ニューアーク空港

ニューアーク空港はユナイテッドとコンチネンタルのあたらしハブ空港です。Flickr: Bjørn Giesenbauer

木曜日はサンクスギビングでした。わたしは今週うちへかえりました。この時間ニューアーク空港（くうこう）から飛行機（ひこうき）でいきました。ニューアーク空港は便利（べんり）じゃありません。ニューアーク空港はとてもふるいです。TSAのラインは長い（ながい）ですよ！JFKはニューアークよりいいです。

United and Continental are merging at the end of the year to form one of the world's largest airlines. Newark will become a new hub for the merger. Unfortunately, with United as my airline of choice, I'm stuck with flying out of this airport as United starts to reduce its flights out of JFK (Chicago O'Hare was cancelled this year. All international flights have been pulled). After working for an entire year to hit the 25k mark for Star Alliance Silver status, I've hit a dilemma. Star Alliance is definitely the strongest of the three major airline alliances with the most number of destinations worldwide, largest network of routes, and great opportunities to redeem miles. But then, I will be stuck flying out of an airport that is difficult to access from Manhattan that has long security lines even for elite members, and is generally outdated and not a pleasant experience.

Is it time to pull out and join American Airlines and the One World Alliance?

はいくとせんりゅう

プレゼント
たのしいですね
げんきのひと

やま、さくら
はなみをします。
ピューピュ。

MSワード
べんりじゃありません。
DOCほぞん。

Composition No. 2

やまださん、こんいちは。

わたしはアレクスです。コロンビアだいがくのさんねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはれきしです。わたしにほのごがすこしわかります。

ニューヨークのせいかつはにぎやかですが、とてもしろいです。ニューヨークはべんりです。まちのちかてつとバスはとてもべんりですが、あまりきれいじゃありません。ニューヨークのたべものはおいしいですが、たかいです。

わたしろくがつよっかにぜんにく（All Nippon Airways)でニューヨークからとうきょうまでいきます。

よろしくおねがいします。

カタカナ commentary

(Wait for the very end where they say どうもありがと、さよんなら).

This video shows how Katakana's usage fluctuates depending on its context. In the most textbook sense, Katakana provides a way to express and distinguish foreign words and names. At the end of the video, however, we see that a phrase in Japanese (どうもありがと、さよんなら) is transcribed into Katakana, rather than writing it in Hiragana and Kanji. It's somewhat amusing to listen to the cast of Harry Potter struggling through reading Romaji transcriptions of Japanese on the teleprompter, especially with domo arigati said by Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). The Katakana at this point, therefore seems to highlight the cast's foreign accent, demonstrating the multiple uses of Katakana that are not usually found in the traditional textbook. It therefore seems that the rules on using Katakana are less rigid and more flexible.

Another interesting Katakana was found when browsing through the photos I took this summer. At a JR Station in Tokyo, I saw the sign written 御茶ノ水, which uses the Katakana ノ instead of the Hiragana の. This is quite interesting for the fact that Ochanomizu is an established neighborhood of Tokyo. It would seem likely that they would use Hiragana for an area that is local in Tokyo. My interpretation a this point is it may seem likely that the Katakana usage is to emphasize how the place is special. It gives the place a unique naming structure that makes the name pop out. If you know an exact reason why, I would appreciate the commentary.