On Sunday, Teragoya kids, teachers & staff went to Higashiyama Zoo. We go every year, but in previous years, I didn`t notice this killifish (メダカ) section. I`m interested in killifish, so I wanted to look. I asked the kids in my group, "Are you interested in looking at killifish?" They said yes, so we looked inside. There were various displays, but they were most interested in this killifish internal organs (内臓) puzzle.
Natural English:
- 'be (not) + interested in + 名詞 / 動詞ing` is more common & natural than ' have an (/no) interest in 名詞 / 動詞ing', though both are correct.
During Golden Week, I did a spot* of sightseeing (観光) in Gifu. I rode my bicycle from Ichinomiya to Gifu, parked it at the bottom of Mount Kinka, then hiked to the top. There is a nice spot** on the roof of a restaurant there which has a great view. Although the weather was warm, I spotted*** this mountain in the distance which still a spot of* snow on it. After taking this photo (& eating ice-cream!), I hiked back down the mountain, walked in Gifu Park, then popped into the Eizo & Toichi Kato Memorial Art Museum - a nice, quiet spot** to relax & recover after my exercise.
Vocabulary:
- 'Spot' has various meanings, e.g. * a small amount ** place, location *** see, notice, find
On Sunday I went to see this old building in Handa, Aichi. It used to be a brewery (beer factory) but now it`s a museum. It`s an interesting building - you can still see machine-gun bullet (銃弾) holes in one outside wall, caused during World War 2. They don`t make Kabuto beer here anymore, but you can still buy it - it is made by a nearby brewery. It`s good!
Their site: http://handa-akarenga.jp/
Grammar:
- ...still ____ = まだ___
- ...not ____ anymore = もう___ない
Last week I went to Miyako Island in the south of Japan for Golden Week holidays. I went snorkeling & saw heaps of (= many) colorful fish, & took loads of (= many) photos. I had heaps of fun.
The above fish are:
1. Vagabond Butterflyfish
2. Three-stripe Damselfish
3. Lemon Damselfish
4. Ocellaris/Common Clownfish
Vocabulary:
There are lots of casual ways to say `many` in English:
- heaps of ____
- loads of ____
- stacks of ____
- tons of ____
- millions of ____
On Sunday my family visited the Ninja Museum [ http://iganinja.jp/en/ ] in Iga City in Mie Prefecture. We looked at a ninja house with* secret doors etc. then we watched a show with* performers in ninja costumes. There was also an outside area with* targets where you can practice throwing `shiraken` throwing stars.
I think my two young sons would enjoy being ninjas, because at home they like to fight, throw things, jump on & off furniture (家具), & hide when it`s bathtime. Unfortunately they`re not silent (= quiet) like ninjas.
Anyway, my wife laughed when she noticed this ninja mannequin with* blue eyes. How odd!
Vocabulary:
- * In these sentences, `with` means `...that has/have...", so `a room with a view` = a room that has a view
In Okinawa I went snorkeling & saw a lot of nice fish, but it was a bit difficult to take photos of them because they kept moving (of course!) But I kept trying & managed to get some decent (= pretty good) pictures. The water was clear but a bit cold, so after I got out of the water, I kept shivering (震えた) on the beach for a long time - a bit embarrassing! But it was worth it. I really enjoyed snorkeling in Okinawa.
Grammar:
keep/kept + ____ing = continue/d ____ing = _____つづける/つづけた
If you look at these photos, I think you can guess where I went during the Golden Week holidays.
Yes, I went to Okinawa.
It was cloudy & windy for the first 3 days, but then it was sunny. I tried various kinds of Okinawan food, for example Okinawan-style noodles, which are really tasty. I also tried pig`s feet, which were okay but really fatty & oily - not good if you`re on a diet.
I also tried Habushu - snake liquor, but not the one in this photo, which cost 50,000 yen (about $500) - a bit pricey for me.
Grammar:
In English, we can change many nouns (名詞) to adjectives (形容詞) by adding "y" e.g.
cloud (くも) > cloudy (くもり),
fat (脂肪太り) > fatty(油っこい)
price (値段) > pricey/pricy (高価い)
taste (味) > tasty (美味しい)
Day 3:
The first temple today, #81, was at the top of a 600-metre mountain. By road it`s far, so we decided to take a shorter hiking path instead (instead = こわりに). Shorter, but steep (きゅう)! Sometimes I had to carry my bicycle... It was tough, but kind of fun, & the view of the sun rising as we climbed was nice.
In addition to riding bicycles, we took a bus up the mountain to #84, Yashima Temple, and a cable car up to #85, Yakuri Temple. I took a lot of photos, and I saw another butterfly that I`d never seen before. It was a really interesting day.
By the way, I was surprised to see that #83 is called Ichinomiya Temple. Because of that, I bought a good-luck charm (おももり) there. I enjoyed telling the lady in the shop that I lived in Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture.
Day 2:
We got up early & set off (set off = begin a journey). It was quite cool, so I wore gloves & a jacket, but before long (= soon) I warmed up & took them off. The weather was great again today.
The first temple we visited was a little in the coutryside, so we could enjoy some beautiful scenery & I took some nice photos.
In total we rode 77km today. We also climbed a lot of stairs, especially at #71, Iyadanji Temple. I was pretty tired when we reached #80, Sanuki Kokubun Temple just before 5pm. We checked into a nearby B&B (= Bed & Breakfast = minshuku) & met an 84-year-old man who is doing henro on foot - great!
I enjoyed myself today.
Day 1:
I got up at 4.45am. I hardly ever (= almost never) get up this early. Occasionally I go to bed at this time, but not get up.
Anyway, my father-in-law & I caught the train to Nagoya, shinkansen to Okayama, then train to Shikoku. We visited a couple (2 or 3) temples before lunch, then a couple more after lunch. The last temple we visited today was #69, Kannon Temple. It was 4pm, & we didn`t really have time to visit any more temples, so we walked on the beach nearby for a while then found a hotel.
We didn`t have any major (= big) problems today. The weather was great. I saw a butterfly I`d never seen before. I managed to (= could) write a couple of postcards before bed. It was a good first day.
* click on the photo to enlarge
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