Mr.Nishimura in Okinawa sent me some scraps of Okinawan newspaper.

  There are only two days left for this year. I had been thinking I had to write a letter to Mr.Nishimura. He sent me a letter a month ago, but I hadn't answered it since then. Today, a parcel was sent to me from him. It was  

The Emperor's Cup Succer final is going to be played between J-2 teams.

  The weather forecast said it would begin to snow with strong wind at around 9:00 a.m. and would continue till 6:00 p.m., so I left home at about 8:20 a.m., a little earlier than usual. I returned home at about 10:00, and it didn't snow at all. In the afternoon, the wind blew strongly for a few hours, but it snowed only a little.
  In the afternoon, I watched semi-final games of the Emperor's Cup soccer. Surprising enough, the two winning teams were the teams from J-2, not J-1, the top league of Japanese professional teams. FC Tokyo (J-2 Champions ) defeated Ceresso Osaka (J-1), and Kyoto Sanga ( 7th place in J-2) defeated Yokohama Marinos.

Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister and her husband, brother-in-law.

  As the weather got better, Ayako went to Sapporo by bus to see her sister in the care house and her husband alone in the condominium. She left home at 9:30 a.m. and returned home at around 3:00p.m., when I was walking along the Tomakomai river. Ayako said her sister was sleeping and didn't speak even a single word, and her husband was well tough living confined to a wheel chair.
  Before I left for the Tomakomai river, I watched on TV the final game of high school basketball championships tournament. Sapporo Yamanote high school beat out Yamagata comercial high school and won the championship for the second consecutive year.

I stayed at home all day, though the weather was not bad.

  In the morning, when I looked out, I found my garden blanketed with snow. After breakfast I removed the snow around my house and took out the garbage. Then, the broadcast of the basketball game of the semi-final in the national high school championships began. A semi-final game of the invitational tournament between Sapporo Yamanote high school and Ohka high school from Nagoya was an very exciting one, but finally, Sapporo Yamanote won by the score of 74-71.  Yamanote
proceeded to the final with Yamagata Comercial high school tomorrow.

It didn't snow here today either, though, in the other parts of Hokkaido, it snowed much.

  In many places, not only in Hokkaido, but in some north-western parts of Honshu, it snowed very much. Even in Nagoya, where it seldom snows, the roads and streets were covered with 8 cm snow. But, here in Tomakomai, we only saw some flakes of snow falling down.
  Around 11:00 a.m., I watched a basketball game of Sapporo Yamanote high school, I went with Ayako to the post office to send some documents to Takashi in California. The frozen roads were so slippery that it was dangerous to walk on.

Do I have some trouble with my stomach?

   It was snowing heavily on the western side of Hokkaido and Honshu. I spent all day because I felt a little sick with my stomach. I must have eaten and drunk a little too much last night. I didn't eat nothing for lunch today. I have got quite well now. I am relieved.
   In the afternoon and evening, as I had nothing to do, I first watched on TV a high school basket game between Sapporo Yamanote high school and Tkokai Dai San high school from Nagano.  Sapporo Yamanote is the efending champions, an defeated the team from Nagano by the score of 91-71. Then, I watched with Ayako women's figure skating  "the 2011 Japan Championships Competition". Mao Asada won the victory and became the champion. She was great because she had just lost her beloved mother.   

It didn't snow at all despite what the weather foreast said.

  According to the weather forecast, it would be stormy today, but it didn't snow at all. We cleaned the house. I wiped the window panes and room lights in the morning. After that, I sent Christmas e-cards to my friends overseas. Then, I watched succer games of the Emperor's Cup. Four teams incluing FC Tokyo (J2),Yokohama Marinos, Kyoto Sanga(J2), and Ceresso Osaka won and ecied to proceed to the semi finals to be played on Thursday ( 29th of December )  next week. In the evening, Ayako and I had a small Christmas party for us two.

I had to shovel out snow for the first time this season.

  It was not so cold, but snowed and I had to shovel out the snow around my house.

It snowed a little, and the forecast says snow storm will come tomorrow.

  It was cloudy in the morning. After posting the New Year cards at the Sakuragi post office, I walked south to Kawazoe. It was not snowing, but in the afternoon, it began to snow and there is about 5 cm snow on the ground. I sent an email to Tomoko in Sendai, and she answered in the evening saying she is in hospital again. She is suffering from serious lung disease, so when it is severely cold, she must be cared in the hospital. She says she is suffering from drug side effect.

I wrote New Year cards all afternoon.

  There are only ten days left for this year. Time really flies !  As we grow older, we feel as if the same kind of hings happened repeatedly. Nature changes in the same way every year. In spring, snow melts, and fresh leaves come out, and the same flowers come out in the same places. Summer comes, and it gets warmer, of course, and the mountains and fields are covered with green all over. In autumn and winter, the landscapes look the same as in the previous year. Now, it is December, and people are busy preparing for Christmas and for the coming new year. Every kind of stores are struggling to sell as many things as possible as Christmas and year end sales. It was the last day to buy the year-end lottery, but we had forgotten to buy them. We had bought them every year, but had never won.   

It was hard to stand at the crossing when the temperature was -10 degrees.

  Every Tuesday morning, from 7:30-8:10, I have to stand at a crossing as a crossing guard. This morning, the temperature was -10 degrees Celsius, so it was hard to stand there for as long as 40 minutes.
  TV reports repeatedly stories about Kim Jong Il. It had been decided before Kim Jong Il's death that his third son, Kim Jong Un, would take over power from his father. But Kim Jong Il's death came so suddenly that it created more uncertainty about the stability of its new regime.  

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il died.

  It was a very cold,but sunny day today, too. I left home at 9:30 for my usual walking exercise, and on the way, I dropped in at the post office to buy 30 New Year cards. I had printed about 40 cards at home, which I am going to send to my friends and old students, but found I needed some more.
  At the news hour of NHK at noon, big news of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death was reported. Kim Jong Il was 69 years old. He was traveling somewhere, and, on the way, he seems to have died all of a sudden. He was suffering from diabetes and had been attacked by stroke twice before.

Heavy snowfalls in central Hokkaido,today,too.

  It was fine here in Tomakomai, but in Iwamizawa and many other places in central Hokkaido, it has been continuing to snow heavily for couple of days and nights. My sister, Kazuko, lives in Iwamizawa, and she sent me an email yesterday saying she was quite tired of heavy snow. She works as an acountant for a little company there, and commutes to her office on foot, but she had to come home by taxi because of heavy snow. She says the snow on the ground is as deep as 1.5 m.
 I watched succer matches of Toyota Cup. In the 3rd -place match, Kashiwa Reysol was defeated by penalty shoot out. In the Cup final match, Balcerona from Spain won the victory over Santos from Brazil by the score of 4-0, and became the champion.

The coldest morning for this season－10.5 degree below freezing point !

  In the morning, it was very cold. The temperature was minus 10.5 degrees Celsius, the coldest for this season !  But it was sunny, so I went for my routine walking toward the Tomakomai river. The number of water birds seemed to have increased.
  In the afternoon, I enjoyed watching succer games of the Emperor's cup. Kyoto Sanga defeated the defending champion team Kashima Antlers by 1-0 and proceeded to the quarter final. Kyoto belongs to the Division II of J-League.     

Michiko Mokudai, an old student of mine who is suffering from cancer is in a critical condition.

   It took me almost all afternoon and evening to design and print our New Year cards. But in the morning, I, as usual, went out for walking as far as Kawazoe. Ayako went to the hospital to check her diabetes in the morning.
   Miki Takano, one of my old students, emailed me saying Michiko Mokudai, one of her old classmates, is suffering from the side-effect of her cancer treatment. Michiko was diagnosed with cancer, and was expected to live less than three months. First, her cancer was found in her breast, then it metastasized to her lung. In September, she and her husband held their wedding, which they hadn't done when they had got married a few years before, and I attended it. I remember her smiles then. I pray for her and wish the miraculous recovery would happen. 

Dec.15 - half of December of this year is already passing.

  In the morning, I went by bus with Ayako to the funeral hall to attend late Mr.Kwamura's funeral service. I am glad Ayako was getting better. Last night, as the temperature was high for this season, but  this morning, it lowered below zero. So, the water on the surface of the roads were frozen and became very slipperly.
  In the afternoon, I went out for mu usual walk, and dropped in a supermarket to buy bread and sausage for breakfast, and returned home at about 3:00.
  In the evening, I attended the monthly meeting of  our neighborhood association.  

Ayako has had a cold for these days.

  Ayako has had a cold for some days. So today, the wake service for late Mr.Kawamura took place in the funeral hall close to the Tomakomai railway station, but she didn't attend it. I went alone there by the chartered bus with many other neighbors. It took about an hour to finish the wake service, and when I came back home at around 7:30, it was raining.
  After coming home, I watched the semi-final succer game of Toyota Cup between Kashiwa Reysol and Santos, Brazil. The result was the Brazilian team's victory by 3-1. The Brazilian succer was strong, as was to be expected.

Mr.Yoshio Kawamura (95) passed away this morning.

   When I stood at the usual crossing as a crossing guard, I heard from Mrs.Saito that Mr.Yoshio Kawamura, Mrs.Mizutani's father, passed away. The Mizutanis are nextdoor neighbors living just across the road in front of our house.  Late Mr.Kawamura was was 95 years old. About ten years ago, I often saw him carrying the garbage to the garbage station. But he had been in a care home for some years. His wake service will be held tomorrow evening from 6:00, and his memorial service will be from 10:00 a.m. the day after tomorrow.

Takashi & Sachiyo called us on Skype.

   In Sapporo and other places, it seemed to have snowed much, but here in Tomakomai, the weather was fine, though it was a little windy and cold in the morning. I walked eastward to the Tomakomai river, because the wind was not blowing against me. I saw three or four salmon in the river today.
  In the afternoon, Takashi and Sachiyo called us on Skype. Sachiyo was given an award titled "Mt.Fuji Award", for her big contribution to the company this year. We were glad to hear that.   

Kashiwa Reysol won the game against C.F.Monterrey,Mexico.

  It is Sunday today, but it doesn't matter what day it is these days, since I am a retired man, and a pensioner. In the morning, I walked as usual, eastward to the Tomakomai river. The number of swans swimming in the river is increasing. I saw a salmon swimming in the river. There was a dead salmon, too, in the bottom. This year it is often reported that the quantity of catches of salmon has decreased all across the country. It was for the first time that I saw salmon in Tomakomai river.
  In the evening, I enjoyed watching soccer matches of Toyota Cup. Kashiwa Reysol, the champions of the Japan Professional Succer League defeated C.F.Monterrey from Mexico in a penalty shootout after a tie match of 1-1. Kashiwa won against an New Zealand team, and they are going to play against a Brazilian team on Wednesday.

Mao Asada's mother passed away at her age of 48.

  It was a fine day, and I took a little longer walk in the morning than usual. I walked as far as Kawazoe, and walked along the river and around the Kawazoe Gymnasium. It took an hour and a half to get back home.
  In the evening, Ayako and I went out to eat sushi in a kaitenzushi nearby. We came back home around seven o'clock.
  Mao Asada's mother died of HC or hepatic cirrhosis. Mao Asada was in Canada to take part in the World Figure Skating Grand Championships Competition, when she heard her mother was in critical condition. On hearing the news, she gave up the competition, and returned in a hurry back to Japan. She was not in time for her mother's last hours.

Darvish will go to the US major league, he announced.

   The ace pitcher of the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters announced that he wanted to play in the US Major League by making use of the posting system next season. He will receive a big welcome by many major league baseball teams, as well as American baseball fans, of course, because they know he is one of the best pitchers in the world. But, here in Hokkaido,we feel it a great pity to lose one of the best pitchers. Anyway, I hope he will show his beautiful performance there and  demonstrate his ability as the best pitcher in the world.  

The funeral ended this afternoon.

   I went to the funeral hall before 9:00 a.m. In the funeral, two Buddhist priests chanted a sutra while incense was offered by the mourner one by one, and finally my name was called, and I concluded the offering of the incense. The funeral ended and after the priests left it was my turn to make a speech in place of the chief mouner and the bereaved family. In my speech, I laid stress on my sympathy for the parents who lost their son so young, and encouraging the younger brother and sister of the deceased. The funeral ended at 11:00 a.m., and the body of the deceased was carried to the cremetorium with the bereaved family. I returned home, and after having lunch, at around 2:00 p.m., I again went to the funeral hall to attend a Buddhist service in front of the ashes of the deceased laid on the decorated altar. I returned home a little before 4:00.

Mr.Keita Nakano's funeral.

  In the morning, I prepared the draft of the speech as the chief of the caretakers in the funeral. In the evening, at 4:45, Mr.Honda, an official of the neighborhood association, came by car to pick me up and went to Mihara Funeral Hall. Mr.Kikuta, another official of our association and several poeple from Nihon Tsuun Co., which the late Keita Nakano's father works for, had come to serve for care-takers and been waiting for us. We decided each one's task and got ready to receive the mourners.
  There were about 150 attendances, many of whom were young people, because the deceased who died of leukemia was so young as 21 years old, and so, many of his friends came.  

I was requested to serve as the chief of the care-takers of a neighbor's funeral.

   I am a vice-chairman of the neighborhood association, and so, I am often asked to servie as the chief care-taker of neighbor'd funerals. This morning, I received a call from Mr.Honda, an official of the association, being asked to work as the chief of a funeral.
   A young man named Mr.Keita Nakano died of biphenotypic acute leukemia (BAL) after having fought against for five years. He was a 21-year-old university student majoring in pharmacy.  The wake service will be held from 6:00 p.m. tomorrow evening, and the funeral will be held from 10:00 a.m. the day after tomorrow. I will have to thank all the attendants in both the wake and the funeral in place of the chief mourner of the bereaved family.

Ayako returned home just before noon.

   Just before noon, on returning home from Sapporo, Ayako went to Mrs.Azumi's for having her hair cut by a barber who comes once a month. I had to be at home before noon, because I had to receve some things Ayako had ordered from COOP were to be delivered before noon. After the deliverer came, I went to a supermarket to buy lunch for Ayako and me by car. The weather was not bad here, but in Sapporo, and in some regions along the coast of Japan Sea, TV reported that it was snowing heavily, causing traffic disturbances including the train and air services. Ayako was lucky she had left Sapporo before the storm came.  

It snowed. Shoveled snow for the first time this winter. Ayako went with our grandsons to Sapporo and would stay with them overnight today.

   When I walked in the morning, I found the ground covered with snow. The temperature was relatively warm,so the snow bearing water was very heavy to shovel out.
   In the afternoon, Ayako went to Sapporo by bus to send Tokio and Arashi back home. Chiaki called from Takikawa on the way back from Asahikawa, where she was on a business tour, saying she would get back to Sapporo by 4:00. Ayako would stay overnight at Chiaki's house, and return here to Tomakomai tomorrow noon.     

Succer - Consadole Sapporo won the final match, and decided to procced to J-1 the next season.

  The final matches of Japan succer league (J-league ) for 2011 season were played today, and in the 1st Division, Kashiwa Reysol defeated Urawa Red Diamonds by the score of 2-1, and became the champions. In the 2nd Division, FC Tokyo was in the 1st place, FC Tosu in the 2nd, and Consadole Sapporo was in the 3rd, and those three teams were decided to proceed to the 1st Division next season. I am glad that Sapporo defeated FC Tokyo in the final match and was qualified to play in the 1st Division next year for the first time in the past four seasons.

Chiaki drove her sons here and let them stay with us for two nights.

   It was the coldest day for this winter season all through the country. In many parts of Hokkaido, the lowest temperature was about 20 degrees below zero and it snowed much. But, here in Tomakomai, it was a fine day all day, and I took my usual walk as far as Kawazoe.
  In the evening, Chiaki drove her two sons here to let them stay with us for nights because she would have to Asahikawa on business tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, she she would have to go somewhere else. She returned to her house in Sapporo after having dinner. Then, I took a bath with my two grandsons.

A cold day. It snowed in Sapporo, but didn't snow here in Tomakomai.

   It was a cold day. The lowest temperature was a little above zero, but in Sapporo, it was below zero. Scenes of  snowy winter landscape in many places in Hokkaido were seen on the screen of TV. The people I saw on the way of my regular walking wore thick winter clothes. Winter has come all around though we have no snow yet here in Tomakomai.
 

A warm,cloudy day. Went to a barber shop. Emails from Mr.Hasegawa in Nayoro & from Maria in Urguay.

   In the morning, I stood at the cross road as a crossing guard, -  it was a Tuesday today. It was not so cold for a winter day. After having lunch, I walked toward Kawazoe cho as usual, and on the way, I dropped in at my regular chap barber shop and had my hair cut.
   Mr.Hasegawa of Nayoro city sent me an email on Facebook expecting me to work as an interpreter in the Snow Sculpting Competition Japan Cup 2012 which will be held from February 6th to 10th. He also says he has some other thing (?) he is planning in which he will ask me for helping him. He says he cannot say what it is now. What is it ?
   I received another email today. It was from Maria of Montevideo, Uruguay. She says one of his grandchildren who is a system engineer running his own company will visit Tokyo and stay there for ten days. I look forward to hearing his impression of his first visit to Japan.

Mr.Hashimoto was elected as the mayor of Osaka city.

   The elections of the governor of Osaka prefecture and the mayor of Osaka city were held yesterday, and Mr.Toru Hashimoto, the former governor of Osaka prefecture was elected as the mayor, and Mr.Ichiro Matsui from "Ishin no kai" party was elected as the governor of Osaka prefecture. Mr.Hashimoto had been a very popular governer of Osaka prefecture, but he had thought it was an obstacle to reform the political situation of Osaka prefecture. So, he decided to step down from the governor, and run for the mayor of Osaka city, and for the govenor, he let Mr.Matsui from "Ishin no kai", a new local political party, which Mr.Hashimoto had founded. In his election campaign, Mr.Hashimoto said " In order to reform and rebuild Osaka, even dictatorship is necessary. Now, it is certain that the sense of a kind of political stagnation is prevailing all over the country, but to break free of it, is dictatorship truly necessary?  Isn't it dangerous?
  

It was rainy all day. We went shopping in the market near the fishing port.

   The weather forecast said it would be rainy all day, but in the morning, it was only drizzling. Ayako said,"Why don't you go shopping in the market close to the fishing port?"

Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister Emiko, who is in the senior care home.

   After a couple of cold, windy days, it was a fine early-winter day. Ayako went to Sapporo by car alone to see her sister Emiko in the care home, and her husband alone confined to a wheelchair living in a condominium. Ayako returned home at about 2:00 and said her sister and sister's husband were not changed. I walked, as usual, as far as Kawazoe cho, and on the way back, I dropped in at a convenience store to buy two rice balls for my lunch. The trees along the path, mostly swamp ash trees, had no leaves on the twigs, and Mt.Tarumae looked white with the snow on its top. There are only four days in November left.

Nov.25 - is Christmas around the corner?

  I felt cold wind while walking in the morning. But it doesn't snow here in Tomakomai. There's no snow around. But, in Odori Park in Sapporo, " white illumination was ready, and in the evening, the park was lit up beautifully. Vendors and other people have come from Germany for "Sapporo-Munchen Christmas Fair" which is held in every year end.

Good news - my blood sugar level lowered.

 I went to the hospital in high winds and checked my blood sugar level. The hemoglobin A1c was 6.4%, which was 0.8 lower than the previous month and the lowest in the past 12 months. The doctor changed the prescription from the previous month, and that seemed to have worked. I also had a preventive shot against influenza at the hospital. It took all morning, and the weather was bad with high winds, so I couldn't go out for a walk. Just outside the harber of Tomakomai, a big Mexican ship was driven ashore and is unable to sail.

The washstand was renewed.

   Mr.Hirobe and his wife came to renew our washstand in the morning.

Water leaks from the faucet of the washstand and we decided to renew the whole of the washstand.

  Water has been leaking from the faucet of our washstand for a few days, so we called a repairman. The repairman named Mr.Hirobe said the charge needed to repair it would cost almost much as money as to install a new washstand. He estimated a cost of a new washstand including the construction cost. Mr.Hirobe said the new washstand would cost about 70,000 yen, while it would cost about 50,000 yen only to repair the faucet. The difference would be 20,000 yen, but the other parts of the old washstand might need to repair sooner or later, then it would cost another 50,000 yen. Listening to his explanation, we had to decide to buy a new washstand after all. 

Chiaki came to take her sons back home just before noon.

  Tokio, Chiaki's older son, slept in the same room with me last night, while Arashi in the bedroom with Ayako. By the way, Arashi is always a noisy, disobedient little boy. On the contrary, Tokio is a quiet boy. Tokio is very bright, and he is said to be a good leader, but at home, he is always playing a vodeo game. How will they be in the future? Just before noon, Chiaki, their mother, came to take them back home in Sapporo by car.  

We have just returned from Sapporo with Chiaki's two sons.

 This morning, Ayako and I went to Sapporo and visited the elementary school of our second daughter Chiaki's two children's. There was a "gakushu Happyo Kai" or a public show of the children's performances. Tokio, the older of our grandson, beat the Japanese drum on the stage, as one of the drummers, and played a part of a kind of a musical drama. Arashi, the younger, also played on the stage as a part of a wolf in the drama of a folk tale of Ainu, Hokkaido natives. He played very well. There were hundreds of the children's parents and families who had come to see the shows. Chiaki's older sister Haruna and her daughter Minori also came. We left the school just before noon, and returned to Chiaki's house. We had hanburgers for lunch, and at about 2:30 left Chiaki's house by my car with Tokio and Arashi, who wanted to come to Tomakomai. 

I had the tires of my car changed to the winter ones.

    When winter comes and snow falls, we have to change the tires of the car. Many poeple change the tires by themselves, but I have never done it by myself. So, I went to a tire shop nearby today, and asked to change mine. The charge was 2,100 yen.
    It didn't snow today, but was mostly clear. Ayako went to the hospital to check her diabetes in the morning, while I took my routine walk as far as Kawazoe. In the afternoon, Ayako was invited to a small party at Mrs.Azumi's.

Oct.19th. Since last night, it has been raining.

  I stayed at home all day because it had been raining since last night.

The wintry atomospheric pressure - the northwestern areas, snowy, but the eastern areas,fine.

   In Iwamizawa, it snowed as deep as 59 cm, and the expressway was closed, but it was fine here in Tomakomai. A typical wintry atomospheric pressure - in the meteorological chart, over the west of the Japanese archipelago, there is high pressure, and over the east, low pressure. In this atomospheric situation, it snows in the areas along the Japan Sea, and in the other side of the northeastern parts of Japan, we have a fine weather, though the temperature is very low. So it was fine, and Mt.Tarumae looked beautiful thinly covered with snow on its summit.
   In the evening, I attended the monthly meeting of the neighborhood association. In today's meeting, two guests were invited from the city office, and they spoke about the prevention of disasters, especially earthquakes and tsunami.

The first snowfall for this winter - the second latest in history.

   In some places in Hokkaido, including Sapporo, Asahikawa,etc., it snowed for the first time this winter. The first snowfall in the season was the second latest in hisrory in Sapporo. But, here in Tomakomai, it didn't snow, but when I was standing for a crossing guard, I felt very cold. I don't like cold winter, so I pray for not having much snow this winter.
   In the afternoon, I watched the football match between Japan and North Korea played in Pyongyan. Japan lost the match by 0-1. It was a World Cup qualifiers match, but Japan had already been qualified for the final round. As for the Japan series baseball game, the Fukuoka Soft Bank Hawks won the first victory over the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons by the score of 4-2.

Snow season is just around the corner.

   The weather forecast says it will snow this evening and tomorrow in many places in Hokkaido and some parts of  Tohoku and Nagano. But this area, along the Pacific coast, the weather is not bad, though the temperature will be low.
    In the morning, I drove Ayako to a 'shiatsusi' or an acupressure therapit's, because  she suffers from stiff shoulders. I dropped her off at the therapist's in the center of the city, and returned home. At around 11:00, she called me, and I drove again to downtown and picked her up and came home. Then, I went for my usual walk.

It was the final day for me to work in Furusato Noen for this year's season.

    It was a fine day for working outdoors. In the morning, I went alone to Furusato Noen and cleared weeds in our field and made the soil even. It was the end of working in the field for this year.
    Before going out to Furusato Noen, I sent an email to Maria Ether in Urguay. Maria has been my email friend for several years. She is a widow in her seventies, and she is always crazy about football. She says she often goes to watch football games with her adult children.
    In the evening, I watched sports on TV. One was figure skating competition "NHK Trophy".  Takahashi won the champion and Kozuka was the second. In the women's division, Suzuki was in the first place, and Asada was in the second place.

Worked in Furusato Noen & talked with Takashi & Sachan on Skype

   In the morning, I went alone to Furusato Noen and cleaned our field for the next season. It will take another half day to finish. The weather forecast says it will snow in many places in Hokkaido and Akita next week. Winter is just around the corner.
   In the afternoon, Takashi and Sachiyo called us on Skype and talked with them about the scandal of Olympus Optical Co.Ltd, where Takashi used to work for the company. Olympus is reported it window-dressed its accounts to cover up massive losses after the collapse of bubble economy in 1991.
   The first game of the Japan series of baseball between the Chunichi Dragons and the Soft Bank Hawks was played in Fukuoka, and Chunichi defeated Soft Bank by 2-1 in the extra inning game.

World Cup qualifiers - Japan vs Tajikistan

  In the morning, the temperature was -0.7 degrees. When I wiped the car windows, I saw ice flakes on the glass. I went to Furusato Noen to clear our field there.
  In the evening, I watched the football match between Japan and Tajikistan. Japan won by 4-0, and decided to advance to the final round for being qualified for the World Cup in Brazil.
  Prime minister Yoshihiko Noda announced today that Japan will take part in the negotiations for the TPP ( the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact ). Most of Japanese farmers are very afraid that to take part in the negotiations will bring the elimination of tarriffs for agricultural products, and as a result, agriculture in Japan will be greatly damaged and destroyed.
  On the other hand, the industrial producers are expecting that industrial products will be sold more inexpensive without tarriffs. Which will be better for Japan's economy? 

Very cold in the early morning,but warm in the daytime.

  Early in the morning, the temperature was a little below zero, but in the daytime, it was warm and pleasant. I worked to clean in the garden and the outside of the wall surrounding the garden in the morning.

Ayako seems to have got well.

  This morning, it was very cold, and the temperatures in some parts of Hokkaido were below zero. Here in Tomakomai, it was very close to zero. Ayako got well, and we were happy. In the morning, I went for my regular walk. I walked west to Kawazoe.
  I have now two snail mails and two emails I have to answer.  In the afternoon, I wrote a snail mail to Tomoko in Sendai. I wrote about my travel to Hiroshima.

Ayako felt sick, and I took her to the hospital, but she got well.

  It was cloudy and chilly,and the lowest temperature was below 5 degrees. When I got out to stand at a corner as a crossing guard, I saw an egret coming flying. It was very white and beautiful.
  Around noon, Ayako suddenly felt dizzy and nausea. I phoned to the hospital she usually goes, asking how we should do. The nurse on the phone told me to take her to the hospital right away. At the hospital, Ayako was to be given an intravenous drip. I left her at the hospital and returned home because the nurse said it would take 2 hours and a half to finish, and I hadn't had lunch. When I went to the hospital after 2 hours and a half (about at 3:30 p.m.), Ayako had got better, though she was still hooked up to a drip. It took longer than the nurse said, and it was already 4:30 when we came home. On the way home, we bought sushi for dinner. I felt relieved and happy to see Ayako's smile. There seemed to be a trouble in the three semicircular canals.

It was cloudy all day today.

  The December issue of CNN English Express, a monthly English magazine which I have subscribed for more than a year was delivered yesterday. A CD in which is recorded pieces of English news from CNN is attached to the magazine, and I imported the content to X-apri in my PC, and transfered it to my walkman. I listen to it whenever I walk for my everyday exercise. I have continued to listen to it for more than a year. But still, there are a lot that I am unable to understand by listening. I feel English is so difficult.

Ayako and I went to Mukawa to see and buy "shishamo" or a kind of smelts.

  It was cloudy and windy, but didn't rain. Ayako said, "Won't you go driving somewhere with me?" "Somewhere?" We decided to go to Mukawa, where "Shishamo Festival" was held. Shishamo is a kind of smelts and very tasty when eaten roasted. It took about an hour to get to Mukawa to the east of Tomakomai. We left home at about 9:00. First, we we drove through the town of Mukawa, and saw the fishing port. There were about 20 little fishing boats moored, but no people were seen but one gentleman with a fishing rod. It was Sunday, so was it a holiday for fishermen?  We went back to the downtown area. There were a lot of people who had come from many parts of other towns and cities. It was difficult to find the room to park my car in the parking lot, so we put our car by a side of the road. We bought flatfish dried ovrnight, and sent some shishamo to Yamashitas in Nagano and Ayako's brother in Tochigi. It took a long time to pay and send them. We returned home a little after noon, and had lunch.  

It rained for the first time in the last 10 days.

 It rained early morning. Maybe, it was for the first time in these past 10 days. But it was no heavy rain, and cleared off though cloudy all day. I left for my usual walk eastward to the Tomakomai river at 8:30, earlier than usual. After I came home, Ayako went to the surgical hospital for rehabilitation. I stayed at home all afternoon doing nothing special. In the evening, we watched a TV program titled "Aguri Ogoku, Hokkaido" meaning "Agricultural Kingdom, Hokkaido", in which our grandson Tokio appeared with four other primary pupils.

Ayako went to Kuriyama to see her friend.

   I had to go to a convenient store to buy lunch because Ayako had gone by train to see her friend in Kuriyama near Iwamizawa, central Hokkaido. Ayako's friends are Ms Suzuki and Ms Izumo who were her old classmates in her junior high school in Sunagawa city. To have good friends is good, especially when we are getting older.
  The weather was fine, today, too. So, in the afternoon, I walked again, this time, as far as the supermarket "Paseo", where I bought sushi for dinner. Ayako came home at about 6:10.     

What will become of Greece?

  It was another warm fine day. As usual, I walked as far as Kawazoe.
  Greece is in economical chaos, and the other EC countries had a meeting, and decided a plan to save Greece, but one day after the meeting, Prime Minister Papandreou suddenly called for a referendum on whether or not the people will accept the plan. If the plan to save Greece will not be approved by the Greek people, what will the economy of the country become of ?

Good weather is continuing. Walking & gardening today.,too.

  In some parts of Honshu and Kyushu, they seem to have a summer day. A few days ago, it was reported that in eastern part of US, they had heavy snowfall. How unusual the weather in every part of the world these days!
  In the morning, Ayako went to the surgical hospital because she had a pain in the leg, while I took a walk as usual. I walked toward the Tomakomai river. There were wild duck, swans, and geese swimming in the river, but no salmon could be seen.
  In the afternoon, I worked to clear my garden. I puuled up burdocks which I had grown in a plastic bag. The roots of the burdocks were far thinner than those we find in supermarkets, but they tasted same, when I ate cooked as oden for dinner.

It was cold in the early morning, but a sunny day. We enjoyed park golf.

  When I was standing at the crossing as a crossing guard, it was cold, but was a very sunny day all day. In the afternoon, I went with Ayako to Miyano Mori park golf course and played. The course had beautiful green lawn surrounded by woods. The leaves were almost withered, but quiet and beautiful.  

It was a fine day. I went to Furusato Noen.

  In the morning, I went alone to Furusato Noen and pulled out all daikon. In our field, there are no more crops or vegetables left. The harvest season for our field in Furusato Noen is over. But I will have to go there once or twice more to clean the field. I am afraid we won't be able to till the field next spring, because Ayako says it will be too hard for her to work there, and besides, we have prepared a part of our garden for planting and growing vegetables.

The Fighters were beaten by the Lions - the end of the season for the Fighters.

  Why did Nashida yank Darvish in the seventh inning in yesterday's game?  The Fighters were leading by 2-1 at that time. Everyone wonders. The Fighters lost the most important game in this season. In today's game, he yanked Wolfe, who had pitched in the seventh and eighth innings well. After all, the team was defeated by 2 to 8.
 In the morning, we went to Aeon shopping center in the eastern suburbs of the city. Ayako bought vegetables, bread, and some other foods. In the furniture shop close to the shopping center, we broused sofas, which we were thinking of buying.  

Yesterday, I attended a drinking party of the neighborhood association.

  Yesterday, a drinking party of our neighborhood association was held at a Japanese-style pub "Tsubohachi". Nominally it was the evaluation meeting of the events we have held in the past half year, but, anyway, we enjoyed eating, drinking, and talking and returned home a little before 9:00 p.m.
  Before leaving for the party, I watched a Climax Series baceball game between the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Saitama Seibu Lions. Fighters' ace pitcher Yu Darvish pitched very well and allowed only 1 run till 7th inning, but Nippon Ham's manager Masataka Nashida changed the pitcher at the 8th inning, and finally the Nippon Ham was defeated by 5-2 in the extra inning game. What a shame!

I cleared almost all the chrysanthemums in my garden, and replanted some of them in other corners of the garden.

  It took almost all day to clear my garden today. There were too many  various colors of chrysanthemums in my garden. I pulled out almost all of them, and I selected some which had flowers of red, pink, yellow, white, and purple colors, and replanted them in the corners of the garden. And also, I cut down some azalea trees with a saw. To cut trees with a saw is always hard work. But I was glad to see my garden had been cleared. I now look forward next spring coming.
  The flood in Thailand is becoming worse and worse. The water is now getting into the beautiful Budhist temples in Bangkok which we have visited. People are evacuating by boat, or by wadingwater flowing into the streets.

The Nippon Ham Fighters picked Sugano at the first round draft.

  Today, at the 2011 draft meeting of the Japan Professional Baseball Leagues, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters picked Tomoyuki Sugano, Tokai University's ace pitcher at the first round. Sugano is one of the three best pitchers in the university leagues in Japan, but he has wanted to play for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants because he is a nephew of Mr.Tatsunori Hara, the Tokyo Giants' manager. So, the other teams but the Nipon Ham avoided nominating him. As a result of the lot, the Nippon ham won the right of negotiation.
  In the morning, we went to Furusato Noen. We pulled out some daikon or Japanese radish, and 'yacon', and cleaned the field by berrying the leaves of them in the field. In the afternoon, I worked in my garden to prepare for winter season and for the next spring. Ayako planted the bulves of tulips and lilies for the next season.

My sister in Fukushima sent us rice, persimmons, and a pumpkin.

 In the morning, I took some photos of autumn scenes while walking along my routine walking path. After having lunch, as the weather became sunny,though the temperature was low, Ayako and I went to enjoy playing park golf.

Heavy rain since last night, but the autumn colors of leaves are beautiful.

  It rained heavily. But while I was standing at the crossing as a crossing guard, it wasn't raining. The leaves of rowan  and cherry trees had turned red, and looked very beautiful. In the afternoon, I walked as far as the reverside park in Kawazoe, where I picked up chestnuts, but there were no chestnuts,but a lot of empty burs under the trees.

A big earthquake in Turkey - more than 200 people were confirmed dead.

  No one knows when and where a disaster will happen - especially, an earthquake.

Heavy rain. The cleaning day of the neighborhood association cancelled.

  Since last night, it had been raining heavily. So, the cleaning day that the neighborhood association had planned was cancelled. But, as  the rain stopped before noon, I took a walk toward the Tomakomai river.
  Everyday, the media is reporting about the great flood in Thailand. Not only the capital,Bangkok, but many industrial parks where more than 400 factories of Japanese companies have been under water. People were fighting desperately, some are evacuating by boats, others are piling up sandbags to prevent their houses and shops from being flooded by water. It is unknown when the flooding will end. 

Picked up some chestnuts while walking in the morning.

The forecast said it would rain, but in the morning, it didn't. I left home at 9:30 with an umbrella and walked along the Komorebi no michi ( meaning a road through woods ) as far as Kawazoe. In Kawazoe, as it means "riverside", there is a long narrow park, and I picked up some 50 or 60 chestnuts under big chestnut trees. After returning home, Ayako boiled them and we ate them. In the afternoon, it began to rain. In autumn, the weather is always changeable.

It was cloudy all day.

Ayako went to hospital to check her diabetes. I watched the world series game between the Texas Rangers and the St.Luis Cardinals. It was a very close game, but Texas beat St.Luis by 2-1.

Enjoyed driving through Shikotsu Toya national park

 It was a beautiful autumn day today,too. In the morning, at around 8:30, Ayako and I left home by car for Lake Toya. Along the road to Lake Shikotsu, the leaves that had turned yellow and red were so beautiful. We first drove along the Shikotsuko road, got over Bihue Pass, and arrived at the road station "Forest". We shopped around interested in various kinds of fungi, and then, Ayako bought some vegetables like little pumpkins and hakusai. By the way, we had eaten miso soup with mushrooms whenever we came here, but this time, as it was a little early to eat anything, we didn't. We started again for Lake Toya. On the way, Mt.Yotei, or Ezo Fuji, looked very beautiful. We arrived at a scenic overlook, and enjoyed seeing the panoramic view of Lake Toya. Then we went to the foot of Mt.Showa Shinzan, and ate ramen for lunch. Then, we headed back to Tomakomai by way of Shiraoi. We returned home at 1:30.

 In the afternoon, Takashi and Sachiyo called us by Skype. Takashi told us about the scandal of the executives of Olympus Optimistic Company, which he used to work for. Anyway, both Takashi and his wife were well, and we felt relieved.   

A beautiful,sunny day. Enjoyed playing park golf.

It was a beautiful autumn day. In the morning, after trimming the magnolia, or mokuren in Japanese, in my garden, Ayako and I went to enjoy playing park golf in Hamanasu park golf course. There were many people enjoying playing park golf in the sunny weather.

Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister, and Chiaki.

  It was fine, but a little windy and cold. I have to stand at the crossing near my house to guard the children to go to school on every Tuesday morning. I felt cold this morning. The lowest temperature this morning was only 1.5 degrees. Winter seems to be just around the corner.
  Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister in the care house and her husband in a condominium. On the way, she would drop in at Chiaki's house to deliver our souvenirs from our travel.
  I trimmed a rhododendron tree or a rosebay. All the trees in my garden became shorter.

Trimmed the maple tree in my garden

  In the morning, I trimmed the maple tree in my garden. I cut not only the twigs, but some big branches. Now my garden looks brighter, and the sky looks wider.

Returned home from our trip to southern Japam late at night

In front of the atomic bomb dome

  Having traveled in the southern Honshu and a part of Kyushu for four days was not easy for us. On the first day, we visited the Atomic Bomb Dome, The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, the Atomic Bomb Museum. On the second day, we went to the famous sightseeing spot "Akino Miyajima". At the peace memorial park in Hiroshima, we saw the Atomic Bomb Dome, and entered the Atomic Bomb  Museum. There were a lot of photos and remains of the atomic bomb attack, and  seeing them, I felt so sad and gloomy, because among the victims, there must have been many of my grandmother's relatives. I prayed for them in front of the cenotaph and the monument.

At Aki no Miyajima

Akino miyajima is a very famous sightseeing spot, and has been called one of "the most scenic spots in Japan."

We took Leo, our cat, to Sapporo for Haruna's family to take car for him during our trip to western Honshu.

  The weather forecast said today's weather would be rainy and windy, but, in the morning, it didn't seem it would rain, so we decided to go to Sapporo. We had asked our daughter Haruna's family to take care of our cat during our travel. We have prepared almost everything for our travel. I had studied about the sightseeing spots we would visit, and compiled into a leaflet, and printed and made two leaflets, one for Ayako, the other for myself. We are looking forward our travel starting the day after tomorrow. 

Archery "All Hokkaido", Kazuma's team, won the 3rd prize in the national athletic meet.

  In the national athletic meet held in Yamaguchi prefecture, Kazuma's all Hokkaido team won the 3rd place in the group match. They beat Team Osaka, Team Saitama, but were defeated by Team Tokyo in semi-final. Finally they defeated Team Saga, and won the 3rd prize.
 In the evening, I went to Nidom, a gorgeous resort hotel in the eastern suburbs of the city to attend Michiko Mokudai's wedding. There were some 60 attendances including her high school classmates from Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukushima, Sapporo, and Tomakomai, of course. It was a very special wedding. Michiko and the man named Koichi Takahashi had been married for seven years, and they had already had a two-year-old daughter. But they said they hadn't had their wedding ceremony. And, a very sad thing happened. Michiko got cancer in her breast, and the cancer had spread to lung. The doctor said in July this year that she would live only three month, so if she wanted anything while she was living, do as quickly as possible. So she wanted to have this wedding. So sad !  It has already passed three months since the doctor said so. Michiko said she hoped a miracle would happen. I do hope so, too. I pray for her.   

Kazuma, our grandson, was in the 7th place in the archery competition in the National Athletic meet.

  Kazuma, our older daughter Haruna's son, participating in the National Athletic Meet now being held in Yamaguchi prefecture, was in the 7th place in archery individual competition.
  In the morning, I went with Ayako to Furusato Noen to harvest sweet potatoes. The amount of them  was not so much, but we can enjoy eating, as well as presenting them to our daughters and some neighbors.

A changeable weather.

I heard a peal of thunder when I woke this morning. But I got up, drew a curtain, and found a blue sky.

Steve Jobs, the charismatic CEO of Apple, died.

  It rained heavily in the morning. I went to the hospital to have my diabetes checked. The blood glucose level two hours after breakfast was 248 mg/dl, which was bad, and HbA1c was 7.2, slightly better than the previous month.
  News came in from the US; The charismatic CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday, October 5, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 56 years old.

A warm,autumn day

I walked in the morning taking the route to the Tomakomai river. Then I worked to widen the kitchen garden at the eastern corner of my garden. It was  hard work to dig out the root of an azalea.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine for 2011 was announced, but .......

  The Nobel Prize in Medicine for 2011 was announced yesterday evening, but it was not awarded to Dr.Nakayama, who had been expected to be the most likliest. The winners for this year will be awarded to three scientists, one Frenchman and two Americans.
  It was a beautiful autumn day. I walked in the morning a little off my regular route. From Kawazoe cho and returned by way of the hill side road. Hiromi Hironaka ( maiden name Hayasaka), one of my old student posted on Facebook, saying she was going to attend Michiko Mokudai's wedding next Sunday in Tomakomai. She lives in Osaka, so she couldn't attend the class reunion in August. I look forward to seeing her.

Today, again, I collected mushrooms while walking.

  I went out carrying an umbrella for my routine walk. It was cloudy with scattered rain. I walked toward the Tomakomai river, and on the way back, I found the same kind of mushrooms as I had collected on the previous day.

A busy day. Walking through woods in the morning, and in the afternoon,.....

The news reported it snowed in Asahikawa, and, of course, the other mountainous places in north region. It was the first snowfall in Asahikawa and it was the second earliest snow fall in the year on record. Today I walked through the woods in the citizens' hiking course at the back of Kintaro-sawa park. I looked for mushrooms and found almost as many as I had found on the previous day along my regular walking course. 
 In the afternoon, I went  shopping with Ayako, first in Nagasaki-ya near Tomakomai station, and then Paseo in Kawazoe cho, and bought some clothes which I will wear in the tour from the 12th this month.  

I picked a lot of mushrooms on the way along my routine walking course.

   In the early morning, it rained a little. I thought this wet weather is good for fungi  to grow. At about 8:30, I started for Kawazoe cho with a plastic bag in my pocket. First, I found mushrooms called 'yukinoshita' near Hokusei primary school, then, just in front of the crossing at the supermarket "Paseo", I found many mushroom called 'bori bori' just beginning to grow. First, I thought it was a little too early to pick them up, but the place was where many people were always walking, and the mushroom would be found and picked easily by other people, so I decided to pick. Soon the plastic bag became full. I was happy.

It rained heavily in the morning.

Just after I got up, it began to rain very heavily. In the short interval of the rainfall, I carried out bags of garbage to the collection station. 

Sep.29th - Darvish brought a victory for the first time in 10 games !

   Ayako went to Sapporo by car. She went to see Mr.Shimizu, her sister Emiko's husband who had been hospitalized a week before.
  In the morning, I tried to collect information from Wikipedia on the Net about the sightseeing spots whch we would visit next month.
  Masako, Ayako's sister, had an incision into the hip joint, her mother-in-law called us from Nagano in the evening. The operation was successful, she said.
  In the evening, I watched a professional baseball game between the Nippon Ham Fighters and the Soft Bank Hawks. I hadn't felt like to see the baseball games lately because Hokkaido Nippon Ham had continued to be defeated. But this evening, Nippon Ham's ace pitcher, Yu Darvish started. Darvish pitched very well as usual and allowed only 1 run in 8 innings, and the closer Takeda closed out the 9th inning, and Nippon Ham won by 2-1. It was a victory for the first time in the past 10 games. 

I buried all the corn stalk chips in our field in Furusato Noen.

  It was a warm day all day. In the morning, I went alone to Furusato Noen in the morning while Ayako went to the dental clinic. I finished clearing all the corn stalk. The red radishes have grown very thick, but it is a little too early to harvest  sweet potatoes.
  In the afternoon, I walked into the woods in Maruyama looking for fungi, but I couldn't find any.

Ayako and I went to play park golf after a long interval.

  It was a fine autumn day today. In the morning, Ayako took Leo, our pet cat, to the pet barber shop to have his hair cut. In the afternoon, after Ayako taking back our cat home, we went to a park golf course. We enjoyed playing park golf for two rounds.
  The Hokkaido Nippon Ham was defeated by the Soft Bank Hawks and it was the 8th consecutive loss. They are still in the second place, but only 2.5 wins above the Olix Buffaloes. 

It rained very heavily but ......。

  The weather forcast said it would be fine today but in the morning, it rained very heavily. I stayed at home all morning, studying about the sightseeing spots which we are going to visit next months. Ayako and I are going on a tour from October 12th to 15th and will visit such cities in western Honshu as Hiroshima, Tsuwano, Hagi,etc. We look forward to the tour.
  In the afternoon, as the weather turned to be very fine, I walked as far as Kawazeo cho and found some mushrooms called "boribori" or "naratake". Ayako put them into miso soup, and it was very delicious in supper.

In Furusato Noen, I worked whole morning.

  It was a beautiful day. I went alone to our field in Furusato Noen, and worked whole morning. I gathered the cornstalks and cut them into pieces with scissors, dug deep gutters and put the chips of cornstalks into the gutters and buried them. It was  hard work and it will take another day to finish it. I returned just before noon. In the afternoon, I went with Ayako and walked along the Komore-bi-no michi, my everyday walking path to see a drop-in shopping stores opened only today. There were food stalls, haberdashery shops, etc.
  Professional baseball - what happened to the Nipponham Fighters?  They were defeated by the Olix Blue Buffaloes by 0-2 today. It was 7th consecutive defeats though they are still in the second place in the Pacific League. On the other hand, the Consadole Sapporo, pro-soccer from Hokkaido, is in the 2nd place in Division II, and it is hoped to go on to the Division I or the top division in Japanese soccer league next season.  

I drove to Sunagawa with Ayako to visit the Kamada's family tomb.

 It was very fine in the morning. I drove to Sunagawa with Ayako to visit Kamada's family tomb. 'Kamada' is Ayako's maiden name. On the way to Sunagawa, I took a route by expressway from Tomakomai via Sapporo. We left our house at about 9:10 a.m. and arrived at Sunagawa at about 11:00. We cleaned the tomb and around it, cutting the branches of mulberry tree behind the tombstone and prayed. Then, we went to the temple. We prayed in front of the family altar. First, we wanted to ask the monk to recite sutras, but there was no one in the temple, so we decided to come back to Tomakomai. We took a local road, not the expressway, and on the way, we stopped at Mikasa and ate ramen for lunch. After lunch, we bought a melon, and a bag of chestnuts in the stands, and arrived home a little before 3:00.

Mamoru Sugawara, my old friend in Miyagi, passed away. E-mails from Takashi and Michiko Mokudai, my old student

  It was a fine day. In the morning, I attended the late Mr.Akagashi's funeral. After having lunch, I went with Ayako to see our field in Furusato Noen. We pulled off all the pea vines. There were some ripe red tomatoes. There are still some vegetables left unharvested like sweet potaoes, radish, and yarcon.
  I received two emails; one was from Takashi in California. He sent me his new "book" on the company management. Another was from Michiko Takahashi ( her maden name: Mokudai). The mail was about her wedding next month.
  In the evening, Terutoshi Onuma in Miyagi called me and said Mamoru Sugawara, one of our junior high school classmates passed away. I was so shocked though I had heard he was ill in hospital. Mamoru had been the representative of our class reunion. So sad !

Mr.Akagashi's funeral

  Ayako went to the dentist's in the morning while I went for my routine walking. I walked as far as the supermarket "Paseo", and bought sekihan or "red rice" ( rice steamed with red beans) and a fried fish (hokke) for my lunch.
 In the evening, I went to Bellco Tomakomai City Hall by bus to attend late Mr.Yukio Akagashi's funeral wake. It was a big funeral and more than 200 people had gathered in the hall. Tomorrow, the memorial service will be held at 10:00 a.m., and I will attend it. Late Mr.Akagashi had been an official of our neighborhood association until four years ago, and in charge of managing our community hall with me. He was 90 years old.
 

Typhoon No.15 is doing damage and moving forward to Tokai and Kanto.

  Typhoon No.15 is now moving northward to Kanto district and is paralazing transportation. All the flights to and from the Tokyo Airport at Haneda are cancelled, the train services in and around Tokyo are mostly stopped. Commuters are in confusion in the station buildings. The typhoon is going to take the route to Hokkaido by way of Tohoku, so I went around our house making sure there were nothing that might be blown away or fallen down by strong wind.
  In the evening, the bright colors of the sunset was very beautiful, and I took some pictures of the sky. I couldn't believe the typhoon was approaching.

Typhoon No.15 - heavy rain in western Japan.

Another typhoon is approaching- typhoon No.15. In and around Nagoya city, rivers are flooding, and more than 100 million people are called for an evacuation. In Wakayama prefecture, which was hit by the previous typhoon, many "natural dams" made by landslides in the valleys are threatened to flood. Here in Hokkaido, the temperature is low, and we couldn't do without long-sleeved shirts.
 In the morning, I stood at the corner of the street as a crossing guard, when I heard from Ms.Saito Mr.Akagashi died. Mr.Akagashi had been an official of our neighborhood association until four years ago. His funeral will be held on Thursday and Friday this week.  

Repair of the pavement the space under the eaves was done today, on 19th os Sept.

From the eaves, rain drops had broken the surface of the space paved with asphalt in the north side of our house where we use to park our car. We had asked Mr.Miyakoshi, a building constructor, to repair, and today,the repair work was completed. It didn't take time, so when I returned from walking, it was finished. The pavement was cleanly done, and a concrete ditch for water to flow was installed. Until last winter, the water was frozen into ice and it was very slipperly and dangerous to walk.

It was dark with scattered rain all day.

I didn't go out anywhere because it rained, though not so much. I sayed at home watching TV.

Kei-rou-kai, the party on the Respect-for-Senior-Citizens Day

  Today, the 17th of September is a national holiday "the Respect-for-Senior--Citizens Day". Almost every chonai-kai-,or neighborhood association in our city or many other places in Japan, parties inviting senior people over 75 years of age were held. In our association, the party was held in the Sakuragi-Shirakaba Community Hall from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Until last year I made a short welcoming address to invite senior people on behalf of the organizing committee, but this year, as I am 75 years old, I, myself, was to be invited as one of the senior people. We enjoyed having the feast prepared by wome officials of the association, drinking beer, singing, watching Japanese dances and talking.　 

Mr.Shimizu, our brother-in-law, was hospitalized.

In the morning, Ayako went to Sapporo by car to see her sister,Emiko, who is in a care house  and  Emiko's husband, Mr.Shimizu, who lives alone in a condominium. On the way, Ayako called Mr.Shimizu, and happened to know he was going to be hospitalized. He said his calves were swollen, and could not stand or walk. In the evening, while Ayako had gone to her ceramic art class, Ireceived a phone call from Mr.Shimizu's care-taker in which she said Mr.Shimizu was far better when Ayako saw him in the morning. But the hospital would be closed because of consecutive holidays from tomorrow, he would be examined on Monday.

Officials' meeting of Chonai-kai ( neighborhood association)

  It was cloudy all day. We spent all morning pulling up weeds around the house and in the garden. In the afternoon, we put the potatoes we had harvested into bags to present them to our daughters' families in Sapporo. Ayako says she will take them tomorrow on the way she will visit her sister in the care facility. In the evening, I attended the meeting of Chonai-kai (neighborhood association). There we talked about the banquet on the 17th of this month, the Respect-for-Snior-Citizens Day, and other events on our annual schedule.
  After coming home, I watched a baseball game between Hokkaido Nippon Ham and Chiba Lotte. Nippon ham won by 2-1 and swept Lotte for three games.

I answered that I would attend the Michiko Mokudai 's wedding.

  I think Michiko Mokudai, who was a student of a high school class I was in charge of  23 years ago, had married long ago, but she sent me an invitation letter to her wedding. Why now?  But I can guess. In the reunion held in July this year, I got to know she was suffering from breast cancer. And she confessed the cancer had spread to lung. I remember that I was surprised to see her behaving very cheerfully. Thinking of this, I can guess why she and her husband are going to hold their wedding now. I have been wondering if I should attend their wedding or not, but I decided to go, and sent the return mail.
   

I dug all the potatoes in Furusato Noen.

The weather forecast said it would rain today, but it didnt, at least in the morning. In the morning, Ayako went to have her hair cut, so I went alone to our lot in the Furusato Noen to dig the potatoes. When I dug three cardboard boxes of potatetoes, I returned home, because I  had no  more boxes. In the afternoon, I went to our field with Ayako this time, and dug all the potatoes left, and picked beans of dried hull. When we were driving home, it began to rain.

Mr.Hachiro the minister of the Economy,Trade and Industry resigned.

Only 8 days after assuming the post of the minister minister of the Economy,Trade and Industry, Mr. Hachiro had to resign because of his verbal blunder.

September 11 - the 10th aniversary of the 9:11 incident and it is just half year since March 11

  I clearly remember the tragic scenes of what happened in U.S. ten years ago. I will never forget watching live on TV the scenes of the hijacked passenger plane crash into the World Trade Center Twin Tower. About 3,000 people from 90 countries were killed. What a tragedy it was! Since then, the United States and its allies have engaged in so called the fight against terrorism, and the mastermind of the incident, and the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, was killed May 5 this year. But during these 10 years, what has happened ? Are the fight against terrorism going on a victory road? I don't think so. The wars in Afganistan and Iraq are still continuing. Far larger a  number of people, not only solidiers but civil people, than the number of the victims in US ten years ago have been killed. Terrorist attacks have often happened in UK, in Spain, in Pakistan, and many other places in the world. Many American and British young solidiers return home every week, some dead, some injured. I often see the young men who fought in Afganistan and Iraq injured phisically and mentally. What should we think of these facts?    

I found "tsubu", a shelfish, is called "whelk" in English.

  It was a fine day, but the temperature was about 25 degrees, which I felt a hint of autumn. In the morning, I went to the Midori-ga-oka ball park to see a high school baseball game between Tomakomai high school of industry and Hokkaido Sakae high school. The result was Sakae's win by 4-2. 　
  There was a phone call from Ms. Sogabe from the city office asking "What is called "Tsubu", a shellfish, in English?" I didn't know, so I checked the word in Wikipedia on the Net, and found the word "whelk", and called back to Mz.Sogabe.

Sept.9: Haruna visited us on the way to pick up her son Kazuma at Chitose Air Port.

kazuma

  In the morning, when I returned from walking, Haruna, our oldest daughter, had come on the way to catch up her son, Kazuma, a university student in Osaka, at the Chitose airport. Kazuma was coming to take part in some archery competition to be held in Sapporo. He is already qualified to participate in the national athletic meet as a delegate of Hokkaido in Yamaguchi prefecture next month. By the way, he has already decided to have a job in a printing company in Gifu prefecture in central Japan named "Sun Messe" after his graduation next March.
  Haruna left for Chitose at 2:00 p.m. taking some corns we had harvested in Furusato Noen.

The qualifier for London Olympics - Nadeshiko Japan against North Korea ended in a tie game.

 It was a fine day for the first time after a week of  rainy days. In the morning, I went with Ayako to Furusato Noen, and harvested corns and eda-mame (green soy beans). There were some ripe tomatoes, too.  Next week, we will have to dig potatoes, if good weather continues for a few days.
  I have been so busy watching soccer games these days, while, in the pro-baseball league, Nippon Ham Fighters are on a losing streak,and I am losing interest in watching their games.
  Today, Nadeshiko Japan had a game against North Korea in the qualifier for London Olympics, but the game ended in a 1-1 tie. But the next game was played between Australia and China, and China, which was in the 2nd place before the game, lost by 0-1, and as a result, Japan was decided to be qualified to go to London in 2012, next year.

The soccer game between Japan and Uzubekistan for the Brazil World Cup qualifier ended in a tie.

  Last night, Japanese men's soccer team played a game against Uzubek team for the World Cup qualifier, but the game ended in a 1-1 tie. Japan allowed 1 goal in the first half, but in the second half, Okazaki got a tying goal. It was 1:30 a.m. when the game ended. When I was watching the game on TV, I was ceaselessly hearing the sound of rain and wind. I went to bed, and when I woke up at 5:00, it was not raining.
  At around 9:30 a.m., I went out for a walk. Ayako walked with me pushing her bike as far as a bank to withdraw our savings to pay the expense for our travel for Hiroshima and Yamaguchi in next month.

Typhoon - crossing guard in a mackintosh

  Day after day, it has been raining in the past week. This morning I had to stand at a crossing near my house as a voluntary crossing guard. It was raining heavily and very windy, so I had to go wearing  a mackintosh. School kids were far fewer than usual, because many parents drove their kids.
  The damage done by the typhoon No.12 was far heavier than expected. The number of the people who were killed or missing is over 100, mainly in Wakayama and Nara prefectures. Rivers flooded in many places. Roads were cut in many places by landslides and floods, and towns and villages in the mountanous places have been isolated. A lot of farmlands and residential areas have been submerged. What a disaster! 

It was rainy,humid, and windy all day.

  The typhoon No.12 has done a lot of damage in which 33 people were killed and 54 people are missing in Kansai district. But it is moving northward over the Japan Sea to the Chinese continent and are becoming weaker. On the other hand, the typhoon No.13 is approaching Hokkaido from the south and is bringing a lot of rainfall even here in Tomakomai. today, it rained much and so I couldn't go out but have forced to stay home. The meteorological station issues heavy rain for tonight and tomorrow. I hope it will not cause floods and landslides like in Kansai.
  I sent an email to Tomoko in Sendai. In the evening, she returned the mail saying that she is in hospital, but that I shouldn't worry because she is not seriously ill.   

The damage done by the typhoon.

It was mostly cloudy here in Tomakomai. Ayako phoned to Masa chan in Nagano, and she heard it wasn't raining in Nagano either. but, in Nara, Wakayama, and some other places, the damage was quite disastrous. According to the TV news, 17 people were killed and 54 are missing. Floods and landslides were everywhere. The typhoon crossed the Shikoku and Honshu and now over the Japan Sea and is slowly moving north toward the Chinese continent.

1.700 mm of rainfall within 72 hours !! Typhoon No.12 is doing tremendous damage.

  The typhoon No.12 is now over Shikoku and Seto Inland Sea. In Nara and in Wakayama prefectures, more than 1,000 mm rainfall within 72 hours were recorded, causing floods, and landslides, and more than 20 people were killed or missing.
  Nadeshiko Japan had a game against South Korean national team, and defeated them by 2-1. 

Japan's men's team defeated North Korea in the preliminary of the World Cup Succer.

  Samurai Japan got the first win in the preliminary for the World  Cup Succer against the North Korean team in Saitama. It was a tough game in heavy rain, but scored at the end of the game by Maya Yoshida's heading shoot.
A heavy typhoon is approaching Kochi, Shikoku. It is so powerful that even here in Hokkaido, it is heavily raining, and the Ishikari river is threatening to flood, and some families have begun to evacuate. The typhoon is moving very slowly northward at the speed of 15 km per hour, so we are afraid it will bring a heavy rainfall all through Honshu and Hokkaido.
 Japan's new premier, Mr. Noda, formed a new government. There are five young lawmakers of their 40s of age, but only two women lawmakers. It is said that the prime minister  took the balance of power among factions into deliberate consideration.  

Nadeshiko Japan in the preliminary for the London Olympic.

In the preliminary game was played between Nadeshiko Japan and the Thai national team in Kanton in Gangdong province in China today, and Nadeshiko won by the score of 3-0. But it was not a satisfying game, because Japan is in the top three in the world ranking list while Thailand is No.28th. So, Mr.Sasaki, the chief coach, let seven young fresh players play, instead of the regular members thinking of the tough schedule in which they will have 5 games in 10 days. But those young members could not play as well as they had been expected to.  

Ayako bought a new TV set for her.

  Ayako enjoys watching TV in the bed room when I watch a sports program in the living room. But the TV set in the bed room was an analog TV set, so she wanted to have a digital one. Today she bought a new one from the electric appliance shop we have always bought appliances so far. Mr.Hatano, the store manager, came in the morning and installed the TV set on a pillar a little below the ceiling so that we can see lying on the bed. She is happy to see the picture on the screen look very clear and vivid.

  

Mr.Yoshihiko Noda was ellected as the 95th prime minister of Japan.

  Both in the Upper House and the Lower House, Mr.Yoshihiko Noda (54) of the Democratic Party was ellected as the 95th prime minister of Japan. He is from Chiba No.4 constituency, graduated from Waseda University.  
  By the way, in Japan, prime minister changes too often. When we look back at the Mr.Noda's  predecessors in the past five years, there were five prime ministers as following:
  
       Kan Naoto         2010.6.8 ~ 2011.8.30           Hatoyama Yukio  2009.9.16 ~ 2010.6.8     Aso Taro   2008.9.242009.9.16
       Fukuda Yasuo   2007.9.26 ~ 2008.9.24         Abe Shinzo           2006.9.26 ~2007.9.26

Mr.Yoshihiko Noda was elected as the new leader of the Japan Democratic Party.

  Today, the election for the new leader of the Japan Democratic Party was held, and the financial minister, Yoshihiko Noda was elected and he will be the next prime minister of Japan. The numbers of votes for each candidate in the first vote were:
   Kaieda 143, Noda 102, Maehara 74, kano 52, mabuchi 24. So No one did not get the majority, so the run-off vote was held between Kaieda and Noda. This time, Noda got 215, and Kaieda 177, and Noda defeated Kaieda, the top runner in the first vote.  

Avery fine day with a hint of early autumn.

  It was a very fine day all day. In the morning, I drove to Furusato Noen, and picked some ripe tomatoes. After lunch, I went to Kintaro-no-sawa park to walk, and walked around the lake for about half an hour. There were many people, some were rowing boats on the lake, some having lunch in couples or in groups, and some just strolling around. In the wooden building by the lake, which is used for a "yaki-niku-party", or a broiled-meat party, a friendship party with foreign residents in Tomakomai and Japanese citizens was being held. When I visited the city office the day before yesterday, I told Ms Sogabe that I might join the party, but I didn't because I hadn't applied to join it formally.  

The party leader election of the Japan Democratic Party.

The election for the leader of the Japan Democratic Party will be held on Monday. There are six candidates,including the former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, the minister of the industry and trade Bannri Kaieda, and the minister of finance, Noda, and three others. When any one of them is elected as the leader of the party, he will be the next prime minister of Japan. The problem is this election will be voted only by the members of the Lower and Upper Houses, so, now, the candidates are desperately struggling to get support from the lawmakers of their party.  

A souvenir from Mathu, Grenoble, France.

  In the morning, I collected garbage and trash in and around the house and carried it to the trash collecting station. Ayako went to the hospital to check her diabetes. In the afternoon, I went to the city office for the first time in five months. About two weeks ago, Ms Sogabe, a city official, phoned me telling that she was keeping a souvenir at her office Mathu's wife had brought to me from Grenoble, France,so I had promised to go there to accept it.
 On the way I was driving to the city office, it suddenly began to rain quite torrentially, and I recalled tornado warning had been issued. But when I arrive at the office, it almost stopped raining. At the office, I was handed a ceramic work of beautiful scenery of the city of Grenoble on a wooden plate and a picture card with a note written in Japanese by Mathu. Emmet, an Irish man, came and I talked with him for a little while. He said he got a position as an English teacher at Sapporo International school. I said to him,"Congratulations!" On the other hand, Bryan Rose, another student of mine, didn't come to his Japanese class today, because he had gone to Aichi, Ms Sogabe said. Bryan's family seem to continue to live in Tomakomai, so what had happened to him, both Ms Sogabe and I wondered. 

It was a rainy day,but it didn't rain so heavily.

I didn't go for a walk today, because it rained almost all day.

Shimada Shinsuke, a popular TV personality, announced to retire from his entertainment business.

  It was a beautiful day. I walked a little longer than usual in the morning, because I hadn't walked for these two days. Ayako went to Azumi's to help prepare a tea party inviting senior people in the neighborhood. She came home at about 4:00 p.m. In the evening, I went to a supermarket to buy bread for tomorrow's breakfast.
  Popular personality Shimada Shinsuke announced to retire from the entertainment business immediately due to his relasionship with a member of yakuza group. He has been hosting in 6 TV shows, so those TV stations are now forced to decide whether they should cancel or adapt programs on which featured regularly as a host.

I made a booking for a travel in southern Honshu in October.

  In the morning, I woke up listening to the sound of rain drops. When I went out for the crossing guard, it was still raining. The weather forecast issued heavy rain warning here and there all through the Japanese archipelago.
  Yesterday, I called a travel agency to book a travel in southern Honshu. We have traveled almost all parts of Japan except only a few parts. Yamaguchi prefecture is one of the places where we have never been. So, we decided to travel there in October. There are a lot of historical spots and other interesting sightseeing places.

It was fine, but I stayed at home all day.

  It was a very fine day, but I stayed at home all day. The pain in my waste was not so bad, but, I thought the officials of our heighborhood association would work to clean up after the Obon dance festival which had been cancelled because of heavy rain. I felt sorry for not being able to work for the preparations because of my waste pain.
  Ayako went to Furusato Noen for me., and picked some tomatoes, potatoes, a pumpkin, and cucumbers. The cucumbers had grown so huge. There were only a few tomatoes,but they were ripe, and looked delicious. The size of the pumpkin was about four inches in diameter. I felt happy to see them. 

I stayed at home all day.

 Yesterday' s rain was quite heavy, but today, it was mostly cloudy. I stayed at home all day. My pain in the waste has got better.
 In radiation contaminated areas in Fukushima, it will take a long time before the residents will be able to return to live there again. The government seem to buy out the land from the residents.  

Nichdai Sanko became the champions in Koshien and Saito of the Fighters accomplished his fourth victory in the professional league.

  Today, the Obon festival was scheduled in our neighborhood. In the morning, we had to prepare for it, but I felt painful in the waiste, so I went to the 6-tyome minipark, the festival venue, and told the chairman that I couldn't workfor the preparations for the festival, and returned home.
  I lay down on the sofa, watching the final game of the high school baseball championships tournament at Koshien between Aomori Kosei and Nichidai Sanko. I had supported Aomori, because they were from Hachinohe, which was stricken by the March 11th earthquake and the tsunami. But unfortunately, Nichdai from Tokyo was too strong for Aomori Kosei to win. Aomori was beaten by the score of 0-11. Tward evening, it began to rain very heavily, so our Obon festival was broken up and had to be cancelled.

Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister and her husband.

 It was a very fine day, and it was very warm. Ayako went to Sapporo by car to see her sister in the care house and her husband living alone at a condominuum. She returned home at around three thirty, saying her sister and brother-in-law were not bad.
 After she came home, I went out for a walk along the Tomakomai river, as usual. In the evening, Ayako went to her ceramic art class, while I watched a professional baseball game. The Nippon Ham Fighters defeated the Orix Buffaroes by 3-2.  

Haircut - the charge was 1,575 yen.

I go to a barbershop on the way of my routine walking. Today I went to the barbershop and had may hair cut. The charge was 1,575 yen for the senior. This charge is the cheapest in the city.

The Obon holidays - traffic jams everywhere across the country.

Obon is, of course, a Japanese Buddhist festival to honor the dead held in this time of August every year. Many people and their families go back to their hometown, so traffic is busy and roads are jammed everywhere. In addition, the temperature is highest in this season, and in many parts of Honshu, it rises up higher than 35 degrees.

August 15, the anniversary of the end of World War II

A cloudy,humid day, but it didn't rain. I went out for my routine walk in the morning along the Tomakomai river.
Today, August 15,1945, World War II ended, and Japan was defeated by US and its allies. There are many feature programs on TV, in the newspapers, and other media. People observed a moment of silence at noon everywhere including the high school baseball players who were playing at Koshien. In Tohoku district which was stricken by the earthquake and tsunami, people observed a moment of silence for the victims of the war and, also, for the victims of the natural desasters. In my own mind, appeared some scenes during and after the war again. No more war, no more such disaster !  We just want to live in peace and tranquility.   

I stayed at home all day, watching baseball games on TV.

It was sunny in the morning, became cloudyin the afternoon, and began to rain toward evening. Exciting games are being played at Koshien. Shirakaba Gakuenn from Hokkaido was defeated by hair by Chiben Wakayama by the score of 7-8 in the 10th extra inning. It was a great pity. In the evening, I saw a professional game between the Hokkaido Nippon Ham and the Fukuoka Soft Bank. Hokkaido won by 5-2.

I picked beans and cucumbers in Furusato Noen.

I went to Furusato Noen in the morning and picked some beans and cucumbers. And I weeded and dug some potatoes.

We went to visit Ayako's parents' tomb and the temple in Sunagawa and my parents's temple in Iwamizawa.

It is the Obon season. Many people all across the country go to visit their ancester's tombs in their hometowns. We go to vist Ayako's ancesters' tomb in Sunagawa and my parents's temple in Iwamizawa every year. I drove a car with Ayako taking the highway to Sunagawa, and on the way, at the service area in Iwamizawa, we met Haruna with her daughter Minori from Sapporo, who Ayako had promised to go to Sunagawa together. At a supermarket in the suburbs of Sunagawa, we bought flowers and bringing them, we went first to the tomb. We weeded and cleaned around the tombstone, decorated with flowers,  stood candles, burnt incense sticks, and prayed. Then we went to the temple. We asked the young monk to chant a sutra in front of Ayako's little family altar. After that, we headed for Iwamizawa. We took lunch at a roard station in Mikasa city, and went to a temlple in Iwamizawa. We prayed for my parents in front of their little altar. We said goodby to Haruna and Minori, and we came home at around four o'clock. 

Many people suffer from heat stroke all across the country.

  29 degrees here in Tomakomai, the coolest city in Japan. In many places in southern Japan, a lot of people are suffering from heat stroke, and 5 people died and another 5 are seriously ill.
  Economical problem globally. 1$ is now 74 yen. Economists are worrying about yen's unusually high appreciation will affect Japanese economy seriously.

Right after the radio calisthenics in the morning, it began to rain.

It didn't rain so much, but it was a humid day all day today. I walked in the morning as long as Kawazoe cho as usual. As I just arrived home, it began to rain again.
 In the evening, I watched two soccer games. One was a game between the Japan Olympic team and the Egyptian Olympic team. The sesult was Japan's victory by the score of 2-1. The other game was between the Japan National team for the World Cup and the Korean team. Japan defeated Korea by 3-0. Kagawa of the Dortmund, Germany, goaled two scores. Both games were played at the Sapporo Dome.

Haruna came with her son Kazuma and her daughter Minori yesterday.

  Yesterday, I didn't write on this blog. I was not sick at all, but somewhat busy. Yesterday, in the morning, I went out for my routine exercise walk for an hour and a half along the Tomakomai river. When I arrived back home, Haruna had come to visit us with her 14-year-old-daughter Minori and her older son Kazuma who is a university student in Osaka. Kazuma is practising archery, and he had come back to Hokkaido to take part in the qualifying match for the representative of Hokkaido in the National Athletic Meet which is going to be held in Yamaguchi prefecture this fall. He was lucky enough to be qualified. Kazuma wanted to visit us on his way to go back to Osaka yesterday afternoon.
  In the high school baseball championships at Koshien, Shirakaba Gakuen from Obihiro won the game against Tottori Commercial High School by 3-2, while Hokkai High School from Sapporo was defeated by Meitoku Gijuku High from Tokushima by 2-3 the day before yesterday.

I felt tired in the morning.

I felt tired when I woke up in the morning, maybe because of yesterday's trip to Sapporo. When we go to such a big city like Sapporo, we have to walk much including climbing up and down in the train station buildings and other places.
 

The musical drama- "The Lion King".

  Haruna, our older daughter, presented us tickets for the musical drama "Lion King". We'd had no such opportunity to watch musical dramas. The tickets were Haruna's presents for Ayako's birthday.
  Yesterday morning,we took the 9:53 train at Itoi, and changed trains at Tomakomai to a super express train for Sapporo.

The high school baseball championships tournament in Koshien has begun.

Three games were played

Tokio & Arashi returned home to Sapporo by bus.

  Tokio had been suffering from having rash since last night. Taking care of him, Ayako said she could scarcely sleep. She kept contact with his mother on the phone and decided to send him and his brother Arashi to Sapporo by bus this evening. I drove our grandsons to the bus terminal in Tomakomai, and Ayako let them go onboard the bus, and phoned Chiaki to meet
them at the Oyachi bus terminal in Sapporo. Tokio had got  better when he rode the bus. We were relieved.
  When we were driving through downtown Tomakomai, we saw many young people wearing yukata. Why were so many people wearing kimono?  Oh, we had forgotten it was the day the Port Festival was being held. In the evening, we heard the bangs of fire works.

Chiaki drove her two boys to our house.

  In the morning, while Ayako was gone to the dental clinic, Chiaki brought her two sons, Tokio and Arashi, on her way to work in Chitose. Chiake left her children after staying for only a quarter of an hour, without seeing Ayako. Then, I went to the minipark to let Arashi play there.

It was a sunny beautiful day all day.

  In the morning, I trimmed a Japanese cypress tree, the highest tree in our garden,using a ladder and a long-handled scissors. In the afternoon, I walked along the Tomakomai river and, on the way, I picked berries of  'gumi' a kind of silverberry.
  Takashi and Sachyo called Ayako on Skype to say "Happy Birthday" to her.

  The game schedule of the High School Baseball Championships Tournament at Koshien was decided. The tournament will start on August 6,Saturday. Hokkai High School, a representative of south Hokkaido, will have a game against Meitoku Gijuku High School from Kochi prefecture,Shikoku, on the second day, August 7th. Another representative from Hokkaido,Shirakaba Gakuen from Obihiro will have a game with Tottori Commercial High School from Tottori prefecture on the fourth day, August 9th,Tuesday. 

August 2, Ayako's 73rd birthday

It was a fine day all day. I walked in the morning. And, in the afternoon, I trimmed the trees in the garden.　In the evening, Ayako and I went to eat out at Tsubohachi, where we often eat and drink. We had a good time celebrating Ayako's 73rd birthday and returned home around seven o'clock. I watched a baseball game between Fighters and Marines on TV. A golden rookie Saito started, and didn't allow any run, and quitted after 6th inning. Finally, the Fighters lost the game by 2-3. It was a fourth consecutive loss.

I cut down some azalea trees and trimmed the yew trees in my garden.

It was cool, but sunny today. I worked the whole morning in my garden. There have been too many trees growing in the garden. The former owner of our house planted many young trees in the garden. There were two cherry trees, several rowan trees, yew trees, pine trees, various kinds of azaleas,etc. But those trees grow year by year, and I had to cut some down. I cut down two cherry trees, and three fourth of the yew trees, and all the pine trees. Today, I cut some big azalea trees, and trimmed the leaves and twigs of yew trees.

The Nippon Ham Fighters lost 3 consecutive games against the Soft Bank Hawks.

In the early morning, it was raining, so I didn't think there was no radio taiso ( calisthenics ) but there was. When I began to help Ayako prepare breakfast, I saw people coming back from the minipark with their children.

Cucumbers

  Cloudy all day. But in Niigata, it is heavily raining and many rivers are flooding and tremendous damage has been done everywhere in the prefecture. 430,000 people had to evacuate. A lot of houses, rice fields and even bridges are under water. Two people were killed, and four are missing. Niigata is a disaster-prone prefecture, where earthquakes have often hit, floods have happened these years, and in winter, snow falls very much.
  In the morning, in an interval of drizzle, I went to Furusato Noen, and picked some cucumbers and eggplants. And in the afternoon, I went out to walk along the Tomakomai river. It had stopped raining by then.

Former NY Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead in LA.

  It was sunny. Ayako went to the hospital by bicycle in the morning while I went for a walk. Leo, our cat seems to be lonely without his brother who died the other day.
 In Niigata and Fukushima prefectures, it is raining heavily, and the rivers are flooding, and many people are evacuating, the TV news reporting. So, I called my sister Sumiko in Fukushima. She said it was not raining in the eastern part of the prefecture, so they were safe. Sumiko only talked happily about one of her granddaughters who had just returned from the school trip in Hokkaido. She said her granddaughter was very happy to travel to Hokkaido, and that she wanted to travel to Hokkaido again. So I said, "Come to Hokkaido with her."

On Wednesday, local time, former NY Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu found dead in his house in a wealthy Los Angels suburb.  He seems to have committed a suicide. The reason is unknown. He played in the Major League from 1997-2002. He played for the Yankees in the seasons 1997 and 1999, and in 1998, he won 13 games, and lost 9 games, and the team won the World Series and became the champions.  

"Radio taiso", or radio calisthenics

  During summer vacation, "radio taiso" or "radio calisthenics" is held in the neighborhood minipark from 6:30 every morning. About 20 adults and 30 children gather in the minipark from the neighborhood, and do exercise to music on the radio.

  The following is an explanation of Radio taiso in Japan from Wikipedia:

  Radio taiso were introduced to Japan in 1928 as a commemoration of coronation of Emperor Hirohito. The idea for radio broadcast calisthenics came from the US, where during the 1920s the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. sponsored 15-minute radio calisthenics in major cities in the US. Visiting employees of the Japanese postal insurance division brought samples of the exercises from the US back to Japan. The exercises were widely used to improve the health of Japanese soldiers both at home and abroad during the 1930s and 1940s. After Japan's defeat in 1945, the broadcasts were banned by the occupying powers as being too militaristic in nature. After several rewrites to the routine, it was reintroduced by NHK radio in 1951 with the support of education ministry, health ministry, the Japan Gymnastic Association, and the Japan Recreation Association.