"I came to visit someone, but I've gotten lost." the woman said. " It's snowing, and night has fallen. With much effort, I've managed to come this far. Please kindly let me stay for the night." she asked. The man replied, "Oh, dear, you're in trouble. If a place like this is all right with you, do stay." and he graciously invited the young woman in. The two had dinner together, and then, warmed by the fire in the fireplace, they fell asleep.
The next morning, when the young man awoke, the woman had already gotten up. "In appreciation for your letting me spend the night, I've woven a roll of cloth for you. If you take it to town, I think you can fetch a high price for it," said the woman. And she held out a roll of cloth that was light as a feather and more beautiful than anything the man had ever seen. The man took it to town, and indeed, he was able to sell it for an incredibly high price.
The man and the woman lived well for a while on the money that the man received for the roll of cloth. But soon the money ran out, and the man asked the woman, "Could you weave us another roll of cloth?" The woman answered, "OK,I'll do it. But you absolutely mustn't look at me when I am weaving the cloth." And with that, she shut herself up in the room with the weaving loom.
The next morning, when the young woman came out of the room, she was holding another magnificent roll of cloth like the first one. The man took it to town, and he was able to sell it at an even higher price than before.
As they continued leading a comfortable life, though, the man began to wonder about the fact that the woman shut herself up in the room to do her weaving. " I wonder how on earth she makes such wonderful fablic. I'll just take a little peek," thought the young man, and he peeked through the cracks of the sliding door into the room where the woman was weaving.
When he did, it was not the woman there, but none other than a thin, frail crane. The crane was plucking its own feathers with its long beak, and inserting them into the weaving loom, and weaving the roll of cloth. "It's the crane!" cried the man with surprise.
The next morning when the woman handed the roll of cloth to the man, she said, " I am the crane that you helped one time. I wanted to return the favor, so I transformed myself into a woman and have lived with you until today. But you have found out that I am a crane. Now, I must say goodbye. I wish you well."
No sooner had she said this than the young woman changed in a flash into a crane, and soared up to the sky. The man chased after her with all his might, but the crane, crying sadly, flew off over the mountains. the end
I've just finished wriring all of the parts of the story titled "tsuru no ongaeshi." Now I feel like as if I, for myself, created this with my originality. lol I think some Japanese fair tales have this kind of story patterns, that is aminals changed themselves into humans. In my opinion, this is derived from a basical idea in Buddhism called "rinne tensyou"
Kuwata Masumi, one of the top pitchers in Jananese baseball history and a major leaguer for the first time last season at age 39, finished his playing career on March 26. Kuwata, who turned 40 on April 1, had a 1.80 ERA in five innings this spring, but had not pitched since March 18. When it became clear that he would not make the Pirates' opening-day roster, he chose to retire rather than start the season at Triple-A Indianapolis. "I wanted to try one more time," Kuwata said. " I thought I was pitching with good results. But my heart was telling me it was time to retire." Kuwata signed a minor league deal with the Pirates last year. He injured an ankle during a sping training game and stayed in extended spring camp for weeks, but was subsequently promoted from AAA Indianapolis. He made his major league debut at Yankee Stadium on June 9 and was 0-1 with a 9.43 ERA in 19 games before being taken off the roster. "I still cannot believe I pitched in Yankee Stadium," he said.
As you said, I also think his appearance is not so good as to have his face drawn like a man filled with moles by Yaku Mitsuru. But otherwise, I regard him as a nice guy, so that if you say bad things about him,I'll give you deadly blows to the head. lol
LHASA, China A government-managed visit by foreign reporters to Tibet's capital backfired on March 27 when Buddhist monks disrupted the tour, screaming that there was no religious freedom and that the Dalai Lama waws not to blame for Lhasa's recent violence. The government had arranged the trip for the reporters to show how calm Lhasa was after the deadly riots shattered China's plans for a peaceful run-up to the Beijing Olympics. The outburst by a group of 30 monks came as the journalists, including an Associated Press reporter, were being shown around the Jokhang Temple-one of Tibet's holiest shrines-by government handlers in Lhasa. "Tibet is not free! Tibet is not free! yelled one young Buddhist monk, who then started to cry. They also said their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had nothing to do with recent anti-government riots by Tibetans in Lhasa, where buildings were torched and looted, and ethnic Han Chinese were attacked.
The family of a British woman killed a year ago in Japan appealed to police and the pubic on March 24 for help in finding her suspected killer. The body of Lindsay Hawker, 22, was found bound with tape and hal-buried in a sand-filled bath tub on the balcony of an apartment in Ichikawa,Chiba Prefecture, exactly a year ago. She was an English teacher at a private language school. The prime suspect, Ichihashi Tatsuya, has been on the run since the body was found at his apartment. "She came to this country to teach, not to be murdered," her father, Bill Hawker, told a news conference, holding a photograph of his daughter. Then victim's elder sister, Lisa, said in a message in Japanese to the wanted man; "You've taken a precious life and destroyed many more. You've taken away my sister, who was my best friend, and broken our hearts. Ichihashi, please atone for your crime."
ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece (AP)- Even before the Olympic flame was lit on March 24, a protester of China's human rights policies disrupted the solemn ceremony, foreshadowing the prospect of demonstrations throughtout the 85,000-mile torch-relay route right up to the Beijing Games themselves. Forecasts of clouds and rain had been considered the main threat to the pomp-filled torch-lighting . But in the end, while the sun sparked the flame to life, it was the protesters who turned the joyful bow to the Olympic's roots into a political statement about China's crackdown in Tibet and other rights issues. Three men advocating press freedom evaded massive security and ran onto the field at the ceremony in Ancient Olympia before they were seized by police. Minites later, a Tibetan woman covered in fake blood briefly blocked the path of the torch relay. The incidents came after International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge told The Associated Press in an interview that he was engaged in "silent diplomacy" with the Chinese but wouldn't intervene in politics to try to change their policies.
Young Helen Keller's rare photo found BOSTON(AP)- Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling onr of her beloved dolls. Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two wowen together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll-the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887- according to the New England Historic Genea logical Society, which now has the photo. "It's really one of the best images I've seen in a long, long time," said Helen Selsdon, an archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind, where Keller worked for more than 40 years. "This is just a huge visual addition to the history of Helen and Annie."
OSAKA- Satsuki, a 38-year-old orangutan from Osaka's Tennoji Zoo made her formal debut as an artist with an exhibition featuring her works at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art on March 4. The exhibition, entitled" 2008 Zero," will feature 10 drawings and other artistic creations Satsuki has come out with since 2006. Satsuki, who is the equivalent of about 60 years in human tears, was once captured by poachers but was rescued and arrived at Tennoji Zoo in 1973. She is filled with a sense of curiosity and when she was given a crayon and showed how to use it one day, she began drawing pictures by herself. She is typically presented with nine different colored crayons from which she will select one and use that to create a picture. Normally, Satsuki will draw four or five pictures in a roughly 30-minute period several times a month. If she finds a picture she likes, she will often gaze at it for a while and smell it.
Japanease is the easiest language in the world . The languages of any kind of other countries have syllables more than 400 . However , the Japanease is 50 syllables basically . This means that Japanease pronunciation is easy most in the world . in addition , it seems to be difficult to learn , because there are hiragana , katakana , kanji in Japanease . But it is not necessary to use the kanji forcibly . If you know even hiragana , You can read and write Japanease . In fact Japanease female high school students can read and write only by hiragana . This is the reason why Japanease is the world's easiest !
Long, long ago there lived a king and queen in a castle. The two did not have any children, so the queen spent her days wery lonely. One winter day, as the queen was watching the fluttering snow , she prayed, "God,please be so kind as to bless us with a clild whose skin is white like this snow."
After a while, as if that wish had come true, an adorable princess was born with skin as white as anow. The king and queen were very, very happy, and they named the little princess Snow White. Unfortunately, right after Snow White was born, the queen became sick and died.
After about a year had passed, the king welcomed a new queen. As it turned out, though, the new queen was extremely vain. She had to be the most beautiful person in the world or she couldn't stand it. In order to make sure that she was the most beautiful, the queen had a strange magic mirror. When the queen asked the mirror," Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" the mirror always replied, " You, my queen, are the fairest of them all." The queen always felt relieved when she heard that.
chapter 2 One day, the queen went to her mirror and asked as she always did," Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" When she did, the miroor replied, "Snow white is the fairest of them all." Show White had grown up by then and had become more beautiful than the queen as the years went by. When she heard this, the queen was furious and hated Snow White from the bottom of her heart. So she ordered one of her servants," Take Snow White into the forest and kill her."
Of course the servant was reluctant to kill the beautiful Snow White. But since it was an order from the queen, he had no chice. He led Snow White into the forest. But he was about to stab her chest with his sword, Snow White begged him, crying,"Please help me. If you do, I will go deep into the woods and never return to the castle again." The servant felt sorry for the princess. "Go quickly," he said, and he set her free.
Left alone on the middle of the big forest, Snow White was so lopnely she couldn't stand it. Nevertheless, she kept going deeper and deeper into the forest. Then, when it was starting to get dark around her, she finally found a small house. Snow White was all worn out and thought she'd have a rest there, so she went on inside. In the house, there was a table, and on that table, there were seven servings of soup and bread. Against the wall, there were seven little beds. Snow White was hungry, so she took just a little soup and bread from each place and ate it. Then, she lay down on the bed and went stragiht to sleep.
When the sun went down and it got completely dark, the seven dwarves who lived in the house came home. "Hey, who is this girl?" they asked. As they were talking excitedly among themselves, Snow White woke up. "Miss why are you here?" the dwarves asked, so Snow White explain to them what had happened. "Oh, that's terrible," they exclaimed. "If you like, you can stay here with us," the dwarves suggested. So Snow White decided to live there together with the dwarves.
The queen, who knew nothing about all this, went to her mirror again and asked, "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" When she did, the mirror replied, "Snow White, who is in the home of the seven dwarves, is the fairest of them all." When the queen heard that, she was shocked and flew into a rage. "I'll kill Snow White this time for sure," thought the queen, and she disguised herself as an old woman and set off for the home of the seven dwarves carrying an apple covered with poison.
When the queen arrived at the home of the seven dwarves, she called out to Snow White, who was home alone, "Miss, I have a delicious apple for you." She held out the poison apple. Snow White, who was very innocent, replied, "Thank you, old woman," and took a bite of the apple. And then, in that very instant, Snow White fell to the ground and died. Upon seeing that, the queen said,"And now I become the most beautiful in the world!" And she returned happily to the castle.
In the evening, the dwarves came home. They saw Snow White lying on the ground and tried with all their might to care for her. But at last, they were not able to revive her. The grieving dwarves decided to place Snow White's body into a glass coffin and to watch over it at all times.
One day, a prince was passing through the forest, and he came upon the place where Snow White's coffin stood. When the prince saw the beautiful princess lying inside the glass coffin, he said to the dwarves,"Won't you give the body to me?" Please let me be the one to take care of this beautiful princess." The gentle dwarves decided to give the coffin with Snow White's body in it to the prince.
The prince told his servents to put the coffin on their shoulders and carry it to the castle. But at the moment that they picked the coffin up, one of the servents staggered, and the coffin shook strongly. When that happened, the poison apple that had been stuck in Snow White's throat popped out in that very instant. Snow White's lovely eyes opened up bright and clear, and she came back to life.
Seeing this, the prince and the dwarves were happier than words can express. The prince then asked Snow White to marry him. "Please come with me to my castle and be my bride," he said. So the two returned to the castle, where they held a magnificent wedding ceremony and lived happier ever after.
MINAMIBOSO, Chiba- A Maritime Self-Defense Force destoryer collided with a fishing boat off the coast of Chiba on Feb. 19, splitting the fishing boat in two and leaving two fishermen missing, officials said. The 7,750-ton MSDF Atago destroyer collided with the Seitokumaru tuna trawler about 40 kilometers south-southwest of Nojimazaki Cape in Minamiboso shortly after 4 a.m. The hull of the 7.3-ton fishing boat was smashed in two, and two people on board the vessel, identified as 58-year-old Kichisei Haruo and his 23-year-old son Tetsuhiro, are missing. Five coast guard patrol vessels, two planes and four MSDF helicopters were dispatched to search for the pair. Officials with the coast guard and at the MSDF's Yokosuka base said that the Seitokumaru, which belongs to a fishing cooperative in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, left a port in Katsuura, heading toward Miyake island, at about 1 a.m. on Feb.19.
Toshiba said on Feb. 19 it will no longer develop, make or market HD DVD players and recorders, handing a victory to rival Blu-ray disc technology in the format battle for next-generation video. "We concluded that a swift decision would be best," Toshiba President Nishida Atsutoshi told reporters at his company's Tokyo office. The move would make Blu-ray-backed by Sony Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic brand products, and three major Hollywood movie studios-the winner in the battle over high-definition DVD formatting that began several years ago. Nishida said last month's decision by Warner Bros. Entertainment to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format made the move inevitable, although his company had confidence in HD DVD as a technology. "That had tremendous impact," he said. "If we had continued, that would have created problems for consumers, and we simply had no chance to win." Warner joined Sony Pictures,Walt Disney Co. and News corp's Twentieth Century Fox in that move. Nishida tried to assure the estimated million people in the world who already had bought HD DVD machines by promising that the company will provide continued product support for HD DVD. Toshiba Corp. asid shipments of HD DVD machines to retailers will be reduced and stop by the end of March.
Welcome to this episode of the American tour series! We are visiting one of the oldest cities on the West Coast, San Francisco. This beautiful area offers many wonderful places to visit. Let's go!
Although California is famous for its year-round warm weather, San Francisco is situated in the north of the state and can be cold, foggy, and windy even in the summer. The city is famous for its steep hills, but if you get tired of walking, you can use San Francisco's excellent local public transportation system any time of day. The city is a marvelous fusion of old Victorian neigherhoods, spectacular bays, diverse communities, and a politically liberal culture- a legacy from the days of hippies and beatniks.
From the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevadas, sixteen rivers flow into San Francisco Bay. The scenic coastline is a major attraction and a center for commerce.
San Francisco's most widely recognized structure, the Golden Gate Bridge, was completed in 1937. This glorious bridge, one of five that cross the bay, has become the symbol of San Francisco. Its construction was a four-year struggle against wind, tides, and fog. Connecting San Francisco and Marin County, the Golden Gate is 1.7 miles, or 2.7 kilometers long, and is painted a bright color fancifully known as international orange for better visibility in the famous fogs. A masterpiece of design and engineering, this bridge can withstand winds up to one hundred miles per hour and bear a daily load of 100,000 cars. Each cable is more than three feet in diameter, and the combined length of the strands could encircle the earth three times! The concrete poured into its piers and anchorages could pave a 5-foot-wide path from New York to San Francisco. A stroll on the pedestrian sidewalk, open 5 A.M. to 9 P.M. is called "the walk of the all walks."
The less famous Bay Bridge opened in 1936, six months before the Golden Gate. It connects San Francisco with Oakland. Whimsical strands of lights were added in 1986 to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary.
One of the bay's main attractions is Alcatraz island, which served as a military fortification in the 1850s and as an incarceration facility during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Between 1934 and 1963, Alcatraz functioned as a maximum-security federal penitentiary, housing Mafia criminals and high-risk convicts. Although Alcatraz is a small island and close to the city, no convict ever successfully escaped across the icy bay. In 1973,Alcatraz was reopened to the general public as a tourist area. An audiocassette tour through the main cellblock is narrated by former inmates and guards.The Agave Trail, which opened in November 1994, lead up 110 stone steps to the island's historic parade grounds. To ensure the safety of the nesting birds on the island, the trail and parade grounds are closed to the public from Februry through August.
Back on the mainland, let's visit Fisherman's Wharf, a waterfront marketplace featuring such attractions as The Anchorage, The Cannery, Ghirardelli Square, and Pier 39. Eighty-seven percent of travelers to San Francisco are said to visit the wharf during their stay. Ghirardelli, the most famous chocolate company on the West Coast, is the manufacturer of the cocolate-covered macadamia nuts you probably bought at the airport. Ghirardelli's huge tasty ice cream sundaes are not to be missed. PIER 39, modeled after a New England seaport village from the turn of the century, is home to speciality shops, restaurants, and family attractions that include a movie theater , and a Venetian Carousel. The Fish Alley sells tons of deep-sea delicacies every day. During crab season between mid-November and June, seafood lovers line up at dawn for the catch of the day. If you get hungry, try their famous clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)- Google Inc. raised the specter of Micosoft Corp. usig its proposed $42 billion acquisition of Yahoo Inc. to gain illegal control over the Internet, underscoring the online search leader's queasiness about its two biggest rivals teaming up. The critical remarks, posted online on Feb.3 by Google's top lawyer, represented the company's first public reaction to Microsoft's unsolicited bid for Yahoo since the offer was announced on Feb.1. "Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo raises troubling questions," David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, wrote. "This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preseving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation." Google's opposition isn't a surprise, given that Microsoft views Yahoo as a crucial weapon in its battle to gain ground on Google in the Internet's booming search and advertising markets. According to a report on The wall Street Journal's Web site on Feb.3, Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt called Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang on Feb.1 to offer his help in repelling Microsoft.
AKIOTA, HIROSHIMA- Seven snowboarders who went missing as a ski field here on Feb. 3 were found alive on the morning of Feb. 5, rescue officials said. Two of the seven men could walk by themselves, while five others were weakened and had to be transported to a hospital in Hiroshima by helicopter. At around 8 a.m. on Feb. 5, about 600 rescuers resumed a search for them around Mount Osorakan, which lies on the border of HIroshima and Shimane prefectures. According to the search center, the rescuers reported the seven men had been found safe at around 9:40 a.m. A group of 24 rescuers had climbed up the forest road from Shimane Prefecture where they met two men who said they climbed down the mountain by themselves and that five others were slowly following them.
A measure to provide relief to people who contracted hepatitis C from tainted blood products was enacted into law Jan. 11 after its passage by the House of Councillors. The more powerful House of Representatives passed the bill on Jan. 8. Under the law, if people can prove in a court of law that they were infected with hepatitits C by the tainted blood products, they will qualify for individual compensation payments ranging from 120 million yen to 140 million yen, depending on the seriousness of their condition. The affected people have a five-year period to make their claim. Hepatitis C sufferers had filed a number of damages suits against the government and drug makers. The number of plaintiffs is currently around 200. The tainted blood products were administered from around 1970 to the warly 1990s. The bill was originally written by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito but was submitted to incorporate also the opposition parties.
FUKUOKA- A driver who caused the death of three young children in a car accident on a bridge here in August 2006 was handed a 7 1/2-year prison sentence on Jan.8 after a court threw out a charge bearing a heavier penality. The court handed the prison sentence to 23-year-old Imabayashi Futoshi, a former Fukuoka Municipal Government worker, after convicting him of professional negligence resulting in death and injury, which carries a maximum penalty of five years' imprisonment, driving under the influence of alcohol and fleeing an accident scene. Public procecuters had tried to form a case against Imabayashi by accusing him of the crime of dangerous driving resulting in death and injury, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years' imprisonment. However, the court did not find that Imabayashi was heavily drunk before the accident, and was unable to conclude that it would have been difficult for him to drive normally at the time of the accident.
A police officer who was killed by a train while trying to rescue a woman trying to kill herself at a train station in Tokyo has been made the subject of a picture book.
The book, Fushite zo Yaman- Boku Miyamaoto Keibu Desu (Don't stop until you collapse-I'm Inspector Miyamoto), traces the kife of Inspector Miyamoto Kunihiko, based on statements from his family and colleagues. The book hightlights the importance of courage and effort. The work was announced in front of Miyamoto's grave on Feb. 2, the first anniversary of the officer's death. It was written by Yamaguchi Hidenori, president of a company that publicizes people's accomplishments. He said he decided to publish the story after reading about the accident in a newspaper article, and thinking that Miyamoto was courageous and a model for Japanese citizens. "I want children who are unable to take a step forward when they have problems, to learn about the way Inspector Miyamoto lived, and feel the magnificence of effort and courage." Miyamoto died after being hit by a train at Tokiwadai Station on the Tobu Tojo Line in Tokyo's Itabashi-ku, while trying to rescue a woman trying to commit suicide. The woman was seriously injured in the accident.