Moro's Third Piece "Shopping Guide to Sugamo Shitamachi"

Author's Note:
Last autumn my family took me to Sugamo Jizo Dori Shopping Street just for pleasure (actually my father loves this kind of traditional Japanese places in Tokyo). It is known as a place for old ladies, so at first I imagined that it must be boring. However, contrary to what I had expected, Sugamo Jizo Dori had many interesting things, such as Jizos, temples, funny items, and delicious food. Soon I liked the retrospective atmosphere of Sugamo Jizo Dori, and this place became one of the most relaxing places for me (but note that I'm still not an old lady). So for my final publishing piece, I decided to write a shopping guide to Sugamo Jizo Dori Shopping Street in order to let everyone know the enjoyable aspect of Sugamo. It was somewhat difficult to explain the meaning of Japanese words in English, but at the same time I realized the importance of being able to introduce Japanese traditional culture to foreigners in this way. After finishing writing this, I came to feel that I want to know more about Japanese culture as a Japanese.

Thank you for helping me to improve this piece, Mark, Risa, and Saaya (and my father). I hope everyone will enjoy my final piece.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwd7SaNocZUrc0M4V1pWakxpazQ

Moro's Second Piece "3.11 Experience- Interview with a Boy in Tohoku"

Author’s Note:

This spring I went to Kesennuma Oshima in Miyagi prefecture in Tohoku (the northeastern part of Japan where the big earthquakes and tsunami occurred on 3.11) to do some volunteer work, and had an opportunity to interview one boy who experienced the disastrous situation. I thought it was very meaningful and important for me to be able to hear the actual voice of local people in Tohoku, so I want to share this experience on this occasion and want many people to know the real story of 3.11.

I tried writing an interview piece with a conversation style, because I wanted you to feel as if you were in the very place of interview with me. (At first, I wrote this piece with a question-and-answer style, but it was just simple and boring, so I made my mind and revised it so much. I think I made a good choice.) It was very difficult for me to make the conversation flow naturally, since I didn't remember the exact conversation with the boy or didn't record it. Part of the conversation might be a little awkward (since I'm not an English native speaker!), but I am confident that I did my best to describe our atmosphere at the interview. I hope that everyone that reads this piece will have stimulation or get inspired by a little boy, and he/she will feel like going to Tohoku to help the people there, not only as a volunteer but also as a tourist.

Thank you very much for your helpful advice, Mark and Risa.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Bwd7SaNocZUrbFpnUUZPX3lwdmc

Moro's First Piece "Animal vs. Human"

Author's Note:

This is a simple poem that combines two opposite points of view; animal's view of human world vs. human's view of animal world. At first, when I was wondering what kind of topic I would write about, I was going to write about the history of my pets in personal narrative because I love animals and my pets. However, as I wrote about it, my idea about animals (especially pets) developed naturally and I just got curious about animals' feeling toward their everyday lives. What do animals consider every day and how do they feel about humans' lives? I found it quite interesting to think about the new perspective completely different from ours, and I felt like writing about humans' perspective too on this occasion. Also, I had never written any poems in my life, so I wanted to challenge myself and decided to give it a try.

Here is a link to my first piece.
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1yKd_ZNufImZ5XSJT7i04U0OCu103-V5R_n3RxXDYXDg

The theme of this poem is "One tends to envy others, but finally realizes that one is glad to be oneself." Although my poem focuses on the relationship between animals and humans, I think that what is described here can be applied to any relationship between one and others. Animals are animals, and humans are humans. That's it. We do not have to compare them. Exactly the same things can be said about each person. It is important to accept what one is and appreciate the value of being alive.

It was very difficult for me to make rhythms and rhymes for each line, but I managed to make it sound at least smooth thanks to the great help from Ryo, Saya, and Mark. Ryo encouraged me to use simple words and make it more poetic. Saya provided me with a new insight by saying, "Your poem reminds me of the famous poem, `Watashi to Kotori to Suzu to' by Misuzu Kaneko." I did not notice it at all while I was writing this poem, so it was actually interesting. Thank you for your helpful advice, Ryo and Saya.

When you read this poem, please try to read it aloud so that you can feel the sense of the rhythms. Enjoy exploring both animal world and human world!

Publishing - Just send me a Google Doc or other link!

Advice for Publishing:

1. Make sure you've had at least one other classmate give you feedback for revision and editing.

2. Send me a Google Doc link, and add me as an Editor. Other types of links are fine too. For example, if you want to add your voice or BGM, you can create a YouTube video.

3. Think about colors and how it will look as a published piece (font colors, size, background colors, images)

4. Send me an Author's Note that explains your theme and genre and your feelings about this piece. You can include things about what you tried to emphasize and what points you want to still improve in the piece, too. Inviting comments and reaction is a good thing to do too.

5. Feel free to keep updating or modifying your piece on Google Docs any time you like!