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.