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This is one of our lovely classmates, Masako.
She grew up in Sapporo. Now she works in
the Hokkaido university library. She has
a pet that is a very interesting animal,
a tropical fish. In her spare time she likes
to play oboe with her friends. She is
married and loves her husband very much.
By Fang Chen.
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Barefoot |
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| Going barefoot in Japan seems like quite
a terrible idea. First, our lifestyle doesn’t
suit being barefoot. In many countries where
people don’t remove their shoes in their
house, it seems not so bad to go barefoot.
But in Japan, people remove their shoes to
keep their rooms clean. It is not acceptable
to enter a tatami room with dirty feet, even
if we clean our feet before coming into the
house. Second, I guess many public places
in Japan, especially institutions, don’t
permit people to enter the building without
shoes, because the Japanese administration
is very conservative. Many Japanese people
also have very traditional thinking. If there
is a person with no shoes, people might think
he is crazy or homeless. Finally, the environment
in Japan is not good for being barefoot.
It is very wet in the rainy season, and very
cold in winter. In addition, the towns are
not so clean. Some parts of the land are
polluted. We have to say it is not very hygienic.
I got an email from a Swedish girl called
Elsa. She said that people in their country
remove their shoes in the house like Japan,
so this lifestyle doesn’t stope them being
barefoot. In Sweden, people go barefoot only
in the barefoot season (spring, summer, part
of fall). That’s might be nice in her country,
but I still think it is not comfortable to
be barefoot in Japan. |
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Antarctica |
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After I read the homepage about Antarctica,
I got interested in the Antarctic life. However,
I don’t want to ...no, I cannot live there
for the reasons below.
First, I am extremely sensitive to the cold weather even
though I was born in Hokkaido. My hands and
toes are always cold even in summer and I
sometimes have stiff shoulders because of
cold weather. I guess it must be hard to
get to there. And even if I did visit there,
I would just stay in the camp quaking with cold and never go outside. I rather want to go
to a warm place if I had the money to travel
Antarctica.
Second, I cannot live there because of the
food. Recently I am trying to eat a lot of
vegetables to keep myself healthy. The homepage
said they rarely eat fresh vegetables (only
canned) and ice cream in the McMurdo Station (the largest research station
in Antarctica). Both are necessary things for my life.
Third, The camp looks too small to live with
any other people. I prefer a
quiet life,
so it must be stressful for me.
If I got
tired of the life, I don't know
where I should
escape (outside looks so cold).
For these reasons, I cannot want to live
in Antarctica even though it
looks very attractive.
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The Trouble with Tipping |
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I traveled to the United States two years
ago with my husband. It was our
fourth trip
abroad. So we are accustomed
to traveling
overseas now, but the only thing
we haven’t
gotten used to yet is tipping.
It is very
difficult to pay the proper amount
of money
at once without a calculator.
Sometimes it
is too much, and sometimes too
small.
The last day of our trip to the US, we started
out from the hotel in Washington. It was
early-morning, and we called a cab to get
to Washington Dalles International Airport.
On the way to the Airport, we were feeling
tense in the taxi. A day before, I asked
at the front desk about the fee to the airport.
It was our last day in the US so we only
had the minimum money. I thought it would
be enough to pay the taxi fee. But we didn’t
include the charge for our baggage. And taxis
in Washington adopt the zone system. That
means that the fee changes according to the
zone in which the destination is.
I calculated the fee in my mind, and realized
it was going to be close to the
amount of
cash we had on hand. The taxi
driver looked
very strong and we thought he
might get angry
if we could not pay the entire
amount.
Finally we arrived at the airport. The money
was adequate but we could not
afford to pay
him a tip. I was still very nervous
when
we arrived at the airport and
I apologized
to the driver for the fact that
we could
not pay him a tip. The driver
smiled and
said it’s no problem. We were
relieved at
last. It was the longest drive
I have ever
experienced. Anyway, I firmly
believe tipping
will make me feel uneasy again
the next time
I travel abroad.
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In Nara-park |
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| When I was a student, I went to Nara for
a school trip. Nara is a very old city where
are many important temples and historic spots
and it is a World Heritage city. By the way,
there is also a big park called ‘Nara-koen’
and there are many deer living there. They
walk freely in the park. In there, ‘Shika-senbei
’is sold for tourists. ‘Shika-senbei’
is deer feed. Tourists give it to the
deer. This can be seen wherever you
go in Nara-koen. I brought some food and
gave it to a deer. After a while, I looked
around and was very surprised. I was surrounded
by deer, deer and more deer! Maybe there
were about 20 of them. They were after the
Shika-senbei I took. Then they grabbed my
clothes. Involuntarily, I tossed away the
Shika-senbei and run out of there. My clothes
were stretched and I was sticky with their
spittle. It was my horror experience. |
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