Both are Zen gardens, but the design of the “Quietly Sleeping Garden” takes inspiration from Christianity, not Buddhism. In the garden, there are seven stones that form the shape of a cross. Shigemori designed the garden this way because Otomo Yoshishige, the founder of Zuiho-in, was baptized as a Christian.

 

Mirei’s last masterpiece, the “Garden of Ancient Times,” can be found at Matsuo Taisha Shrine. The design is quite simple, with only stones and bamboo grass, but it is quite modern and beautiful. If you’d like to know why, I suggest you visit the shrine and see for yourself!

 

If you are at all interested in traditional Japanese culture, these gardens are well worth a visit, whether you are a Japanese or international student. These gardens are great places to learn about culture, but also wonderful places to just sit quietly and relax without having to think about anything, especially your classes!

 

 

 

 

Blog Quiz

True or False?

Q1. Mirei Shigemori was a Christian.

Q2. Mirei Shigemori used pieces of a temple bathroom in a garden design.

Q3. Mirei Shigemori designed the gardens at 20 different temples and shrines in Japan.

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

Q1. False

Q2. True

Q3. False

Lately, a word game called ‘Wordle’ has taken the Internet by storm. The American newspaper, The New York Times, bought the game from a developer named Josh Wardle. Wardle made the game for his partner who loves word games. Now, over 300,000 people play it every day (Serrels, 2022). One game is posted every day, so once you guess the answer, you cannot play again until the next day. It’s exciting to try and guess the word quickly. You get six tries to guess the answer, and I’ve guessed the word in three tries, but some of my friends guess it in TWO! I wonder if anyone has ever gotten it in one try. My friends and I post our scores on social media and compete. In these pandemic times, it has been a fun way to generate a sense of community online.

 

The rules are easy. The game generates a five-letter word, and you must try and guess it within six tries. If you guess a letter in the correct position, the tile turns green, but if you guess a letter in the word but in the wrong position, the tile turns yellow. If you guess a letter that is NOT in the word, the tile stays white. It’s a challenge to beat the computer every day, but it’s a good chance to train your mind and keep it active. It’s also a bit addicting! I enjoy playing Wordle and its spinoff games, Quordle and Octordle

 

My favorite game of this type is the Japanese version: Kotoba de Asobo. For this game, you have to guess the 4-kana word within twelve tries. I play with my American friend who lives in Fukuoka. We compete and try and guess the word before the other person. He knows much more Japanese than I do, but it is fun to play and try to beat him. I also learn lots of new Japanese words from the game. So, I recommend any of these games for your vocabulary study, whether you study English...or Japanese, like me!

Serrels, M. (2022). Wordle: What You Need to Know. Retrieved 17 May 2022, from [https://www.cnet.com/culture/internet/wordle-everything-to-know-about-2022s-biggest-word-game/] 

Photo Credit: CQF-Avocat@pexels.com

 

Blog Quiz

Q1. How many chances do you get to guess the word in Wordle?

Q2. How many times can you play every day?

Q3. What language is the author studying?

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

Q1. Six

Q2. Once

The other day I was having dinner with my family when my two-year-old daughter did something interesting. When she knocked over her cup, she yelled in Japanese, “It fell, didn't it?!” This was surprising because she doesn't know too many words yet. At that moment, I was just excited that she had learned a new word, but later on that evening, I began to think about the way of learning languages.

 

Before moving to Japan, I took two years of Japanese language courses at my university. After moving to Japan, I continued learning Japanese through classes and tutors. During my classroom studies, we focused on the basics of Japanese, starting with grammar rules.

 

So, when I learned the word for “fall,” I also studied all the variations: “fall, fell, falling, will fall,” and “have fallen.” This is the same experience that Japanese students have when learning English in middle and high school. They learn the definition of individual words and then the various ways that these words can fit into sentences grammatically. In the end, I believe this way of studying a foreign language slowed my progression, and I believe it is the reason why Japanese students struggle with English despite taking years of coursework in it.

 

My daughter, on the other hand, just learned a single phrase that she heard from one of her Japanese teachers, “It fell, didn't it?!” At first, this may sound like she's learning incomplete versions of words, yet this is the way that all of us learn our first language. Can you imagine a parent sitting a one-year-old child down and trying to teach them what nouns, verbs, and adjectives are? I doubt the child could grasp such concepts. Instead, we learned by repeating what others said, and we weren’t even introduced to grammar until elementary school. Therefore, maybe we can consider learning a second language this way, too.

 

When learning a second language, it is crucial to keep an open mind regarding the best ways. Humans are not robots, so simply only feeding us rules will not progress our understanding of languages. However, it is also essential that we have some comprehension of the rules. Therefore, learners should create a good balance between both methods.

 

 

Photo Credit: Bruna Gabrielle Félix@pexels.com

 

 

 

Blog Quiz

Q1. What is the topic of the essay?

Q2. According to the author, what is the difference between how people learn a native language versus how they learn a foreign language?

Q3. What is the author’s suggestion regarding learning a foreign language?

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quiz Answers

A1. The topic of the essay is about learning a native language versus learning a foreign language.

A2. When learning a native language, people learn examples with no understanding of grammar rules. When learning a foreign language, people often start with grammar rules first.

A3. Learners should have a good balance between learning grammar rules and learning practical examples.

 

University is a very important part of our lives as it marks the move towards independence as adults. For many students, it is the first chance to live away from home, with all the challenges that involves. For others, even though they may continue to live with their parents, it provides new stimuli and exposes them to new people, new ideas and new ways of dealing with life.

 

I am always impressed when I hear about the creative endeavours of my students. Many of them like to branch out and try something new at university. For example, some of them learn to play a musical instrument; others become involved in photography or art. I feel these kinds of activities are especially valuable and serve as more than a way to simply kill time or make new friends (although these are important benefits, too.)

 

Including something creative in your life can benefit you in many ways. It can open up new worlds and new experiences, help you to experience different emotions and develop a broader understanding of people, inspiring you to widen your own interests and make your life richer. Such activities offer an ideal way to put aside worries and relax, and even if you are a beginner, online tutorials and videos on YouTube have made it much easier to develop your skills. Creative hobbies can help you stay mentally and emotionally healthy, learn new skills, and get more enjoyment out of life.

 

Creative work, whether it is painting a picture, making a dress, or writing a song, requires you to think in different ways. How can I make this better? What would happen if I did this? Is there another way to do it? You become aware of different qualities in your work; it opens your mind to subtleties of expression and feeling, as well as technique and often you find yourself making unexpected discoveries. It also sharpens your judgement – is it better like this or like that? – and helps you to look and listen more carefully.

 

It can be frustrating, too. When things don’t go right, when you realise you’ve wasted hours and hours of your time and will have to start over again, you might wonder why you started at all. But when it goes well, when you finish and show it to an admiring audience (even if it’s just your best friend or your mum), you get a tremendous sense of satisfaction. Suddenly, all the hard work seems worthwhile!

 

 

Photo Credit: Tiana@pexels.com

 

 

Blog Quiz

Q1. The writer is impressed by ________________.

a. his students’ musical abilities

b. videos on YouTube

c. the creative activities of his students

 

Q2. What is one reason it is becoming easier to develop creative skills?

a. There are many helpful videos on YouTube.

b. It helps you to think differently.

c. It can help you to enjoy life more.

 

Q3. According to the writer, a negative feeling that may be connected with creative activities is __________ .

a. admiration

b. satisfaction

c. frustration

 

 

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Quiz Answers

Q1. C

Q2. A

Q3. C