Gardening to absorb heat in summer It's so hot. Resent the highest temperature in the day time is 35 to 37 celsius in Tokyo. Sunlight is harsh. To avoid the heat of the sunlight, people actively grow some green outside of the window in schools, companies, and homes, called "Green curtain". For Green curtain, it is better to use some plants that are tolerant of heat and grow well enough to cover whole the windows. Especially people like bitter gourd as Green curtain because it is "killing two birds with one stone": the plants absorb heat and also the fruits are edible. Bitter gourd is kind of vine, and the fruits are a little bit bitter and used as fries with pork. However, if you grow bitter gourd every summer, you may be getting bored. I recommend Horned melon (Kiwano) as another choice for Green curtain. It is easy to grow in a temperate region, such as Tokyo, you can get many fruits. The fruits have beautiful green jelly with a little bit sour and fresh flavor. I think that this plant is "killing THREE birds with one stone", because the first is absorb heat and the second is edible, and the third is security, that is, it has many small hard spines, and no one can touch the windows.

If you are in trouble in Japan: How foreigners get legal information? Imagine that you come from a country other than Japan, and start working in a Japanese company. However, unfortunately, the company has suddenly bankrupted, and your salary remains unpaid. In such a situation, you may get so nervous. Moreover, if you do not understand Japanse well, the situation is harder for you. You may be able to use English. However, in Japan, not all people can speak English well, and important announcements for administration, legal system, and emergency are often written by only Japanese. I always think if I could not understand Japanese well and in trouble, I would get so nervous. "Houterasu" is a system built by the Japanese government for people with Japanese address, the regular status of residence and lower income. People can get legal advice from lawyers and experts at no cost in Houterasu offices which is all over Japan. They have a call center and provide multilingual service, such as English, Chinese, Tagalog, and so on.

On an ancient tomb in Kamakura, Japan Kamakura is an ancient capital about 1000 years ago. There are many beautiful temples and gardens, so one of the famous spots for sightseeing, as well as Nara and Kyoto in Japan. What is the specific attractiveness of Kamakura that the other places never have? I think it is an atmosphere that comes from characteristic geology that is mainly composed of tuff. Tuff is a kind of stone that is soft and easy to process, therefore ancient people made many caves and tunnels in Kamakura. Especially ancient people often used the caves of tuff as a tomb. Kamakura is a narrow place enclosed by mountains by three sides and sea by the rest one side. Therefore Kamakura people were believed to be not able to make usual tombs in flat land, instead, they make tomb in the tuff wall outside of the city. The tombs in caves named "Yagura", and still you can see Yagura everywhere in Kamakura. For example, Mandara Yagura-do is one of the biggest aggregation of Yagura. This place is not always opened but 10 am to 4 pm every Saturday and Sunday (and also Monday if it is a public holiday) in a decided term. The next term is from October 19th to December 15th in 2019. The term and other detailed information are announced in HP of Zushi city of Kanagawa prefecture, and there are English pages in https://www.city.zushi.kanagawa.jp/global-image/units/125114/1-20181015105034.pdf. The charge for the entrance is free, but a donation may be recommended for maintenance of the heritage. Besides this Mandara Yagura-do, you can see many Yagura along hiking corse around Kamakura.

On an ancient tomb in Kamakura, Japan Kamakura is an ancient capital about 1000 years ago. There are many beautiful temples and gardens, so one of the famous spots for sightseeing, as well as Nara and Kyoto in Japan. What is the specific attractiveness of Kamakura that the other places never have? I think it is an atmosphere that comes from characteristic geology that is mainly composed of tuff. Tuff is a kind of stone that is soft and easy to process, therefore ancient people made many caves and tunnels in Kamakura. Especially ancient people often used the caves of tuff as a tomb. Kamakura is a narrow place enclosed by mountains by three sides and sea by the rest one side. Therefore Kamakura people were believed to be not able to make usual tombs in flat land, instead, they make tomb in the tuff wall outside of the city. The tombs in caves named "Yagura", and still you can see Yagura everywhere in Kamakura. For example, Mandara Yagura-do is one of the biggest aggregation of Yagura. This place is not always opened but 10 am to 4 pm every Saturday and Sunday (and also Monday if it is a public holiday) in a decided term. The next term is from October 19th to December 15th in 2019. The term and other detailed information are announced in HP of Zushi city of Kanagawa prefecture, and there are English pages in https://www.city.zushi.kanagawa.jp/global-image/units/125114/1-20181015105034.pdf. The charge for the entrance is free, but a donation may be recommended for maintenance of the heritage. Besides this Mandara Yagura-do, you can see many Yagura along hiking corse around Kamakura.

On the system of Japanese retaurants, Izakaya I heard foreigner have often confused when they go to Izakaya, which is Japanese style restaurants that provide alcohol and dishes. This is due to Otoshi, that is a Japanese-specific system. Otoshi is a small dish that is provided from a restaurant, nevertheless, you do not order. The restaurant charge the dish. People who do not know Otoshi system will confuse and say, "What is this?", "I do not order that". However, once you know the Otoshi system, you may get think you get a better deal. Especially you come from a country that has the custom to pay a tip. Otoshi can be interpreted as a tip system in Japan. Usually, you just pay a tip for their services, so you do not get any return from your tip, but in Otoshi, you can get a small dish in exchange for a tip. However, if Otoshi is not your favorites, you do not appreciate the system. I think Otoshi represents the quality of the restaurants: If I feel the Otoshi is not good, I will finish earlier and go to the next restaurant.

Could you tell me the difference between "landscape" and topography"? Hi, everyone. Happy new year! I cannot understand the difference between "landscape" and topography". For instance, I found the expression "mountain landscape", whereas "mountain topography". But it seems not to be completely compatible. For example, there is the expression " the topography of the landscape". If you like, could you tell me which is suitable, "valley of landscape" or "valley of topography"? Thank you for your help.

Natural exchange in conversation Usually, I communicate with colleagues in Japanese, and I seldom speak English in daily conversation. However, recently I had a chance to speak English with visitors to my workplace. Both I and they were not native speakers of English, and we spoke slowly compared to the conversation between natives. I realized that I frequently used "that's good." for the response when I listened to them. Finally, one of them mimicked (mocked) my phrase "that's good", indicating "you always use that". I feel a little bit embarrassed. I understood the importance of a variety of the response for fluent conversation. One day, when I spoke Japanese, I also realized I usually use "いいですね" (an equivalent of "that's good" in English) for the response. At first, I thought my problem with the response resulted from my English skill, but it seems to have different roots. In both situations, I got just a little nervous because I spoke the persons whom I met for the first time. Once I recognize the problem and the origin, I may do better.

On my first job interview in English Recently I had a job interview for 25 minutes with skype. In the first 10 minutes, I presented on my previous work. I felt the reactions of referees were not bad since they listened to my presentation nodding. After that, we proceeded a question time but I felt difficulty because I often could not understand their questions. I could understand them only after asking again. One reason is that I could not hear unclear voice in my present skill of hearing. The referees were in a meeting room, and their camera and microphone seemed to be attached near a ceiling of the room. Their voice was sometimes a little bit unclear with echo and the speed of speaking was fast for me. Unfortunately, I did not get the job. The considerable reasons for the failure may be not only the hearing problem but also some, such as matching between my skill and them, presence of stronger competitors. However, at least, I did not practice to listen to unclear voice. Although until the interview I had repeatedly practiced English conversation in skype English lessons, the language teachers always used a head set with a microphone and spoke slowly, therefore I could hear them very clearly. The interview is a good experience for me and is my first step. Listening in different environments from different persons is my next task.

About my favorite museum I sometimes go to art museums. There are a lot of museums in which I live, Tokyo. I can enjoy vary genre of arts, such as oil painting, sculpture, statue, modern art, Ukiyo-e, and pottery in there. I often go to National museum of western art in Tokyo. This museum exhibits many oil paintings from middle to modern ages. In the museum, especially, I like to see an oil painting of a landscape with ruins about 3 hundreds years ago. The picture was drawn by French artist Hubert Robert (1733−1808) who is one of the famous artists in the genre in Rococo era. In the picture, Rome ruin architecture is drawn. The reason that I like is that it has good atmosphere, and I feel as if I go into the world of the picture. The tree and cloud have a specific good figure and texture and sunlight are gentle. I would like to practice to make fluent and natural phrasing. Thank you for your cooperation.