The Apple a Day Learn English Podcast - Live from Japan

Hokkaido fruit, Mozart and melons, being poor, and the mystery of choosing fruits are some of the topics discussed in this week's show

The Brave Goldfish is a story about a hungry cat and a smart goldfish. It has 5 questions at the end to challenge your listening skills.  

In this week's show,  Hana and Steve look at the life Akihiko Kondo and his decision to marry Vocaloid computer-generated singing software Miku Hatsune. In 2017, the Gatebox company started the Living With project. Using characters they design, fans can buy a virtual home robot living inside a glass tube. Miku Hatsune was the 1st character used for the project.

Today's show is different from the others we've done. Be warned. It's intended for students of English at a more basic level.

I wrote a children's book a few years ago called Uncle Pazzo. The idea behind the book was to get young English language learners to listen to a very short story and answer questions on it from their memory. The stories are simple and the questions not so challenging, but that's the purpose: To build up learners' confidence and get them to focus on listening and thinking at the same time.

Before COVID-19 made it impossible for foreigners to visit Japan for the Tokyo Olympics, some people here worried about possible culture clashes, and one area of concern was eating etiquette. Today's show discusses slurping while eating noodles.  Similar to most countries, noisy eating is considered rude manners, especially in formal social situations. So why are certain noodles exempt from this rule?

An ironman race is one of the toughest competitions in the world. Raced in under 12 hours, competitors must swim 4km, ride their bikes 180km, and finally run 42km. In 1978, fifteen men took up the challenge to finish this race in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, and 12 of them did.  Today, you can't just fly to Hawaii and race. Competitors have to earn their place by winning their age group in races held around the world. Hiromu Inada was the only competitor in 85–89 year old age category. The second-oldest competitor to finish the race was nine years younger than him. 

Every year, thousands of people decide to vanish, to leave their lives, and start new. In Japan, they are called jouhatsu, or evaporated people. This week, Hana and Steve discuss some of the reasons why these people decide to evaporate without a trace.

Shinkansen is the topic for episode 15. Hana and Steve discuss paying fines in Italy, toilet emergencies in Shizuoka, losing jobs at JR, and why taxis confuse students of English in Japan.

This week's show looks at a single mom's struggle to save her fatherless daughter. There are companies here in Japan that rent actors to people in need of a father for a wedding, or girlfriend for a party, or just a friends to go shopping with. Hana and Steve talk about what they would do if they rented an actor, their childhoods, and of course, challenging prepositions.

This week, Hana and Steve discuss why Japan ranked 56 in the latest happiness survey, and 2 ideas that help people in Denmark stay at the top of the World Happiness Index. As always, Hana shows her English skills with prepositions, while Steve tries to pick which is better, rich and sick or poor and healthy.