According to the article, Mrs. Kanazawa, a 56-year-old housewife in Kyoto, published a book in spring 2015. It took her 7 years to write about her memories of what had happened to her family in Tennessee, USA for 4 years starting from 1988.
When she was a child, she dreamed of living in America because she had been watching American TV dramas, but she didn't study English very seriously.
When her husband was assigned to work in the US, she also moved to Tennessee to live with him. On the first few years with her two small children, she struggled with everything. By publishing her book in English, she wanted to express her gratitude to the local people who supported her.
In the process of writing her book, she spread her dictionaries and reference books on the table and started to write immediately after her husband left for work every morning. She also asked some advice from her English teacher.
She also contacted her American friends by Facebook to ask them to be her references for the book to be published. She even made new friends along the way.
Even after publishing her book, she still goes online every morning to learn English by reading fresh American news. She also introduces the Japanese culture to her friends.
* * * * * * * * * *
I became interested in her book after reading the article.
I was very happy when I found it on Amazon Kindle.
The book is entitled "My Enriching Life in Knoxville."
The book is entitled "My Enriching Life in Knoxville."
It is available on Amazon.com for US$2.91 or
or Amazon co.jp for 357 yen. (Auto-delivered wirelessly)
Here is the information of this book quoted from Amazon.com.
QUOTE
This is a true story.
My husband was suddenly informed he was being transferred to ACOM/Panasonic in Knoxville, Tennessee USA.
I was certain that I would live a wonderful American life.
Mysterious hand guide me.
This is an adventure story, too.
I had a lot of challenges for living overseas.
I remember the thrills and excitement of my everyday life in Knoxville.
Here is one customer review.
A wonderful story about a Japanese woman and her sons who could speak no English and how she used her life skills to make friends to experience American culture for herself and her sons while sharing her Japanese traditions with her new American friends. It is also an excellent book about Japanese traditions and cultures. I highly recommend this book!
UNQUOTE
My comments on this book.
I bought the book from Amazon co.jp on July 29, and it was automatically delivered to my Kindle. The price was very reasonable compared with the author's efforts which took her 7 years.
I have just started reading this book since then, and I found more details about the author.
I have something in common with her. I was born in 1966, which is 7 years younger than the author, but roughly the same generation. I live in Hyogo Prefecture which lies next to Kyoto Prefecture where she currently lives. I also have an experience of staying one year in the US in 1990 where she stayed four years since 1988.
I also found we have some differences.
I have studied at 2-year college majoring in English before deciding to study at a US college. I was still single then.
However, in the author's case, she suddenly had to move to the U.S. because of her husband's work.
She had two sons; the elder was 5 years old and the younger was only 1 year old.
For our lesson on Aug. 8, could you please help me to edit the sentences below??
For her, the hurdle must have been much higher than myself.
END
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This is some interesting parts from the book. This happened when she stayed with her two children in an Osaka hotel before leaving for the US in 1988.
The front desk clerk informed me of various things, including the automatic door locks. After that I received our room key and look the elevator to our suite. The suite was spacious and it had a gorgeous Japanese style bathroom like those at a Japanese inn. Just after putting my baggage in the room, I went to check where the emergency exit was, in case I had to escape to safety with my young children. When I heard the door close, I remembered the following warning by the clock: "The rooms in this hotel have automatic locks, so when you leave your room, please make sure to take the room key with you." Sure enough, the door was locked and did not open. I said to (my 5-year-old son) Yuta, "Yuta, Yuta, this is your mother. Please open the door. It is locked and won't open." Being only familiar with the door of our former apartment, he did not know what to do. He asked, "How do I open the door?" I replied, "Can you figure out how to unlock the door? Can you see the door knob?" I couldn't explain how to unlock the door because I had not taken a careful look at the door lock. The quiet hallway of the hotel was suddenly filled with my loud voie. Yuta said, "I cannot turn the door knob." Realizing there would be no way he could open the door, I decided to call for help. The hotel clerk who had warned me about the door unlocked it for us.
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The following is some of the parts from a vocabulary book titled "1100 words you need to know."
I couldn't understand the last sentence very well, please help me. It's SOLVED, thank you!
It means that stone walls even though they are strong, they cannot guarantee imprisonment forever, because some people can still go out. It is just like iron bars of a cage doesn't guarantee, either.
IF I HAD THE WINGS OF AN ANGEL
Casting a furtive glance over his shoulder, the felon slipped out the main prison gate to be swallowed up in the British fog. A plethora of escapes from supposedly secure prisons embarrassed the hapless wardens. To compound their problems, the officials were badgered by irate citizens who accused the guards of accepting bribes from convicts whose motto was: "Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage."
furtive ... secret, stealthy
felon ... a person guilty of a major crime
plethora ... excess
hapless ... unfortunate
irate ... angry, incensed
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