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Kobe Kitano Hotel

With us you experience gracious living in truly grand style, with a combination of luxury and design, muted elegance and a sophisticated welcome.

This one-of-a-kind Kobe Kitano Hotel has 30 beautifully equipped rooms with unique furniture from Britain.

In the morning, you can enjoy our delicious French breakfast which was rated as a No.1 breakfast in the world by Bernard Loiseau who was a cook awarded 3 stars by Michelin Guide.

In addition, Kitano Hotel was also given the title of RELAIS & CHATEAUX in 2010 which is only given to the hotels which meet severe requests.

From our elevated position in the center of the city, you can enjoy magnificent view from many rooms and the convenience of being situated just strolling distance from Kobe’s many attractions.

To make your reservations, you can either submit your reservation request online or call the hotel directly.

Hot Eye Mask

Vapor Bath for Tired Eyes.

Nowadays, we overwork our eyes using computer and cell phone.

Let’s relax our eyes with Hot Eye Mask!

Very easy to use:

• ①Open a bag of the eye mask and put it on your closed eyes.
  
• ②About 40 degrees comfortable steam continues for 10 minutes and relaxes your eyes.

You can choose a scent of the mask: lavender, chamomile ginger, or fragrance-free. The scent of essential oil of lavender and chamomile, extracted from plants, have a restorative effect on the mind, too.

The mask is thin and disposable so it’s easy to carry.

When you want to rest your tired eyes, such as before you sleep or during a break, try this Hot Eye Mask!

For further information visit our website.

Rental Ad and My Dream House

●Rental Ad for My Current Place

Favorably located apartment available soon.

I rent a single room with a large balcony. The apartment is a 10-year-old building.

This room is on the 8^th floor. It’s separated from other rooms so you don’t have to care about the people who live next door.

The room has two windows which provide plenty of light and air.

Very convenient place: just 3 minutes walk to the nearest subway station. It takes only 5 minutes to the post office and which is next to a bank and a grocery store.

Good security: password is needed to enter the apartment. A security camera is installed at the entrance hall.

Basically, you cannot have a pet. However, pet which is small and quiet will be allowed but you need to talk with the owner of the apartment.

●The House I Want to Live in the Future

Houses are very important for our life. We eat, take a bath, sleep, and relax at home. A place we can relax is necessary. If it’s not comfortable, life will be stressful and tired. However, if it’s wonderful, life will be joyful and great one. Houses change our life and feelings in our daily lives. Therefore, we dream the best house we want to live and I also have one. I’ll introduce my dream house.

First of all, I want a huge yard and a porch with a table and benches where I can enjoy a talk or tea with friends on a sunny day. In addition, I’ll plant flowers there and make beautiful garden.

Then, I want three bedrooms with big closet, one living room, a fitted kitchen with dining space and two bath rooms. Moreover, if there is a pool and a basement with a big screen and a good sound system to watch movies, it’ll be perfect!!

I want a big bath tab in a bathroom and a bath space and a rest room should be separated. Chic furniture and wallpaper would be nice.

This is my dream house, though it’s too luxury for me now. However, a dream gives me a power to work hard to make it come true. I hope I live in such a wonderful house in the future as a consequence of my success at a company which I’m starting working for from next April.

Personal Characterｓ

There are various people in the world. Everyone has unique personality and it is interesting and valuable.

My mother is very cheerful and optimistic person. Even when she fails or a bad thing happens to her, she doesn’t feel depressed. She considers it is a lesson and a failure breeds success. Moreover, she is funny and she likes to make people laugh. She herself likes to watch comedy movies, too.

One of my friends is very strict with herself. Once she starts doing something, she never gives up until she satisfied with the result. Because of her hard work, people around her always care about her health but she doesn’t stop working even if she has a fever! In addition, she is loved by everyone because of her cheerful character. Despite her hard work, she doesn’t show a tired face and lively. Futhermore she is kind to anyone at all times.

The other friend is person who really likes to manage everything. For example, at a group trip, she decides most of our schedule such as restaurants to have dinner, a hotel and places we look around. However, her choices are always great so we are glad that she coordinates our trip.

My teacher at high school was very passionate person. When he found students doing something wrong, he raged at the students and gave them a stern lecture. Making him mad was the most horrible thing at school. However, he was not just a severe teacher. He was loved by students. He was really excited at school events such as school festival and sports day more than students and he always worked hard to help students’ activities. What’s more, he was so sentimental, too. I still remember that he was crying at our graduation ceremony. He was truly a passionate teacher.

The future of Japan --- pessimistic? or optimistic?

According to a recent analysis, 86% of Japanese people said that they cannot have hope for the future of Japan. 86% is the worst ratio among 23 countries which occupy 75% of the world gross domestic product (GDP). Unless Japanese government tries to make a change, I also think the future of Japan is somber. There are variety of reasons why people and I think so.

Firstly, one of the anxieties is soaring budget deficit. If the financial deficit continues to increase, an excessively heavy burden will fall upon youth like college students. However, Japanese government does not seem to have a solution to the problem and a specific plan for it. So, it is natural that people show concern about the future of Japan.

Secondly, people are worried about their jobs. Especially, these days, the job shortage for the university student is recognized as a social issue. The class of 2011 is graduating into the worst hiring slump in 14 years. On October 1^st, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology officially announced that the percentage of students who are going to graduate from university in 2011 and already found work was 57.6% and the rate was less than 2003(60.2%) which was called "employment ice age" .

Moreover, many people are pointing out the uncertainty over the future because of the problems of pensions. Rapid aging of the population resulting from the decline in the birthrate is also what makes people worried.

Even if one by one, Japanese government has to try hard to find solution to these problems and carry out the plan to decrease people’s anxiety as much as possible.

English Education at Elementary Schools

　

　Few years ago, Japanese Ministry of Education announced that they will implement English education as a compulsory subject in elementary schools for 5^th and 6^th grade students from 2011. Until now, people have usually started studying English from junior high schools but I think from junior high was too late to learn and master a new language. In fact, in Japan, there are only few students who can speak English well after graduating high schools. Starting earlier is better for studying languages. Therefore I agree with introducing English classes into elementary schools.

What makes me strongly think that students should learn English from elementary schools is my memory at junior high school. I still remember that many students of first grade at junior high already had gave a wide berth to English even before they started studying English, and such students soon became not able to keep up with English classes. I suppose the reason why it happened is that English classes came out suddenly from junior high schools without having been accustomed to it during elementary schools or earlier than that. Before studying grammar, students need enough time to become close to English singing English songs or watching cartoon films, for example, as children learn Japanese.

Thus, though only for 5^th and 6^th grade students and only once a week is not enough, I guess students’ consciousness for English will be changed in some degree by English classes at elementary schools. However, I hope English education in Japan become more active and it should be introduced more often and in early elementary grades, too.

My Memorable Trip to Seattle

My Memorable Trip to Seattle

Last year, I went to Canada and studied there for about eight months. At first, I lived in Victoria, but I moved to Vancouver after staying in Victoria for three months as I wanted to see many places. Though I enjoyed and loved Vancouver very much, I missed my friends in Victoria, too. Therefore, I made a plan to see one of my best friends, who was from Hokkaido and same age as me, in Seattle. The reason why I chose Seattle is that I knew she wanted to watch a baseball game in which Ichiro play. We booked a cheap youth hostel in downtown for two nights. I decided to go there by bus and she decided to come by ferry from Victoria. We were looking forward to seeing each other again. However, it wasn’t easy trip for both of us.

At first, I didn’t know I had to pay money at the border between Canada and US in US dollars and I hadn’t change my Canadian dollars to US dollars before I got to the border, so I didn’t have money to pay though it was just six dollars! Fortunately, a nice person who was in the same bus lent me six dollars. After arriving at US, by the way, I gave her back six dollars with deepest appreciation.

Secondly, my friend from Victoria mistook the hostel and went other hostel. Since we were going to meet at hostel, we couldn’t see each other for two hours at a strange place and I was almost on the verge of tears because of the loneliness. It was almost eight at evening when we could finally meet. That was the most memorable moments in recent time…

Then, we enjoyed dinner together at a wonderful restaurant. However, disaster on that day wasn’t the end. We had another misfortune at a hostel at that night. Due to a mistake by staff, though we reserved two beds in the biggest room which had fourteen beds, there weren’t enough beds for us. We claimed in our poor English and at last we got two beds to sleep. We were totally exhausted at that night and fell asleep as soon as we went to bed.

Although we faced lots of difficulties, the trip was exciting and wonderful over all. For example, we could see Ichiro and he was fantastic. After seeing him at the stadium, we became proud of him more than before since he was loved by everyone in Seattle and many people were cheering him up passionately. In addition, a huge outlet mall in Seattle was amazing though we regretted having bought clothes too much. Moreover, we enjoyed famous lovely market, which name is Pike Place Market, and went to the first Starbucks! We got a tumbler which was only sold at the Starbucks at Pike Place Market. Above all, we loved people who live there as they were very kind and generous.

Thus, despite many problems our trip to Seattle was fantastic!! Furthermore, perhaps, we could learn lots of things from these troubles. Anyway, we enjoyed the trip and our friendship was cultivated through this trip, too.

Gender equality is still a hard goal for Japan to achieve



Nowadays, it is often said that the number of women who work outside has been increasing every year. However, Japan is still lagging behind other developed countries in women’s social advancement. Promotion for women at a company, for example, is much more difficult than men in Japan. In my opinion, women receive such an unfair treatment due to Japanese old tradition.

Firstly, many people in Japan still think women should stay home and do their housework and take care of children after they got married. As a result of such a way Japanese think, women are thought to quit a job after they got married so they cannot get promotion.

Secondly, even if women continue to work after marriage, it is hard to combine childcare and their job in Japan. The reason is that most of Japanese men do not help housework or childcare after they get home. According to statistics, compared to United States where 40 percent of men help housework, only 10 percent of men do in Japan. Therefore, Japanese women cannot concentrate on their job and it is difficult to work fulltime. Thus, besides the old way of thinking, lack of help by men at home is also one of the reasons why women cannot move up to managerial positions in Japan.

In conclusion, Japanese old tradition, for example women should quit their job and stay at home after marriage or men should not get into the kitchen, is what makes women’s social advancement difficult. Unless Japanese change such an old way of thinking, gender equality cannot be achieved.

The Reflection of Fashion on Lifestyles

Have you ever thought about the reflection of fashion? Fashion has been reflecting changes in how people live. Thousands years ago, human beings also didn't wear clothes. At first, they started to wear them to protect their body from injury or coldness. However, the meaning of clothes has changed. People started to wear clothes to show their personality. In the past, it also showed their status. In addition, we became to change clothes depending on the situation such as for a job, school, or house work. Fashion reflects our daily lives.

Only in some years, clothing styles change a lot. For example, when our grandparents were young, women didn't wear pants or short skirts, but now, women also wear pants. Also, women didn't wear caps, but they wear them now.

These changes in fashion were caused by not only its comfortableness but also the culture in the country. In my opinion, the changes among women's fashion shows decreasing discrimination to women. These days, the fashion between women and men are becoming similar, which means they are becoming equal. Moreover, as women wear pants more like men, they became to act like men, too. Fashion also changes our behavior.

Thus, fashion has changed our lifestyles and people have also changed with fashion. In the future, it will change more and more as long as people wear clothes.

Comfortable Home Makes Us Happy

Choosing a good house is difficult but very important. If I can't feel comfortable at home, my life will be uncomfortable. There are some kinds of houses such as an apartment, a modern house, or an old house. If I choose one, I would choose modern house.

At first, a modern house is convenient and comfortable. It has a lot of equipment such as an air conditioner, a dish washer, or a nice bath tab. It's convenient and I can can also save time and enjoy my bath time or cooking in the latest kitchen. In this point, an apartment might have good equipment and cold be convenient, but it doesn't have a garden which is important for me to enjoy the gardening and tea party!!

Moreover, a modern house smells good and is warm. It's very important point because I live there every day!! Thus, a modern house has everything which makes me happy. It's very important to choose house which suit you to live happily. Which kind of house would you choose?

The Global Warming

The global warming is now serious problem.Average temperatures in Tokyo have risen 3℃　in past 100 years. The global warming would one day melt the polar ice and cause worldwide flooding. It would also exacerbate desertification.

Cars, which run on gasoline or diesel oil, exhaust gas and it is known to be a major cause of global warming. If you go out alone or the destination is near to your home, let's avoid using cars and use public transportation or a bicycle!!
Now, hybrid cars are replacing the conventional cars. It combines an electric motor with a gasoline engine and has better fuel efficiency and lower gas emissions compared to a conventional car. In addition, buyers can now receive tax credits for purchasing hybrid cars or other eco-friendly cars. Therefore, buying such cars is both budget-pleasing and environmentally friendly.

Thus, avoiding conventional cars can stop the continued global warming and help the earth. There are lots of things we can do in daily lives for the earth.


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H.W.
Birth rate in Japan is decreasing. For instance, my grandparents have about ten siblings but I have just one sister. One of the reasons is many women have been becoming to work hard as much as men and the age of the marriage is being rate.

Zero Waste

Let's Aim For Zero Waste!!

When I was in Canada, I heard about the "3Rs", which means reduce, reuse, and recycle.
In Japan, it's not well known, so I want many people to know this idea and practice it.
With this idea, a great deal of garbage will be cut down!!

At first, you can reduce garbage by adjusting our shopping habits for example by not buying too wrapped things. Sometimes, foods are wrapped in plastic and in a box with another plastic bag which are not necessary.
If you don't buy such goods, you can reduce garbage. Also, if you bring your own water bottle, you don't need to buy juice with plastic bottle and you can reduce garbage and save your money at the same time.

Secondly, you can cut down on garbage by reusing things such as using not only the front of paper, but also the back of the paper or giving clothes which you don't wear to others.

Thirdly, "recycling" will reduce garbage. However I think recycling centers are not enough in Japan. These facilities should be set up more. Also, in my opinion, each family should compost organic waste, meat, dairy or cooked foods.

The "3Rs" is not difficult and anyone can practice these habits.
Even if only few people do this, they won't make a big change, so everyone should do it together.
It's time to make a change for our environment with these kinds of good ideas!