Ferry and dinner on Saturday

Here's a web page with information about the ferry we will ride.  下記のウェブページには私たちが利用するフェリーに関する情報があります。

http://www.kumamotoferry.co.jp/03oceaninfo/index.php

Here's that address the place where I think we should have dinner of Saturday.  土曜日の夕飯は次の店でしたいと思っています。

長崎全日空ホテルグラバーヒル Restaurant Pave

We can eat as much as we like for 3,000 yen.  3,000円で食べ放題です。Alcoholic beverages are separate. アルコールは別料金です。

Whaling

Last week in our Friday class we talked about the treatment of horses in Kumamoto's Fujisakigu festival.　先週の金曜日の授業では、藤崎宮例大祭における馬の扱い方について話し合いました。The mixture of opinions was interesting to me because we did not divide into "Japanese" vs. "foreign" opinions.  私が興味を持って点の一つは「日本人」vs. 「留学生」という形で意見が分かれなかったこと。

Today it might be interesting to talk about whaling.  今日は捕鯨について少し話すといいかも知れません。Here's a recent news article.  まず、最近の英語の記事を紹介しましょう。

New Zealand attacks Japan's decision to resume whaling 

The group, Sea Shepherd, has pledged to follow the fleet again this year and obstruct its hunt.
In the past there have been collisions between its vessels and the whaling fleet, and its activists have also boarded Japanese vessels. 

Sleep

Here's another recent news article.  最近見つけた新聞記事をもう一つ紹介しましょう。

Tokyo workers sleep less than New York, Europe peers
Bloomberg
Tokyo office workers sleep at least 30 minutes less than their New York, Paris, Shanghai and Stockholm Peers each night, averaging six hours, or 14 percent less than the recommended minimum, a study said.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20111021n1.html

It says that the average number of hours of sleep among Tokyo workers is just six hours.  東京の労働者（会社員など）の平均睡眠時間は6時間だそうです。

In small groups, it might be interesting to talk about how much you sleep now, how much you slept when you were younger, how much you would like to sleep, and how much sleep you think is ideal.  少人数のグループで今とのぐらい寝ることができているか、高校時代やその前にどのぐらい寝ていたか、できればどのぐらい寝たいか、また、どのぐらいの睡眠が理想だと思うかについて話し合うといいかもしれません。

More about Yakuza

In our last classes, we talked about yakuza and the new law designed to reduce their influence. 前回の授業ではやくざ（暴力団）及び暴力団対策ための新法律について話しました。 Today I saw the following news article. 今日は次の記事を見ました。

Has TEPCO Cut Ties With Yakuza? Police Sources Still Skeptical.

The article claims that TEPCO has used yakuza to do the dangerous work that is being done on the Fukushima plant.  この記事は、東京電力が原発事故処理作業に、暴力団関係者を雇っていると主張しています。The author is Jake Adelstein who is well know for his writing on organized crime in Japan. 記事を書いているのは、下記の本を書いたジェイク・エーデルスタインです。

Unfortunately, this book has not been translated into Japanese.  残念ながら、この本の日本語訳はまだないようです。Here is a Japanese explanation about Jake Adelstein, including his work as a reporter (writing in Japanese) for the Yomiuri Newspaper:

“ジェイク”ジョシュア・エーデルスタイン（Joshua "Jake" Adelstein）はアメリカのジャーナリスト。元読売新聞社会部記者。在日経験をもとに日本の裏社会（暴力団、ヤクザ）に関する本『Tokyo Vice』を上梓。

It is my understanding the Adelstein is the only American to have worked as a beat reporter, writing in Japanese, for a Japanese newspaper.  私の理解では、日本の新聞の社会部記者として日本語で記事を書いてきたアメリカ人はエーデルスタインだけです。