Question 1

I'll flip the question because I wasn't born and raised in Japan. 1. Who was the first Japanese native that you remember having a conversation with?. A>Her name was Jennifer Bariteu she as born in Japan and moved to America when she was very young. She was adopted by a French-Canadian family. She was my classmate in elementary school. She was very nice and polite.

Question 2

Too many to count. My best Japanese friend is Yamakawa-san. He was my neighbour when I lived in Osaka. He is originally from Nara. He is 52 years old and has four children.

Question 3

Nara park. Nara park is famous for many foreign tourists. I went there for the first time three weeks ago. It was very quiet because of the coronavirus. I enjoyed walking around and visiting the shrines and pagodas. I could do without the deer. One of them attacked my son Jun.

Question 4

It's similar in America, but America geographically is so big so it's on a different scale. Usually the countrysides are underpopulated, but they are utilised well as farmland. Some people prefer the serenity and quiet of the countryside. Florida has the most aging population. It is very warm year round and the elderly enjoy their retirements there.

Question 5

No. Never. I have seen no tattoo signs at onsen but that's about it.

Question 6

I think it will help the countries economy. However, if the Olympic Games are cancelled because of the coronavirus it could hurt the economy. I think that many people who come to the Olympic games will see how beautiful Japan is and it will boost tourism as well.

Tough Vocabulary

Question 1

I remember talking with an American police officer when my family went to the US for vacation. I was only around 7 years old then. I was flying my kite along the beach in New Jersey and my kite sank into the water and I thought I'd lost it forever. A police man on a bicycle saw me crying and I told him what was wrong, he was really nice. My dad was able to reel the kite back in one piece, so everything turned out okay in the end.

Question 2

My husband isn't Filipino, he's American. His entire family is American as well. I also have two American uncles married to my aunts and 2 American friends in Japan. In total I know around 10 Americans. I have a friend from Lebanon, another from Morocco and another from Greece, we used to play online games together and still keep in touch. I work with someone from England, another from Australia, one more from America and another from New Zealand. I have many Japanese colleagues and a few Japanese friends.

Question 3

Many tourists love to go to Boracay. It's such a popular tourist destination that it became over developed and had to be shut down for over 6 months back in 2018 so that the goverment can remove buildings that were no longer in the legal build zone. When they reopenned it was cleaner and buildings were built further back, exposing more shoreline. They now limit the number of tourists that can go there at any time. It was good for the economoy but bad for the environment but now it's more sustainable.

Question 4

Up in the very northern areas of the Philippines where we still have our indigenous people from ancient tribes, a lot of the younger people have moved out of their villages and gone into the city to get better work. The local government doesn't really do anything, the tribes either die out, move to another place or get work locally in agriculture or tourism.

Question 5

In Cebu they would have signs that give higher rates to people who are specifically from Manila or Foreigners. The signs literally say Manila/Foreigners. I'm from Manila and it has made me really angry, which is why I don't like going to Cebu, despite it being so popular for tourists, specially the Japanese. They're nicer to tourists from other countries than to people from Manila. Manila is the capital and usually get the focus when it comes to the news and government funds. Cebu is a budding metropolis and they think they should get the same level of attention as Manila, but they don't, and that isn't done on purpose, but I think this makes them angry. I think this isn't fair because people from Manila don't single out people from Cebu, you won't see signs with more expensive rates for people from Cebu in Manila. We're all from the Philippines and we shouldn't be treating our countrymen this way.

Question 6

I think it would be good for Japan and would be the only way they'll survive economically when the aging population crisis reaches its peak. I think the Japanese are very good at maintaining their important traditions, as long as they do that while adjusting to becoming more internationalized, I think they should be okay with regards to keeping their unique culture. Becoming internationalized will help them economically and possibly culturally, civilizations are usually more successful when they share knowledge with others.

Tough Vocabulary

Question 1

I guess my parents are the first non-Japanese born people that I remember having a conversation with when I was a child. The first Japanese born people that I remember having a conversation with was three young ladies when I was a backpacker in Austria. They were nice but very shy, we only talked about where we had been and where we were going to next.

Question 2

I currently socialize and work with about a dozen people. There are not many foreigners in Nara.

Question 3

I live in Ikoma and I think that the amusment park called Ikoma Sanjo Amusement Park could interest some foreigners as the view is very nice. For those people who live in Kansai, it is also a nice place to bring their children.

Question 4

My hometown is quite rural and it had a decreasing population for many years. The local government decided to offer "Zero Fees" so students could study for free at the polytechnic. The population grew a lot and the city started to flourish again.

Question 5

Yes, I have seen this. I didn't care and I told myself that they had the problem, not me, and I will spend my money somewhere else.

Question 6

I am sceptical about how much the foreigners who come to Japan will benefit the economy and society. I do not think Japanese society is ready for an influx of foreigners as it is an old and very complex culture with some rules that foreigners do not understand.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
polytechnic	ポリテクニック
flourish	継ぐ
sceptical	懐疑的
influx	流入