It was a warm, pleasant day for walking.

It was a warm day.I walked along the Tomakomai River in the morning,and it was very pleasant. Swans,geese,wild ducks,and sea gulls were swimming in the river.

In the evening's news on TV,there was a story about a man named "Tagami" who used to be the prime minister Naoto Kan's friend when they were young. The man named "Tagami" is now living a homeless life.Mr.Kan and the man named"Tagami" joined the activities to reform society,and they supported Ichikawa Fusae,a famous leader of the women's liberation movement in Japan. They urged Ichikawa Fusae to stand in the Upper House election and let her be elected as a member of the Upper House.What has made the two men,Mr.Kan and Mr."Tagami", so different? There was no special explanation about it,but he said he made some mistakes concerning his political activities,and he was put in a big debt.He had had his family before,but had to be divorced by his wife because of his mistake. Mr."Tagami" is a very intelligent man,and even now,when he has nothing to do,he goes to a library, and spends time in reading. He often posts in a newspaper poems depicting his homeless life.In the interview,Mr."Tagami"said he remembered the days when he spent with Mr.Kan and had heated debates about social and political issues with him. Mr."Tagami" even admitted that he had once said that he had promised that if Mr.Kan were to become the prime minister of Japan,he would work as one of his aides. Recently,Mr."Tagami" has recognized his interacting with society,and now,the report said,he is working as a volunteer for the people in the area stricken by the quake and tsunami. Life is something very interesting.

The Tohoku Rakuten Eagles had a game in their home in Sendai for the first time this season.

I watched a baseball game on TV between the Tohoku Rakuten and the Kobe Orix this afternoon. It was the first game for Rakuten to play in their home in Sendai which had severely been stricken by the earthquake and tsunami.The starter of Rakuten was Masahiro Tanaka,who graduated from Komazawa Tomakomai High School,and now he is an ace pitcher of the team.On the other hand,Orix's starter was Park Chan Ho, a former US Major Keague player from Korea. The game was a very exciting one,but in the 3rd inning,Rakuten gained 3 runs and Tanaka gave only 1 run in the 8th inning and completed the game.The capacity crowd of Sendai were overjoyed at the result.Another good news for the people in Sendai was the win of their soccer team,the Vegalta Sendai, over the Urawa Reds by the score of 1-0.It was really the "Sendai Day". Right after I knew the result of the soccer game,I sent an e-mail to Tomoko living in Sendai,and she returned her joyful message only a moment later.

The Royal wedding took place in London today, and Prince William,Duke of Cambridge,and Catherine Middleton married today on the 29th of April,2011.

Purple blossoms of the azaleas are coming out in my garden.

I heard the sound of falling rain all through the night,but the rain stopped in the morning.I am very happy to see some flowers coming out in my garden.Today I found some early blooming azaleas were beginning to open up their purple blossoms.Though my garden still looks winterly,buds are swelling here and there.

In the evening,I attended the annual general meeting of our neighborhood association. We discussed the annual plan and the budget of the association for the 2011 fiscal year, but, as all of the 32 attendants were the officers or former officers of the association,there were no questions or special proposals.Why aren't there any common people's attendance? On the other hand,when we hold some events like recreations or one-day trips,sports day,or even the cleanup day,many people come and gather in the minipark in our neighborhood.People are reluctant to attend the meeting and propose ideas or opinions. So,they eventually leave everything to the officers. By attending the meeting and saying something,they are afraid of being forced to become officers.It is a problem that there are few people who want to become officers of the neighborhood association,and,as a result,the officers are now rappidly aging.

I applied for the Tomakomai citizen's college "Communication in English."

Today I went to the Tomakomai Cultural Exchange Center(o.k.a. Ivy Plaza),and applied for an English class on "Communication in English." The teacher will be Mrs.Tomiko Neiadis,who is a professional interpreter. We will have the class every Monday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. My purpose to take the class is,of course,to learn English,but in addition,I look forward to getting aqcuainted with young people who are eager to learn English. I,myself,sometimes work as an interpreter, but I think I still have a lot to learn about English. My stance in learning things is to learn from anyone,anywhere,and any time.
After leaving the Cultural Exchange Center,I went to the municipal office and met the people of the human exchange section,where I had a Japanese class for foreign residents till March. Mr.Hosono,who had been in charge of the section till March was transferred to the welfare section,and a man of early 40s named Mr.Masuda has newly been appointed to the position.

I went to a barbershop.

Since last night,it had been rainy,but it cleared up in the morning.After having had breakfast,I went out to serve as a crossing guard for primary school children.About a hundred pupils cross the junction of three roads in front of the ophthalmic hospital near my house every morning between 7:30 to 8:00.Four volunteer crossing guards from our neighborhood association stand at the three corners with a green flag.When it is rainy,or windy,or very cold,it is not an easy task,but this morning,it was fine,and warm.
At about 9:30,I walked to a barbershop on the way along my routine walking path, and had my hair cut. I go to the barbershop once every month. The charge for the elderly is 1,575 yen,which is cheaper than in any other shop in the city.

April 24th is our son's 43rd birthday.

It is April 24th in the local time of US west coast where our son,Takashi lives. It is Takashi's 43rd birthday. I sent an e-Card to celebrate his birthday in the morning Japan time. In the afternoon,Takashi and his wife Sachiyo called us on Skype. We were glad to see them look so happy as usual. Takashi said that he had met his former professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology,Dr.Ohyama, who had visited Stanford University,where Takashi is studying as a visiting scholar.Sachyo said she was going to come to Tokyo in May to attend some event which is going to be held at her alma mater,Keio University.They seem to be doing something busily and actively.We told them we wanted to visit them some day in the near future.
In the local election held on Sunday,Mr.Moriya,our neighbor,and the chairperson of our neighborhood association, was re-elected as a member of the city assembly, gathering 3,876 votes,the most of all the 33 candidates.Congratulations.

Our pet cats are growing older and weaker.

We have two cats which are 14 and 15 years old.Both are brothers and came from our older daughter's. Our older daughter,Haruna,who lives with her family in Sapporo,likes animals very much and she has two dogs and three cats indoors.14 years ago,three or four cats,(I've forgotten how many), were born to one of her cats.Haruna's cats were pedigree Chinchilla cats and they were popular in Japan.So,all the pussies but one were soon adopted by Haruna's friends.The one left at Haruna's had some trouble with its eyes.When it was born,his eyes were open.( When cats are born,their eyes must be closed.) So,Haruna took it to animal hospital, and had the eyes of the pussy closed by stitching the eyelids. After a week or so,the stitches were removed,but the pussy seemed to have trouble with its eyesight. About a year later,Haruna brought to our house the pussy with another cat,one year older brother of the pussy,and asked us to keep them. Since then,the two cats have lived with us for 14 years.They have been so well and lovely as any other cat, and we have loved them. But recently,the cat which had trouble at birth seems to have grown old and weak, and is not able to walk well. He wears diapers. We care for the cat every day so we can't be away from home even a single whole day.We like traveling, but we can't go anywhere now. The other cat,a year older brother, is very well. Anyway,we now hope we will live happily,nursing our two old cats tenderly.

It was a cold,rainy day.

Since last night,it has been raining,though not so heavily. In the morning, I walked with an umbrella as far as the Koitoi river in Kawazoe cho. Today was the final day for the local election campaign. The campaign cars came and went busily all day, just shouting out the names of the candidates .Tomorrow,we will have to go to vote.
Every day and night,there are reports from the earthquake-and-tsunami-stricken Tohoku District.Today,the Tohoku Shinkansen Line was restored, and Tokyo and Aomori were directly connected by bullet train. School was reopend in many places.I feel a little relieved to see cherry blossoms and other flowers blooming here and there in the district.
I watched a soccer game between Vegalta Sendai and Shimizu Espulse. Sendai is,of course,the disaster-stricken city by the earthquake and tsunami.In the game,Shimizu first got a goal,but Sendai caught up in the second half, and just before the final whistle went,Sendai got the winning goal.It was such a dramatic game. In the baseball game,Tohoku Rakuten Eagles got a win against Hokkaido Nippon Ham by a walk-off solo homer. I hope the people of Tohoku were greatly delighted with these results.

I met Mr.Nishimura,my old friend, a 78-year-old unversity student in Okinawa.

Mr.Mamoru Nishimura,my classmate in university,came back to Hokkaido for the first time this year from Okinawa.He was a retired teacher from a junior high school in Sapporo,and had worked for a certain American language school for several years. When I heard he entered Ryukyu University,a national university in Okinawa,I was surprised because he was already 76 years old. He was of the same age as Ayako's late brother, and actually they were the contemporary at Takikawa Senior High School,in central Hokkaido.
I went to the Chitose Airport to meet him,and also met Mr.Okazaki,who also had come to meet him.Mr.Okazaki was a friend of Mr.Nishimura,and both had been members of "Article 9 Association",which was established by a Nobel-prize winner auther Mr.Kenzaburo Oe and other 8 members.The bulletin of the association says:
"The "Article 9 Association" strives to shine the light of Article 9 upon this turbulent world, in order to join hands with the peace-seeking citizens of the world."
Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan: Renunciation of war
"Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order,the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
I sincerely hope that the time will come when there will be no wars in the world. 　　

I attended the monthly meeting of our neighborhood association.

Every month,on the third or fourth Thursday evening,the meeting of our neighborhood association (cho-nai kai) is scheduled.I attended the meeting today.
At the meeting,we discussed and decided the annual plan and the budget for 2011 fiscal year.On Thursday next week (April 28),the annual general meeting is going to be held,and the plan and the budget will be approved by the people in the neighborhood.
By the way,there are nine sections in our neighborhood association,including the sections of general affairs,accounts,culture,children care,health and sports, welfare,women,accident and crime prevention,administration of the neigborhood club house.I am a vice-chairperson of the association.
In the annual plan, there are such events as the spring and autumn cleaning-up days,spring and autumn one-day trips,traffic safety training for children and seniors,growing flowers in the flower beds,a sports day,the summer festival,the Bon dance festival,an emergency drill,tea parties for single seniors,the selebration banquet for the aged people,the New Year party, and so on.In addition, I,as a vice-chairperson,must sometimes work to take care of neighbor's funeral.

I bought new tires for my car.

In the morning,I drove to the gas station in Hanazono-cho to have the tires of my car changed. I had bought new tires in the gas station about two weeks before and had them kept there.But,when I got to the gas station,the staff were working busily,and said it would take some time before working on my car.So,I left my car and walked home. On the way,I walked along the Tomakomai river,which was a part of my routine walking course. Here and there on the banks,little blossoms of pussy willows were blooming. I suddenly remembered,for no reason, some scenes of the Tohoku district,where I lived in my young age.

"On the banks of the Kitakami River,
Soft,greeny willows are seen,
As if they were weeping." (Takuboku)

In the afternoon,Ayako drove me to the gas station on the way to go shopping,and I returned home driving my car.
In the evening,I watched a baseball game on TV as usual.Hokkaido Nippon Ham beat the Kobe Orix by 9-5. The winning pitcher was Wolfe.

Yesterday I wrote about the traffic accident in Tochigi. Today,it was reported that the driver was suffering from epilepsy,as I had expected.

A terrible traffic accident in Tochigi prefecture

Yesterday morning,in Kanuma city,Tochigi prefecture,a 12-ton crane truck ran into a group of school children, and killed 5 boys and 1 girl. The driver was a 26-year-old worker,named Shibata,who worked for a public works company.According to the president of his company,the accident happened only a few munites after he left the company's office.The driver was not drunk,but he said,after the accident,he fell asleep at the wheel. After only a few munites'drive,did he fall asleep? And he also said,he didn't remember the moment when the accident happened. What happened to him at the moment? Some people say he might have been attacked by some kind of seizure. Anyway, when I think of the grievious feeling of the children's parents,I cannot say nothing but it was an unspeakable tragedy.
In the evening,I watched on TV a baseball game between the Hokkaido Nippon Ham and the Kobe Orix.Darvish started and allowed only 1 score in 7 innings. The game ended in Nippon Ham's victory by 8-2.

It was a sunny,but windy day today. I went to the agriculture cooperative.

It was sunny,but windy all day. In the morning,Ayako and I went by car to the Tomakomai branch of the wide-area agricultural cooperative association. We first registered there as users of the "Hometown Farm", a lot which we rented from the city. Then,we were presented a bag of fertilizer,which weighed 20 kg. We bought seeds of potatoes,corns,carrots,spinach,peanuts,beans,etc. We will also buy seedlings of cucumbers,tomatoes,pumpkins,etc.later,after we have tilled the soil.

Again,about the earthquake and tsunami disaster. According to the report from the National Police Agency,the number of the people confirmed dead is 13,802, missing 14,129, and people living in evacuation shelters 136,535, as of April 17. But there are some reports of the bright side of the evacuated people's lives. In some places in the disaster areas,cherries are blooming. Instead of only being depressed,people began to realize that they should let themselves raise their chins up. So, they held outdoor parties of "cherry blossom viewing". Provisional housings are being built and completed,and in some places,people are beginning to move into them. But it seems very difficult to clear the debris,and it will take a lot of time and efforts.

Yuki Saito,Fighters' rookie pitcher, got the first win in his pro baseball career.

Yuki Saito,the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters' No.1 draft pick, won his first victory in his profesional career over the Chiba Lotte Marines. Saito started the game,but in the top of the first inning,he allowed a two-run homer to Lotte's Tadahito Iguchi.However,after Ohmine,Lotte's starter,allowed 3 walks, Hoffpour,a new-comer to the Fighters from USA,cracked a come-from-behind-grand-slum-homer.Saito finished his work in the game after the fifth inning,when the game was 6-4 the Fighters leading.He allowed 4 runs,1 earned,on 6 hits over 5 inings.The game ended in the Fighters' 8-4 victory,and Saito became a first winning pitcher in his pro debut.
Today,campaigning for the 2nd round local election started. In the first round local election,we voted for the governor of each prefecture and for the members of prefectural assembly,but in this second round,we are going to elect the mayor and the members of each municipal assembly. Here in Tomakomai,only the members of the municipal assembly will be elected, because the former mayor resigned during his term of office due to a scandal,and the present city mayor was elected in the "by-election". The election will take place on April 24,next Sunday.
Our next-door Mr.Hisayoshi Moriya has run for a member of the municipal assembly. Mr.Moriya is the chairman of our neighborhood association,so we support him and want him to be elected for his forth time. But,I don't want him to work only for his neighbors'intesests, but for all the people in the whole city.

It rained almost all day today.

It was raining almost all day today, but toward evening,it cleared off. I didn't
have nothing special to do, so I tried to go on translating the book "Chippewa Chief in World War II". I am now translating the 157th page of the original book,but there are some special words and expressions used in U.S. Navy and Air Force during the Second World War.It takes a lot of time to find out the meanings of them, and sometimes,I can't find them at all.Especially,I have difficulties when there are the names of the parts of a war ship or a bomber plane.While translating,I always imagine how a plane launches from the deck of a carrier or touches down on it. And I also know little about the ranks of US Navy and Air Force solidiers in the 1940s. I have 34 pages left to complete the translation,but it will take a lot more time,I am afraid.

I've cleaned our garden to start gardening for this year.

Why do many people like to touch earth? Originally,Japanese people have lived on agriculture. So some people say that is the reason why we like to work on fields.I could hardly wait for snow to melt, and at last,the snow have completely disappeared from the flatlands. Today I pulled up the chickweeds in my garden,picked up dead leaves, and leveled the land.I saw some little buds of Katakuri or fawn lilies here and there in the garden.
Now we are going to rent a small farmland called "Furusato Noen" from the city."Furusato" means "home town", and "Noen" means "farm". In London, I hear from my friend there that it is called "lot". The size of a lot here in our city is 66 sq km.There are lots for 189 families in the suburbs,where it is 10 minutes' drive from our house. We look forward to growing vegetables,such as spinach,carrots,potatoes,
sweet potatoes,cucumbers,pumpkins,beans,corn,etc.　　

Ayako and I enjoyed playing park golf for the first time this spring.

It was a warm day.The temperature rose up as high as 15 degrees.But still we see little green in the fields and on the hills.
Ayako and I went to play park golf in the afternoon,and enjoyed playing it for three hours from 12:30 till 3:30 p.m. I concerned about Ayako's leg in which she always complain of pain,but she was all right. The golf links are just close to our house, and it takes only three or four minutes to drive there.
By the way,park golf is a kind of miniature golf which was invented in Hokkaido for mainly aged people to play. So most of the players we saw today seemed to be over 60 years. It is not too hard,so,I think it's good exercise for aged people.

What a shame! The Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters lost the first game of the 2011 season.

Most of the baseball fans in Hokkaido had not expected that Japan's No.1 pitcher, Darvish Yu, would be chased in the 7th inning by giving away 7 scores in the opening game of the 2011 pennant race yesterday evening. This evening,Wolfe started for the game against the Seibu Lions, and again,the Hokkaido Nippon Ham was beaten by the Lions by 3 to 8. It is for three consecutive years that the Nippon Ham lost more than two games in a row from the opening game for the new season.How disappointing!

I went to Sapporo with Ayako to see Ayako's sister.

It was a sunny warm day. Ayako and I drove to Sapporo. First, we dropped at Chiaki's house. Chaki,our youngest daughter was at her house alone. Chiaki showed us some pictures with some sentences painted and written by her second son,Arashi, who was the first grader. The pictures were painted well, and the sentences explaining the meanings of the pictures were funny and interesting.Chiaki said her two sons were now crazy about playing soccer. The older son,Tokio,5th grader, is a goal keeper,and Arashi is only a beginner,but to see their photos in uniform, they looked like full-fledged players. Tokio is a bright boy and seems to be loved by his friends,so he was elected as a section leader of the pupils' association of his school.
After leaving Chiaki's house, we went to a nursing home for the aged in the suburbs to see Ayaoko's sister and her husband. Ayako's sister is suffering from Alzheimer-type dementia. She was sitting on a chair,with her eyes closed. She could not stand or walk by herself, and could not speak at all. Her husband,who is 85 years old, usually lives at their house alone in the wheel chair, because he has suffered from brain infarction twice,but he can speak,though slowly. He comes to stay with his wife for two days and nights in the nursing home every month. We bought their tomb for them in Barato Cemetery which was in the suburbs of Sapporo, and we went to see them and show our brother-in-law the certificate of having bought the tomb. On May 1st,we will take hime to the cemetery to show him the tomb.

One month after the Great East Japan Earthquake, strong aftershocks occur frequently.

While I am writing this,a strong aftershock of the Great East Japan Earthquake is occurring. The aftershock occurred at 5:16 was intensity 6 lower on the Japanese scale,and magnitude7.0. The epicenter was central Fukushima prefecture. Tsunami warning was issued, but half an hour later it was cleared. In some places in Fukushima and Ibaraki,some people are reported to be injured. A landslide occurred somewhere,and a car is trapped in the mud. There is a report that a house is on fire.More than 220,000 houses are suffering from power outages.

One month has passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake broke out.

Time flies. It is one month since the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred. As of April 10,the number of the people killed :13,013,missing : 14,608,evacuees:151,115. The total of the number of the people killed added to that of the missing is 27,621. But this number is expected to substantially increase, because there are people who have not been reported to the police if they are alive or dead or missing.In some of the victim families, all the members of the families were destroyed and there is no one to report to the police. In addition,the people living within 20 km radius from the crippled nuclear power plant have been forced to evacuate to other prefectures,and many things in the area are still unclear.
However,it is true that we can see some active movements for recovery in those disaster areas.Provisional housings have been completed in some places and some evacuees who were chosen by lot have begun to move in. In some schools, entrance ceremonies for the new academic year have been held, and children have begun to go to the schools which are still used for evacuation shelters.

It's Saturday, but .......

It is Saturday today,but there were no sports programs on TV but a charity swimming competition. This time of year,I can usually enjoy watching baseball games or soccer matches.In the swimming races held in Hamamatsu,Shizuoka,an Olympic champ,Mr.Kosuke Kitajima won in 100 m breast stroke, and qualified to be a representative for the world championships to be held in Shanghai,China,in July this summer.
When I was walking in the cold of early spring -only 4 degrees-,I saw Mr.Kan-no,one of our neighbors,and walked with him all through the way back from Kawazoe. Mr.Kan-no said he had gone to play park golf four times this year so far. Ayako sometimes says she wants to go to play park golf,but she has a pain in her leg,and goes to hospital.
The National Police Agency announced the number of victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The number of dead people:12,915, missing:14,921,evacuees:163,781. According to Asahi Newspaper,55.4％ of the dead peolple were over 65 years of age.

A strong earthquake measuring intensity 6 upper on Japanese scale hit Miyagi again.

Last night,at around 11:00,after we had gone to bed,we felt earthquake. We felt the earth roling from side to side for about 10 seconds. It seemed to be a big earthquake,so we turned on the TV to know where was the epicenter,and what part of Japan was most strongly hit. Miyagi,again, seemed to have been hit most strongly,and it was measured intensity 6 upper on the Japanese scale. Two people were killed, and more than 100 people were injured. In most parts of Tohoku,people suffered from power outages. But today,Sumiko, my sister in Fukushima called us saying there was no blackout. Then, in the evening,Tomoko in Sendai sent me an email, and said there was no blackout,either.

April - the season I usually feel fresh, but I am now depressed, why?

In the morning,I walked from home as far as Kawazoe routinely. While walking,I was feeling blue.It is spring, April, the season when I always feel fresh and hopeful every year. But, why am I feeling so blue? When I think of the people in the disaster areas stricken by the earthquake and tsunami, I shouldn't be feeling like that. They are in far more painful and difficult situation. I will try something new. I must restart.
After returning home, I phoned the international division of the municipal office,saying I would like to quit my voluntary work of teaching Japanese. The reason was there were only two students,but both of them were often absent.
A few days ago, I submitted an application form to attend a class for learning how to communicate in English. Though I am qualified to work as a tourist guide in English,I wanted to learn English from the beginning. If I meet fresh, young people, I think I will be motivated to do something new. Be humble,and don't bother other people,most of whom,maybe,are beginners.

A warm spring day.

It was a warm spring day. The highest temperature exceeded 10 degrees for the first time this year. Instead of going for a routine walking exercise, I drove to the Takaoka cemetery,and then walked into the bush,and picked some butterbur sprouts for tempura.I ate tempura of butterbur sprouts and other ingredients and vinegared butterbur sprouts seasoned by miso. It is reported that,in Tokyo,and other places in central and southern Japan,cherry blossoms are in full bloom.Here in Hokkaido,it will take another month for cherry blossoms to bloom. The only flowers we see blooming in the gardens are tiny yellow flowers called "fukuju sou" whose English name is "adonis". I don't know whether or not that name is known by many English-speaking people. I'll try to ask my Japanese students,Bryan from New York and Emmet from Ireland on Friday.

The Tokyo Electric Company has begun to flow water contaminated with radioactivity into the sea.

The Tokyo Electric Company has begun to flow the water contaminated with "low level" radioactivity from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima into the Pacific Ocean. Since too much water with high level radioactivity is filled in the pool in the broken building of the power house,the water will have to be kept in some other place. So, the Tokyo Electric Company has decided to flow water with low level radioactivity into the sea,and into the pool which contained water with low level activity,to keep water with high level radioactivity instead. But today,some kind of fish caught by a fishing boat was found contaminated with high level radioactivity.
According to Ilsemarie's mail,her daughter Silja's choir and orchestra will have a charity concert for the east Japan Great earthquake. And so will the high school of Barsinghausen. Many thanks! 　

A "charity game" in USA.

Today's Major League baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Seattle Mariners was played as a "charity game for the East Japan Great Earthquake Relief".
Hideki Matsui played for Oakland,recording 2 base hits with 1 RBI, and contributed to Oakland's 7-1 win, and Ichiro Suzuki played for Seatle,hitting a single,and showing his strong arm by the"laser beam" throw from deep right field, and tagged out Matsui running to the third base.Auction of the goods provided by players was held. The money collected is said to have amounted to more than 500,000 dollars,which is to be donated to the victims of the East Japan Great Earthquake.
We are very grateful of all the people in the world who are helping and encouraging Japan and Japanese people in various ways.

I enjoyed watching baseball games on TV.

It was a cold day,though it was sunny in the morning.But in the afternoon,it began to snow. I walked an hour from 8:00 to 9:00, and after I returned home, I enjoyed watching baseball games on TV. First,I watched a major league game between the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics. It was a close game,and went on at 1-1 tie, but finally,the Mariners got 4 scores and won the game by 6-2. Ichiro of the Mariners hit 2 infield base hits, and contributed to winning the game. Matsui played as DH for the Athletics, and stood at bat four times,but he couldn't record any base hit.
Then, I watched the final game of high school invitational baseball tournament between Kyushu Kokusai high school and Tokaidai Sagami high school. The result was 6-1,Tokai's victory.
Takashi and Sachiyo called us on Skype in the afternoon. They said they were going to watch a major league baseball between the Mariners and the Athletics tomorrow. Today's game I enjoyed seeing was not televised in California, so they didn't know the result. It was strange that we could watch the game on TV here in Japan, but they couldn't watch it in California.

Ganbare Nippon ! More power to Japan !

I left home for a walking exercise at 8:00 o'clock, earlier than usual. On the way, I saw a large flock of swans flying overhead. I guess they were flying north back to Siberia. It is a sign of spring.
Speaking of spring,the pennant race of the major league baseball of America began today. Ichiro Suzuki of the Seatle Mariners hit two singles,and recorded two stolen bases. Seatle defeated the Athletics by 6-2.
In Japan,charity baseball matches were held for the East Japan Great Earthquake in several places.( The government decided to formally call the March 11 earthquake
"The East Japan Great Earthquake") In Sapporo,the game between the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters and the Tohoku Rakuten Eagles was played,and Hokkaido won.
It is good for the people in all different walks of life to be acting to help and encourage the people in the disaster areas.
As of April 1st,the number of dead people in the quake and tsunami:11,734, missing people:18,152, evacuees:166,729. Very high level of radiation was reported to have leaked into sea water from the reactors of the crippled nuclear power plant.

April 1st - the 2011 fiscal year began

April 1st is the beginning of Japan's new fiscal year. All across the country,new movements are seen to begin here and there. Ceremonies for new recruits are held in every company,every public office,or institution,where fresh young people receive letters of appointment,and then, they express their wishes as new members of society.
Seeing such scenes on TV, we, ourselves, feel very fresh and hopeful.
In this year's ceremonies for new recruits, it is reported that almost all the presidents mentioned the disaster of the March 11th Tohoku Kanto Great Earthquake. How every company can help the great number of victims, and how it can contribute to the reconstruction of the disaster stricken areas and to the recovery of the economic damage done by the quake and tsunami.
Today I was glad to see victims of the quake and tsunami smiling to a volunteer doctor who visited their evacuation shelter.