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.