Why I love Ireland 3

When I heard this song first time, I realized how much I missed this emerald country. Sinead O'Conner's mournful, but inspiring voice always evokes ceaselessly changing Irish skies in my heart. I imagine that I am standing in the subtle, gentle sunshine, which reflects on the morning dew in the hazy green. I feel as if I could see the eternity in a fraction of a second.

Why I love Ireland 2

There is one more. My Irish friend let me know this.

"We don't even know what a fuck pillage is!"

"How did we reactas a people to 800 years of tyranny? We went over there looking for work."

Hahahaha!!!!

Why I love Ireland

You can see why I love Ireland through this funny video.

"Firstly, proud of something we don't understand. I am an Irish!. Woowww!! What does that mean? WWAAAAAAAA!!!! Me is not a fucking English!! That's what that means!!!".

Until 7;00, I manage to understand what Tommy is saying (or Tommy seems to be saying more precisely), but after that, it's too difficult for me to catch his words...

How about you?

Belfast, The city of the Titanic and George Best

With Clare

Belfast is under large-scale redevelopment. At the Odyssey complex.

The harbour where The Titanic was built

The City Hall

Look up in the sky,and you know where you are.


At Shankill road


At Falls road





A family feeding geese at Enniskillen

Surely people had lived here...


At Enniskillen

Irish Breakfast

Ireland, again.

I went on holidays to Ireland and Northern Ireland this week.This is seventh time for me to go there.(I thought that this is the eighth, but actually, seventh.)

People often ask me, "Why do you like Ireland so much?" or "Why you go there so many times?" or more directly "Why Ireland?".This is seemingly easy,but at the same time, very complicated question to answer, because it's largely related to my personality or world views.The following pictures are one of my answeres to those questions. I hope you could feel what I feel for there. To make a long story short, it's so beautiful!

I went to Northern Ireland and took good pictures too. I'll upload those later when I could sort out what I thought or felt there.

Where the streets have no name...
A boy who is selling goods in the Alan Islands
Road to Dun Aonghasa(ancient fort and cliffs)



In the memory of the Potato Famine




But I still haven't found what I am looking for...

Second round of Eiken Test

Today, I went to Kanda to take the second round of Eiken Test, the first grade of English Proficiency Test. Because I didn’t prepare anything special for it, I was a bit nervous for this interview test. I knew that I would be asked to deliver a two-minutes speech after one-minute preparation. I also knew that topics are usually related to current affaires. But, two minutes for speech is sometimes felt as if it is eternal, and sometime as if it is just a couple of seconds, so I marched up to Kanda Foreign language University, wishing that my topic would be easy question, at least not difficult one such as “Tell us about how to use AK-47”, or “Briefly describe copulation of hippopotamus”.

When I came in the interview room, there were two interviewers sitting in front of me with enigmatic smile. One was Japanese lady, and another was apparently native English speaker. At first, they asked me to introduce myself briefly. And then, I was asked to flip over a piece of green paper on the desk. There were five questions on the sheet. As long as I remember, one of them was, “What impact will the declining birth rate have on Japanese society?” or something like that. Another one was, “Will increasing indifference of Japanese young people to politics be serious problem?” But, the question that I chose was, “Is patrol by civilian neighborhood effective to lesson the number of crimes?” I chose this question because I am familiar with this matter as a civil servant.

To be honest, I think that my speech was a bit messy. I couldn’t be finished with it when timer went off. But I believe that I could present my opinion briefly and point out reasons why I though so. I could deal with Q & A time after the speech without any fatal gaffe, and even enjoyed conversation with interviewers. Indeed, interview itself is usually a stressful situation, but I often attend Nova Voice room, where sometimes descends into awkward pandemonium. So, I might well be trained unwittingly with this kind of situation, maybe.

I will get the result by July, 27. I shouldn’t be overconfident, but I think that I made it, unless those serious-looking interviewers were offended with my outrageous T-shirt.

A relax day

A T-shirt in my hometown.

Gordon Brown's speech and my training

i dictated Gordon Brown's inauguration speech just for my training. if you find mistakes, feel free to point out.


I have just accepted the invitation of her majesty of Queen to form a government. This will be a new government with a new priority. And I have been privileged to be granted the great opportunity to serve my country. And in all times I will be strong in purpose, steadfast in work?, resolute in action, in the service of what matters to the British people, meeting the concerns and aspirations of our whole country.

I grew up in a town that now I represent in parliament. I went to the local school. I would’t be standing here without the opportunities that I received there. I want the best of chances for everyone. That is my mission. If we can fulfill the potential, and realize the talents of all our people, then I am absolutely sure that Britain can be the great global success-story of this century. As I have traveled around the country, and as I have listened to and I have learned from the British people, and as prime minister I will continue to listen and learn from the British people, I have heard the need for change. Change in our NHS, change in our schools, change with ------? of housing, change to build trust in government, change to protect and extend the British way of life. This need for change can not be met by old politics. So I will reach out beyond the narrow party interests. I will build a government that uses all the talents. I will invite men and women of good ------? to contribute their energies in a new spirit of public service to make our nation what it can be. And I am convinced that there is no weakness in Britain today that cannot be overcome by the strength of British people.

On this day, I remember words that stay with me since my childhood, and which matter a great deal to me today. My school motto. "I will try my utmost." This is my promise to all of the people in Britain. And now let’s the work of change begin. Thank you.