The Small Book of Big People (Part 2)

Welcome! 

This is a second collection of writing about exceptional people that my great writing students here at Daito Bunka have put together. I hope everyone who reads it will continue to enjoy it. 

People in our dreams

People in our dreams are usually famous people we respect and admire - but they don't have to be. They give us great models that help us to dream big and set goals. They move our feelings in unexpected ways like no other people can, and we carry their inspiration through our own lives. Here are some thoughts about these people, and what they do for us.

My most respected person is Mizuki Noguchi. She is a marathon runner. She is very small, but her early characteristic was a stride form of running. She took the gold medal at the Athens Olympics. When I read her book, she impressed me greatly, because she said, “the distance does not let me down.” I was touched by her words. She is an unusually hard worker.  I want to become a player like her.

I like Hilary Duff because she is beautiful and her songs encouraged me. My most favorite song of hers is “Why Not.” This song is very positive and reflects her character. In addition, she has great ideas about charity. She donated lot of money to Hurricane Katrina when she was seventeen. I really sympathize with her. It is attractive also as a woman, so I respect and love her. I want to be a person like her.

Atsushi is a vocalist I respect the most. He is one of the members of Exile. He always wears sunglasses and has a tattoo, so he may look scary to people, but he is very kind. His activities are wonderful. He went to the disaster area and had a soup kitchen. His singing voice is clear and strong. His song makes us impress and gives us love, dream and happiness in his song.

My exceptional person is Shinji Kagawa. He is a pro soccer player. He plays for Japan national team. He is a member of Manchester United Football Club. He is the first Asian player to score a hat trick in The Premier League. The stadiums are packed with excited spectators to see him play. Similarly I was excited. I have respect for his beautiful play. He has the fans in his power.

Tomohisa Yamashita is my exceptional person. He is an actor, singer, and idol. His face is very cool, his TV dramas fascinate all audiences, and his songs are very nice.

He doesn’t have a father. He became an entertainer who wanted to care for his family. I was impressed with his thinking. So I respect him very much. I want to be a person like him.

I respect for the singer Yuki. She is so cute in spite of 40 years old. And her songs give me many powers. Especially, there are many songs about love in her songs. For example, “Sunset of Stardust” makes me happy. But I feel heartbreaking when I am in love with someone. “Prism” gives me many powers too. So I could have ever done my best because of songs like these. And the way of her life sets a good example for women. I want to be a sparkling woman like her.

I respect Taylor Swift who is singer in America. She has blond hair, blue eyes, red rouge lip, and cute. Her songs are pop, ballad, and they cheer up me when I felt down. She writes songs herself and based on her experience. For example, “We Are Never Getting Back Together” is one of her big songs. It has a bright and poppy melody! The song is popular with young people. When I listen to this song, it gives me energy. Another one is “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The song is gloomy and with painful lyrics. There is a meaning that unexpected things happened and heartbreaking. When I feel down and listen to these songs, I am encouraged. Especially, these songs are my favorite songs! I want her to be known by a lot of people, because she isn’t well known by older. So I hope that every generation loves her.

My exceptional person is a soccer player. His name is Keisuke Honda. He looks strong and cool. His appears in a lot of commercials on TV, and on the ground, he plays both forward and in the midfield. In Japan he first played for Nagoya, then he went to Netherlands to play for VVV. Now, he plays in Russia for CSKA. Sometimes, he teaches soccer to children. He has a strong consciousness for the game, and tries so hard to be one of the world’s best players.  　

My exceptional person is Nana Mizuki. She is a voice actress and singer. She performs many characters and sings many great songs, and I became her fan to listen to her music directly. Her singing voice is very beautiful and she went to the NHK Kohaku Utagassen for voice actors and actress for the first time. So her voice and songs are exceptional to me.

Avril Lavigne is a good singer. Her hair color is colorful, green, pink, and golden. Her live performance is very cool. She has beautiful voice, and she plays the guitar. Her fans are jump and shout in live. She is cheerful personality. So, she has a lot of fan. She makes me happy and cheerful!  She is a big artist now!

I respect Kazuyoshi Morita. He is the emcee who is the most famous in Japan. He has many programs and he is a comedian. He is smart and knows a lot, and he has as amazing story because he injured his right eye in an accident when he was young.

He can hardly see well with his good eye, so he wears sunglass. If everybody talks about "the entertainer of sunglasses’’ we think of him. He entered the entertainment world at 30 years old. However, he plays an active part in this world that I think this to be great. Many people respect him.

My favorite singer is Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. I will talk about her. She has been popular among the younger generation. Her career as a fashion model started when she was still a high school student in the streets of Harajyuku. Her looks are pretty because they are so individual. She usually is wearing fantastic clothes. For example, bloodshed shoes, and a dress made of candy. They are very interesting. Her personality is mysterious. When she appears on television, she does not smile. I have never seen her smile. But I love her.  

I esteem Haruki Murakami for his writing ability. For example, he writes the books that are composed of a unique statement and metaphor. They attract readers. When I read his books for the first time, I was also attracted to them. Norwegian Wood was especially attracted me in the book written by him. This book made me a little sad and caused a strange feeling. I want to be a novelist. I want to imitate his writing ability and be a novelist like him.

I respect Noriyuki Makihara. He is 44 years old now. He has made songs since he was very young. He has an arrest record because of a stimulant. After leave prison, he accomplished a revival. His song “Sekai ni Hitotudake no Hana” was the most sold tune in Japan in the last decade.　He continues to sing and make beautiful songs. I feel a strong emotion because he was set back one time. But he continues to stick to his beliefs. I want to become like him.

Kim Jeajung is the most famous Korean singer. I think he is cool, mysterious, cute, a gentleman, elegant, smart and he sings very well! When I was 13 years old, I saw him for the first time on a TV music program when he appeared with the group he is famous for, Touhoushinki. When they sung, I was very surprised by their songs, and his beautiful voice especially shocked me. This group became famous in Japan, and he rose in popularity. I often listened to their songs then. Their beautiful harmonies relaxed me and cheered me up, especially his voice. He is now the face of Korean cosmetics store called Tony Mory. It profited thanks to him. I think his popularity shows no sign of abating. Recently, he has become an actor playing the leading roles in two films. I think he will have become a huge star! I want to continue to cheer for him, and I will love him forever.

I do not have a person now that I respect, but in the future I want to be be a person that many people respect.

I have a dream that nobody has. My dream is to be someone that can change something in this world, this world with many problems and many dirty things, and many selfish people, but with many more things that are very beautiful.

I don’t know how to be a great person that is capable of changing the world, but I came to this university to search that, to search how to evolve.

So now, I am not a person that can be in this book, but in ten or twenty years I hope to be one of the “big people.”

I respect Tadataka Ino. He was surveyor of the Edo period. He was born in 1745 and died in 1818. He made a map of Japan for the first time in the history of Japan. He began this when he was 55 years old. At that time, to go around Japan was difficult. He completed the map of Japan over 17 years to 1800-1816. His surveying skill was high equal to modern technology. His map was recognized as an official map for the first time in Japan. He was a great person.

I respect Futoshi, the vocalist for the band Aqua Timez. It is a very popular Japanese rock band. He is very good looking, with brown hair. He also has a beautiful voice and writes the words to their songs. He is kind and calm. He likes Chinese noodles, dogs, and music.

His lyrics are very beautiful. His songs impress me because they make me happy and sad. For example “Rainbow” is very positive song. I want to hear when I am in low spirits. “A Curtain of Moon” is very bittersweet song. I want hear at night. I was moved to tears many times, especially when I went to their concert. At that time I had a wonderful experience and it was a very precious memory. Their songs have encouraged me. I continue to support them forever.

My exceptional person is Hisayoshi Chono. He is a great baseball player who plays for the Yomiuri Giants. He is a right fielder and wears number 7. He is good at spray hitting and getting the ball back to the infield.

He is cool and funny. He can speak English very well so foreign players appreciate him. He is strong when the bases are loaded, and chance a scene and body. He moved me when he hit home run with bases loaded.

I want to see him when I go to the Tokyo Dome.

An exceptional person to me is Elle Fanning. She is American girl, 15 years old. She has already worked as an actress for more than 10 years.

She’s good actress and it’s one of reasons why I love her. Important reason why is that she doesn’t forget pure teenage heart though she works in business world more than 10 years. Many popular teenage girls try to be adult, but she doesn’t do that. So I love her and she is special to me.

Takuya is popular vocalist in Japan. He is a member of a band, UVERworld. Their songs always impress their fans, and are compassionate. I really respect them. He is very active when they perform live. I am always moved by his songs and get vitality from them. He becomes physically strong from his movement.  Their performance always charms people. I will always try to see them perform for as long as I can go.  

I respect John Marston. He is a very cool cowboy because he has a lot of enemies. He defeats his enemies and protects his family from harm. He uses his rope very well. If I were reborn, I would want to be cool and western like him, even though he is a game character. That is right - there are exceptional people even in the game world.

Other voices, other feelings

So many have so much to say about the people we feel to be exceptional that it is hard to collect every word of meaning and feeling. Here is a summary of what others say about their exceptional people.

I respect my grandfather. He began a new company that succeeded in food products. He began his work after the war, and made a lot of money, selling Chinese noodles. He gave me a lot of otoshidama when I was growing up. I still can’t earn much money, but I want to be like him, because he is great.

I was always scolded since I was a child, so I thought my mother was very scary when I was growing up. I understood, however, that my mother scolded me to help me. She is smart, fashionable, and is a great cook.

She always thinks about me carefully, and is reliable. I respect her the most.

Can you guess whom I write about here? I will tell you.

I respect this person. This person is a woman. Her mind is so kind. For example, when I clean my room, if I try to throw away things, she stops me, because she is not able to throw away things immediately. I think that it is good for environment, even if it is not good for her. She is a great cook too. Her cooking tastes friendly. So I love her taste. She thinks carefully about the whole family. For example, she worries about the physical condition of my father and the future of my older sisters. So I love her. So who is this? Of course, it is my mother!

Makoto Shinkai is a director who mainly creates animated movies. The characteristics of his animation are very beautiful scenes of nature and delicate psychological descriptions. I love his work.

I love rock and my favorite guitarist is Keith Richards, the guitarist for the Rolling Stones. He was born in 1943. When he was young, he had a cool face and long hair, but now he is an old man. He had drug addiction a long time ago, but he is still my guitar hero forever. I love him.

My exceptional person is Mark Zuckerberg. He created Facebook when he was still in university.  Facebook is a great and important communication tool all around the world for people. He succeeded when young. There is not even one person that does not know his name in the world by now. He is billionaire now because of his creation. I respect him.

My exceptional person is Shinji Kagawa. He is a professional soccer player. He plays for Japan national team, and for Manchester United. He is the first Asian player to score a hat trick in the Premier League. The stadiums are packed with excited spectators to see him play. Similarly, I was excited and have respect for his beautiful play. He has the fans in his power.

I like to listen to music and play the bass, and my favorite band is Ellegarden. Their vocalist was Hosomi Takeshi. I respect him and his fashion. His songs were powerful. Even though he has moved on to a new band, I still love his voice and music.

The person whom I respect is Mr. Handa. He is a teacher of the high school I went to. He was tall and his appearance was very incredible. He taught me mathematics. I was very poor at it, but he taught me difficult problems carefully. He was the best teacher for me, and I will not forget him.

My exceptional person is Tatsuya Fukuzawa. He is a volleyball player who plays left and wing spiker positions. He is a member of the Japan national team and Panasonic Panthers. He is 189 centimeters tall but can jump 357 centimeters! He is also intelligent, getting the best grades in junior and senior high school and entering Chuo University, where he graduated. So he is not only a very cool player, but a complete person too.

My most respected person is Jiro, the bass player for Glay. He is very cool and beautiful to listen to and watch. When he is playing, I see how happy and fun he is. He is the best bandman for Glay.

I have an exceptional group of people. It is a rock band called Glay. When I was a child, my mother always listened to their music. So I remembered the lyrics of their songs. These days when I go to karaoke, I sing their songs. They have so many I love, but perhaps my most favorite song is “Beloved.” I recommend this song to everyone.

My exceptional person is Michael Jackson. He was the most famous entertainer in the world. He was a gentle, cool and intellectual singer and dancer. When he died in 2009, people around the world mourned his death.

My most respected person is Yui, who is a singer and guitarist. When I was a junior high school student, I first found out about her. I liked her clear voice and acoustic guitar. She comes from Fukuoka, but she has become famous all through Japan. She played at the Budokan in 2008. Her major song is “Cherry,” which is a love song. I copy her songs, and love her style.

My exceptional person is Park Yuchun. He is a Korean singer and was a member of Tohoshinki until 2010. At present he belong to another group, JYJ. This group is very famous in Korea. His singing voice is sweet and low. He is very polite and kind, and he loves his family, especially his younger brother. His name is Yoohwan and he is also an actor.
Yuchun looks cool, so fans of the world are deeply impressed with his looks. He can play the piano and I forget myself when I listen to his playing. For these reasons, I respect him.

Dirk Nowitzki is a basketball player and the person I respect the most. He is my favorite player in the National Basketball Association in the U.S. While he is the tallest player in the NBA, he is shoots the ball very well. His play is dynamic and exciting. His team, the Dallas Mavericks, was NBA champions in 2011. He is great!

My exceptional person is Makoto Hasebe. He is a professional soccer player who is clever and quick. His position is in the midfield. He is playing now in Germany. He was excellent while playing in Japan. He is a captain of the Japan national team. Off the field, he is very kind and participates in many charity activities. So I respect him very much.

The band I respect the most is Glay. Their songs are full of emotion. Representative songs are “However,” “Beloved,” and “Winter Again.” These and other songs of theirs have sold millions in Japan.

Glay consists of four members: Teru on vocals, Takuro and Hisashi on guitars, and Jiro on bass.  Jiro is the one I love the most. His playing is very cool, beautiful and skillful. His playing inspired me to learn the bass.

I respect Michael Balzary. He is one of the most skillful bass players in the world with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He is usually called Flea, because he jumps around when he plays the electric bass. So he looks like a flea. I also play the electric bass, so I want to be like him.

The person I respect most is my friend. I got to know her when I was in high school, on our basketball team. Thanks to her, I could work hard and set goals for myself, and get into university.

I have great esteem for Jon Bon Jovi. He is blonde with a little long hair, tall, and beautiful white teeth. He is a famous singer of his own band Bon Jovi. His voice is cool and powerful. Bon Jovi’s famous song is “Living on a Prayer,” “Never Say Goodbye,” and “It’s My Life.” He’s also an actor. He appears on film occasionally, such as Pay it Forward and New Year’s Eve.

My most respected person is Daigo. He is a singer and actor. He is a member of Breakerz. It is a rock band. He is 35 years old, and his grandfather was a prime minister. His older sister is a caricaturist. He is tall and slender. He is polite. I respect his polite character.

My respected person is that of my high school teacher. He helped us to change our behavior, and visited our parents at home. So I respected my high school teacher.

My exceptional person is Yusuke. He is a singer. His songs are very cheerful, and make me brighter. If you want to be energetic, listening to his songs is very good. I always listening his songs when I was feeling depressed. His personal life is also very good. He is well known by many people for kindness and tender. He changed my personality. He made me what I am today.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this collection about special people.

Image credits: Pattern - "Abstract Blue Shade" (courtesy of gubgib)/Hugh Grant - reproduction of DVD cover/Wooden deck - "Bars and Shadows"/Pattern image from FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Hugh Grant and deck photos personal images

Wooden deck personal image - all rights reserved. Hugh Grant personal image reproduced and posted strictly for educational use. I do not own the rights to this image. All rights reserved to the copyright owner(s).