Timed Essay (Journal # 28)

Maiko Harada
11/26/07
A timed essay

Victims of prejudice

There are many Chinese or Korean people living in Japan. When I was an elementary school student, many of them were bullied by Japanese just because they were not Japanese. Their parents were taken to Japan forcibly as slaves during the war, so there was no reason to be bullied. They did not do any bad things. Japanese did. They had a prejudice that they were bad. When I learned Japanese history and knew about that, I was so sorry for them because I did not help them even though my friends bullied. To exclude such a prejudice, we have to imagine if we were them and change our consciousness.
There are many prejudices not only about foreigners in a country, but also about sex, ancestry, disabled. We have to do imagine if we were them. We might know that they did nothing bad and there is no reason for a prejudice, and also we know it is such a sad thing to be a victim of prejudice. We should think what they feel.
After realizing these things, we have to change our senses of prejudice. Unless all we knew about this problem, we cannot clear this. If only I changed my thinking. If you changed your notion, your friends also will change. If your friends changed their notions, friends of friends will change their consciousness. There is no impossible.
If all we could imagine the feeling of victims of prejudice and change our senses of prejudice, there were no victims in the world. We all have same human rights and it should not be violated by anybody.

Happy Thanksgiving (Journal #27)

Things that I am most thankful are all about study abroad. First, I thank to my parents because I am 3rd grade in university in Japan now, so it is not good to go abroad to study at this time because I have to do job hunting from around October to May. Actually most of my friends already started to do that. My parents must worry about that, but they agreed to me when I decided to come here even though it is not good timing. My parents always support me and say “Do whatever you want, but be responsible to all things you did.” I am really thankful to my parents. Second, I am grateful to my grandparents. They assist me with money, I spent my money to go to New Zealand to study two years ago, so they suggest they support me. They always give me advice, admonition, and help. I appreciate them very much. Final, I am thankful to my host family in here. They are so nice people. They always try to talk to me and listen to me gently. If I had nothing to do on weekend, they took me everywhere for fun. One time I talked with my friend on the phone and I said I miss Japanese food, so they took me Japanese restaurant next weekend. How nice people they are! I am so happy to meet them as my host family. To thank about something is very important to know what I should do.

thanksgiving day in NY

Japanese Meat and Potato Korokke (Journal #26)

Japanese Meat and Potato Korokke
http://www.recipezaar.com/164690

Korokke is Japanese fried mashed potato with vegetables and meat. My mom made these all the time when I was a kid. Its is a great portable snack that reheats well.

Ingredients (4 servings)
1 lb potatoes
1/4 lb ground beef
2 tablespoons green onions, chopped
1/2 onion
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper (to season)
flour
panko (breadcrumb)
vegetable oil (for frying)

How to make
1.Peel and cut potatoes into medium chunks. Boil potatoes until soften. Mash potatoes and set aside.
2.Mince onion and saute in a fryin pan. Add ground beef in the pan and saute. Mix mashed potato and onion and beef in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.
3.Make flat and oval-shaped pieces about 3" in diameter and 3/4" thick (a little bigger that a cookie). Coat each piece with flour. Dip in beaten egg. Coat with panko. Fry in 350 F oil until brown.

Boo (Journal # 24)

This is a real story in Japan. As one man got to the elevator hall in his mansion, he met a guy who covered his mouth with a mask and wore sunglasses. He was very hurry, so the guy hit his shoulder hard with him. He said “Oh, excuse me.” But he was so hurry, so he did not say anything. After he went back his room, he found that his shoulder on T-shirt was red. It was blood. He thought he had hurt because of crush with the strange guy but he realized that it was not his blood when he put off his cloth. He thought the guy he met at the elevator hall was injured. The next morning, someone came to his house, he went to the door and answered. “Who are you?” and looked trough the spy hole. There were a policeman, and he said “Last night, there was a murder in this mansion, do you know something?” He thought that the guy he met the elevator hall was murder but he was so sleepy and had a head ache because of too much drank. So that he said he did not know anything. The next morning, he saw the news, it said that the murderer was arrested. It showed the picture of the criminal. The picture gave me gooseflesh. It was the policeman who came to him last night. He tried to find the man he crushed and to kill him!!

Lost in Translation (Journal #23)

Japanese regard humility as virtue. I think this culture sometimes make misunderstanding to people from different countries. We make much of sense of cooperation and do not like to be outstanding very much. One time, a teacher in my university in Japan, is American, said he thought that students took a defiant attitude at a first class in his experience in Japan. He said “Hi everyone, nice to meet you. How are you?” but nobody answered. You must think it is strange and rude, but it is a not unusual thing in Japan. Basically Japanese are quiet and modest in public. I do not like this so much because I like people in here. They can tell things what they think to everyone without hesitations. It is difficult for me to change my habit to American style because the Japanese culture and American one is exact opposite. However I will try to do it because I am in America now!

California fires (Journal #22)

I have never seen the fire for real, so I do not know a fear of it. However the news of California fire made me scared. I feel a nutural threat. Human can not conquer the power of nature, so I afraid natural disasters more than crimes of human. Disaster strikes when it is least expected. The california fire made me sick. I could not breath well and I had a slight headache. I did not like the sandy wind because of it. I saw some sands on my hair, cloths, and face. It was very uncomfortable. My damage because of the fire is tiny thing though. I wish that the damage to everybody in San Diego or the place near the fire will not go worse any more.

Time Management (Journal #21)

Time management is very difficult thing especially for students because we have many fun things. If we have a party on Saturday, can you do your homework on that day? I cannot do it. Here is three steps to manage time well. First, we have to think the order of priority. It is the most important thing. When we have many things to do at same time, it is easy to be confused and give up some of them. However if we knew the priority sequence, we can do the thing which we need to do at just that time. For example, when I clean up my room, I am often diverted by another things like pictures, comics. As a result, I give up to clean up my room and put off it. If I knew that cleaning is the thing which I need more than reading comics or watching pictures, I could finish it. To think priority is very important. Second, we can write down things to do as a list on the paper. It can help to manage time well. We can know what we need easily from it and do things quickly to manage next things in the list. Writing down something is effectively for this. Finally, we have to wake up early even if it is holiday. As the proverb goes, “The early bird catches the worm.” We cannot do things efficiently without waking up early. If you remember these three techniques, you will manage time well.

Journal # 20

The New Year is the one of the happiest occasions for three reasons. We call the New Year’s Day “Oshougatsu.” We can spend time with our families the first three days of Oshougatsu. In Japan, we have special things at that time ; Otoshidama, Osechiryouri, and Hatsumoude. I like those three special occasions very much.
First, for children, Oshougatsu is very happy time because we can get money from adults as a celebration for a New Year. We usually go to our relatives to greet and say “Happy New Year.”, so we can get a lot of money from them. Though I do not know that adults like this traditional custom or not. But i love it because I am still the side of people can get money because I am still a student. I think to give money to children is also happy thing because children look very happy and excited. I like to see it very much.

Second, we have special food called Osechiryouri for Oshougatsu. Usually we make it the New Year’s Eve. We stew many kinds of vegetables, fishes, and seafood. And pack them in the box called Zyuubako with kamaboko(steamed fish paste), and sashimi (sliced raw fishes). Originally, it is made for that women can relax and take a rest without any cooking on Oshougatsu, so Osechiryouri will keep for about a week. I like to cook it and eat it!! They are very delicious.

Finally, the most interesting thing is to pay a visit to a shrine on New Year’s Day. It is called “Hatsumoude.” I like this function very much. I am not a believer in Buddhism, but I visit a shrine every year to pray for our happiness, health and something for me. It is very fun to go there in a traditional costume. I can feel Japanese tradition very much at this time. We usually draw a fortune slip and tell our new year’s fortune with it. If we got bad one, we tie it to the tree to make it up. If we got good one, we could keep it as a good luck charm. It is my biggest event on Oshougatsu.

In conclusion, I like The New Year very much even better than The Christmas because I can spend time with my family and eat delicious special foods and get money (I can get it only one more time though). I like Japanese tradition, but it is difficult to feel it in ordinary life. However I can feel it at that time with Otoshidama, Osechiryouri and Hatsumoude. I am always looking forward to the next New Year Day even the day after New Year’s Day. I love this occasion so much!!

Those are Japanese traditional costumes

"Kimono"

Halloween (Journal # 19)

In Japan, we do not do anything for Halloween, so I am really exited about it. We will go camping in San Diego with my host mom and some of her friends. My host mom will be a girl pirate, and her boyfriend will be a Jack Sparou. It sounds so fun!!! I can not go to the Halloween party at TSU. I am sorry about that, but I am looking forward to the day very much! On last friday, my host mon took me to The Party America, and I bought a costume of the candy corn witch and blond wig. My friend bought a costume of a sexy Indian girl. My host mom also excited about it, and she decoreted our house with a lot of Halloween stuff. We have some wicthes, ghosts, pumpkins, rats, and skeletons in the house. It is very fun!! I am also looking forward to seeing many children in a variety of costumes. My host mom said that about hundred children will come to our house to get candies. I want to hear "Trick or treat" for real. I saw it only in the TV. I will take many photos in the day and want to show them to my parents and friends in Japan.

Journal # 18 Free

I am often asked "Is the cost of living very expensive in Japan?" when I say that I am from Japan. My answer is not so different from here. We have more expensive things compare with here like cars, houses. However I am a student in Japan, so for me, it is not so different. On weekdays, I go to school by bus. It costs around $1.75 for one way. At the lunch time, I spend around $4 on average. It is enough to feel full. We have STARBUCKS in the school, so I buy a coffee everyday. I can buy a medium café late (it is my favorite) for $3.5. I think they are less expensive than here. I often go to the Izakaya bar (Japanese bar) with my friends on Friday or Saturday night, it costs around $25 on average, so it is also same things with here. I sometimes go to the dance clubs, and the entrance fee is around $25. The cloths are more expensive than here, but most of things are same as here. We have many interesting things in Japan, so everybody should come!! I will be a tour guide.

That's Entertainment (Journal #16)

　　　　My favorite movie is “The Devil Wears Prada.” I have three reasons why I like this movie the best. First of all, I like the cheerful and happy movie because I can be positive and get a power for tomorrow from it. Sometimes it is difficult for me to think positive and have a hope for the future especially when I have some big problems which seem I cannot solve by myself. Same as me, the main character has many difficult problems that her boss gives her. However, she always tries to solve it even it seems very difficult and seems that she cannot do it. She never gives up. Finally she overcomes all of them. She always cheers me up. For this reason, I can open my mind to the problem after I watch this movie. Second reason is that they have many fashionable, cute and fine clothes in this movie. That is because this story is set the office of editorial department of the most famous lady’s fashion magazine. I like watching high sense clothing very much, so it is very enjoyable for me. The last reason is very simple. I really like Ann Hathaway. In conclusion, this is the cheerful and encourage movie with my favorite actress Ann Hathaway. There is no movie better than this for me now.

If You Could Visit Any Place in the World, Where Would You Go?(Journal #17)

If I could visit any place in the world, I would go to Tahiti because when I visit any place as a trip, I want to go to somewhere I can be relax in the good romantic atmosphere. I have three reasons for choosing beauty and hearing paradise Tahiti as a place I want to go. At first, I want to stay at overwater bungalows in there. It is very famous as one of the images of Tahiti. The traditional Tahitian bungalows are placed above the turquoise pure lagoon waters. We can see colorful swimming tropical fishes through the glass floor, and the amazing sunset from the balcony on the horizon. In addition to this, our breakfast is often delivered by canoe. How romantic is it! Second, I want to see the Polynesian culture. In my image, their dance and music are very dramatic and strong. In fact, they are not only beautiful, dramatic, and powerful, but also are linked with people real life. I want to realize all Tahiti keenly. They must heal me and make me an air of romance. Finally, I really want to visit Polynesian spas. They are now one of supreme spas in the world. In the gorgeous surroundings like beauty and floral fragrances, flesh flower baths, herbal rain showers, and banana tree wrap for body. It is like an exact paradise. There is obviously nobodyis not healed in there.

Free thoughts: Journal # 15

Her name is Precious. She is interested in everything. Except when she is really tired or relaxed, or she is worried about something. She is fascinated with eating and running. She likes running very much, and sometime we go to the park to run. When I do not go to run with her, she is very depressed. One time, after going to the park to run, she was so exhausted and took a rest on the sofa. I was bored because there was nobody else in my house. I tried to wake her up, and crept up to her and screamed, so she was surprised and frightened very much, and also disappointed to me. I was confused and embarrassed because I have never seen her so mad to me. She was annoyed for few hours. I was very shocked about it, so I apologized to her and gave her some cookies. In a moment, she became in high humor, and I could know that she was pleased and excited. Because she waggled her tail cheerfully and jumped around me. Yes! She is my lovely dog.

The Legend

These are the pictures of Kasajizo
( stone statues of Jizo with hats)

They are one of gods of Japan

The American Family (Journal #14)

My host family does not have children, so I do not have information about their attitudes toward their elders and toward others in authority, but I can say some information about the children in Japan, so I give you some of them. In Japan, some people give their children the strict discipline. They make their children take an examination for an elementary school. I think it is not good for children because they are just kids when they are kindergartners. They need to play with their friends and family. They need freedom. It is said that people’s personalities are made until they become 5 years old. That’s why I think they need freedom. They have to see and feel many things in that time to create good imaginations. Too much education can take away their originality and individualism. I feel that Japanese are easy to be prepossessed with formulary things. American seem feel freer to raise their children than Japanese. Americans make a point of originality, but Japanese make much of cooperation with others. I prefer the American one. To have strong individuality is a great thing.

My Favourite Holiday Spot (Journal #13)

My house is located in Fullerton, CA in America. Near the Down Town Fullerton, at the Nutwood Avenue. My house has a big yard, and I like spend a holiday at there. There is a big tree, so I have a nice shade under it. On Sunday, basically it is the day to do homework and read books, so I carry the chair under the tree and spend a half of day in there. I can see some plants like the tree of Tomato, Cucumber, Red Pepper. Sometime, the dog in our house runs around the yard, and barks cheerfully. I can hear the chirp of birds, and feel comfortable air. The yard in my house is my favorite holiday spot.

Journal #12 - Free descriptive journal

I can see the people’s happy smiles and hear cheerful conversations. Waiters are courteous and merry. It makes me happy. I can smell nice, Italian foods, and Cheese cake! I am in The Cheese Cake Factory now. The waiter asks us the order with a big, nice smile. We ordered lunch pasta sets and their great original cheese cakes. As soon as take our order, he brings the breads, my favorite is the brown sugar one, so we talks about weekdays with it. There are many people at busy time, but everybody seems happy because waiters are really nice to customers. About fifteen minutes later, he brings our pastas. During eating it, we can not talk because we are absorbed in our pastas. It is fantastic!! I like the pasta of dried tomatoes with white cream sauce. After finishing it, he brings our cheese cake. Their very white cheese cake with whip cream is really nice. Because it is from The Cheese Cake Factory! They are professional of cheese cakes. It makes always a deep impression on us. We hum happily during we eat it. We go out there with big smile with cheesecakes for next day….

(Journal # 11)

My favorite season is the summer. I like the glared sun, strong sunshines, the screaming of cicadas, the song of bell ringing cricket, the crowded beach, fireworks, fresh smell of greenery, the atmosphere of the summer night, the sound of wind bell. They make me excited though I do not why. It is said that our birth month relate with our favorite. My birth month is September, so in my case, it is true. I have some bittersweet memories of loves in Summer. To go to the fireworks wearing Yukata, Japanese traditional costume for summer, with boyfriend is very fun and romantic for me. I also like eating soumen (Japanese noodle) with hearing the sound of wind bell. It is one of my favorite scenes of summer. My mother likes bell rings, so in summer, we have some of them around the house. It makes me comfortable and relax. My family like have a dinner at balcony in summer. At night, it is cool and we can see the night view from there, so we like it. Interestingly, the summer makes me more positive, sociable, optimistic person. So I have a fewer problems in Summer than in Winter. To keep being happy is my slogan, so I feel the best in summer!

A Discription (Journal #10)

I think the person who has most influenced me is my mother. She is a good natured, expansive, funny, broad-mineded, peaceful, tolerant person. Especially, she is very generous toward everything. To be tolerant always is not so easy. I have never seen her very angry. When she get angry very much, she goes to her room. After she coming back to us, she is usual her. My father is sometimes quick-tempered (thought I like him), and I think I cannot marry him because I am not so tolerant as her. For example, he changes his mind easily when he get angry. One time we went to the famous Italian restaurant, but they made a mistake for making a reservation. As it turned out, we could not eat their food that night. He was so angry and near picking a fight with them. At this time, she said ''Look! That Japanese restaurant is also famous. I have seen it in a magazine, and it seems not so busy.'' How peaceful was she! My father became good mood, and said, ''Oh really? I like Japanese better than Itarian actually.'' She knows that to be nice is always better than to be oppose, even it is difficult. To try to be nice when I am angry is the thing I learned from her. It is a very important thing to live with people.
I respect her very much and want to be like her.

I was really happy on my birthday!!! (Jounal#9)

It was my birthday on 15 September. On 14th Sep,I was with Azusa, my Japanese friend, we were at her house. We planned to go to the concert under the stars at the scool, but she said that she had to go to her classmate's house to give the text books at first. So we went to her house. When I opened the door, there were many my friends. I was so surprised because there was also my best friend in Riverside! Azusa invited her as a suprising for me. And they prepared birthday cake, foods and birthday presents for me. I was really really happy. I love my friends so much!! After that, another my friends took me to Hollywood and Long beach to see night view. It was awsome! And on my birthday,I went to the cheesecake factory with Cynthia and Azusa. Cynthia made a resavation for me because I have wanted to go there vey much. The food was so nice and waiters singed the birthday song for me! I was so happy. Then, we went to L.A. and The Glove,the big shopping mall, and had fun very much. I was so happy for everything!!! Thank you very much my great friends!!!!!!!!

A Tragedy (Journal#8)

When it happened, I was at my house with mom. We cooked the dinner together. We always watch the news when we cook dinner. So we could not undertand what happened at the first because we focused on the cook. I thought somebody changed the channel of TV because it looked the movie. But it was not. We stoped cooking and watched the news carefully. Every channel were about it. We discussed something and prayed that everybody was safe. It was like a nightmare.

A Passing (Journal#7)

When I was a high scool student, my grand father died because of a trafic accident. He was so important to me. He was so kind and tolerant to everything, so I respected him very much. He taught me many things like cooking, growing vegetables, calligraphy. Especially, he was good at cooking very much, so All of family loved his cooking. It was the day I learned how to cook his special curry, when I cut the vegetables, he went to his field to water his crops. After that, he never came back the house again. It was the first time I experience that I lost somebody important me. I could not do anything even crying because I could not understand what happened. I did not want to know what happened, so I thought it was a nightmare. I wanted to think it was a bad dream. I cried at the first time when I saw the video recorder which I and him went to the zoo. He liked Okinawa very much, so we went to there to bury some his ashes. At that time I realized his death at the first time. It was a half year lator. The death of somebody important person was so sad and difficult to understand. But it can tell us some very important things like how precious the life is and love.

Journal #6

In my opinion, fundamentally there is no right age to get married. I think it is the best to get married when we find a dream marriage partner. The most important thing is our partner because we can not change them so easily. However, too early or too late is problem. Because we need a lot of thing for marriage such like money, responsibility, strength, endurance, and consideration. If people got married too early, the ability to have responsibility, and solve problems might be not enough. Opposite to this, if it is too late, we could have a difficulty of bringing their children up. For I think that we are required a big force when we have children. As a conclusion, the right timing is after people become to be able to stand on their own feets, and also as long as they have a power to their children.

Journal #5

Although it has past only a month since I came to the US, I have some changes to my sense of value. First, I became to say hello to people when eyes fitted somebody. It is an uncommon thing in Japan. We speak to only our friends. Yet American people always say hello to someone whom they meet at the bus stop, in the elevator, on the train, everywhere! They are very friendly. I like the American style because it makes me happy. Second, Americans know what they want to do, and do it. Most of students in university do not know what they want to do. So most of them study not so much, usually they spend their time to work to get pocket money, have fun more than study. So sometime it is said that university life is like a summer vacation of our lives. Opposite to this, I feel that students in US have strong aims of their future because when I ask them their dream, they usually can tell me clear ideas. They plan to make their interests their job. It is wonderful. I was so impressed and realized that it was very important thing for university students because we have to get our job soon. I would like to consider about my future seriously and find my dream in here. Because in my opinion, the happiest people are those whose work interests them.

Journal #4 A Narrative

Since I entered the university, I have lived by myself near the school. It had a big effect on my life. I think I became to try to stand on my own feet. Because when I lived with my family, my mother did all the houseworks for us, so I did not know how difficult it was. Now, I can cook, wash, clean and kill cockroaches. The last thing was the most difficult thing for me because cockroaches are one of the things I really hate from the day I saw flying cockroach!
One day, I found a cockroach under the desk. I screamed even there was only me in my room. I thought that I could not kill it because I do not want to approach it. But unfortunately it was mid night, so I had no choice except to kill it by myself. Its quick movement made me so scared. I had butterfulies in my stomack. I went to the convieient store and bought an insecticide. The feeling that I had to solve the problem by my self mmade me strong. It took a long time to kill it, but finally I succeed. After the day, I became stronger and be able to do everything by myself.