Seaside holiday in Japan!

Hello

My name is Nao Adamson.

I am a Japanese essayist writing about

international marriage with my English husband.

London Olympics started

and I often watch TV to check

the result of Japanese team.

How are you spending this summer?

Well, since we live in Niigata which is located

along the Japan Sea coast,

we usually go to beach during summer time.

Actually, beaches are everywhere in the prefecture
but our favourite is called "Nozumi" in Teradomari area.

This is it

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But unfortunately, when we went there a few weeks ago,

the weather deteriorated during lunch time.

It was cloudy and sometimes rained

as can be seen in the photo below.

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However, there are some nice restaurants and cafes in Teradomari,

so despite the bad weather, you can spend lovely time.

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Also, there is an aquarium.

We saw lots of families visiting there.

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When I saw fish swimming in the water,

I felt very relaxed.

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Now, in the afternoon, it stopped raining,

so we decided to go to the beach.

Here is a photo which was taken near the beach.

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Spring water was running from

the mountain towards the ocean.

You can enjoy both the mountain scenery

and the beach in Teradomari.

I recommend you to visit there someday.

Where is your favourite beach?

海水浴に行きました！ Seaside Holiday in Japan!

こんにちは

国際結婚エッセイストのアダムソン直生です。

ロンドンオリンピックが始まり、

気がつけばテレビの前に

座りっぱなしという日が続いていますが、

暑い夏をいかがお過ごしでいらっしゃいますか？　

さて、日本海に面した新潟に住むダーリンと私は、

毎年夏には海水浴に行くことにしています。

新潟県内、いたるところにビーチがありますが、

私たちのお気に入りの海水浴場は、

長岡市寺泊（てらどまり）の

野積（のづみ）海水浴場です。

▲　クリックすると、拡大版が見られます↑

しかし、数週間ほど前に私たちが行った時は、

あまり天気がよくなくて、曇り空で、

ときどき雨も降っていました。

▲　クリックすると、拡大版が見られます↑

しかし、寺泊のいい点は、

素敵なレストランやカフェが何軒もあって、

そのような時でものんびりと過ごせるのです。

▲　クリックすると、拡大版が見られます↑

また、水族館もあって、

家族連れでにぎわっていましたよ。

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水の中ですいすいと泳ぐ魚を見て、

涼しい気分になりました。

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さて、午後になると、だんだんに天気が回復して来て、

ビーチに繰り出すことが出来ましたよ。

こちらの写真は、野積海水浴場を山側から

撮った写真です。

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岩の割れ目から清水が湧き出ていて、

海に流れていました。

寺泊には、海の幸も山の幸もあるんですよ。

機会があったら、ぜひ行ってみて下さい。

あなたのお気に入りのビーチはどこですか？

Baby Panda in Japan!

Hello

My name is Nao Adamson.

I am a Japanese essayist writing about

international marriage with my English husband.

Recently, there was a tragic incident

which made lot of Japanese people sad.

A baby panda died on 11 July at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo.

Pandas are very popular in Japan

since two of them came from China

for the first time in 1972.

I still remember that I went to see them with my family

when I was a little girl more than 30 years ago.

According to The Daily Yomiuri (12 July, 2012),

the first panda cub was born in Japan

through natural breeding on 5 July.

However, it died of pneumonia 6 days later.

Here is the photo of mother panda and her baby.

It is on the top page of The Daily Yomiuri (July 12, 2012)

▲ Click here to see the expansion ↑

Unlike cow and horse cubs

which can immediately walk after being born,

panda cubs are extremely small.

For example, the baby panda in Ueno Zoo

was only 133 grams

and you can put it on your palm.

Therefore, I heard that more than half

of panda cubs die before they grow up.

Nevertheless, since Shin Shin, the mother panda

and Ri Ri, the father panda seem to get on very well,

I hope that they have another baby in the future.

Have you ever seen pandas?