ちび’s Neighborhood

8月より、Amazonアイテムのサービスが利用できない状況が長期発生しておりましたが、本日早朝に不具合の修正が完了いたしました。

不具合修正完了日：2009年11月3日（アメリカ時間帯11月2日）

不具合修正まで長期にわたりご迷惑をおかけいたしました事を心より深くお詫び申し上げます。

良い休日をお過ごしください。

--チームVox

I haven't had time recently to go to the movie theater, and anyway there haven't been any movies that I really wanted to see. But I did get a chance last weekend to see Gran Torino on DVD. Gran Torino is Clint Eastwood's latest movie; he directed it and starred. Many people think it might be his last movie, too, because he is now very old (79 years old). He has acted in and directed many movies. Do you know the Dirty Harry series?

Anyway, Gran Torino is about an old man, played by Clint, who lives in a neighborhood that used to be all-white but now has many Asians, including his next-door neighbors. Clint is very grumpy and appears to be hostile to his neighbors, to the point of racism. But as the movie progresses, he discovers that his neighbors are human beings just like him, and that in fact they have more in common with him than his own family does. I recommend that you check out this movie!

• Greece (especially the Greek Islands, of which there are more than 1400!)
  
• Finland (my brother used to live there)
  
• Italy (particularly Sicily, Sardinia, and Tuscany)

Italy has the 8th highest quality of life index score in the world. It's also known for its natural beauty and of course the great history of the Roman Empire. Greece is an even older civilization than Rome. Finland is a very cold country and it's dark for about 20 hours per day in winter, but it's very beautiful and the food looks interesting! (Try reindeer with lingonberry vodka and cheese!)

I like traveling and I used to travel quite a lot, although I haven't traveled much the last few years. The first country I visited was Germany; I went there three times when I was a secondary (junior high and high school) student. I also went to France for a homestay for a few weeks when I was a high school student, as well as visiting Paris for a week on a school trip. I also stayed in France for a year before I went to University.

At high school I liked languages very much, so at university I studied Chinese. We had to go to Shanghai to spend our second year. I enjoyed my stay in Shanghai, and while I was there I had many chances to travel around China. I went to Beijing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Kunming, Harbin, and Qiqihaer. My longest trip was from Shanghai to Kunming: it took 52 hours by sleeper train.

In my third year of University I went to the Netherlands. And since I came to Japan I have been to Hong Kong and South Korea.

I went to karaoke after a long time with the friend.
We sang for six hours.
I became painful a little the throat.
However, I was very happy.
I want to go again.

本日本不具合の修正を行いましたが、一部動作に問題が発生することが判明したため、再度日程を延期いたします。
皆様には長期にわたりご不便をおかけしておりますことを心よりお詫び申し上げます。

不具合修正予定は来週を目処に、現在調査対応を行っております。
修正日程が確定いたしましたら改めてご連絡いたします。

よい週末をお過ごしください。

--Ya-ko

8月より、Amazonアイテムのサービスが利用できない状況が長期発生しており、皆様には大変ご迷惑をおかけしております。
変更箇所の特定が完了し、本不具合の修正を本日行う予定でしたが、万全を期すため明日に延期いたします。

不具合修正予定日：2009年10月17日（アメリカ時間帯10月16日）

修正対応中は、一時的にVoxサービスが不安定になる可能性がございます。予めご了承ください。

不具合修正までお時間がかかっておりますことを心より深くお詫び申し上げます。

--Ya-ko

Recently, there have been many international soccer matches. Through most of the world, there have been important qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup. Japan has already qualified for the World Cup but Japan has had to play qualifying matches for the 2011 Asia Cup. It has also taken the opportunity to arrange friendly matches with teams that have also finished their qualifying campaigns, whether they failed or succeeded to qualify. Matches have included Holland, Ghana, Togo, and Scotland.

Japan lost 3-0 to Holland, and many journalists were very critical, but they won all the other matches, and there were many good signs. Finally, Japan appears to have 2 good strikers (Morimoto and Okazaki), and they also appear to be able to change the members while maintaining the system.

• Akihabara
• Fudougan
• Onnojou Park (map)

Akihabara is a famous district in Tokyo. Many people go there to buy electronic goods, because most of the stores are computer stores and electrical goods stores. It's not necessarily very cheap, but there is a big variety.

Fudougan is a park on the side of a mountain in Yamaga, Kumamoto Prefecture. It has three very attractive peaks.

Onnojou Park is in the Itsuwa area of the Amakusa archipelago, also in Kumamoto Prefecture. It's not as lively as it was shortly after construction, but it's very pleasant.