Hmm, quite quiet weekend. I was thinking whether I would go to Yoko Ono's exhibition in Shiga-ken or not, but the report said that it would rain in afternoon, so I was like "can't be bothered". I want to see things there before it is over around 12th of December, so maybe I should have visited there today, as I am gonna be busier & busier from now on. How are you doing on ya essays, guys? Good luck.

I have visited others' blogs, and left my comments there. Do you know that we can read others' blogs via our profile's page? Some people's are kind of strange, some are good. Isn' it great that Mariko & Motoko received comments from the world?! I was surprised to know that so many people blog & people blog a lot! Many people blog more than 100 or 200 posts!

I told you that there is a charity in Namba on my last blog, right? Guess what, there is another charity in Namba! There is a comedy theater, Namba Grand Kagetsu in Namba, and right now, Yoshimoto's comedians stand in front of Kagetsu, and ask people to raise money to help people in Nigata. The comedians are setting boxes to put money in, and we can shake hands with them if we want! I will go to Namba for Haagen-Dazs tomorow, so I will drop in at Namba Walk for the old clothes charity & Kagetsu for the charity for Nigata. Well, I seem to like charities! I am glad that I have more chances to take those actions than before.

Tomorrow, November 1st is my second cousin, Mutsuki's 1st Birthday! She is really cute & pretty. I am now making a photo album of Mustuki for her. I cannot send it on time, but I will send it to her, as unfortunately, I cannot see her:-( Anyhoo, I hope she will like it. Mates, please wish her a happy birthday^^.

ATTENTION PLEASE!
Please go to Namba Walk with your old clothes that you do not need any more. I have just found a news article saying "Let's send your old clothes to the world!". From 28th of October to 3rd of November, charity people will wait for our old clothes which will be sent to refugee camps, this year, they will send the clothes to Angola & Tanzania.
Many peolpe at refugee camps in Africa do not even have enough clothes while Japanese people buy & do away with new clothes. Don't you feel guilty? I do though I rarely buy new clothes. This charity is very good because refugees will be helped & we also can feel good^^. We do not have to waste clothes any more, and at the same time, we can spread Japan's fashion to the world! Isn't that great? We can make refugees happy by sending our old clothes, and if refugees like our clothes & smile wearing them, it will make us happy too!
Everytime we learn hunger or starving people, we feel sad because even if we sympathize with them, we do not really do anything that can help them, right? Now, here is a easy way that we can participate. We often go to Namba for dinner or shopping, don't we? Then, why don't we drop in at the charity with our clothes, and enjoy everyone's fashion there? Sounds awesome^^! Here is more information.

Place : Kujira Park in Namba Walk (Kujira means whale in Japanese, anyhoo)

Date : From October 28th(Thursday) to November 3rd(Wednesday)

Time : 11:00 ～20:00

Clothes : Casual ones, No stain, Washed ones(we do not need wash the clothes at cleaninng
shop, just wash by ourselves), Blankets, sheets & towels also.

No thanks : Coats, Sweaters, Suits, Jackets, Skirts, Dress(one-piece in Japanese), Japanese
Clothes(Like kimono & yukata), Hats, Shoes & Bags.

It says that 300 people of all who visit the charity can receive 500yen dinner&shopping coupon tickets, and even if we miss the coupon, there are some presents! There is also a charity for raise money to send those clothes to Africa too.

When we look around, there are actually a lot of opportunities that we can take action. Don't you have tiny free time during KGU's festival? Let's enjoy ourselves at Namba Walk!

Thanks Nao! I was very happy to hear that you liked reading my blog^^. Do you remember you said so on Tuesday? I will try to blog interesting ones to read from now on too! Thank you for nice comments for my blog, mates. Your comments encourage me to work hard to blog better. I even wish I could receive comments from April. I am looking forward to receiving comments from the world too, but I have not got one yet. Somebody-! Please-! You can even comment on my blog which is about Mattie Stepanek, the poet. Mattie is my hero too. Now I have two books of his poems. Tell me if you want to have a look. My favourite is "I Am".

I have terrible information to tell you. Japan is going to sell missiles to the States. I was very disappointed to hear that on TV news some days ago. Why do poeple make missiles, and sell them to others? To kill people!! There is no any other answers. People do not crash buildings as constructions by using missiles, as they do with bombs. Then why do we need them? Why does Japan help the States kill people? Japan has a law which prohibites exporting weapons, but Japan is going to loosen the discipline only for the States. Then why do we need to keep the law? If we ignore the law when we want to help the States kill people, then what is the law for? I cannot stop thinking why, Y & Y. You will be even more surprised to hear what I am going to tell you now. Can you guess how much one missile is? What is your prediction? When I heard this question, I said "hum, about... 300,000,000yen?". No way, in fact, one missile is 10,000,000,000yen! Could you imagine? If rich countries attack poor countries to make them obey, there is no way for poor countries to protect themselves or even escape. So every country should have missiles to protect own country? NO! Every country should NOT have missiles! What the hell is Japan doing? When I watched the TV news, it sounded as if Japan does not care if people are killed because of Japan's missiles. If Japan sells missiles to the States, Japan can receive a huge anount of money, and it seems to be what Japan wants, but we should not! I used to insist that Japan's Self-Defense Forces were different from forces because no one around the world was killed because of Japan's SDF, so I wanted to say Self-Defense Organization or Self-Defense Group instead of saying Forces, BUT now, Japan is going to kill some people around the world via the States. How mad! We all know that if people kill others, the murderer is arrested, and punished. What about the person who orders to shot missiles that kill people in somewhere on the earth? What about the country that made & sold the missiles? Are those people & countries punished? Or even do they see what they are causing? Stop, dull idiots! We cannot learn or get anything from missiles or killing. Let's say STOP to those stupid fools!

Kya-!! My pictures are on the computer screen! Now you can imagine what Terry Fox run was like more clearly, I think. Do not worry, Scott. Before I had decided to go the run, I already knew that It would take about 2 hours to get there, as I have been around places in Hyogo-ken. BUT! I made Motoko wait for a very long time. SORRY Motoko! I apologize for making you wait so long. You know, we had a lot of fun, and met many nice people there. I am glad that I went there. Surprisingly, we had sunny, very beautiful weather. Motoko & I enjoyed talking with people there. There were a lot of little kids & many families. I remember that I talked with a girl who was about 10 or 11 years old. I said that I learned Terry Fox at university, and she said that Terry Fox is amazing. I thought that it is very nice that children have an opportunity to know Terry Fox, and understand what Terry Fox did, think about it and take part in the charity. We also watched Terry's video. Before all of us started, girls & boys dealt chocolate & some snacks for free, so I ate chocolate, and got energy, then all the people started. I had planned to enjoy walking, but Motoko wanted to run, so she went far forwrad, and had to wait for me till I got her! See, I made her wait for a long time again! Actually, there were many people who walked around me, and they enjoyed chatting. Children were at some points for direction & giving water, so I did not have to worry to get lost. After we met again, we enjoyed walking, (I ate lots of candies while we were walking. That is why I did not lose weight!) and we were happy to see beautiful sky, grasses, tress and sea. Streests there were very neat & clean. Staffs at each points clapped their hands, and cheered runners with smiling. With their cheering, we finished the goal line. As u can see in the pictures, we received the certificates from a friendly girl. After the marathon, there was a gifts giving, and guess what! Both Motoko & Scott won prizes! Taka & I did not, so Scott shared with us. Thank you, Scott:-) After the marathon, children served hot dogs for free, but we did not eat, as both I & Motoko wanted to eat big lunch. We said bye-bye to Scott & Taka, and went for lunch near Sumiyoshi station. What good students we are! Even after we left Canadian Academy, Motoko & I still talked in English, and enjoyed chatting in English at a cafe. It was funny that people around us looked surprised & curious! A woman who had a seat next to us(a Japanese) listened to us & she interrupted, and said she enjoyed listening to our English conversation! She said she was 68 years old, but she looked quite young. (Actually, she seemed to be really proud to be looked young! anyhoo...). People around us on the train looked surprised why we talked in English too! I had such a lot of big fun with many people & everything all day. I am really glad that I took part in the marathon. Though what we have learned about Terry Fox is important & serious, and people work hard to raise money for cancer research, I did not have to be able to say great things when I talkedwith people there. I saw many smiles, and I could share happy & comfy time with everyone. Thanks to Terry Fox, I could meet all those beautiful smiles. Thank you for giving me the opportunity, Scott. I am proud of you too:-) Cheers!

I am glad that I could find a person who go to the Terry Fox run with me. I was looking for someone, but no one was available. Let's have a lot of fun there, Motoko! My father had cancer before, so I realize that what I am learning is connected to my life. This is not really the reason why I want to go to the Terry Fox run, but I am glad that I can donate money for cancer research. 2 years ago in summer, my father got cancer, and he had to have an operation to recover. Doctor said that it was a difficult operation, and so my mother told me to prepare my mind for 'if'. Fortunately, the operation succeeded, and he survives. He has to take some tablets to prevent cancer again, but anyway he is okay now. When my father stayed at hospital, my mother had to visit him at hospital everyday by a bicycle because she cannot drive a car. She couldn't be absent from the role in my brother's baseball team, so things were very tough for her. I helped housework during summer holiday, but not much when school started. I was preparing for entrance examinations for universities then, so my parents had to worry about household economy too. I remember that I was angry because my younger sister & brother did not help me doing housework at all! thinking that even though they were young, obviously, they had to understand what they had to do. Having such a situation, I realized the person who the most tired is not the sick person him/her self. It is the people around. In my case, it was my mother. Well, this is my own opinion, but this is what I saw. Of course, my father had such a difficult situation, and he had pain physically & emotionally, but I saw that it was my mother who was the most exhausted. Now I think that my father should thank her more. He wanted to give something to the doctor to show his thank, but doctors cannot receive money or things from patients, so I am glad that this time I can mean thank by donating money tomorrow. I do not know exactly where the place of Terry Fox run is, so I hope that I will be able to follow each direction well tomorrow. Oh, and I have to wake up quite early in the morning! I hope that I will not oversleep! Sorry that many of my friends cannot go with me, but ask me about the run if you are interested in. I am not a good runner, so I worried, but I was glad to see that some people even pushed their baby chairs. I look forward to meeing a lot of people there, and I hope that I can make many friends there. If I get too tired, I will ask Motoko to pull me! Hurray Motoko!

At the moment, we are learning heroes in class, so I will introduce some of my heroes here. I have just watched a movie "Hero" on tv tonight. When I read the title, I soon remembered our class' topic! The movie was filmed in 2002, but I was surprised to know that 2 years have already passed since then. When I watched the movie's commercial on tv, I would often say that I really wanted to see it. Because it is very expensive to see movies, I do not see movies in Japan, so I could not see "Hero" at that time either. Tonight I finally could see it, and I was happy because one of my favourite actresses was on it. Do you know the Chinese actress who is in the shampoo's commercial? The one wearing a red dress? The actress is Zhang Ziyi. She is very pretty, and she makes Asian girls proud of their black hair, I think. She looked pretty in every dress she wears in the movie though the story was not interesting... I like her even more! Right now she is in the new movie "Lovers", Chinese movie again. Zhang Ziyi wears colourful dresses again, and of course she looks very pretty. check it out.

Another hero of mine is Jackie Robinson. Have you ever heard? I know that many people in our class have no interest in baseball, so maybe most of you do not know him. Jackie Robinson is the first black Major League Baseball player. The surroundings around him to play baseball was terrible because of discrimination. Sometimes he was threatened by receiving letters saying that the senders would kill his wife and children. Many poeple threatened him, and tried to stop him playing baseball anymore just because he was black man. Now new MLB players cannot get the back number, 42 because the number is so honored because of Jakie Robinson. That is why when you see forien baseball players in Japan wear the number 42. I respect what he did, and what he thought. MAybe if you are interested in it, check some information on the net. He is a very important person still in this community. It sounds like Terry fox, doesn't it? With such difficulties like the discrimination, he kept beliving in him. I think it is really great. I think he is very famous even now. There are some books about him, and I read one of them when I was in high school. check it!

Don't forget when I say my hero, Namie Amuro. I cannot finish talking if I start introducing her. Today, well, yesterday, I made a reservation to buy a DVD of Namie Amuro's concert tours'. I am sure that everyone will be excited when you see her singing & dancing at live. You really should watch it. Do not miss it! Ciao!

Here is my blog again! First of all, I am going to answer to Satoyo's question, being back to KGU is good or bad for me? Well, I think it is good for me because I can meet my friends again & learn important things again now. Now I have classes at KGU, and have chances to think about problems around the world, but during the summer holiday, I thought about the problems much less than now. Then I think that I should keep learning so that I can feel the problems involved more to my life.

I am really proud of what Mio & Motoko did for African children. When I learn about poor people or starving children, I always feel down because I cannot think of any way that makes their lives better directly by me, but this time, Mio & Motoko did! This is so great, really. I am proud of you amigas^^! I want to keep thinking of what-I -can-do.

I found an interesting news article. It is about Yoko Ono's exhibition. There are a lot of works with careful directions. If we follow the directions to see each work, we can see a different side of the work which lets us think about world peace. Each work has its original, strong meaning. In this exhibition, people do not just walk around to see each work. It is more about our thoughts. Each work makes us to think & feel. The exhibition is held from October 2nd to December 12th in Shiga-ken. For students, it is 800 yen. This exhibition was already held in Spain & South Korea, and now it is in Japan. I am going to go, as I am interested in. There are some posters of this exhibition at Hirakatashi Station, so check them.

Congratulations! Ichiro!! Amazing! Miracle! Surprising! Historical! Great! Magical!!