My type of learning

Personally, I believe that I am a combination of a visual and audio learner. Whenever I study something, I can never remember anything just by reading off the notes; I always have to read it to myself while I read it. Also, whenever I want to remember the lyrics for a song, I have to read the lyrics while listening to the song. I have been learning and studying in this way for many years, and I am confident that it shall help me in later years to come.

Tomoki Tamiya passage -

Murakami Pastiche Tomoki -

Themes of Antigone essay -

Tomoki Tamiya literary essay -

Short Story Literary Essay Reflection

For my Short Story Literary Essay, I chose to write about the significance of tradition in the lives of individuals, using the stories The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World and The Boat. Even though I got the same grade for the Antigone essay, I feel that this one was better.

In this essay, I put a lot of care in the style and language mechanics, unlike the Antigone essay. I checked to see that all the tenses were consistent and that the quotes were integrated. Also, the content was not bad. I think that I analyzed about the topic well.

The organization, though, was not that great. I did not plan out very much, and wrote it all in the spur of moment. If I planned ahead before hand and already made up my mind of how to write the essay, I think I would have gotten a higher score.

Antigone Essay Reflection

I think that I could have done a better job in my Antigone Essay. For my topic, I chose to compare the tyranny of Creon to Kim Jong-il. I believe that tyranny is a big theme in Antigone. Without Creon’s tyranny, no tragedy would have been made.

Content wise, I think I did a pretty good job, even though I still think it could have been better. I think that comparing how Creon and Kim Jong-il cause tyranny was not a bad choice. I think I needed more support to this thesis and a few more precise examples. Overall, content was not much of a problem.

What concerned me the most in my essay were the style and language mechanics. I totally forgot to fix all the tenses so that they were all consistent, integrate quotes, and other aspects of essay writing that were focused in class. If I were able to do this essay again, I would focus on fixing these kinds of problems.

Antigone: the movie

For our Antigone movie, we chose the scene where Antigone is trying to persuade Ismene to bury their brother, Polynices. Antigone says that it is wrong that Creon made a law that Polynices should not be provided a proper burial, and that they should give him a burial even if it means death. Ismene, though, disagrees and refuses to go. We all agreed that this is one of the most significant scenes because it is the scene where fate could have been changed. If Ismene had stopped Antigone from burying Polynices, then none of this tragedy would have occurred. On the other hand, if Antigone had been successful in persuading Ismene to help her, then a more hideous, tragic end could have awaited them.

To be honest, there was not much meaning in why we chose the particular background music in our video. We just chose it because it fit much more with the contents then other soundtracks such as “funky guitar” or “metal rock.” Also, we made the camera angles auto, so I can’t say much about that. The actions of the characters, though, did have a meaning. For example, we made Ismene show a sad expression for a whole lot of the movie to show her worried feelings towards Antigone. Though I disliked how the characters talked so monotonously and how they couldn’t pronounce a few words like “Ismene,” I enjoyed how we were actually making a movie of our own and how we could make them talk and act in any way we wanted. Overall, I enjoyed doing this project.

Social Studies blog entry: The army in ancient Egypt

This article I have chosen explains about the army in ancient Egypt. It says that until the New Kingdom period, volunteers who agreed to join made up the army in Egypt. From the New Kingdom period, though, the ruler “established a permanent professional army.” By joining the army, soldiers were guaranteed gold, land, and prisoners, but most of all, a promotion in social status.

From this article, I figured that before the New Kingdom period, Egypt must have been very peaceful, or that the citizen in Egypt were all cooperative in fighting for their Empire. If Egypt had been very peaceful before the New Kingdom period, it explains how Egypt must have not needed a proper army to defend their Empire. If the citizens of Egypt were very cooperative, it shows that they probably had a lot of pride in their own Empire, or it may have been part of religion; they might have believed that if you die in fighting to defend your Empire, you could go to a better afterlife. I can connect this to what we talked in class, since we discussed how the Egyptians were very religious and cared much about afterlife.

From the New Kingdom period, though, a proper, professional army was made. As a promotion in becoming part of the army, soldiers were guaranteed many rewards from the pharaoh. One of the rewards was a promotion in social status. Many citizens became a part of the army just for the promotion in social status. This shows me how the Egyptians must have also valued social status. Overall, I concluded that the Egyptians have valued much in their lives, mostly spiritual things, since they care about social status and religion, and not material things like money and land.

How my family members affected me

My family members affected me very much in many ways. Firstly, they made me how I am today. Because of my father, I started learning and enjoying the violin. He is also the person who made the choice to move to America. Without my father, I think I would be an ordinary Japanese high school boy going to a public school somewhere in Japan. My mother is who supports me and gives me advices when I don’t know what to do. My brother is who introduced me to diverse interests, such as comic books, video games, etc. He is also the one who sometimes (very sometimes) helped me and gave advices on schoolwork.

My identity is probably not influenced by any of my family members, and is probably influenced on my surrounding environment. For example, when I was in America, I had many American friends, but after I moved to Japan, I chose that I would rather hangout with Japanese-speaking people. Also, my parents always failed to make me start my homework when it was assigned and not the day before it’s due. There is, though, one thing that my family members influenced my identity. That is how I am more comfortable speaking Japanese rather than English. My parents did not want me to forget how to speak Japanese while I was at America. That is why they always used Japanese when they speak to me privately at home.

My family members have also influenced some of my goals. My goal is to become a doctor, since I am a part of a doctor family. Even though my parents don’t directly say this to me, but I think that they would want me to become a doctor just like them. I think they influenced me without noticing, and I was influenced without noticing. Another goal that is based on my parents’ value is to have good grades so I could get a better education in university. Of course, I also would want to accomplish this goal, but not as much as how my parents want me to accomplish it.

I also have a goal that is not influenced by any of my family members. I think that many of us in this world have the same goal, but my ultimate ambition of my life is to live peacefully and happily. I am aiming for this goal without any influence by my family members, and maybe even without realizing that I was aiming for a goal like this. This may be a very orthodox and simple dream, but it is a very important and valuable ambition for me to accomplish.

What makes me unique

English in my life

English has played a great role in my life. It is the language that I learn, speak, and write the most. I use English mostly in school, when I talk to my friends and peers, and when I speak to my brother. I used English daily when I used to live in America, but now, I use Japanese more often.

English is my mother tongue, though I am now more fluent at Japanese than English. I was born in Hiroshima Japan, but I moved to America when I was three months old. I lived in America for seven years, and I spoke more English than Japanese. This was probably because I was attending a fully English school, not like an international school like Canadian Academy. Also, everyone around me was speaking English, so I think I was influenced by them. The only time I spoke Japanese was when I was talking to my parents (I speak to my brother with English, even now). Once I returned to Japan, though, I became better at speaking Japanese, and started hanging out with Japanese people more. Before I knew it, I became more fluent in Japanese and started speaking Japanese more often.

Even though I don’t speak English in places other than school, learning English in Japan does not seem that awkward for me. What seems awkward for me instead is not learning much about Japanese, even though I live in Japan. I sometimes feel very stupid when I learn elementary kanji when other Japanese students at my age are already learning high school kanji. It also feels awkward not learning much about other Japan studies such as its history, economics, government, and so on. I think that we should learn a bit more on Japanese as well as English in this school, since it is the country we’re living in.

After high school, I think English would keep playing a big role in my life. I would probably attend at a university in the US, so I would obviously be speaking English for at least four more years after graduating high school. If I attend graduate school (also probably in America), I would probably be speaking English for a few more years. After that though, I plan to work at Japan, so I think it wouldn’t play a big role anymore. Still, knowing how to speak English is a very talented skill and would absolutely help in the future.

My Personal Literary History

After reading books for my whole life, books have become an essential part of my life. Many books appealed to me greatly. The three literary works that greatly appealed to me were; The Giver by Lois Lowery, The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl, and Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang.

I first read the book The Giver, by Lois Lowery, when I was in sixth or seventh grade. At that time, I didn't really think of anything. But later in eighth grade, I read the book again, and I understood more about what the story was about and what the author was trying to say. I was deeply impressed by how the author expressed that living in a utopian world cannot provide you happiness, and that the world that the protagonist actually lived in a more dystopian world than a utopian society. Reading this book, my idea of a utopian world changed completely, and I then learnt that a utopian world could never exist. As long as we live, arguments would never end and there would always be times when people are unhappy. In away, I was shocked, since I always admired a utopian society where there are no fights and segregation. I enjoyed this book very much, and also read the other two books from the same series: Gathering Blue and Messenger both by Lois Lowery.

The second book that appealed to me was The Umbrella Man written by Roald Dahl. The Umbrella man is a collection of short stories all written by Roald Dahl. I first read this when I was in sixth grade, but I started to enjoy the humor behind the stories when I read it again in seventh grade. I always enjoy many things about short stories, like how they are simple in the way that they have only a few characters, only has only one plot, and how it all occurs in mainly one place. But what I enjoy most about these sort stories is the surprise endings that no one could probably ever expect, especially the short stories inside The Umbrella Man. I especially enjoyed the story, Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat because of the ironic humor and the surprising plot twist at the very end.

The third book that impressed me was Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. I read it just last year in Mr. Schreiber’s class as a reading assignment when we were learning about Chinese history in Asian History. Though I could not enjoy it very much since it was a school reading book (I always hate school reading books), it taught me a lot about the Chinese Revolution, and my idea of it changed. I learnt how cruel humans could become, especially the Red Guards, who are the supporters of Mao Zedong. These supporters probably lost control of their selves, thinking that it was all right to do anything they wanted as long as they supported Mao Zedong’s ideas. The scary part about this, though, is that Mao Zedong’s teachings were all just to brainwash the citizen of China, and that this could happen again anytime.

During this year, I would like to read more books, especially those about the natures of humans, like such as Lord of The Flies by William Goldings. I know a bit about the plot, but I have never read the actual book. I am very interested in these kinds of books, and wish to read more books like these in this year. My expectations of this year are to improve my writing and reading skills, especially my reading skills, since I’m not that great at annotating and taking notes on what I read. Also, sometimes when I read, it’s hard to understand what I’m reading. I would wish to fix these points during this year. I am looking forward to have a happy, stress-free year both educational and fun.

I think that the three literary works that appealed to me the most were The Giver by Lois Lowery, The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl, and Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang. I think that The Giver is one of the significant literary works in my life because it was what changed my idea of a utopian society. I used to think that a utopian society meant a world where everyone was completely happy, with no discomforts, and that it was actually feasible. Reading this book, though, I figured that that was impossible. The Umbrella Man is also a significant literary work in my life. I really enjoyed reading this book because of the short stories with unpredictable endings. Red Scarf Girl was what taught me how cruel humans can become, and how one man, Mao Zedong, can control or brainwash a whole country. These literary works mean very much to me, and I wish to read more books just like these.

Album Cover

Hailing from the various youth centers and high school auditoriums of Tokyo, Trapz of Poetic Poison soared to the top of the pop scene in 2005 with their debut album, War is not nice. The band's latest album, we will find our greatness, mixes Jack's bright hooks with clean singalongs to turn out an album teeming with sugar-coated ditties. With standout tracks like "I will move the Earth," dominating radio airwaves far and wide, Trapz of Poetic Poison is an essential addition to any music lover's library.