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Every week throughout the year, a blog written by a Ritsumeikan language facilitator will be posted here. These blogs cover a wide range of topics: language learning tips, stories from daily life, travel recommendations, and more.
By clicking on the ‘CATEGORY↓’ tab on the right, you can search for subjects you’d like to read about. Whatever your tastes, we are sure there will be something here for you!
コラム一覧 / Blog List
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01 .17A fun, cheap and useful computer: the Raspberry Pi 4What is a good computer? Many would answer that a good computer is one that is very powerful. However, computers with higher memory and CPU power can be quite expensive. Do we actually need to spend so much money on a computer? To my surprise, last year I found a mini-computer that is about 10 times cheaper than a normal priced computer but can accomplish everything I need. This computer is the Raspberry Pi 4B (8GB). Although it is less powerful and requires more time to set-up, this mini-computer has become my favorite computer because of its low price, software capabilities, and utilities.First, the Raspberry Pi 4 is very cheap. Sale Kits usually include a micro SD card, a usb-c power adapter, a small fan and a Pi computer case and are usually only sold online between 15000~20000 yen (Amazon.co.jp prices). That being said, buyers need to get the final parts themselves to complete it, such as connecting it to an HDMI computer/TV screen, a usb keyboard, and a usb mouse. Setting up some of these things may be difficult at first but there are many helpful YouTube videos and online guides to help first-time buyers/users. Moreover, the learning process benefits users to further learn about and appreciate their computer(s).Second, the Raspberry Pi 4 has many software capabilities. It doesn’t use Windows, but Raspbian OS. In comparison to Windows, it is completely free as it is a part of the Linux OS (free software) family. The Pi can connect to the internet by network cable or wifi. Once connected to the internet, it is possible to download and install lots of useful software such as LibreOffice for making documents, spreadsheets and presentations, and Audacity for voice recording, both of which are also free. Moreover, you can connect it to your Google account and use online apps such as Gmail, Google Docs, and so on.Third, the Raspberry Pi 4 can be used for different purposes. It can be used as a media center to play internet or computer videos on a TV. It can be used as a server for hosting one’s own public website and/or private files over the internet. It can be used to control/program the smart devices in your house. You can use it as a personal computer to do (home)work or learn new skills like programming. Actually, it can do all of these things at the same time if you wish so. There are so many guides and tutorials online that can teach you all these things, even on such an affordable computer.Finally, I think the Raspberry Pi 4 motivated me to learn about new software, utilities, and even programming skills because I had little or no fear of making mistakes as this computer is so affordable. Even when I did make mistakes, it was very easy for me to learn from them and improve my software and programming skills.Photo by Craig Dennis from PexelsQuizQ1. What is the first reason the author thinks the Raspberry Pi 4 is a good computer?Q2. What is the second reason the author thinks the Raspberry Pi 4 is a good computer?Q3. What is the third reason the author thinks the Raspberry Pi 4 is a good computer?Scroll down ? for the answersA1. Its low priceA2. Its many software capabilitiesA3. It can be used for different purposes. / Its many utilitiesLouis Lafleur
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01 .10Taking Control of TimeWhen I was younger, I didn’t think too much about time. For me, the day-to-day activities were enough, and often I found them pretty boring. I get up, have breakfast, walk to the bus stop, go to school, and then endure high school. I was a quiet student who didn’t always fit in very well, and was ready to move on from the drama of high school.Not surprisingly, when I got to college I still had drama. This time the question wasn’t so much me living with a schedule decided for me in high school, but the drama of choosing my own time. That was a difficult moment for me. I hadn’t had any previous members of my family who graduated from college, and I didn’t just want to do exactly the same thing as the person to my left or right. I wanted to understand what I wanted to do.Because I wasn’t so sure at first, I slowly decided just to set achievable goals. First it was simply to get through the day, then get through the next day, then get through week, and just keep adding to that. Eventually that led to a semester, which was the biggest hurdle I faced. After that, I had a sense that I could do it, but I knew there was more to do.In many ways, how I try to control time hasn’t changed so much since then. While it may not be from the same crazy feeling I had to just survive back then, now I have a better idea of what I can handle and what my priorities are. Focusing my time on what I can manage helped me to not lose sight of why I was doing everything in the first place. The times I felt the least in control were when I doubted myself. Even in mistakes where I chose self-doubt, I had something to learn from.Everyone’s path is not going to lead them to the same place. It can be easy just to look at the people to your left or right, and then just go along with what they’re doing. However, maybe they’re making the same uncertain choices you are. Sometimes that’s a good thing: you can have an experience that draws you closer to another, sharing in success or failure, and understanding life together. Even still, at the end of the day, when you’re alone in bed, it’ll still just be you answering the question, “how am I doing today?”Years later, as someone who is married and with young children, that hasn’t changed. The choices I make, the way I act, how I talk to strangers or loved ones - they all boil down to how I feel about my time. Does it control me, or do I control it? The best time to decide is now.Photo Credit stazknop@pexels.comQuizQ1. How would you describe the writer's feelings about high school?Q2. What helped the writer in handling time in college?Q3. What does the writer think is the benefit of making choices with others?Scroll down ? for the answersA1. He was ready to graduate.A2. Setting achievable goals.A3. You can share experiences together and better understand life.Jesse Patterson
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01 .07Study Abroad: Tips and AdviceStudying abroad can't be all that difficult, right? You've got eager advisors full of answers, brochures and all the program descriptions, and you've even read reviews from past participants and chatted with study-abroad-alum friends and classmates.And although in your head you can logically say "I got this," there is still a tiny voice in the back of it saying, "But do you really?" Truth be told, there is a lot that goes into an international adventure. But don't worry, here are three useful tips that might help you prepare, feel safer and more confident.1. Cultural sensitivityStudying abroad comes with some responsibility on the student's part. As you will be living and functioning within another culture, it is important that you keep in mind the local cultural norms. This might influence the way you dress, the way you speak, and the way you interact with the locals. It is important for travellers to practice sensitivity throughout their journeys, as your behaviour may otherwise offend others unnecessarily or bring a bad name upon all travellers. A great first step in showcasing your interest in the local culture is to pick up some simple phrases (or more) in the local language. You'll be surprised and pleased with the pleasant response to your Spanish or Italian greeting versus a casual "hello."2.Consciously protect your valuablesYou will likely be traveling with a few of your most prized possessions in tow, maybe your laptop, your smartphone, your iPod, your passport, some nice jewellery, or money. It is essential that you actively make an effort to keep track of your belongings.While theft isn't necessarily a greater risk abroad than at home, you will likely be more distracted (due to all of the awesome fun you are having!). Before you leave your dorm, apartment, or homestay, place your money in a money belt or in various places on your person. Lock up any possessions you leave behind! Avoid wearing flashy clothes or accessories that draw instant attention to your economic status.3. Prepare for the jetlag!Jetlag is a blanket term to describe when you're tired after a long-haul flight. As your body adjusts to your epic time travel, you will find it difficult to adjust to a new time zone. It can take up to one or two weeks to fully settle into a new time zone, so be patient as your body adapts. Avoid taking naps and embrace your inevitable early bedtimes or early risings.Photo credit Tima@Pexels.comQuizQ1. Why is it important to be a culturally sensitive traveler?Q2. Why should we avoid wearing flashy clothes?Q3. What is jetlag?Scroll down ? for the answersA1. Unbecoming behavior may reflect badly on other travelers from your home country.A2. This is a good way to avoid any unwanted attention about how much money you may have.A3. It’s the feeling of tiredness we experience after a long airplane trip.Anonymous
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12 .20A smartwatch or fitness trackerWith the spread of smartphones, the number of people who wear a watch has probably decreased. In fact, I do not see many students wearing one in my classes. I also stopped wearing a simple wristwatch at some point after getting a smartphone.However, I see more and more people wearing high-tech gadgets on their wrists recently. Some wear a smartwatch, and others wear a fitness tracker. Are there clear differences between them? In the past, there seemed to be a clearer divide, but they share some common features now. Which one sounds better to buy?A smartwatch is usually more versatile than a fitness tracker. Trackers are usually devices intended to monitor health and physical activities whose features often include steps, heart rate and sleep tracking. Some of the more advanced ones even track stress levels, skin temperature, and breathing rate. Smartwatches usually come with all these features plus even more.Smartwatches are like extensions of smartphones. You can text and answer phone calls on the smartwatch, and some advanced ones allow you to pay train fares like built-in Suica and PASMO. However, more is not always better. Smartwatches are generally more expensive than fitness trackers. Smartwatches also tend to have large displays, which can be uncomfortable on the wrist.After debating which to buy, I actually bought a fitness tracker a few years ago, and I think I made the right choice. It has motivated me off my couch. It tracks my daily activities such as steps taken and calories burned, in addition to my heart rate and sleep. Being able to see how many steps I take every day makes me want to walk more than I usually do. I was once both surprised and excited to see I took more than 16,000 steps on campus. Another feature I really appreciate is sleep tracking. My fitness tracker not only tracks how many hours I sleep but also the amount of time I spend in light, deep, and REM sleep. By syncing my tracker to my smartphone app, I can see my weekly sleep patterns. I have figured out that my brain and body function well when I sleep for about seven hours and a half. I am pretty happy and satisfied with the features of my fitness tracker, but if you want to enjoy more features and can afford one, a smartwatch may be a better choice for you.Photo Credit: PixabayQuizQ1. Does the author have a smartwatch?Q2. What kind of features does the author’s gadget have?Q3. What does the word “versatile” in the third paragraph mean?Scroll down ↓ for the answersA1. NoA2. It tracks steps taken, calories burned, heart rate, and sleepA3. It means “able to be used for many different purposes.”Sachiko Aoki
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12 .13A Year on Planet 9Wasei-eigo words may sound very similar to the English versions, but such words and expressions have quite different meanings to their English counterparts and can be the cause of some confusion! For example, ‘ソーラーシステム’ also refers to an electrical water heating system powered by sunlight, whereas ‘solar system’ refers to the eight planets and their moons in orbit around the sun, together with smaller bodies such as asteroids, meteoroids, and comets.For those who are interested in English and astronomy, naming the eight planets of our solar system in English should be a simple challenge. (Hint: My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Noodles) Most of the planets can be seen in the night sky with the naked eye at some point throughout the year. Mars reflects sunlight off its red sands, while both Saturn and Jupiter shine brightly due to their great size, whereas Neptune and Uranus require a powerful telescope to be seen.Did you also know that there were officially nine planets for a brief period of scientific history, between 1930 to 2006? Pluto is the name of the previously ninth planet. However, it has a surface area of only 3.3% of Earth’s, which is roughly equal to Russia’s, and other similarly sized objects in Pluto’s part of the solar system were later discovered. These facts meant that Pluto was eventually reclassified to ‘dwarf planet’ status and the list went back down to eight.However, Pluto was not simply found by looking at the night sky. Although it is visible by telescope, it is extremely dim due to its size and distance. After the discovery of Neptune in 1845, astronomers who were beginning to understand the formation of our solar system, had also found evidence of an object at 250 times the distance of the earth to the sun which was affecting the orbits of smaller nearby bodies. In the search for this mysterious object, Pluto was found, but we now know that it is not the cause of the orbital anomaly. In the same way that our moon is held by the larger Earth’s gravitational pull, this orbital anomaly has recently been calculated at about five times the mass of Earth’s. Could there actually be a large ninth planet? If so, where did it come from? Was it formed in our solar system or is it a rogue planet from another system captured by the gravitational pull of our sun? At such a distance, Planet Nine could take a minimum of an incredible 10,000 years to orbit the sun.Other theories posit that the anomaly may even be a black hole. Which would be more exciting to discover and confirm? There is still so little known about the outer edges of the solar system, but research like the hunt for Planet Nine goes on.Photo credit: PixabayQuizQ1. What are the three types of lesser sized objects in the solar system?Q2. What are the names of the eight major planets?Q3. What is an alternative idea to the existence of Planet Nine?Scroll down ↓ for the answersA1. Asteroids, meteors, and comets.A2. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, NeptuneA3. There is a black hole at the edge of our solar systemBen McDonough
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12 .06We All Have ChallengesIt can be easy to start feeling sorry for yourself. You have too much homework. You don’t have enough money. You can’t go out to enjoy time with friends because of the Covid situation. It’s natural to feel pessimistic sometimes and wish for a better or easier situation to be in.I guess I am no different than others in that respect. However, recently I came across three stories of hardships that made me realize challenges in our life come in degrees. There are situations more seriously desperate than the one I am presently experiencing.The first story I found in a YouTube video. It was a dramatic recreation of the shipwreck of a man sailing solo across the ocean. He lost his ship in a storm and escaped in a tiny inflatable raft. He had some tools, some floating stills to make fresh water, and some cans of food and water. His raft almost sank once after he accidentally ripped a hole in it. His raft was hit by a large shark. He could sometimes see ships in the distance, but none noticed him. He spent more than a month drifting alone with little or no food. He was desperate, exhausted and lonely. When he was ready to give up, he reached a small island and was found by fishermen.The second story was a book I read about the ‘underground railroad’. This was a name given to the escape routes for slaves during the 1800’s in the United States. The unbelievable hardships experienced by slaves and the dangerous attempts at escape showed the cruelty and inhumane treatment they experienced. Slaves who managed to escape and reach relative safety could often never again see their families who remained in captivity. The stories of struggles of the slaves and the support they received from people who helped them reach freedom were powerful.The last story I also saw on YouTube. It was an interview with a man in America who has survived two attacks by a grizzly bear in the same day. The man encountered a mother bear with two cubs in the forest. After the bear attacked once, it ran away. The man thought he then had a chance to hike back to his car. A short time later the bear returned and again attacked him, severely cutting his head and breaking his arm. After that the bear stopped attacking and left. He was seriously injured but managed to walk back to safety. He even drove himself to a local hospital.The hardships experienced by people in these stories and the ways they overcame them were very inspiring to me. We all have troubles in our daily lives, but we need to keep things in perspective. There can be chances to change our situation for the better.Photo credit: Janko Ferlic@pexels.comQuizQ1. How long did the man spend in the raft?a) 3 weeksb) 25 daysc) More than a monthQ2. What were the people using the underground railroad trying to escape?a) Slaveryb) Droughtc) FloodsQ3. How many times was the man attacked by the bear?a) Twiceb) Oncec) Five timesScroll down ↓ for the answersA1. cA2. aA3. aAnonymous
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11 .29Which is better: Consistency or speed?
If you were forced to choose between being consistent or speedy, what would be your choice? Now, many people might feel compelled to answer, “well, I would choose both.” But besides this being a cheat answer to the hypothetical question, you may want to think about the implications for this preference. In the end, rather than focusing on too many things at once, we should aim for being a dependable, rather than fast, person.
Of course, being able to consistently meet deadlines while also finishing tasks well before their deadlines would be great in your future workplace. However, the truth is that we don’t have unlimited time in such demanding environments. There are only so many hours in the day to complete seemingly never-ending work. The implication here is that by choosing to pursue both traits, we place equal importance on them. Why is this troublesome? Well, a professor once told me, “If everything is important, then nothing is important.” Indeed, when we choose everything equally, we are, in fact, choosing not to place higher importance on anything. Realistically, just as some work tasks should have higher priority than others, so too is there higher importance for the traits we decide to develop in ourselves. We must understand that not all attributes are created equally.
Now, going back to the question, I ask you once more, which of the two traits would you choose? To give you the answer, let me provide you with a real-world example. Before moving to Japan, I worked for a large corporation in the United States. Within this company, I worked closely with a diverse team of co-workers to complete deadlines together. My fellow workers came from various backgrounds and had many different preferences and work styles. Amongst them, there were people who preferred to power through tasks and finish them as soon as they were assigned. This may seem great, yet these people lacked the consistency to keep this up for long. Yes, some tasks were finished quickly, but others would go unnoticed for weeks at a time. Ultimately, I couldn’t trust these employees to follow through on tasks and had to keep reminding them to make sure that they would meet the deadlines.
Next, there were other types of co-workers who were the opposite. I might have sent them an email and then not heard back from them for several days. For sure, this was not considered fast compared to the abovementioned workers who would respond within seconds. The difference here was that I could always count on these people to meet the deadlines despite completing things at a slower pace. Where they lacked in speed, they most certainly made it up in being dependable.
Overall, in your future workplace, you might first strive to portray every positive attribute at the same time. But once you come to the realization that we cannot always do things perfectly, you will adjust your priorities. When this day comes, I hope you will become the type of person that others can depend on.
Photo credit: nappy@pexels.com
Quiz
Q1. What does 'if everything is important, then nothing is important' mean?
Q2. What does the author mean by the word ‘consistency,’ and what is the author’s opinion about it?
Q3. What does the author mean by the word ‘speed,’ and what is the author’s opinion about it?
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
A1. By placing equal importance on everything, we do not distinguish one thing from another. Therefore, our priorities are spread too thin, and ultimately, nothing becomes important.
A2. Consistency is when someone is dependable and always finishes a task in the end. The author believes that, while consistent people do not always complete tasks quickly, knowing that they will follow through on the task is better.
A3. Speed is when someone finishes a task quickly. The author believes that, while it is great to finish tasks speedily, many speedy people cannot continue this consistently and sometimes do not finish tasks.
Shawn Andersson -
11 .22Going on a Bug Hunt
Japan has a wide variety of insects. The hot humid summers and the less frequent use of agricultural insecticides means that insects thrive in Japan. Japanese culture and the Japanese education system encourage an interest in bugs and insects that many other countries do not support. In summer in Japan, you can easily walk into a DIY store or sometimes supermarkets to buy either goods for catching insects or live stag beetles of various types. One-hundred-yen stores bring their stock of nets, cages, insect food and accessories to the front of the store for a summer of insect-hunting. While you might be able to find some of the same goods in some Walmart stores or similar big-box stores, keeping insects as pets is much less common outside Japan. Most people buy bug spray in the summer rather than bug nets and bug food. If you want to buy live insects, you often have to go to specialty pet stores, where they sell live insects as food for snakes and reptiles.
The bug hunting obsession has caught on with my children too. Every rainy season as the muggy humid conditions shift to sweltering heat, signalling the start of summer, my kids bring out the big encyclopaedia of insects. The pages with life-size pictures of stag beetles are well thumbed and adorned with sticky notes. They sit together and plan which ones they are going to catch. However, each year we end up buying beetles from a store or visiting the “Kabuto Mushi House” near Hiezan. They have yet to catch anything in real life, but this year might prove to be different.
By luck, as my son was closing the window a young stag beetle flew into the bug screen on the window. Becoming trapped between the window and the bug screen, the beetle was easily caught by my son. This sudden new information that they could catch beetles at the back of the house encouraged them even more. They needed more information and before I could say anything they had booked us all on a bug hunting training session at the local nature reserve. My wife who hates all types of insects agreed after much argument and persuasion, so we headed out one evening for a very dark nature reserve.
Walking slowly around the nature reserve led by the guide, we learned how to make banana traps to attract stag beetles. Old bananas are fermented and then inserted into a semi-permeable tube, such as pantyhose. The fermented bananas then very slowly ooze out of the tube, which is tied to a tree. Stag beetles love the smell of the banana pulp and fly to the tree. Landing on the tree, the beetles suck out the banana pulp. You can then easily catch them. The guide showed us several stag beetles that were feasting on their dinner of fermented bananas.
So, the bug hunting obsession is renewed again in our house. The kids are armed with new bug cages, nets, bug food, very old and smelly bananas, and a handful of old pantyhose taken from my wife’s sock drawer. My wife will soon find out why the kids are stuffing her pantyhose with smelly old bananas and hanging them outside the kitchen door. Hopefully, she won’t be too upset about the pantyhose, although I think she might be upset if they attract too many bugs.
Photo Credit: Cervus@pexels.com
Quiz
Q1. What is more common in Japan than other countries?
Eating bugs
Using spray to kill bugs
Keeping insects as pets
Q2. What is an "agricultural insecticide''?
A type of bug
A spray to attract insects
A chemical used by farmers to kill insects.
Q3. What do you need to trap stag beetles?
Fermented bananas and pantyhose
A net covered in honey
A cage
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
A1. c
A2. c
A3. a
Anonymous -
11 .15Color and Gender: Mother’s Struggle in Choosing Her Daughter’s Clothing
Do you have any colors you like to wear? I like black and white best, but I also wear red, green, and blue. Adults choose whatever color they like. What about children? You rarely see a kindergarten boy wearing a pink shirt or a little girl wearing a dinosaur printed T-shirt in your neighborhood.
That’s because there are gender norms in our society: we unknowingly follow the social values of women being womanly and men being manly. We are not asked or ordered, but we tend to follow the rules. These social norms limit one's actions and choices in life. It has been pointed out that women, in particular, are disadvantaged in their daily lives and in situations such as finding employment. I knew it was not a good idea to do anything that would instil such norms in children from an early age.
However, when I had a daughter of my own, I faced a problem when it came to choosing her clothes. In the kids wear section, there is a clear distinction between clothes for girls and for boys. The colors of girls' clothes are pink and pastel colors with flowers, strawberries, or ribbon motifs. For boys, the main colors are blue and green, and the patterns are mostly vehicles and dinosaurs. If you had to choose from the two, who would choose boys’ wear for girls?
When I have to purchase my daughter’s necessities, I am always faced with a dilemma. My 65-year-old mother used to say that girls should wear pink and bought her granddaughter pink clothes. I talked to my mother about the issue, and then, she accepted my idea and tried to choose other colors too. Yet sometimes I don't know what the right thing to do is. My daughter was often mistaken for a boy. Each time it happened, I wondered if I should have dressed her in pink. However, I didn't want to end up in a situation like the one in JeongMee Yoon’s photographs. The artist took pictures of contrasting children's rooms: girls' rooms filled with pink, and boys’ rooms filled with blue. This is what I've been worrying about ever since she was born. Now I try to balance between my beliefs and common sense.
The other day, I had to prepare a pair of sandals for my daughter because she uses them at daycare. I’d been looking at several online stores and finally decided to get pink ones with white polka dots. I liked the functionality and the reasonable price. How do you think my daughter reacted to the sandals? For the first time, she got interested in her stuff and wanted to put them on by herself!
According to Hidemi Horikoshi's "Do Girls Really Like Pink?", many parents in Japan and abroad are troubled by the fact that their young girls have become obsessed with pink. I shudder at the thought that one day my daughter will be crazy about pink.
JeongMee Yoon’s website: http://www.jeongmeeyoon.com/aw_pinkblue.htm
堀越英美『女の子は本当にピンクが好きなのか』（河出文庫、2019）
Photo Credit: The Author
Quiz
Q1. According to the article, what pictures are usually on boys' clothes?
Robots and spaceships
Vehicles and dinosaurs
Trees and flowers
Q2. Did the author's mother respect the author's views on children's clothing?
Yes, she did
No, she didn’t
She didn’t give an opinion
Q3. What were the sandals the author bought for her daughter like?
Pink with white polka dots
Pink with green polka dots
Pink and white stripes
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
A1. b
A2. a
A3. a
Yumi Yamamoto -
11 .08An Urban Nature
I’m from a small city called Lichfield in the middle of the UK. It has a long history, but probably the most famous person from there is Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). He wrote a dictionary that the Oxford English Dictionary – and all following English dictionaries were and, are modelled on. I once had coffee in Dr Johnson’s house, but that’s a story for another time…
In Japan, I have lived in Osaka, Shizuoka and Aichi prefectures and a few years ago I moved to Kyoto. I do not live in the city centre, but I do not live in the countryside either – kind of on the edge. Of course, with this being Kyoto, there are many beautiful temples and places of interest, but I like nature.
The town I live in is quiet and there are many trees and mountains nearby. Also, there is a small stream near my house and that is the most interesting. There are river crabs and crayfish in it and occasionally there are frogs too. I sometimes see birds or weasels fishing in it, and I’ve even had a raccoon come up and sniff my shoe while by this stream.
Perhaps the best time by this stream is in June – that is when the fireflies come out. Although I’ve lived in Japan a long time and I lived in Mishima, Shizuoka (which has a firefly festival), I had never seen fireflies until moving to this area last year. In June, I can now sit outside my front door and watch them every night for a week. They are fascinating and move gracefully like I imagine Tinker-Bell would do.
This year I spent every night of the firefly season (sometimes until 3am) watching and photographing these wonderful creatures. Of the, probably, hundreds of photos I took, I may have got one or two that were kind of not too bad. However, I was happy with that and felt privileged to see them again this year.
They are beautiful predators – yes, they are hunters. And, they have lived for nearly a hundred million years, but worldwide populations of fireflies are declining and that is mostly because of us. We are destroying their environment. I see this in my stream, as people throw their bottles, cans or cigarette ends into this precious ecosystem.
This stream died before and the local residents cleaned it and made it a safe place for all these animals to live once again. There is hope that we can keep it safe and clean for all of the amazing animals. And if it can happen in one small place in Kyoto, it can spread to more places.
Photo Credit: The Author
Quiz
Q1. When was Johnson born?
1784
1794
1709
Q2. How many places do we know the writer has lived?
5
4
2
Q3. What is causing the decline in firefly populations
Us (humans)
Drought
An increase in predators
Scroll down ↓ for the answers
A1. c
A2. a
A3. a
Gareth Howells