Postcard from...Pingxi District, Taipei, Taiwan

I traveled in Taiwan for three days last week. I and my daughter went to old towns of Shifen & Jiufen. Shifen & Jiufen were small towns where gold was found.

In Shifen lanterns are blown into the sky, during festivals once a year. Tourists can fly lanterns even if it is not a festival day. We wrote a wish on a white lantern & it flew up into the sky.

Next I went to Jiufen which became a model for the story of "Spirited Away" (Ghibli's animation). A lot of red lanterns lit the sky. It was a really fantastic scene.

We went to the National Palace Museum on the second day. The Chinese Cabbage, which has green & white beads, was a very delicate & beautiful piece. It is made of precious stone & crystal. We found a dumpling restaurant. It was very delicious.

On the last day, we went to a skyscraper called Taipei 101. I could see all the places I went on this trip from the observatory at the top of the tower.

Posted for Kaoru

My Neighbour Totoro - film review

The film "Totoro" came out in 1988. The director was Hayao Miyazaki. This film is a fantasy film.

There are two girls, Satsuki, Mei, and a monster "Totoro" in this film.One day Mei wanted to give a corn to mom in the hospital, but she got lost. Satsuki could not find her, so she asked Totoro to help find Mei. Totoro called "Nekobus", which took Satsuki to Mei. Then Nekobus took them to Mom in hospital. Everybody was happy.

I think everything is good in this film. I like the music, design and the story. I don't think anything is bad. Everybody likes this film because Totoro is a fantastic character.

Yuto (12)

Talking Animals - after reading The Jungle Book

There are a lot of stories about animals that talk. 

Describe your favourite one, and explain why you like it.

I only reminded the Japanese old stories for children when I saw this question. Such as Momo-tarou, Akazukin-chan, Urashima-tarou, etc.

After that, I reminded a famous animation from Ghibli. It is "Majo-no-Takkyubin" ("Kiki's delivery service" in English). The heroine is Kiki who is a young witch. She needs to live alone in a city to be a grown witch. She goes to a city with her black cat named Gigi. Gigi can talk to Kiki and always encourages her when she faced problems. But Kiki cannot understand what Gigi says when it comes to the end of story. I think it means the day when Kiki can live her life without Gigi's help.

 I like this story because it gives me a positive feeling after I watch this film.

Posted for Tomoko