Today, I would like to introduce the idea of using a fountain pen for daily use. I know that electronic media such as smartphones and tablets have become a part of our daily lives, but it would be nice to enjoy a traditional writing method instead. Recently, I went to Kinokuniya near Osaka station and found a section of fountain pens. There were a lot of them lined up in a row for us to try them out casually. Many people just enjoy such pens as a collection, but fountain pens have many purposes: to enjoy the pleasure of writing, to use as a tool, and to appreciate having time for yourself. 

The first idea is to enjoy the feeling of writing. It is a feeling that only those who have tasted it can understand, but even just by drawing a line, you can feel it in your hand. When I wrote with a fountain pen for the first time, I was amazed at the sound it made when I wrote. Later, after using it several times, I began to feel the steady sound was comfortable. In particular, it is a beneficial tool for people with weak writing pressure compared with regular pens or pencils.

Second, a fountain pen is an excellent tool for organizing your thoughts. Nowadays, it is easy to make voice recordings and convert your ideas into text. However, there is a limit to how much you can write by hand compared with electronic media. In this sense, you can unconsciously replace writing time with organizing time in your mind.

The third is to set aside time for yourself. This idea is similar to the second benefit but different. As long as you have a pen and paper in front of you, you can think only of yourself. No person or sounds will disturb you. In this age of IT advancement, it is precious to be in a space where you are not connected to the Internet, where information is flowing. Especially for writers, such a tool can be a treasure trove of great ideas.

In conclusion, many people love fountain pens, such as writers and cartoonists. However, fountain pens are not only for specialists but also for people in general to enjoy the benefits and pleasure we have discussed. There are several series of pens for beginners with an economical price. So, why not give it a try?

Q1. What is the first benefit of fountain pens?

Q2. What is the second benefit of fountain pens? 

Q3. What is the third benefit of fountain pens?

--- Scroll down for answers ---

A1. They help you to enjoy the feeling of writing.

A2. They help you to organize your thoughts.

A3. They give you space to think of and for yourself.

You know LEGO. We all know LEGO. These plastic brick toys have been world famous for over 70 years. There are toys, models, robots, animated movies, visual art, and more. For most people they are a childhood toy; something fun and creative to play with on a rainy day. But LEGO are not just simple blocks. Behind the popular toy is a deep history of cutting-edge technology, manufacturing, research, design, and engineering. 

Materials

The LEGO company originally made toy blocks from wood. Eventually they shifted to plastic in 1947. Different types of plastic were tried, but eventually LEGO chose ABS plastic (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) as its main material. ABS has been LEGO’s only plastic for over 50 years, but recently they are changing this. Since 2018 they started using a bio-based plastic made from sugarcane. The company is planning to completely change to an eco-friendly plastic by 2030 and is already ahead of schedule.

Finding a good material for LEGO is difficult. The LEGO quality standards for materials are some of the highest in the world. LEGO pieces must be precise, strong, and last for a long time. LEGO manufactures over 36,000,000,000 parts in a year (1,140 bricks/second) with a success rate of 99.999982%. Each piece is so strong one brick can support 375,000 bricks. To break the bottom brick, you would have to build a LEGO tower 3,591 meters high. Independent testing and in-house company testing shows that the life of a LEGO piece is between 2,000 to 3,000 uses (maybe more, depending on the piece). 

Design and Engineering

LEGO pieces are not only strong, they are well-designed. For each piece the maximum size variation is 0.004mm (that is less than the width of a human hair). In 1958 LEGO designers and engineers created, and still use, a special “universal system” for piece design. This means EVERY piece from EVERY set since 1958 will fit together with ANY other piece from ANYWHERE in the world.

To create the pieces and sets LEGO designers create and customize special 3D imaging software, modified versions of CAD, and even virtual reality models. Recently LEGO has also been training AI to design pieces, sets, and to package the toys. 

The People

LEGO Designers have backgrounds in engineering, CG modelling, design, fashion, art, architecture, and more. The application process is very difficult, very competitive, and candidates must be highly qualified. LEGO often scouts and recruits people from PhD programs and high-tier universities worldwide to become designers and LEGO creators. 

Q1: How many bricks are needed to break one LEGO brick?

A. 2,000-3,000

B. 375,000

C. 3,591

Q2: What were the first LEGO blocks made from?

A. Sugarcane 

B. Plastic

C. Wood

D. ABS 

Q3: What is special about LEGO’s “universal system”?

A. Every piece is almost perfect in size and shape.

B. Every possible piece fits together.

C. Every piece is made from eco-friendly plastic.

--- Scroll down for answers ---

A1. B

A2. C

A3. B

A sunny autumn day like today is a liminal time, an in-between state, when something is at its birthing stage. A fresh new beginning has just begun to open its tight bud into a slow blossom. Tsubaki camellia flowers strike a pose, wearing soft pink petals like a multi-layered evening gown. Fresh new leaves, a very dark matcha green, offer up the soft buds of flowers with a very distinct contrast. Deep autumn is just around the corner. Fresh new amber orange and red in their fantastic colors vie for attention. Two years ago, in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic halted the world to an almost complete stop, I discovered a secret joy. I was afraid to say it. Too many people all over the world were suffering. Many lost loved ones. Some stood at death’s door. Others battled awful symptoms. Some luckily won over the corona virus with a sniffle and a sneeze. But no doubt, countless people suffered in their own way. In the midst of all of this, I carried this secret joy. I could not share this with anyone. It didn’t feel right to voice it out loud when so many were suffering.

Like last year, I made my way to the spot where I discovered this joy. The afternoon sun was warm on my face. I couldn’t help but hum my favorite song. Can a day be as perfect as this? Everywhere I looked there were hints of autumn colors. I quickly made my way to my destination – Nanzenji temple. Last year, I had the temple to myself, a breathtaking but simple architecture – so still, ever gentle. Standing in this open space with hardly anyone around, I breathed in refreshing air, and I breathed out the stress of the frightening 24/7 news cycle of illness, death, doubt, and strife that had become a part of everyday life. What had this temple witnessed over the many centuries of its existence? Now, it became my oasis. It offered me a quiet, calming joy, almost like an extended helping hand. Since then, I have been savoring this soothing feeling of being surrounded by this breath-taking beauty and the joy of having it all to myself.

But lo and behold… What is this? Who are they? What is going on? Stop, stop, stop! Cameras clicked, loud laughter echoed in the chilly air, buzz of non-stop conversation whirling around my head, cars honking, the burned smell of rubber spewing out dark fumes from tour buses, the high-pitched voices of young tour guides mindlessly carrying high their little flag. No, this can’t be. A heavy feeling found a place in the pit of my stomach. The once high feeling slowly but surely dissipated to an increasing low. The serene Nanzenji, a place of quiet calm, the seat of Zen, was overrun once again. “Life as usual,” “Back to Normal,” “With Corona,” threatened my secret joy, this rare moment of quiet, the essence of Zen. Experiencing history, tradition, and ritual of calm in temples like Nanzenji is what I had been savoring within these two years of the pandemic. I knew that it would not last long. 

Now, on this beautiful day, I am once again one among thousands, making an autumn-foliage pilgrimage to Nanzenji. Disappointed, I weakly hold up my camera, trying to capture that perfect shot of what my eyes behold. I try my best to ignore the mass of people. Click! I frown at the shot of a passerby’s tip of his white sneaker that invades my picture. Delete! The sun shines through the dark orange leaves. Ah, beautiful. I point my camera at that perfect shot, the side view of the temple peeking through the colorful foliage. I wait to click. A person in front is taking forever to get his own perfect shot. He finally moves out of my way. I hurriedly point the camera back at the leaves and the edge of the strikingly regal wooden temple. The sunray now has shifted. I lower my camera. Irritably, I walk through the over-crowded temple ground. 

Lovers walk hand in hand. Families talk, run, pose for one another. Selfie sticks swim through the crowd. A young girl quickly readjusts her front bangs with one free hand and then smiles into her smart phone held six feet away. Taking in these images like a slow-moving picture, my secret joy slips through my fingers. I walk heavyhearted on to the side-street away from the crowd. Wait. What is this? The sun-ray beckons me ever so quietly. I follow it. I hear the whispered invitation through a rustled wind moving through the colored leaves. I look through a half open door. This moment – a re-encounter with this knowing joy, it is here. It never left. I just needed to look closer. The discovery, the joy of seeing the beauty in the very small things, ever so quiet, very subtle, but definitely present, quickened my heartbeat. This small temple, posing now so elegantly before my eyes, may not be the grand and beautiful main attraction, but it imbues a beauty of its own, waiting quietly for that moment of mutual discovery. The secret of finding joy in the small things, present everywhere, always ready to be seen and discovered, made this autumn day… well… perfect.

Q1 Why was the writer afraid to verbalize her secret joy? 

Q2 Where was the primary place where the writer found this secret joy?

Q3 Why did the writer feel that the secret joy was slipping away?

Scroll down for answers

A1 Too many people all over the world were suffering. 

A2 Nanzenji temple.  

A3 Because many visitors and tourists are once again overcrowding historical sites of Kyoto.

This summer, my friend and I finally started planting a food forest. We have been preparing the site for the food forest for several years. For example, with an excavator, we dug a pond at the top of the site so that we can keep the trees in the forest well-watered after they are planted.  We also dug swales on the land which will act to retain the moisture in the soil rather than allow it to run off. I live on a small island in the Pacific Northwest which gets a lot of rain during the winter months. However, many people are surprised to learn that during the summer it doesn't rain at all, so it will be necessary to water the trees for a few years so that they can establish themselves. 

You might be asking yourself, "what is a food forest"? To answer that question, we should first look at the concept of "permaculture." According to Bill Morrison, who made up the term in 1978, permaculture is: "The conscious design and maintenance of agricultural reproductive systems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is the harmonious integration of the landscape with people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way." In this sense, permaculture combines the sense of permanent, or sustainable, and the practice of agriculture. 

These days, as the mass effect of "consumer culture" is increasingly viewed as unsustainable, the focus has expanded to include sustainable cultures, such as indigenous cultures, which can be considered models of land stewardship. Just as a natural forest matures to a point where it becomes a self-sustaining culture of plants, a food forest is intentionally planted with edible trees, perennials, annuals and shrubs which mature and become self-sustaining. In other words, after a certain time, the plants work to support each other just like plants found in a natural forest, creating an integrated self-sustaining eco-system that, in the case of a food forest, provides sustenance. The overall idea is to work with nature, not against nature, to achieve this aim. Unlike monoculture, in which a farmer plants one crop and then intensively battles nature to protect the crop against insects and other plants, a food forest is intended to be a habitat for insects, birds and other plants and animals. The idea is to create an abundance which is shared. 

To give our food forest a fighting chance to establish itself, we put in posts, and we're going to put some screening net around the site to protect the young trees from deer. Unfortunately, deer like to rub their bodies against trees and when the trees are still small that damages the bark and the trees die. Deer also like to eat delicious young leaves, so it's necessary to keep the deer out until the trees have established themselves and grown taller. In the future, when the site has become an established forest, we will be able to take down the screen netting, so that the deer can also take part and contribute to the forest. One of the very first trees we planted was at the top of the site, where the clearing meets the natural forest that surrounds it. This area is higher and drier, so we planted an Italian pine tree there. This pine tree produces lots of pine nuts. We're looking forward to the day the Italian pine tree will be just one of many trees in a thriving food forest in which we can share in the benefits.

Q1. What is the purpose of swales?

(a) They help the land stay moist by absorbing rain

(b) They help prevent floods by allowing water to move flow freely.

Q2.  True or false: The word permaculture is a combination of two words, permanent and agriculture.

Q3.  Food forests are planted to benefit:

(a) only humans

(b) the entire eco-system? 

Scroll down for answers 

A1: a

A2: True

A3: b

How do you like to start your day? Me, the first thing I like to do is to get up early and turn on the TV. I always watch Shirashiga Terebi on the Biwako Broadcasting Company at 6:50 am. It begins with live camera shots of various parts around Shiga prefecture. You can find out about the latest local events, the traffic, water levels, and the weather—all live and 365 days a year. For example, this morning I found out that today’s a good day for hanging the laundry outside. You can’t see any famous Shiga announcers because it’s actually an AI voice that gives the news. I like the “Moyo-Moyo” song afterwards, too, sung by a little grebe.

How do you like to end your day? Me, after work, the last thing I like to do is to sit back and turn on the TV. I always watch Omi Nyuzu at 6:30 pm on channel 1. I like learning about plants and flowers during the weather report. For example, these days everybody has been sending pictures of Sweet Osmanthus. You can almost smell them from your TV set! I like Motoki Ishii. He seems like a nice guy. Anyone who gets so excited about the weather has to have a warm heart. Actually, sometimes you can see the news announcers at the Otsu Station Starbucks around lunchtime. They are always so busy that I am too shy to say “Hi, I am a big fan of your news program!” By the way, no worries if you happen to come home late after 7:00 pm. They do a shortened 15-minute version every weekday night at 8:45 pm. 

How do you like to get ready for the weekend? Me, Friday night, it’s always the program Omoroshiga. That means Fun Stuff to Do in Shiga. It’s on channel 3 from 7 pm every Friday. It ends at 8:20 pm, but don’t ask me why. On tonight’s program they went to a place called Aisho-cho and visited a hairdresser where you can get your hair done in the traditional Japanese style with lots of pins and topknots. When you’re done, you look like you’ve walked out of a historical drama. They also have a very useful weekly recap of all the news around Shiga at 7:45 called BBC News Weekly. This time they reported that as of late there have been a lot of bugs from the lake flying about and getting into people’s laundry. Mine as well! The announcer is Azusa Minami. I saw her once at Starbucks, too.

During the pandemic, we were strongly advised to stay at home, and travel was regarded as an inappropriate activity. As the situation has begun to improve, people have resumed travelling, and this trend has brought the opportunity to leave our home region to experience different environments.

There are many styles of travel, but I recommend that students go backpacking. Although many students are already accustomed to backpacking, it may still seem adventurous to others. When you choose to go on a backpacking trip, you are likely planning to travel alone. Travelling solo may sound lonely (of course, sometimes it is), but all the decisions are your responsibility, which means you can decide where to stay, what to eat, and who to travel with. If you travel with friends or family, you must attend carefully to your travelling companions. When travelling alone, however, you are accountable to no one but yourself, and you get to create your own plans. In addition, you may find someone along the way to join you on your journey.

When you travel alone, I recommend staying in a dormitory, which means you share the room with other people. Youth hostels are a good example, but there are a variety of guesthouses that offer dormitory beds for backpackers. In a guesthouse, the space you are allowed to use is limited, consisting of just a bed and sometimes a locker. Therefore, you ought to communicate with other lodgers to ensure a good relationship. If you like your roommate, you can go for a drink or eat together; at least you’ll learn some useful travel information. When you say ‘hello’ and the roommate becomes your friend, he/she will be another guard to help ensure your safety.

Here are some tips to make your travel comfortable and safe in a dormitory room:

1. Ask whether the room is mixed-sex or divided according to gender. I recommend you choose a separated one for reasons of personal safety.

2. Don’t leave your valuables in a bag. You should keep important items with you at all times. In particular, be careful during shower time. Bring a key and wire to secure your bag to the bed.

3. Sandals are useful when you go out for a bit or while taking a shower.

4. Bring some Japanese sweets such as matcha chocolate bars to share with your roommates and help you start a conversation.

Photo credit George Pak@Pexels.com

Q1: What is the style of travelling which the author suggests to students?

Q2: What is an advantage of travelling solo?

Q3: What is a personal space in a guesthouse?

Scroll down for answers 

A1: Backpacking

A2: The freedom to create a plan

A3: A bed and a locker

You should enjoy your leisure time while you can because once you start working, you may not have much time for yourself. The average amount of overtime work in Japan is said to be 25 to 26 hours per month. If you work five days a week, you will work one more hour extra each day: a total of nine hours everyday. So why don’t you enjoy your free time while you are a student? You can enjoy sightseeing, eating out, and participating in outdoor activities since the state of emergency has been lifted now.

Do you know how many temples and shrines there are in Osaka, Shiga, and Kyoto? There are 3,395 in Osaka, 3,213 in Shiga, and 3,076 in Kyoto. You would think Kyoto has the largest number of temples and shrines but surprisingly Osaka has the most. The public transportation in Osaka is well developed so it is easy to get around on the subways and buses. A one-day ticket for Osaka is only 800 yen and you can use it for both the Osaka Metro and city buses. In Kyoto, buses are convenient for getting around. You can visit most of the temples by bus. A one-day ticket for both subways and buses is 1,100 yen. You can visit as many temples and shrines as the time allows. Isn’t it a good opportunity to enjoy a tranquil environment?

As you go around, you can also enjoy the food of the area. There are 51,230 restaurants in Osaka, 13, 325 restaurants in Kyoto, and 4,699 restaurants in Shiga. You have so many choices! There are interesting regional dishes in all three places. If you look them up on the internet, you will see enormous variety. I recommend trying the local specialties. However, those places might be crowded, and I’m sure there are people who want to avoid the busy places, so there are other options. For example, a great way to spend leisure time without encountering crowds is to check out some of the natural scenery in the Kansai region. 

If you want to enjoy the outdoors, you could visit the famous Lake Biwa in Shiga. A lap around the lake is about 200 km. You see many cyclists going around, but it will take you about ten hours if you cycle at 20 km/hour. If you are not crazy about cycling, you can take two days to go around. If you like motorcycles, using a 400cc motorcycle will take about four hours. Or you can go around with a car and that will take about four hours too. If you want to enjoy cycling in urban areas, you can rent a bicycle in Kyoto and Osaka, but there is heavy traffic, so please be careful. Now you probably feel like you want to do something in your leisure time, don’t you? You can enjoy these things even after you start working but making time to do them will probably be harder than now. So why don’t you act now?

Photo credit: Elijah O’Donnell@Pexels.com

Q1: Which prefecture has the most temples and shrines?

a. Kyoto

b. Osaka

c. Shiga

Q2: How many restaurants are there in Osaka?

a. Less than 5,000

b. About 13,000

c. About 51,000

Q3 If you cycle around Lake Biwa, how long does it take?

a. 4 hours

b. 6 hours

c. 10 hours

Scroll down for answers 

A1: b

A2: c

A3: c

Have you ever seen a toad? Toads, called "hikigaeru" in Japanese, have very interesting features. Unlike most frogs, they do not live in water, except during the breeding season. However, during the very short breeding season between February and May, after they awaken from hibernation, they congregate in watery areas and engage in breeding behavior. Japanese people call this “kawazu gassen" (frog war) because of the large number of toads riding on each other while fighting for female toads. It is said that toads have an excellent sense of smell and remember the pond where they were born, so they can go back to the same place at the same time every year for breeding. When the breeding season is over, they leave the pond and return to the mountains.

Their movements are so slow. You might wonder how these creatures survive from predators, but they have two strategies for survival. The first method is to secrete a strong poison on their skin when attacked by other animals. This poison is called "toad oil" (“gama no abura” in Japanese) and is sometimes used as a medicine. However, the secretion of the poison is very rare. I have two toads in my house and they have never produced it. The second method to protect themselves is mimicry. Toads in Japan are colored with a brown base with black lines and red spots. This color pattern provides excellent camouflage in mountains with dead leaves, and it is very difficult to find them hiding there.

In the past, most toads lived in the same habitat as humans, so they are often mentioned in stories. The toad is often represented as a symbol of ugliness, but it is also portrayed as a creature with mystical powers, appearing in Naruto and Harry Potter.

Toads are very interesting creatures. However, their numbers are dwindling due to the development of mountainous areas, and it may be difficult to see these creatures near your house. When they appear in your path on a hike or mountain climb, please don't tease them, but cheer them on so that they can reach their goal safely as they move slowly.

Photo credit: Jose Aly Hoyo@Pexels.com

Q1: What is "toad" in Japanese?

a.    Hikigaeru

b.    Kamakiri

c.    Kaeru

Q2: How can toads go back to the pond where they were born every year?

a.    They are smart

b.    They go back to the pond by tracking the smell of the place.

c.    They know the mountains well

Q3: Where do toads usually live?

a.    In the city

b.    On paths near the river

c.    In the mountainous area

Scroll down for answers 

A1: hikigaeru

A2: They go back to the pond by tracking the smell of the place.

A3: They live in mountainous areas.

When people abroad think of popular sports from the United States, they usually think of sports that are played in their own countries, such as basketball or baseball. Though these two sports have grown worldwide, neither is the most popular sport in America. People often think baseball is the #1 sport in the U.S. due to it being nicknamed “America’s Pastime”. However, the real king of sports in the U.S. is football.

Usually played in fall and early winter, football is the most-watched sport on TV in America. Every year more than 100 million people tune in to watch the Super Bowl, the National Football League’s (NFL’s) championship game. Not only that, most stadiums that can hold over 90,000 people in the world are football stadiums.

What is football? Football is played on a field that is 120 yards long (around 110 meters). The playing field is 100 yards long with a 10-yard "endzone" (scoring zone) on both sides of the field. The game is played in 4 quarters of 15 minutes. Each team is allowed only 11 players on the field at one time. One team is the offense and one team is the defense. The offense has to get to the opposing team’s endzone and the defense must stop them. The game consists of plays that only last a few seconds. Teams can pass the ball or run the ball down the field during these plays. However, if a pass is dropped or the player with the ball is tackled to the ground, they must pause and restart a new play. Not only is the game about athletic ability, but it is also a strategy game, like chess.

At the start of the offense’s turn, they have four plays (“downs”) to make it 10 yards. If they can make it to the 10-yard mark, they receive a new turn, “set of downs” and can continue. However, if they can not make it to the 10-yard mark, they must give the ball to the other team. Usually, the offence kicks the ball to the other team if it is the 4th play (4th down). This kick is called a punt. After the other team catches the ball, they become the offense.

If the offense team makes it to the endzone, they are awarded 6 points with a chance to run a new play for 2 more points or kick the ball through the “goalposts” for 1 point. Usually, teams kick the “extra point” for +1 points. If the team can not make it down the field but are close, they can kick a “field goal” for 3 points. If the offense gets tackled in their own endzone, the defense is awarded 2 points called a “safety”

Like any sport, the best way to learn is to watch. Luckily, you don’t have to go to America to watch a football game. Ritsumeikan University has its own football team, The Ritsumeikan Panthers! You can check their website to learn more about the team and their schedule. [http://www.ritsumeikanpanthers.com/]

Photo credit David Morris @Pexels.com

Q1. What sport is called "America's Pastime"?

a. Baseball

b. Basketball

c. Football

Q2. How many people watch the Super Bowl every year?

a. 50- 80 million

b. 80 - 100 million

c. 100+ million

Q3. How many points is a "touchdown"?

a. 1

b. 3

c. 6

Scroll down for answers

A1 a

A2 c

A3 c

In modern society, people can go on a trip even when they are busy. By means of transportation such as cars, trains, or planes, they can easily reach their destinations in a short time. While most tourists today choose these means of modern transportation, some enjoy bicycling to their destinations. In this blog post, I would like to share with you some advantages of going on a bicycle trip that I realised as a member of the cycling club at my university.

A trip is not just about visiting famous sightseeing spots, but it also consists of the moments on the way. On a bicycle trip, the scenes that you see will pass by slower and thus will be more memorable compared to those in a car or on a train. If you are the type of traveller who finds it fun to take pictures, you can stop at any good photo places on a bicycle trip. (Of course, you cannot take pictures on the ride. It’s too dangerous!) There are many other things on the way that may become memorable during your trip. Stopping by less-known spots that are not in travel guidebooks, you may be able to have special experiences such as meeting local people.

Eating special food on an empty stomach is another big advantage of a bicycle trip. Have you ever felt that something tasted better because you were starving? The hunger you feel after a long ride can be the best sauce for what you eat during the trip. Speaking of my experience, I still clearly remember the taste of the ice cream cone I ate at an ice cream shop on the top of a mountain in Tohoku.

By the way, do you know cycling is one of the most effective workouts? According to 改訂版「身体活動のメッツ(METs)表」the National Institute of Health and Nutrition, biking at a speed of 16.1-19.2 kph comes in at 6.8 METs, which means a 65kg person can burn as many as 464 kilocalories per hour. Even if you enjoy local cuisines to the fullest, you may no longer have to worry about standing on a bath scale when you return from the bicycle trip.

If you can’t afford to take a long bicycle trip, I recommend one day “puttering.” It is Japanese-English derived from the English word “putter” to mean going out on a bicycle without any specific destination. There are many spots around the three campuses of our university that you can visit on your mama-chari. Why don’t you go “puttering” and find new places this weekend?

Last, remember that bicycle insurance is compulsory for cyclers in Osaka, Kyoto, and Shiga. Be safe and have fun riding!

Photo credit Mabel Amber@Pexels.com

Questions

Scroll down for answers

Q1. The author states that visiting famous tourist areas is the most important part of a bicycle trip. True or False?

Q2. What did the author eat on the top of a mountain when travelling in Tohoku.

a) a cookie

b) a rice ball

c) an ice cream cone

d) a sandwich

Q3. The author suggests that people may not have to care about their weight when they return from a bicycle trip. True or False?

A1. False

A2. C

A3. True