For the Love of Princess Mononoke

Many of you know of the film, Spirited Away, but do you know Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫)? It was produced by Studio Ghibli, the same animation studio that made Spirited Away. This 1997 film is widely regarded as one of the greatest anime of all time not only for its beautiful artwork, but also for its powerful messages about the environment, war, etc. that I believe are still very relevant today. 

It has been said that the setting of Princess Mononoke was inspired by the forests of Shiratani Unsuikyou (白谷雲水峡) in southern Kyuushuu (Kagoshima Prefecture) and the mountains of Shirakami Sanchi (白神山地) in northern Honshuu (Aomori Prefecture).

If the scenery inspired artwork that looks this amazing, just what does the real scenery look like??

Last year, Ryan and I had the opportunity to visit both sites to experience them firsthand. They did not disappoint.

This is a rough estimate of locations (Aomori City to Kagoshima City).
As the crow flies, it is about 880 mi (1417 km) from Shiratani Unsuikyo to Shirakami Sanchi.

Shiratani Unsuikyou (白谷雲水峡)

Located on Yakushima Island, Kagoshima Prefecture, this forest is thousands of years old. The oldest tree, Jomon-sugi, is estimated to be anywhere from 2,170 to 7,200 years old. Thanks to the incredible amount of rain and warm weather this island gets year-round, the moss and trees seem to grow everywhere, even in somewhat strange places. The trees grow on top of stumps, rocks, other trees...and it's not uncommon for trees to fuse together and form really big supertrees!

We went during the winter...can you believe it?

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to take the longest trail to see the oldest tree in the forest, but we had a blast hiking and taking pictures!

A tree growing on the massive stump of another tree in a separate forest in Yakushima called Yakusugi Land. The forests were also very cool, but the trail we took was much longer and more fun and intense. 

Shirakami Sanchi (白神山地)

Located on the west side of our very own Aomori Prefecture near Fukaura Town, this landscape is revered for its beautiful mountain ranges and many lakes. We went during the fall, and were able to see leaves of all different colors.

White, orange, yellow, and green leaves all in one shot!

Aoike ("Blue Lake"), easily the clearest, bluest lake I've ever seen

Shirakami Mountain Range*

In conclusion, whether you love anime or not, I recommend that Shiratani Unsuikyo and Shirakami Sanchi be on the top of the "must-see" list of anyone that has the opportunity to visit Japan. They're perfect for hiking, taking pictures, escaping the urban sprawl, meditating, or even getting some creative inspiration for your own movies and art!! :)

Have you ever been to the setting of one of your favorite movies ? Have you been to any places with breath-taking scenery? Where did you go and how was it?? Let me know in the comments below!!

*Photo Credit to: http://goastreets.com/exploring-heritage-japan-eyes-japanese-photographer-kazuyoshi-miyoshi/

Glass-Blowing and Owani Onsen

This time, on "Adventures around the Prefecture" with the Aomori International Relations Division, we got to experience glass-blowing in Aomori and explore an area called Owani Onsen.

今回の探検は青森市でガラスを作る体験をして大鰐温泉に行ってきました。

Our journey began at a glass factory on the west side of Aomori, where we learned about how glass products are made. We visited the main shop area where many products are sold, and then we went to the factory on the second floor. It was really big room and there were many workers at various stations. There was one large furnace in the center of the room and many smaller ones around it. Each worker was creating something different at each station. It was all very complicated and dangerous-looking...

最初は西青森の津軽Vidroのカラスを作る会社にいきました。そこで、ガラスの作り方について勉強になりました。一階はガラス商品を売る場所でした。二階は工場でした。工場はとても大きかったです。たくさんな大きい高炉がそこにありました。いろいろな工場の工員はあちこち別なガラスを作っていました。とてもカッコウ良かったが、とても難しくて危なかったそうでした。

Later, we were brought back to the shop and asked to draw a cup and make a design. Cool, looks like we get to make a cup today!

売り場所に戻して、店員さんは「コップを作りたいですか？」と聞いて、コップとデザインをそこで作りました。よし！今日、コップを作ろう～～～と思いました。

Our designs: Ryan chose a green and white-spotted design and I chose a "Japan samurai blue" and white-spotted design.
私たちのデザイン：ラインは緑と白いのを選んで、私は日本の侍ブルーと白いのを選んで書きました。

We were really stoked to have the opportunity at first, but the anxiousness set in after hearing gems like these:

"All right, so today, we're going let you blow glass! Be very careful, because the furnace gets heated up to about 1,000 C. It doesn't just burn if you touch it, it's extremely painful!"

"Oh, but don't worry, we'll help you. Besides, the youngest person that's done this was a 4 year old. I'm sure that you'll be fine!"

最初聞いた時、とてもワクワクしていたが、不安になってしまいました。特に、このことを聞いた後で：

「ヨッシャ～今日、グラスを作ろう！でも、触らないでね！１０００Ｃの暑さなので、触ったら焦げるだけでなくとてもとても痛いですよ！」　

「でも、大丈夫だよ！手伝うよ。４歳の客様ができたので、君たちはきっと大丈夫だよ！」

Even after watching Ryan the first time, I still wasn't too sure how well I could pull it off. It was really difficult! Blowing through the long tube was harder than I thought and making sure that it wasn't lopsided was very tedious. It required constant attention! I have a lot of respect for glass-makers...they make it look so easy!

ライエンは先にやりました。ライエンのガラス作り体験を見ましたのに、まだ心配していました。パイプを回るのは思ったより難しかった。集中してない時は変な形になってしまいます。今、ガラスの工員たちに尊敬しています！難しい仕事を楽にするのはかっこういいです！

We finished up by putting our glasses in the cooling machine (a conveyor belt) and returned to the shop just in time to see ourselves on TV (!!!).  Turns out that the camera crew that was following us around wasn't actually someone from our group, but rather a group of people from NHK news! We had just finished....and they had already gone back to the news station, made a report, and gotten it on the air! That's crazy fast!!!

終わってから、売り場所に戻したところはテレビで私たちのことを見た！朝のとき、テレビカメラを見ましたが私たちのグループだと思いました。ＮＨＫでした！すごく早かったです！！！

"Smile! You're on candid camera~"

Our next destination was Owani Onsen!

次の行方は大鰐温泉の鰐カム！

Owani Onsen is 大鰐温泉, the one with the star next to it

Here, we ate lunch which showcased the local specialty: Owani Onsen Moyashi (bean sprouts). These bean sprouts are a lot thinner than normal bean sprouts, but somehow a lot more firm. They felt a little bit like really thin carrot sticks, although not quite that crunchy. This dish in particular is called Umaka-don.

大鰐の特別な温泉もやしを食べました。普通のより、このもやしの方が細くて、すこし硬いです。少しだけにんじんぽっかったです。下にある写真は「うまかどん」という料理です。

Delicious Umaka-don: rice topped with the cooked bean sprouts and an onsen egg, which is kind of like a creamy hard-boiled egg...

By chance, we had Umaka-don at a Agricultural/Fishery/Food Exhibition showcasing the local specialties of various cities across the prefecture. The one we had in Owani Onsen was much better than the one at the expo!

偶然だけど、一ヶ月前、青森市の産業祭りでうまかどんを食べました。祭りより、今回のうまかどんの方がうまかったです！大鰐で食べたことがあってよかったです！

After, we went to the facility where the bean sprouts are grown! Bean sprouts are normally pretty small...

その後、育ている場所に行きました。普通のもやしはちょっと小さいですが…

But these bean sprouts in particular are very long! They're grown in pits that are pretty deep, and then covered by rice straw. They grow upwards searching for light!

このもやしは長かったです。下にある写真のピットで植えている。温泉水だけを使います！すごい！このこのピットは被れて、下にあるもやしは日の目を探して上にのびのびする。結構長くなります。

Later, we went back to where we ate lunch (Wani Come), took a bath at the onsen and lastly, bought cheap veggies/fruits and left.

It was an awesome day!! I still can't believe that they let us mess around with such dangerous materials earlier in the day haha Anyways, I'm looking forward to the next adventure!!

最後に、鰐カムに戻って、温泉に入ったり商品を買ったりしました。とても楽しかった日でした！今までそんなに危ない経験をすることができて信じられないんだけど（笑）、できてとても嬉しいです！！次の探検を楽しみにしています！

Sai-mura and Hotoke-ga-ura

Recently, I went on another FB reporting tour to a little village called Sai-mura. It was a super long day! We took many different forms of transportation starting with the bus to Kanita, a town to the northwest of Aomori City, and the ferry from Kanita to a town called Wakinosawa on the other side of Aomori Bay.

最近、他のFacebook取材を経験しました。超長い日でした！色々な乗り物に乗りました(バスとフェリーと観光船）。最初、青森から蟹田（青森の北西）までバスに乗って蟹田から脇ノ沢までフェリーに乗りました。

The ferry from Kanita to Wakinosawa was pretty decent! The ferry was big enough to take us, a few buses, and quite a few other people on board. It was big enough of a ferry for me to not worry about being seasick, but it wasn't as nice as the one from Aomori City to Hakodate (it was older, smelled funnier, and was a fairly small boat with cramped seats), but it got its job done.

蟹田から脇ノ沢のフェリーは結構いいフェリーでした。バスと人を乗せたフェリーでした。船酔いしませんでした！でも、青森市から函館市の青函フェリーの方がいいと思います。この船はちょっと古いしへんなにおいがあったし、すわり場所はちょっと狭かったのに、仕事をよくできました。無事で着きました。

Before we departed, we got to climb to the top of that building!
フェリーを乗る前にこのビルに登りました！

The view was great, but it was really high up and scary! The floor that we were standing on was see-through! 0.0;;
いい景色でしたけど、結構怖かった！とても高かった！足の下フロアはシースルーでした！！！やばかったです。

An obligatory funny picture of Ryan
へんなポーズRyan

Yay! We're almost there!
やった！脇ノ沢だ！近い！！

From Wakinosawa, we took a bus to Sai-mura, where most of the day's events took place. We had been traveling all morning, so we took a break and had lunch before touring the small village of about 2,300 people.

脇ノ沢から佐井村までバスに乗りました。ほとんどのイベントは佐井村に起こりました。佐井村結局着いた時、佐井村ツアーする前に、休憩を取ってランチを食べました。

This was the main road! It was pretty small and narrow! We had to file into a single-file line when the occasional car passed by.
これはメイン道路でした。車が来た時、一列に並べなきゃならなかった。
ところで、佐井村の人口は２３００人ぐらいだそうです！小さいですね！

Sai-mura is famous for being the hometown of a man called Gōtarō Mikami. Mikami was a doctor during the Russo-Japanese war and tended to the wounded from both sides of the war. His work with the Red Cross is still widely honored today.

佐井村はごうたろうみかみさんの出身です。ロシアと日本の戦争の時に医者でした。すばらしい人でした！

They preserved many of his medical supplies.
かれの医者の具です！

Stairs leading to a shrine
神社の前階段です。

The view of the village
佐井村の景色

A temple in the city
お寺です！

Once we got back, we were ushered into another boat which was much smaller than the ferry we took in the morning. We were going to Hotokegaura, a series of rock-formations that stretches along the southern coast of Sai-mura. It'd take 20 minutes to get there and 20 minutes back. No big deal, right?

ツアーから戻った時、他の船に乗りました。仏ヶ浦に行く予定でした。船で２０分にかかると言いました。近いね？

Wrong! It was one of the most uncomfortable 20 minutes of my life. The waves on the first leg of the journey were much worse than usual. Being in the boat felt like being in a roller coaster. It was really fun at first, but then at the halfway point, many people started feeling sick. The person in front of me and next to me threw up and I got really nauseous. I spent the rest of the boat ride curled up in a ball wishing for it to be over soon.

船がたくさん揺れました。ジェットコースタ見たかったです。とてもとても長い２０分でした。最初は楽しかったが、他の人が船酔いして、吐いて、私も船酔いを感じました。着いた時、船から逃げ出して（笑）、ドックの上に座りました。

Once we landed, I practically flew off of that crazy boat. Ryan found me sitting down on the dock, pale-faced, and asked if I was ok. I wasn't really feeling that well in the twenty minutes that we were in Hotokegaura, which is a shame since it really is quite a beautiful area and I would've liked to have collected myself and done a bit more exploring before we left so quickly.

仏ヶ浦はとてもきれいでしたが、あまり時間がありませんでした。少しだけ見て船もう一回乗りました。

Here are some of the cool rock formations. They were all named after what people thought they looked like, too!
カッコいい石でした。

Another obligatory shot of Ryan being silly

Needless to say, I was terrified of the ride back. Thankfully, the waters were much calmer than the first time around, but that didn't stop me from feeling a bit sick near the end. I liked Hotokegaura, but I would never wish that boat-ride upon any of my loved ones...

来るときは怖がっていました。最初乗った時より今回は穏やかでしたが、ちょっと船酔いしました。吐きませんでした！やった！仏ヶ浦が好きだったけど、あの船はもう乗りたくないです。＞。＜

We said goodbye to Sai-mura and began our long trek back home to Aomori through Yokohama-machi on the east side of Aomori (also shown on the map above). On the way back, we managed to stop by a tofu shop that we love (as it was closing...lucky!!!!) and snagged our favorite big-bean natto, soymilk, and tofu donuts! It was a great way to end the day. :)

佐井村にさよならと言って青森に帰りました。よこはま町に通った時は好きな豆腐屋さんに行って、大きい豆納豆と豆乳と豆腐ドーナツを買いました！よく終わりました～＾＾

FB Reporting: Business Hotel Reviewing and Scallop Picking

Last weekend, Ryan and I were invited to go on yet another FB Reporting Tour. This time, we went to a business hotel in Aomori City and a scallop fishery in a town called Noheji.

先週の週末、Ryanと私はFacebook Reportingツアーをやりました。今回、青森市のビジネスホテルと野辺地町のホタテ漁労を行ってきました。

Our first stop was a business hotel called Green Park Hotel in Aomori City.

最初に、青森市のグリーン・パークホテルと言うビジネスホテルに行きました。

In front of the hotel
ホテルの前

Business hotels are meant to be more economically priced than other fancier hotels. They're similar to motels in America, but they're a little less sketchy and more catered towards "businessmen". In order to make the hotel more tourist-friendly (read: foreigner-friendly), they wanted us to review the hotel. They out us in pairs and had us go through a model check-in process. They let us go into a room and see what it was like.

The person at the front desk was pretty friendly and even spoke English to us, which was awesome (he did seem a bit nervous to speak it haha). We managed to get to our room just fine. Overall, it was a small room, but it was pretty clean, cheap, and came with quite a lot of amenities (free TV, refrigerator, free wi-fi and Ethernet cable, bathroom toiletries, and a $5 breakfast!). The English directions/guidebook/etc in the room was pretty bad though...there were many typos and some stuff that needed to be translated wasn't (wi-fi, phone call rates, breakfast information, tourist information, etc). The bed was a little hard, but we were told that Japanese people tend to prefer hard beds since they sleep on futons on the floor at home. Last, I didn't really like that the hotel itself is catered towards "businessMEN". There were even some porn TV channel magazines in the room, which I thought was pretty distasteful, especially if they wanted to market themselves towards the traveling tourist or businessperson, who may or may not be female. Japan still needs a bit of work on the gender front... :/

Other than that, it seemed like a nice and decently cheap hotel.

普通のホテルよりビジネスホテルの方が安くて便利なホテルです。アメリカのモテルとだいたい同じものですが、モテルの方が微妙なものです。外国人にアピールをしたいので、ホテルの感想を考えるためにいろいろなことをしました。例えば、にせチェックインをしました。ホテルのフロントスタッフは英語で話すことができてビックリしていました（嬉しかったが、ビックリしていました。。。笑）。ルームにも行けました！ベッドはちょっと硬かったが、部屋はいい匂いがあって、結構古いのにすごくきれいでした。いろいろな便利なものがありました（ＬＡＮケーブル、wifi、テレビ、冷蔵庫、５００円朝ごはん！）。一つのちょっと気を付けることがある、ビジネスMANだけではなくて、ビジネスWOMANと他の観光客（男も女も）います！もっとユニセックス・ルームがあったらいいと思います（例えば、微妙なテレビチャネルガイドがなかったらいいと思いますが。。。）。

でも、それ以外、安くていいホテルでした。

The small single room
ちょっと小さいシングルルーム

Small bathroom which included free shampoo/conditioner/soap, as well as other bathroom amenities not shown (like toothbrushes, cotton swabs, shower caps, etc.)
小さい便所です。シャンプーやリンスやボディソープや他の便所の便利なものが無料でした！

Then, we bused to Noheji-machi, where we rode a boat, were able to pick scallops to take home, and ate a ton of grilled scallops!

その後で、野辺地町に行って、船に乗ったり、ホタテ釣したり、たくさん焼きホタテを食べたりしました！

They took us out on the ship to where they fish for and farm scallops. They catch the scallops and then keep them in tiered nets where they grow for 3 years. We thought that we were gonna fish for scallops, but they just wanted to take us here. I was a bit disappointed (I wanted to catch scallops!), but I guess they weren't even supposed to be out there since it was a festival season or something...so I guess it's ok.
船に乗って、ホタテ釣の場所とホタテのファームの場所へ行きました。ホタテを捕獲して、ネットの中に置いて２－３年に待って、大きくなります。

They start out this size!!! They're so cute!
生まれるとき、こんなに小さいホタテです。かわいい！！

If you zoom in, you can see the growth cycle of the scallops from 3 months to about 3 years.
ズームできたら、ホタテの成長サイクルが見える！

They let us pick live scallops from this table
ホタテ釣のテーブルです！

One of our boxes of scallops
Ryanのホタテの箱

He looks mad, but he's actually very happy to eat so many scallops....
なんか怒っているそうですが、たくさんホタテを食べれてすごく嬉しかったです！

Later, we went home, shucked all of the scallops in the box above and tried our hand at fried scallops!

帰ってから、ホタテを洗って、ガッツを取って、ホタテフライを作ってみました。

They were delicious.
すごく美味しかったですよ！

We had so many that we went over to the new JET next door (who was super busy cleaning his place) to see if he wanted any. He was more than happy to take a break and have dinner...glad we could make someone's day :)

Anyways, that's all for today. Next month, we're going on another trip to Hotokegaura, on the very northeastern side of Aomori. Stay tuned!

そんなにたくさんがあって、二人で食べれませんでしたので、となりの新しい（アパートの掃除をしている）ＪＥＴにホタテフライをあげました。休憩を取ることができてすごく嬉しそうでした。うれしくさせてよかったです。

じゃあ、いじょうです！今度、北東のほとけがうらに行きます。楽しみにしています！

Aomori Energy Park

A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to go on another local exchange and monitoring project! This time, we were scheduled to go to an Energy Park in Rokkasho, Aomori. This park showcases a lot of different renewable energy resources (including wind and solar) as well as some large oil storage facilities and a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

先々週、他の交流会・体験型取材に行ってきました。今回、六ヶ所のエネルギーパークに行く予定がありました。このパークの中にいろいろな自然エネルギーの源泉（風、太陽）があるし、石油備蓄もあるし、原子燃料サイクル施設もあります。

Rokkasho is the area in red above

The day before we went on this trip, Ryan and I began watching a new anime called Zankyou no Terror. I didn't really know what to expect, aside that it might be a horror or psychological anime from the title, so it was really surprising when we first saw this.

実は、ツアーの前に、Ryanと新しいアニメを見たばかり。見る前に「あ、タイトルは「テロル」の言葉があるので、たぶん心理学的かホラーのアニメだ！」と思いました。だから、これを見て、すごくビックリしていた。

"Woah, it's an anime set in Aomori?! That's rare." "There are wind turbines in the background! Could this be where we're going tomorrow?? Hah! Probably not...."

青森のアニメ？珍しいな。。。

えぇ。。。？風力タービンがある！明日この場所に行ったら、すごく面白くなる。。。

Then, we were shown a close-up of the driver...

そして、ドライバーのクローズアップ。。。

...in a hazmat suit...

W-what...? No way.

マジで。

........

......

FREAKY. What are the chances that we'd watch an anime with the setting at the place that we were going to visit the very next day?? It was very surreal. (I wonder how the processing facility feels about the fact that, in this anime, two kids broke into the facility, stole some plutonium, and are now plotting terrorist attacks on various places in Tokyo...)

アニメの内容はちょっと複雑で微妙だけど、最初から青森県の六ヶ所が出てすごかったです。その偶然はマジで面白かったです！

Anyways, to the Energy Park!
とにかく、エネルギーパークへ！

Our first stop was to the solar and wind farms. The solar farm consists of 14,336 solar panels. It cost about 800,000,000 yen to build and generates about 100,000,000 yen per year of electrical power. It produces about 2,400 kilowatts, which is the yearly energy consumption of about 650 households. 650 may seem like a lot, but, to put it in perspective, there were 96,969 households in Anaheim in 2000, according to the City of Anaheim website. The wind turbines, on the other hand, produce an equivalent to the yearly consumption of about 16,600 households!

最初は風と太陽のファーム。太陽のファームは１４，３３６パネルがあります。作るために、８億円かかりまして、毎年１億円のエネルギーを作ります（２，４００ｋＷです）。６５０の家庭のエネルギーです。６５０はすごく大きいナンバーだけど、（アナハイムのウェブサイトによると）アナハイムの修身は２０００年の時に９６，９６９の家庭がありました。しかし、風力タービンは１６，６００の家庭のエネルギーを作ります！

Later, we went to the nuclear energy company, JNFL (no, it's not a football league), AKA Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited! It felt a little nostalgic since some of the places from the scenes from the anime looked so similar to the ones at the actual reprocessing plant...

ランチを食べた後で、JNFLに行きました。あのアニメを見ましたから、ちょっと既視感がありました。ビルとかゲートなど本当に似ていました。。。

I'm not really sure what I was supposed to take away from this trip. They did their best to try and give us English handouts of powerpoints, but it didn't really help because they were only about when the facilities were built. Everything else about the tour was in Japanese (and I barely have a grasp on simple Japanese...forget about the medical-like jargon of nuclear engineers in Japanese...). While I understand that nuclear engineering is NOT easy (it took Ryan 10 weeks to gain a general idea of what nuclear engineering is from a course at UCSD), it would've been nice to have a translation of a general idea of what goes on in these facilities.

From what I understood (in layman's terms), this place is a combination of many different places. There's a uranium enrichment plant, which seems to be important for civilian nuclear power generation. Most of the facilities, however, seemed to be more for safe storage of the harmful by-products of the nuclear reactions. There are many waste storage centers in the facilities, which are 98% full because of waste canisters received from France and the U.K as well. They're stored in glass and steel, and treated very very carefully. It looks like the nuclear reprocessing facility is not actually finished yet, but expected to be in 2014. Spent fuel from power stations would be sent here in order to have the plutonium extracted from it and reused again?

自分で分かったポイントはあの場所はいろいろなビルのコンビネーションです。原子力発電を作るためにウラン濃縮工場がありますが、ほとんどのビルは使用済燃料受入貯蔵施設です。安全に危ないものを入れておきます。フランスとイギリスもフールを連れていて置きます。保管施設は９８％満タンです。まだできていないビルは再処理工場です。

Anyways, after the tour was over, we went back and had a long discussion about the energy situation in our own countries. There were many people from all over the world (Thailand, Malaysia, China, America, Canada, the Philippines, Japan, etc.), and we were asked to talk about "which energy resource would you select if you were in charge of your country's energy?", but none of us could really say much about our respective countries. We're not specialists, you know?

ツアーの後で、ランチを食べた場所に戻って、自分たちの国のエネルギーシチュエーションについて交換しました。いろいろな国の人がいました(例えば、タイ、マレーシア、中国、アメリカ、カナダ、フィリピン、日本など）。「自分の国のエネルギーの代表いれば、どんなエネルギー源泉を使えますか？なぜ？」について話しました。私たちはただの教育（など）専門だから、プロではありません。その特別なトピックについて考えるのはちょっと難しかったです。

I do have a greater appreciation of what the people in charge of our resources do (or should be doing). It's a difficult matter and one has to think of the safety, energy security, economic efficiency, and the effects that the energy type will have on the environment. One also has to think of public opinion. These topics are often so complicated that many people aren't very interested in them, but at times, (especially when considering nuclear power) they may have the completely wrong idea of how it works...

でも、前より今国のエネルギー代表を尊敬します。人とエネルギーを手に入り方の安全やエコノミーや環境について考えなければなりません。世論も考えなければいけません。一般人はたまにエネルギーについて、詳しくないのに強い意見があります。

Before anything can be done to have a global impact, I think that everyone should be required to at least watch a few videos on renewable energy or nuclear power. That way, everyone can learn how their decisions impact our planet and the lives of those around them.

グローバル・インパクトを考える前に、自然エネルギーとか原子力についてクラスを取るかヴィデオを見るべきだと思います。だからこそ、皆さんが少しくわしくなって、できるだけ世界と他の人々について考えられます。
Anyways, throughout the trip, I was happy that Ryan and the tour guides could explain bits and pieces of the global energy puzzle to me. I knew that America is one of the leading user of fossil fuels, but I also learned that the dust and smoke from coal-burning is radioactive and carcinogenic! I hope that I can continue learning more and more about renewable energy so that I can vote for eco-friendly energy laws and regulations. It seems expensive, but it'd also be pretty cool to live in a home that runs on some renewable energy!

アメリカへ帰る時、エコフレンドリー法律を選べるために、自然エネルギーを続けて学びたいと思います。もし、高いのに、自分の家で自然エネルギーを作ったらいいと思います！これに加えて、Ryanによると、コールは放射性だし発癌性だから、できるだけ使わないように行きたいです。

That's all for now, tune in for more adventures in Aomori!

以上です！他の青森探検について書きます！