Saturday, February 28, 2009

Fight of Kenshin Uesugi, Battle of Tedori Gawa (River) -2

Despite of all advantages which Nobunaga Army had, number of soldiers, fire arms, and half of all Japan in his side, Nobunaga Army lined up positioning Tedori Gawa (River) behind of their front line. It was to show Kenshin's army that Nobunaga Army did not have any intention to go back.

Kenshin's army arriving about 2-3 miles apart from Nobunaga's front line, stayed there and did not move, kept army mobile but took holding pattern. Nobunaga's generals started to be puzzled. But, more puzzled was Kenshin's generals. His step sons, Kagetora and Kagekatsu and strategist Kakizaki etc.. getting frustrated, one night asked Kenshin why he did not order to move ahead to attack Nobunaga Army. They all said it is the time for first strike for taking initiative of the battle.

Image is not for Tedori Gawa's Battle
For reference of Japanese old time battle
Public Domain

Kenshin had never had his own son. He had 3 adopted sons all were from his own enemies including his own brother. All 3 adopted sons were loyal to Kenshin and loved him. This is one episode how merciful person he was.

Kenshin asked them back "Do you guys know what will decide win or lose in wars? Do you think number of soldiers? No. Do you think training? No. Do you think number of guns? No. I am waiting for My Lord tells me time for attack." All generals are puzzled again.

One more day passed by and on the 3rd day of holding, the rain started late in the afternoon changed to pouring rain by midnight. Kenshin stood up and ordered immediate and swift attack. Despite of late night, all of his army moved ahead smoothly.

You might have figured that Kenshin was waiting for rain. Rifles that time had igniting system outside and needed to fire the rope to fire it. Because of the rain, Nobunaga Army could not use their guns at all and well trained Kenshin's army defeated Nobunaga Army.
Nagashino's battle
Nobunaga defeated Shingen's Son's army by using rifles.
Image in Public Domain

Now, Nobunaga's army found themselves to have made major mistake to lie front line in front of river. There were no place for them to escape and many soldiers tried to escape across the river wearing heavy armor drowned to death.

It was simple after knowing what he did. This story remind me "Columbus' egg". This war was significant that taught people how to fight against fire arms and told them fire arms is not almighty. Especially so after Nobunaga Army defeated Shingen's son's army by using rifles in their maximum effect. Kenshin was suggested to move ahead to Kyoto to give final damage to Nobunaga's ruling. But he did not do that. He said he did enough that time. Despite of this remarkable victory, his health was not in good shape any more, thinking from the fact he died a year later.

Kenshin's sudden death gave full advantage to Nobunaga. Nobunaga could continue to unify Japan until he himself was killed by his subordinate.

Related posts:

http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/gi-was-this-local-kings-driving-force.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/japanese-kanji-character-and-english.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/seeking-for-definition-of-gi-ultimate.html

Check my websites to find out what I am doing:
http://vur.me/shawfunami/main
http://vur.me/shawfunami/SF
http://vur.me/shawfunami/zi



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Friday, February 27, 2009

Fight of Kenshin Uesugi, Battle of Tedori Gawa (River) -1

I was 10 year old in summer, 1966, when I had a problem of nerve sensitivity and my parent's doctor recommended to take me out of Tokyo where all tense and pressure were attacking me. It was when my uncle (my mothers older brother) took me to the Kasuga Yama(mountain) whereas Kenshin Uesugi had his own castle.

Kasuga Yama Castle
(Image in Public Domain)

Kenshin was local lord in my parent's hometown and I was very much interested in visiting the ruin of his castle. I remember I was pretty much disappointed because no castle or even a part of the castle was left there. It was not even a ruin, but just a flat top of the mountain with some souvenir shop. My uncle felt my disappointment and bought me a book of Kenshin Uesugi.

After he became the local king of now Niigata Prefecture, he had fought more than 100 times and he had never lost. He believed himself to be a reborn Mars and his subordinates and people believed it. He has many fighting episodes, but I would like to introduce just one today.
Statue of Kenshin
(Put in Public Domain by Owner)

Later part of 16th century, Japan is almost unified by a local lord, Nobunaga Oda. He is one of the great figure in dark age of Japan since he almost unified Japan ending continuous fights lasted for almost 100 years. As he was killed by his own subordinate at last, his activities, philosophy, and visions are always controversial. He is the one who burned down sacred temples which did not follow his orders. In destroying Ninja village, he killed all the people living there since he could not distinguish fighters and non-fighters.

Still Nobunaga Oda was the most advanced strategist of the age. He was wearing western style clothes in fighting because he thought it was easier to move. His army was equipped with large number of guns. He is the early adopter of fire arms in Japan and maybe the pioneer to make use of fire power for fighting in Japanese history.

In 1576, Nobunaga's territory occupied more than half of Japan and it seemed to be clear that he is the one who could finally unify all Japan. Kenshin Uesugi was the one who still can stop him. There were groups of people who wanted Kenshin to replace Nobunaga. They thought Kenshin could be more reasonable and merciful ruler than Nobunaga.

Portrait of Nobunaga Oda
(Image in Public Domain)

It was September in 1576, Kenshin and Nobunaga were ready to fight for deciding who is the winner for unified Japan. Nobunaga brought his own army with 30,000 soldiers with 3,000 guns. Kenshin right after his fight against another enemy, could carry 10,000 soldiers with about 500 guns. Nobunaga had known how strong Kenshin was. Nobunaga was not coward but he wanted to be and was well prepared for the fight against Kenshin. He did not like any possibility of being beaten. But still he was. How did that happen?

I did not mean to cut off this post in the middle like this, but it looks like I spent too much space for explaining who Nobunaga and Kenshin were. I need to post another article for going into the details of the fight.

Related posts:
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/gi-was-this-local-kings-driving-force.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/japanese-kanji-character-and-english.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/seeking-for-definition-of-gi-ultimate.html

Check my websites to find out what I am doing:
http://vur.me/shawfunami/main
http://vur.me/shawfunami/SF
http://vur.me/shawfunami/zi



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Thursday, February 26, 2009

"Gi" was this local king's driving force

Kenshin Uesugi is a legendary local lord in my parent's home town, Niigata Prefecture. Niigata is located in back side of main island of Japan. It is snowy country whereas they have 6-12 feet of snow accumulation in every winter. Among any local lord in 16th century in Japan, Kenshin Uesugi was a little bit unique. Unique in the way that the most important thing for his life was protecting and act in accordance with "Gi" -Ultimate Righteousness-.

When he was born in 1530, his mother dreamt about "Buddhism Protecting General -Bi-Sha-Mon-Ten (Image Left)" jumped into her mouth. He believed himself to be reborn of this "Buddhism General". He was strong. His army was well trained and they were happy to give their lives for this "Live Buddhism General". In his life of more than 100 fights, he had never lost a single war. His army never betrayed his order and expectation.
Copyright (c)  2009  Shaw Funami.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.
A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU
Free Documentation License".


He was inspirational and religious. Almost as if he believed he must be religious, otherwise he will lose all his strength. All the local lord needed their righteousness to fight each other. Some believed to build peaceful country unifying all Japan in a mess that time. Others wanted to prove themselves to be stronger than others. They all were ambitious. So was Kenshin Uesugi. But, still he was different from others. The power which drove him to fight was "Protecting -Gi-". By "Gi" he means Ultimate Righteousness and Justice. Kenshin fought to prevail "Gi" in the dark age, power and greed were almost everything to drive any other local kings.

-Below- Uesugi Kenshin Portrait
Once Kenshin explained what is "Gi" for him. According to later historical record, he said "-Gi- for me is the very reason human being is like human being and is beautiful being." There are many episode how he practiced "Gi". There was a local lord who repeatedly fought against Kenshin over the country lies between their territories. Shingen Takeda is this rival king's name. When Shingen was attacked and fighting against other local king, Shingen's enemy surrounded Shingen's Castle and cut off Shingen's supply of Salt. People cannot live without taking Salt for long time. Kenshin, who heard Shingen's supply of salt was cut off, sent his own troop to send Shingen salts which was sufficient to support Shingen's army for a year or so.

I can spend all night listing this kind of episode of Kenshin's. What I wanted to post is motive to drive people for making continuous effort and keeping to take actions. Protecting and prevailing "Gi" -Ultimate Righteousness- was his motive to govern and fight. It was his vision. It was strong vision so that he could believe that he would never lose. 2 year before he died, he fought against Nobunaga Oda, who was very close to unify all Japan. Oda Army consisted of 30,000 soldiers with 3,000 guns. Kenshin brought his Army with less than 10,000 soldiers with 500 guns. Kenshin badly defeated Oda Army.

Kenshin could attack Oda's castle and chased him out from crown. Kenshin did not do that. Later he said "I showed Oda it is not just the power, greed, or ambition which decide win or lose, It is enough for now." He might have had his own strategy to get rid of Oda and unify Japan, but unfortunately he died in 1578 after this battle. Despite of his unfinished dream of unified Japan, people in my parent's hometown admire Kenshin, loves him, and respect him. He is still protective God for them, even now. "Oda" could unify Japan but one way or the other his reputation is always controversial even in Japanese people. Some like him some other hate him. He sometimes called merciless damon king. Who did you think was successful in life?

I have another question for you. How do you think Kenshin defeated Oda Army which was 3 times larger than his own army and better equipped? I will write another article to tell you how.

Write about "University Entrance Exam, English, How I learned English" Newspaper article translations.

Related posts:
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/japanese-kanji-character-and-english.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/seeking-for-definition-of-gi-ultimate.html

Check my websites to find out what I am doing:
http://vur.me/shawfunami/main
http://vur.me/shawfunami/SF
http://vur.me/shawfunami/zi



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shaw@zhenintl.ws
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Seeking for Definition of "Gi", Ultimate Righteousness

I thought that, today, I am writing about one local lord in 16th Century in Japan who believed in “Gi” for strategy, faith, living, decision making, etc… I caught up obsession on thinking about meaning of “Gi” in Japanese. I thought I did not explain enough in my last article. So, please allow me to spend one more article talking about this Japanese word “Gi”. -Image Left-

This word “Gi”, carrying a meaning of a little more and broader definition or nuance of English words, “Justice” or “Righteousness”, is used in many ways in Japanese Language.

“Gi-Ri” -Image Right- means “Social Obligation or Duty”, “Socially requested action or reaction which one is supposed to take as a matter of course”. “Gi” is often positioned to be in the opposite side of human emotion or love. This is one of the cause that puzzles non-Japanese people since this both edge sword concept of “Gi-Ri” and human emotion “Nin-Jo” makes Japanese looks like carrying 2 sided personality or emotion.

“Jin-Gi” -Image Left- can mean a whole lot of thing in Japanese. Generally, it means “Universal Unchangeable Righteousness or Justice” at the same time “Being Reasonable, Courteous, and Gentle”.

“Gi-Shi” -Image Left Bottom- is “A Person with Ambition”. It does not apply to the people whose ambition is self-centered, even their dream is big. It refers to the people whose dream is sacrificing themselves to help or rescue people, society, government, nation, etc...

I hope this article helps you to understand meaning of “Gi” better. I hope I did not just confuse you.

Related Post:
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/japanese-kanji-character-and-english.html




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Japanese Kanji Character and English

Thinking about meaning of words between Japanese and English, I can find and point out some Japanese words, which can be simply expressed or can find exact English words carrying same or equivalent meanings.

A Japanese word, “Ai” is one of them. -Kanji Character Image Left- I believe “Ai” carries exact same meaning of English word “Love”. “Ai” is not only carrying same meaning as English “Love”, it has almost same sound and meaning as Chinese “Ai”.

Another example of word, which has almost exact same meaning between Japanese and English, is “Sei” ,-Image Right Below-, English meaning “Sacred”. I may be able to go on and on. There are many Japanese words English can express in simple way of 1 or 2 words.

On the other hands, there are some Japanese words, which cannot be simply expressed in English. This is the point I wanted to discuss today.

Japanese language has a word “Gi” -Image Left Below-. Please refer to the image. Turning to Japanese English dictionary, meaning in English was shown as “Justice”, “Righteousness”, “Meaning”, etc… None of them did not satisfy me, today. “Gi” is more broad or universal meaning of natural or even spiritual. It is something universally right, and nobody, anybody can deny. It almost includes God’s will or faith to Him.

Another example is “Shi” or “Kokorozashi” -Image Left Bottom-. I put up image of this Japanese word. Same Dictionary showed me several English words, such as “Ambition”, “Aspiration”, “Dream”, etc… But again I thought all are correct, but not enough to explain this Japanese word “Shi”. It has broader, more powerful, stronger, more profound meaning in it.

I will be able to explain them in English if given 5-10 minutes, but I can not find simple 1 or 2 English word of the same meaning.

Today I planned to blog about Japanese people, who has strong relation with these 2 Japanese words “Gi” and “Shi”. I wanted you to fully understand the meaning of these Japanese words.

I spent too much space explaining these words. So the episode of the people will be up later.


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Tuesday, February 24, 2009

What is the key to be successful for anything you hope to be successful.

I posted this in Facebook and Linked-in. The opening question was "What makes the difference between successful people and non-successful people?" The answer should be very simple. Most of people do not know simple method which successful people know and practice.

If the same 1000 hours are to be given, there are just 2 simple action patterns. Many will spend 999 hours for thinking and take action for just 1 hour. Instead, the people moving ahead and getting result from what they are doing is the people who will spend 9 hours for thinking and 1 hour to take action. They will repeat this process 100 times. So, successful people's time spent for actions is 100 times longer than other people.

I am not saying that actions are more important than thinking. Thinking is equally important. However, we should not forget that thinking is a process to make decisions about what action we should take. If not taking actions, thinking become meaningless. Action elements are really simple. 6 basics of input and output. Output are "Speak", "Write", "Move Things", and "We Move Ourselves" based on 2 base input from "Reading" and "Listening". It appears that people moving things ahead quickly making decisions on these basics and take actions. These are people who take input actions when they cannot decide on output actions. In case they run into situation they cannot deal with. They will analyze the situation and still take actions within their capacity. This way, they will not get stuck. Aren't you stuck in your thinking?



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Monday, February 23, 2009

My Japanese Article is up in Largest Internet Provider Site in Japan

It was October last year when my wife and I did the Cruise Trip to Mexican Riviera. I wrote about it November and submitted to this Internet Provider "Nifty" in Japan. Now in February and it was finally adopted and uploaded last week.

Japanese always believe that Cruise Trip is a kind of luxury and ordinary people will not afford to it. But they travel to all the corner of the world. And if they afford to it, Cruise is not really too expensive alternative for them. Time may be another factor. If it is a Cruise for 15 days to one month, busy working people will not be able to take it. Still there are some Cruise 7 to 10 days like the one we took.

My article is talking all about beginning to end, options, enjoyment, and cost. I wanted Japanese people to know that this is one of their options for their trip, not unreachable luxury.

I will later translate the Article and post it in this Blog. But, right now, it is all in Japanese. For the people who is still interested in accessing, the following is the Link:

http://golog.nifty.com/cs/catalog/golog_article/catalog_004489_1.htm

The following image is one of the pictures used in the article and it is the one for cover page.

The article up this time is Part - I. The Part - II is coming and I will let you know as soon as it is uploaded.

Below is my wife feeding a Dorphine.
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Saturday, February 21, 2009

My Blog Tagged! More About Mrs. Shaw Funami, Zhen Wu

My excellent friends, Hugo and Roxanne great blogger of Believe Achieve, just tagged my blog! This is a fun thing with a neat twist. Instead of 25 random facts about me, I am supposed to share fun facts about our spouse/significant other.

I wrote about my wife Zhen Wu before. "Why didn't attend my wife's New Year Party?". So, I will list fun facts about my wife:

1. She likes to shop discounted items in regular shops. She does not shop in discount shops or outlets.
2. She is a neat person. She does not like disorganized.
3. When she starts to put things away, nobody in my family can sleep until she finishes organizing stuff.
4. She is not perfectionist, but she prefer not to make mistakes.
5. Her way of talking jumps around. I thought she was talking about lunch. She was talking about the dress she bought, yesterday.
6. She likes colorful dress. She prefer not to select simple colors like black, white, or gray.
7. After we subscribed Chinese and Japanese channels in cable TV, when she is awake, free, and around, she keeps watching Chinese channels. That means I cannot watch ether English or Japanese Channels.
8. There is nothing wrong with her driving, but she does not like driving much. She prefer her husband drives when he is available.
9. Even when her husband drives, she is not very good at handling speed. When I go too fast, she complains and asks to slow down.
10. She is originally from "An-Shan-She", North-East Part of China.
11. Her hometown is north of North Korea. It is very cold place in winter. Despite of that, she hates coldness of winter. She likes warm and hot place.
12. Even when it is too hot for regular people, she does not complain about hot summer. She enjoys it.
13. My wife is from Mandarin speaking area of China. She speaks a little bit of Cantonese, but not much.
14. She was living in San Francisco, Richmond Area right after she arrived in US in 1994.
15. The room she rent in Richmond, San Francisco, was almost part of Garage of a house.
16. Even Richmond, San Francisco was too cold for her. So she moved to San Diego in 1998.
17. She met her husband in her flight from San Francisco to San Diego.
18. After she met her husband, she end up coming back to San Francisco, where her husband was living.
19. She found San Francisco, Airport Area is not as cold as Richmond. She liked it and decided to stay.
20. Her important treasure is a cockatiel bird named "Goldy". "Goldy" was the closest to her for long time.
21. "Goldy" is now 14 years old. She hopes "Goldy" to have long life. When she worries she keeps asking how old "Goldy" can live. When she heard that a cockatiel can live for more than 20 years from veterinarian who treated Goldy's feet, she was very happy.
22. She tends to miss China when in US, miss US when in China.
23. She visited Tokyo several times, but her speaking Japanese is still limited. "Ohayo -Good Morning-" "Arigato -Thank you-" "Oishii -Delicious-".
24. She likes my mother laughs when she speaks in Japanese. "Oishii -Delicious-"
25. She is a spiritual woman. She is not scared, but believes in "Supra-natural Being".

I need to Tag. I would like to Tag:
Hilary at Positive Letters
Jerry at Barbershop Jerry's Blog
CW at Fabulous at 30, 40, 50 And Beyond

I look forward to your post!




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Friday, February 20, 2009

About China -3

As I keep digging the pictures taken in China, a lot of good experience and memories flashes back. I would like to share 3 more pictures here.

This picture -Left- is also taken in Forbidden Palace. You can easily see the scale of the Imperial Palace. Ancient Garden for Imperial Family, now is the sightseeing people and neighbor kids' play ground.



Next Picture -Right- is also a part of Imperial Palace, the White House for Qin Dynasty Emperor. In many Asian countries, politics is directly connected with religious activities. This Tower has religious meaning, at the same time was the place for the Emperor and High up Bureaucrat people discuss and make decisions with regard to important political issues.



Multi-layer towers (usually 3 layers or 5) are Pagoda Towers where Buddha's Bones are placed. Japan carries same architect. But I still see interesting differences between Chinese Style and Japanese Style.


The last Picture today - Left - is again middle of palace garden. Please feel its huge scale. For a person who was born and grown in small island country like Japan, this width is unbelievable.


Related Posts:
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/about-china.html
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/about-china-2.html

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http://vur.me/shawfunami/SF
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About China -2

One of the theme of this blog is "Cross Cultural Exchange". That's why I name it "Tokyo - Beijing - San Francisco" in addition to "Fill the Missing Link". These 2 are closely connected, I guess. To be internationalized and having global view, people need to "Fill the Missing Link" between cross cultural differences. I enjoy visiting different countries and meeting people there. Some times the difference surprise me. But it is always pleasant surprise.

In digging old picture album of my wife and myself, I dug out some more interesting pictures taken in China. I wanted to share with you here today.

In Tien An Men Square, Beijing. - Left - It is just a part of it.

Qin Dynasty Palace. Stunning Size Imperial Place. Only the place I know in Japan similar to this vast size is Shrine or Temple. Towers are built in line with Sun Beam so that in the morning sunlight will reach directly to Emperor's Bed Room.

Amazing Monument.

Imperial Palace Wall with Emperor Clan's Emblem.

Despite of its long history of 3000 years, one dynasty's life span in China is not so long, interestingly. However, the last imperial dynasty, Qin Dynasty turned out to be one of the longest life span with more than 300 years of ruling.

Beijing Corner of City. Close to Wang Fu Qin Square. Shaw Funami playing Majang with Chinese Statues. - Left Below - In Beijing or any other part of China, you will find this kind of funny statues which you can take picture with. It looks like Chinese people like humors. In this square, there are lots of outdoor and indoor restaurants selling Chinese Foods. Strangest foods I have ever found and tasted was "Scorpion BBQ". The taste was not so bad. It tasted like shrimp or river crab. Unfortunately, there was no picture of "Scorpion BBQ".

Related Post:
http://zheninternational.blogspot.com/2009/02/about-china.html

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

About China

It was summer 2000 when I visited China first time in my life. I have long been looking forward to visiting this huge country, but I did not have chance until then. It was funny that I have not visited China until then, because I have almost grown up with Chinese History Books.

- In Beijing with the statue of Ren-Sha -
I was age 5, even before elementary school when my grand mother gave me this cartoon book called "Sai-Yu-Ki". That was the cartoon book about the Chinese Priest's adventurous trip to Afghanistan and India to obtain Buddhism Book to China. In this book, of course more than half fiction, other than this priest existed in Chinese History and he travelled to India to get Buddhism book to localize Buddhism to China. In the story, this priest accompanies three monster guards, Monkey God, Pig God, and Sand Monster God. This was the story of Monkey God having miraculous power and fight against evil monsters to protect his master priest to safely bring Indian Buddhism Books to China.

In addition to this "Monkey God" story, I read a lot of Chinese Historical Books in junior and senior high days, such as "3 Countries", "Sui-Fu -Story of Private Organization fight against old and corrupted government-", etc... So, in addition to the fact that China is my wife's home country, I did not feel China to be foreign country for long time.

- Shaw in Qin Dynasty Emperor's Dress -
In that trip to China, my wife took me to Beijing, Great Walls, Anshan, Sheng Yung. I visited China several times since then. I needed to come in and out of US for stay permit reasons. But, I have not visited there for more than 3 years now. My wife and I are planning to go to China coming summer. I am looking forward to it. I am looking forward to see my wife's family and friends.

In there, I can share the feeling of old Japanese people so eager to get out of Japan to go live in China. China has dynamism which Japan does not have. The country is definitely one of my favorite.



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One more thing I like about San Francisco, Bay Area

Tokyo is always compared to New York. There are some same or similar things both in Tokyo and New York. They are almost always crowded by the people. People walk very fast. People are walking staring a point 10 feet front and ground. They do not appear to be friendly. They all are frowned. I do not know why. People speak very fast. These days around 20% of people are using cell phone walking so fast.

Either Beijing or San Francisco is not so different from Tokyo or New York, though in Beijing or San Francisco, people look a little more relaxed. Less tensed. All the cities are surrounded by concrete and steel. In my eyes, Tokyo is the worst. To feel a touch of nature, you need to travel either by train or by car for more than 2 hours from downtown, Tokyo.

I am not really living in middle of city, San Francisco, but I am close enough to it. Still I can enjoy ocean side and natures. squirrels are everywhere. If I drive 10 - 15 minutes to the foot of mountains, Pacific Ocean side whereas there are 6 mils trail for people to enjoy walking, jogging, bicycle riding, I can meet deers, even.

-Left My Neighbor Raccoon-

At night, if you stay up late, you may come across raccoons or skunks. In Tokyo, or at least in the area 60 minutes from center of it, you will never ever be able to experience these. This is another reason I love living in San Francisco, Bay Area.


-Below is 6 mile Trail-
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