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Views #69 | Low Intermediate 4

Japan

Kentaro talks a little about his home country of Japan and his hometown roots.

Script
Vocab
Quiz


Kentaro	Todd

Todd: Hello! What is your name?

Kentaro: My name is Kentaro.

Todd: Kentaro. And what is your full name?

Kentaro: My full name is Kentaro Sugimori.

Todd: Sugimori.

Kentaro: Mm-hm.

Todd: OK. And where are you from?

Kentaro: I'm originally from Hamamatsu city. Which is in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

Todd: Oh, really. Shizuoka is a nice place.

Kentaro: Oh, really!

Todd: Yeah!

Kentaro: Have you been there?

Todd: Yeah, I used to live there.

Kentaro: Oh..Great!

Todd: Tell me about Japan.

Kentaro: Well, Japan is, compared to the states, it's small, homogeneous, however and it's also has it's own culture.

Todd: OK. Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Japanese culture is very, very unique.

Kentaro: Mm-hm.

Todd: What is the capital city of Japan?

Kentaro: Tokyo.

Todd: Tokyo

Kentaro: I believe so.

Todd: OK! Yeah, and who is the leader of the country?

Kentaro: Well, our political leader is Mr. Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro.

Todd: OK.

Kentaro: But our psychological leader will be our Emperor.

Todd: OK. Nice, and do you like the Prime Minister?

Kentaro: Yes, I like him.

Todd: OK. Yeah, me too. Alright. Thanks a lot.

Kentaro: Thank you.

Learn vocabulary from the lesson!

full name

What is your full name?

Your 'full name' generally includes your first, middle and last name. In some cases, people may not have middle names, or may have more than one last name. This is your legal name, as it would be written in a passport. Notice the following:

My full name is really long.
Please write your full name on the line.

used to

I used to live in Japan.

We use 'used to' for something that was true in the past, but isn't true anymore. We can use this to talk about repeated actions in past or physical states. Notice the following:

You used to eat meat.
She used to be very fat in college.

homogeneous

Japan is homogeneous and has its own culture.

'Homogeneous' things are very similar or have something in common. Notice the following:

In a very homogeneous population it was easy to see that he was a foreigner.
My high school was very homogeneous.

political leader

Our political leader is the Prime Minister.

A 'political leader' is someone who is a government official. This person is responsible for the people of the country and has some ability to make changes in the country. Notice the following: