From Minami Alps （・∀・）ﾉｼ♪

Hello☆゜ Today, I am going to talk about my hometown "Minami Alps" city (南アルプス市). It is next and next to Kofu city (Yamanashi University is there). It is interesting name, isn't it?It is only one city that is named with katakana in Japan. About three years ago, my town merged with six towns, so it is a fresh and large. But, here is country (very very country). Here is no station, big buildings, big department stores and movie theater. Aw... Can you believe them? It's funny, isn't it? But I like here. Of course I think that it's so inconvenient ( if we don't have own car, we can't live!), but our lives are tranquil.

My friends said before, so as you know, there is Mt. Fuji(富士山) in Yamanashi, but to be accurate, Mt.Fuji is on border between Yamanashi Prefecture and Shizuoka Prefecture. But people who live in both prefectures think that it is ours each other. I live in Yamanashi and my boyfriend's hometown is Shizuoka. So we often quarrel about it（・∀・) People in Yamanashi think Shizuoka is an opponent! (But, in fact, Shizuoka is bigger than Yamanashi. So we don't want to lose them no more.) We think that people can look Mt.Fuji in Yamanashi more beautiful than in Shizuoka. I believe it. But my boyfriend often say, "From Yamanashi, we can't look its foot." Because there are 5 lakes( fujigoko 富士五湖) and large wood land (青木ヶ原樹海)!! These are famous sightseeing place. I always think that he don't understand some good points of Mt.Fuji（・Д・）

A lot of fruits are speciality of Minami Alps city. My grandfather is a farmer. Do you know sakuranbo-gari（さくらんぼ狩り）?? It is one of sightseeing . If you visit my grandfather's farm in June or July, you can pick cherries and eat it freely for 40 minutes. Of course it isn't free charge. But I think you will enjoy and be satisfied it★ He do it with only cherry, but some farmers do with peach or grape. You can eat not only one but also many kind of cherries in his farm.

How do you think? I want you to visit my town someday. Then, I will try to be you happy♪゜

My hometown

How do you do?? This time I introduce about my hometown to you.
In my last blog, I soft touched on this topics, my hometown is Tahara city, in Aichi Prefecture. This place is a temperate climate comparatively, so my city is well-known for production of melon and cabbage. We can get a melon with a reasonable price in summer, so my mother sends it for me to Yamanashi in every year.

And if you come Tahara City, you can see an brighten chrysanthemum in the might. This growth system is called“Densho-Giku”. Too much chrysanthemum is lightened by bulb in the night at greenhouse. Thanks to this system, chrysanthemum is able to grow more earlier than normal cultivation. By these many yellow lights, a very fantastic view would spread before your eyes. I want you to come my city to see it once time.

In addition, my city’s another good point is located on near the sea. Because of located on peninsula, so we can see both the inland sea and the open sea. In the inland sea, we can enjoy swimming on summer. Recently I go to the sea when I back to hometown to see it or walk on a beach, but when I was young I would often go swimming there. Other side, in the open sea, many people are visiting there all year around, and enjoying surfing. And surprisingly, in this beach, the surfing world championship is take place every summer. But I haven’t see this meeting yet, so I want to watch it next year surely. I put on an picture of this beach on this post.

I want to know about your different hometown！！See you next time☆

special town of yakisoba

The other day, I introduced my hometown to you. So it's Fujinomiya. It's a special town of yakisoba. It calls fujinomiya yakisoba. Do you know yakisoba? It's fried noodles with sauce. Generally, there are cabbage, carrot, beansprout, pork and so on. And the noodles are made from kneaded flour and water. Then its are steamed and boiled.

But noodles of fujinomiya yakisoba are cooled down after steaming. Then its are coated with oil. So its are tighter than general noodles. I had been in Fjinomiya for 18years. So I had not eat general yakisoba for 18years. I thought that fujinomiya yakisoba is general. When I ate so-called general yakisoba for the first time, I was surprised. Because noodles are very soft. It is delicious. But I like fujinomiya yakisoba more.

Besides, water is delicious. Because it's springwater of Mt.Fuji. Even Running water is very good.
So we don't have to buy water. It has nature and easy to live. I like my hometown very much.

TE!!!

In my previous blog Self Introduction, I wrote about my hometown Yamanashi. So in this blog, I will tell you about "dialect" of Yamanashi. It is difficult for me to explain and for you to understand. But I think this topic is very interesting.

Dialect of Yamanashi is called "ko-shu-ben"（甲州弁） I'm going to introduce some of them.

First, we say "TE!!"（てっ!!） when we are surprised at something or impressed. In English you say "oh" or "wow", I think. Next, Ymanashi people call a child "BOKO" Japanese call him or her "KODOMO"（子ども） But this word "BOKO" are used by only old people. We young don't say it.　Finally, Japanese usually say 'TSUKARETA"（疲れた） when they got tired. While in Yamanashi we say "ERAI"（えらい） Though some of you know that "ERAI" means distinguished or great, people of Yamanashi use both of two meanings.

I'm sorry for my poor English to explain. I'd like you to tell me about dialect of your town.

Hello！！

Nice to meet you！My name is Kyoko Asakawa. Now I am a third grade of Yamanashi University. Yamanashi prefecture is located on left side of Tokyo. In this college, I am majoring in international culture. So I want to develop my English ability, but I am poor at using it well. And I haven't been to foreign country yet, so I intend to go somewhere as soon as possible when I have a long free time.
Then let me introduce myself briefly. My hometown is Aichi prefecture.Aichi is well-known for general of the age of wars. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu, Oda Nobunaga and so on. My home is located on peninsula, so I would go to the sea very often before I come to Yamanashi. I like local nature very much.
My family member is father and mother and me. Now I live in Yamanashi by myself. First years, I had a trouble with homework, but gradually I was accustomed to alone life, and now I am enjoying daily life with friends. Campus life give us a lot of pleasure, and we can do various things everyday.
And I belong to track and field club. I have continued this club since I was a pupil. My specialty is 100meter, 200meter, and 400meter. We practice four times a week, and compete with each other to renew our best time on my own. After club activities, we have a dinner together or sometimes go hot springs. I really enjoy daily life very much now！！
I want to become friend with many people. Thank you for reading my new blog☆

Nice to meet you.

Hello. My name is Yuki Sasahara. I’m a third grade student in Yamanashi University. I belong to the department of International Culture. Now, I live in Yamanashi alone. My hometown is Fujinomiya in Shizuoka prefecture. Do you know Mt. Fuji? It’s the highest mountain in Japan. There is it. So it’s a beautiful sight of it from my home. I like my hometown very much.

Now, I play basketball in club. I have played it for long years. My teammate are all good friend. We are full of vigor. My position is forward. My role is to run. Anyway I run!! And shot. I was good at three point shot. But recently, I’m not satisfied with the shot. I have to be in practice more.
Two month later, I will have a championship. It will be my last game. I will retire. So I practice it very hard to do my best in the game. I'd like to report the good result to you.

I like eating very much. Now I do part time job in restaurant. The name of it is “pasta-ya”. So it’s special restaurant of pasta. The foods are delicious each and every. And I can get great boarding. I’m happy everyday. Besides I can know many recipe not only pasta but also dessert. So there is best part time job for me. From now on, I will insert the photo of the menu that I eat or cook. Please looking forward to renew my blog.

Nice To Meet You!!

Hi, my name is Emiri Yoshida. My name sounds like an American name so please call me Emily. I am a sophomore. I'm majoring in English Education for junior high or high school students.

I have lived in Yamanashi since I was born. I'm going to tell you about some good points of Yamanashi. First, there is Mt.Fuji. Do you know Mt. Fuji? It is the highest mountain in Japan. We can see very beautiful Mt.Fuji, especially on sunny day after snowing. This summer I climbed Mt.Fuji with my members of basketball club. It is worth climbing it at least once in a life. Second, Yamanashi is famous for some fruits, for example grapes, cherries, peaches, and so on. Every year I eat them a lot for free. That's nice!! Third, there are some good spas around Yamanashi. Of all others, I recommend you "Hottarakashi Onsen". It is a open-air bath so we can see a nice view soaking in it. In the early morning we can see sunrise and at night we can see a beautiful night view. Of course both of them are very good but I prefer seeing sunset to seeing a night view. That would touch you.

I went to America last year. There is a sister university of ours in Kentucky. I went there to study English for about three weeks. I made friends with American and talked with them in English. After that, I went to Los Angels and Las Vegas for sightseeing. It was a lot of fun!! This trip to America became a good experience. I want to go there again.

I'm interested in foreigners and foreign countries so I'd like to become friends with you!! Please talk to me without constraint and be friendly. Thank you!!

How do you do?★+゜

My name is Misaki Uchiyama. Please call me "Misaki"ヾ(*´∀｀)ﾉ. I'm a third grade student in Yamanashi University. I study International Culture and Language. Especially, I learn English. But I'm nervous now, because I'm poor at writing, listening and speaking English... English dictionary is necessary for me(*-ω人).

There are five members in my family, my father, mother,younger sister, grandmother and me. My mother is a Brazilian. But I am a Japanese. She is not related by blood with me. I like her cooks. She is good at cooking both Japanese food and Brazilian food.

I have a boyfriend. His name is Nori. We belonged to "Kyudo" club. Do you know Kyudo(弓道)? It is Japanese archery. I love it. I have done it since I was a high school student. I go to school everyday in order to only do it!!

I'm very shy so I can't be friend actively with not only international people but also Japanese... So this opportunity is important for me to widen a circle of friendship!!
Nice to meet you♪(・∀・)★゜

Starting Fresh for 2008

The new semester has just begun out this way, and the new group is getting ready for their first posts. These Self Introduction posts should be up soon, so stay tuned...