特別ポスト: Places & Traces (Part 2)

Hello! 

How are you? Here is Part 2 of our sampling of your incredible writing on places, and your memories of them, for the collection Places & Traces. 

If you would like to check out the first sample, click here.  

Let's go! Here's another great recollection of a trip to the place above - London!

Trip to London

One great memory of mine is the trip to London. I went there with my mother when I was a first-grade junior high school student. We stayed there for a week, so there were many places I went to, but I will write about four especially memorable places.

As we all know, the United Kingdom has Queen. I went to Buckingham Palace at first. That is where Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ lives. When the flag on the top of the palace is the Union Jack, the queen is not inside. When the flag is that of the Royal Family, she is inside. However, we couldn’t see the flag of the Royal Family. Though Queen Elizabeth wasn’t there, many guards were around the palace. I could see the famous custom, changing of the guards. They were in a bright red coat and with a black hat made of bear skins. They repeated walking, stopping and turning around. I took a picture of them and talked to them, but they answered nothing.

Next, I and my mother went to Westminster Abbey. Westminster Abbey is the church which is the World Heritage Site. It is really important for the royal families. They hold their weddings there. Also, many famous great people are buried there, for example, Sir Isaac Newton, William Thomson, George Frideric Handel and so on. I saw many graves of great people’s. I felt something very significant and sacred.

Then, I went to the most famous clock tower, Big Ben. Big Ben is a part of the Houses of Parliament. Everyone Knows the name “Big Ben”, but there are few people who know that the official name has been changed. Its official name is “the Elizabeth Tower”. Furthermore, more surprisingly, the tower is actually leaning now. It is really beautiful clock tower, so I hope that will not be the second leaning tower of Pisa!

Lastly, I will introduce London Eye. It is Millennium Wheel built for celebrating the year, 2000. From the big wheel, I could see very beautiful landscape. Its view had all the famous sights in London, the Thems, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and Tower of London. I was so moved when I saw the view. There were not only old, traditional and historical buildings, but also innovative new buildings. They seemed to be conflicting, but they were not at all. From London Eye, I noticed the beauty of the city, London, which has both tradition and innovation.

By the way, I experienced more important thing in that trip. That is that I spoke English with foreign people for the first time. I had been studying English for a year, but I didn’t know so many English phrases at the time. When my mother suggested me to speak English, I was very nervous and afraid. However, I talked to a shop assistant once and I could make myself understood in English. That conversation was just a simple one, but I was really glad. It is the very greatest memory of mine. That opportunity made me love the U.K. and English. Then, from that time, I started learning English harder. Also, my most favourite country is the United Kingdom still now. Therefore, the trip to London is the greatest memory of mine.

An unforgettable trip indeed. But there are many other great places you've been to as well. Here's a short, but vivid, one about Shanghai:

I took an unforgettable trip to Shanghai with my family over the summer holiday. The views in Shanghai left a deep impression on me. The soaring Oriental Pearl Tower, the bustling Nanjing Road, the fancy Peace Hotel, and the antique Chenghuang Temple are all features of a complex and diverse Shanghai. When night shut in, the city became a charming paradise. I remember standing on the deck of a yacht as the fresh wind quietly embraced us.

Leaning against the rail, I saw sprays of the glittering Huangpu River fly along the side of our yacht. The colorful lights on the banks were twinkling while the moonlight was dripping through the clouds. Shadows of the modern buildings were reflected on the water. Passengers on the deck were deeply immersed in the beauty of the night.

Not only the views, but also the residents, touched me. I once found my wallet missing during my stay in the city. After searching through every corner of my room and my pockets, I almost gave up hope. Unexpectedly, an hour later my mother picked up a wallet from a policeman saying a taxi driver had returned the wallet. The policeman then returned my wallet very soon.

The trip to Shanghai was one of the best in my memory. As I write this, my mind still lingers on the views of that city.

A lingering one as well! But of course, there are other places right here in Japan as well, and other kinds of memories of events and situations that are as precious, and as vital, to you. Here are some more about other places and other kinds of memories!

My best spring vacation

One great memory of mine is visiting Iriomote island with my family last March. Iriomote island is located in around four hundred kilometers from Okinawa island. There isn't an airport, so we got on a ship from Ishigaki island.

In Okinawa, March 18^th fell on the start of the swimming season. We visited after that day. Of course we swam in the sea. The beach is a private beach of hotel, so there were few people. I could relax and see many beautiful fishes and coral reefs. However the temperature in March is not so high. Although I wore a sweatshirt, I felt cold.

There are lots of waterfalls in Iriomote island. We went to one of famous falls, Pinaisara Falls. On the way to the falls, we rode a canoe. When we puddled a canoe, I could see mangroves on both river sides. I thought a mangrove is very interesting because it grows by seawater. In addition, there are a lot of native plants and animals in Iriomote island such as an Iriomote wildcat and a crested serpent eagle. This island is very fantastic!

One of the things what I was looking forward to in Okinawa was delicious food. I ate many local food such as tofu kanpuru, sokisoba, Ishigaki beef, and so on. I thought Okinawa food are unique but very delicious. Of course I bought lots of food souvenirs like brown sugar, chinsuko and sata andagi. 

I had a great time for four days in Iriomote island. I would like to go again. 

Fantastic! Now here's more!

My Favorite Place

My favorite place is Yamashita Park in Kanagawa. It opened on March 15, 1930 as a project of recovery from the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. This park was built on reclaimed land made of the debris. Now, this park is famous as a big beautiful park and many people visit there every day.

When I was a high school student, I went to school near this park, so I often went there after school. It has a fountain and many beautiful flowers. They always made me happy. It also has some benches. Everyone can sit and watch the sea, the sky and sea gulls. The sea and the sky shows us very beautiful blue, and the cute sea gulls makes us pleasant.

This park is located near a harbor, so you can see some ships on the sea, too. If you want to get in a ship, you can visit Hikawamaru. Hikawamaru is a big ship moored at a pier near this park. This ship is an important cultural property of Japan and you can get in this ship freely. If you want to get in a “moving” ship, you can board a sea bus which flies between the park and Yokohama station. The fair is 700 yen. By paying only 700 yen, you can enjoy the big sea and cool breeze on the ship. I recommend doing this.

There are some shops in this park, too. For example, there is a convenience store named Happy Lawson. It is a special convenience store, because it has a cafe and a playroom for kids. Many families visit this park every day, so this convenience store considers them.

Anyway, this park is a very enjoyable place, so I love this place very much!

A great place you don't have to go so far to get to! Here's another - this time about friends:

My best friends

I’d like to talk about my friends from high school. We all belonged to the Japanese archery club, so we spent a lot of time together. We practiced Japanese archery every day and also visited many places together.

Last year, we went on an overnight trip to Fukushima in winter and Tokyo Disney Resort in spring. In Fukushima, we enjoyed skiing. It was the second for us to go skiing with this member. I’m not good at skiing but my friends who are good skiers helped me many times. After we got back to the hotel, we talked and played games all night long. At Tokyo Disney Resort, we rode many attractions. Though the lines were long and we had to wait for a long time, I didn’t get bored with talking with them. We had a fulfilling day. These trips are my good memories of my high school life.

There were times we fought over things about our club, but we are good friends that I can talk about anything with. They always give me advice whenever I am worried about something. Also, each of them have their own personality so it is fun for me to communicate with them. We went our separate ways but I still meet some of them who live near me. Some of them are still studying to enter their first-choice college and others go to universities far from where I live. So it is hard for me to meet all of them. I sometimes feel loneliness but I’m looking forward to getting together again sometime. I wish I can go for a drink with them after we come of age!

Friends indeed are special. Here's one more about a special gathering of people - a club, and memories of a very special event they were a part of!

My best memory

I am going to tell you about my best memory. One of my memories is to participate in the competition being held in Osaka. But it was not a ordinary competition, it was a national competition!!!

When I went to a junior and high school, I was in the mandolin club. Mandolin is a musical instrument in Italy and it looks like an ukulele but its sound is like a violin. We were made its orchestra not only mandolin but also guitars, flutes and contrabasses. My club is very famous because it was one of the strongest clubs in the amateur mandolin world. We are participating in the competition every year and had left results.

Two years ago when I went to the tournament first time, we played the music “Mizuki no Uta” composed by the famous mandolin player, Kenji Suehiro. It was theme of nature and the birds singing and the sounds of wind breathing were expressed by various instruments in this song, so it made me feel like being in the forest. But it was much different to play and we had to practice in many times. I was scolded by old members but I went to practice every day and became good little by little. Finally, we got in the tournament.

On that day, we had to listen competitor’s performance because our turn was last so I was anxiety not to play well and leave result. I waited very nervous feeling in the backstage. The senior who saw me said that “Don’t worry about the results, let’s have fun playing from your heart.” When I heard that, I recalled the effort so far, I gained confidence. I went on stage and saw large audiences but I didn’t feel uneasy. Soon the performance began and soon it ended but it was the most pleasant performance ever. Audiences applauded and some of them stood up. I felt happy and ever more pleasing, we were number one!!!!! We cried and delighted jumping up and I felt fantastic!!!

This is my best memory. I have never had any wonderful experience ever. I am proud of this and it was an irreplaceable memory for me.

There's so much more to upload - and I don't know how much more I can do given how busy we all are! So take look at these and write some short comments about what you think of them. 

I'm proud of all of you, and of being able to upload this great work of yours. 

Good luck, and take care! 

Images: Top - CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=240183/Shanghai - by J. Patrick Fischer - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17906551