An Old Ginkgo Tree which saved the Temple from the Fire

There is a big old ginkgo tree in Nishi Hongan-ji temple which is one of the world heritage sites. The tree is about 400 years old now. It also has a famous folklore which said that it saved the Goeido building from the great fire in 1788.

Nishi Honganji temple suffered from the fire in 1788. It is said that when the fire went close to the Goeido building, this ginkgo tree blew a lot of water on the fire to protect the building. Big thanks to this ginkgo tree, Goeido building escaped from the fire. This story became a famous folklore today.

Now we can see the famous ginkgo tree which save the temple. It is a big and a very beautiful tree. We can also enjoy its fresh leaves that turns into green every month of May and turns into yellow when November comes. This tree became a natural treasure in Kyoto city.

【大火からお寺を救った大きな銀杏の木】

世界遺産の西本願寺には、大きな古い銀杏の木があります。樹齢は約400年です。その木は、1788年の大火（天明の大火）から御影堂を救ったという有名な伝説も持っています。

西本願寺は、1788年に火災にあいます。木の手が御影堂に近くなった時、この銀杏の木が大量の水を吹いて御影堂を守ったと言われています。この銀杏の木のおかげで、御影堂は類焼を免れました。この話は、有名になり今日に語り継がれています。

今も寺院を救った有名な銀杏の木を見ることができます。それは大きく美しいです。その梢は毎年巡りくる5月には爽やかな緑になり、11月がやってくると美しい黄色になります。現在、この木は、京都市の保護樹になっています。

Self- acceptance Makes People Grow

When people already receive their good points, they can probably accept their bad points. By receiving both of that, it will help them grow.

I notice that through the session, that can bring out the hidden good points. One of my friends had my session and I found out her good points and she has a lot of it.

1)She has a lot of intellectual curiosity.

2)She is active.

3)She carries out her plan steadily.

4)She enjoys her life.

She looked happy to hear my analyzation. I asked her to write her feeling and awareness after listening to my analysis.

After writing, she realized that her active character is one of her good points but she is worried that she is sometime hyper. She works hard but she can’t have good result. Sometimes she causes troubles. She is thinking about reason why and I think it is very important to have time to introspect her own mind.

She is thinking how to improve her problem and she found a way to solve her problem.

1)Try to think a lot before taking action.

2)Think not shallowly but deeply.

3)Think her future direction.

When you pointed out bad points to people, they sometimes feel bad. So they can’t think of the things that will help them to improve their bad points. It is very important to notice their bad points by themselves and accept them. Others can only help them to improve their bad points but it is more important to improve them voluntarily.

Acceptance good points and bad points makes people grow.

Use Internet Well and Properly

I often use internet because I upload my written works into my blog. After uploading my works, I use some social network service, for example facebook and twitter. It is so useful and effective　to advertise my works. It is the reason why I often use internet.

Though it is useful and effective, it brings me some dangers. Some people who use internet aren't good people. Some of them use internet because of bad purpose, for example pyramid schemes. Also, internet dependency is very dangerous.

There are times that I focus too much or expect too much reactions from readers.  I tend to forget my purpose why I use the internet.

I concluded that I should it use it well and properly. Now, I always try to remember why I use it and that is to advertise my written works.

＜賢くインターネットを使いましょう＞（日本語訳）

私は作品をブログに投稿しているので、よくインターネットを使います。投稿した後は、facebookやTwitterなどのSNSで作品を宣伝します。自分の作品を広めるにはとても役に立ち効果的な方法です。

インターネットは役に立ち効果的ですが、危険ももたらします。インターネットを使う人のなかには良からぬ人もいるからです。マルチ商法などの悪い目的を持ってインターネットを使う人もいるからです。それにインターネット依存も危険です。

私は読者の反応にばかり注目したり、期待したりすることがあります。なぜインターネットを使っているのかを忘れてしまうことがあります。

私が結論として言えることは、インターネットを上手に適切に使うべきだと言うことです。私がインターネットを使う理由は、私が書いた作品を広く読んでもらうためだということを常に心にとめておきたいと思います。

I Hope My Writing Help People

I had an online English lesson for the first time in a while today.

I talked about my two jobs, a writer and therapist, in the lesson. They work together well. When I conduct counseling, I always find that negative thoughts make people suffer. I help them to liberate themselves from these thoughts.

After counseling, I write typical problems that makes people suffer for ones who have same problems. At that time my writing skill works well. I hope my writing help them.

I Can't Wait Until Everything Will Be Perfect.

“Don't wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” (Mark Victor Hansen)

One day I found this quote. It was when my paper book would be published soon.

I couldn't find what I really wanted to do for a long time. It was very hard for me that I lost my hope.

After long confusion, I finally grasped my dream and that is writing literature. I want to express my thoughts and feelings through writing and I also want people to read my works.

I have fallen in love with writing essays and short stories for a year and a half.

I don't know if I have talent or not. Moreover, I am not young nor famous. My condition is not perfect but I can't wait until it will be perfect.

I will continue writing my blog because it is one of the important opportunities for me to let the world know my works. I hope people would read my writings.

As I know my writings will only be improved by writing more, so I will continue to write.

I know people can't read my essays and short stories if I don't put them online.

I hope a publishing books helps people to read my works more.

I do what I can do now.

I can't wait until everything will be perfect.

What Do I Do When I Feel Depressed? ~Sleeping and Accepting Sleep~

When I feel depressed, I always do three things.

First: To take a good sleep.

Second: To eat my favorite food.

Third: To sing or to laugh.

Many friends agree with my ideas. Most of them like the first idea.

Sleep is very important. Lack of sleep causes serious health problems. I apt to be negative when I am sleep deprived.

But in Japan people believe it is good to work very hard. Many Japanese feel guilty to take a rest.

So many Japanese end up having mental illness, for example depression.

Even though they have mental illness because of overwork, they believe they should work more.

They blame themselves because they don’t work. They suffered from a sense of guilt. It defies people from overcoming mental illness.

As I’d had the depression, I know many obligations pushed me to experience feel of guilty. I rest my body but I couldn’t rest my mind.

I know the importance to accept ourselves. When I feel depressed, I remember to have enough sleep and accept myself.

“Unforgettable Valentine’s Day”

There is a strong tradition among women giving chocolates to men on Valentine’s Day in Japan. When my husband was alive, he was often given expensive chocolates by his female co-workers. Of course, I would give him expensive ones, too. We enjoyed eating expensive chocolates together on Valentine’s Day, which we never did on ordinary days.

After my husband passed away, I felt extremely lonely, especially on this day. I would always hope that it would pass quickly. I suffered all the time during those days.

One day I started yoga, and then it restored my peace of mind gradually. This activity also introduced a trustworthy yoga teacher and many yoga friends. They helped me to reduce what I felt.　

One time, when Valentine's Day was coming soon, my yoga teacher planned to hold a tea party after the lesson. It would be held on Valentine’s Day. I came up with crocheting bookmarks as Valentine presents for them. I felt very happy that I could enjoy preparing for this special day.

I finished crocheting them by Valentine's Eve. I attached message cards to each of them.

When I gave them my crocheted presents, they liked them very much. Their smiles were so memorable, and made me happy. I was able to overcome my loneliness knowing that I had some people to celebrate that Valentine’s Day with me. It was a very unforgettable day.

I think from the bottom of my heart, it is very nice that we can celebrate Valentine’s Day with people whom we love. On this day, we give love and share the love we have to those who are in need of it.

“My lifework - Iyengar Yoga And English – “

For 26 years, I had been an English teacher of a junior high school. Because of overwork and stress, I developed depression 12 years ago. Moreover, my husband suddenly died 5 years ago. Since my husband’s death made my sickness worse, I couldn’t teach anymore. I wasn’t able to teach English after that because I completely lost my self confidence. I shut off my mind from everything.

I thought my life had already ended. I lived without hope, purpose and pleasure from then on. I had lived a hopeless life for three years. However, I hated that I couldn’t stop living hopelessly. Finally, one day, I decided to stop it by making major changes and doing something new.

That something new was just Iyengar Yoga.

Before, I only knew vaguely that yoga is very good for the body and mind, I wasn’t even aware of Iyengar Yoga at all. By coincidence, the nearest yoga class from my place was Iyengar Yoga.

I had a trial lesson. It was hard for me at first but I felt comfortable as the class ended. My yoga teacher listened to my problems kindly and advised me sincerely after the trial lesson. After that, I decided to join his yoga class.

Before I started yoga, I had suffered from depression, weight gain and stiff body due to lack of exercise but the lessons gradually improved me. I began to look forward to yoga lessons every time. In only 3 months, it changed me dramatically. I began to lose weight and became more flexible; moreover my mind felt more calm.

One day, a Russian friend of my teacher’s joined our yoga class. She is also a very good Iyengar Yoga teacher and we had to speak English to communicate with her. We hesitated to speak to her at first but I tried to talk to her. Luckily, she advised me during the class and I was very glad we could communicate in English.

Since Iyengar Yoga is international, many foreign visitors would also visit our yoga class. I had good opportunities to communicate with them in English.

These experiences inspired me. I decided to continue learning English again and I started international communication volunteer work, too. Likewise, I resumed to teaching as a volunteer English teacher once a week.  Gradually I regained my self-confidence.

I believe Iyengar Yoga revived my life.

Unfortunately, Mr. Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar Yoga, passed away on August 20^th, 2014. Mr. Iyengar is a worldwide yoga leader, and he’s especially well-known in India, Europe and America. However, his achievement isn’t well-known in Japan.

Famous foreign media reported his death widely. His close students and friends wrote about their memories of him. I translated four of their articles into Japanese and posted them online. I wanted to share these with my fellow Japanese who are also learning Iyengar Yoga. Even though my translation wasn’t really good, I am honored that I can contribute in informing people of Mr. Iyengar’s achievement.

Iyengar Yoga inspired and encouraged me to learn English again and in return, English helps me to inform people of Mr. Iyengar’s achievement. I’m happy that Iyengar Yoga and English both complement and work well with each other. Now I consider both Iyengar Yoga and English as my lifework.

 

"My father"

My father is very kind and diligent. Moreover, he never loses his passion for knowledge.

When he was young, he attended the evening course in Ritsumeikan University because he couldn’t afford to go to the day course. But even though he was already taking the night classes, his money was not enough to support his tuition fee. He had to earn not only for his own education but also for the everyday expense of his family. His father (my grandfather) asked him to quit school. He had no choice to give up his studies. If he had continued for six months more, he could have graduated from Ritsumeikan University. He had regretted having left the university without a degree for a long time.

When he was 69, he fortunately found a course for a mature age students at Ritsumeikan University. About half of a century has passed since he left his university, he decided to try again and take  the entrance examination in the same university but failed. Yet, he never gave up. Without losing his hope, he prepared and studied hard planning to give it another try and in the following year, he took the exam again and passed. There was not enough word to describe his great joy for his success. One of the newspapers published an article about my father’s success.

He was a 70- year old university student. I thought he was one of the most hard-working and enthusiastic student in his university. Whenever I visited his house, he was always studying. He was never absent from school except his older sister’s funeral. Though it took four and a half years, at last he graduated from Ritsumeikan University.

His experience teaches us that it is never too late to start something. Our family members are proud of him and we hope he lives longer and happily.

 

 

“ Full Heart “

As my grandmother was respectable, talented, powerful and very stubborn, she controlled my family.

All family members had to obey her opinion even though we didn't want to.

Even though she loved me, she never allowed me to express my will. She gave me a stable and well paved road that she believed it was the best. I had endured her domination for a long time, as a result, I lost my will and hope. I missed my free mind. I grew accustomed to obey my grandmother, thus I couldn't decide anything by myself.

It was very hard for me to grasp my free mind again, I had suffered from my empty heart. Even if I was well provided for, I thirsted for my hope.

I lived over half of my life, one day, I encountered Iyengar yoga. I felt very comfortable when I practiced it. That comfortable feeling was very impressive for me. My muscles were stretched deeply and my chest was opened in every lesson.

As time passed by, my body became flexible and my mind got calmer. Gradually, I came to try to experience what I felt interesting and got self confidence from it. I became more cheerful and enjoyed doing a lot of things.

To tell the truth, I concealed my real hope because of fearing to fail even then. I have hoped to become a novelist since I was a little girl. The reason is because I want to express my feeling and opinion. Moreover, I like people to read my work, and get the peace of mind by writing novels, along with the hope of giving it to my readers.

One day, I posted my written works to the website for writers bravely. I believed I don't have to be afraid of the possible failure that I could get.

I noticed that Iyengar yoga gave me the peace of mind. I believe peace of mind liberated my mind from mental domination. I want to enjoy writing novels from the bottom of my heart. Now my heart is filled with hope.

 

“ Sky Blue Kimono “

One day, the woman received a wedding invitation from her cousin’s daughter. She and her cousin grew up like sisters.

As the woman doesn’t have family and work, and lives alone and quietly in the suburb, she hesitated to go to such festive occasion.

Since the woman knew her cousin was divorced, and she raised her daughter by herself, she wants to congratulate her cousin’s daughter from the bottom of her heart.

Although feeling a little hesitant, she still decided to attend.

As the day gets closer, she regretted responding that she would attend. It is customary in Japan for the guests to give monetary gifts to the married couple when they are attending wedding ceremonies. Having no work and just living a simple life, this custom has been the main cause of hesitancy, and it would certainly force her to borrow money she needs from friend or family. Another reason is that she doesn’t have any decent clothes to wear. The time passed by without her having any preparation for the wedding ceremony.

The day of wedding ceremony was coming very soon, the woman remembered her mother's sky blue kimono which she used to wear in the entrance and graduation ceremony. The woman took out her mother’s sky blue kimono out of the closet and checked it. Even though it was old, it was still beautiful enough to put it on for festive occasions. When she tried it on, she thought she looked like her beautiful mother. Suddenly she got excited and forgot to congratulate her cousin’s daughter.

Yet in an instant, she felt another emotion sweeping in with a man's figure which began to occupy her heart.

From then on, she booked a professional stylist to manage her hair and help her with the kimono. She has raised money from monetary gifts.

In the morning before the wedding ceremony, the woman had her hair set beautifully to be fit into her mother's sky blue kimono. After wearing the kimono on, she put a bright rose lipstick which she rarely did.

The very common woman in usual became very attractive as if she were a different person.

The woman was very sorry to her cousin's daughter because she hadn't paid any attention to the wedding since the woman tried to wear the sky blue kimono. The wedding ceremony was very nice and heartful but her heart was full of a man's figure.

After the wedding, she called a taxi and told the address which was not her but the man's.

She realized, "The time has come."

After getting off the taxi, she walked fast to the man's house while paying attention not to ruin the perfect appearance kimono. The woman wanted the man to look at her while wearing her mother's sky blue kimono and decided to confess.

“ I love you. “


                                                                The End

“A connection through yoga.”

One of my close yoga friends left our town because her husband was transferred overseas. We learned Iyengar yoga which respects the alignment, precision and sequence together.　We had her last lesson, although I drowned in sadness. We made sure we would make the most out of her last day of her yoga class in Japan.

I　can still remember clearly the day when she came to our yoga class. I wrote in my diary back then, "A beautiful foreign lady came to our yoga class today!! I hope she could join us." Gladly, she joined our class, however, she couldn’t understand our teacher’s instruction well at the beginning, so I sometimes explained to her in English what to do next.

As we became friends soon, I found out that she is not only beautiful but also very kind and diligent, furthermore she has passion for Iyengar yoga as much as I have. During our classes she always puts her yoga mat right next to me so I can be her partner. I clearly remember whenever we encouraged each other towards self improvement.

 When she's about to leave Japan, I made an effort to personally handcrafted a card that I gave her.　On a card I painted pansys and included a short poem which says ” The flowers never forget warm sunshine even if cold wind blows”. As pansy keeps blooming lovely from the late autumn to the late spring while enduring cold wind and snow, I thought this flower fits her. I believe that she would continue practicing Iyengar yoga even in the foreign country like how this flower stands different situations in life.

I've experienced the parting from close yoga friends sometimes. Since parting is always sad, I used to suffer from the pain caused by separation. However, I came to understand the connection through yoga gradually. I believe that we could practice yoga together someday as long as we continue it.

Now I feel bonded with her through yoga. We are separated for a while, but we are always  connected as long as we practice yoga. I look forward to practicing yoga with her again and I hope her new life is happy.

Yoga gave me nice encounters and connections. Now I can feel my yoga friends close even though we are far apart because I believe yoga can be a bridge for our connection.

“Crocheting Sometimes Symbolizes a Human Life.”

I've just finished crocheting the doily with pineapple pattern.

I had to use thin yarn and a hook to crochet it, moreover the pineapple pattern was a little complicated.

Usually, I make mistakes when I crochet with simple patterns because since I feel I already memorized the patterns, so it makes me careless as I crochet it quickly. As a result, I have to untie the crocheted cloth and then endure a long time to do the same over again.

When I crocheted the doily with a pineapple pattern, I tried to be careful, so I checked the pattern many times because I know it is very complicated. Therefore, I rarely made a mistake in spite of the complicated pineapple pattern.

I didn't crochet a pineapple pattern as quickly as I did a simple pattern but I finished crocheting the doily with a pineapple one sooner than latter. There is an old saying, "More haste, less speed."

Our crochet teacher often told us that we shouldn't hasten in crocheting and reexamine our work as well as our life. I remember her words whenever I make careless mistakes, especially when I have to untie a lot. I think crocheting sometimes symbolizes a human life.

“Sirsasana For the First Time in My Life.”

This is the picture which was taken when I did Sirsasana（ head stand ）last Thursday.

Yes, it is for the first time in my life that I did　Sirsasana by myself.

It was very hard for me to continue practicing it because I failed to do that pose so many times and I spent one year and two months to triumph it.

As I was glad when I started to practice the Sirsasana, I tried my best to be able to accomplish it. However, I continued to fail to do it even though I practiced hard not only in the lesson but also in my house.

I lost my passion to do it gradually and then I hesitated to practice. Therefore, I felt the stress that I had to achieve it and be nerves whenever I worked on the pose.

To be honest, I lost my enthusiasm, so I slacked off and lost confidence. I changed my way of thinking while preparing props for Sirsasana, it made me relaxed by thinking that if I could not do it, my teacher would help me.

And then I tried, and I did it !!

I couldn’t understand the situation at first and when I had recognized what had happen, I felt very happy.

Now, I think I was too serious to do Sirsasana. Since strong stress made my muscles hard or strain, I think I would not be able to achieve it. Maybe negative thinking influenced my body. I realized body and mind connected deeply through this experience.

I am very happy that I could do the head stand, moreover I noticed when my mind was relaxed, I could achieve the pose I couldn’t do with feeling pressure. I’d like to practice yoga so that I won’t forget my experience.

“Birthday Present God Gave Me”

My mother used to cook traditional red rice (SEKIHAN) for my family members’ birthdays. It was made by steaming sticky rice and boiled red beans which turn the rice red. This is a special celebratory dish for happy occasions. In addition, on birthdays, she cooks special dishes which the birthday celebrant likes. For example, fried chicken, Japanese style omelette, potato salad and so on. They weren't so expensive to prepare but they were still very delicious. My mother didn’t give me presents except for her special birthday dishes but I was very happy.

My mother passed away 7 years ago. I didn’t celebrate my birthday because I thought I was too old to celebrate it like what we did before with my mother. Also my father nor younger brother is interested in any kind of celebration.

Also, my father isn’t interested in any kind of celebration. My younger brother isn’t, either.

This year, however, I was given a special birthday present. It’s a long story. Last summer, I found an interesting English article about yoga on the internet. I translated it into Japanese and then I posted it online. An editor of one yoga association newsletter found my translation and then selected it as an article for their newsletter.

Before the article was published, my yoga teacher helped me to improve my translation. He became strict about the way I converted the article to Japanese as he found it very literal and difficult to understand. However, the English expression is very different from the Japanese one. I couldn’t translate it effectively. I lacked confidence to translate it to Japanese words according to how I understand it.

It was very difficult to precisely translate the article without understanding the writer’s opinion clearly. I realized I should recognize the purpose of the article clearly at first. And then, I must translate it not literally, so that readers can realize the writer’s thought and emotions. I translated it again after I realized the important points of the translation. It was improved greatly. I was very happy because my translation became more understandable than before and I learned a lot.

I consider this learning experience as a special gift in time of my birthday.　It was just an ordinary birthday but now I believe that God had given me a very special birthday present.

“ Revive Old Used Things “

I love remaking. I always feel happy when I finished making something with old things which were not used yet. The reason why I feel happy is that my handmade work revives old used things.

I had an old kimono which was given to me by my grandmother. I liked the kimono but it was too short for me to wear, so I didn’t know how to use it.

One day, I remembered one of my friends who owns a sewing café and also loves old Japanese kimono fabrics. Moreover, she is good not only at sewing but also designing things with the fabrics she loves.

I took my grandmother’s kimono with me and consulted her. She analyzed it and thought how to remake it. As she analyzed the material and created a design for it, she told me it would be best to turn my grandma's lovely kimono into a sleeveless dress. And then she explained how to prepare and make the old fabric from a kimono available for dress making and taught me how to sew.

The old fabric from the kimono that my grandmother sewed takes a lot of time to prepare than buying a new fabric from a store.

The first step involves unfastening the old kimono which my grandmother sewed. When I unfastened her kimono, I found that my grandmother used another old cloth as an inside fabric. For so many years Japanese people loved to use old used things and never waste anything. My grandmother never wasted old things, either.

Second, I had to iron the old kimono fabric. Then I washed it carefully. Finally, I had to iron it again. It took many steps to prepare a kimono fabric. It takes a long time to prepare a kimono fabric before sewing it.

Japanese people loved such handworks before World War 2 but during the time when Japanese economy was booming, people are accustomed to the throwaway principle which is influenced by mass production-mass consumption.

Even though I had to pass many steps before sewing it, I enjoyed going through the steps of preparing the kimono fabric. I remembered my grandmother while unfastening her kimono and appreciated how she took care and made an effort to make use of an old but valuable item. I respect her again.

Thanks to my friend, I could make a nice sleeveless dress with my grandmother’s kimono. It looks very nice. Recently Japanese people began to reconsider the throwaway principle. I hope that people would learn the pleasure we can get from reviving old things.

 

“ The Long Way “ -My History of Written Works-

When I was a little girl, I loved listening to my grandmother’s old stories. Her stories excited my imagination. After I began to learn how to write letters and characters, I also came to love writing. Writing in my small notebook, the stories that I imagined, was my favorite hobby. I have loved writing since then.

However I didn’t like to write compositions in my Japanese class very much, because I was given themes and had to finish writing it on the time specified. I wanted to write compositions freely according to my imagination. My compositions I wrote in my Japanese classes weren’t nice, but ones I wrote at my home and in the composition club, won a price in school competitions. My works was included on the book that shows a collection of essays and articles written by elementally school students, and which was distributed to schools in Kyoto city. One of my compositions was broadcasted by the local radio station, once when I was in the sixth grade.

As I reached puberty, when I was a junior high school student, suddenly I stopped writing compositions and began to keep a diary. I loved writing my feelings on my diary. I dreamed to be a novelist secretly at that time, even though I had never showed my written works. When I majored in American literature in my university, I was ambitious to be a famous and popular novelist.

It was on a social networking site (SNS) that I began to write my opinions and feelings. Since then, I got many SNS friends, they read my writing works and gave me their comments. I loved using SNS and I wrote many essays and some short novels. I just enjoyed writing and collecting comments about it.

Recently I had an opportunity to think why I write essays. I realized that writing essays makes my mind clear, moreover it allows me to reflect on myself. I love writing as much as when I was a little girl. Now I enjoy writing freely according to my imagination. I think writing enriches my life.

“ Knowing the Difference “ - Oden and Sinigang -

Getting to know different culture is very interesting. It is especially fascinating for me to learn differences in food culture.

Now I study English with the help of Filipino teachers in an online school and I often enjoy talking about food in Japan and Philippines. But I don’t know much about Filipino cooking and they don’t know much about Japanese one either.

I often tried to introduce Japanese delicious food to my teachers but it is very hard for me to do that in English. A typical example was “Oden”. It is a dish consisting of radish, potato, konnyaku, chikuwa, hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu and other boiled meat. They are stewed with Japanese soup stock, soy sauce and sweet cooking rice wine (mirin). It is a very popular and well known cuisine in Japan and people are looking for it especially during cold season. However the ingredients was very difficult for me to explain in English, especially, “ konnyaku”. “Konnyaku is one of my favorite ingredients, so I wanted to tell my teachers how delicious it is. I tried to describe but I felt it is almost impossible for me to explain it.

I think everyone loves “Oden” and almost all Japanese know it. But it is the common thing only for Japanese. I found that "Oden" is a new and unique food for people who have a different culture, so I was a little bit surprised at that time.

I’ve experienced a similar situation when we talked about a typical Filipino food “Sinigang. “ It looked delicious and balanced. However I still couldn’t imagine its taste even though my previous teacher already explained how to cook it and what are ingredients used.

It was the first time for me to know the typical Filipino seasonings like tamarind, patis and bagoong.

I could only imagine that “Sinigang “ has sour taste because I heard tamarind, which is the main ingredient, is sour.

I felt knowing these two different foods impressed me and entice me to know more about the vast difference of food culture in both countries. Moreover I even thought of the factors that defines the back ground of dietary culture such as geography, history and climate. It enriched my understanding about Philippines as well as Japan.

“Oden” is a familiar food for me and “ Sinigang” is familiar for my teachers. I know the world is wider than before and knowing the difference of dietary culture taught me the importance of learning it. Now I think that knowing the differences enriches me.

“A Small Test in My Life”

I live happily and quietly now. I don’t have much stress from other people because presently I don’t work and my family consists of only me, my father and younger brother. My world is very small and peaceful.

Even though I live in my small and peaceful world, relating to others are complicated and troublesome. I sometimes feel it is hard for me to be good at associating with others. For example, there is a woman in my neighborhood who likes to boast about herself. We often have to listen to her proud words in our town meetings, festivals, parties and so on.

Listening to her insensitive pride translated into senseless words many times makes me sick and all fed up. I think boasting is uncomfortable for everybody. She continues to be too proud of herself because probably she is the only one who doesn’t notice the situation. Only a few people who flatter her pretend to be glad listening to her stories. As others are mature adults, they try to endure the same topics about herself over again and again.

I don’t know how to accompany such people. Even though it is not serious as it looks, it is very uncomfortable for me and that is now becoming a problem.

I complained to my friends about her after that and I was able to discover that other people don’t like her either. Some even advised me not to relate to her anymore. On the other hand, one of my close friends had a different opinion. She told me that she has a very strong personality and if I could try to connect to her, it would somehow improve my own. Her opinion was an eye-opener for me.

I suddenly realized I closed my mind against her because I didn't like her and my closed heart prevented me from knowing her real character. She is talented, generous and frank and maybe she only conceals her inferiority complex at the same time that is the reason why she is boastful. I think I just didn't want to admit good side of her because of the bad impression which I unknowingly generated due to her strong character.

If I had been more tolerant, she could have a chance to show me her real self which I could like eventually.

Trying to understand her made me recognize that I tend to shut off people who have different attitude from mine and be judgmental.

To be honest, it is still difficult for me to accept her but now I realized that admitting her gives me the way to wide and rich perception. I’m sure that the problem between her and me is a small test in my life. I believe overcoming the small test will improve my identity even more.