カテゴリー: English

マイケル先生は小保方さんの話が好きなので、ドイツの研究機関がSTAP細胞あるって証明したみたいだよ。と教えたら喜んでいた^^

なんで日本はそんなにスリランカに投資するの？と聞かれて、なんでだろうね、スリランカはあまり馴染みがない感じがするのだけど、と返してしまったがその後日本とスリランカの関係をネットで調べたら日本は第二次世界対戦後に連合国に分割されようとされていたのをスリランカの大統領の演説で助けられていたと知り恥ずかしかった。

1)   A civilian U.S. base worker under arrest on suspicion of dumping the body of a 20-year-old woman in Okinawa Prefecture has admitted to killing her, investigative sources said Friday

2)   The Egyptian military found the personal belongings of passengers and other debris from an EgyptAir jet floating in the Mediterranean, Cairo said on Friday, confirming that the plane had plunged into the sea with 66 people on board.

3)   Japan’s seafood consumption has declined drastically, especially among the younger generation, according to a government report released this week.

The report reveals that the total per-capita marine food consumption in the year through March 2016 had declined to 27.3 kilograms, 30% down from a peak of 40.2 kilograms in fiscal 2001, Sankei Shimbun reported.

4)   A top official of Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 Olympics said Thursday he knew nothing about a $2 million payment to a Singaporean consulting firm under investigation over alleged bribery suspicions.

In an interview with Kyodo News, Masato Mizuno, who was vice president of the bid team, said he was tasked with interviewing other consulting companies and drawing up contracts but said he had no knowledge of one with the Black Tidings consultancy company, or even its existence.

 

5)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to wait until after this summer’s House of Councillors election before deciding whether to raise Japan’s consumption tax as scheduled, sources close to the premier said Wednesday.

6)   When Republican Donald Trump complains about unfair trade partners, he often singles out Vietnam — “hot as a pistol right now” and “the new one just killing us.”

And when Democrat Bernie Sanders warns about the perils of global trade deals, he rarely misses a chance to say Americans shouldn’t have to compete against Vietnamese workers earning 65 cents an hour.

7)   Japan will lend Sri Lanka more than $3.5 billion, mostly to finance development, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said on Thursday, as the island nation tries to reduce its debt costs and avert a balance of payments crisis.

“We are getting more than $3,500 million from Japan for our development activities,” he said, adding that $1.2 billion would be used to buy government bonds and $2.5 billion used for lending to development projects.

8)   A Japanese government survey shows that a record number of university graduates landed jobs this spring.

The education and labor ministries jointly polled more than 4,700 students who graduated in the last academic year. 97.3 percent had found jobs as of April 1st.

The region with the highest employment rate for new graduates was Chubu, with 98.3 percent. Kyushu and Okinawa had the lowest ratio, 96.3 percent.

主にトランプさんの話。マイケル先生は彼が大統領に成ると思うって。韓国や日本から米軍撤退とか言ってるけど、それは？と言うと、二つの議会（上院と下院）通過しなきゃがあるからそんなことにはならないよと言ってたけど本当だろうか。

オバマさんのリタイア後の自虐動画が面白かったのでここにも貼っておく。

 

1)   Legislators of Taiwan’s Nationalist Party (KMT) are demanding that the executive branch take tougher action against Japan, including use of military force, after a Taiwanese fishing boat and its crew were detained by Japan’s coast guard last month for fishing in Japanese waters.

KMT legislator Liao Kuo-tung on Thursday told a legislative committee that the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou, also of the KMT, is “too weak” in handling the matter so “when it (Taiwan) gives an inch, it (Japan) will take a mile.”

“We must take stronger actions,” he said. “Only by using military means can we make Japan bow its head.”

2)   Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday Japan would work with whoever becomes U.S. president after being asked if he could work with Donald Trump now that he has effectively clinched the Republican Party’s presidential nomination.

3)   Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that “drastic fluctuations” in the yen’s value risked having a major impact on the trade prospects of Japanese companies.

Abe said the current situation was “not desirable”, during a visit to London.

4)   In the aftermath of a series of earthquakes that forced thousands of people to leave their homes in Kumamoto Prefecture last month, police said there have been a string of burglaries of homes and abandoned offices.

5)   The 120-nation Nonaligned Movement headed by Iran accused the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday of violating international law by ruling that nearly $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets can be paid to victims of attacks linked to the country.

A communique issued by the NAM’s Coordinating Bureau follows an Iranian appeal to the United Nations last week to intervene with the U.S. government to prevent the loss of their funds. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the ruling an “outrageous robbery, disguised under a court order.”

6)   Donald Trump’s emergence as the last man standing in the Republican presidential race has prompted his critics inside the party to intensify their search for a candidate they could back as a serious third-party alternative.

7)   Pakistani police on Thursday arrested 15 members of a tribal council accused of ordering the burning alive of a young girl for helping a couple to elope in a so-called “honor killing”, police said.

The 16-year-old girl was set on fire last week in the town of Donga Gali, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital, Islamabad, on the orders of the council, said district police chief Saeed Wazir.

金曜日だけど3連休なの英語。銀行が国を動かしているという話とマリファナとビールの比較。

1)   The Bank of Japan has decided to extend zero-interest-rate loans to financial institutions in quake-hit Kumamoto Prefecture.

The decision was made at the central bank’s policy meeting on Thursday.

The BOJ plans to set up a mechanism to supply 300 billion yen, or about 2.77 billion dollars, to local lenders in the southwestern prefecture.

2)   Japan’s ski competition governing body has suspended the membership of 2 teenage snowboarders for their use of marijuana. They used the banned drugs on their tours of the United States in December.

The Ski Association of Japan announced the boys’ punishment on Wednesday after deciding it at an emergency board meeting earlier in the day.

They are suspended indefinitely both as association members and contestants. Their status as athletes designated for training support has also been cancelled

3)   Japan has lodged a protest with Taiwan over a statement made by its president challenging Tokyo’s claim to waters in the Pacific. Ma Ying-jeou described Japan’s southernmost island as a rock around which it cannot claim an exclusive economic zone.

The Japan Coast Guard on Monday seized a Taiwanese fishing boat for illegally operating in exclusive economic waters off Okinotorishima island.

The ship’s captain was released after promising to pay a bond.

On Wednesday, fishermen and lawmakers protested outside the building in Taipei that houses the Interchange Association, Japan’s liaison office in Taiwan. Some threw eggs at the building.
4)    Dignitaries and celebrities joined Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko for the annual spring party at the Akasaka Imperial Gardens in Tokyo on Wednesday.

The imperial couple hosts the garden party every spring and autumn.

Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako, Prince and Princess Akishino and other imperial family members also greeted guests as they toured the garden.

Among the visitors was astronaut Kimiya Yui, who spent nearly 5 months aboard the International Space Station last year.

5)   Officials of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency suspect that wrong data and errors in programming may be to blame for the failure of its astronomy satellite, Hitomi.

The officials say Hitomi apparently recognized it was rotating at around 4 AM on March 26th. They say this was not the case, but that the satellite likely applied force to stop the perceived rotation. They suspect the action caused the satellite to spin.
6)   The European Union plans to propose a study of the global eel trade at an international conservation conference in South Africa later this year. The survey will include Japan, the world’s largest consumer of eel.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, placed Japanese eel on its list of endangered species in 2014, following a 30-year drop in catch.

Conservation of dwindling eel resources will be one of the topics at the conference of the parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, to open in Johannesburg in September.

7)   Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda has said the bank’s monetary easing measures coupled with
the negative interest rate are already having an impact.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, BOJ Governor Kuroda said: “I will examine risks to economic activity and prices, and if I think it’s necessary for achieving the inflation target, then I won’t hesitate to take additional easing measures in terms of three dimensions — quantity, quality and interest rate.”

今朝もまた大きな地震が熊本であった。しかも14日のよりも大きいとのことでこっちが本震なのだとか。あんなにたくさんの大きな地震があるなんてどれだけ怖いだろうか。

1)   Nine people are dead and more than 1,000 others were injured in the earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan on Thursday.

The magnitude 6.5 earthquake registered the highest level of intensity on the Japanese seismic scale.

Many buildings have been destroyed or damaged by the jolt and the numerous aftershocks that followed.

2)   A wild deer wandered into a residential district in central Japan, causing a chase for the animal.

Police in Shizuoka City received a report that the deer had been seen near a highway on Wednesday morning.

Police and others attempted to throw a net over the animal after it ran into a parking lot beside the road.

The animal was eventually caught in a forest next to a park when members of a local hunting group shot it with a tranquilizer gun.

The chase lasted more than 4 hours.

3)   Japan and Russia have agreed to hold talks between high-ranking officials on signing a peace treaty at the earliest timing possible, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s summit with President Vladimir Putin next month.

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov met in Tokyo on Friday.

The peace treaty talks are aimed at finding a mutually acceptable solution for the issue of the Northern Territories. Russia controls the 4 islands. Japan claims them.
4)   Japanese police have issued a crackdown on a new criminal gang that has split from the country’s largest yakuza mob.

The National Police Agency told officers across Japan to get tougher with Funashii Yamaguchi-gumi members. The group last year split from the Yamaguchi-gumi.

The move follows Friday’s news that public safety officials in Hyogo Prefecture, where the new group is based, had designated it an organized crime syndicate.
5)   Struggling electronics maker Sharp will start selling a robot smartphone next month.

The product, RoBoHoN, is a smartphone in the form of a biped robot, about 20 centimeters tall and 400 grams in weight. It can walk and talk. It can be operated with a touch screen located on its back as well as by voice commands. A newly developed built-in laser projector can also project pictures and videos.

The smartphone will be priced at 198,000 yen, or about 1,800 dollars. Users have to pay monthly communication charges. Sharp plans to sell 5,000 robotic smartphones every month.

6)   Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 economies are soon to begin 2 days of talks in Washington on Thursday. Their agenda is expected to include shoring up the global economy and preventing tax avoidance.
7)   A New York Times editorial has encouraged President Barack Obama to put Hiroshima on his itinerary when he visits Japan next month.

週中くらいにスカイプで送ってくれたリンクの着物猫が可愛いかったのでありがとうと伝えたら、友達から教えてもらってすぐこれはMasagoが好きだろう！と思って送ってくれたそう。

今日のレッスンの最後に「仮定の話だけど」と言うので何だろうと思ったら、僕の隣人がなぜかすごく怒ってるんだよ。「俺はお前を殺してやる」と毎日言ってくるんだよ。あんまり毎日言われるからこっちも怖くなって「じゃあ、殺される前に殺してやる」と思い始めてるんだけどこれどう思うか？と聞かれた。仮定ってことはそれってアメリカは北朝鮮に今そう思っているって話？と聞くと「いや、ただ僕がそう思ってるだけなんだけどね」と言ってたけど、アメリカが北朝鮮そういうムードになりつつあるのはありうるなーと。

1)   Chubu Electric Power Company has shown to media a 22-meter-high tsunami defense barrier at its Hamaoka nuclear power station in central Japan.

2)   Researchers in Japan have detected relatively high levels of radioactive substances in sediment in multiple rivers running through Fukushima Prefecture.

3)   The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has compiled a plan to turn the village for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics into an eco-friendly residential and commercial area after the games.

4)   Japan’s governing coalition has drafted a bill calling for greater government efforts to raise public awareness of hate speech.

The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito adopted the first draft on Thursday at a meeting of a taskforce on the problem in Japan. The team was set up by the parties.

The draft defines hate speech as inflammatory speech intended to incite hatred against people from certain ethnic groups, to exclude them from society.

It says hate speech often involves blatant language that threatens the lives, property or freedom of such minorities. It also says the government must take measures to end hate speech in Japan.

5)   Work has finally begun to freeze the soil around four damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Engineers are trying to reduce the buildup of contaminated water at the site.

Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, the owner of the plant, started the work on Thursday, after the Nuclear Regulation Authority gave the go-ahead. It took TEPCO about two years to install the system.

TEPCO says it will freeze soil in phases, first, on the downstream side of the reactors, using 1,000 of the 1,700 underground pipes. TEPCO says it will take about 45 days for the ice wall to generate effects.

6)   Japanese consumers can choose their electricity supplier from Friday as full deregulation of the power-retail market comes into effect.

Consumers had previously only been able to buy electricity from power companies in the regions where they live. The full deregulation ends the monopoly of the major utilities that continued for about 60 years.
7)   The Bank of Japan’s quarterly Tankan survey shows that business sentiment among Japanese major manufacturers worsened for the first time in two quarters.

The central bank surveyed roughly 11,000 companies across Japan from late February to March 31, and released the latest survey results on Friday.

土曜日の朝英語のクラスを取っているのだけど、今朝は予約するのをすっかり忘れていたので、マイケル先生にSorry,I forgot to book your class today, see you next week.としたらNo!Wait!I can talk. I forgot too.ということでまた別の時間を振替で予約して無事週一の英語をサボらず済んだ。私の前の生徒さんT君が今週のレッスンの日を金曜日に移したそうで、それで今日は日曜日だとすっかり勘違いしたので今日は事前にテキストを用意してなかったよということで、スカイプに下記の内容をPasteしてくれたのでそれにてレッスンした。

A Japanese man who was questioned by Turkish authorities on suspicion of trying to join the Islamic State militant group has returned home after being deported.
Child abuse reports in Japan have hit a record high. The National Police Agency says officers reported 37,020 children under 18 to child welfare centers last year on suspicion of being abused.
The figure was up 28 percent from the previous year and the highest since the agency began taking data in 2004.

A northeastern Japanese city has been ordered by a court to pay compensation to the family of a primary school student who died in the March 2011 tsunami.

The defendant, Higashi-Matsushima City in Miyagi Prefecture, has jurisdiction over the school the girl student attended, Nobiru Elementary School.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will not repeal the national security laws that are set to take effect next week.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang says that it would be a major risk if the nation’s economy grows at a slower pace than the government’s target.
Officials are aiming for growth of between 6.5 and 7 percent this year

トランプ氏がフロリダで勝ったので嬉しそうだった。^^ 　あとは日本でストーカー犯罪が増えているのはなんでだろうという話で、日本の男の子はSNSとかで女の子と話すのはできるけど、実際にFacetoFaceでコミニュケーションを取ることができないんじゃないの？と言っていた

1)   St. Patrick’s Day or the Feast of St. Patrick is observed on March 17 as a religious and cultural celebration. It honors Ireland’s patron St. Patrick. The date marks the traditional death of the saint. In the early 17th century, it was made an official Christian feast day observed by the Church of Ireland, the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and Lutheran Church.

2)   Donald Trump boasted at his victory party on Tuesday night in Florida that he had won the Sunshine State despite a multi-million dollar negative ad blitz attacking him.

3)   South Korea has lodged a protest with Japan over its newly authorized high school textbooks that devote more pages than before to territorial issues.

The textbooks refer to Japan’s claims to the Takeshima islands in the Sea of Japan. South Korea controls them.
4)   The United States has urged North Korea to release an American university student who has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for crimes against the state.

Otto Warmbier was detained in Pyongyang in January while visiting the country as a tourist.

North Korea’s Supreme Court convicted him of committing a hostile act, in line with what it called the US government’s hostile policy toward the country.
5)   Japanese police received over 20,000 reports of stalking in 2015. It’s the 3rd straight year the reports topped this figure.

Police identified suspects and took action in 2,415 cases.
Suspects were accused of violating the anti-stalking law in 677 cases. There were also 362 cases of blackmail, 315 of housebreaking, and 11 of attempted murder.

6)   Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga says the government will continue to make every effort to resolve the case of a missing Japanese freelance journalist, Jumpei Yasuda .

Suga told reporters on Thursday that the government has been dealing with the case in line with instructions from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
7)   The remains of 393 Japanese war dead have been returned from the Bismarck Archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean.

Remains of more than 1.1 million Japanese are still on former battlefields 71 years since the end of World War Two.

Takayoshi Sumita, the deputy chief of an association of veterans and relatives of war dead, says he wants the government to do its best to locate all the remains.

今日はなでしこJapanの話とまたトランプ氏の話でマイケル先生は熱く語っていた。今日この中で読めなかった単語は「cauldron」(聖火台)。新国立スタジアムの計画に聖火台の場所がなかったって本当なの?今から計画するって^^

1)   Japan’s central government and Okinawa Prefecture have reached a settlement in the legal battle over the relocation of a US base within the southern prefecture.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told related Cabinet ministers on Friday of his decision to accept a new court proposal to settle the case over the reclamation work at Henoko in Nago City.

2)   The Japan women’s soccer team on Friday lost to China in the final stage of the Asian qualifying matches for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

“Nadeshiko Japan” lost 2-1 in a match held in Osaka.

By losing the game it has become virtually impossible for the team to qualify for the Olympics. The Japan squad has 2 losses and one draw so far.
3)   Since late last month Japan has seen a series of incidents related to 2 major organized crime syndicates.

Last August, several groups affiliated with the nation’s largest yakuza syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, formed a new organization called the Kobe Yamaguchi-gumi.

Since the breakup, events linked to the 2 syndicates have occurred across the country. The National Police Agency suspects that a rivalry stemming from the split is behind the actions.

The agency says it has confirmed at least 5 such acts in Tokyo and 4 other prefectures for the 3 days through last Saturday. They include a shooting into the wall of a home and a vehicle ramming into a building.

4)   A Japanese government survey shows that the number of overweight children in Fukushima Prefecture has decreased to the level before the nuclear disaster in March 2011.

Japan’s education ministry’s annual survey covers children throughout the country from age 5 to 17.

The ratio of children weighing 20 percent more than the standard level had been increasing in Fukushima until last year

5)   Japanese students will use “digital textbooks” in class in four years’ time.

An Education Ministry panel has decided on a basic policy for introducing tablet computers and other digital devices into classrooms at elementary schools as well as junior and senior high schools, starting with the 2020 school year.

6)   Tokyo Governor Yoichi Masuzoe says the organizers of the 2020 Olympics in the city should decide where to place the cauldron in the new stadium in accordance with how they want to produce the opening ceremony.

Masuzoe made the statement on Friday during a regular briefing.

It has come to light that construction plans for the new stadium for the Tokyo Games had no place for the Olympic cauldron.

Tokyo organizers on Thursday decided to set up a panel to study where to install it and come up with a solution as early as April.

7)   Japan’s government is planning legislation to ease the entry of private-sector companies into the space business.

The Cabinet approved two related bills on Friday. One would allow private companies to launch satellites if they meet certain conditions.

Currently, only the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and its contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, are permitted to launch satellites.

本当は7時からの30分クラスなんだけど大体15分くらいは延長してくれる。きょうは55分まで話してしまった。マイケル先生は日本にしばらく滞在してみたいそうでトピックが終わった後その話でしばし盛り上がる。

1)   Three former executives of the Tokyo Electric Power Company are set to face a court trial for the March 2011 nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

2)   Some members of Japan’s largest organized crime syndicate, the Yamaguchi-gumi, split last summer. But while police are concerned, a lawyer who works for the yakuza says the groups have more pressing issues.

On Tuesday, a gang member affiliated with the Yamaguchi-gumi was arrested on suspicion of shooting into the office of a new yakuza gang. The new group is made up of members who split from the Yamaguchi-gumi last August.

3)   Japan’s latest census shows its population decreased by nearly one million over a 5-year period.

It is the first population decline recorded in a census since the survey was introduced in 1920.

4)   Two of Japan’s main opposition parties have finalized a plan to merge, to better challenge the ruling coalition in an Upper House election this year.

The leader of the largest opposition Democratic Party, Katsuya Okada, and his Japan Innovation Party counterpart Yorihisa Matsuno agreed on Friday that their parties will merge next month.
5)   Japanese police have added 10 names to the list of missing people who may have been abducted by North Korea.

The National Police Agency said on Friday that it is looking into what happened to the 6 men and 4 women.

The addition raises the number of people on the list to 886.

6)   Railway fans have snapped up tickets for Hokkaido Shinkansen bullet train on its first day of operation.

Tickets sales started on Friday for the new Shinkansen line, a month before service starts.

Officials at East Japan Railway Company say tickets for the first train bound for Tokyo from Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hokkaido, northern Japan, sold out in around 25 seconds.
7)   A motorist sped onto a sidewalk in downtown Osaka on Thursday afternoon, killing himself, one pedestrian and seriously injuring others.

Witnesses say the car first hit pedestrians crossing a busy intersection in front of Hankyu Railway’s Umeda Station, before ploughing into others on the sidewalk.
8)   Japan’s government says it will instruct the operator of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant to take steps to prevent a recurrence of its failure to swiftly determine that a meltdown occurred.

今週は面白い記事がなかったよー。ということで、これ以外にスキージャンプの高梨沙羅さんと小保方さんの話をした。小保方さん好きだねー。

1)   China’s Foreign Ministry is urging the United States not to invoke sanctions on North Korea.

 

Hong said on Friday that China believes what it calls hot issues cannot be resolved simply by sanctions or pressure.

2)   Police stormed a church in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Friday morning and arrested a 36-year-old man who had taken a woman hostage.

Police say the 51-year-old counselor has been rescued and her injuries are not life-threatening.

3)   A ruling party lawmaker in Japan has got into hot water for a remark that critics say could be taken as insulting toward US President Barack Obama.

Liberal Democratic Party member of the Upper House Kazuya Maruyama was a target of criticism during Diet deliberations on Thursday.

4)   Japan’s government plans to step up defense cooperation with countries around the South China Sea in response to China’s military buildup on an island there.

US officials say their surveillance has confirmed that China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system on Woody Island in the Paracel chain. China controls the island, which is also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.

5)   Japanese police arrested the head of a Tokyo-based trade firm on Thursday on suspicion of exporting goods to North Korea in defiance of Japan’s trade embargo.

The police allege that 48-year-old male president of Seiryo-shoji violated foreign exchange and trade laws by exporting clothes, tableware and food in January 2014. The exports were worth around 6 million yen, or 53,000 dollars at current exchange rates.

6)   The operator of Universal Studios Japan is considering cancelling its plan to open a new theme park in Okinawa Prefecture, southwestern Japan. Sources cite concerns the park may not be profitable.

The company announced the plan last March. It has since been consulting with the prefectural government over the plan. In July, USJ’s then-CEO visited the Ocean Expo Park in the prefecture, a candidate site.

7)   Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso says the slowing Chinese economy, tumbling oil prices and US monetary policy will be the major themes at next week’s G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors.

北朝鮮の女性サッカーチームの入国を許可すべきだと思うかという話で、「うーん、スポーツは政治とは別だから許可すべきかな」と言ったら、じゃあ、ISの女性サッカーチームだったらどう？と聞かれて^^それはダメと即答してしまった。

1)   North Korea says it has halted an investigation into missing Japanese nationals, including those who were abducted by the North

2)   Japan’s government says it will consider on a case-by-case basis whether to grant entry to North Korean women’s soccer team for the Olympic qualifiers in Osaka.

3)   The Japanese city of Sendai is to open a museum that preserves memories of the city as it stood before the earthquake and tsunami hit the area nearly 5 years ago.

4)   People across Japan held events and rallies on Thursday to support or oppose a national holiday honoring the country’s founding.

February 11th is Japan’s National Foundation Day. Before the end of World War Two, it was celebrated as the day the legendary first emperor ascended the throne. Critics say the holiday was used before the war to promote nationalism and militarism.

5)   Finance Minister Taro Aso says the government will respond appropriately to the rapid appreciation of the yen against the dollar.

Aso told reporters on Friday that there have been volatile moves on foreign exchange markets.

6)   Police in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago are investigating the suspected murder of a Japanese woman musician.

Police and officials at the Japanese embassy say 30-year-old Asami Nagakiya was found dead under a tree in a park in the capital, Port of Spain, on Wednesday morning local time. They suspect Nagakiya was strangled.

7)   A Britain-based group that observes the Syrian civil war says the Islamic State militant group has been deploying local children as fighters on the front lines after a month of training.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says about 100 children are among the roughly 450 people who completed training for new fighters last week.

今日は桜島と中東のホモの話^^）と清原の話をしていたのでトピックは二つ(1)と(5)しか読んでいない。

予約をするのをすっかり忘れてたのだけど、連絡が来て「いーよいーよ今日はフリーで」とサービスディでした。ごめん。先生。

1)   Japan and Iran have sealed a deal to promote investment by Japanese firms in the Middle Eastern nation.

2)   Japan’s Foreign Minister has agreed with South Korea’s ambassador to Japan that their countries will urge North Korea to exercise restraint over its announced launch as early as next Monday. Pyongyang calls it a satellite launch.

3)   Japan’s government is preparing to let visitors tour the State Guest House in central Tokyo throughout the year as part of its policy of promoting tourism.

Also known as the Akasaka Palace, the facility in Minato Ward has hosted numerous summits and provided lodgings to state guests. The Neo-Baroque-style building is also protected as a national treasure.

4)   Japan has about 18 million temporary and part-time workers. But many aren’t happy with their status, preferring to be full- timers.

An estimated 3.3 million staffers would like regular working status. That’s nearly 1 in 5 of all people in temporary jobs.

The government is stepping in with targets to reduce the number of these “unwilling” temps.

5)   Tokyo police say former professional baseball star Kazuhiro Kiyohara has tested positive for a stimulant drug.

The 48-year-old slugger was arrested on Tuesday for possession of an illegal drug.

The police say his urine sample tested positive.

Investigators say Kiyohara has admitted to the personal use of the drug. He is quoted as saying he injected the substance with a syringe or inhaled it with a glass pipe.

6)   Japan’s health ministry has designated the Zika virus as an infectious disease by law, and plans to require all medical institutions to report patients to the government.

7)   Executives of Japan’s major electronics firm Toshiba say they are forecasting a record loss for the year ending in March.

They say their group is likely to incur a net loss of about 6 billion dollars, considerably worse than their initial prediction of 4.6 billion dollars.

 

やっぱり今日の開口一番はマイナス金利だった。でも英語以前にマイナス金利がどう働くのかぜんぜん理解できないので、うむむ。マイケル先生はそれがアメリカ経済にどんな影響があるか気になるそう。本日一番盛り上がったのは「オボカタさんが本を出したんだよ。」と教えてあげたことだった。マイケル先生は知らなかったそうでものすごく嬉しそうに驚いていた！もちろん私は読んでないのでネットで拾った内容を話したら興味深々だった。マイケル先生は次は写真集かな？とわくわくしてた。^^

1)   The Bank of Japan has decided to adopt a negative interest rate policy, in an effort to hit its inflation target and boost the economy.

The central bank’s policymakers wrapped up a 2-day meeting on Friday.

They have decided to apply a rate of minus 0.1 percent to current accounts that financial institutions hold at the Bank.

2)   Japan’s Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has issued a command to shoot down any incoming missiles. The ministry has not made it public that he gave the order. But sources close to the ministry revealed the instruction.

3)   The resignation of a key Cabinet minister appears likely to affect how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe manages his government.

Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari stepped down on Thursday amid allegations of mishandling funds. He said he didn’t want the issue to affect Diet proceedings.

4)   A Japanese man who became stranded on a small yacht in the Pacific Ocean while attempting a solo voyage around the world has been rescued by Chile’s navy.

67-year-old Junichi Hamaguchi signaled to Japan’s Coast Guard on Tuesday, Japan time, that his yacht was flooded far off Chile.

In response to an emergency call from Japan, the Chilean Navy sent a helicopter and patrol ships.

5)   Japan’s transport ministry says its inspectors have found that nearly half of the chartered buses they checked were in violation of laws regulating their operations.

The spot checks came after 15 lives were lost earlier this month in the crash of a ski tour bus in central Japan.

6)   US fighter jets and stealth fighter jets have been deployed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, since Monday. Local residents strongly oppose their presence because of the noise.

Twelve F16 fighter jets arrived on Wednesday. Fourteen F22 stealth fighter jets flew to the base on Monday and Tuesday.

7)   European Union regulators have fined two major Japanese companies about 150 million dollars, or more than 137 million euros, for participating in a cartel and coordinating prices for auto parts.

The European Commission released a statement on Wednesday.

It says Mitsubishi Electric, Hitachi, and another firm, Denso, met and illegally determined prices of car engine parts between 2004 and 2010, breaching the EU’s antitrust rules.

マイケル先生はクジラとかイルカとかが好きなので、徳島のクジラが救助されてよかったと喜んでいた。YouTubeを探してもビデオが見つからなかったというので後でニュース動画のURLを教えてあげたけど日本語だからどうだったかな。

1)   American military officials say they are sending 26 fighter jets from the US mainland to the Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo. The warplanes include state-of-the-art F-22 stealth aircraft.

2)   People in a western Japanese city have saved a whale stranded in shallow water. The whale was found in Anan City, Tokushima Prefecture, at around 9 AM on Wednesday.
Police officers and residents sprinkled water on its back and tried to push the whale toward deeper water. But they were not successful. At around 1 PM, fishermen on a boat came to give a hand. They pulled the whale away with a rope.

3)   Members of 6 opposition parties stormed out of the Lower House chamber ahead of a speech by Economic Revitalization Minister Akira Amari on Friday. They are demanding that Amari offer a clear explanation about a weekly magazine report that his office received questionable money from a construction firm.

4)   A Tokyo court has opened a hearing of a damages suit against 5 former top executives of Japanese electronics maker Toshiba. The company has sued them over an accounting scandal at the firm. The company is claiming the costs of correcting financial statements following the scandal. It’s asking for damages of about 2.6 million dollars.

5)   China’s navy chief has told his US counterpart that China will not seek the militarization of the reclaimed islands in the South China Sea, but it will not stop defending them.

6)   China says it has agreed with Djibouti to build a military facility in the East African country. The facility will be China’s first military base abroad. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said on Thursday that the base will support Beijing’s anti-piracy missions off the Somali coast and be used to supply Chinese vessels.

7)   A Japanese company has developed a luxury grade of rice for export to Asia and other regions. Agricultural competitiveness is a major issue following last year’s broad agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade deal.

Toyo Rice buys freshly harvested rice from award-winning farmers in Nagano, Yamagata, Niigata, and Kumamoto prefectures.

 

マイケル先生はクリスマスにカツカレーを作ったそうで。すごく美味しかったそうだ。^^　なんか嬉しい。

今年の英語はこれで終了。See you next year. でした。

1)   Japan Coast Guard officials say they have observed no lava flows or eruptions from a remote Pacific island volcano in Japan for the first time in two years.

Until recently, explosive eruptions had been taking place from a crater in the island’s center after an underwater eruption two years ago.

2)   Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga told reporters on Friday that the prefecture had to file the lawsuit to protect the pride and dignity of Okinawa residents.

He said the lawsuit is an effective way to stop the landfill work. He noted it’s a significant move showing his determination to block the construction of the airfield in Henoko.

3)   Japan’s top government spokesman says 3 Japanese nationals have been arrested and another detained by the Chinese authorities on suspicion of espionage.

Suga said the Chinese government has informed Japan that the authorities arrested 2 men in September after detaining them separately in the provinces of Zhejiang and Liaoning in May.

4)   The health ministry has decided to order a Japanese drug maker to suspend its operations as early as next month. The company was found to have used unauthorized methods to produce blood products and systematically covered up its misconduct.

Kaketsuken, or the Chemo-Sero-Therapeutic Research Institute, based in the western prefecture of Kumamoto, is accused of being engaged in the illicit acts for around 40 years.

The company will be banned from selling all products during this period, except for certain types of blood products and vaccines for which no alternatives are available on the market.

5)   A Japanese freelance journalist is reportedly being held by an armed group in Syria.

Jumpei Yasuda reportedly entered Syria from southern Turkey in late June this year to cover the country’s civil war. He was accompanied by a guide.

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based NGO, said on its website on Tuesday that Yasuda had been kidnapped by an armed group in an area controlled by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front.

6)   A former law professor has been found guilty of leaking questions on this year’s bar exam to one of his former students.

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday handed a one-year sentence, suspended for 5 years, to Koichi Aoyagi, a 67-year-old former professor at Meiji University’s law school in Tokyo.

Aoyagi was one of the experts who prepared questions for this year’s bar exam.

7)  Japan’s Financial Services Agency has imposed a record-high penalty of 7.37 billion yen, or about 61 million dollars, on electronics firm Toshiba for falsifying financial statements.

クリスマスなので「クリスマスキャロル」の教材も作ったよ！というので、じゃあそれで。ということで。すっかりストーリーを忘れていた。この本の出版の後にアメリカのクリスマスが家族のクリスマスになったのだそう。

A mean-spirited man named Ebenezer Scrooge sits in his bank on a cold Christmas Eve. His clerk, Bob Cratchit, shivers in the room because Scrooge refuses to spend money on heating coals for a fire. Scrooge’s nephew, Fred, pays his uncle a visit and invites him to his annual Christmas party. Two gentlemen also drop by and ask Scrooge for money for their charity. Scrooge reacts to the holiday visitors with anger saying an angry “Bah! Humbug!” in response to his nephew’s “Merry Christmas!”

Later that evening, after returning to his dark, cold apartment, Scrooge receives a scary visitation from the ghost of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley, tells his sad story. As punishment for his greedy and self-serving life his spirit wanders the Earth weighted down with heavy chains. Marley hopes to save Scrooge from sharing the same fate. Marley informs Scrooge that three spirits will visit him. After the ghost disappears, Scrooge falls into a deep sleep.

He wakes moments before the arrival of the Ghost of Christmas Past, a strange childlike ghost. The spirit takes Scrooge on a journey into the past to previous Christmases from Scrooges earlier years. Invisible to those he watches, Scrooge revisits his childhood school days, his job with a happy merchant named Fezziwig, and his engagement to Belle, a woman who leaves Scrooge because his greed for money is greater than his ability to love another. Scrooge, deeply moved, cries tears of regret before the ghost returns him to his bed.

The Ghost of Christmas Present, a giant in a green fur robe, takes Scrooge through London to show how Christmas as it will happen that year. Scrooge watches the large Cratchit family prepare a small feast in its poor home. He discovers Bob Cratchit’s crippled son, Tiny Tim, a courageous boy whose kindness and humility warms Scrooge’s heart. The ghost then takes Scrooge to his nephew’s to see the Christmas party. Scrooge finds the happy gathering delightful. The ghost vanishes instantly as Scrooge notices a dark, hooded figure coming toward him.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come leads Scrooge through a series of mysterious scenes relating to an unnamed man’s recent death. Scrooge sees businessmen discussing the dead man’s riches, some vagabonds trading his personal effects for cash. Scrooge, anxious to learn the lesson of his latest visitor, begs to know the name of the dead man. Scrooge finds himself in a churchyard, the spirit pointing to a grave. Scrooge looks at the headstone and is shocked to read his own name. He desperately asks the spirit to change his fate, promising to honor Christmas with all his heart. He suddenly finds himself safely in his bed.

Overwhelmed with joy by the chance to redeem himself and grateful that he has been returned to Christmas Day, Scrooge rushes out onto the street hoping to share his newfound Christmas spirit. He sends a giant Christmas turkey to the Cratchit house and attends Fred’s party, to the surprise of the other guests. As the years go by, he holds true to his promise and honors Christmas with all his heart: he treats Tiny Tim as if he were his own child, provides wonderful gifts for the poor, and treats his fellow human beings with kindness, generosity, and warmth.

トランプ氏はアメリカでも嫌われているはずなのになぜ支持率が高いのかということを説明してくれた。

オバマさんもクリントンさんを含む他の候補も結局が大企業がお金を出してあげているので彼らの操り人形でトランプ候補は自分のお金でやっているから本当のことが言える。彼が言っていることは多くのアメリカ人たちが思っている本当の気持ちだ。

ということだそう。大企業がスポンサーの新聞がどんなに彼のことや発言を歪曲して悪く取り上げてもだから彼を支持する人は多いということだそう。なるほどね。

 

1)   French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius says he expects countries participating in the UN climate change conference, or COP21, to reach a final agreement on Saturday

2)   Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Saturday. Abe hopes to strengthen cooperative ties in a wide range of areas, including defense and security.

He announced plans to set up a financial scheme totaling about 12.3 billion dollars to help Japanese firms do business in India.

3)   Tokyo police say a South Korean man arrested in connection with an explosion at Yasukuni Shrine was carrying what appeared to be gunpowder when he returned to Japan earlier this week.

4)   Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will be returning to Earth on Friday after completing his 5-month mission at the International Space Station.

Yui, a former Air Self-Defense Force pilot, has been on the ISS since July of this year. In August, he played a key role in docking the Japanese unmanned cargo craft Kounotori 5, using a robot arm. Yui is the 10th Japanese astronaut.

5)   Japanese researchers warn that if global warming continues at current rates, Japan could experience frequent extreme rainfall and storm surges by the end of this century.

The Meteorological Agency, the University of Tokyo, and Kyoto University jointly ran weather simulations on a supercomputer called the Earth Simulator.

6)   A former university law professor has admitted to leaking questions on this year’s national bar examination to one of his former students.

Koichi Aoyagi, a former professor at Meiji University’s law school in Tokyo has been charged with giving away some questions from the exam to a woman student in her 20s.

On Thursday, Aoyagi admitted to the charges at the Tokyo District Court. He said the woman had been his girlfriend, and that he wanted to help her after she’d failed the exam last year.

7)   Tokyo (AFP) – A conservation group slammed Japan Thursday for fuelling illegal ivory trading and smuggling by poor law enforcement.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) ran an undercover probe. Its findings said: “Japan is clearly being targeted by ivory trafficking syndicates purchasing illegal tusks including via the internet, and arranging illegal export to China without any apparent interference from Japanese authorities.”

 

自分メモ

http://www.ted.com/playlists/309/talks_on_how_to_make_love_last?utm_campaign=social&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_content=playlist&utm_term=social-science

ロケットのラウンチがあるのでマイケルといっしょに待ったのだけど、なんかしらのトラブルがあって中止。

その後再開するようだったけれど、時間切れ。残念。無事発射されたのかな？来週聞いてみよう。^^

 

1)   Japan’s infrastructure ministry has found that more than 500 of the country’s bridges have poorly welded supports. The devices are supposed to keep the bridges from collapsing during major earthquakes.
The ministry surveyed government-managed bridges after learning in August that metal supports retrofitted to a bridge in Kyoto had poorly welded components.

Ministry inspectors checked all bridges fitted with such supports made by Hisatomi Sangyo based in Fukui, central Japan. They also spot-checked other makers’ products.

2)   A survey has found that Japanese manufacturers operating in China have become less willing to expand business there as the economy slows and labor costs rise.

3)   Japanese police say a man caught on security camera just before an explosion at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo last month was a South Korean who has since returned home.

The blast was heard from a restroom near the shrine’s south gate on November 23rd. The explosion triggered a small fire but no one was injured.

4)   A Japanese philanthropic organization says a failure to address child poverty in Japan will likely cost the country’s economy about 33 billion dollars.

The Nippon Foundation says its estimate focuses on about 180,000 children aged 15 in needy households, such as those with single parents or on welfare.

5)   Tokyo police will refer reports on 7 people, including a former Self-Defense Forces official, to prosecutors on Friday. They are suspected of leaking defense-related documents to Russia.

Police say an SDF official  handed an internal manual on personnel training to the Russian officer at a Tokyo hotel in May 2013. Izumi’s former subordinate and 4 others were allegedly involved in acquiring the manual.

6)   Officials at Japan’s Honda Motor say they hope to begin selling electric vehicles around 2020.

Automakers around the world are competing to develop eco-friendly models. They predict that stricter environmental standards in the United States, Europe and China will help to fuel an expanding market.

7)   The tax panel of Japan’s ruling coalition has agreed that tax breaks granted for solar power suppliers should end at the end of March next year. The current incentive is aimed at promoting solar power generation.

The panel of the Liberal Democratic and Komeito parties decided to abolish the tax break at the end of fiscal 2015 because the incentive is no longer needed now that solar power is widely used in the country.