March 2007 – tHiNk TwIcE

Annoying zoo

A few days ago I visited a zoo with my family. It was a zoo in Toyohashi city in Aichi prefecture.

And something annoyed me. It was not concerning the animals, it was the visitors. Although my Japanese isn’t so good, it was good enough for me to understand many of the comments made by visitors.

For example some visitors commented on the ‘poor animals’, others commented on the ‘small, dirty cages’, and others on the rough condition of some of the animals. There were so many negative comments.

If you don’t like zoos, don’t go!

Spring, part 2

As well as being a name for a season, spring can also mean the flow of water from the earth, usually into a small pond or stream. It is like the birth of a river. It is a magical place.

But how many times have you seen a spring? How many times have you seen water coming from the earth? How many times have you seen the start of a stream?

I saw my first spring today. It is in the Main Sengen Shrine in Fujinomiya City, and here there are many springs which flow into a small pond called Wakuike, and then into a fast stream, and become a river. Here is a picture of the spring.

Spring water is very pure and is often sold as mineral water. In some places spring water is hot and, of course, hot springs are very popular.

Spring

Tomorrow is a national holiday to celebrate the vernal equinox. Vernal is another word for spring, and equinox means that the length of the daytime and nighttime are equal.

In many Western countries the vernal equinox is considered to be the first day of spring. However in the southern hemisphere (for example New Zealand, Chile and South Africa) it is exactly the opposite season and it is the first day of autumn.

Spring gets its name as this is the time for new life to spring into the world. Plants begin to grow again, and new animals are born. It is a time of refreshment, renewal and change, after the difficult months of winter.

In Japan it seems that spring and cherry-blossom are very much connected. I thought the cherry-blossom would be very early this year, but I haven’t seen any yet.

The weather in London

I was checking the weather in London today and this is the symbol I found.

What kind of weather is this?

Spurs in the last eight

My favourite football team, Tottenham (nickname Spurs) won the second match against Braga, of Portugal, 3-2. They also won the first match 3-2, so they win 6-4 over the two games.

Last night Berbatov (Bulgaria) scored two goals and Malbranque (France) scored one, in an excellent victory. Spurs now enter the last eight of the UEFA Cup.

The next opponents are Sevilla (Spain), who are leading the Spanish League (ahead of Barcelona and Real Madrid), and who won the UEFA Cup last season, it’s the toughest match.