I have never challenged anything it seems risky before. I chose my high school and university which I didn’t need to study hard to enter. To enter ACE class was one of my hardest challenge, but entering the class didn’t take any risk. I was helped by many friends who are really kind and mature, and they helped me to survive in the life filled with English. I’m always helped by my friends, teachers and family, and I didn’t like to do something big alone. I was afraid of failures. Now it’s different. I don’t know why, but I feel like I can do whatever I want to do by myself. Maybe, my friends and teachers’ attitudes influenced me. They all are positive, and they aren’t afraid of going outside. The change make me really positive, and I have a lot of dreams now. I don’t finish only to have dreams. I look for the information about them. For example, I wanted to be a CIA agent and checked the official web site. Unfortunately, I cannot be a CIA agent since I don’t have an American citizenship and any knowledge. Then I realized that I can do nothing. My English skill might be improved, but I don’t know anything particular to talk about in English. The biggest one, I’m really looking forward in 2014, is to learn particular things. First, I need to get down to basics. The subjects I gave up, Science and Productional Education, will be first to learn. I hope that I can find something new which I want to learn more. In that case, I’m worried if I would give up soon. I hope that I will find something interesting in the near future and keep learning about it for a long time!

What is “being Japanese” for me?

 

     Every morning I get on a train, and I suffer from crowded trains. After school, I take a train, and I fight against people who also try to sit on the seats. I guess that each country has these problems with trains and some rules in the station or on the train. However, Japanese manners might be more complicated a little than other countries’ ones. I would assert that people can see how Japanese people really are through seeing these manners. Thus, to tell about how Japanese people move or act in the station would be a useful information for people from other countries if I had opportunities to demonstrate what how Japanese people are.

 

     I would like to perform a play how Japanese people take a train the best. It’ll be going like this. The first step which is to buy tickets might be not difficult, and people need to follow the direction. To go through a ticket gate would be also okay for anybody. Even though some people don’t know how to go through it, the staff who watch the gate will help them. Then, there is a first problem. I know that people from some countries stand on the one side on an escalator, and mostly they seem to stand on the right side. In Japan, it’s said that people shouldn’t walk or run on escalators, but they do it without hesitation. There are two types of people when they stand on an escalator. Each area has a custom to stand on the each side, so people need to watch which side other people stand. I sometimes see a person who stands on the other side, and other people who are in a hurry were impatient with him or her and saying nothing. They just wait behind the person with angry faces, so I would like to tell foreign people to be careful with Japanese people even though they don’t say anything. After getting the platform, it’s better to find an electric scoreboard to check which place you need to wait for the train. Most Japanese people usually wait for the train on lines at specific places. I don’t recommend you to be ther first one to get on the train if you aren’t on the line. I think that some people don’t say anything about it, but they might glare at you with hatred. Some people try to find the empty seats to sleep as if they were hyenas looking for prey.

 

     I think that this custom or manner is one of “being Japanese”. Through checking most people’s behavior in Japan, people might find that some Japanese people are not just polite, respectful or kind. Some Japanese people just don’t say too much about their bad feelings not to cause any problems. Instead of saying that, some people tend to tell what they feel without words. If you take a look at people’s eyes carefully, you will find how they really feel. In my opinion, “being Japanese” is showing their feelings with eyes more than with words. That’s why I try not to look into eyes of people who are not close to mine to have a fun with them superficialy.

There is a Japanese culture that I don’t care for. It’s “Sushi”. A lot of people from other countries know Sushi, and those people can eat Sushi not only in Japan but also in other countries. Some foreign people say that they like eating sushi, and they think that all of Japanese people love sushi. However, I cannot understand why people eat raw fish. The raw fish smells fishy. I prefer eating roast fish. Of course, it is okay that people like eating sushi. But I don’t want people to think that all of Japanese people eat sushi. There are some people who like sushi, and there are also some people who don’t care for sushi. There are a lot of Japanese foods like oden, so I will tell people from foreign countries about them, and I want them to enjoy Japanese foods!