I'll have to study astronomy,why...?

Today I received an e-mail from Nayoro. The mail says the organizers of the international snow sculpting competition will take the participants in the competition to Nayoro Astronomical Observatory. As an interpreter, I'll have to go with them, and play a role as an interpreter there. There will be, of course, explanations about constelations,stars,asteroids,galaxies, satelites, etc. I have little knowledge about astronomy, so I have no confidence at all. Anyway, I have to prepare for it.
I found Mr.Koshito's twitter through Mr.Miyawaki's twitter. Both Mr.Koshito and Mr.Miyawaki are my old students I taught in Tomakomai Higashi Senior High School. I wrote to Mr.Koshito, and then,quite pronptly,he answered me. One thing that I worry about in his mail is that Miss Mokudai,one of their classmates, is suffering from breast cancer, and her condition is very serious.

Japan became the champion in the Asian Cup Soccer

Kick-off time was 1:00 a.m. I woke up at 2:00 a.m., and I watched the game on TV that I had set a timer for recording before I went to bed last night. It was a very tough game. In the first half, neither Japan nor Australia could get goals, though Australia dominated the game. In the second half, Australian team seemed to be tired, and their ball control began to lose the accuracy,but Japan couldn't get goals, and neither did Australia. The game got into overtime. In the first half of the overtime, Tadanari Lee got a beautiful goal for Japan, and finally, Japan won by the score of 1-0, and became the champion of Asia for the fourth time.
Kazuko, my sister, sent me some materials for writing my personal history. Also,Mr.Hasegawa of Nayoro sent me the order of the opening ceremony of the international snow sculpting competition, asking me to translate it into English.

Why do we want to leave something behind after death?

I am now collecting materials to write my personal history. First I didn't want to leave anything behind my death. I am merely a common man, and I haven't done anything great that I brag about. But,recently my wife suggested that we write our personal histories respectively. Hearing her suggestion,I began to realize that everyone living in this world has lived his/her own special life. The course of my life is unique and different from any other's in this world. What I have done so far is great or not,that does not matter at all. My life is different from others. That is why it is worth writing my history.

A Japanese language class

Today I went to the city hall to have a Japanese language class for foreign residents. It was the first class for this year, because the only two students I teach were absent last week and the week before last. One of the students is Bryan, a guy from New York,USA, and the other is Emmet from Ireland. Emmet was absent today, too. Today,Bryan took one of his three sons,who was 6 years old. Bryan's son will enter elementary school in March, but he is very smart and can speak Japanese almost perfectly. I think it is natural because his mother is a Japanese. But what is not natural is that his father, Bryan, speaks only a little Japanese. He teaches English here at several parts of the city, and,at home,he communicates with his wife almost only in English. So, today, while Bryan was practicing Japanese, his son, sitting beside his father, understood almost all that I spoke. I always tell Bryan to try to speak in Japanese at home. On the other hand,for his children, it migtht be good that their father speaks only English, because they will become bilinguals.

I went to hospital for my routine check-up with my diabetes

I go to hospital for a routine check-up with my diabetes every four weeks. Today I went to hospital. I had my blood and urine examined. The result was worse than the previous month's check-up, as I had expected. Today's blood glucose value two hours after meal was 254mg/dl,and HbA1c was 7.2%, which was 6.7% last month. The doctor told me not to drink alcholic beverage, but it is very difficult for me. I drink a can of beer (350ml) or two sake cups of Japanese sake every two days. But this season of the year is special, because there are the Chrismas party,the year-end party, New Year's day, and so on. So,this past month,I drank far more than in the other months. It was quite natural that the result of the check-up was bad. I must be careful.
Yesterday,I sent a letter to Tomoko living in Sendai,who was one of my classmates in our junior high school days. Tomoko is now suffering from very serious desease of her lungs. Without transplanting lungs from a brain-dead person, she will not live long. I am feeling very sorry for her. I am just praying for a miracle.

Japan won the semifinal game against Korea in Asian Cup soccer

The game started at 10:20 p.m.last night. In the first half, Korea scored a penalty at 23rd minute, but Maeda got a goal for Japan,assisted by Nagatomo at 36th minute. The game went into overtime, and at 7th minute, Honda kicked a penalty kick, and failed, but Hosogai goaled the ball bounced off by the Korea's goal keeper. The game was expected to end,won by Japan, but just before the game ended, Korea got a goal, and the game ended in a tie. After all, Japan won in a penalty shootout. Japan's goal keeper, Kawashima stopped Korea's two penalty kicks. The game ended around 1:00 am., but,surprising enough, the game was watched by 35.1% of the people in Kanto District, 34.2% in Kansai, 32.4% in Kyushu. In Hokkaido, the viewing rate was 27.0%. Isn't it crazy? The final game against Australia will be held on Saturday night from 11:00 p.m.

Water shortage will directly lead to food shortage

To practice interpretation from English into Japanese, I read a short speech draft on "Economic Growth and Environment". Reading it, I have realized how serious the water shortage problem is.
Now the world economy is rappidly expanding. In the last 50 years, it has expanded more than six times. As the economy grows, consumption of basic resources grows. Forests are shrinking, desertification is going on, the temperature is rising, species are disappearing, soils are eroding, water tables are falling, and so forth.
Among those issues, the water shortage problem has not attracted so much attention, especially in Japan, because we can get enough water for daily use. In China, the Yellow River, which used to be the cradle of Chinese civilization,now fails to reach the sea for more than 200 days a year. In America, the Colorado River hasn't reached the sea for several years. The water tables in every continent are rappidly falling. The water shortage affects agriculture very badly, and sooner or later, it will be impossible to run farms, which will lead to food shortage in the world.

Hakuho won the victory in the New Year Tournament

Yokozuna Hakuho won the victory in the New Year Sumo Tournament. He won 6 victories in a row. Is Hakuhou too strong? Or are the other wrestlers too weak? I don't know.
In the evening, I called my older sister in Fukushima. I asked about our parents and other relatives, because I am now collecting materials to write my personal history. I have recognized that it is very difficult to know about the root of myself. I wanted to know how my parents had spent their lives, but found it very difficult. My father was born in Miyagi prefecture, came to Hokkaido, worked for a paper company in Ebetsu, then, moved to Tokyo to study law in university. My mother was born in Hiroshima, came to Tokyo, and worked for the Ministry of Communication. When and how they married, I don't know. I was adopted by my mother's mother, but I don't know who my adopted father was. I asked my sister about it, but she answered he must have died years before I was adopted. I thought I would have to write my personal history without referring to my ancestors.

Bird flu

Chickens were found died of bird flu near the entrance of a chicken coop of a poultry farm in Miyazaki prefecture, Kyushu. Speaking of Miyazaki prefecture, in many farms there, beef cattle were infected with foot-and -mouth desease, and hundreds of cattle were culled last year. Again, in the same prefecture, this time, thousands of chicken have been culled, and more and more are going to be killed. Before the incident, it had been reported that wild birds were found dead of bird flu in some prefectures including Shimane,Kagoshima,and Hokkaido. So the chicken in Miyazaki are supposed to be infected by such migrant wild birds.How can the chicken be prevented from the desease? Poultry farmers all across the country are now panick stricken. I just pray for the bird flu not sweeping through the country.

What are critical issues in Japan?

Of cource there are many critical issues in Japan. There are political issues, social issues, etc. As for political issues, I am always disappointed with Japanese politicians. Most of the Japanese leading politicians are only interested in whether or not their party can win in the next election, and after all, he or she can be a minister or not. According to today's news, the head of LDP, the Liberal Democratic Party, Mr.Tanigaki said they would take more offensive attitude against the ruling party, the Japan Democratic Party,and would go back into power. Is that what many people want?
Japn is facing a lot of urgent problems such as economic and finantial crisis, nation's security problems,educational problems, welfare problems, and so on. Before criticizing the government, or the ruling parties, discuss the problems more seriously, and propose good solusions, we do hope. The future of Japan and the Japanese people, and the future of the world depend on what and how they act.

Japan vs Qatar

Today my Japanese class was canceled. Emmet could not come because he didn't have a car. He said he would be absent until the end of March. And Bryan phoned to the city hall,saying he was sick. I have now only two students, so,without Emmet, there will be only Bryan.
I went for a walk in the afternoon. The weather was fine. In the evening, our daughter Chiaki phoned to Ayako,saying her older son,Tokio (4th grader),will go to Obihiro and Oketo tomorrow to make an appearance on TV. He has appeared on a TV show named "Agri World Hokkaido" three times before. By the way, Oketo is the coldest town in Japan in this season,so we worry about the weather. The younger son of Chiaki's,Arashi (1st grader),is practicing soccer, and he will play in the Sapporo Dome tomorrow.
Speaking of soccer, this evening,from 10:20,Japan national team will have a quater final game of the Asian Cup with Qatar in Doha. It is so-called "an away game", so Japan is said to be stronger, but it will be a very tough game. I am looking forward to the game.

How to cope with disaster

In the morning, I walked,as usual, as far as Kawazoe. It took an hour and a half. In the afternoon, I watched a TV program I had recorded a few days before. It was about how to cope with disaster like an earthquake or a big flood. What should we do if a big eathquake happens? I saw the scenes of the Kobe eathquake in 1995. High ways were broken down, tall buildings were fallen, and fires broke out in many parts of the city. More than 6,400 people were killed, and many others injured. If such a disaster happened here now? We,my wife and I, will have keep ourselves secure first. Then,we will look around our house and our neighborhood. If we find any people injured, we will have to save them. If fires are about to occur, we will have to fight them. Then,with neighbors,we must gather in the evacuation area.
This evening, I must go to the meeting of our neighborhood association. In the meeting,we have discussed once or twice what we should do in case of such desaster. But our discussion has not come to conclusion yet. Should we have some kind of 'system' to cope with such case?

It was a beautiful day today,too

In the morning, I went out for a walk for the first time in three days. I walked along the Tomakomai River. The surface of the river was covered with ice, and no water birds were seen anywhere. Where had they gone? When I returned home, I felt tired.
Mr.Miyakoshi,who is a residential builder, and always takes care of our house, had come and talked about repairing the gutter of the front roof. According to his estimate, it will cost 21,000 yen.
I received an e-mail from Mr.Hosono, a city hall official. He says that Bryan Rose, one of my Japanese students, planed to hold a camp for children who are interested in learning English. He scheduled the camp from February 18th and 19th at Takino Park in the suburbs of Sapporo City. He and three other language teachers will take 30 children to Sapporo, and let the children enjoy playing some American games indoors and outdoors, speaking in English. For the children, I think, it will be a good experience of communicating in English.

In the Asian Cup Soccer, Japan defeated Saudi Arabia

The weather was fine,and it was warm for a winter day. But it snowed much in the central and northern parts of Hokkaido, including Sapporo city. According to yesterday's news, here and there in Hokkaido, some people,working to remove snow from the roofs of their houses, fell down on the ground, and were buried in the snow,and were found dead. Most of such people were old, and some were over 80 years old. It is very difficult and risky for old people to live in the northern land like Hokkaido.
I din't go out for 3 days in a row, because I thougt I was not recovered yet from cold yet. I read a book, practiced interpretation, and watched TV.
Late last night, I watched the Asian Cup soccer game between Japan and Saudi Arabia. Japan won the game by the score of 5-0. Okazaki, Japan's forward, got 3 scores and turned the hat trick. Maeda,the other forward, got 2 scores. Japan will have a game with Jordan in the quarter final.

It snowed

When I woke up,I found that it snowed through the night. It took about two hours to clear away the snow. People from neighboring houses came out to shovel the snow, and helped each other.
I felt a little better,so I thought I was recovering from cold. But I didn't go out for my routine walk.I watched the American football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens.It was a very exciting game, and the Steelers won by the score of 24-17.
Tonight, from 10:00p.m.,Japan national soccer team will have a game with Saudi Arabian team ( Asia Cup ). I hope Japan will win and will proceed to the second stage.

I stayed at home all day

I didn' t go for my routine walk today because I seemed to have a slight cold. It was a severely cold day all across the country, but here in this part of Hokkaido, it didn't snow at all.
In the afternoon, I watched the Inter Prefectural Women's Marathon Relay race (Ekiden) on TV.
Hokkaido team was the 40th of the 47 prefectures in Japan. How weak!
We talked over the skype with our son, Takashi,and his wife, Sachyo,who live in San Jose, California. We assured that all of us are well and fine,and we talked about trifle things. Takashi is now preparing for establishing a new company. So I asked him how it was going on. He answered it was the most important time now. He said he was now talking with investors. I suppose it will be very difficult,hoping he will make a success,anyway.

Shinto Shrine

Today is January 15th. Ayako,my wife, and I went to the Shinto Shrine for "Dondo yaki". It is a ritual in which we burn the ornaments such as a sacred rope, charms,etc., which had decorated the Shinto altar at home all through the previous year. The Tomakomai Shinto Shrine was so crowded with cars and people that it took us more than an hour to finish it. By the way,Buddhism and Shinto, and all the other religions co-exist in Japan. In my own house,there are two altars,one is Buddhist altar,the other Shinto altar. The situation of most Japanese families are the same. The Christians and Muslims can not understand. Japanese believe there are many gods in this world. We worship nature because we believe there are gods in the trees, in the mountains, in the ocean, and everything else. We believe Buddhism, and at the same time, believe Shinto. There is no antilogy. We can not understand why there are religious wars. Japan is a very peaceful society, isn't it?

I met my old student

Today, I met one of my old students about 20 years ago when I was teaching at Tomakomai Higashi senior high school. His name is Mr.Miyawaki, and he is now a teacher of an elementary school at Atsuma, one of the neighboring towns of Tomakomai. He will have to teach English at his school, though he has no license of teaching English. He asked for my advice, so I told him to come to Tomakomai city hall, because I was to have a Japanese lesson for my two foreign students, but both of my students were absent today. So, it became a good oppertunity to talk with Mr.Miyawaki. I told him how I had taught English, especially in my early age when I taught at senior high school. I also told him about my experiences in my foreign travels and experiences when I worked as an interpreter. To teach English at elementary school was decided by the Ministry of Education and Science, but, anyway, I hope it will be a good motivation for the children to learn English and become interested in foreign people and cultures.

Training interpretation from English into Japanese, vice versa

 I bought two books on "interpretation" at Amazon internet book shop. The titles of the books are "Let's interprete" and "Exercises in English". Both books are written by professional interpreters. I will have to brush up my ability in interpreting before I go to Nayoro in February, I thought. To speak a language is something so difficult and profound, because, in every language, is contained the culture of the land where the language is spoken. I have spoken Japanese, and have learned English so long, but I still have a lot that I have to learn.
  

E-mailed to Ilsemarie, my friend in Germany

  I sent an e-mail to my friend in Germany. Her name is Ilsemarie, and she is a journalist who writes essays on travels. I have been exchanging e-mails for many years, and I visited her in Germany three years ago. She lives in a city in northern part of Germany, close to Hanover, with her husband and one of her two sons. She has another son, and a daughter who works in former East Germany.
  In the morning, I arranged some materials concerning writing my personal history. I checked my travel itineraries because I wanted to know when and where I have traveled so far. I have been to Austria, Germany,Thailand, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Singapore, United Kingdom, Malaysia, and the Netherland. As for the domestic travel, I have traveled almost all parts of Japan. When I travel, I go with my wife, but when I went to UK, I was alone, because my wife was busy caring for her mother living with us. And in some travels above, I went with my wife's sister and her husband, who was a professor of a national university.

Neighborhood association

 I have been an official of our neighborhood association "Tomakomai Shirakabe Higasi Neighborhood Association"  Today, we had a New Year Banquet of all the city joint associations of our city, and I was one of those who were awarded to the letter of thanks because they have been the officials for longer than 10 years.
  

I will write my personal history

I have never told my children much about my own history. So I am afraid they don't know well how I have lived until now. One day, my wife Ayako said we should write about our personal histories, and she intends to write her own history. To hear that, I decided to write it, though I don't know what I can write, and how I can write it..
 Today, I tried to begin to arrange my chronicle.
 I was born at Fukagawa, Tokyo in 1936. I was one of the twins, but my twin sister died right after her birth. My father often said to me,"When you were born, you were too weak, and the doctor told me that, if you would be able to bring up this baby, you would become a doctor." I, anyway, survived and entered primary school at the age of six, when it was during the second world war. When I was eight years old, Tokyo was under sever air raids by U.S., so my family had to evacuate somewhere. My family were my parents, my big sister (two years older than I), my younger sister( five years younger) and me. My father decided to go to Miyagi prefecture, where he was born. We left Tokyo on 27th, February,1945. By the way, on March 10th that year, Tokyo was completely destroyed by so called "the Great Tokyo Raids".     

Waseda Univ. was defeated in Rugby match by Teikyo Univ.

 The All Japan Inter-university Rugby Football Championships final match was held at the national athletic field in Tokyo today, and Waseda Univ. was defeated by Teikyo Univ. The match was very tough, but Teikyo was very strong, and won the championship for the second consecutive year.
 I ordered two books on how to interprete fom Japanese into English and vice versa from Amazon. I will have to go to Nayoro next month to work as an interpreter for the International Snow Sculpting Competition, which will be held from February 7-14 in Nayoro. It will be for the 6th time in a row for me, but it has always been very difficult for me to work as a translater. I have been studying English for more than 60 years, but I have never felt it is easy to interprete Japanese into English and vice versa.
 But I look forward to seeing artists from overseas.     　　

We had forgotten yesterday was "Nanakusa" day.

  Yesterday was January 7, which was "the nana-kusa day". "Nana-kusa" literary means seven spring herbs. In Japan, through several days in the beginning of the new year, we continue to enjoy big feasts. But, on the 7th of January, we get tired of eating such good food. So we have the custom that on January 7th, we eat rice porridge which has been enhanced by the seven spring herbs, such as Japanese parsley and shepherd' s purse. Eating such porridge on that day is said to ward off all kinds of diseases. We had forgotten about it, and didn't eat the porridge yesterday.
 Today was Saturday. In the morning, I walked as usual for about an hour and a half, and in the afternoon, I spent watching sports programs on TV. All Japan Inter High School Rugby football championships final match was fought between Higashi Fukuoka Senior High School and Toin Gakuin Senior High School, but the match ended in a tie. Both teams became the champions.       

A severely cold day

 A severely cold day all across the country. Here in Tomakomai, the temperature in the morning was -13.3 degrees Celsius. Heavy snowfall along the coast of Japan Sea, but, fortunately, it didn't snow here. I walked as usual along the Tomakomai River for about an hour and half in the morning. This cold weather will continue for a few more days, the forecast says.
 I was requested to serve as an interpreter for the international snow sculpting competition which will be held on February 7 to 14 in Nayoro city. This will be the 6th times in a row. Five teams will participate in the competition including France, Germany, Korea, USA, and Romania. I have met four teams so far, but I have never met Romanians. I look forward to seeing them.

hirobo's daily life January 6,2011

 I got up just before 5 in the morning. My day started listening to World News on NHK Satellite TV. A big flood in western Australia is quite a disaster. And BBC reported increasing the rate of VAT ( value added tax) to 20% in UK. Financial crisis is not only in UK but almost every country in the world. In Japan, prime minister Kan often speaks of raising the consumption tax. He says, without securing tax revenue increase, he can't guarantee keeping the government's welfare policy. Do we have to agree with him? Maybe.
 I went to a bank with my wife, Ayako, to send some money to our old daughter living in Sapporo. Then, my wife went home, and I, alone, walked for an exercise as far as Kawazoe, and returned home after about an hour.
 We took lunch, but most of the food we ate were the leftovers of the family New Year party with our two daughters' families, who had returned to Sapporo on January 3.
 This evening, the dinner will be roast mutton, so-called "jinngisukan".   

   

New Year 2011

We have had far less snow so far than usual year here in Tomakomai, Hokkaido, Japan. Today, our six grand children have returned to their homes in Sapporo with their parents. It is quiet all around. The biggest grand daughter has already finished university, the second (boy) will be sonior at a university in Osaka, the third will graduate from senior high school in March, and the fourth will be in the 2nd year of junior high. These above are our older daughter's children. We have another daughter who has two sons. The older son ( our grand child ) is in the 4th grade, and the other a 1st grader. Both are practicing soccer.