節電 (Setsuden); Saving electricity "Setsuden was a national movement in Japan to encourage the Japanese public to conserve electricity during the 2011 summer months, and adopt an overall energy sustainable lifestyle. " (from Wikipedia) 　Some people on italki might know that Japanese companies had to save energies after the Touhoku earthquake happened. But do you even know they still keep it for cost saving? And the movement has escalated. 　 I studied English at a conference room at lunch break. All of the lights at my office shut down but I needed them to read my textbooks and I thought it didn't matter if I turned on some of them around my space. But one of my bosses came to me and told me to turn off them and use sunlight from the blinds because we had to save electricity and other workers might complain about it. I had no idea. Was it a bad thing to use some lights only around my space to study? I was doing it because my English wasn't good but wanted to use better to communicate with other countries' suppliers, and that meant I did it to increase my productivity for my company! I wanted to argue with it but I obeyed. Well, I couldn't reading with sunlight anyway. 　Moreover, they turn off all of the heaters before opening and during lunch break too. I think it costs more when they are rebooted after the break. Also, my co-workers always say our office is very cold and in fact some of them got a cold last week. 　I don't know why they think saving cost and energies are equal. Why don't they realize they sacrifice their employees' health instead of it? 　 This isn't the first time I thought their way of thinking is weird. Or am I wrong?

Finnish Negative Sentence Moi. I have a question. What is the difference between this model answer and my answer. Q: Change the following affirmative sentences into negative. (1) Vauva laulaa ja tanssii. Model answer: Vauva ei laula eikä tansi. My answer: Vauva ei laula ja tansi. Is my answer incorrect? Doesn't "ei" modify not only "laula" but also "tansi"?

Finnish Language Exercises 2 Finnish Language Exercises 2 Minä en ole Micha. Sinä et ole Pekka. Hän ei ole Kirsti. Me emme ole Micha ja Pekka. Te ette ole Ritva ja Kimmo. He eivät ole Kirsti ja Martti. Enkö minä ole oikeassa? Etkö sinä ole ulkona? Eikö hän ole kotona? Emmekö me ole väärässä? Ettekö te ole suomalaisia? Eivätkö he ole japanista? Finnish is very interesting. How deep.

Finnish Language Exercises Minä olen Micha. Sinä olet Pekka. Hän on Kirsti. Me olemme Micha ja Pekka. Te olette Ritva ja Kimmo. He ovat Kirsti ja Marti. Olenko minä oikessa? Olet sinä ulkona? Onko hän kotona? Olemmeko me väärässä? Oletteko te suomalainen? Ovatko he japanilainen?

OATMEAL PANCAKES I have been drowning comic but this is my first time doing that in English. If you find any mistakes feel free to point them out :)

Dishes I cooked this week. My mother would often say, " I wish people could live without having to eat!" because she hasn't liked cooking. On the other hand, I love it and I'll show you dishes I cooked this week. [ Kinpira-gobo (きんぴらごぼう) ] It is one of Japanese traditional dishes and made with burdock root and carrot. It has a sweety soy flavor and is good with rice. But since a burdock is commonly known as a weed, non-Japanese people might don't like it. [ Sandwiches ] I meal prep and keep them in the freezer on the weekend and take one of them to work every day. It is exciting for me to think about its menus like "there might be a can of tuna in the kitchen cabinet so next week I'll "tuna mayo" sandwiches...". [ Cookies ] I like brittle or crunchy cookies and don't actually like Japanese cookies because most cookies are tender and a little bit moist but I don't know why. So I came to make them myself. I do oatmeal cookies recently and one can't be anything but happy when eating a cookie fresh from the oven!

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (I drew Gary Oldman for a change. I hope you like it :O)) Do you think what a spy movie is like? Car crashes, or gun battles, or naked women? This movie featured none of them yet it's one of my favorite movies. When I saw it for the first time, I found it difficult to follow its story. After that, I read a detailed explanation of the plot on the Internet and watched the movie once again. This time, I was able to be aware of hidden clues in the background of it and follow the story though I had to skip back and forth many times. I was excited when I was able to connect the dots! Not only the plot was but also actors were also great. I believe Gary Oldman is like a chameleon because I couldn't recognize Smiley as him at first and believe Sirius Black was played by the same person. (And when I see "Darkest Hour", I will feel the same way again.) Oh, I couldn't help chuckle to see Colin Firth and Mark Strong were in the same movie because a few days before I just watched "Kingsman". And I heard TTSS sequel is in development before. (Should I read John le Carré's novels in advance?) I can't wait! (Thank you for reading my entry till the end!)

A Spring Missing Glove Syndrome Spring not only brings warm weather but also causes a strange syndrome. It was a warm thawy day. On the way to the subway station, I found Japanese apricot trees were in bloom and at the same time I caught sight of something under a tree alone. It was a woman's glove. I picked the glove up and hung it on its branch so that the owner of its stuff could see it. After getting off the subway, I bought a SAKURA Strawberry Pink Milk Latte at Starbucks before I went out the ticket gate, and then, the same thing happened. There was a man's glove on the floor. I took it out to the lost and found office. Since it was warmer than usual, I supposed the owners took their gloves off on their way and pushed them into pockets or something but they didn't realize one of them slipped off. That was like a missing sock syndrome, so I decided to call it "a spring missing glove syndrome".

An Old Sport For Older People Have you ever heard of sumo? It is a Japanese style of wrestling. I like sumo and I have been following it for about two years. Unfortunately, the sport is unpopular with young people in Japan. It is supposed to be an old sport for older people and it's kind of true. When I went to see its tournament, I found myself being surrounded by older people. Haha. However, sumo isn't an old sport. It's cool. You might think it's boring to see the game but once you understand its rules you can enjoy it! The rules are simple: "the wrestler who first exits the ring or touches the ground with any part of his body besides the soles of his feet loses. "(japan-guide.com) A contest usually lasts only a few seconds and its game time is shorter than that of other sports. Sumo wrestlers spend a large amount of time on their training for their only short match. That's very cool, isn't that? Anyway, as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words." If you have a curiosity about sumo, I'll recommend to you that you go to watch sumo!