Otto's blog

A Spot of Gifu Sightseeing

5月

11日

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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

Handa Red Brick Building

3月

8日

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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

Miyako Island, Okinawa - Fish

5月

13日

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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 ____

The Ninja With Blue Eyes

11月

26日

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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

Okinawa Snorkeling

5月

6日

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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

Golden Week Holiday

5月

5日

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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)

Shikoku Henro 2013, Day 3

11月

6日

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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.

Shikoku Henro 2013, Day 2

11月

4日

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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.

Shikoku Henro 2013, Day 1

11月

4日

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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

Shikoku Henro 2013

11月

3日

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Last week I went to Shikoku Island with my father-in-law to continue our `Henro` 88-temple tour. As usual, we went there by train, then rode our bicycles from temple to temple.

This is the fourth time we`ve been to Shikoku to do Henro. This time we visited temples number 61 to 88. Yes - this time we finally finished!

Over the next couple (2 or 3) days, I`ll blog about it. Please look.