ESSAY 3

My hometown is Kikuka in Yamaga, and it is very countryside! It takes about one hour to get there by car from downtown, and you need to take cars or busses. They don’t have train to go to Yamaga. We have no convenience store in our town, so every stores are closed mid night. We have no place to hang out, too, like Karaoke or Bowling. However we have many mountains and rivers.

We have a famous valley called, Yatani Keikoku. You can enjoy swimming and fishing there. They still have rich nature. The water is very cold and clear, and you can camp in summer. You will see many families with little children there.
Yamaga is famous for hot springs. When I say that I’m from Yamaga, almost everyone says, “Oh, the hot springs!” You should come to the hot springs in Yamaga, sometime. Yamaga is also famous for a summer festival, called Yamaga-toro. They have 1000nin-odori, and I think that why the festival is so famous. 1000nin-odori means one thousand people-dance. One thousand of women put something like garden lantern and walk and dance, but it’s not really hard dance. It’s kind of Japanese folk dance. Can you imagine it? It looks very beautiful.

Sometimes I feel like I want to live in a very big city like Tokyo or Fukuoka because they have so many nice shopping stores, restaurants, and more. I’m really jealous! However, when I go back to my hometown and walk around my house, I really love being there because the view is so amazing. I hope that you can come and see my hometown sometime. (272 words)