Diary: Tetsujin-28 in Nagata, Kobe(August 26) Today, I went to Kobe to do some shopping. I often go to Kobe. :) Kobe is not far from Osaka. It takes 30 minutes from Osaka by train. And I like Kobe. Because there are beautiful harbor and beaches, China town, old Western houses. After I finished shopping, I went to see the monument of "Tetsujin-28" in Nagata. It's made of steel and 15.39 metars tall and weighs 50 ton. "Tetsujin-28" is famous and the first giant robot in a Japanese manga. He stands as a symbol of revival after the big Earthquake in 1995. I took a picture with him! He is big, isn't he? :) And I ate Chinese food in China town for dinner. It was yummy! I had a good time! ;)

Diary: Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple and Daimonji Bonfire(August 16) Today it was beautiful day! And ...my last day of O-bon break. :( The Obon week in mid August is one of Japan's 3 major holiday seasons. I got 5 days off from 12th to the 16th August this year. I went to Kyoto and Hieizan Enryaku-ji temple in Shiga prefecture with Taiwanese and Korean friends today. The Enryaku-ji temple is a World Cultural Heritage Site. I wanted to visit there. At first we took ropeway to the top of Mt. Hiei. And we saw the nice view of Lake Biwa. It was beautiful. :) And then we went to the Enryaku-ji temple. It was nice. After we went back to Kyoto, we saw the Daimonji Gozan Okuribi(Bonfire) tonight. The bonfire is an event held on the evening of August 16th every year and originated hundreds of years ago. Fires are lit to send ancestors' spirits back at the end of Obon period. We can see five of the Okuribi in Kyoto. I took this picture. This is the character of "大 dai" (meaning "large""big") on Mt. Daimonji. :)

First notebook entry: Introducing myself Hi. Kon nichi wa! Nice to meet you! My name is Kazuyo. I'm Japanese female and live in Japan. It is difficult to call my name and remember it... so my friends call me "Kaz" or "Kazzie". :) Kazuyo writes "和世". I like my name. Because "和" means " peace"or "harmony" "Japanese". "世" means "world". I want to make friends all over the world. I'm studying English by myself now. My English is not good so far. But I'd like to improve my English. To be honest...I don't like studying on my desk. But learning English is fun! I love making foreign friends in Japan. And I love to learn English from them while drinking, chatting at cafe, playing sports. I'm really enjoying it. And I love to know different cultures, food of their countries and also our Japanese culture! Sometimes I feel ashamed when they ask me about Japan. I can't answer... :( Because I don't know much about Japanese things! My hobbie is traveling. I love meeting new people on my trip. I have been to China, Korea, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. Especially I love Australia! I went to Australia three times. I'm easygoing person... so I felt cozy while I was there. hehe. :) In 2010 I had some valuable experience as a Japanese assistant teacher at Primary school for 3 months in Australia. I stayed with Australian family and their son took me to his school. I met Japanese teacher for the first time. And then I helped her with Japanese at her class. I taught kids how to fold Japanese Origami, about Japanese food, culture, festivals in Japan etc. It was really nice! In my future I really want to be a Japanese teacher.