Reading a Notice About a Festival Cancellation and Adapting Plans
You planned to attend a summer festival in a small town. You find a notice on the town website. It says: 台風の接近により、明日の花火大会は中止いたします。楽しみにしていただいた皆様には、心よりお詫び申し上げます。なお、屋内の盆踊りは予定どおり開催いたしますが、開始時間を一時間早めます。会場の駐車場は使用できませんので、公共交通機関をご利用ください。You have a non-refundable train ticket arriving at 5 pm, and the indoor dance was originally at 7 pm. You must decide whether to go and what to tell your friend.
1. Extract the key facts and identify what changed and what did not.
Read the worked answer
Changed: the fireworks display (花火大会) is cancelled due to an approaching typhoon; the indoor bon dance (盆踊り) starts one hour earlier, so 6 pm instead of 7 pm; the car park is unavailable, so use public transport. Unchanged: the indoor bon dance still takes place. Apology language (お詫び申し上げます) is formulaic, not a factual change.
2. Given your 5 pm arrival, decide whether to attend and explain your reasoning.
Read the worked answer
You arrive at 5 pm; the dance now starts at 6 pm, so you can attend if transport from the station is quick. However, the typhoon may disrupt trains, and the car park closure means you must rely on buses or trains. Decision: attend only if you can reach the venue by about 5:45 and check that trains are running. Tell your friend: 花火は中止だけど、盆踊りは六時からになったよ。駐車場は使えないから、電車で行こう。