[Short English Essay] カテゴリの記事
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A Tribute to Akira Toriyama
A breaking news came in this morning from Japan, reporting that a legendary Manga creator Akira Toriyama passed away on March 1st at the age of 68. According to major news sources, he suffered from sudden cerebral blood clots. His major Manga works are Dragon Ball and Dr. Slump. Some legendary video games, "Chrono Trigger" and "Dragon Quest" series, are also known as his major works. Dragon Ball was translated into numerous languages and has become one of the most well recognized Japanese Manga titles around the globe. As one who grew up watching Dragon Ball on TV, I cannot thank Akira Toriyama for his tremendous contributions to the development of Japanese Manga industry. Akira is definitely a Manga pioneer who has increased the international recognition of the term “Manga” and influenced many of Japanese boys comic artists who became quite popular after Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball stays forever in my heart. R.I.P., Akira Toriyama. I recently used a term “the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (Seishin To Toki no Heya)” to describe the library on campus. To see the blog entry, please click on the link below.HEREBBC NEWS: Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama dies at aged 68HEREImage Cited from Dragon Ball Official Homepage:HERE
2024.03.10
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大学入試の英作文に挑戦
Morite2(もりてつ)氏(@morite2toeic)が掲載した難関大学の入試問題に挑んでみた。Xからお写真を拝借してこちらにも自分の作文をまとめて残しておきたいと思う。赤本を長年眺めていないため詳細はわからないが、このような英作文には模範解答がないため赤本にも模範解答は掲載されないのではないだろうか。受験生の参考になれば幸いだ。（採点基準が公表されていないので知りようがないが、私と同じように書いても満点になることはないだろう。その点ご注意いただきたい。）早稲田大学法学部(2024)の問題の一部※Morite2氏（@morite2toeic）の2024年2月17日の投稿より借用試訳：In this mural art, a janitor is wiping out some graffiti on a wall with a hydro-jet cleaner. It seems, however, that the mural art has some hidden implications with a closer look. The graffiti he is trying to erase show an ecological relationship that humans used to have. The man is simply doing his duty to keep his town clean, but it could be said that he is a main culprit that is wiping out the ecological diversity and is trying to exert the human dominance on the earth.京都大学(2024)の問題の一部※Morite2氏（@morite2toeic）の2024年2月28日の投稿より借用試訳：Every once a while, you realized how ignorant you once were. These moments provide you with opportunities to reflect on your intellectual path that you went through. Paradoxically accepting your ignorance can teach you that you have become wiser than what you were yesterday. Much remains unknown in this world. Acknowledging this simple fact is a starting point of learning, and there would be no endpoint in this process.慶應義塾大学理工学部(2024)の問題の一部※Morite2氏（@morite2toeic）の2024年2月12日の投稿より借用試訳：Some are incessantly gravitated towards their home town, and others feel that they can no longer return home for some reason.コメント：万有引力のように引き戻される感じはgravitateがしっくり気がします。戻ることができないはno longerで哀愁を漂わせてみました。美しい文章を英訳するのは難しいですね。最近の入試問題は難化していると痛感した。文法の問題が消えて今後はこのような自由英作文の比率が大きくなっていくのだろうか。文法書を丸暗記しているだけでは太刀打ちできない日がやってくるような気がしている。それでは良い一日をきたろう
2024.03.03
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A massive jolt reported in Ishikawa
I woke up in the morning of the New Year’s Day in the US to see the news that a powerful earthquake hit Noto peninsula region in Ishikawa, the north west coast of Japan on January 1st. The magnitude is reported to be 7.6 with seven in the Japanese seismic scale. There is a high risk of tsunami in the coastal area and subsequent earthquakes for the next couple of days. The evacuation order has been issued for the local residents. The casualty number is not yet available at this point and much remains unknown amid the ongoing confusions.The new year’s festive mood was suddenly disrupted by this natural disaster. We humans are all immune to the uncontrollable power of the Earth.An image of CNN reporting the earthquake as a breaking news. The world is deeply concerned about Japan. I pray for people in Ishikawa and those who are affected by the disaster.
2024.01.03
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Reflecting upon 2023
2023 is about to finish. I am still in the United States without returning back to Japan given the fact that the flight ticket back to Japan can exceed over $2000, which is obviously not easy to afford for an economically struggling student like me.I admit that the year 2023 was one of the most dramatic years that I have ever experienced in my whole life. I was admitted to a top graduate school that I longed for since 2020. I left Japan and embarked on my new academic journey in my mid-thirty. I spent some sleepless nights, being worried about the uncertain future of my journey brings. No matter how you think that you are strong and resilient, you can become fragile and vulnerable in a place, where you constantly are tested who you really are. Sometimes we must admit that we cannot survive alone and sometimes it is important to seek support around you. Another big concern was my family that I left in Japan. Apart from my family, I had to learn to live my own life without the support of my family, which I used to take it granted back in Japan. I realized that my family is a huge mental spot for me. Nothing can provide me a comfort and relief than a video chat with my family on weekends. Their bright smiles and cheerful voices are my source of my power that propels me forward. I am grateful that we are still virtually and mentally connected, although we are not allowed to see each other in person. Hopefully we will be reunited soon.The academics at graduate school was very demanding. They required me to read 100+ pages of scholarly journals and to submit brief reports on the readings on a weekly basis. I had a very difficult time catching up with the speed of coursework for a couple of weeks after the fall semester. I was just going back and forth between my apartment and the library almost everyday. In mid-November, I felt slightly more comfortable with the rigorous work at the institution. Surprisingly, I have made so many friends on campus, although most of them are almost ten years younger than me. Now I enjoy every moment of my classes. The professors constantly inspired me to push my boundaries. Coming this far, this journey made me think that it is never too old to learn something new. For someone who is pursuing a dream, age might be just a number that goes up each year. However silly it may sound, your journey will begin once you set a new goal. Your grit will take you there as long as your unflagging motivation continues. I would like to conclude my blog article by quoting Nelson Mandela. He said, “It always seems impossible, until it is done.” Most people unfortunately give up halfway through before even they start because they simply believe it is impossible. The truth is that no one knows the difficultly of the task until you buckle down to the business. We need to invest in our time and energy, believing in some potential return that we will earn from our investment. I will continue to work hard until I hit the wall. When I hit the huge brick wall, I will think how I can break or climb over the wall. Many thanks for your time reading my blog. May your 2024 be filled with great joy!
2024.01.01
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My review on "Dear America"
“Dear America, Notes of an Undocumented Citizen” was written by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Jose Antonio Vargas, who claims himself as an undocumented American citizen. Originally Jose was born and brought up in Philippines until 12 years old before immigrating to the United States in 1993. He was separated from his mother at the airport and his grandparents in the U.S. took care of him in California. At the age of 16, Jose realized that his ID card was a fake, and that he came to the U.S. “illegally” without any prior notice. His life-long struggle with his identity is deeply rooted in a systematic flaw of the U.S. immigration laws and his undocumented status puts him at stake of either being detained or deported at any point of his life. This book start with a sentence that goes “I do not know where I will be when you read this book.” I think this line is very poignant because he clearly shows its readers at the very beginning that he could be deported or detained by coming out as an undocumented citizen, who is basically permitted to stay in the country that he calls his home. I thought that this is a must-read book for not only Americans but also people outside the country. Jose has spent over 20 years of his life. He works as a journalist any pays his taxes to the U.S. as everyone else does, and lives as a normal American citizen. However, he does not possess any official document to show he is an American just because he is an illegal immigrant. According to the statistics data in the book, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. just like Jose. I am so grateful that I had a chance to read this book and watch a documentary film that describes his life-long battle against the immigration blind spot that even American citizens really do not even dare to look at. The University is holding a lunch discussion about this book next week and reading “Dear America” is a small assignment that the participants must finish before then. I, as one of the participants of the event, am so excited to join the event. If you are interested, I strongly encourage you all to read the book. Also, I will attach the link of his documentary below: “undocumented”(2013)Documentary Film: "Undocumented" Trailer In the book, there is a scene where Jose asks some members of congress this question, “What do you define America?” More fundamentally, this question sounds like “what makes us human beings?” On the flip side, what makes you a Japanese citizen? If you are born in Japan, do you feel you are Japanese? How about foreign officers working for a quite long time in Japan? How about some foreign-born rugby players who represent Japan and play on the field for Rugby World in France?Can we really judge the people’s nationality by their birth place and the appearance? This book surely can offer some hints to answer these questions above.
2023.10.06
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Rising cases of COVID both in the US and Japan.
I recieved the following email from the university a couple weeks ago. It seems that the number of the COVID cases are increasing here in the US. -------------------------(Some modifications are added to the original text)Dear Community Members,The Pennsylvania area is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases. Although the increase is relatively small, experts suggest that caseloads are likely much higher than the official numbers.I want to assure you that the safety of our community here is my highest priority. And so I’m asking each of you to do your part by following the most up-to-date public health guidance:If you've been exposed to COVID but aren't symptomatic, the CDC recommends that you wear a mask for 10 days after your exposure.If you're experiencing symptoms of COVID or any viral illness, please stay home and test yourself. If you feel well enough to work and can do your job remotely, please contact your supervisor about working from home. If you don't feel well, please use your sick time and focus on getting better.If you test positive for COVID, isolate immediately. The university's guidance states that if you test positive for COVID, you must isolate for 5 full days and mask diligently for an additional 5 full days. During the 5 days of masking following isolation, you should eat alone, maintain social distancing, and avoid in-person meetings when possible.Many public health experts also recommend wearing a mask in crowded spaces such as buses and busy stores. I want to stress that it's always okay to wear a mask. You don't need to explain yourself or apologize for it. Similarly, if anyone asks you to mask up when entering their study or office space, please honor their request with grace.As you can imagine, sharing public health guidance about rising COVID rates is not the way that I wanted to kick off the fall semester. But taking these small steps now is the surest path to a safe and successful year.----------------------------A couple days ago, I also received a message from my wife, who still lives with our kids in Japan, telling me that our older child tested positive for COVID in the first week of the semester. What a challenging way to start off the fall semester... Now, my family needs to stay at home. I especially feel sorry for my child, who was very excited to meet friends after a long summer break.It is frustrating that I cannot do anything to support my family from the US. I am a graduate student but also a father at the same time. No matter how far away I live from my family in Japan, my heart is always with them. I just hope that the COVID symptoms are mild, and my child will get better soon.
2023.09.17
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Seeing is believing. Importance of adding a perspective.
For those who have never been abroad, it would be difficult to imagine what it means to live abroad. Some point out that Japan is a safe country with a low crime rate and its public transportation is among the best in the world. One undeniable fact is that it possesses a beautiful food culture, which is now known around the world and continues to attract many tourists. Once you step out of the city, you'll find beautiful forests, rivers, and oceans that remain untouched. Perhaps there is no reason to leave Japan, after all. As long as we stay here, we can communitecate in Japanese and there is no strong need for studying foreign languages.I admit that Japan is a beautiful nation, which I find to be quite true after settling in the U.S.. However, that does not mean that we do not need to go abroad. I would like to share with our readers my opinion on why people in Japan, especially young people, should study abroad.First and foremost, you cannot evaluate your nation from various different points of view if you only live in one place. You can only make comparisons after becoming familiar with the social systems of other nations. In modern society, we can gain information from books and the internet. However, nothing is more powerful than the knowledge that you acquire from direct experience. I can tell that Japan has a great public transportation system because I know from my experience that the one in the U.S. is not so efficient.Next, for many of us, including me, Japan is a place where we feel comfortable and safe. Humans instinctively seek protection and safety. We dislike uncertainty and unpredictability, which are basically causes of threat and anxiety. However, we will fail to adapt when a sudden change occurs suddenly. We already know that our world is changing rapidly at a speed that no one can measure. Humans were too slow to respond to COVID-19 because we were unprepared. We never thought that generative AI, such as Chat GPT, can create human-like sentences in the blink of an eye. I don't intend to scare our readers. However it is important to know that staying in a comfort zone for too long doesn't guarantee a stable future especially in times of uncertainty.Living in a foreign country alone, away from your close family, is a true challenge for many of us. However, at the same time, it is a great learning opportunity. You will be tested on how resilient and flexible you are when faced with crises in an unfamiliar land. We should acknowledge that choosing an easier path will ultimately spoil us and not prepare us for the future.At my college, we have a dominant proportion of international students from China, followed by India and some countries in the Middle East. I don't mean at all that this trend is bad per se, but I am the only Japanese student in my program, and there are only a handful of Japanese scholars in other programs on campus. This is probably due to the spread of the COVID virus in 2020 and 2021, and the recent weakening yen against the US dollar. Sadly enough, I must tell you that there has been a sharp decline in Japanese students in the U.S., and Japan is losing its presence, at least within the community here. You may be able to witness what you didn't expect you would see. This kind of surprising moment is another fascinating aspect of going abroad.
2023.09.16
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Your Inner Voice Matters
This is going to be my first installment in English. The major reason why I will write in English is simply because I want to be able to express my true inner voice other than in my first language, Japanese.My bold but reckless plan to go to the US with my family dates back to around 2020 when the COVID-19 crisis hit the whole nation. All of a sudden, most economic activities came to a halt with the state of emergency issued by the government of Japan. The word "pandemic" was just a term in a dictionary to me, which didn't have any practical connection with my world. I never imagined that I would see a TV reporter in a very serious mood briefing the outbreak of an unknown infectious disease spreading all across the world. With the sudden disruptions caused by the deadly virus, people were forced to confine themselves at home to reduce the risk of being contracted with the virus and of spreading it nationwide. Following the government order, almost all facilities, including schools, stores, and restaurants, were shut down. It was actually my first time staying in my house for such a long time with my family without going to work. Looking back, one of the fortunate things during the state of emergency, if I am allowed to say, was that I was able to spend much more time with my family, playing with my sons, cleaning up my house, doing laundry for my family, all of which I had never done before the pandemic. I started to see my existing world from a totally different perspective. At the same time, I had some time to reflect on my past and to think about my future. I started to hate myself for the fact that I always stayed in my comfort zone, where I have a house, my beloved family, a very rewarding job, but tell my kids to be more ambitious at the same time. I intuitively thought that I am a hypocrite because I do not practice what I preach to my kids. That was a sudden revelation that came out of the blue during the tumultuous times in 2020. The COVID-19 forced people into a closed space but indeed opened my eyes to a new journey.Before my departure for the US, people often asked me, "Why do you go now?" or "You already have a decent job. What's the point of getting a master's this time?". My answer was, "It's never too late to learn. I am not going just for the degree. I am going for myself and my family." There is no right or wrong answer for our life. If you strongly believe your choice is right, that might be YOUR right answer. Steve Jobs once said at Stanford commencement, “Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” I wish to be true to his saying, especially at a turning point in my life.I would like to conclude with a famous poem by Robert Frost.The Road Not TakenTwo roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black.Oh, I kept the first for another day!Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.Written by Robert Frost
2023.09.02
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全8件 (8件中 1-8件目)
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