Hello b members! I hope you had a good Golden Week!
Did you spend it with friends and family, or maybe did you go traveling?
Regardless, I hope you had a relaxing holiday time.
I went to Ibaraki Prefecture to see the big Ushiku Daibutsu.
It is 120 metres tall, and is the third tallest statue in the world!
メンバーの皆さん、こんにちは！ゴールデンウィークは楽しかった？
友達や家族と一緒に過ごしたのかな？旅行に行ったのかな？とにかくリラックスして過ごせたかな。
僕は茨城県に、大きな大仏を観にいってきました。
120メートルもあって、世界でも三番目に大きな像なんだ！

There is a lovely garden around it with many flowers, and you can also go inside the Buddha 85 meters above the ground.
It is very impressive!
As you get close to the Buddha, it looms high above you – it takes up all of the sky!
Inside the Buddha are many interesting things, such as mini Buddha figures in a room that is entirely gold!
It is a very shiny place and feels very fancy.
お花がいっぱい咲いている素晴らしい庭園があって、地上85メートルから大仏の中にも入れます。
とても感激しますよ！
大仏の近くに行くと、自分の上にヌッと現れます。見上げると一面に空！
小さな大仏のフィギュアが全体が金色の部屋に敷き詰められていたりと大仏の内側にはたくさんの興味深いものがあります。
輝くのある豪華な場所です。

As well there are many photos of the Buddha being built, which looked amazing to me.
Seeing a half built Buddha face and a helicopter made a very funny photo – it was not what you normally think of when you imagine a Buddha statue!
また、大仏が建てられた際の写真がたくさんあり、それが僕にとって感動的だったんだ。
大仏が建てられている途中の頭半分の写真を見て、ヘリコプターがいい味だしてるな、と思ったよ。
大仏がどうやって作られるか普通に想像するのとは違うよね。

You can also go outside the Buddha just below his feet, but on the platform he is standing on.
This gives you an impressive view of the surrounding garden.
It is also where you can buy sheets of gold leaf and stick them to the statue, which creates a very artistic look – it reminded me of Renaissance artworks in fact!
When you are on the platform right below Buddha, he seems even more impressive as all you can see is Buddha!
大仏の周囲も見る事が出来て、大仏の足元の間近も見れますが大仏は台に乗っています。
それが庭園周辺を素晴らしい景色にしてくれます。
そこで金箔が買えて、大仏に貼り付ける事ができ、それがアーティスティックな見た目なんだ。実は、これを見るとルネッサンスの作品を思い出すんだ。
大仏の足元に行った時、遠くから見るよりも迫力があって、より感動するんだ。

Once I had left the Buddha, I looked around the gardens, which had lots of colourful flowers and a pond with some massive Koi carp fish.
You can buy food to give them, and they have become very fat – they must be very heavy fish! As well as being able to enjoy the garden, I noticed that airplanes were always flying overhead.
If you fly into Narita airport there is a chance you will fly over the Buddha statue.
I discovered that if I lined up my camera the right way, I could make it seem like an airplane was on Buddha’s shoulder – quite a funny photograph I think!
一度大仏から離れ、庭を見に行きました。そこには沢山のカラフルなお花と池の中に立派な鯉がいます。
鯉のエサもそこで買うことが出来ますよ。
そのエサでどんどんと太っていく鯉…。
持ったら絶対重いだろうな！
庭を楽しめるのと同時に、頭上に飛行機がいつも飛んでいます。
もし成田発の飛行機に乗るなら、大仏の頭上を通るチャンスがあるよ！
僕はもし列を作る僕のカメラがちゃんとした方向を向いていたら、それを発見できるね。
大仏の肩に乗る飛行機、みたいな感じですごく面白い写真が撮れると思う。

When I was done with the gardens, I felt hungry, and so I went to the outdoor market next to the gardens and bought some okonomiyaki.
They are one of my favourite Japanese snacks, and are very tasty. These were no exception, and I can recommend them to you!
庭を周り終わった時、すごくお腹が空いて、庭の近くの売店でお好み焼きを買ったんだ。（Troyはお好み焼きと書いていますが、写真はたこ焼きですね！笑）
これは僕の中でも好きな日本の軽食に入るし、すごく美味しかったんだ。これは間違えなくお勧めするよ！

I had a really good day at Ushiku Daibutsu.
It is an amazing place to visit, and the gardens are very pretty.
If you have not been there before, I can highly recommend it. If you have been there, what did you think, did you enjoy it?
I would love to hear about your experiences at Ushiku Daibutsu.
If you have not visited it before, perhaps you can tell me about another interesting place you have visited!
I look forward to having some good English conversations with you soon!
僕は牛久大仏ですごく素敵な日を過ごしたんだ。
そこは訪れるのに素晴らしい場所で、近くの庭も凄く可愛いんだ。
もし一度も行ったことが無いなら、すごくオススメするよ。
もし行った事があるなら、大仏はどうだった？楽しかった？
牛久大仏や他の楽しかった場所に行った話しを聴かせてね！
近いうちに英会話を一緒に楽しみましょうね！

Troy