Critique: Baghdad Burning (Japanese version)

I wrote an essay about a blog named "Baghdad Burning" in COMM318 class. The blog is made by Riverbend, an Iraqi woman, who survived Iraq war. The content is about war, politics and occupation and how she thinks about it. Riverbend writes this blog in Baghdad, a battlefield in Iraq war (recently, she moved to Syria). Through this blog, we can know "real" situation in Baghdad. Other TV news and newspapers sometimes distort the truth and justify the war, and some broadcast (such as Fo* News) forcus on "America side" too much and make America as hero. This blog is a useful tool to inform the real situation of Iraq war.

This blog is written in English, but I found its Japanese version. The same content, but some Japanese people translate it into Japanese. Thesefore, many Japanese people who don't understand English can read this blog. I think that is very good, bacause I believe that Japanese people should think about the war carefully, and promise that we won't wage war. Actually, Japanese goverment supported America and agreed to start Iraq war. Although the Japanese constitiution states,"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes." (Wikipedia), it is fact that Japanese goverment supported Iraq war. When I saw that news, I couldn't believe it. I reckon the decidion was the biggest mistake which Koizumi (then Japanese Prime Minister) made. This blog is important for me as well, because I think I need to know what real war is.

This blog has been operated for around 4 years. It became a book, and won the third prize of the lettre ulysses award for the art of reportage in 2005. The book was published in Japan as well. This blog is influential with many people now. The feminist press (http://www.feministpress.org/Book/index.cfm?GCOI=55861100869560) says, "With thousands of loyal readers worldwide, the Riverbend blog is recognized around the world as a crucial source of information not available through the mainstream media."

The Last Day

Yeaaaaaahhh!!!
Today is the last day of semester 3 for me!!
Holidays are here!! Oh, this is so amazing, I finished one semester!!
I still have one more semester, but forget it now.
I just want to immerse myself in happiness.

This semester was tough, the same as previous two semesters. Writing essays and making media products are never easy. But a sense of accomplishment is priceless.

COMM317 (society and culture).
This is the hardest subject for me, I mean mentally. Every time I don't understand essay question, so I need to struggle with it. Even after understanding essay question, I'm required to get primary sources which distress me. In this semester, I learnt Marxism and Ethnic group. Actually, when teacher started to talk about Marxist theory, I though "Oh gosh, what the h*** is he talking about!?" Later I understood the theory a bit more, then I also understood the social structure a bit more. I've been living in capitalism society, and I wasn't well informed about communism or socialism. However, honestly, I sometimes don't understand what teacher's saying, specially this subject. I guess it's because of the teacher's Aussie accent. I love him though. I need to listen Aussie English more for practice.

COMM318 (Communication Environment).
This subject every time requires long essay. I don't like writing long essays (I think many students agree), but I like this subject. This subject focus on mainly politics, which I'm interested in. I think people should pay attention to politics, because we all are making the society which we live in. I'm pleased to have a vote now (I became 20 this year, which means I'm considered as an adult and have the right to vote). However, I don't know much about politics in Japan now. I need to check it.

COMM319 (Media Analysis).
This subject is well known as "the hardest subject to get good marks" among my classmates. It every time requires research and many sources. Reading academic text is hard work for me. I need to pick up some useful parts from books or Internet sources, and paraphrase it(this is always problem). This subject is hard, but the teacher explains clearly and I like theoretical things. Class assessment (exam) is a hard one for me, 'cause I got terrible mark last semester. This semester, my goal was "finish conclusion", and I did it, so I'm satisfied with that.

COMM316 (Communication Skills).
This subject is much practical. In this semester, we worked on making films. Each classmate gave their own idea, and developed it in terms of vision and sound. Thinking of structure of film is a fun as well as working as a group. I'm really sorry about I couldn't join the shooting, but my group members were so nice. They told me how to make shot list and transcript and so on. Our group's film is fantastic. THIS is "Magic Power" (film title).

COMM315 (Media Production).
This was the one I was worrying about, because I'm not good at operating computers. However, I enjoyed this semester very much. Before starting class, I've never listened to podcast. I didn't even know what podcast was. At the first time I heard that we were going to make podcasts, I was shocked, but after starting to work on it with partner, I found making podcast was fun. I was afraid of interviewing strangers, but it was also fun. My partner and I walked around school and darling harbour, and interviewed people. For the second podcast, we needed to interview people who like outside concerts, so we targeted on young people dressed like "rock'n'roll". Actually, I thought they looked a bit scary, but when we talked to them, they answered kindly. That was good experience. Making blog is fun, but also difficult. I'm not a kind of person who writes diary or something. And Writing in English is not easy. I always consider "Does it make sense?" or "Is the spelling right?". I hope you can understand every sentence, though I must have many mistakes.


Anyway, I'm so happy that I can finish this semester. Though I had a lot of assignments, I enjoyed this semester. I hope next semester will be fun!!

Hope it's gonna be amazing

A Fever You Can't Sweat Out / Panic! At The Disco
★★★★★ (out of 5)

This is a fantastic album from Panic! At The Disco. I don't know whether they're famous or not, but I like their songs. I saw their music video (is it music video? I call it promotion video, but I don't know if it's correct) on TV, when I was living in homestay. It was the first time I saw them. The song was "I Write Sins Not Tragedies". Its music video was really unique and original. I liked it. I think you can watch it on YouTube. "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" is contained in this album. Other songs are also good. I specially like "Time To Dance", 'cause the tempo is fast and melody is good. But honestly, I don't understand the meaning of the lyrics.

"Well, she’s not bleeding on the ballroom floor
Just for the attention.
'Cause that’s just ridiculous
Well she sure is gonna get it
Here’s the setting:
Fashion magazines line the walls now
The walls line the bullet holes..."
(from the lyrics of Time To Dance)

I like vocalist's voice. It's comfortable to listen to the voice. Also all songs are fast and good melody. The lyrics? I don't care. I listen to the songs on the way to school to wake me up.
I do like meaningful songs, for instance peace songs are definitely my favorite. I consider the lyrics if it's Japanese song, because I can understand. I don't understand the meanings of the lyrics of this album, it's alright. Anyway, I like the songs.

The friend who lent me this CD is a guitarist. His band "FLAMINGO CRASH" released an album "Triangle Island" in August in Australia and Japan. They're all Australian, but contracted with both Australian and Japanese companies. They're going to have tours in Tokyo and Brisbane. Unfortunately, I cannot go the tour. When I'm in Japan, they have the tour in Australia, and when I come back to Australia, they have the tour in Japan. How unlucky I am. I do hope their tour's gonna be fantastic. If you're interested in "FLAMINGO CRASH", you can see their performance on YouTube, or of course buy the CD. I'm sure their songs are exciting and great.

Official Website →http://www.flamingocrash.com/
If you are Japanese →http://label.vinyl-junkie.com/flamingocrash/

Ramen 2

Tonkotsu ramen ($10.90) / Ramenkan
★★★ (out of 5)



Ramenkan is located near by Chinatown. Sujin and I like this restaurant. This ramen is Tonkotsu (pork bone), which my favorite. It's really delicious, but salty (a like salty food though). Like other Tonkotsu ramen, this ramen is also heavy. I think it's a characteristic of Tonkotsu ramen. Toppings are pickled ginger and some vegetables which I don't know, and I don't like these toppings. The kinky noodle is not familiar with me, cause I eat straight noodle in my hometown, but I like it. Attitudes of the staffs are good, I think. The one thing I have to say is this ramen is a bit expensive. By the way, you should try Chicken Omelet in Ramenkan. It's very yummy.


Wagamama ramen ($16.50) / Wagamama
★ (out of 5)

Oh... I wanna share my terrible experience. One day, Ella and I were going to go to Ishi-ban Boshi, which I mentioned in last post. However, we changed our minds, cause we realized that we've never been to the restaurant located one level under Ichi-ban Boshi. Name of the restaurant was "Wagamama". We knew the restaurant was popular, cause we often saw a line when we passed it,so we decided to have a dinner in "Wagamama". Then, we entered the restaurant, and ordered wagamama ramen, and... we were disappointed, no, got angry actually. It p***** us of!!

The main reasons of that is following;

1. Too expensive
$16.50!? The first time when we saw the price, our eyes popped out with
astonishment. Usually, the price of ramen is around $8.00.

2. Too small
Even though we paid $16.50, we could not be full.

3. This is NOT ramen!!
The most important thing is that this is not ramen. Every thing (soup, noodle,
toppings) is totally different from ramen. This is some other noodle soup. Or,
maybe new type of ramen. But I cannot say this is ramen. Also the taste is not
very nice.

Staffs were nice, so the star is for staffs.
Of course, this is just my opinion. You might not agree with me. I know Wagamama is a popular restaurant (I've heard there are Wagamama in some other countries). However, I just don't like it. I will never go to the restaurant.


Kumamoto ramen (?) / Takeru
★★★★ (out of 5)

Do you know the name of my hometown? Yes, it's KUMAMOTO. And this ramen's name is also KUMAMOTO! I wanted my hometown's ramen, and I found it! This ramen is OF COURSE Tonkotsu ramen. It reminded me of Kumamoto, beautiful city. I forgot to check the price, sorry. The restaurant, Takeru, is located near by Great Union.

Ramen

Do you know "ramen"? Ramen is a traditional Japanese noodle soup. I LOVE IT! It's so yummy!!

According to Wikipedia, ramen is "a Japanese dish of noodles served in broth that originated in China. It tends to be served in a meat-based broth, and uses toppings such as sliced pork, seaweed, kamaboko, green onions, and even corn. Almost every locality or prefecture in Japan has its own variation of ramen, from the tonkotsu ramen of Kyūshū to the miso ramen of Hokkaidō." If you think ramen and instant noodle are the same, you may be wrong. You should eat ramen in Japanese restaurant, then you'll know the differences.

There are a lot of restaurants which serve ramen in Japan. As wikipedia says above, various types of ramen exist in Japan, and each prefecture has its own variation of ramen. For example, people think that ramen in Hokkaido, north area of Japan, is Miso ramen, and ramen in Tokyo is Shoyu (soy sauce) ramen. For me, ramen means Tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen. I reckon it's the most delicious ramen in the world. When I was in Japan, I often went to ramen restaurant, but every time my order was Tonkotsu ramen. Though I also like other types of ramen, I love Tonkotsu ramen so much.

Unfortunately, ramen in Sydney is a bit more expensive than that in Japan. In my hometown, I can eat ramen around AU$5, but average AU$8 here. I had ramen in some Japanese restaurant in Sydney. I want to introduce some of them.


Tokyo ramen ($8.30) / Ichi-ban Boshi
★★★ (out of 5)



Ichi-ban Boshi is a popular Japanese restaurant in townhall. Every time I go there, many people are forming a queue. My best friend, Ella, likes this restaurant, so we often go there and have a dinner and enjoy chatting. Tokyo ramen is Shoyu (soy sauce) ramen. I like to order Tokyo ramen with boiled egg (extra topping $1.00). If you go to Ichi-ban Boshi, you should try it. I like the taste of Tokyo ramen, but a little bit salty. Attitudes of staff customers are not bad (but sometimes I think some of them are a bit arrogant). The quantity of meal is not too small, not too large. If I'm starving, one dish of ramen may not be enough for me, cause I have a big stomach.


Menya ramen ($7.50) / Menya
★★★★ (out of 5)



This ramen is yummy. It's Tonkotsu (pork bone) ramen, which my favorite, and its fine and straight type of noodle is similar to my hometown's ramen. It's served with many toppings, which are dried pressed laver, Jew's-ear, bean sprouts, spring onion, sesame seed, menma(*) and roasted pork fillet (If the names are incorrect, I'm sorry). I like these toppings, specially roasted pork fillet is tasty. This ramen is heavy, so I don't recommend it to people who like light food. One thing which I realized was every female staff of Menya is slim. How come?
Are you interested in Menya? It's located near by my school.
Shop TG8 Quay St Haymarket NSW

*Menma = bamboo shoots which have been boiled, dried or preserved in salt, soaked in hot water and then seasoned for use in Chinese food. (according to Kenkyusha's new college Japanese-English dictionary)

Back to Homestay

Back to Bedlam / James Blunt
★★★★ (out of 5)


This is a great album! You should listen once if you've never listened.
Honestly, I didn't know who James Blunt was, maybe I've heard of the name but forgot it. It was my flatmate who had songs of this album. He liked listening the songs in living room, so I heard it. Then, I realised that I knew some songs, such as "You're Beautiful" and "high". I got the songs from the flatmate. I like James Blunt's voice. It's special. Though most songs are nice, specially I like "You're Beautiful", "Goodbye My Lover" and "Cry". I reckon these are great songs.

The most impressive song, I think, is "Goodbye My Lover". I like this following part.

"I know your fears and you know mine.
We've had our doubts but now we're fine,
And I love you, I swear that's true.
I cannot live without you."

How passionate phrase! And the melody is awesome.
I also like the melody of "Cry", except one part of the song.
"You're Beautiful" is famous and good song, but I think the lyrics are a little bit funny, cause it's about man and woman who met once. Though this is love song, the woman may have a boyfriend and the man knows it. The story is just like this; their eyes met on a subway, and the woman smiled at him. He says "I don't think that I'll see her again,but we shared a moment that will last 'til the end." Isn't it a bit funny? Or ... maybe I'm misunderstanding the lyrics. I like this song though.

This album contains the song named "Wise Men". Every time I listen to this song, I remember my homestay life, cause I used to listen to it during homestay period. It was one year and 4 months ago, I came to Sydney and started to live in homestay. My homestay family was only an old lady, who divorced her husband and her children were living other places. The host was the lady, but her friend was also living the house. Then, There was one international student who went to the same school as mine (international student changed two times during my stay though). Altogether, there were four people, including me, were living in the house.

I got many good experiences for living in Australia there. On the first day, I was surprised because the bathroom's door couldn't be locked. I think it was because people close the bathroom's door only when someone is inside, so they don't need to lock the door (In my country's culture, bathroom's door is always closed, so if you forgot to lock the door, someone may open it while you're inside). I knew that toilet and shower were one room, but I didn't like it, cause when someone's taking shower, others couldn't use toilet. My homestay didn't have a bathtub. It's okay but sometimes I missed it. Also, I knew that people wear shoes inside of houses, but I felt guilty at the first time when I entered the house. Foods were alright, but I often didn't like them, and I missed rice. Though host mother said,"rice is not main meal here", she cooked twice a week. She was nice and kind (but I didn't understand what was funny and what wasn't for her). I learnt not only Australian culture, but also other Asian culture. I met three international students there, and talked a lot with each student. They're from Shanghai, Jakarta and Beijing. Their stories about home countries were interesting for me.

At that time, my English skill was poor both speaking and listening. Every time I talked with host mother or her friend, I needed to say "Sorry?" "Pardon?" or "Come again?" (sometimes I even didn't say these words. It doesn't mean I didn't know the words, I just couldn't react in English immediately). When I asked host mother more than two times, she gave up telling me. But of course she answered my questions when I need answers. I asked her, "How can I improve my listening skill?" She answered, "Watch TV". Then, I started to watch TV as long as I can. The music TV program, broadcasted in weekend morning, was my favorite, so I watched it every week. During this period, I listened to "Wise Men" from TV. It was popular at the time, so I listened almost every week. That's why it reminds me my homestay life.
The song repeats the phrase, "Got to ask yourself the question, where are you now?". I answer, "I am in Sydney, Australia. Oh, yes. I'm living in overseas now".

I've lived in the host mother's house for three months and a half.
Yeah, I enjoyed my homestay life.

I'm back!!

Wow! I was surprised just right now! Did I get only 6 entries so far!? Last post was more then one month ago!? Oh my goodness. I looked at other classmates' blogs, and found they posted a lot... it made me think I have to rush to post.

The reason why I haven't posted was, yeah, I was lazy. That's true. Every time I finish assignment the night before due date, or even sometimes 30mins before leaving home. I know I should start earlier, and I don't need to be in a rush. But I just can't do it.

But the reason was not only my laziness, but sickness. I got flu a month ago! On Tuesday, I was absent from a class because of a headache. That was the beginning of my painful days. The next morning, I felt better and went to class. However, I got a splitting headache at the end of the class. After arriving home, I found I had a fever. I thought "Oh, s**t! I caught a cold!", but didn't care much. I went to school every day and I believed "I'll be fine tomorrow" every night, but my physical condition was getting worse and worse... finally, my temperature reached 39 on Friday. I started to think that it was possible I got some serious illness and never go back to my country. This negative thought made me decide to go to see a doctor. However, the doctor told me readily, "the cause is flu". I felt relief. I know, it sounds weird, but at least I could know the cause and flu is familiar sickness.

The next week was terrible week. I had a high temperature(sometimes nearly 40), splitting headache and nausea every day. Even though I took medicines, it didn't relieve the pain. I had no appetite, but I knew I should eat something, so I called a friend of mine for help. She came to my place and cooked some foods. That's really kind of her. Surprisingly, many other friends knew about my sickness and called or came to me for help (I think I told only 3 friends except classmates). We are living in information-oriented society! Anyway, my condition had been bad, so I went to hospital again for an intravenous drip injection. At last, I overcame flu on the weekend!

What a relief. I'd like to thank my friends who worried about me, and helped me. And I'm sorry, my classmates, specially the members of "Magic Power". I couldn't join the shooting.

Anyway, "Health is more important than wealth". I really think so.
Everyone, take care of yourself~!