Nagara Senior High School Japan 502 - 0071 Gifu -shi Nagara Saigo-cho 1716 Tel + 058 231 1186 Fax + 058 231 1188 nagaraHS@zzz.or.jp jelede@yahoo.co.uk

The 21st century is going to occupy most of my life. So this century is very important for me. I have not made up my mind what I will be yet. So, I'm getting impatient now. I've set myself a small goal, but I want to set myself more concrete goals. But they haven't appeared in my mind yet. What do I want to do in these 100 years ? I don't know that now. But I think it is important for me to ask myself this question. And I want to look at what I can do in this century and enjoy it.Right away, my goal this year is to talk to people who are older than me and listen to their experiences !! Kaori Morimae

Kaori and Ayami at school
Japanese prayer stones.
(People write their hopes+wishes on the stone)

'What I Hope For In The 21st Century' by Ryosuke Naitoh I hope somethings will improve in the 21st century. For example, that we'll have cars that can fly and that won't need gas.This would be good for the environment and people would enjoy driving more. Also we should be able to go wherever in a moment. For instance , if we could go to school in a moment we could get up at 8:00am. We wouldn't have to get up at 6:00am!! It would be wonderful ! And it would reduce accidents. Safety is important in life. Our bodies should be strong and not suffer illnesses. So old people can have a good time in life too. And we can go to school everyday to talk with friends . Lastly I hope to keep the earth clean in the 21st century because in the newspapers it says : "People have been destroying the earth since the latter half of the 20th century, and frankly speaking the earth will become a dangerous place to live in". I want to live in safety. But people have sacrificed the environment to make money. So our environment has been damaged. I think this is a bad way of thinking. One person's bad thinking is not so strong, but many people thinking in this way is very strong. Let's pull together to live a happy life and to keep the earth clean. For example, taking part in volunteer work, recycling and many other things.

The Japanese bullet train-Shinkansen
(model 500)

Abandoned bikes
(a common problem in Japan)

Crowded Streets of Tokyo

Ryosuke and his grandmother　　　　Shusuke and a friend during a trip to Australia

Hello ! My hobby and dream for the 21st century is to become a famous person. I want to be a guitarist. Recently I joined a band contest and I saw many good players. I realised that I was still poor at playing but at the same time, I had a mind to become better. I think seeing good playing is a good way to become better. Thank you
Shusuke Kitagawa

I'm glad I can welcome the 21st century, but I have many things that I worry about and wish for. I worry about many landmines in the world. I saw children who were wounded by landmines on TV. That was miserable. I feel I'm very lucky . A baby was badly wounded internally and a girl lost her eyes. There were many other injured children. So I hope to do away with landmines. I want to work for a history museum in the future. But maybe I'll want to do another job later- I haven't decided yet. So in the 21st century I hope that I can get into a college which I want to and that I'm engaged in a job which I want to be. So I think I'll have to work hard to realize my dream. By Natsuki Yanagi

Natsuki and a friend from Junior High School

A man tying his prayer paper to a tree at a shrine for good luck

The Peace Park in Hiroshima
The Hiroshima Peace Park is an important reminder of the consequences of war for Japanese people and it continues its strive for world peace.

Hitomi and her friend Clarisse from Brazil.
What I Hope For In The 21st Century by Hitomi Maruyama First of all I'm so glad that we could all welcome the 21st century in peace. But actually we welcomed the 21st century with heaps of problems for which we tried to but couldn't find effective solutions to in the last century. I simply hope that in the 21st century, people around the world can live happily and peacefully. We need to realise this above all. We should stop and think of our quality of life, and ask ourselves "what is the real meaning of richness ?" . Have you done this ? Through my experiences in Thailand I found that material wealth could not always make people happy. We live in a developed society and most Japanese people lead relatively luxurious lives but think that this is quite ordinary. They seldom have to worry about anything serious. But I can't stop wondering whether we are really satisfied and if we really enjoy our lives at all ? We have worked hard to improve our standard of living yet do we also try hard to spiritually enrich our lives ? Everybody looks so serious. We concentrate so much attention on raising our standards of living, that we fail to build a more caring society. Don't we ? Many people suffer mentally from the stress of daily life and undergo physical side-effects too, myself included. It's ridiculous - we're digging our own graves ! I think stress is the cause of many serious problems in today's society and it is far from decreasing. On the contrary it's increasing to the extent that one day, we will no longer be able to appreciate a free life-style. So what we should learn more about this time round is the importance of kindness and the purpose of our lives. Are you curious about this stuff ? Let's talk together, walk together , and share happiness with people all around the world !

High rise living in Japan

The early morning commute by train to the big cities Busy Tokyo streets

No one knows what will happen in the future. But I wish for world peace. Now in the world, various disasters happen, for example, war, earthquakes,environmental problems and so on. I worry terribly about them and my countries future. Japanese people only hope to be happy for now. They don't think about their future. This is wrong. I worry about their opinion. I respect foreigners. They hold strong opinions. What do you think about my worries ? I don't know if our future will be good, so I want Japan especially to change. I want to be a wonderful woman. Probably you will know my name in ten years time ?!! Sachiko Hosono

Sachiko and her friends in Osaka

'What I Hope For In The 21st Century' by Ryosuke Naitoh I hope somethings will improve in the 21st century. For example, that we'll have cars that can fly and that won't need gas.This would be good for the environment and people would enjoy driving more. Also we should be able to go wherever in a moment. For instance , if we could go to school in a moment we could get up at 8:00am. We wouldn't have to get up at 6:00am!! It would be wonderful ! And it would reduce accidents. Safety is important in life. Our bodies should be strong and not suffer illnesses. So old people can have a good time in life too. And we can go to school everyday to talk with friends . Lastly I hope to keep the earth clean in the 21st century because in the newspapers it says : "People have been destroying the earth since the latter half of the 20th century, and frankly speaking the earth will become a dangerous place to live in". I want to live in safety. But people have sacrificed the environment to make money. So our environment has been damaged. I think this is a bad way of thinking. One person's bad thinking is not so strong, but many people thinking in this way is very strong. Let's pull together to live a happy life and to keep the earth clean. For example, taking part in volunteer work, recycling and many other things.	The Japanese bullet train-Shinkansen (model 500)
	Abandoned bikes (a common problem in Japan)
Crowded Streets of Tokyo
Ryosuke and his grandmother　　　　Shusuke and a friend during a trip to Australia
Hello ! My hobby and dream for the 21st century is to become a famous person. I want to be a guitarist. Recently I joined a band contest and I saw many good players. I realised that I was still poor at playing but at the same time, I had a mind to become better. I think seeing good playing is a good way to become better. Thank you Shusuke Kitagawa