Music streaming has become the main way for many people to listen to music these days. For a long time however, I did not use any streaming services. This is unusual because I often use streaming services for other types of media. Despite my hesitancy, I have been recently using Spotify a lot and it has been a very refreshing way for me to engage with music.
For many years in Japan, I always bought music. There were a few reasons for this. Throughout my teenage years I became very passionate about Japanese music. Not living in Japan however made it difficult to be able to physically buy Japanese CDs and limited my options. Once I moved here, there was something exciting about being able to hold a CD of musicians I had loved for years. I also discovered that despite most of the world turning to digital formats, Japan still had a huge physical CD market. One of the big reasons is due to CDs coming with special goods or codes to buy advanced concert tickets.
But the past few years I started buying less CDs. CDs cost a lot, and I could not justify buying them for artists I was only slightly interested in. The novelty of buying physical CDs started to fade as well. I decided I would finally give a streaming app a shot. The experience I have ended up having has been more significant than I expected. Many musicians I was curious about suddenly became easy to listen to. I could discover musicians I did not know about before. I could re-listen to old songs from earlier in my life. And I could easily dive into the discographies of musicians I have loved for many years. I have not been able to go to a concert in many years, so it is nice to have something happen that has reinvigorated my interest in music.
Spring is just around the corner！
I'm surprised that March is already here..
Are you enjoying this nice and warm weather?
There is one thing that has concerned me recently..
That is I've gained some weight back which I had lost..
I feel like I've let myself down.
ここ最近体系が非常に気になります。
食べる量もそんなに変わっていない(と信じたい)のですが、横にどんどん成長しています。。
中学生のときは1日1時間程度の運動しかしていませんでしたが、今よりスリムでした。。
運動量をもっと増やし摂取カロリーを減らすべきだなあと実感しています。
How healthy is your diet?
Do you do anything special to stay healthy?
How do you stay in shape?
If you have any tips for me, please share them with me!
うさぎ おいし かのやま～
とこの童謡を聴くと、歌詞の意味が不明だから漢字を調べてやっと意味がわかったという人もいるのではないでしょうか。
兎 追いし かの山～
この曲の題名は何でしょうか。
正解は「故郷」です。問題はこれの読み方ですが、多くの人が「ふるさと」と読むでしょう。では「ふるさと」を漢字で書くならどう書きますか？
小学2年生の漢字練習問題に出題されていたのを見て、私の目は違和感で満載でした。ここまで読んだ人はもうわかるやもしれません。出題されていたのは、ふるさとの漢字を「古里」としていました。
どうやら最近の新聞ではふるさとに充てる漢字は「古里」と表記するそうです。「故郷」という漢字が書かれたら「こきょう」と読ませるそうです。
「古里」と書かれたら、自分が生まれ育った故郷ではなく、鄙びた里しか思い浮かびません。。
とはいえ、今の時代に「ふるさとへ帰る」という表現ももうしませんね。「地元へ帰る」でしょうか。英語にするといずれもhometownとなってしまいますね。
関東で生まれ育った従姉妹たちが、夏に岡山へ来て言ったセリフがあります。「山ばっかりだね。」山は身近で当たり前すぎたのでこのセリフが私にとっては鮮明に記憶に残りました。関東平野が身近な彼らにとっては山が新鮮だったのでしょう。
Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English!" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM) . Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talk in English and Japanese about backaches and the Emperor’s birthday. Click the button below to listen.
Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday, February 24th (today!), at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about backaches and the Emperor’s birthday.
2月24日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMO (79.0FM) に出演します（DJは上別府千晶さん）。英語と日本語の両方で背中の痛みと天皇陛下の誕生日について話します。
During the past few weeks I have been watching some old animated movies that I saw over 20 years ago when I was still a child. I re-watched Space Jam, The Iron Giant and Hercules. It’s been such a nostalgic experience to return to these movies after so long.
What stood out the most to me is how much shorter these movies are than I remembered. When I was a child, it felt like a lot more happened in the story, but now seeing them again as an adult they are a lot simpler than I thought. This isn’t a bad thing, but it’s interesting to see how my perception of time has changed as I’ve gotten older.
In any case, I’ve been enjoying revisiting these movies. It’s also great seeing how hand-drawn animation can still look great even after more than 20 years has passed. I hope to keep going down memory lane and re-watch some more classics.