Jake's Kawaii Blog

I watched a news video about facility dogs in Japan. In this video, the focus was on Ivy, a Labrador Retriever born in America, and trained to work with children in hospitals. Ivy works to bring comfort at children's hospitals, as well as help children with physical therapy. I have never before considered how a dog may be used to help children with physical therapy through play, but I could see how effective that may be. Overall, I thought this story was very interesting and cute, and shows how powerful animals can be in certain facilities. I think it is definitely worth a watch.

  The presentation given by Dr. Keita Moore on Monday, March 30 was very interesting. The presentation was about laws regarding play and public spaces that are designated for play in Japanese history, especially focusing on the 1970s and the introduction of arcade games, specifically Space Invaders. While the idea of play being incorporated in a non-gambling way was prominent with the introduction of Sigma's Medal Games, police had started to gain interest in these places due to concerns over delinquency. This culminated in the introduction of Invader Houses, cafe like areas that had Space Invaders, and while there was no real incentive to continue playing, the desire to gain high scores was incentive enough. With ideas of childhood and how teens should be spending their time, the conflict between police and these arcade venues was a critical point of discussion in the late 20th Century. Overall, I thought the ideas presented were very interesting, and the sociological and politica...

  Using the same news site we have used before in class for videos, I found a story from two years ago about a girl who had never cut her hair until she was 14 years old. Her hair at that point was 135 cm long, and she found that she'd sometimes step on her own hair, or it would get stuck in her bike wheel when she rode her bike. So, for the first time in her life, she cut her hair and donated it. This story was very interesting, and actually delved into the hair donation process, something I have never really thought about that much. Even so, the importance of this moment was marked with a golden ribbon on her locks of hair, so throughout the process, people dealing with the hair would know that they are part of a larger story. I thought the level of detail and consideration put into this process was very cool to see, and this was overall a very interesting story.

春休みはとても楽しかった。ルームメイトといっしょうにフロリダに行きました。ルームメイトのおじいさんの家にとまっていました。フロリダの天気はとてもよかったで、毎日天気ははれでした。毎日外でプールのとなりにすわって、スマホでまんがを読みました。レストランに行ったり映画を見たりしたし、リラックスをしたし、春休みはとてもよかったです。

 1. 今、応援（おうえん）しているスポーツ選手（せんしゅ）やチームがありますか。 今、試合がありませんですが、私の一番おうえんしているスポーツチームはシカゴ・ベアーズというフットボールチームです。インディアナしゅうのチームじゃないんですが、インディアナしゅうに済んでいる前に私の両親はイリノイしゅうに済んでいたので、シカゴ・ベアーズをおうえんしています。 2. 一番喜（よろこ）ばせたい人は誰ですか。どんなことをしたらその人は喜（よろこ）ぶと思いますか。 今、私の一番喜ばせたい人は私の両親です。たぶん、いいせいせきができたら、私の両親は喜ぶと思います。 3. 今までに出会った本や映画の中で、一番感動（かんどう）したものは何ですか。どんなことに感動しましたか。 本当に一番かんどうした映画は「チェンソーマン レゼ」というアニメの映画です。この映画のサウンドトラックはとてもきれいだし、アニメーションはとてもすばらしいし、かんどうしました。

  I watched a video from NHK World Japan, and it was from their Journeys in Japan series. The video was about Hida Furukawa, a city in Gifu Prefecture. This area gets particularly snowy, especially in the winter, which is something I thought was relatable. With its snowy atmosphere, Hida also has a very interesting architectural history, with particular markings on each building to note the architect. These markings are called Kumo , and I thought it was a very interesting way to show acknowledgement toward the craftsmen of the city. Additionally, the video showed another village higher in the mountains, called Yamanomura Village, where the population is only about 150. But, even in this small of a village, they still had a unique product, kanboshi daikon, a freeze-dried daikon product that can only be made in this area due to the particularly cold winters. While this video had English narration, there were conversations with natives that were particularly interesting. Overall, th...