How to spend on weekends in Japan and Minnesota

• Introduction　
Most people like weekends. They make them both excited and relaxed. This paper will discuss how people spend weekends in Kumamoto and Minnesota. Both countries have good places; for example malls, downtown, mountains, rivers and so on. The largest mall in Minnesota (Mall Of America) is in Minneapolis. This paper will compare that mall and Kumamoto’s mall as well as compare other places and acts of people on weekends.
To answer these questions, before this trip, I prepared a questionnaire and most of the Kumamoto students answered it. There were a lot of answers. I could know about how people spend weekends in Kumamoto. After arriving in Minnesota, I went to malls and saw several good places in Minnesota, and talked with my host family about how they spend weekends in Minnesota, about American culture, religion, food, about life style and custom in Minnesota. I gave the questionnaire and all of host family answered it. There were a lot of good and funny answers. I could know about how people spend weekends in Minnesota.

2. In Kumamoto
Young people often go shopping, drinking, driving and Karaoke in Kumamoto. There are some malls, for example Hikarinomori, Ieon mall and Sanpian. People sometimes go there, and spend their time shopping and eating lunch. Young people also sometimes go downtown. There are a lot of stores. We go there, and hang out with friends and boyfriends or girlfriends. Downtown, there are many drinking restaurants too, so young people go there, and enjoy drinking. Driving is another pleasure of young people. Kumamoto has many beautiful places; for example Mt. Aso and Amakusa. Mt. Aso has many beautiful forests. When it is fine, young people drive there and enjoy nature. Also the mountain has a nice night view. People often look at this sight. In summer, young people go to the beach. Amakusa is one good place for beaches in Kumamoto. Young people spend their time playing beach volleyball, fishing, swimming and eating shaved ice.
According to my study abroad survey, KGU university students usually go shopping, meet friends or date, stay home and work part time on weekends. They often go shopping downtown or shopping malls. A few people answered they sometime go to spa and sports gym or pool, so they must be very healthy. Almost all of them spend time with their friends on weekends. When they spend time with their family on the weekend, they often go to shopping and eat dinner. When they spend it with friends, they often go downtown and to shopping malls. When they spend with boyfriends or girlfriends, they go to shopping malls, movies, drive, other towns and so on. Finally, they spend from 2,000 to as much as 15,000 yen on weekends.


3. In Minnesota
In Minnesota, there is also much beautiful nature. For example, there are a lot of lakes, beautiful flowers, a lot of huge parks and so on. There are about 10,000 lakes in Minnesota. People in Minnesota often spend their time there. They walk in the park looking at cute flowers, and they enjoy swimming at the lake. Some people in Minnesota go to lake homes, and they ride cruisers and jet-skis. They enjoy summer sports. Also, people in Minnesota go to some leisure places.
There are huge malls in Minnesota. One of the mall’s names is “Mall of America”. It is said that to be the second biggest mall in the world (“Mall of America”, online). There are about 520 stores in the mall. People in Minnesota sometimes go there, and they go shopping. There is a big amusement park there too. People in Minnesota go there and play with their family and friends. There are some smaller malls in the suburbs, and people go to them too.
According to my study abroad survey, people in Minnesota usually stay home, go shopping, meet friends or date and go out to eat on weekends. A few people sometimes travel, drive and go to church. There are many Christians in America, so there are many churches there. Next, people in Minnesota usually spend their time with family and friends on weekends. They usually go to restaurants, movies, parks and so on. A few people answered that they sometimes go camping, lake, yard sales and golfing in Minnesota. Golfing in Minnesota is so fun, and not as expensive as in Japan. Finally, people in Minnesota spend about 10 ~ 150 dollars on weekends. Surprisingly, one person answered that he doesn’t spend money on weekends.

• Conclusion
It seems that how to spend weekends in Minnesota and how to spend weekends in Kumamoto are similar, because both areas have a lot of wonderful nature and useful downtown areas. Sometimes we go to Mt. Aso. We have nice and beautiful beaches and mountains. People in Minnesota sometimes enjoy its beautiful nature in weekends, such as swimming in some beautiful lakes. There is no ocean, because it is surrounded by other land. However, when it is winter in Minnesota, people enjoy playing ice hockey on the lakes. Ice hockey is one of most famous sports in Minnesota.
On the other hand, in Kumamoto, we enjoy swimming at the sea in summer. There are a few lakes, but the water is dirty, so we can’t swim in the lakes. We can play sports at the beaches, such as volleyball, but it’s not a famous sport in Kumamoto. The most famous spectator sport is soccer, because Kumamoto has a professional soccer team. The name is Roasso. Perhaps we need famous sports that can coexist with the nature of Kumamoto.
In Minnesota, there are two big downtowns. They are Minneapolis and St. Paul. People sometimes go there, and go shopping and eat something. There is a wider variety of stores than in Kumamoto. Moreover, there are a lot of malls and grocery stores in Minnesota. People often buy things on weekends.
In Kumamoto, there are some malls and one downtown. The downtown is not huge, but there are a lot of clothes stores, restaurant, and other useful stores. We sometime go there, and enjoy ourselves. Though this trip and survey, we see that both countries have downtown and beautiful nature, so we can spend comfortably every weekend.


• Bibliography

ミネソタ州. Oct.14, 2008 Wikipedia, Retrieved 04:26, 10月 21, 2008 from
http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E3%83%9F%E3%83%8D%E3%82%BD%E3%82%BF%E5%B7%9E&oldid=22322592.
“Big Ten Other Sports”, Oct. 21, 2008 Retrieved from
http://www.noramsports.com/news/BigTen/Others/Reports/OB20030414.html
“Lake” Oct．21，2008　Retrieved from
http://yukainatousan.blog2.fc2.com/blog-date-200710.html
“Mall of America”, Oct. 21, 2008 Retrieved from
http://www.link-usa.jp/go/moa/index.html


Weekends
• What do you usually do on the weekend? (circle all that apply)
Stay home go shopping sleep meet friends/date go out to eat travel/drive work part time Other
• If you go out, where do you usually go?
downtown shopping mall mountains water(lake, river, sea)
sports gym or pool other leisure facility Other
• Who do you usually spend weekends with?
Family Friends Spouse or boy/girlfriend
• Where would you go out with the following people?
・Family
・Friends
・Spouse or boy/girlfriend
• If you go out on a weekend, how much do you usually spend on average?

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