I went to a book shop to find Maeve Binchy's book, "Light A Penny Candle" today. The book shop did not have "Light-",so I bought another book of her, "Dublin People". Then when I was nearly leaving there, I found some books which were about the war in Iraq. Titles like "The facts of the war in Iraq",or "The life in Iraq", and the pictures of Iraqi children's sweet smiiles on the cover caught my eyes, so I decided to have a look there. (I did not have extra money to buy them!)

One book had a lot of pictures of Iraq with short explanations, so I could know what is really happening in Iraq directly. Before I found the book, I had known some things of the war in Iraq. For example, I knew that a lot of people died in Iraq, and the States sent its big army there, but I did not know about the details about the situations there deeply enough. The pictures of the book told me how terrible and cruel the happenings were in Iraq.

I saw some pictures that soldiers of the States were training to fight,and to use their guns and other weapons. Some soldiers were cleaning their guns beside their familys' photos in their bags. When I saw their familys' photos, I realized that not only Iraqi people, but also soldiers of the States have their familys. If there was no war in this world, no one would have to separate from their family...

The picture which I was shocked by the most was the picture of a dead Iraqi soldier. When I saw it first, I thought the soldier was hurt or dead, so he was on the ground, but when I read the explanation of its picture, I could not believe what I read. The explanation said that maybe, the soldier was ran over by a car after he was killed. The photographer thought so because both of his legs were open unnaturally, and joints of his legs were dislocated unnaturally. A large cloth like someone's jacket was put on his face by someone's kind care. I could not think that there were many people around me at the book shop at that time, and I could not move for a while. My eyes could not move. I was just there, and staring at the picture.

I watched a news on tv that President Bush said his aim was to take away violence from Iraq. I was very angry when I watched it. How can we take away violence by violence? What President Bush said does not make sence at all. No one can agree with. If they find a mass destruction weapon in Iraq, does it make sence? What about the atomic bombs in the States? Isn't it a mass destruction weapon? After I saw the pictures of Iraq, I can say that what President Bush is doing with his army in Iraq is totally wrong. Even now in my house, when I think about the man of the picture, I can not stop tears coming with sadness and anger.

I love miso soup. My mother makes various kinds of miso soup, and I always savour them. My family often have miso soup. The foods in miso soup are always different. wakame, tofu, beansprouts, carrots, radish, pampkins, burdocks, potatoes, deep-fried bean curds, eggplants, noodles, etc. etc.

One day when I had miso soup of a lot of vegetables for dinner, Saki.I's presentation & blog came up to my mind. It's about "if food imports into Japan from abroad is stopped..."

She showed what kinds of meals Japanese people would have if food imports stopped. When we listened to it, many people were seemed to be shocked because there were tiny, simple meals in a day. I was a bit surprised at such small meals too, but I also thought it was nice because the simple meals looked very Japanese own dishes. It was like Japanese own tradition. When I reminded the presentation, I said to my family "it is ashame that we can't even eat Japanese own food if food imports stopped". Japan imports a lot of soy beans from the States, so if it stopped, we can't eat the food which are made from soy beans. Then I was afraid alot. I love all kinds of Japanese food too, and I just can't imagine my future without miso soup, tofu, deep-fried bean curds, soy sauce, etc. etc.

I also enjoyed reading Saki's blog too. I was quite surprised when I knew the % of Australia's self-sufficiency. I think it was more than 200%. What a big country! I said "then, Australia doesn't have to import food because it has enough by itself". Then my family said " if Australia does so, it can't get money by it", and it made sense to me.

I love Japanese food alot, and I think it's a big part of Japan's culture. I hope Japan's import & export work well to keep its beautiful, delicious food.

I found a good book in my house. The title of the book is "You Don't Know War" which was written by Allen Nelson. Do you guys and ladies know him? I didn't know him until I read this book. He was a soldier of the States, and went to Vietnam War, and killed Vietnamese there. He survived the war, and went back to his home. Long time later, he started to tell people the truths of wars in various places, and he did some lectures at schools in Japan too. Then I felt that I wanted to take his lecture some day. Do you think that KGU has a chance to make an appointment for his lecture? I really hope KGU has it.

Allen Nelson wrote that the people who are the best at asking questions are young children like elementary school students or even younger kids because they are just honest in what they want to know. At the very first time when Allen Nelson's friend who was a teacher then asked him to talk about his experience in the war to her students, he was going to tell her students just the facts of wars. He didn't want to express what he did in the war to the children, so he tried not to mention his own experience, but after he finished his telling, there was a questioning time, and a little girl asked him if he killed people in the Vietnam War. Nelson wrote that when he looked at her eyes, he thought that he couldn't lie. Then for his first time, he told what he did in Vietnam to people honestly. When he said "Y-e-s", all the children hug him, and everyone there were crying together. This part of his book moved me to tears. He had a difficult time struggling to forget the war, but the children's hearts made him realize that telling facts was the way he should have faced instead. Since then, he has told his own experience to people in various places to let them realize how cruel wars are, and how important the world with no wars is.

There is another good part of this book which introduces the moment Nelson found a humanity of him again during the war. He wrote that during the war, he didn't think of Vietnamese as human beings, and he forgot that he was a human being himself. One day, when Nelson went into a bunker, he met a Vietnamese girl who was just having a baby at that time there. He wrote that he was confused, and didn't know what he could do to help her because in the army, they didn't tell soldiers how to help people, they just told soldiers how to kill. After the event, he backed to himself, then he started to help Vietnamese people without telling other soldiers. He even stole medicine from the army to give Vietnamese people. I learned from this part that during a war, people can't be sane at all, that's why people can do cruel things to other people. I thought that it was very sad that Nelson couldn't have a humanity until he faced the biirth of life, but everytime, people regret killing after wars are over which is even worse. Wars are cruel themselves, but wars also make people insane and cruel too. I think that such things should not happen in the world or our children's world.

In his book, there are more parts which I want to tell. Every single his explanation made me think about wars so deeply. Also, I found that there was no adjectives which fully describe wars. Cruel, terrible, bad, insane, awful... thoses words don't even sound enough. Wars make people desperate not only during wars but also after wars over. Allen Nelson overcame his physical and mental sickness after he survived the war, and he decided to tell the truths of wars so that he gives people chances to think about wars, and realize how cruel wars are. After I read his book, I noticed that I think about wars more than before, and that's what people need to do not forget how essential peace is.