Noah Friedberg's blog with photo♪

This past week, my father came to visit me here in Tokyo. It was his
first time. We had so much fun!
先週、僕の父が始めて日本に遊びに来ました。凄く楽しかったよ！

One morning we got up very early. We were surprised to see the police
clearing the street on Kaminarimon.
ある朝、僕たちは早起きをしたんだ。
雷門の警官が、道路掃除をしていて、ビックリしたな〜。

We did not know that it was the day of the Tokyo Marathon!
東京マラソンだったんだね。

Soon after my father made hatsumode at Sensoji, we stopped at a youth
hostel to say hi to my friend who works there.
父は浅草寺に初詣出に行き、友人が働いてるユースホステルに立ち寄って挨拶し
てきたんだ。

When I entered the hostel I was holding two flags for given to me by
the Yomiuri Shimbun to help cheer on the runners.
ホテルに入ったとき、マラソンランナーを応援するための旗を読売
新聞の人がくれたんだ。

I was joking around and pretending that I was helping to land an airplane
on a the runway at Narita Airport.
僕はちょっとふざけて、成田空港の滑走路に着陸する飛行機に向かって、応援す
るふりをしちゃったよ。

One man thought it was funny and we became friends. He asked me what my father
and I were going to do in Japan and I told him that we wanted to see
monkeys in Nagano.
一人の男性がすごく笑ってくれて、仲良くなっちゃった！日本で何をするの？っ
て質問されたので、長野のサルを見たいんだ〜って話してたんだ。

He was surprised because he was visiting from Nagano!
Guzen da! He invited us to come to Nagano and take us from Nagano
station to the Nagano Monkey Park in the mountains. We were so happy to
make a new friend and tour guide!
彼はちょうど長野から着たみたいで、すごいビックリしたよ。偶然だ！彼は僕
らを長野に招待してくれ、長野駅から車で長野のモンキーパークに連れてってく
れるって言ってたんだよ。
新しい友達をつくるって良いよね！ツアーガイドも！

A couple days later we took the Shinkansen to Nagano and met our friend
Dai. He drove us up to the monkey park. Nagano is so beautiful! The
mountains and snow and fresh air were exhilarating!
２〜３日後、僕らは新幹線で長野に行き、友達のダイに会ったんだ。彼はモン
キーパークまで運転してくれました。長野はとっても綺麗だね！
山に雪に新鮮な空気、ウキウキしたよ！

We hiked a couple of miles to get to the monkey park. It was a great way
to get exercise and after 4 months in Tokyo it was nice to leave the big
city.
モンキーパークまで数マイル歩いたんだけど、いい運動になったよ、ほんと。
それに４ヶ月も東京にいると、気分転換になるね！

When we got to the monkey park we were so surprised to find that we
could get really really close to the monkeys! However, they don`t pay
any attention to people.
モンキーパークに着いた時、サルに近づける事が分かって、本当にビックリした
よ！でもサルは全く人間に興味を持たなかったなぁ。

They just ignored us. However, I did get to
play with a baby monkey- it tried to take a piece of grass from me when
I offered it. We do not have monkeys in America.
You can only find them in the zoo. Japan`s monkeys are the furthest
north of any in the world.
無視されるだけだったよ。一匹の小猿と遊ぼうとしたら、僕の手にある草を取ろ
うとしてたよ。アメリカには動物園にしかサルに会えないんだ。
ニホンザルは世界でもっとも北部に生息するんだよ。

After the monkey park we were blessed with the opportunity to see
Zenkoji Temple. It was so amazingly beautiful. Words cannot describe it.
モンキーパークの後、幸運にも、善光寺を見れたんだ。
言葉で伝えられないくらい、不思議な魅力があったよ。

I realize now more than ever that Japan has many mysterious locations
and experiences that you cannot find anywhere else in the world. I am so
lucky!
日本にはたくさんの不思議な場所があり、世界中どこでも味わえない経験が出来
るところだって、実感したよ。
僕は運が良かったな。

Until next time,

Noah