Dec. 21 Winter 2009

My Favorite Photo
My favorite photo is of me tree planting in Malaysia. It
was taken in 2008 on the Malaysian Island of Borneo. In
this photo is a Malaysian family that helped with the tree
planting program. We planted Mahogany, Acacia, Mango,
Durian and Mangrove trees. This picture is important tome because it reminds me that trees and forests create a life
support system for humans and the environment. Trees
and forests provide humans with the elixir of life.
I am a member of a Non Governmental Organizationthat promotes tree planting to help the environment
around the world.
Takashi Ishikawa

Flashback To The Old Days
World travel is very interesting and has healing effects. Also, if you goabroad for travel, you can get unusual experiences. World heritage sites arevery historical, traditional or have beautiful nature. Therefore, you should go
to them when you travel the world. For example, you can enjoy going to theTower of London and the historic district of old Quebec.
UNESCO registered the Tower of London as a world heritage site in1988, and it has three nice points which you must visit there. First, it has adreadful history. William I thought England needed a fortified castle to guard
enemies, and started to construct in 1078. After about 20 years, it was finishedduring Henry III. Then, it started to be used as a prison since 1282. For thisreason, many historical famous people were executed there. In addition, it has
mysterious animals. Many raven are there and breeder called a raven masterlives. The Great of Fire of London occurred in 1666, and many people wereburned to death. Therefore, ravens ate many dead bodies and increased
dramatically. Finally, it has beautiful treasures. Although it was used as a
prison, it is used as a palace of the royal family now. Also, it holds the largest
diamond in the world, called the Great Star of Africa. This diamond is 530.20
carats. For these reason, you might feel like going to the Tower of London.
UNESCO registered the Historic District of old Quebec as a world
heritage site in 1985, and it has three attractive points. First of all, it has aninteresting fact. Quebec is the only "castle city" in North America. Therefore,
it has a lot of historical places to go sightseeing. Second, you can experience
French culture there. Because it was a colony of France, French culture is
widespread in Quebec. For example, there are many French restaurants, mostpeople speak French and the signs are written in English and French. Finally,it has many charming places. For instance, Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac isvery historical hotel. This hotel looks like a castle and has a very luxurious
interior. Maybe, almost of Japanese want to stay there. In conclusion, you
should go there.
Overall, when you travel the world, I recommend going the world

heritage. If you go the Tower of London and the Historic District of old
Quebec, you will feel to become a solider or the royal family. In the old days,
these places were a fortified castle or a castle city living the royal family or
many soldiers.

Kazuki Sawai

Vestige of the Roman Age
Traveling abroad is very interesting and everyone enjoys it. If you travel,
you should go to a World Heritage Site. You can enjoy seeing, hearing,
touching, and taking pictures at the place. There are two big walls in the
United Kingdom that are registered on UNESCO's World Heritage list, andthey are both worth visiting.
Hadrian's Wall is the longest and is somewhere I would like to see. It has
an interesting history. It was built in 122 A.D. It took ten years to complete.
In addition, this wall was built by command of the emperor. Therefore, thiswall was named for that emperor. The wall's length is long. It is 118
kilometers. It was built from West to East along the border of England andScotland during the age of the Roman Empire. People absolutely had to obey
the emperor.
The other World Heritage Site is Antonine Wall. First of all, it was built in
142 A.D. It took only two years to complete. Anntonine Wall was built very
quickly. It was also named after an emperor. Therefore, this wall also has thename of an emperor. The wall's length is 60 kilometers long. It was built toguard against attack from the Scottish. The emperor and people must havebeen desperate to protect their country.
Visiting a World Heritage Site is interesting because you can learn manythings there. I especially recommend going to these walls. You can walk along
the walls. If you are interested in Roman history, you should go there.

Masataka Sakaida

2

No.6 Winter 2009

Living Abroad
Living Abroad
Living abroad has many great advantages mainly because it isreally exciting and everything people experience is new, such as fresh
surroundings and meeting interesting people. People can learn
foreign languages and more about other cultures, as well as making
many new friends. I went to Canada this past March to study
English and I stayed there for almost a month. I had a great time andI was able to make friends with people from many different
countries; like Korea, China, France, Spain, and, of course, Canada.
At first, it was difficult to communicate with the people I met, but
we were able to finally become good friends.
On the other hand, there can be some setbacks. For one thing, it
is hard to contact your family and friends, so sometimes you feellonely. You can even feel lost because of the great differences between
your own language and culture and another culture. The new one
you are living in. I remember feeling lonely because I could notcommunicate with my host family during the first three days.
Overall, when you are considering whether or not you would like tolive abroad, you should think about the positive value of theexperience you can have and be prepared for any challenges you
might meet along the way.
Rina Yamamichi

Advantages and Disadvantages
Although living abroad has advantages and disadvantages, I think
it's important to seek out new opportunities through this uniqueexperience. When I was in Canada, the scenery and landscapes I saw
were pretty amazing, so they impressed me deeply. Of course, I could
experience the differences in language and culture and I wasparticularly excited about having the chance to become more fluent
in English and communicate with people on a more meaningful
level. In fact, I was able to meet and become friends with several
people from many different countries.
On the other hand, when I stayed in Canada, I also experienced
some disadvantages. First of all, the airline fare was very expensivefrom Japan to Canada. I also lost my way once and wandered into a
strange place that ended up to be a private road. Since I didn't haveany close friends or family around, I occasionally got homesick.
Naturally, it was difficult at times to communicate because English isso different than Japanese. Despite the fact that there are certain
disadvantages to living abroad, you can be sure to have both ameaningful and interesting experience.
Hatsumi Honma

Japanese Students' Attitude to Study
I went to New Zealand to study English last year and met a lot of
people from different countries. In the whole of my stay, the biggest
surprise I had was the local and foreign students' attitude towards
their major subjects. I realized that Japanese students are less serious

about their major studies in comparison with the students from othercountries, which may be the result of shortcomings in the Japanese
education system.
In Japan, I have seen a great number of university students who
hardly ever think deeply about their majors. I actually used to be oneof those students and thought it was quite normal. Students in Japantend to study only for credits, entrance, or graduation. They are notvery curious about what they are studying.
On the other hand, the students I met in New Zealand weretotally different. One of my Korean friends may be a good example.
He was studying English there to study his major, which wasengineering science, intensively in a university in New Zealand. It
was obvious that all classmates had very clear reasons to study
English abroad. They consider studying to be a great opportunity to
expand knowledge in their interests.
Why can Japanese students not be as eager to study as foreign
students are? In my estimation, the problem may be the Japanese
education system itself. In terms of English, we all study English forat least six years in junior high school and high school, but only avery few adults speak English in fact. English teachers in Japan
always focus on grammar, but in real communication, there is no use
whatever learning about various highly subtle esoteric points ofgrammar and vocabulary.
In conclusion, if Japanese education covers more useful andinteresting ways to study, it will motivate students. Now I know how
interesting it is getting to know more things. I want everyone toknow this feeling.
Hiroshi Onizuka

Living Abroad
I think that living abroad is a good experience because it isexciting and you can learn a new language. It is likely that you canlearn a new language at a steady pace because you are forced tocommunicate with people by using their native language. When I
went to Hawaii to play lacrosse, I was able to talk about lacrosse withlocal residents. I couldn't understand what they said at first, but I
could gradually understand after talking with them over a few days.
You can also experience a new culture. You usually can't fully
experience a new culture in Japan, so you will receive a goodstimulus. Finally, making friends is a sure way to get accustomed andthoroughly enjoy your experience abroad.
However, there are also some disadvantages. First of all, the foodis very different. Perhaps there are some types of foods you cannot
eat and that do not agree with your constitution. Through my own
experience, I wanted to eat rice, but the rice balls that were sold at
the food stalls were more expensive than those sold in Japan. It is also
possible to suffer from the differences in language. If you don't
communicate actively, you can't learn a new language. Finally, you
may also suffer from differences between cultures. Although it isdifficult to accept a new culture, I think it is a good experience forpeople to try and live abroad at least once in their lives.
Saori ShimuraNo.6 Winter 2009

3

FUTUREI am going to live in Australia after university. I want tospend my life time there. I think I can find new myself andchange myself. But first of all I have many things to do inJapan while I am in university. For example, improving myEnglish skills, making big money to stay there and to go toschool, and graduating from university. Only people who
can work them out will have an awesome experience inanother country I think. Going to overseas is easy. But hardto get a great experience. Because there are many things
there include good and bad things.
This essay [=one we read in the Reading textbook] gave
us really simple advices. But really important. We shouldmake a plan seriously and find out reasons why we want tostudy abroad, what we'll do there and we will have an
awesome experience in another country I think.
Honami SatoThe Importance ofLearning English
Learning language plays a significant role for people
who are looking for something special, such as business, astay abroad and so on. There have been lots of people who
consider that English is the common language around theworld and they have started to study English to keep up
with the global situation lately. I agree that English and thecultures of English speaking countries are becoming more
important in our society. Learning the language is one of
the best ways to learn about English cultures and to
broaden our perspectives.
One reason why learning English is important isbecause we can learn the cultures of Anglophones while westudy English. I believe that we have to get to know theircultures to be able to use English well because we can't
communicate with people who are from a different cultural
background without understanding their customs.
Moreover, we can avoid misunderstanding their cultures if
we are able to use English without any problem when
speaking to people living in English-speaking countries.
Therefore, this motivation is going to help us to learn
English.
Another reason why English is a good thing for us tolearn is because we can find lots of different opportunities
in our future if we can use English very well. Manycompanies need people who can speak English because, as I
said before, English plays an important role for them tokeep up with the current global business. It means we canget a job easily if we can speak English. In such a situation,bilinguals are valuable in the world so it is also possible that
we can get a job abroad with our English skills. In addition,
learning English allows us to live easily abroad. If we canspeak English, we can get out of our country and live inmost of the countries around the world. Most people havelearnt English as a second language so it is possible, as well,
to stay in countries where English is not spoken as a first
language. Especially, when we are young, it is a great
opportunity to broaden our minds by living in different
countries and we experience many things we can't have in
our own country.
In conclusion, learning English is a great objective. I
understand why so many people try to study English. On
the whole, we can obtain lots of advantages from that and it
has recently become very important for our global society.
As a consequence, learning English is very useful for us toacquire global "thinking" so we can obtain not only
language skills but also the best of life's experiences.
Tomoaki Kita

4

No.6 Winter 2009

The Mask
The Mask is the masterpiece ofAmerican comedy. Movie industries in
America have developed since the 1890s
and launched a lot of movies in theworld. Now, no one in most of countries
do not know American movies. Even if
you say an American movie, it has manykinds such as action, animation, horror,
documentary and so on.
Many kinds of films are made in America. Above all, comedy
movies are best because of the personalities of Americans. An
image of American I have is fine, lively, cheerful and very funnypeople. They are always homey and sometimes joke on
somebody naturally. Maybe, it depends on the person, but I
believe they have a large number of sense of comedy. Thus, themovies they made are high quality and make me laugh.
The movie, The Mask was released in 1994 in America. In
Japan, it was in 1995. The director is Charles Taze Russell andthe actors are Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz and so on. Jim Carrey
played the lead in this movie, who is a timid and foolish man.
One day, he tries to help a drowned person and jumps into
the river. But a person is a mask which is a green wooden one.
Casually he picks up a doubtful mask. The moment he puts it
on his face, he greatly transforms to the mystery man with theface of the pea green with the superhuman strength. He
borrows the power of the mask, and gives a try to the club
singer, Cameron with whom he fell in love.
In this movie, the viewpoint is a dance powerful scene.
Dances are cheerfully after all. I am sure to smile inunconsciously. A man with a green face moves comically. As if
we watch a overseas animated cartoon. Because we are happy,
our body moves instinctively together.
The same name comic of Dark Horse Comics is an original.
Jim Carrey was accomplished The Mask and suddenly he becamea great actor. Also, despite Cameron Diaz was a newcomer, she
was greatly selected for this work, and joined a top star. The
image made good use of by SFX, and was nominated to theachievement in visual effects in Academy Award. "The Mask 2"of the sequel is open to the public in 2005.
In this movie, there are many funny scenes, for example, acartooned over action form which eyeballs and heart dash out.
It is a Slapstick comedy movie that is the photograph takenfrom life of "Tom and Jerry" as it is. Occasionally, musicals areincluded. This movie is so funny that I can not forget.
Mami Hiratsuka

24
The American drama 24 is agood example of American
technology, government, terrorism,
crime and gun. These are goodmatters to know about American
culture and society. Knowingthat is good to study different

Cultureculture for us. 24 showed American culture simply, so we canknow about America easily.
First of all, 24 showed a good technology. For example,
people who appear in 24 are using cell phones. They use themanytime. They can call at once. They can send information eachother. Moreover, they use computers. They can use the Internetby computer. It is good for them to search information. For
instance, information is about an enemy. Where is an enemy?
How many is an enemy? Of course, if computer catch
information, it can send information to cell phone. Technology
is very important for this drama. Without nice technology, theycannot find, and arrest enemies. Moreover, old American
movies do not using like cell phone and computer. So, thisdrama showed technology is progressing very quickly. It is goodfor police.
Second, this drama is near the American presidential
election. In other words, there are near Super Tuesday. It isshowed about government, for example, the work of president.
And, supporter of president, raise an outcry against thepresident, activity of government face the crime, and so on.
Moreover, in this drama, American president is from Africa.
And, now, real American president is an African- American.
His name is Barack Obama. In drama, the terrorists are out tokill president. Actually, in 1963, John F Kennedy was killed bysomeone. It is a real story. Perhaps, terrorism is happen again.
This drama is reminds me of this sad happening.
Third, this drama has many crimes. There is, abduction,
child abuse, and so on. Crimes in 24 are very realistic. Crimes
are happening actually in America. Moreover, crimes are atissue these days. So, we have to raise awareness concerning
crimes issues. 24 showed real American crimes. American
drama has many crimes. And, in 24, most of the culprit, boththe actor and the police are white man. This is very traditional
thing.
Finally, this drama usually uses guns. Apart from this drama,
many American dramas and movies more use gun thanJapanese dramas and movies. This is showed that America ismore a gun society than Japan. Police is using guns. Moreover,citizens are using guns too. These days, American news showed
many problems that a crime by using gun citizen. Perhaps, thismovie has bad influence on many people. In drama, people use
gun usually. This kind of dramas and movies are growing real
crimes. We should distinguish between drama and reality.
Shiori Nawa

American Hip Hop Music
Hip hop is one of the great American cultural things. Hip
hop culture originally emerged in the Bronx, New York City, inNo.6 Winter 2009

in Media
the mid-1970s. Hip hop was developed by African Americans
and Latin Americans who lived in the Bronx. Hip-hop mainly
consists of four factors which are rap, DJ, graffiti writing, andbreakdancing. Among these four factors, I am going to focus on
rap music.
Today, rap music is getting more popular day by day all over
the world, for example, Japan, China, Korea, France, Germany,
and America of course. There seem to be many people,
including me who like to listen to rap music. Rap music is
especially loved by young people. Maybe, they think it is coolfor them to listen to rap. People have been fascinated by theunique melody, the impact it has, the way of singing, and the
lyrics.
There are so many hip hop musicians in various countries
who sing hip hop songs in their own languages. In America,
there are so many famous hip hop singers who lead the hip hop
music field. For instance, my favorite famous singers are
Eminem, Nelly, Black Eyed Peas, T-pain, Akon, Ciara, andKanye West. They usually express anger and frustration at
various political and social problems. They put a lot of thought
into their songs. Sometimes, rap songs contain offensive
language. For example, some artists are "dissing" particularpeople in their songs, so sometimes rap songs are not good forchildren to listen to because of the offensive and bad language.
By the way, there is rivalry between East coast hip hop andWest coast hip hop, and there's no chance of it going away. Sofar, several famous hip hop singers were killed in shootings
because of the big strife. It is a sad thing in view of the fact thatrap performances were originally made to avoid killing one
another. It was created to make a distinction between people
without fighting. The popularity of hip hop and rap in the past
20 years has made a huge impact on American culture andsociety among the younger generations. I believe rap music will
become more and more important in America in the future.
Yusuke Sakai

EMINEM
Eminem is a good example of American culture. He is amusician and sings hip hop and rap music. Also, he writes the
lyrics in his songs. His first released CD album infinite, in 1996,
was under an independent label. At that time, he held aminimum-wage job of cooking and dishwashing at a restaurant.
It was in 1999 he quickly became popular with his major-label
debut album The Slim Shady LP, and which won a Grammy
Award of Best Rap Album. His next album, The MarshallShady Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling album of hip hop
in history. It brought him great popularity. His third album,
The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, and in 2002, he

5

won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for a song in
the film 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. Nowadays, it
is possible to say that he is the most famous hip hop singer.
Why I picked him for this topic is that Hip Hop music isfrom African Americans and Latin Americans music. Hip Hopmusic is part of Hip Hop culture, which began in the Bronx, in
New York City in the 1970's. African Americans and Latin
Americans are predominant in hip hop. But Eminem, a whiterapper, overcame this. He became interested in hip hop andperforming amateur raps at age fourteen after procuring a copyof the Beastie Boys album Licensed to Ill. He frequently
participated in "freestyle battles" at Osborn High School acrosstown from where he lived, gaining the approval of undergroundhip hop audiences. It is also possible to say that he becamefamous by these battles.
Eminem also gets much attention because he sometimes
disrespects other people. A good example is with the rap artist,
Everlast. Actually, Everlast sang a song disrespecting Eminem
along with his wife and daughter before Eminem made thesong. After that, Eminem made two songs completely
disrespecting Everlast. One of those songs is a reference for hisfans to physically hurt Everlast for me. That incident provedthat Eminem is not scared in his mind. However, Eminem
made a song which demonstrates racial discrimination. From
this it is possible to say that he is a typical American. Many
Americans demonstrate forms of racial discrimination.
Now Eminem is a top star. He succeeds in his music style.
He came into African American culture and won some prizes.
Also, many people from all over the world know him. Of
course, because America has a big influence on the world,
Eminem has it, too. His CD sales are huge. His brand new CD
had about 3,000,000 sales at only one CD chain store in a
week. This is an amazing sale. He is a top seller in the rap
world. His words are popular.
Yukie Kimura

S TAFF
Lookout,no.6

Winter 2009◆◆◆

Editor-in-chief
Assistant Editor

B.Bricklin Zeff
Lorne Kirkwold◆◆◆
Publisher:
Faculty of Humanities
Hokkai-Gakuen University
Printed by i-Word◆◆◆
The views expressed in Lookout
belong to the individual contributors,
and do not necessarily reflect theviews of the editors or HGU.

6

No.6 Winter 2009

Animal Talk
DugongHello. My name is Harry. I am an eighteen-year old male dugong. I live inthe ocean near North Australia. This is the story of my life. My family was sobig. There were three brothers, three sisters, my father, my mother, mygrandfather, and my grandmother. The reason I had such a large family is thatdugongs live so long; our life expectancy is over seventy years. For example, mygrandmother is eighty years old now.
When I was a baby, I lived with my mother because I had to be nursed. By
the way, do you know the story of the mermaid? I have heard that humans think
we dugongs are the model of the mermaid story because when our mothers
nurse their babies they look like mermaids. When I was a baby, perhaps mymother also looked like a mermaid. Anyway, I lived with my mother when I was
an infant. After I was weaned, I mainly lived alone. A human may think it isstrange, but it is not strange for us; there are many dugongs who live alone.
However, I was not always alone, sometimes I swam in schools. Also, I swamwith Mark; he is a sea turtle of my age. He and I were really good friends. We
used to swim to many different places to get food. To my joy, we both like thesame type of food, especially seaweed, our favorite food.
I was more curious about things than most dugongs. Once, when I was
swimming I saw a fisherman who was diving for fish. It was very fun to see! I
really loved humans. Seeing humans under the sea was one of my greatest
pleasures. In short, there were many interesting things going on in my life.
However, there are some terrible things. For example, the sound of a boat
engine is one of them. The reason is that sometimes we dugongs have accidents
with boats and I had seen one dugong meet his death like this. Since then, I
became more scared of boats. We were also sensitive to sound so if I heard thesound of a boat engine, I would swim away at full speed.
Unfortunately, the accident happened suddenly. One day, I was swimmingas usual with Mark. That day, he and I swam together for long time, over eight
hours. After I bade him farewell, I was swimming alone. This was also as usual
every day. Then, I heard the sound that I really hate -a boat was coming! So, I
swam to escape at full speed. But the boat was faster than me, and not aware ofme. At last, I was caught in a propeller under the boat. I was hurt badly, but I
could not have been helped by anyone. Finally, I lost my life due to my injuries.

Ryota Nishimoto

Ganges River Dolphin
Hello. My name is Dariya. It means river in Hindi, or that's what my father
told me when I was a child. I am a 13 year- old male Ganges River Dolphin and
I live in Brahmaputra River in India. We don't live in the sea. My mother told
me, "Most humans think dolphins only live in the sea, but our species don't. We
can live only in fresh water like a river or a lake, you know."
When I was born, I couldn't see anything. I was surprised, but my mothertold me, "Oh, my dear little boy! Thank you for coming. Our eyes don't work,
but it's OK. It's normal for us, boy. Don't worry." I understood. I can't see
anything, but I can swim because we have echolocation system and a sensitive
snout. I got food from my mother for 2 or 3 months after I was born. After that,
I started to eat solid food like a fish.
When I was one year old, I left my parents and started living alone. I swam
in the river freely using my large flippers. I always ate fish like catfish, freshwater
shark, gobies and carp. I used my snout and flippers to probe for my food.
Sometimes, I ate turtles and birds, but I don' t like them. One day, a turtle
named Jim spoke to me, "Hey, boy! How are you doing?" I was surprised andasked him, "All right, thanks. By the way, aren't you scared of me?" "Yeah, ofcourse. But you are a kid! You can't eat me because I'm 30 years old. Do you
wanna try?" We became friends and he told me "I envy you. Your body, it's socool! You have a dark grayish brown body, large flippers, a long thin snout and astocky body. You look so strong!" It was the first time I understood my own
appearance.
When I was five years old, I met a girl and fell in love with her. Her namewas Lio. She is larger than me, but that's natural for us dolphins. I always swamwith her, and in December, we married. December to January is one of ourwedding seasons. The next year, in December, we had a child. My family andmy friend, Jim lived a happy life and I believed it would continue forever.
When I was seven years old, suddenly, our river changed quickly. Humans
started to construct dams. Because of them, our habitat and groups were divided.
I could not see some of my group friends. What's more, the water became dirty,
and some of my friends became sick. What happened in our lives? I couldn't
meet my friends because we couldn't get over the dams. I heard some of us werecaught by fisherman or entangled in fishing nets and they lost their lives. Why
do humans do those terrible things!
Now, I am 15years old. My best friend Jim died 2 years ago because of waterpollution. Chemical water pollution causes creatures to die, but I can't stop thissad, bad story. If humans ignore these problems, we will all die out. I wanthumans to reflect about our lives and the environment of the earth.

Ayaka Nomura

Tiger
Hello. My name is Bell. I am a twelve-year old female tiger. I live in thetropical rain forest in small pockets of Asia. I have orange, black, and white
stripes. I'd like to tell you the story of my life. I had one brother and one sister
who were born at the same time as me. I remember my mother used to huntand kill gaur, deer, and wild boar, which was luxurious food for me. When I was
two years old, my mother went hunting as usual, so I waited for her, and then I
heard a big crack of guns. I was very surprised but I couldn't understand what
had happened, and my mother never came back. Although my brother, sister,and I were young, we realized our mother had died, so we were very sad, and we
didn't live in a group any more, so I lived in alone.
One day, three years after my mother died, I had to move because the vast
forest was cleared for plantations. For this reason, I couldn't live in my territory,
and the other animals and plants also lost their habitats and decreased, so it wasvery hard for me to find food. Then another tiger told me that some tigers,
including my bother, Chip and my sister, Pot were attacking domestic animals
and people because they were hungry, so they were considered to be harmful
wild animals and were poisoned by people. I was very shocked to hear this story.
Then, I realized our population was decreasing due to the destruction of ourhabitat. I left behind the forest where I had lived for many years.
On a hot and steamy day when I was six years old, I went to the river, and a
big male tiger came down to the water's edge, and approached me. We enjoyedswimming in the river together, and fell in love. His name is Adam, a six-year
old, and he and I decided to live together, and a year later, we had three children.
One day, he told me we are endangered animals because tigers were poached bypeople. We had very beautiful fur and bones to make Chinese herbal medicines,
and these could be sold for a lot of money. Then I realized my mother had been
killed for these reasons.
When I was eleven years old, I went hunting to feed my children. I found adeer far away, so I stalked it, but then I heard a big crack of guns. Suddenly. I felt
terrible pain, and could hardly move. Gradually, I lost my senses. The poacher
got out, picked me up, and put me in the car. Consequently, my life ended likemy mother's. I was really sad and sorry for my children to have been killed in
front of them.

Chiaki Takahashi

No.6 Winter 2009

Potpourri
A Cell phone
Today, our society has many communication technologies such as the telephone, email, Skype or other tools. Now, we have cell phones that can do everything! Many
people have a cell phone, and it has everything to do with our life. Cell phones are oneof the nice things supporting the comfort of our life. How useful are they? There arethree reasons that cell phones are very useful for our life.
First, cell phones are absolutely a perfect communication tool because we can callsomeone anywhere who has a cell phone. It is a very important function in our life; forexample, you can call co-workers to ask to copy files immediately when you haveforgotten to copy them yourself, or you can call friends when you feel lonely. Cell
phones can also be used for e-mail. Mail can be more useful than calling because mailcan be held in a folder for a long time, but calling generally can't be "stocked" for a longtime. Consequently, calling and mailing are complementary services, each having aright time for use.
Second, we can use the internet with a cell phone like a computer. The latest
models of cell phones are famous for functions like those of computers. Some models
have a keyboard on the cell phones; other models like the iPhone have a pen for a touch
panel. Nowadays, the cell phone can connect with computers currently appearing inJapan. By connecting with computers, cell phones can access the special USB memorythat has large amounts of capacity and more functions than normal USB's.
Third, cell phones have useful functions to make our life comfortable; for instance,
radio, TV, camera, games, GPS alarm, schedules, a calculator and more. There are, in
addition, very many designs of cell phones with various colors, sizes, and forms. In
addition, later models include a water-proof model like G-shock. Cell phones improve
every day. In conclusion, cell phones are very useful for our life because they have many
functions and the possibility of evolution to change our life comfortably.

Takuto Kibo

ExerciseIn our daily lives, many people don't have very much time to do exercise because
they are busy every day. Especially, adult people who work in companies spend many
hours in their office and they have no time to do exercise. Therefore, to become
healthy, doing exercise in our daily lives can be good for our body, our mind and ourbrain.
First, doing exercise is good for our body. Nowadays, we can eat many kinds ofdelicious food everywhere and we can get enough nutrition anytime. Because of this, wetend to get fat. To keep our shape in good style, training our muscle is a good way toexercise. Training muscle may also help us to reduce our weight. However, it's betterfor reducing weight to walk and run than to train muscle. People who want to reduce
their weight should commute to their office by foot, and for people who have time in
the morning or after work, it will be good to run to reduce their weight.
Second, doing exercise also can be helpful to our mind. In our busy lives, moderate
exercise will release our mind from stress. Relaxing is the most important feeling to keepa good mental condition. To make our mind happier, I recommend people play some
sports. Playing their favorite sports will reduce stress that people have and improve theirmental condition so that they will feel more energetic. Mind condition sometimes
affects our body and it can be the cause of illness. To avoid this, we had better keep ourmind in good condition.
Finally, we can also refresh our brain by doing exercise. When people study hard orwork hard, their brain gets tired and stops thinking correctly. At that time, the brain
needs to refresh. Consequently, when people get tired because of working hard or
studying, it is effective to do exercise to improve the condition of the brain. If the brain
is refreshed, it will start to work well again and concentration will be improved. What'smore, refreshing the brain also makes an effect that improves people's way of thinking
more clearly. Therefore, to refresh the brain, it's better to do the exercise that you likewhen you are tired. In conclusion, if you want to live a life in good healthy condition,
you should do exercise to maintain your good body, mind and brain.

Ryu Kumagai

Music
These days, we enjoy a variety of hobbies. Some people like sports, and some people
prefer reading. From outdoor activity like hiking to indoor pleasure like internet
surfing, we are invited to try many kinds of hobbies and have enjoyed them. Amongother things, music, as a hobby, has been loved all over the world for a long time. Music

LUNCHTIME SPEAKING

7

is one of the best hobbies for its genres, places where it may be enjoyed, andopportunities it provides for both professional and amateur musicians to perform.
There are many genres of music in the world. They all have their own history andcharacteristics. For example, classical music has a long history, and played an importantrole not only in cultural aspects but also historically. Rock music has exercised a great
influence on tens of thousands of people. Folk music tells us about each ethnicity.
These matters are meaningful for music lovers. Knowledge about music and its
background makes them more receptive to the pleasure of music. It is always wonderful
to hear new music. You can hear new music in various ways. Listening to radio andwatching TV are suitable for checking for the latest music. Music magazines give us
interviews with artists and information about music. By using the Internet, you are able
to collect data on music and download to start listening. When you find unknown
masterpieces, or when a talented newcomers come out, their music may excite you verymuch.
You also can enjoy music in other places besides on records or CDs. Many live
concerts are held everywhere. In the bar or club, many bands give performances, andyou are able to enjoy them with drink and food. Musicians play rather close to you, andpossibly you can watch a newcomer's rare playing. Listening to music in a concert isdifferent from listening in a pub. It is wonderful to watch a live performance in aconcert hall with the great acoustics. Going to a music festival is another way to enjoy
live music. Many kinds of music festivals, like rock festivals or jazz festivals, take placeespecially in summer. Some festivals are held for two or three days, so people enjoy not
only music but camping. One of the greatest things about attending a music festival isthat you can enjoy performances by various musicians. You may unexpectedly bedazzled by a marvelous stage performance.
People have enjoyed music not only for listening but for performing for a longtime. It is best to have a music lesson if you want to learn how to play musicalinstruments. There are many courses, so you can find a suitable lesson whether you area beginner or not. If you make friends who have the same interests, playing music will
become more delightful. Some people even enjoy composing music. You can become acomposer only with a piano or other instrument. Of course, you don't have to aim to
be a professional musician. You can enjoy yourself composing and playing.
Additionally, if you put your music on the Internet, people all over the world can listen
to your work.
There are many more ways to enjoy music. The situation revolving around music isalways changing. We will find new ways to enjoy music. Music is always wonderfulamusement.

Kozue Isochi

Television
Television doesn't have the bad influence that some people insist if you use it in theright way. By using it in various ways, it produces a lot of good effects. The screen
televises many things you cannot see on your own. Of course, going outside andwatching real scenery or listening to real sound is very important, but to watch
television is also important. Television is beneficial to improve yourself.
Television, which appeared in the twentieth century, is part of comparatively new
media in modern world history. Today, TV is spreading almost all over the world.
There are very many programs in the world. In these programs, there are various scenes
or certain kinds of information that you would otherwise rarely see or listen to. For
example, some programs televise the scenery of beautiful nature such as the depths of
the Pacific Ocean or a savanna in Africa. In addition, the legacy of civilization can also
be seen on TV through such cultural heritage as artistic buildings in foreign countries.
Other programs televise talk, discussion, interviews, reports, and so on. These programs
are mainly for exchanging respective opinions and information, or rather having fun. As
you know, to go to watch nature or visit cultural heritage in foreign countries is hard forindividuals. To listen to the opinions of people and to share information are the same.
Television is not media simply to watch but also to use for other materials. In recent
years, DVD and Blu-ray disc have appeared in place of videos. These can be watchedanytime, so you can use them for education, study, fun or other purposes. For students,using audiovisual aids helps them to understand the contents. If that is a conversation inforeign language, it will become easier to understand the circumstances. And you can
imitate the behavior or voices of people or characters on screen. This is very important
to develop your skills or for self improvement. As for other materials, there are many
interesting video games especially in Japan. During the past quarter century, video
games have been developed at high speed. Many of them are useful for having fun andgetting knowledge. Some video games are intended for playing with friends, families oreven others in the world. It is good to concentrate on video games you like.
Now, television has become part of the indispensable media for our life. Needless tosay, it has many bad points for us, but we should use it more wisely than before, and getalong with it. Because it is better to deal with reality, we ought to face forward flexibly
rather than to ignore the up-to-date stubbornly.

Hideyuki Fukui

Bring your lunch and come and enjoy a chance to chat in English
12:10-12:35
Check Professor's Schedule !

8

No.6 Winter 2009

We are on the lookout!

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
North-Sea Lookout is a place you can publish your own opinions about any topic that concerns you. If you want to write
a letter to the editor, please put it in Prof. Zeff's mailbox. If you prefer, you may have your name withheld from publication
with your letter.
This issue shows the high level of writing in English achieved by Hokkai-Gakuen University students.
An ongoing interest of our writers is the international homestay and travel experience. In addition, thisissue contains articles on subjects as varied as cooking rice and the internet.
North-Sea Lookout needs your viewpoints on whatever interests you. Your opinions, concerns, andexperiences are important. Please don't hesitate to write about them, and then submit them to us.
We welcome all submissions.

Please contact us at our email address:bbzeff@hgu.jp