2.Who was the best friend you ever had? Why was he/she so good? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript: The best friend I had ah was ah Mr. Hirose, who I met in the first year of in high school, in my freshman year in High school.
What’s so great about us was that we had ah totally different despite personalities. He was quite outgoing and I wasn’t and yet we got along with each other other so well.
In fact, we are still very good friends and we are planning to ah start a new business together. Ah I am going to use my English speaking skill, ah my English skills and he is going to ah use his business and management skills and we are going to expecting—we are looking forward to have a great success.
Basic Changed Transcript:The best friend I had was Mr. Hirose, who I met in my freshman year in High school.
What’s so great about us was that we were totally different personalities. He was quite outgoing and I wasn’t and yet we got along with each other so well.
In fact, we are still very good friends and we are planning to start a new business together.I am going to use my English skills and he is going to use his business and management skills and we are we are looking forward to have a great success.
3.What type of a book do you enjoy reading? Why? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:The kind of book I—books I enjoy most are the books about the little creatures you find in the wild. For example, like insects, birds, fish, frogs, things like that.
Since childhood, I always enjoyed both watching and catching those little creatures, in particular insects and fish. And my wild dream was to travel around the world and to meet, observe, and also catch those creatures all—in the world. But so far, I haven't been able to do it, so at least I enjoy meeting those creatures in books. That’s why I like those books.
Basic Changed Transcript:The kind of books I enjoy most are the books about the little creatures you find in the wild. For example, like insects, birds, fish, frogs, things like that.
Since childhood, I always enjoyed both watching and catching those little creatures, in particular insects and fish and my wild dream was to travel around the world and to meet, observe, and also catch those creatures in the world.But so far, I haven't been able to do it. So at least I enjoy meeting those creatures in books. That’s why I like those books.
4.Which country do you want to visit? What do you want to do there? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:I’d like to visit the United States again.
I am saying again because I lived there for 20 years. I, I particularly enjoyed my graduate study at the University of California at Berkley and I made quite a few friends there, friends there. We played and studied very hard and since then we’ve goneour—we’ve gone separate ways but still—we still have that memories from UC Berkley and that kind of ties us together still and it’s a uniting factor among us and I’d like to meet those friends again.
Basic Changed Transcript:I’d like to visit the United States again.
I am saying again because I lived there for 20 years. I particularly enjoyed my graduate study at the University of California at Berkley and I made quite a few friends there. We played and studied very hard and since then we’ve gone separate ways but still we still have that memories from UC Berkley and that kind of ties us together still and it’s a uniting factor among us and I’d like to meet those friends again.
5.If you could change one thing in this world, what would you change? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:If I could change one thing in this world, I would like to change the human brain so that people can never lie because of their brain structure and they are always honest and there is no such thing as violating laws and regulations, rules knowingly. I—this is my dream because all through my life—you know, I am a very honest person and all through my life.
Ah, I’ve been very frustrated because so many people tried to gain something or win ah, over others by being dishonest and I think it’s quite disgusting that so many people are that way.
Basic Changed Transcript:If I could change one thing in this world, I would like to change the human brain so that people can never lie because of their brain structure and they are always honest and there is no such thing as violating laws and regulations, rules knowingly. This is my dream because I am a very honest person in all through my life.
I’ve been very frustrated because so many people tried to gain something or win over others by being dishonest. I think it’s quite disgusting that so many people are that way.
6.If you had an entire month to do whatever you would like to do, what would you do? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:If I had an entire month to do what I’d like to do,ah, think I’d like to take a month off from my work and, and study and, and try to get started on my dissertation research in {inaudible} teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Ahm, at the age of 54, I can no longer do mathematics. I am actually a mathematician by training.
So I want to—my biggest contribution is perhaps comes from teaching English to Japanese students. So I’d like to get a solid foundation by reading papers and books in the area of teaching English to speakers of other languages.
Basic Changed Transcript:If I had an entire month to do what I’d like to do, I think I like a month off from my work and study and try to get started on my dissertation research in {inaudible} teaching English to speakers of other languages.
At the age of 54, I can no longer do mathematics. I am actually a mathematician by training.
My biggest contribution is perhaps comes from teaching English to Japanese students. I’d like to get a solid foundation by reading papers and books in the area of teaching English to speakers of other languages.
7.When do you feel comfortable in your daily life? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:I feel most comfortable when I am working along ah KamogawaRiver, which is only about 10 minutes walk away from my office. Ah, one reason is that there is always a nice breeze and the weather is very nice. And another reason is that I can be alone there.
I do not necessarily enjoy being surrounded by other humans and I need some time, I need to spend some time alone and walking along Kamogawa river is a perfect way to do that. And I also enjoy watching fish and birds in the river. So it’s triply enjoyable and comfortable for me.
Basic Changed Transcript:I feel most comfortable when I am working along KamogawaRiver which is only about 10 minutes walk away from my office. One reason is that, there is always a nice breeze and the weather is very nice. Another reason is that I can be alone there.
I do not necessarily enjoy being surrounded by other humans and I need to spend some time alone and walking along Kamogawa river is a perfect way to do that. I also enjoy watching fish and birds in the river. So it is triply enjoyable and comfortable for me.
8.What makes you very angry? Why? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:I feel very angry when I see people violating rules knowingly. Sometimes they even violate rules or ignore rules, you know to gain something, and that annoys me quite a bit. Because rules are there to be respected and to be observed.
And if you violate those rules knowingly, it's like you are the very—you are destroying the very core of modern society based on the contract, legal and otherwise among people. So that makes me very angry. I think honesty is the most important trait, humans can have.
Basic Changed Transcript:I feel very angry when I see people violating rules knowingly. Sometimes they even violate rules or ignore rules to gain something, and that annoys me quite a bit, because rules are there to be respected and to be observed.
If you violate those rules knowingly, it's like you are destroying the very core of modern society based on the contract, legal and otherwise among people. So that makes me very angry. I think honesty is the most important trait, humans can have.
9.When do you feel life is worth living? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:I feel life is worth living when I try hard to achieve something and finally I finally achieved it. And that feeling of, that the life is worth living, that feeling is, becomes enhanced when my achievement is recognized and appreciated by other people.
Then I know for sure that it’s not just the success. It’s not just making me feel good but it is making others feel good and perhaps it is also helping others in some positive way and I would like to think that’s why my success is recognized and appreciated. So that’s when I feel most that my life is worth living.
Basic Changed Transcript:I feel life is worth living, when I try hard to achieve something and I have finally achieved it. And that feeling of that the life is worth living, that feeling becomes enhanced when my achievement is recognized and appreciated by other people.
Then I know for sure that it’s not just the success. It’s not just making me feel good but it is making others feel good and perhaps it is also helping others in some positive way and I would like to think that’s why my success is recognized and appreciated. So that’s when I feel most that my life is worth living.
10.Describe the person who has had the greatest influence on you. Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:The person who had the greatest influence on me was my late grandfather—my paternal grandfather.
Ordinarily when you are very small, when you are two or three, or four around there, people although {phonetic} surround you would not tell you about like principles of life or what kind of philosophy you should subscribe to and how humans should behave. But, he would talk about those things and somehow he was very good at delivering that message to me and make me understand what he was trying to tell me.
And I am still very grateful that he did that to me and I remember him quite often. He still shows up in my dreams and I love him so much.
Basic Changed Transcript:The person who had the greatest influence on me was my late grandfather—my paternal grandfather.
Ordinarily when you are very small, when you are two or three, or four around there, people although {phonetic}surrounds you, would not tell you about principles like of life or what kind of philosophy you should subscribe to, and how humans should behave. But he would talk about those things and somehow he was very good at delivering that message to me and make me understand what he was trying to tell me.
I am still very grateful that he did that to me and I remember him quite often. He still shows up in my dreams and I love him so much.
11.If you could have any part-time job in the world, which would you choose and why? Please include specific details in your explanation.
Original Transcript:I actually would like to teach. Since my fulltime occupation is teaching—I am a college professor, it’s kind of boring if I—it’s a boring answer I think.
But I like teaching so much, because by teaching you can share you, yourself, your knowledge and your life with others and you can also share your students, other’s lives and that enriches your life in return. So this mutually enriching experience is very unique to this teaching profession.
So whether it is a full-time occupation or part-time job, ah, I—I’d like to teach and have the excitement of sharing each other’s lives.
Basic Changed Transcript:I actually would like to teach. Since my fulltime occupation is teaching—I am a college professor, it’s kind of—it’s a boring answer I think.
But, I like teaching so much because by teaching you can share you, yourself, your knowledge and your life with others and you can also share your student’s—other’s lives and that enriches your life in return. So this mutually enriching experience is very unique to this teaching profession.
So whether it is a full-time occupation or part-time job, I like to teach and have the excitement of sharing each other’s lives.
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