Coalition squads

Wanted to do this for a while, seems like now is a good time. What I am aiming to do is to come up with analogies to explain, as I see it, certain things in the news. Most people get football so I think I'll use that.
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The biggest news this week is obviously the coalition of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative parties in order to gain a majority in order to make Dave Cameron, husband of SamCam if you are not aware, the prime minister of the UK.

England have got a good set of players and consider themselves easily good enough to win the world cup. For the last 10 years, they have had what can only be considered a left sided problem - if only they had someone on the left that didn't keep drifting in.
Wales have a decentish set of players, people like them and they have a really good left sided player. For Wales, he plays a bit central, but he could occupy the left wing for England. In fact, as a youngster, he even did play for them.
England and Wales get together on a permanent basis.
Of course England only want the guy on the left, but to make it appear even, they put a few welshman in the squad and bring them on as subs.
The Welsh team are completely disbanded and once the left winger has served his purpose, England don't need the whole thing anymore. Except, Wales have not got anything to go back to, they disbanded and all the people that supported them as a plucky side don't really like that anymore.

Oh well, they will have to start from scratch.

リブート

新STAR TREK映画見ましたか。
英語では”REBOOT”「リブート」って呼ぶ「パソコン単語がふえている」。意味は古い話かキャラが新しいポイ。フレシゥなかんじかなぁ。問題はこの映画は誰のために作られたか。もちろんファンだったら興味があるが元のポイが好きになって,ファンになった。ファンじゃなかったら興味がないでしょう？
このブログもちょっとリブートしたい。話はおなじけど！イギリスに帰って、三年前、日本語は全然使わない。まだ分かるが、もちろんレベルは下がって,下がって,今は恥ずかしいレベル（T_T)　「モッタイナイ」と思って、またここにきました
実は、映画館に行って、スタートレック見ました。新しい映画は全然ダメだった。皆は若すぎまして「ありえない」かんじがしました。このぶろぐもかなぁ？

最近GOOGLEでRSSを使ってます。すごくべんりで、皆さん,このブログのRSSアドしてください。

日本語ブログはここです　http://swordwallet.blog.so-net.ne.jp/

旅…日本へ！ [編集]

すごくひさしぶりじゃない?このブログはよくしないから、いつもです。
1月からあんまりニュースがありません。でも日本に来ました！またイギリスに帰りました…
８月に友達のけっこんしきに行きました、もちろんけっこんしきは日本に行われました。この友達は上越人ですから上越県のある町｢高田｣に行われました。東京から電車の往復きっぷは２万円くらいからＪＲパスを買いました。
ＪＲパスは全国に使えるフリーパスです。２万８千円で７日パスが買える,それで日本にどこでも二行ける。：）
だから、ちょっと旅しました。私は日本に３年住んでいましたから国内旅はよくできました。このパスは日本人と外国人とうろくしょう持っている人に禁止です。だからこのチャンス
で...

イギリスって美しいか

南ロンドンは北方よりちょっときたないけど、今日はアート見に行った。
BRITAIN ON VIEWはOXOTOWERにイギリスのけしきのエキシビションです。僕イギリス人ですけど写真は本当にわからない所からとった。イギリスの美しさがわっかて旅行にいきたいです。イギリス人はイギリスの景色にあんまり自慢がないでいつも旅行は海外でする。イギリスに山がないし、海の水透明じゃないし、天気はあんまりよくないし、と思って国内旅行をしない。僕たち違ったかもしれない。

次は新NFTに行った。違う。BFI SOUTHBANK,NFTはBFI SOUTHBANKになった。
日本に行った前、メディアアートに興味があったけどイギリスにかんたんにみられない。東京に恵比寿と新宿でみられましたから興味が増えた。実は恵比寿にジャパンメディアアワードが大好きだった。今ロンドンにOPTRONICAっていうフェスタがあります。
ぼくはBIG IN JAPANにいった。映画館に日本のアニメションが見せた。ふつうのアニメじゃなくて、このフェスタは違う。
全部はサウンドとアニメの合同です。すごくおもしろかった。その後はVJと言うRYOICHI KUROKAWAをみせた。美しいがぞうとおもしろい騒音と雑音の合同でいんしょうてきな公演を見せました。

身いているエキシビションに行きたいですけどどこにある？

見える見える

僕はなまけものですから、さいきん色々あっても何も書いてない。世界にごめんなさい！
金曜日は新テレビ、東芝のレグザと言う、を買いました（でも火曜日にはいたつできた）。PS3のせいで僕のふつうテレビはまんぞくさせない。大きさは３２インチ、ふるいのほうは２１インチ。でも大きさは理由じゃなかった、目的はHDゲーム！いまの感じは「目を洗ったか…」ですけど完璧ではない。黒なら問題がありむす、古いテレビ、ソーニヴェガと言う、は色ですごくいいから違いが気になります。でも、新テレビは本当に便利ですよ。これで全部ゲームがよく見えるしパソコンも通信できるし、本当にすばらしい。
新しいテレビの初バングミはもちろんサッカー。火曜日はアンフィールドでリヴァプールｖｓバーサでした。試合を負けたけどしょうぶは勝った(笑)。その後友達とレジスタンスをやりました。PS3のHDはぜんぜん違うよ！
今から本気でゲームができる！

イントロ

ヘロ
ブロッグでは意味がありますか。ブロッグとウエッブサイトは違いますか

私はイギリス人ですけど、このサイトでブロッグを書きたい。ブロッグの目的は何ですか。読んでわかるでしょう、日本語はよくできないけど、やる気があります。今はロンドンにいますが日本語は日本でならいました。
「ます形」はあんまり好きじゃないし、僕にはらしくないし、だからやめる。
３・４年前しいごとのために、日本に行った。もちろん英語のきょうしだった！日本になん％の外国人はきょうしと思う？
あの時、サイフは「マイページ」を作っただけどやる気はなくなった。もちろん、あの時は英語で書いた、まだあると思う。
今回の目的は日本語れんしゅう。
今はりょうしんと北ロンドン「ゾーン５！」に住んでいる。仕事もロンドンで働いている。ちょっとたいくつだけど、いまはきょうしじゃなくて、デロイトの会社員。会計士になるためにしごとです。デロイトは大きいな会社、世界中にも大きい、日本も…日本で名前はトーマツと呼ぶ。
趣味は…
趣味ってどういう意味？ゲームとサッカーに興味がある。
最近はプレステ３を買った。日本から友達を持って来てゲットした！
日本語をレベルアップしたいから、この日記はたくさん間違いがあると思う、見たら伝えてください。

Christmas/New Year in Japan

For some context - over the Christmas/New Year period I had a pretty lengthy holiday. Most people with a long holiday and money burning a hole in their pockets decide to go travelling. Most...^[A]

Friday 26/12/2003-------------------Christmas in Japan

The level of commercialism of Christmas is pretty bad all around the world but it is a different level here. Level up indeed. All the shops do all the Christmassy things as you would expect for a Mass Commercialism Day anywhere else but there is no, even slight, counterbalance of reason or spirituality. It is the most blatant of blatant reasons to shop. They do not even have a day off or anything! The thing is though, the Japanese, generally, do know how to make it look good. I have seen quite a few trees and they are immaculately lit. Any decorations I have seen on the streets have been visually much more interesting than the standard fare and look very impressive at night. They are just so much more...elegant than I am used to.
On Christmas Day itself, I went down to Ebisu (an area in South West of Tokyo) to meet up with a friend from the UK for a bit of Christmas food action. The place was called "Good Honest Grub" and it was a little expensive. The food was alright but nothing special - definitely for the price.

Anyway, Christmas itself is not a special day as such. I have been told that it is more of a couply thing but I did not notice that to be honest. Though I am blind and, unfortunately, had no personal way of checking that out. The decorations stay out for a long time though - well beyond the 12 days of rubbish Christmas Song lore.
The family importance of Christmas in the UK is really replaced by...


Thursday 01/01/2003---------New dawn as the sun rises

Such a different atmosphere compared to the random loutishness, hard drinking and pressure to have a "great" time (that you cannot remember!) evident in the UK. Most people spend time with their family and Tokyoites seem to return to their hometown to see their parents and parents-in-laws. New Year's Eve is not really that important - it is all about New Year's Day.

I was going to do nothing for the whole New Year festivities as I don't really "do" New Year to any real degree. I hate forced occasions and beyond the forced jollity of Christmas comes the contrived, "must have a good time", competitive New Year's stuff. And, after last year, I had no desire to watch people get slowly even more boring. At least last year they would not be boring from the start but the start point would probably be lower this time! So I declined an offer to go to some random collection of nightspots in favour of staying at home. Well done me. The pressure of opinion?

As it happened, somebody made me a very kind offer (thank you Naomi for that) to go to a temple in Omiya to see what happens there. What the Japanese do is....queue!
As I have mentioned in the past, the trains in Tokyo are excellent when they run but they do finish running a little early for my liking. On New Year's Eve, however, they actually run past 12! I think the lines basically run a fairly skeletal service but it is significantly better than no service at all of course.
As it happened, we met a little before midnight and went down to Omiya. Apparently it is the biggest temple/shrine/whatever/thing in Saitama so there was some reason for going. And lots of people had that idea too it would appear.

Anyway, outside the shrine there were tons of stalls selling all kinds of food, masks, toys and....videogames. A little bizarre but there was a lot of buying going on and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Once we had got through the stalls and stuff (refraining from the food even though I was hungry - when am I not?) we got to a huge mass of people waiting to enter the shrine. It was all pretty civilised and we got through after about 45 mins of waiting, by which time it WAS 2004 but noone really seemed to know or care. I looked at my watch (or phone as it is more commonly known) at 0020 I think. There were quite a few police around keeping it all in order but they could have taken the day off.

Once past the unarmed guards (except for megaphones anyway) you get to the shrine itself and then make the prayer. Is it a prayer? I don't really know as the Japanese people in general seem quite lacking in religion but have a spirituality in what they do seeping through their actions. At the shrine itself, you throw a coin into a collecting trough thing (in my case over the heads of a crowd - dangerous with my eyesight) then clap a couple of times and put your head down and make a wish (or prayer). Ten seconds. Job done. Let's get out of here....

On the way out, you go past a whole load more stalls and one of them (or some) sell these fortune things on paper. You get them and you can read your apparent fortune for the coming year. Then, if you don't like it, you can tie it to the trees on the shrine grounds "for the wind to take it away" and so you will get better luck. Or something. I saw lots of these pieces of paper so either there was a lot of bad luck or the wind was a bit weak. Maybe they were just too damn good at tying.

The trains back involved a lot of waiting as they were significantly less frequent than normal so we sat on the cold station platforms for about an hour altogether and I got home at about 4 or 5. About when the trains start running again in fact.
It was a different type of New Year to normal and it was enjoyable too so I was pretty glad I accepted the offer. I doubt I shall see another one like it so can't complain really. Well I can but I won't.

photos here


---All lettered footnotes were written in 2015---

^{A. Having a couple of weeks off is an ideal opportunity to travel and I did so the next few years. Actually, a few days after this post, I did travel to China to visit Shanghai and Beijing and feel very cold. The following year, I went back to the UK as a surprise visit to my parents which was great fun and a true surprise thanks to my sister's skills. The year after that I went to Bangladesh including a stopover in Hong Kong. These were the only bits of international travel I did in three years although I did take the opportunity to travel around Japan when I could.↩}