If you`ve never been to the air & space museum in Kakamigahara, or haven`t been there recently, you should go. It re-opened in March this year, after one & a half years of renovation. There are a lot of interesting planes & displays, but the new star attraction is an Army Type 3 'Hien' (flying swallow) fighter. It`s the only one left (= 残ている) in the world.
There is also a nice playground outside, next to soft green grass for tired fathers to take a nap on while their kids play...
Grammar:
- I`ve never been to ___ = 私は ___ に行った事がない
- I haven`t been to ___ recently = 私は最近 ___ に行かない
- I haven`t been to ___ yet = 私は ___ に行ったことがない
- I`ve never been to ___ recently: WRONG
- I`ve never been to ___ yet: WRONG
The night before going to the annual Gifu Kakamigahara airshow, my family watched the movie 'Shin Godzilla' on TV. In the movie, helicopters attack Shin Godzilla. The next day, my kids were really excited to see a real version of that type of helicopter. I hope they don`t think Godzilla is real too...
Vocabulary:
- real = 真の,
- really + 形容詞 =本当に、まさか、実のところ ("real + 形容詞" と言う人が少しあるけど普通では使わないです)
On the weekend I visited Hamamatsu Air Park. It`s a kind of museum, with lots of planes (including two F-86 Sabres, a kind of jet that I blogged about recently: http://en.bloguru.com/otto/295189/f86-sabre ) and other displays related to JASDF. It`s kind of far from my home, and the park entrance is kind of difficult to find, but my family & I really enjoyed it. Oh, and entry is free (入場無料) - my kind of place!
Hamamatsu Air Park website: http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/airpark/
Grammar:
- 'a kind of + 名詞' = 名詞の一種
- 'kind of + 形容詞' = ちょっと 形容詞
- 'my kind of + 名詞' = 私好きな名詞の種類'
In January I visited the Queensland Air Museum ( http://qam.com.au/ ) in Australia. They have a lot of cool planes, displays, & activities. We had a good time. My second son wanted to buy a plastic model in the gift shop, but I told him, "Not now. I`ll buy you one in Japan." When we returned to Japan, I bought him a 1/72-scale P-86 Sabre, which was one of the planes we saw at the museum, and we made it together.
Vocabulary:
- Sabre = 剣 Sabre-toothed tiger = 剣歯虎
On Sunday I took my kids to the airshow at Gifu Air Base in Kakamigahara. First we looked at the planes parked in the hangars & on the runway. Then we watched some of them flying past & overhead. Next we had lunch, and finally we looked at the souvenir (土産) stalls (屋台). My kids wanted to pick up & play with all the toys in the stalls. I had to watch them carefully.
Grammar:
- look at + 動いていない物 (photo, map, house etc.)
- watch + 動いている物 (movie, football, kids playing, etc.)
Last year when I went to the Gifu Air Show, it took about 2 hours to walk to the base from the train station. It was a nightmare. This year the organisers changed the route from the station to the base. It was a big improvement. I could walk there quickly & easily.
Even though the Blue Impulse formation flying team weren`t at this year`s show, I was happy because there were seven F-4 Phantoms. These planes are even older than me. I feel really lucky to have seen so many operational (= working) examples together in one place.
Pronunciation:
- Route: ルウト (Aus/UK pronunciation) ルウト or ラウト (US)
- Computer Router: ルウタ (Aus/UK) ルウタ or ラウタ (US)
What are you doing this Sunday? I`m going to the Kakamigahara airshow. This poster says the Blue Impulse formation flying team won`t be there this year. Hopefully that means there will be fewer people - last year it was so crowded it took about 2 hours just to get from the train station to the air base. What a nightmare! Anyway, I`ll go there early this year & hopefully beat the crowds. If you go, maybe I`ll see you there!
Grammar:
There are various ways to ask about future plans:
- What are you doing/Are you doing anything tomorrow? *BEST*
- What are you going to do/Are you going to do anything...? OK
- What will you do/Will you do anything...? OK
- What do you do/Do you do anything...? NO
It`s only a 30 minute drive from my house to this museum, but this was my first visit. I was especially interested in the various old military aircraft. It was the first time I had seen many of them in real life.
My favourites planes were the Salmson 2A-2 biplane (1922) & F104J jet fighter (1985). Did you know that early models of the F104 had downward ejector seats? Not surprisingly, this caused problems, so it was changed to an upward ejector seat. This museum`s F104 has an upward ejector seat.
This is the museum`s website:
http://www.city.kakamigahara.lg.jp/museum/
This is the fourth time I`ve been to this airshow. It was much more crowded this year. It took about an hour to walk from the train station to the air base entrance (usually it takes 15 minutes). Inside the base it was also really busy. In the end (けっきょく) I gave up trying to reach the main area to look at the displayed planes. However, we could see the planes flying overhead, & check out the food & souvenir stalls (やたい/ろてん). My kids seemed to have fun, but I didn`t really enjoy myself this time. It was pretty stressful & frustrating.
Did you go? Did you have a good time?
Did you go to the airshow on Sunday? It looked like everyone in Gifu was there! It was more crowded than last year.
I arrived about midday, so we were too late for the formation flying display, but we were in time for a helicopter show, which Owen really liked. He was a bit scared by the loud jets though, especially the F-15 Eagle and F4 Phantom. But by then I was ready to leave anyway - I didn`t want to get caught in the closing time crush like last year.
What`s your favourite JSDF jet fighter? I think I like the F-4 best, even though (because?) it`s old. Japan is one of only a few countries in the world still flying them.
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KUMA 
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田仲なお美 
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