Comments

Hello dear Simon! Nice to know some interesting stuffs about Kyoto. Could you post some pictures of Kyoto here too? I really didn’t know that the name ‘Rugby’ actually came from an English town! I like Rugby Football. Did you use to play rugby with your friends when you were younger? It’s nice to know that you’ve already worked many places around the world! Russia, Egypt, Japan….. I don’t know what’s next. Probably India. But what’s your favourite country (except England) to live? Your blog is just fantastic! I’m eagerly waiting for your next blog! Thank you very much! Pritam.

Hello Simon, Thank you so much for you brief but very informative description of Kyoto.You are absolutely right that not all of us are able to visit Japan due to the distance or other reasons. So any information would be appreciated.Thank you!Let me tell that "Geisha's memoirs" is one of my favorite books. It told me a lot about Japan and presented me one other culture. Kyoto is also mentioned. In my town summers are also hot and humid but I postponed mounting an air-conditioner till this year. Despite we are now equipped with it,we rarely use it. I think human being became too spoilt and want comfort at any price(for good or for bad). It is my opinion of course. I like your concise writing style. Frankly speaking, I have abandoned reading this blog recently(for a short period) because posts became too long and I need more time to follow them closely. Despite everyone can write as long as he/she want, maybe keeping a modest size is a good idea in order to keep students reading. I appreciate this BBC service as one, which gave me one different way of learning and applying my knowledge.Thanks to the whole team!I'll keep reading blogs here and combine study with pleasure, bearing in mind that learning should be fun. Nice day and weekend! Diema

Hello Simon! I like your writing, especially the two sentences you´ve placed in the midle of the blog! The easiest things are maybe the most difficult to recognize. Yet, another good decission living withought air conditioning! I like to live where I was born surrounded by hills having hot summers with no air condition at work home even not in my car! And, how many crazy things we people do today with no more meaning except to spend lots of money for a few seconds of adrenalin excitement, don´t we? Greetings!

Hi,interesting blog and easy to understand. each line was having something for my learning about language and kyoto. i had a friend Kimi, she belonged to this city. i met her in Manchester when i was doing my master in education over there. Now its years that i haven't heard about her as i have no contact with her. I like the way you express things. I hope that I will learn a lot by your blog. Bye Have a nice time

Hi Simon, I'm Mercè a woman from Spain. I admire your writing style because it's so concise and clear. Information about Japan is very interesting for me because I haven't been there. What about the economy, education and lifestyle of people? I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Bye for now. Mercè

Hi Simon, Thank you very much for informative blog.I suggest you to use ceiling fun instead air conditioner.On compared to airconditioner. It is cheaper and healthier. I rarely use the air conditioner. Whenever I use it I have with my neck and back aches In addition that I am cold because there is a big temperature differences inside and outside.You know Turkiye is a very hot country. The temperatures is up to 50 degree. I am looking for some place to escape for a while which is cooler.I was in London last year at that time. The weather was very cold. I were putting a hot water bottle in my bed to be hot. I don't know whichone is normal. we should bear in mind what will happen in next ten years maybe earlier. Before being late we should do something to take some measures as indivual, governments and organisations and the like.Turkiye's climate has been changed for last ten years, very hot, less rain, high humidty. Drought is at the door.We have some worries with the future of Turkiye and the world. The mother of nature punishes us. I think This is a last warning.Otherwise It will be very late. By the way I want ask a question. Could you give me the differences between "with","through" and "by" Thank you. Best wishes.

Hi Simon, It is nice to know that you have taken over from your wife for blogging this month. And it is nice to learn that both of you are EFL teachers. One way it is good that both husband and wife are in the same profession. Don’t you? You can share your teaching experience with her. She can tell you the difficulties of the teaching and get the advice from you overcoming the problem. I think you have traveled lot and visited many countries. I have been following this column for few years to improve my English and communicate with experienced teachers. But I didn’t make any comment for the last two months. So you might not read my name in the last month. Hope I can learn English from this month.

Hi Simon, Thank you for being so clear as to explain life in Kyoto, the origin of its name and the climate. Moreover, you're right, people tend to think that Japan is a difficult and expensive place to get to. Have a nice weekend. See you, Cris

Hello Simon, it was so interesting to read how you replied us all, thank you! And surely I've got to learn a style of communicating with the readers, my first lesson:). The description of the western and eastern capitals happens to be quite interesting as it's the first time I've came to know of it. As you said the mountains have a profound effect on the climate, along with that I have also heard that Japan is prone to earth quakes too. For the past 7-8 years I have heard a lot about Kyoto protocol and the most interesting bit is that you haven't used your AC this year. With this we can give ourselves a thought about the time when these appliances were not invented and how people lived without them. Best wishes, Naheed

Hi there Simon, It must be a unique experience living in a country like Japan. I guess it must be completely different from your home country's culture. The friends you mentioned, the ones who live up on the hill, are they japanese or english people who live there? Do you have many japanese friends? Do you communicate with them in English or Japanese? I guess it must be very hard to learn this language, isn't it? I found it very interesting what you told us about the anagram of the capital's name. Thank you for the lines you care to write to us every blog. I means a lot to us. Bye for now and have a nice day.

Hi Simon, I´m grateful for you overwiev about Kyoto, your explanation about Tokyo and this city. Have you ever seen people with their traditional style of life in Japan?, or have you seen a Sumo championship? and about the religion could you explain? thank in advance and best wishes

Dear Simon, I have heard several times about the Kyoto protocol but I didn’t know where this city is. Your blog highlighted the historical background of this city and you made concrete comparison between Kyoto and Tokyo. It is really interesting to know that one is the western capital and the later is the eastern capital of Japan. You are absolutely right; blog is a helpful source to learn about other part of the world which is not easy to reach. You have shown great concern for global warming and even not used A/C in hot season.

Hi, Simon, I am really interested in your sharing. What are you feeling about the culture in Japan? Do you think it is an ideal place to live in? In HKG, many product made in Japan, including mobile phone, high-tech product, food, clothes and etc. Also, people are willing to buy it, although price is a little bit higher. It means people feel worth to pay for a higher price and trust it. "Japan" is like a brand.

Hello Simon, Nice to meet you. I am Junko from Tokyo, Japan. But now I live in The Netherlands with my husband.I hope improve my English reading your blog. When I lived in Japan, I tried no to use air condicioner like you. But sometimes it was impossible! It really humid and hot.I am looking forward to hearing from you. Have a nice weekend.Miya

Hello Simon and welcome!

Hi Simon! Thanks for your little description of Kyoto. Well, after Portuguese, Japanese is the language that I heard most in my city. There´s a huge Japanese colony in São Paulo and last month we celebrated in Brazil 100 years of Japanese imigration. I´m looking forward to reading your next blog. Best wishes, Ana Paula.

Hi simon, it's nice to read you on blog. I am a new reader of this blog. My name is Parin. I am 29 years old male. I belong to IT field. I also have read the blogs of your wife Sophie Handy. How good and informative blogger she is ! and so are you. I really want to improve and polish my English and I think being with you on this blog will help me in that. I hope you comment something for me in your next post(specially for my English).

although brief,very informative.i am a late explorer of this part of "blogland".in my country the left people are very talkitive of kyoto.

Hi Simon, Nice to meet you here. It's my first time to read the Kyo-to & To-Kyo, how interesting it is! I have been to Japan for sightseeing for many times, and we Taiwan have a deep connection with Japan, but I have no idea about Kyo-to & To-kyo till now, thanks. I am looking forward to reading your next entries. See you around.

Hi Simon, Thank you for writing a vivid description about you, your family and Kyoto. you and Sophie both are kindly and warm-hearted English teacher. we like and appreciate you all. I also like traveling, but you know I have no chance to many place for economy or time limit. I am looking forward to reading more interesting posts.

Hi Simon. Very interesting. I would have never figurated what Tokyo and Kioto mean. Thanks for the explanation. I would like to see some pictures of Kyoto. I'v heard it's an amazing beautiful city. Best regards.

Hi Simon. I am new in this blog and I want to join to your community through this comment. I think Japanese culture is really different from our occidental daily lives, and I'm not talking about their traditional culture, which in fact is quite different, I'm talking about the modern culture by itself. To the day, we all have some influence from other cultures as a result of the communication facilities that have been developed in the last decades, however, it is noticeable that Japanese daily live has their own characteristics that can't be found in others. Could you tell us something about this?

Hi Simon. I just want to tell u Welcome(is it late to say such a thing?! :( and also thank u for ur simple form of writing , i really enjoy it, looking forward to read more from you, bye

Hi Simon, How was your weekend? It's been so hot and muggy like crazy in Kanto (Tokyo and 6 cities around Tokyo)region for the last 2 days.I guess Kyoto as well. However, as you said it's just the begining of real summer or it might not even start, since TSUYU(rainy season) hasn't finished yet according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. I also haven't used the air conditioner so far in spite of the crazy heat.but I can't promise I won't use it over the summer,I'll try though... I've read the comment of Diema from Bulgaria touching on "Geisha's memoirs". I've watched the　film of that though I haven't read the nobel. I felt something was strange with the film as I watched it. I don't mean to complain about it , it was a good and beautiful film. However I didn't think the film described real Japan　even though　it depicted the Japan of the past. As films are art, It's fine. I just wonder what the image of Japan from people in the world? Simon, what image had you have about Japan before you first came here? and Have you changed the impression of Japan after coming here? and I'd like to know the defference between image and impression if you have time to explain it. Sorry I asked you a lot. Best wishes.