Daisuke Matsuzaka

By Taishi KUDO

Daisuke was born September 13th , 1980 in Aomori. He is a right-handed pitcher who plays for the Seibu Lions in Japan’s Pacific League. Daisuke was a Yokohama high school student and he came on Koushien (the biggest meeting of baseball teams of high schools) in 1998 and won. After his graduation, he was taken by the Seibu Lions as the first pick of the 1998 draft. His fastball ranges from 90 to 96 mph (145-154 km/h) with good late movement. He also throws a splitter, changeup and slider with almost the same delivery. In 1999, he got “Rookie of the year” prize. From 1999 to 2001, he got “The greatest number of wins” prize. In 2003 and 2004, he got “The most valuable earned run average” prize. In 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005, he got “The largest number of strikeouts” prize. In 2000, he got the “Sawamura” prize. From 1999 to 2001, he got the “Best nine” prize. From 1999 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2006, he got the “Golden globe” prize.

Career Statistics (Through 2006)

Year Win Lose IP K ERA
1999 16 5 180 151 2.60
2000 14 7 167 144 3.97
2001 15 15 240 214 3.6
2002 6 2 73 78 3.68
2003 16 7 194 215 2.83
2004 10 6 146 127 2.90
2005 14 13 215 226 2.30
2006 17 5 186 200 2.12
TOTAL 108 60 1402 1355 2.95

Deathnote Desu

By Hitomi Hata & Chinatsu Takagi

"Ryuk, I will show a more interesting thing from now on to you," said first Kira (Light) in the second 'Death Note' movie. The second Kira, the third Kira and 'The Eyes of The Grim Reaper' make their appearance in this movie. A true shock begins from here. Do not miss the ending that is not in the original comics! You can't imagine this movie's ending because it was such a complicated story. You will wonder whether Kira Light or L will die. Whose is the last name? Who is the last person to be written a death note? There are all answers in 'Death Note'.
One day, Light Yagami, who is the elite university student, picked up the Deathnote that the Grim Reaper (Ryuk) dropped on the human world. The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. Light decided to kill criminals in the world by using a Deathnote, and make the ideal world by his hand. The people who are criminals died one after another. Then people called the person who killed them 'Kira.' The detective, who is called L, tries to search into who Kira is. The battle was started! But an unexpected happening occurred. Another Deathnote was dropped by Rem whose mind was different from Ryuk's mind.
We will now introduce to you Deathnote's main character and cast. Light Yagami (Kira) is Tatsuya Fujiwara. He can get 1st place on the examination in the whole country. Therefore he is an honor student and has a sharp mind. One day he picked up Deathnote that the Grim Reaper dropped to the human world. The human whose name is written in this notebook shall die. He de-cided he would steer the world into a New World. L is Ken'ichi Matsuyama. He is a detective. He solved difficult, unsolved events in a lot of coun-tries. Everyone calls him "Top of shadow" and "Last remaining card.” He is the only one who can move the police in all parts of the world. And no one usually knows his name, his face or where is he. Ryuk is Shido Nkamura (voice). The Grim Reaper. He was tired of the Grim Reaper’s world that was boring and uninteresting and he was interested in the human world because he thought the human world was funny. Then he dropped his Deathnote to the human world. Only the man who touched the notebook could possibly know Ryuk. Misa is Erika Toda. Owner of another Deathnote. She's active as a teen magazine model. She is an innocent and an eccentric girl. It starts some trouble with the second Kira because she wants to approach Kira. We interviewed 20 students about 'Deathnote'. Thirteen students watched 'Deathnote'. They said that it was exciting and a little difficult. Their negative opinions were that it was not interesting for an unreal story. Then we asked students if they want to watch 'Deathnote The Last Name.’ Fourteen students answered, “Yes,” but six students said “No”. We asked why. They an-swered, "Because I want to know the ending." and "I want to compare the movie with the original,” the students who want to watch it said. The stu-dents who are not interested in the movie said that it seems like a car and dark movie. We examined which character is the most popular in 'Deathnote'. The most popular char-acter was L. We love L too!! Because he is quite a character, and his looks are good. The second most popular character was Ryuk. Surprisingly, his popularity exceeded that of Light who was the lead. The students who like Light said, "Light is two-faced. This is his charm." Besides them, there are more interesting characters. You should watch it.

Bonnie and Clyde

By Maki Fujii

In 1930s, there was a couple who were the most dangerous gang in America. They were Bonnie and Clyde. They were given up by their parents and society and had no aim in life. They only depended on each other’s love to live. They were challengers of power and wealth. This is a true story of Bonnie and Clyde. This movie was made in 1967. It was directed by Arthur Penn and produced by Warren Beatty, the actor who was acting as Clyde Barrow. When he read the scenario of Bonnie and Clyde, he decided to make this movie by himself. He selected a new star, Faye Dunaway, as Bonnie Parker. This movie gave people a big shock. There are many movies about Bonnie and Clyde but this movie became more famous than others.

Produced by…………..Warren Beatty
Directed by…………..Arthur Penn
Screenplay by…………..David Newman and Robert Benton
Director of Photography…………..Burnett Guffey, A.S.C.
Art Director…………..Dean Tavoularis
Music Composed by…………..Charles Strouse
Costumes designed by…………..Theadora Van Runkle
Clyde Barrow…………..WARREN BEATTY
Bonnie Parker…………..FAYE DUNAWAY
Buck Barrow…………..GENE HACKMAN
Blanche…………..ESTELLE PARSONS
C.W. Moss…………..MICHAEL J. POLLARD

FAYE DUNAWAY
Faye Dunaway was born in Florida on the 14th of January, 1941. When she was in university she started to learn acting. In 1966, she came out in a movie and she was selected as Bonnie Parker in this movie. After this, she became a big star. When people saw a picture of Bonnie Parker, they were very surprised that she was beautiful. Bonnie Parker was born in Texas on October 1st, 1910. Her dream was to be an actress or poet but it changed after she met Clyde in 1930. She was 19 years old.

WARREN BEATTY
Warren Beatty was born in Virginia on the 30th of March, 1939. After he succeeded with this movie, he made many movies as a director or producer. He really liked movies. In this movie he plays Clyde Barrow. Clyde Barrow was born in Texas on the 24th of March, 1909. He had been thrown into prison many times before he met Bonnie. He was a very dangerous offender but some people said that he was nice man.

THE TRAIL'S END
By Bonnie Parker
You’ve heard the story of Jesse James, how he lived and died. If you’re still in need of something to read, here’s the story of Bonnie and Clyde. Now Bonnie and Clyde are the Barrow Gang. I’m sure you all have read how they rob and steal and those who squeal are found dying or dead. They call them cold-hearted killers. They say they are heartless and mean. But I say this with pride, that I once knew Clyde when he was honest and upright and clean. But the laws fooled around, kept taking him down and locking him up in a cell. Till he said to me, “I’ll never be free, so I’ll meet a few of them in hell.” If a policeman is killed in Dallas, and they have no clue to guide. If they can’t find a fiend, they just wipe their slate clean and hang it on Bonnie and Clyde. If they try to act like citizens and rent them a nice little flat about the third night, they’re invited to fight by a sub-gun’s rat-a-tat-tat. Someday they’ll go down together. They’ll bury them side by side. To few it will be grief, to the law a relief, but it’s death for Bonnie and Clyde.

Ghibli Movies

By Ayumi Sawada and Yuki Suzuki

Studio Ghibli is one of the most famous movie companies in Japan and I think most Japanese people have at least heard of it. They have made great movies so far and they’re very popular in Japan. What is Studio Ghibli?
The company was established since 1985. The meaning of “Ghibli” in Italian is the hot wind in the desert of Sahara. It was also the name of the Italian plane during World War II. They have published many movies and they made billions of yen for each movie. For the movie Sen! to Chihiro no kamikakushi, they made more than 30 billion yen and more than 23 million people went to see it. We picked up one movie, The Princess Mononoke. It’s one of the most famous movies of Ghibli. I think this movie was a great opportunity to show Ghibli movies to the world.
It was published by director, Hayao Miyazaki, in 1997. Princess Mononoke, who is the main charac-ter of the movie, was raised by wolves and detests human beings. Ashitaka is also the main character. The story is during the Muromachi era. The theme of this movie is life and death through the fights between people and the gods or beasts called Mononoke. The story is fiction but the background is very detailed and it draws you into the story. The drawings are very detailed, too. They paint all the small things very carefully and they sometimes even look like real pictures.
They made 19.3 billion yen and it was the best earning for a Japanese movie back then. They earned 2.37 million dollars in the U.S. They also won about 20 prizes of various kinds. They used about 140 thousand pieces of paper for this one movie, and also this movie was the last movie for Ghibli which used paper and hand painting. This movie was translated into eight languages. I like Ghibli movies because they have unique characters and they paint all the small things. The stories are well made as well. They have all the details and they bring you into the stories. When I finish watching them, I always feel that I want to watch them again. I think Ghibli is a big part of Japanese culture and I want people from all over the world to know more and more about Ghibli.

Romantic Celebrity Proposal

By Kazena Ito

My article is about a really romantic celebrity proposal. He is Brendan Fraser. He is a famous actor. He is in the mummy. And he wanted to propose to his steady. In 1977 Brendan and his steady went to Paris for the holidays and they were having a date looking over the Seine river and they took a picture with a polaroid camera. As the shutter was snapped he opened his jacket. It said “Will you marry me?” on the T-shirt. After the picture was developed and they saw it her eyes were wet, she, of course, said “Yes.” Now they have three sons and they are having a wonderful life.

Roller Coaster Story

By Risa Ichiko, Natsumi Mori, and Naoko Nishiwaki

Oh, my goodness! Have you ever thought you were going to die? I have. Anytime you ride on a roller coaster, don’t you think so? There are thousands of roller coasters in the world. They take you to hell. We’ll introduce some of them if you want. Don’t get lost! Follow us now… First, from Japan: Have you ever been to Fuji-Q High Land? There is a monster called Ee-janaika. Nobody can stop him! He spins 14 times! WOW! This fact was reported by the Guinness Book of Records. Next let’s jump to America, to New Jersey. They have “Kingda Ka.” It is famous for its speed. It can be as fast as the speed of a plane taking off in 3.5 seconds. Here is a review from someone who risked the Kingda Ka. “That was crazy! Really shocking! I couldn’t see anything through my tears.” Not only is it fast, but also the drop is No. 1 in the world. What a greedy machine Kingda Ka is!
By the way, in India there is a temperamental monster. Why temperamental? Because it’s sooo weak it’s not unusual for it to be broken. From the construction to the power it is all man made the name is Homo-machine. Finally, I’ll tell you a heartwarming story from London. Eighty two boys and girls tried to make a new Guinness World Record: to ride a roller coaster totally naked and endure the extraordinary g-forces. Now, are you still with me? Which do you want to try huh? Me? Well, of course I’m gonna be the 83rd.

Santa Claus Was Attacked

By Masamoto Yokoi

Santa Claus、a nice grandpa who gives presents to children every Christmas, was attacked today, December 23rd, at 5:30 a.m. The Iceland police said, “We got a report at 5:30 a.m. and the informer said that Santa Clause had been attacked by a hunter. Every available patrol car and emergency helicopter rushed to the scene. However, it was too late. Santa Claus had already died. A bullet piereced his heart and also his reindeers were killed and all his presents were stolen by the hunter. His body was found at ice mountain 20 km from his house. The informer was also killed by the hunter, and the hunter ran away somewhere. We started to search for the criminal immediately. This event is a big problem for Christian families and the children who are waiting for presents from Santa Claus. We must tell this event to the next generation. The Iceland gov-ernment has already started meeting to decide on the next Santa Claus.

The Purpose of Chip and Dale

By Yumi Sakurai

We are Chip 'n' Dale! We are popular cartoon characters of Disney. We wonder how many people know about us. Let us introduce ourselves to you.
The first thing is that we are cute, twin chipmunks. We resemble each other but there's a little difference. Chip has a black nose and Dale has a red nose and gapped teeth. Chip is wiser than Dale. According to Disney, Chip is the logical schemer and Dale is the dumb schemer. Our names are a pun on the name 'Chippendale’ which is a furniture maker.
We have many friends. They are Gadget Hackwrench, Monterey Jack and Zipper the Fly. We also have rivals. They are Pluto, Donald Duck, Fat Cat, Professer Norton Nimnul and Aldren Klordane.
We first appeared in the cartoon Private Pluto in 1943. We did not get our names until 1947 in the cartoon Chip 'n' Dale where we antagonize Donald Duck. Now we are often voiced by Tress MacNeille. Chip's Japanese voice is by Roko Takizawa, while Dale's is done by Minoru Inaba.

English Teacher's View of Japan

By Kosuke Nemoto and Nozomi Amano

We were interested in Japan and the Japanese from the foreigner's point of view so we did an investigation. Using a questionnaire, we asked native speakers among the NIHS teachers.

Here are the questions we asked:

1. What's the first Japanese word you learned?
2. What's your impression of Japanese people?
3. What's your favorite culture of Japan?
4. Which place in Japan do you like best?
5. What is the difference between Japanese and people from your country?
6. What's your favorite Japanese food?
7. Where do you often go shopping in Japan?
8. What's your favorite TV show in Japan?
9. What do you think about Japanese students compared to you country’s students?
10. Why did you choose to work in Japan?
11. What is your favorite word in Japanese?

Chris, from the UK, first learned "Konnichiwa" in a book about traveling in Japan. His favorite word in Japanese is "Isogashi" because this word is so useful in many situations. He often goes shopping in Osu because there are many good quality, casual clothes. His favorite place in Japan is Nagano. He enjoys skiing and climbing mountains there.
Petra, from New Zealand, thought that Japanese were very friendly and helpful when she first came here. She studied Japanese in college, so that encouraged her to decide to work in Japan.
Thomas, from the U.S.A., likes Unagi (eel). Actually we found that other countries' people don't often eat them. He also likes the japanese word "level-up". It isn't correct English (it is made in Japan), but it sounds good. He said he liked to watch the Docchi-No-Ryori-Show and Trivia-no-Izumi, famous Japanese T.V. programs. But both finished, so he felt so sad.
Valerie, from the U.S.A., thought that Japanese people were very sincere and honest. Her favorite part of Japanese culture is taking shoes off.
The most interesting thing was the difference between Japan and their country’s students and school's system. Thomas said that Japanese students were so quiet when they were taking classes. But in constrast, they were very noisy the rest of the time. He wanted them to be more in the middle during class. Petra also had a negative opinion of the Japanese school system. In her opinion, Japan doesn't have consequences. It means that even if they do bad things, the teacher does not give them something as a punishment. I agree with her.
We had a good time in Journalism together and were good partners with each other. We had a lot of contact with native speakers. This interview was very interesting. We want to know more about Japan in a second interview. But, we understood the attraction of Japanese by the interview. For example, "Ganbatte"or ‘Otsukare-sama" are such useful words. From now on we would like to learn more about Japanese culture.