Celebrity Student

On Tuesday, October 31st, at 4:40 AM on Nihon TV, Channel 4, there will be a great program on about people who perform traditional japanese style work. If you happen to be awake at this time, I highly recommend watching this program. Also, you can see one of our Global students. We are very proud to have this celebrity student as a member of Global Communications.

Happy Day!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Princess Kiko and Prince Akishino on the birth of their son! A new baby is always a good reason for celebration!

Typically in the U.S., friends and family give gifts to the new mother and baby. Some traditional gifts are a silver spoon or silver pacifier with the date engraved on it. These items can be easily seen at stores like Tiffany's.

Summer Memories

Now that summer is almost over and hopefully most of you already enjoyed some vacation time, let's share our favorite memories about this summer!

Last Saturday (8/26) I went to Koenji to watch the summer festival. The festival at Koenji was the best I have seen so far. There was a huge dance contest. Teams from all over Japan danced in the streets in a huge parade. Each team had small children all the way to seniors. They danced with so much energy and since it was a competition, they really tried to be unique and creative. It was so exciting and I was really glad to have seen it. Also, I really enjoy the city Koenji because it seems to be more youthful and interesting than the area I live in. The only bad part of last Saturday was how crowded it was and how it was almost impossible to leave Koenji when the festival was over. The line just to try and buy a train ticket wrapped all the way around the building. I ended up having to follow the tracks and walk towards Nakano to find a way home!

Good advice Takuma

Dear Takuma-san,

Thank you for the good and very practical advice about vacationing in Thailand. I think your advice about being careful about the water is extremely useful. Thanks to you, I should return back safely without any sickness!

Vacation in Thailand

Hello everyone!

I am going to Thailand next month for vacation. I will be visiting Bangkok and Pattaya Beach. If anyone has good advice about Thailand and sightseeing recommendations for me, I would be so very thankful!

Beautiful picture

Hi Takuma-san!

Your picture of Mt. Matterhorn during sunrise is absolutely beautiful. You were so lucky to see such a beautiful sight, let alone capture it on film successfully. Thank you for sharing the beautiful picture.

Have you ever had the chance to see the sunrise from Mt. Fuji? Last year, around this time, I climbed to the top of Mt. Fuji during night time in order to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, the weather was so rainy and cloudy that we were not able to see anything from the top. :(

I agree with Koji

Thank you for writing so wonderfully your opinion about Europe. I think you are right about how Europe's economy is becoming stronger and stronger. I think the euro has continued to stay strong compared to the dollar.

I hope that the dollar will become weaker than now. So far this year, I have been surprised that the dollar has stayed so strong. I wish that the exchange rate could be around 100 yen to $1 because I usually send money to America.

How do you feel about foreign currency?

(** Your writing was excellent!!!)

Thank you Chiho

Hi Chiho,

Thanks so much for the advice. I think food is a great gift, especially fruit ;) I completely agree with you about trying to find out what the person wants first instead of giving them what you want. I think that's not an easy thing to do, though. Sometimes it's very difficult to know what people like unless they directly tell you what they want.

Is gift exchanges common for New Year's holiday as well. And if so, do people usually give food again?

Summer Gift Giving???

Hello everyone :)
Now that it is summertime, I know that it is the tradition to give gifts to family members or bosses. Could someone please tell me what kind of gifts are appropiate to give. I've heard food is a good gift. What other kinds of gifts are good?

I saw Da Vinci Code too!

I enjoyed the movie as well. I read the book first, however, which I really liked a lot. The one thing that I did not like about the movie was the casting. I don't think that Tom Hanks should have played the part of Robert Langdon. While I was reading the book, that's not who I imagined playing the part. I was thinking it should be Harrison Ford, although he may be too old now to play that character. Other than the casting, I thought the movie was good and true to the book, except for the end.