Games in the young learning environment - vital!

Picture-based vocabulary review

 As I keep reminding our teachers, if you have a good idea, see how much you can adapt it to fit other classes/situations. We do this a lot with Wordwall and Quizlet at Luna with online learners in group/collaborative work, which we also set as homework assignments for independent use. 

As described in a post last month, we wanted to get "hands on" for face-to-face young learners, now that we have relaxed the barrier requirements. (Of course, masks on, and all moving parts disinfected after use.)

Ideal game for groups x3

With first-time, younger players we paired up & helped each other out, sharing tips and tactics loudly! The board was colour-coded to make play more obvious, and laminated; memo, mount the photocopy on something stiffer to make it less vulnerable to nudges! Teacher's scissors & glue have been in the cupboard too long; nice to get creative again.

"Homework" last week was to take each of our personalised games out at home, and challenge family members. Distinct homefield advantage here, as each of the students made the games from vocabulary sets (glossaries) in the graded readers they have already read!

We can re-cycle these games in the coming months, as each students has a different version of the same content...which makes for ideal revision when we have 10-15 minutes up our sleeve at the end of a lesson or want to avoid getting into something 'new' just yet.

As a twist, Hana & I "flipped" our new

Hana head-to-head!

Read & Imagine readers by picking out words we were not sure about/wanted to learn and pronounce correctly before we got into them...smart girl still beat the teacher!

Another exciting pay-off was exploiting the word list at the back of the text book (Everybody Up in this case) for self-access revision; diving into dictionary skills and finding the 'hard' word in-context, and after searching for the same word three or four times, fixing it in memory for longer than usual!

Dictionary diving

To anyone who thinks 'games' have no place in the language learning environment, we think you are fundamentally wrong! Guess we'll have the proof of this little pudding when these Cambridge YLE takers sit down for A2:Key, B1:Preliminary & B2:First before they leave school in the years to come :)

(Adapted from a Mark Hancock pronunciation game)

B2:First in Nagano

Looking south

A beautiful sunny day in Nagano last Saturday, hosted Luna's autumn B2:First exam session. A very well-organised and smotthly run session, in a nice big airy room on the 12th floor...only drawback really was the stunning views looking east towards Shiga kogen, which were quite distracting! Waiting rooms looking north and south equally absorbing!

It was great to be able to run this exam session this year and meet the needs of candidates, and be able to do so safely, which we have become quite accustomed to.

Thank you Yukari & Rinka for detailed preparation & taking care of our nervous candidates; we hope all of you managed to do your best. Thank you CM & RO for sitting as our speaking examiners - safe trips home.

Here's looking forward to great results in early January.

A letter home to Durrisdeer, from the widow Alice Durie

 Dear Teruki,

As you probably know, my husband and his brother James both died in the wilderness. I'm terribly sad to lose my two loving men at once. I always loved James, even when he had gone to war and never wrote back to any of my letters. He was such an attractive man.

I married Henry because he was a kind and honest man, and a good husband. We had a peaceful time until James returned home. To be honest, I was happy for his return, but Henry was unhappy, so it was obvious they would duel.I didn't think James would lose, but he did and his body even disappeared..

James was such an unpredictable man, even following us to New York! Half of my life was spent looking for James and the other half hiding from him. I was surprised to know that Henry went to the wilderness, but he had changed a lot - not kind and honest anymore. He was obsessed about his title and his loving son; money and fame are such dangerous things.

Alice Durie (aka Sayuri)

Boring glossaries...gamified!

DIY gamification

I've been wondering how to 'make more' out of the graded readers our younger students are enjoying reading, and in particular to exploit the target or new vocabulary.

I came across a tweet from @HancockMcDonald which reminded me of a favourite game I'd long forgotten - his Chinese Chequers pronunciation game. A quick little think and some eager readers with 'finished ' books handy, I asked them what their 'hardest' six words were, and to circle them with a colour pencil. Then I asked them to write their chosen words onto the blank game template, at random (importantly, not clustered together!), with that colour pencil. 

Then we looked at the second glossary page, and did the same thing with a different colour pencil. Another reader, two more pages & different colours, and a third book leaving us with seven blank spaces for the last group of words.

 As you can see, this became a very engaging activity and proved to have very valuable spelling practice built into it (which never hurts, and is always really hard to squeeze into a lesson plan!). Important to use pencils (not crayons) for ease of corrections (and fitting words into small spaces - I insisted on getting words 'on' one line).

The words I want to learn!

So why the six colours? It's a dice game...we will be exploring our own games next week, and then asking our young learners to challenge mum & dad at home for 'homework'! Stay tuned :)

Hope you like the idea - we did!

Sayuri Super Fan - post-corona concert goer

Yuming, one of my favourite artists started her tour concert at the end of September and she came to Nagano for two days. I was very lucky to get the tickets for two concerts exactly the same one.

We (my husband and I) were so excited that we arrived at the concert hall really early but there were so many people just like us waiting for the door to open.

They used the digital ticket system so we had to have a smartphone to show the ticket onthe screen. Somehow the door person gave us a stamp on the screen ticket and we werequalified to enter the hall. First thing that we needed to do was cleaning our hands withpraying alcohol. Then they handed out a special face shield and we needed to put it onwith a mask underneath during the concert. They said that they used some special ultraviolet rays to sterilize some viruses. Also there was an announcement to ask for good behavior during the concert as the new standard after Covid 19. What is good behavior like?

The stage set looked like a room in a big submarine and we were all at the bottom of the deep sea, just like the tour title "The town in the deep sea"
Suddenly a pipe organ began to play gloriously. That was following the first song "Kageriyukuheya", my favourite song! That was her very early tune and she made it with theinspiration of Procol Harum "A Whiter Shade of Pale". I was surrounded by her solemn music and tears were coming up. It was the first live concert for me ever since this pandemic had happened. I was extremely happy!! I love music!!

Her concert was famous for the artistic stage production and the fifth song "Notre-Dame" was brilliant. On the huge screen above the stage we could see a bird's-eye view of Notre Dame and I felt like I was flying like a white dove, which was incredible.

We were so excited and stood up and started dancing and clapping hands!

On the first day, an old woman behind us complained about our bad behavior and asked us to sit down very politely but on the second day, we were on the fifth line from the front and almost the center, great seats! There was certain big fun of Yuming around, then we were all enjoying ourselves without any hesitation but not shouting off course.

In the end the day-two concert became so lively and exciting, so much better than theprevious day that the audience and the artists were all happy, satisfied and content. That's what the concert should be!

I realized how much I love music and concerts!

We need art! We need music! That makes us happy and well!

The mysterious death of Ryoma Sakamoto

Ryoma Sakamoto is one of the most famous Japanese unsolved crime. He is historical person and he is famous with rebelling against in the Edo period. 

He was born in the family of the Tosa state. After leaving the state, he worked as a priest and formed Kameyama Shrine, which doubled as a trading company and a political organization.  He was involved in the defeat and the Meiji Restoration, including cooperating with the formation of the Satcho Alliance.There is also evidence that he was a good swordsman. He repeated terrorist acts to defeat the Edo Shogunate and create a strong Japan.

December 10, 1867 When Ryoma and Nakaoka were talking, several men calling themselves Totsugawa Goji visited and asked for a visit.  When Fujiyoshi took over, the visitor went upstairs, slashed Fujiyoshi, and broke into the room where Ryoma and his friends were.

On the other hand, there is also such a theory.  It is said that he was killed by a man of the Tosa state who was his companion until then. These are just one theory, and there are other theories that various people have killed him, and the truth is in the dark.

Posted for Masato, after reading The Mysterious Death of Charles Bravo

The Magnificent Seven

 

B1:Preliminary & A2:Key successes

Although it's been a pretty crappy year with travel restrictions, health scares etc, it's been a tremendous one academically, for our teens at Luna.

Every one of Luna's students who took a Cambridge examination this year was successful. That didn't just happen by chance! They have been studying hard, reading lots, and applied a positive attitude to class activities as well as homework.

A2:Key - firsts in both their schools

• Lifetime achievement at A2:Key for Schools
• Lifetime achievement at B1:Preliminary for Schools
• Lifetime achievement at B2:First

Each of these students began their formal assessment journeys with our Cambridge Young Learners programme, having taken one, if not all three levels previously. Very solid foundations, and step by step progress with "Can Do" motivation...wanting to show off their English language skills (and not being forced).

Gold Standard - B2:First

Some of our learners smashed their test first time trying - very impressive! Others needed a second or even third attempt to reach their goal, which in many ways is even more inspiring as many would just give up or lose heart. 

Missing candidate, chuffed sister & mum!

And we applaud our students who are have made their own choices in their studies/English learning, and have a clear idea of their road ahead...be it using English to study medicine at university, or not stressing out over centre exams next year but aiming for Canada instead. Others intending to be the first in their school to get the next level as well. Whatever your motivation, it's clearly powerful...and we hope inspires your peers to push themselves in 2022. 

If at first you don't succeed...

Well done all of you - very proud school/Cambridge Assessment English Centre owner!

Register for your next Cambridge exam with Luna International, offering exams 

Tokyo, Nagoya, Nagano at 

https://luna-jp004.jp/

 

Rabbits, rabbits, rabbits!

Ruka's "great escape" rabbit

In the summer, Rabbit and Ruka were playing on a farm.

The rabbit escapes.

I find the rabbit eating grass and carrots.

 

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In 1913, Emperor Franz Joseph commanded Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, to visit the military exercises in Bosnia in June of 1914. Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were assassinated on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip. Princip was one of a group of six assassins (one Bosniak and five Serbs) coordinated by Danilo Ilić, a Bosnian Serb and a member of the Black Hand secret society.
The purpose of assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary’s South Slav provinces so that they can be combined into Yugoslavia.
The assassination led directly to World War I. Austria-Hungary issued an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia after it happened. However, a part of them was rejected by Serbia since Russia promised military support for Serbia. Then, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia because Germany promised military support.
Under the Secret Treaty of 1892, Russia and France were obliged to mobilize their armies if any of the Triple Alliance mobilized. Russia ordered general mobilization. With the Russia's general mobilization, Austria-Hungary and Germany also Austro-Hungarian and German mobilizations. Soon all the Great Powers mobilize their armies and gone to war. As the assassination of Franz and Sophia was the trigger of starting World War I, it is important historically especially for European countries.

Questions for our older students.

When I took CELTA, we were taught to engage our students from the start of a lesson with pictures, questions, and many other prompts. These were extremely useful in engaging the students in the lesson and making them interested. When I started teaching adults, it was a delight! The talk we can have from the mundane to their interest! It was a truly fortunate experience for me. But I always started it with a "How are you?" "How was your weekend?" it turned expected fast. 

Students knew what I was going to ask every week. I wanted to make an impact, ask them questions that they rarely hear, and expand their critical thinking. I talked to Jim one night after all our classes, and he told me to ask them out-of-the-norm questions so I decided to do so! 

I decided to look up questions that were appropriate and not boring or expected. I found 20 interesting questions that fit high school to adults perfectly well and range from Elementary to Pre-Intermediate!

Questions like: 

- Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.

- Are you a 'morning' or 'night' person?

- What could you do as a child that you can't do now?

- What do you think is the best age to be?

These are simple easy to understand questions but allow students to think and us getting to know each other better. I love getting to know my students and these questions will change from time to time, just to understand how they are as an individual studying a different language. 

Arisa's after reading story :)

Pandasssssssssssssss!

 In the spring, Panda have a baby.

A small baby panda was born in China.

Monkeys in School?! Rina's favourite animal

Rina's rabbit

I went to the zoo in the afternoon. Many people were looking for a rabbit. The rabbit was running away from the hut. Rina happened to have a carrot. So she try to catch the rabbit. I found it wonderfully and was able to catch it.

Malaysian Dances! Part 3: Magunatip (Bamboo dance)

 After learning the Zapin dance moves! We brought in the big guns! We brought in our "bamboo sticks" or more like poles wrapped in green paper! We make do with what we have! When I was researching for these dances, Magunatip really spoke to me! I knew the students would love it, was just something so different, and just fun honestly! Magunatip requires dancers to have agility and skill in jumping/dancing while avoiding getting crippled by the bamboos! Dancers hop in and out of the two or more clapping bamboo poles.

Originated from the Borneo land of Sabah! Performed by the Murut tribe while wearing their utterly beautiful traditional costume! Picture below! This dance originally performed for healing ceremonies and returning headhunters as a celebration (sounds of clapping, gongs and cheering made the blood of nearby villages run cold) is now performed during cultural events and festivals throughout Sabah. Most commonly now, it's performed during the harvest season or weddings as a sign of joy and happiest to their roots!

   Isn't it gorgeous?!

Two people will sit opposite each other and move the bamboos following a rhythm while 2 or more people jump and avoid the sticks! I knew I had to avoid any accidents (can't afford a lawsuit T_T) and the safety of the students does come first! I sought help from Yukari-san and Tomo-san in moving the bamboos while I jump as an introduction. We managed to create a routine where we counted (1-5) and managed to not get hurt! We were ready for the students! 

Video here:

Magunatip (warrior dance)

Students started off again watching a video and were just amazed! They were frightened but definitely ready to be jumping everywhere. I started off with a demonstration, twirl in front of the bamboos and then the jumping starts! We did it by making students follow my lead one by one until they were comfortable doing it on their own! They were later curious about the "Bamboos" and wanted to move it while the others jump around. They learned fast! By the end of it, I was sitting at the side as the students became masters! They wanted to do more tricks but were quickly shot down! 

But boy did the students enjoy it! I for one had fun teaching them about my culture as well as immersing myself in it! 

Malaysian Day Part 2: Zapin Dance

Took me a while writing this, but I made it finally! Continuing our story from last time, the first dance we learned was the Zapin dance commonly done in the West of Peninsular Malaysia and the most popular Malay traditional dances. Legends have it, it was introduced to Malaya (Malaysia's old name) back in the fourteenth century by Persians and Arab Muslim missionaries from the Middle East. Due to the gender inequality of the time, only men were able to perform the beautiful dance but proud to say, women dancers are now finally allowed. 

Source: The Sun Daily

Both men and women move beautifully across the stage that has a deep-rooted foundation to the traditional entertainment that has graced many Sultans in the past and present, hopefully, future as well. The Zapin dance is usually accompanied by traditional musical instruments such as the Gambus, Gendang and Rebana. Due to the missionaries back then, Zapin has been introduced to not only Malaysia but also Indonesia and Singapore. Hence, creating different variations of the dance. 

Due to my lack of knowledge in teaching someone to dance, I decided to follow a few tutorials I found on Youtube and use that. To be honest, it was a mixture of a lot of Zapin dances but hey! It worked out well!

We started by showing everyone a video of the whole performance of a Zapin dance that followed the song by Malaysian sweetheart, Siti Nurhaliza.

Video here: 

Zapin Ya Maulai

Students by this point were amazed and thought they will be zipping through the classroom like professionals! But sadly, I had to burst their bubbles and they will only learn a few simple steps. We started off with a move called the Inang. We sway both our hands up and down repeatedly a few times. The followed by the Asli which is a slower version of the Inang and we move left and right on a horizontal line. Then the fun starts! We zip into the Zapin move where our right hand is held in front of us as we move forward and back in a V shape style. Hard to imagine I know!

The Inang move

The Asli move

The Zapin move

The twirl move

We finished off with my favourite of all, the one hand raised and the twirl! A classic! In all seriousness, the students loved it! We then danced while wearing the costume we made and danced to our heart's content! Next time, definitely will have more moves and have a complete performance!

"Agony aunt" column in a magazine

 [Column from Ruth]:

I’m in agony for “mother-in-law”. Maybe there are many people who are same situation as me. In my case, she interferes in my family too much! I feel that tightly overseen by her as well as her husband. My town is small, and the people are like family. In other words, they know a lot of things even though another person.

Recently, I was upset because she had given a chocolate to my kid before dinner. If he ate a chocolate, he could not want to eat dinner much, so I don’t give him any snacks before meal. I understand that grandmother loves to see smiley face of grandson, however, I think she should pay regard to parent policy.

[Reply]:

Hi,

I had agonized same trouble in a couple years ago and I understand your feeling well. As for me, I had discussed with my husband many times to solve a problem. As my husband didn’t know that my suffering firstly, I explained details to him. Also, I asked him to talk his mother to refrain to give snacks for my kid before dinner. This is important point that I talked with her not just husband and I expressed my gratitude for understanding. After that I kept a suitable distance with mother-in-law. I’ve made a good relationship with her. I recommend that you talk with your husband to find any solutions first. In my experience, it is better to have many allies to raise your child. There is a potential for your mother-in-law to become one of ally! Hope you can built good relationship with her😊

 

Malaysian Dances! Part 1 : Introduction to Malaysia

Luna International first-ever Malaysian Dance day! Being a proud Malaysian, I took this challenge and wanted to knock the socks off these students! As it was held in August, also known as Malaysia’s Independence month, I thought “Great! Perfect timing!” Thus, my planning started! I conducted my research and talk to family and friends back home! I wanted something unique but not too difficult for students. Finally, I found Zapin and Magunapit to teach them! Was I excited!

 On a beautiful Wednesday morning (18^th August) we had a full house! We started with the first half of the day with an introduction to Malaysia! A beautiful montage created by Malaysia Truly Asia showcased the diverse cultures present in the country! The students were in awe especially seeing the animals (Proboscis monkey I see you!) They are also introduced to all the other popular dances across the country (Ulek Mayang - calling spirits of the sea) (Ngajat - A harvest dance)

We continued more by asking the students to colour in 3 different Malaysian inspired drawings by a talented close friend of mine (Instagram: @byanisgallery). She was inspired by the 3 big regions in Malaysia (East and West of Peninsular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak). From the fabric to our traditional games to our flora and fauna. Truly beautiful especially after the students coloured everything in! Then we stuck up the coloured drawings on the map of Malaysia!

West Malaysia

East Malaysia

Borneo (Sabah and Sarawak)

Now time for costumes!!! Like every performance, the costumes are the utmost important aspect! In Malaysia, as an activity, we like making clothes using newspaper and I really wanted to make the students wear newspaper! So, we made a paper skirt! Extremely easy to rip but did the students have fun learning something new! We continued on to a different aspect of the costume! The headbands! Dancers in Malaysia would usually wear a headdress thus I must make it too! Using yellow and gold cut out leaves, we shaped our headband beautifully. Am I proud of the students!

In Part 2, we will talk about Zapin as a dance and how the students enjoyed learning it!

Masato's Big Day Out - gone camping

 I had a really great day out. The weather was so good and I went camping with my friend.We took a tent, a sleeping bag, charcoal and so on. We were going’s to camping.

We set a tent and made a fire to do BBQ at dinner. During this, it has begun raining. We hurried up to prepare for camping. It was little hard, but we did with cooperation each other.

My friend said taught me how to make a fire, so we could do that easily. According to him we can make fire easily to set charcoal square.

After a camp, we went back by train.
We felt so tired but we enjoyed a great camping

Elementary, my dear Taisei: digital native "Can Do"

 I can totally talk about my family, and manage all the #edtech AND make a load of creative + editorial decisions on the fly, under time pressure...give me a job!

Unfortunately, Taisei is still at elementary school, but he could do a hell of a job for any number of businesses locally & trample any staffroom of high school teachers that I know of!

A young man's presentation that uni students would stuggle to beat (time taken, artwork - no eraser! -, diction and confidence, editing skills)...

Hana's perfect summer picnic

The place for my picnic...

 It is Sky Park.
I can ride a bicycle and go walking.

 My friends for my picnic.
They like tag and dodgeball.

Their names are Hinano, Fuka, Mei.

It's sandwiches and rice ball

The food for my picnic

It's a sunny day

 

Talking about my family...Sawa says

 

Sawa loves to draw, and loves to talk - I KNOW she is going to be an English teacher when she is a little bit bigger!

Here she grabbed Jim sensei's iPhone & monstered the tech to make this multi-faceted interactive presentation in no time at all. Asking really smart questions about 'how to' with intuitive ideas about what she thought she should be able to do (eg add an icon/change the colour of the background/switch sides...).

Love using students' native talents to produce a complete package - artwork, digital skills, digital navigation, decision making, composition, voice, reading skills...and a topic we all love to talk about ;)

***And a non-humble brag from Jim = he used to teach Sawa's grandmother (thank you former Young Australian of the Year - now Professor Belinda Tynan for introducing us!); grandpa brings her to class every week and they say "hello"... her older sister has been his student since she was tiny and he's worried she's going to be taller than him by the end of this year! Definition of Luna's Family!

Animals should have the rights as people?

How do you think about an opinion that Animals should have the same rights as people?

My answer is Yes. In a movie “My 10 promises with dogs”, I learned following importance things to have a life with dog.

Firstly, please do not forget that the animals have emotions.  Secondly, Humans have a school and friends, but Animals only have owner and owner family. In addition, Get along well even when Animals get old. Lastly, Animals can live for about 10 years, so let’s cherish our time together. And from my experience that had two dogs and the movie “My 10 promises with dogs”, I am keenly aware that that animals’ life depends on how owner contacts with.

I can agree with the opinion at following points. Animals are not be treated violently. Should be laws against abuse of pets. Should be illegal to neglect pets. Animals are not kept making clothes. Animals are not kept for medical experiments. Safe places to live in the wild. Animals are not kept in zoos. Lastly, Humans should take good care animals like human baby/children

On the other hand, I disagree with the opinion at following points. Animals cannot vote. Animals have no access to education. Animals cannot own land or property. Animals cannot have money

In conclusion, Animals do not need same rights as people, but should be taken good care like human baby/children. Humans cannot converse with animals, so humans should see how animals want/think.

This is my family: Riku

 

Taking advantage of Riku's lovely drawings of his family members, we used Adobe Spark Video (iPhone app) to put his commentary together - I say "we"... I showed him where the buttons/tabs/options were & he dived into creative mode like the digital native he obviously is! ("Get out of the way, Jim!").

Riku has recently joined us at Luna, and I could see his shoulders going back as he gained confidence from doing this 'first' in our group. I think you'll agree this is an awesome little project?!

A voyage around my favourite relative

I write about my wife's brother, a straight man with no front and back who is loved by everyone

He is three years older than me, and is also a karate enthusiast.

After graduating in physical education at college, he began his career as an adventurer. His most famous adventure was an unsupplied dog sledding adventure to the North Pole, which shows his aggressive, adventurous spirit. Of course, in appearance he has kept his youth, and does not look his age.

After his adventure to the Arctic, he became a director of a company that undertakes corporate training, to strengthen organizations’ talents. He also teaches leadership and organizational management at university. I haven't seen him because of the coronavirus, but I'd like to hear about his other interesting adventure stories someday.

Posted for Masaya

My Great Uncle Hiroaki

Of all my relatives, I like my Uncle Hiroaki. He’s my mother’s youngest brother. Sadly, I said my final goodbye to him last year. Today, I’d like to write something about his life.

He was very tall (actually over 200cm!) and used to play basketball in his school days and early years after joining his company. He played any sports quite well, and he often used to play catch with my younger brother and me when we were children.

He majored in electricity when he was a high school student. After graduating from high school, he got a job at a big electronics company in Hitachi, Ibaraki, in Japan. He had been working hard and got a lot of patents there. And he built his own house and spent a long time of his life.

He was very kind to his family, including me. I was pleased when he got back to his hometown Nagano and had some dishes with him. When I visited his house, he feasted me with lots of tomatoes and cucumbers from his garden. Also, he kept a lot of pets, such as rabbits and dogs. His last dog was now in his older brother’s house. Every time I see her that reminds me of my great Uncle Hiroaki.

Posted for Yuki T

The town where I was born.

I was born in Matsumoto, the second-largest city in Nagano prefecture. Its population is about 250000. There're several tourist attractions, including Matsumoto castle, which is the National treasure of Japan. 

Cool summers, and cold winters. Flowers bloom in spring and rice grows in autumn. 

When I tell people I am from Matsumoto, they say they would like to go there one day. But to be honest, it just doesn't feel right to me. The castle, and other tourists attractions, I never thought of them as belonging to our homeland. 

To me, it seems to belong to some other city. That's because I wasn't actually born in "Matsumoto city".

I was actually born in "Hata town" between Kamikochi and Matsumoto city. It was famous for watermelon and was located on the west side of Matsumoto city. 

The town was long, expanded from east to west ad also schools and other educational institutions, a town hall, a hospital, a shopping street (very local and small) and a train station in the centre. The town was on a river terrace and when I was in primary and secondary school, I had to walk up a steep hill to get to school. 

When I was in high school, the town merged with Matsumoto city. It was quite natural, considering the economic situation of the town. Hata town became "Matsumoto city".

The merger was decided by a referendum, but I was a high school student at the time and did not have the right to vote. I heard that the town was split in two, for and against the merger, but I didn't know much about it because I was 16 years old. 

For me, who went to high school in Matsumoto city by train, it didn't matter either way. 

"Hata town will disappear from the map!" said my second cousin who used to live in the same town, sadly. She was looking forward to coming to "Hata" for her summer vacation. 

I thought, "if it disappeared from the map, it doesn't mean we won't have a place to live" It was a feeling I didn't quite understand at the time.

Sometime later, I became a university student and for the first time, I started to live outside of my "hometown". I was in a student dormitory during my university days, where there were a lot of students from every prefecture. We're trying to get to know each other better by asking questions like "Where are you from?" I answered "Matsumoto in Nagano".They replied by saying "Oh, I know your city. There's a castle, right? I would like to go one day" "I've been there, it's a nice place, there are some sights to see"

I felt uncomfortable.

Yes, "I am from Matsumoto city" but as far as I could remember, there was no castle, nor tour attractions in my "hometown". Finally, I understood what my cousin had said and I felt a bit sentimental. "Hata town became Matsumoto city"

Every holiday, I took the Shinkansen and the Express Shinano to get to Matsumoto. Arriving at Matsumoto station, I changed the train which I used to take back in high school. The train left Matsumoto city and ran through the watermelon fields and rice fields. The train ran west to west. 

At Hata station, I got off the train and walked past the hospital, which used to be called "Hata hospital". I then walked past the building which used to be called the town hall. I walked past my junior high and primary schools. went down the steep hill and finally, I reached my "hometown".

I often say "My hometown has nothing, nothing to see, nothing to visit" I often think of it. The town where I was born, cool summer, and watermelon fields. Cold winter and the steep slopes are frozen. Flowers blooming around the river terrace in Spring and rice growing in the fields in Autumn. There used to be a small town, where I was born. 

Written by Anna.