Rabbit, Eel, and Damburger

One of the huge differences of English and Japanese pronunciation is the way to move mouth. When you speak English, you must move and position your lip and tongue quickly and clearly to make articulated pronunciation (So I guess lip speaking in English is easier than in Japanese). This is the difficulty for Japanese who seldom move their mouths when they speak their mother tongue.

A good tip for Japanese English speakers, which I found on the Internet, is to shout the Japanese word for "rabbit" before speaking English. The word usagi is one of rare Japanese words that force speakers to move their mouths clearly. As you can imagine, you must make your lip rounded and smallest to pronounce "u" (as in food and zoo), but, on the contrary, "sa" forces your mouth biggest (as in father), and then, "gi" makes yours flattest (as in eat). So, I shout "u! sa! gi!" several times every morning. While it sounds really stupid, it's very helpful.

Today I discovered another Japanese word that works in the same way, ell. In Japanese, eel is unagi. Grilled unagi is Japanese favorite. It's often eaten during hot summer because unagi is rich in protein, calcium, vitamin A and E, and it's said to give people stamina. I haven't have it so far in the US because frozen unagi sold in Asian supermarkets look not so fresh, and therefore, not to contain enough stamina. Anyway, I will say unagi tomorrow morning.

By the way, the French people, who eat usagi, also have the difficulity to pronounce correct American English as shown the video below. Check it! I would like to buy a damburger.

Productivity and Weight

Long time no see. I haven't posted the blog about two months just because I was a little bit busy. I did some field work at New York Anime Festival, wrote a paper and prepared a small presentation at the conference during the holiday, and enjoyed the holiday with my wife from Japan in NYC and Princeton. I managed to submit my paper and finish my presentation in Florida without problems (I guess).

However, I am gaining my weight little by little. While I don't weight myself on a scale, my pants are now too tight. I believe that I am careful of my diet, but I recently haven't visited the fitness gym. When I was in Tokyo, I used the commuter train, but here, I use a car to visit my office, so I seldom walk as I did. In addition, I keep sitting at the desk almost all day because I have no teaching obligation. I should find an opportunity to burn my fat, but it is troublesome to visit the gym in such an cold weather. It is basically around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (the freezing point of water is 32 degrees)!

Productivity of the research and my body weight apparently have a positive relationship. Making it negative is my aim in February, of course, without reducing the former.

Season's First Snowfall

This Sunday morning, I saw the first snowfall of the season. Until I started to live in Tokyo at the age of eighteen, I was in Hokkaido, the northern island of Japan. My high school was in Sapporo, the capitol of Hokkaido. It is best known outside Japan for hosting the 1972 Winter Olympics, and the Sapporo Snow Festival, which draws more than two million tourists from around the world. Therefore, snow was my old friend. Playing with snow, skiing, and ice skating were best winter entertainment for kids in Hokkaido.

However, I have little wisdom for living in the snowy country. Most serious is that I have no experience to drive a car in snowy winter. Before the driving to my office, I checked the Internet to find the tips for driving on frozen roads. OK, now I got the theory of winter driving, but what I need is a practice. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the road was not frozen enough to try my knowledge. It's snowing even now, so the road may be icy at night. I'd better go back home earlier today.

Winter in the US is a biggest season for shopping. From Black Friday to the Christmas, retailer s are eager to loosen the consumers' purse string. Vecere Jewelers in NJ is no exception. Their ads says,

If it snows 4 inches or more on January 1, '08 we will refund your full purchase price on any in-stock jewelry, including designers!

The purchase from November 23 (this year's Black Friday) to December 24 is eligible for the rebate. The snowfall is measured at the Weather Measurement Station at Trenton, Mercer County Airport on January 1, 2008, between the insured hours of 12:00 AM and 11:59 PM (24 insured hours).

Let's pray for heavy snowfall only on the new year day. Also, please pray for my driving safety in winter. Thank you in advance.