Tracing Great History of America

Yuiko


Though I’m excited to write this journal which is about the East Coast trip, I’m worried at the same time, because I’m not sure that I can explain in my words how wonderful a trip it was!! Before the East Coast trip, I learned American history from tour book in Spokane. Learning American history from books was interesting enough to me; on the one hand, I couldn’t feel the connection between the beginning of the US and the US now. However, in these five days, I visited many impressive historical places and memorials, so I actually learned how the US became the present-day US. Every place made me excited and led me to the world of great American history. It’s hard for me to choose three places in which I was most impressed, but I especially love the Beacon Hill in Boston, Orchard House, and Mount Vernon. These three places were so impressive that they exceeded my expectation.

Beacon Hill was a charming residential area in which people built their homes. When our bus went into the area, the view of the out of the window changed obviously, and I felt as if I were in the world of an old American movie. There were many antique houses and buildings of old red bricks. It seemed that the time stopped in the 1800s only in the area. The road of red bricks made the atmosphere of Beacon Hill more antique. The sky was clear blue and the sun’s rays came between the gaps of the old buildings. Trees which were planted along sidewalk seemed to wait for spring come and the leaves of the trees were shaking in the wind. In Louisburg Square, there were houses which were built between 1834 and 1847 and there also was the house that Louisa May Alcott lived in from 1885 to 1887. I was really excited when I saw the house, because I really like her novel. I loved the atmosphere of Beacon Hill and I hope that I will visit there once more before I die.

There are many interesting places to see in Boston, and above all, I really looked forward to visiting Orchard house, because I enjoyed reading “Little Women”, and I’m interested in the author, Louisa May Alcott. The house was smaller than I expected and the inside of the house was dark. I was impressed by the pictures which were drawn on the wall of her sister’s room. There were many fine pictures even under the window. I felt that my heart was pounding with on an imagine of Louisa May Alcott writing her novels in the room. The room had an atmosphere all its own. I’ve never had such a feeling. It was not just excitement; I can’t explain the feeling in my words. After visiting the house, I’m interested in Louisa May Alcott more deeply, so I would like to read her other novels.

Lastly, I really enjoyed visiting Mount Vernon. Mount Vernon was the place which was loved by the most important person in American history, George Washington. Inside the house, there are many small rooms. I was surprised about it, because I thought that there might be big gorgeous rooms in the house before I visited. In fact, the rooms were not so big and the decoration was not so gorgeous. Each room had a different color and different paint. The walls of one room were painted all green and farming tools were drawn on the ceiling of the room, because George Washington loved agriculture. It was interesting to me. The view of the outside of the house was great. The Potomac River ran magnificently and I could hear the song of birds from trees. The first leader of the US might have enjoyed the beautiful landscape after his retirement. I enjoyed not only the house, but also the facilities which were built near the house. I watched a short movie about George Washington in orientation center and there was a marvelous museum in the education center. I thought that one hour was not enough time to look around the facilities. After looking around the education center, I was interested in French-Indian War which happened before the Revolutionary war, because I found the fact that the history of George Washington started from French-Indian War, so I would like to study about the war.

All historical places where we visited during the East Coast trip were really impressive and they made me be interested more than ever in not only American history, but also Japanese history. I wanted to know what happened in Japan at the same time in each year. I would like to check the Japanese history text book which I used when I was in high school again after go back to Japan. Finally, I want to thank all of teachers, advisers, tour guides, conductors, and drivers. They lead us such a long way safely and they gave us much information which made the trip more interesting. The East Coast trip must not be such a wonderful trip without their kindness and these fantastic five days will be the best memory of the life in MFWI.

Learning English

Yuiko

The most difficult thing in the life in MFWI is expressing my feeling and saying my opinion quickly in classes. I’ve never felt pressure during classes in Japan, but in MFWI I always feel pressure, because students have to say something to teacher. The teaching style is completely different from Japan. Now, I’m learning how to react quickly to what the teacher says. It will help me improve my English skill when I go back to Japan.

In Japan, students don’t have to say their opinion in classes, because almost all teachers don’t demand the students’ opinions. This teaching style causes students’ lack of interest to the topic of classes. I’ve been used to this teaching style since I entered junior high school. As a result, I thought that it is natural that students don’t say anything during classes. However, this attitude isn’t needed by teachers in MFWI. We have to answer in our words to teachers. To tell exactly what I think about a topic in my words is very difficult even in Japanese. Moreover, we have to say our opinion in English in the classes here. It is too difficult to choose right words from my poor English vocabulary! I am not used to American teaching style still, but I learned that saying my opinion in my words is very important both in Japanese and in English.

Saying my opinion during classes will help me not only to study, but also to get a job. If students say their opinion during classes in Japan, I think Japanese students need not to be confused by job interviews which almost all students will experience in the near future. I’ve often heard by some senior students that they felt very nervous in their job interview though they practiced many times. They told me that saying their opinion quickly was very difficult and it made them panic. I think that reacting quickly during classes can be one practice for job interviews. For this reason, learning the way to express my opinion or feelings quickly is very important and very useful.
In conclusion, I should be more active during classes and I should try to say my opinion to teachers. I hope that this attitude will help classes to be more fun.

Educational Differences

By Saki Mu

Even though the name of the college is the same, if the schools are in different countries, there will be many differences. MFWI is the school in Washington State which MWU built about twenty years ago. As I spent two weeks here, I’ve noticed many differences between MWU and MFWI. There are two main differences: classroom style and participation. In Japan, I took class from the American teacher, so the classes we are taking right now are not so different from what we did. However, for other class’ student, it’s not the same as they studied in Japan.

First of all, the big difference between MWU and MFWI is the number of the student in classroom. Usually, there will be fifty students per class in Japan, but not here. Only about fifteen people are in one classroom taking the classes. I think this classroom style is very American because we don’t see this kind of classroom organization in Japan. I think small number of students in class is a really good way to learn something, because teacher can pay more attention to the students. If there are many students in the classroom, then teacher won’t be able to pay attention to each student.

Secondly, I think big difference between Japanese education and American education is the participation. This is not only in MWU, but in most of the universities in Japan. Japanese class is described as one-way education while American education is called as two-way education. Even though we’ve had American teacher’s class in Japan, we are not participating enough in the class at MFWI. Many teachers tell us to be active in MFWI. I think participating in the class is really important to improve our English and skills better.

It is really hard to change the style of learning we did in Japan to American way immediately, but I think we can. Some of the students are really aiming high to improve their English skills. I’m wondering if MWU changes their way of teaching, I think English level will go up more. I hope that this difference will be a good point of our language study.

Seattle Trip

By Saki Mu

Have you ever been to Seattle before? Well, I have! I was on the Seattle Trip from March 11th to March 13th. We took about a five hour bus ride to get to Seattle. As we were heading to Seattle, we stopped by the Columbia River and saw magnificent beautiful scenery. During the Seattle Trip, I noticed many differences between Japan and America such as shopping and in the museum. I think being in a different culture is really interesting because sometimes we can experience different things that we can’t experience in the home country. Therefore, the Seattle Trip was really worth going on.

Going to the museum and exploring some arts and crafts was really fun. I went to the place called Washington State History Museum, the place which shows Washington State history. I was very surprised that they had a kids section, where kids can go and learn about Washington State’s history. The children’s section had a lot of games and videos that they can study with lots of fun. I think this idea is really good because if they learn the same thing with adults, they will definitely get bored. Some museums in Japan do have kids sections but there are not many as America has.

I found out the most interesting difference between Japan and America while I was shopping. The store I stepped into was called “American Eagle”. The first clerk I saw came toward me and greeted me, “Hey! Are you doing okay today?” and started explaining their discounts. After that, I was looking around the store, and I saw another clerk and the clerk asked me if I was shopping for spring clothes. Here is the most interesting thing I have experienced. He asked my name and he said “Well, nice to meet you, Saki!” I was really surprised that he asked my name! In Japan, the store clerk will never ask such a question if the clerk and the customer are not really close. I thought how Americans make relationships with customers were really interesting.

I think the Seattle Trip is really worth going on because people can learn many things as they go on to the trip. Shopping and going to a museum in another country is very different from what I’ve experienced in Japan. I wish I could go back and go on the trip again so that I could learn more deeply about the history of Washington State and other things more deeply than I did while I was on the trip. I had so much fun on the Seattle Trip.

Do you know about table manners?

By Saki Mu

We actually don’t follow eating rules when we are eating at home or at casual restaurants as much as we do when we have formal dining nowadays. There used to be a time when people had to follow many kinds of rules when they had meals with people. These table manners differ from each region and culture. For example, Japanese use chopsticks when they eat their meals while Americans uses forks and knives. Moreover, I’ve found many interesting differences between Japanese and American table manners. Japan and America has difference in these points such as some phrases that we say before having meals, way of seating, making a toast, and some rules while people eat. There are more differences than the similarities because Japan and the US have different culture. Therefore, there are more differences than the similarities about table manners in Japan and America because of the different culture such as words before meal, seating, toasting, and some rules when we eat.

There are some similarities and differences between America and Japan when people begin the meals. When we eat meals, what should we say? Do you say something special when you begin eating? Americans would probably say “Let’s eat”, “Enjoy your meal”, or do prayer. Americans thank whoever cooked the meal or God. Americans will do the prayer before every dinner and thank God for the day and nice meal that they are having. However, in Japan, instead of prayers we say “Itadakimasu” when people begin the meal. Japanese people say “Itadakimasu” for whoever cooked the meal, but also for the life given up for making the meal. Japanese people thank everything, such as all the plants and animals’ life that we eat, the people who carry all the food around, and the person who cooks the meal. So “Itadakimasu” is not just saying “Let’s eat”

Moreover, I’ve found out another interesting point about American and Japanese table manners about seating. There are some similarities in the order of sitting down at the table. In America, usually father sits down at the head of the table and mother sits down on the opposite side, and children sit between them. This is the way of seating in Japan too. However, I found really interesting fact as I was researching US table manners. In old time America, if it was really formal dining, all the men had to stand up when the woman stood up from her seat. Whatever reason was, all the men had to stand up at their seat. When the woman came back, they had to stand up again and help her until she sat down. I think it’s because of women’s dress. The dress was heavier and it wasn’t easy to move around without any help. Women had a dress in Japan called Kimono, but Kimono was not heavier than the dress in America was.

There is a very interesting point about toasting rule in Japan and America, and it’s also a table manner. In both countries, the most honorable and oldest person makes a toast. When people make a toast, in America, they would say “Cheers!” and make a noise by hitting each other’s glasses. On the other hand, in Japan, it’s slightly different. When you make a toast in Japan, you would say “Kanpai!” which means the same as “Cheers!” However, Japanese people will not just hit the glass to the other one’s glass in Japan. If you are toasting with someone who is older than you, you have to put your glass slightly down and make sure the older person’s glass level is above yours. This means you are showing your respect to the older person.

If you compare America and Japanese table manners, you will find some similarities and differences in eating manners. There are many common rules, for example, you should not play with your utensils, should not talk with your mouth full, and should not make noises while eating. However, when you hear making noise is rude in both countries, you would probably think “Really? But Japanese people make noises when they eat noodles and soups!” This is right, and you will often see this scene a lot in Japan.

Making noise when you eat noodle habit started in Edo-period (1603~1868) in Japan. It is said that Japanese professional comic storyteller told the mass of people that making noise when you eat noodles is very stylish. After that, the common people started eating noodles with making noises because it was stylish. As I mentioned that it became popular to make noises among common people, this habit was not for the nobility people in the court. That’s why this habit still exists in Japan and some Japanese people thinks that without making noises when eating noodles, they cannot have enjoyable meals. On the other hand, in America, it is really rude to make noise when you eat or drink something. Japanese must be really careful when they come to United States and have noodles or pastas for their meal because making noise is really rude in America.

You will see many different table manners when you go to other countries, especially those countries which have different culture. I’ve noticed many differences in table manners such as the words before the meals, seating, toasting, and some rules when we have meals between Japan and America. Some Japanese tend to think Americans are not polite, but it is not true. Americans show their respect to others in different ways from Japanese. May be, Americans might think Japanese people are very rude because we make noises when we eat noodles or soup, but it is Japanese culture. We have to understand the differences if we want to understand better about other countries. I think the experiences in MFWI would make our mind more flexible by learning about not only American culture but also Japanese culture.

Discrimination in Japan

By Sae

What do you imagine about discrimination? There are much discrimination because of religion, sex and race. It is hard to lose all discrimination from the world because prejudices are in people’s mind deeply. Prejudice came from painful experiences or elder people. I learned about discriminations and prejudice in America, so started to think about Japan. There seems to be no discriminations in Japan, but I found different kind of discrimination. This is occupation and academic background discrimination.

Occupation and academic background discrimination is big concern in Japan. Japanese tend to classify into winnfers and losers by property because media imprinted in people’s mind. From the media airs that topic up, people started to believe that winners are happy because they are wealthy, for becoming rich person, good occupation or academic background are needed to get high salary. Therefore, Japanese focus on occupation and academic background. For example, many students ask their name and university which they go to when they meet for the first time, and people think it is good to enter a good university. On the other hand, many parents only care about their children’s grades and score in education instead of thinking about their children’s hopes or dreams. In addition, children are victims of this discrimination. Recently, many children go to cram school after school and learn many things such as English conversation, playing an instrument and doing sports; on the other hand, they have no time to play with their friends. In fact, I think children become adults who are like their parents if they continue to do that. They will stop thinking about their dream, and they will just study for future career. In other case, university students want to work at major companies, so they try to take an interview with those companies. Actually, there are only a few places for new employees. That is one reason that many university students can’t get jobs.

Because of occupation and academic background discrimination, people try not to think about dreams. Is money really important for us? People feel happy with different ways such as having family, doing what you really want to do, and having dreams. First, focusing on your wish in your mind and then respecting individuals are the keys of losing this discrimination.

Martin Luther King Jr.

By Saki Mu

If you could meet anyone in the world, past or present, who would you like to meet? If I could meet anyone in the world I would like to meet Martin Luther King Jr. I want to meet him because he had done so many movements in the American history and he is one of the leaders who worked for equalities for the African-American people. I think his life was really harsh and not easy. However Martin Luther King Jr., himself may not think his life was great, but many people thank him about what he had done for the people who was discriminated. Also, I was impressed by his speech which he made in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. I really respect him in many ways and I think will never change my mind of this in my life.

I think Martin Luther King Jr. was a fantastic leader of anti-Apartheid; Apartheid is the movement of discriminating African-American people from white people. I learned about Apartheid movement when I was in South Carolina. South Carolina is in the Southeast of America, where Apartheid was really harsh. Even though it was 2003; some people, very few of them still had a prejudice towards African-American people and treated them not equally. I thought the idea was crazy, but I was really helpless and could not do anything for them. From my experience, I thought what Martin Luther King Jr. had done was really big. This is one of the reasons why I respect Martin Luther King Jr. and want to meet him.

My second reason for why I want to meet him is that because I was impressed by his speech begins with “I have a dream…” I learned about his speech when I was in high school, and I learned that he did not prepare for the great speech. He changed his whole speech when he was about to make his speech in front of a lot of people at Lincoln Memorial. I was very surprised and want to know how he came up with the word “I have a dream…” I was really moved by how he made the speech and his words.

I would like to meet Martin Luther King Jr. if I could meet anyone in the world either from the past or present. I want to meet him because he had done so much precious thing to help people in American history and no one can defeat his strong will ever. Of course there are more great people in the world, but I think Martin Luther King Jr. is the bravest person in the American history and the words that he speaks can move people’s emotion into the right way.

Feeling of Culture Shock

By Saki Mu

It is really natural that you experience culture shock when they are living in or studying abroad in another country. In Some reason, some people do not get homesick even though they are far away from their house. In my case, I am originally from Kumamoto, and now I live in Nishinomiya. Furthermore, I live in United States right now. Since I was use to live far away from my family, I did not feel any culture shock as the others did when I get to MFWI. May be if I lived with my parents, I might did experience some culture shock. There are four stages in culture shock: honeymoon stage, culture shock, acceptance, and integration. Not everyone goes through this culture shock stages, but most of the people do. In addition, I did not experience culture shock this time in MFWI, but I was in a culture shock long time ago when I first moved into the United States. Therefore, culture shock seems like it is unfortunate thing to experience, however, it is really important stages to experience to get into the country and the culture you are into.

Culture shock seems really terrible things to experience, and of course it is; however, it is worth experiencing because that way, you can learn how you liked your country. You will not be able to notice if you stayed in your country forever. The first stage of the culture shock is called “honeymoon stage”. During this stage, people feel happy and everything is new for them. Everything is interesting for them. This stage often occurs when people just have arrived in other country and just started to discover the land.

The second stage is called “culture shock”. This stage differs from people to people, but usually the person will experience something that was unexpected and then the person starts feeling unhappy. Some people may become angry, depressed, or tired of everything. The person will start thinking how weird the country is, and the person starts complaining about the country. Surprisingly, some people does not feel culture shock at all, on the other hand, some people feels culture shock really badly. This happens when people starts settling down in the country.

The third stage is called “acceptance”. In this stage, people start feeling the country like as their home. They somehow got out from the stage of culture shock and accept the weird thing as it is a culture of the country. In this stage, things will get easier than before, and you will start making a lot of friends, and everything gets easier than before. The person starts accepting the country so this stage is called acceptance stage.

The final stage is called “integration”. It takes really long time to reach to this stage. The person starts feeling good and can speak the language fluently and everything becomes easy. In general, it is said that it will take more than a year to reach to this stage if you moved in or went to study abroad to another country. The person starts feeling comfortable living in the country and now the person is bicultural. This happened to the people who really got use to the country and found her place in the country.

From my opinion, I think experiencing culture shock is a fantastic life experience in the world. I say this because culture shock makes people stronger than you ever think. In the past, when I was in fifth grade, I moved into South Carolina and experienced culture shock even I was ten years old. Somehow I overcome with culture shock and started having marvelous life after that. If I were to give some advice to the people who are in the culture shock stage, I would say the time will solve this problem, and do not take everything seriously about your negative experience. You have to tell somebody that you have done something funny and laugh at them together. I think this is the best way to get out from the culture shock stages. I think culture shock is a best thing to experience in the whole life because you can learn about yourself as you go through the stages.

Walt Disney

Ayumi
How famous Walt Disney is in the world. His name is so common that everyone knows his name. I would like to talk for a while with him, and then I want to know what he thinks or his childhood to understand the secret of Disney’s wonderful world. If possible, I want to meet such a famous person in all over the world, Walt Disney.

Firstly, I’ll ask how Walt Disney created his fascinating worlds through movies or Disney’s theme park. I’m really interested his mind. He may have unexpected way of thinking compared to ordinary people like us. I may be able to hear very interesting idea about our conversation topic.

I’m really interested in how Walt Disney spent his childhood, or if he likes children or not. His movie or character such as Mickey Mouse or Winnie The Pooh always make everyone in the world smile or happy. I guess he likes children and he want to make them to smile. However, if his answer is no, he doesn’t like children, it’s very shocking and I’ll be interested in him more. In addition, it’s also interesting for me to hear how he spent his childhood. Did he like to draw pictures since he was a little child?

If I can meet one person in the world, I really want to have an opportunity to talk with Walt Disney. It’s very fun to know such a wonderful person’s humor or his preference. This experience would be really precious for my life, but actually he had already left this world.

Seasons of Love

Haruka

What did Jonathan Larson want to say? When I listened to his famous song “Seasons of love”, I wanted to ask him the question. This song is a theme of the musical Rent. The musical was made by Jonathan Larson. In this story, there are seven main characters. Six of them have HIV, two of them are homosexuals, and two of them are lesbians. Life is hard for them, but love helps them to get over their difficulties. Rent makes me happy and sad. I could almost understand the story, but I have a question about his song “Seasons of love”.

What is the meaning of “five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes”? This is the lyrics of his most famous song “Seasons of love”. At the beginning of Rent, all main characters sing this song. “Seasons of love” asks us what the important thing is in our life. From this song, I understand Jonathan Larson thought love was the most important thing in his life because the title is “Seasons of love”. However, I can’t figure out why he said five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes. At first, I couldn’t understand the meaning of the number at all, so I had been thinking about the meaning of the number for a long time. Consequently, I realized that we have five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes in a year. After that, I began to think why he used the complicated number. The length of time is the same as a year. He could say “a year”, or “three hundreds six five days”. I think he wanted to emphasize something by using this number, but I don’t know what it is.

For this reason, I really want to ask Jonathan about “Seasons of love”. I want to understand why he used “five hundred twenty- five thousand six hundred minutes” in his song. However, he died in 1996. I will never be able to ask him that question.

Eiichiro Oda

by Sayuri

One Piece is a kind of text book for my life. I really like Japanese comics. I’ve read Japanese comics from I was in kindergarten. They give me knowledge, increase my imagination, let me forget time and take me to a wonderful world. I think Japanese comics are part of Japanese culture. I have many comics in my room and my favorite comic is “One Piece.” It is the story of pirate and the name of author is Eiichiro Oda. If I have an opportunity to meet and talk with Eiichiro Oda, I want to ask this wonderful author how he has created this awesome comic. This comic has some interesting points; having a strong friendship, seldom killing people and never saying good-bye.

Firstly, Eiichiro Oda’s characters have really strong friendship. They always help, trust and respect each other. As a result, the main characters have not only strength but also strong mind. The second interesting point is that it is difficult not to kill people at battle scenes. The author Eiichiro Oda said he did not want to draw murder scenes because he wanted many generations to enjoy it. It is not fun to read murder scenes, so he avoids drawing murder scenes. I think the most interesting point is Eiichiro Oda’s main character, Luffy, never says good-bye. Luffy knows the ocean is one and connects to all oceans. It means people can meet somewhere again and again, so he does not need to say good-bye.

Japanese comics, especially One Piece, always give me a wonderful time and teach me interesting and important things to live, so they are keys to make my life fun. As a result, I want to meet the author of One Piece, Eiiciro Oda, who has created such a great comic. Finally, I propose that if you get lost in your life, you should read One Piece.

Learning English

Yuiko

The most difficult thing in the life in MFWI is expressing my feeling and saying my opinion quickly in classes. I’ve never felt pressure during classes in Japan, but in MFWI I always feel pressure, because students have to say something to teacher. The teaching style is completely different from Japan. Now, I’m learning how to react quickly to what the teacher says. It will help me improve my English skill when I go back to Japan.

In Japan, students don’t have to say their opinion in classes, because almost all teachers don’t demand the students’ opinions. This teaching style causes students’ lack of interest to the topic of classes. I’ve been used to this teaching style since I entered junior high school. As a result, I thought that it is natural that students don’t say anything during classes. However, this attitude isn’t needed by teachers in MFWI. We have to answer in our words to teachers. To tell exactly what I think about a topic in my words is very difficult even in Japanese. Moreover, we have to say our opinion in English in the classes here. It is too difficult to choose right words from my poor English vocabulary! I am not used to American teaching style still, but I learned that saying my opinion in my words is very important both in Japanese and in English.

Saying my opinion during classes will help me not only to study, but also to get a job. If students say their opinion during classes in Japan, I think Japanese students need not to be confused by job interviews which almost all students will experience in the near future. I’ve often heard by some senior students that they felt very nervous in their job interview though they practiced many times. They told me that saying their opinion quickly was very difficult and it made them panic. I think that reacting quickly during classes can be one practice for job interviews. For this reason, learning the way to express my opinion or feelings quickly is very important and very useful.

In conclusion, I should be more active during classes and I should try to say my opinion to teachers. I hope that this attitude will help classes to be more fun.