If Al Gore was a president of United States

 The former US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement, WHO etc. Like these, the US President has strong authority without getting any approval of Senate and House. If Mr. Al Gore had beaten George Bush in the US Presidential election, he could take effective measurements to protect the Earth from the greenhouse warming and to pass the Earth in a better condition for the future.

When Al Gore insisted the dangerous of the greenhouse warming and the importance of environmental protection 50 years ago, I think that people might not take this matter seriously, but we are now facing a lot of natural disaster like flood, drought, monsoon, hurricane, typhoon, heat wave and all of the world is seriously thinking how to slow down the greenhouse warming. If Al Gore beat George Bush in 2001, the U.S. might agree to the Kyoto protocol together with 178 countries in 1997 and it agreement might be hold until 2005. It was important and effective that the US who is one of the biggest producers of CO2 agreed and took the activities to protect the Earth.

He is working hardly to protect the Earth with a slogan “The Great Reset”. The people especially in developed countries must learn the problems about the Earth and must change their lifestyle to slowing the greenhouse warming even if it is inconvenienced for us a little. We cannot put off dealing with the greenhouse warming.

Zoos as places of learning

I hope that zoos are places of learning ecology for animals and importance of nature protection. I don’t deny that zoos are one of places for public entertainment. However, zoos as fun should be instrumental in becoming intrigued with animals, and I think that it should not be an end unto itself. Therefore, advertising aimed for rareness of animals just breaks my heart. 

I visited Nagano Chausuyama Zoo with my girlfriend to watch red panda, called “lesser panda” in Japan, on September 2019. The zoo is well-known for the breeding of red panda, but zookeepers taught us a lot about red panda without being proud of the fact described above. I feel that the breeding is main purpose zoos need to have and want to learn various things for animals.

Green Book - Film review

 Green Book

Comedy drama, 2018

Green Book depicts a friendship between white people and black people. The film is based on a true story and set in America of 1960s. The historical background is the age of discrimination against black people. A white man, who is rough and rude, and a black man, who is bright and polite, perceive each good points and grow up their friendship. While a real green book, which is an information-book about motels, restaurants and shops is used to symbolise discrimination in America.

I love the acting in the film. Viggo Mortensen stars as Tony Lip, and Mahershala Ali as Dr. Shirley, My favourite character us Tony Lip because he is rough but he has an innocent side.

I think this is an ideal film for all adults. The story tells us about the discrimination in America and how friendship overcame this large obstacle, while making you laugh, I give Green Book ****. Everyone should watch it

Posted for Takeshi

Bohemian Rhapsody - Film Review

 Bohemian Rhapsody

Biographical Drama

Bohemian Rhapsody is about a vocalist Freddie Mercury of the rock band Queen. The film is based on a true story. The film is set in England and starts in 1970. It tells the history of Queen and social issues by Freddie's sexuality.

I love the music the music in this film. I was able to know famous Queen's repertories. Rami Malek stars as Freddie. My favourite character is Mary Austin because she is a kind and strong woman. She fell in love with Freddie and was betrayed by him. But she supports him throughout life.

I think this is an ideal film for people who like a western music and have formed a and.

You can listen to Queen's wonderful music and will be an opportunity to think about social issues. I give Bohemian Rhapsody 4 stars.

Posted for Kanako

Tadahiro Nomura - Japanese Olympian

Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most famous judo competitors in Japan. He is the only judo competitor in the world, and the first Asian olympian, who has won gold medals at three Olympics in a row.

Tadahiro was born on December 10, 1974 in Nara. His grandfather was a local judo instructor and his father was the coach of Shinji Hosokawa, who won a gold medal at the 1984 L.A. Olympics. His uncle, Toyokazu Nomura, was also a gold medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

He began learning judo at his grandfather's dojo at the age of six. He was successful in several local and national level competitions during high school.

He entered Tenri University in 1993, where he won the All-Japan Selected judo championships for his weight class in April,1996 and three months later he won his first Olympic gold medal in Atlanta.

Then he won his second Olympic gold medal at Sydney in 2000. He became the first -60kg division competitor to win consecutive Olympic gold medals. He won his third consecutive Olympic gold medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Unfortunately, the news that he had won another Olympic gold medal was overshadowed by Ryoko Tamura's Olympic success in the newspapers, with her Olympic victory, coming on the same day.

Japanese traditions - tea ceremony

  A long long time ago, Jukou Murata(村田珠光) made a tea  ceremony. However, it wasn't complete as people had tea time in Japan. Jukou did tea time people had with "Zen(禅)" together. This started "Wabi-Cha(侘び茶)"

He lived 1422-1502, and he made wabi-cha. After he died, Takeno Jouou(武野紹鷗) inherited wabi-cha. Finally Jouou completed wabi-cha. This is like a modern tea  ceremony.

Almost all Japanese people know Sen no Rikyu (千利休).He is very famous in Japan as a tea  ceremony performer, but Jouou taught tea  ceremony to Rikyu and other famous people.

Rikyu went became a famous te  ceremony in Japan. When Bushi went to regions (ikusa), they did  a tea ceremony with local Lords. In the tea room, performers(and who in the tea room) have to leave "Buki".

Now, We know tea  ceremony, especially "Sansenke(三千家)" for example, Omotesenke(表千家), Urasenke(裏千家), Mushakojisenke(武者小路千家). Iemoto is a herditary system, and Senno Rikyu's family has three branches from his grandsons.

Author performing Tea Ceremony in New Zealand

The most glamorous hotel that I have stayed in

 

The most glamorous hotel that I have stayed in is the Monastero Santa Rosa Hotel & Spa on the Amalfi coast in Italy. It stands on the top of a high cliff. You can enjoy a fantastic view of the Amalfi coast and the Tirrhenian sea not only from your room, but also from the swimming pool, the lovely garden, and the restaurant.

This building used to be a 17th century monastery, so it is classical and quite unique accommodation. The most attractive point for me was the swimming pool in the lovely garden. Depending on the direction you look, you can’t recognize the borderline between the pool and the sea, though there is big difference between them in height.

 

The restaurant is also charming. You can enjoy remarkable sea food with a sea breeze and a romantic atmosphere. I really liked the fancy breakfast time too, sitting on the terrace overlooking its marvelous view of the blue sea. It was a lovely moment.

 

I stayed in the luxury hotel on my birthday. Surprisingly, the hotel upgraded our stay putting us in their fantastic suite room which overlooked the beautiful Amalfi coast from every window, even from the bathroom! Sparkling rose wine and fresh grapes were also their wonderful gifts. I can’t tell you how happy I was. Everything I saw and experienced there was like a perfect dream. It was a luxury stay; I will never forget. It is twenty years since I first visited the Amalfi coast and the place became my favorite, but this stay me out my love for the coast was enriched. 

Teruki

My favorite artist, Yayoi Kusama

Please let me introduce my favorite artist Yayoi Kusama. Her paintings are very colorful, have impact and intricate design that nobody imitate. Those invigorated me more and it is reason that I like Ms. Yayoi Kusama.

She was born in Matsumoto in 1929 and was bothered by hallucination etc. from a young age. It was diagnosed with a schizophrenic later.In order to clear hallucination etc. as much as possible, she started painting.Due to the schizophrenic, her view was covered by many dots and the painting at a young age was also covered by many dots.

At Matsumoto city museum of art, we can see some paintings when she painted around 6 years old. I guess most of viewers will surprise the execution as I was in the past. When she was 16 years old, there was an exhibition held by artists who moved to Nagano prefecture for safety due to the Pacific war and she won a prize for her painting and became famous gradually.

I think she is a strong woman who did not stop the painting and keep her motivation at the times when people did not have better understanding of schizophrenic and most of women were housewives. Her 92th birthday is closing and I want her to live a long time happily and healthy.

Lessons available - rugby schooling, education fail

I'm a rugby fan through and through, and an English rugby fan to the core (despite Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Ulster & various other ancestral claims)...let's go with British? But I'd really like to still be European (but not French).

Anyway, I was watching this https://youtu.be/_t012MeQFqw about England's preparations for the upcoming Six Nations (which I'm really excited about), when it struck me watching the team doctor, Dr. Richard Tingay....

Why the hell isn't this level of care, prevention, testing, tracing, preparation, training, awareness, glorification & celebration given to our teachers globally? I mean, there are about 40 players in the England squad, plus staff. That would equal your average class load at a school or uni - anywhere. Where's the priority?

Something very peverse is afoot. NOT blaming rugby AT ALL - rather, the fact that this kind of vital (and available/deliverable) attention to detail/data is totally AWOL in education. Imagine teachers swabbed daily with results same day? Etcetera and on.

Thoughts?

10 new rules for students in the light of the COVID-19 crisis

1. Wear mask
Wearing mask is the most effective way to avoid an infection of COVID-19.
2. Wash hands
It is effective to wash hands when you get back from outside or from restroom to avoid virus gain entry to the body
3. Open a door or a window periodically
To get fresh air, open the two opposite sides of window or door so that airflow is improved
4. Take a social distance when you talk
Let’s keep a distance more than 1m each other
5. Stay home and see how it goes when you have a high fever
6. Stay home and see how it goes when you have a continuous cough
7. Stay home and see how it goes when you have a loss of your smell or a taste
8. Take a remote lesson if your family got the positive result of COVID-19
It has high possibility to infect with COVID-19 if your family member got infection. Stay in a separate room and wearing mask at home
9. Do not sit down across the table each other when you have a meal
COVID-19 is infected by droplets. As you cannot wear mask when you have a meal, let’s keep a distance as much as you can, and avoid taking a seat across to a person
10. Do not discriminate against person who got COVID-19