外国人がよく見るウエブサイト - Metropolis

  When I first came to Japan, I had no place to stay and no furniture. I was very happy to find a free paper called "Metropolis," because it helped me to find a guesthouse and buy some cheap, used furniture (家具). I also used it to find a language exchange, which helped me to learn Japanese and make friends.
 Metropolis has a really nice website, with restaurant, entertainment, and food information, and they also have really good classified ads (広告欄). If you would like to make foreign friends, why not try a language exchange or join a club (Arts, Environmental, International, Leisure, Professional, Religious, Sports)?
 You can also find the magazine version at many bookstores, or bars and restaurants where many foreigners go.

さまざまな意味を持つ単語ー濃い

 How do you say 濃い in English? Yesterday, one of my students said that Tokyo food is more 濃い than food in Osaka. I checked in 英辞郎, and found "rich," "thick," "full-flavored," "dark," "strongly flavored."
 If you say, "this food is rich," it means the food has a lot of sugar, butter or cream.
例： "My birthday cake was really rich and tasty."
Thick is for the texture (質感). It means that a liquid is a little hard.
例： "This pudding is really thick."
 Dark is only for the color.
例： "The chocolate had a nice dark color."
I If a food has a strong flavor, you can say it is "full-flavored," "strong," or "strongly flavored." Full flavored emphasizes (強調する） that the flavor is strong, but also has the nuance of being delicious. Strong flavored just means strong, and we don't know if it is delicious or not.
例： "I love his coffee because it's so full-flavored."
例： "This tea is too strong. It needs some sugar."
例： "The food in Tokyo is more strongly flavored than the food in Osaka."

Muchとmanyの不自然な使い方

 Did you study "much" and "many" in junior high school? You probably learned that "many" is for countable (数える) words and "much" is for uncountable (数えられない）words. But did you know that it sounds really unnatural (不自然）to say "I have much free time today," (今日は暇が多くある）or "I go to many parties"　(パーティによく行く)? Most English speakers say, "I have a lot of free time today" or "I go to a lot of parties."
 "Much" and "many" are usually used in negative sentences (否定文）.  It's okay to say, "I don't have much free time," or "I don't go to many parties," but in a positive sentence (肯定文), you should use "a lot."
 Sometimes, you can use "much" and "many" in positive sentences, but 90 percent of the time, you should use "a lot."
例外としては強調したい時と比べる時。例えば、"I lived in Australia many years ago."とか"This is much better."   

Try translating the sentences below into English.　There are some vocabulary hints below. 以下の文書を英語に訳してください。以下にヒントがあります。
 
1. 私はいとこがたくさんいる。    
2. あなたはあまりデザートを食べなかった。   
3. 彼はあまり髪がない。
4. 彼女はあまり機会がなかった。    
5. 我が社は従業員がたくさんいる。
6. この携帯電話はあまり機能がない。    
7. 日本は地震が多い。
8. （私たちは）あまり小麦粉がない。    
9. 彼らにはたくさんの選択がある。    
10. この街では空気汚染が多い。

If you write your answers in the comments of this blog, I will check them. このブログのコメントに答えを書いてくれたら、チェックします。）You don't have to use your real name and more than one person (二人以上） can do it. 

いとこ＝cousin
機会＝opportunities
従業員=employees
機能=functions
地震=earthquake
小麦粉=flour
選択=options
空気汚染=air pollution

My favorite temple - 愛宕念仏寺

Did you have a good Golden Week? Mine was great, but it was too short! I went to Kyoto and visited Ohara and Arashiyama. I really like Arashiyama, because it's home to (～の所在地である) my favorite temple in all Japan.

 It's called Otagi Nenbutsu-ji. It's near Adashino Nenbutsu-ji, but it's not famous, so it's never crowded. It's very quiet and peaceful, and there are about 1200 beautiful buddhist statues (仏像） there.

 They are called rakan, and they are the disciples (弟子） of Buddha (釈迦様）. They are different from ordinary (普通の） Buddhist statues because they are really funny and cute.

 Many of them were carved （彫られた） by amateur carvers (彫刻家）. Some are holding cats, some are playing music, and others are drunk (酔っ払い）!

 If you go to Kyoto, I really recommend (進める） this temple! The website is at http://www.otagiji.org/.
 Here are some other photos from my trip:

A snack maker in Ohara.

A lantern in Arashiyama.

Souvenirs (お土産） in Ohara.

A Buddha statue in the Sanzen-in Temple in Ohara.
-Ed