The detailed schedule of the Snow Sculpting Competition has been sent to me from Nayoro.

  It was snowing heavily in the morning while I was standing at the crossing as a crossing guard. But it stopped and cleared soon.
  The detailed schedule of the Snow Sculpting Competition was sent to me from Nayoro. I am going to Nayoro on the 6th, Monday next week, and will stay there until 11th. This is a severely cold winter all across the country, and Nayoro is one of the coldest cities in Japan. I will have to take care not to catch cold. I am asked to translate some parts of the orders of the opening ceremony, the welcome party, etc. and I have begun to work on it.  

I prepared to work as an interpreter in the symposium in Nayaoro.

  In the morning, I prepared to work as an interpreter in the symposium on art activities of the artists coming to the snow sculpting competition in Nayoro. I read an article of the interview with a curator of an art museum in Washington,D.C. U.S.A. I wanted to confirm the meanings of some technical terms used in fine arts, especially in sculpture. And I translated the artists' personal histories of the artists who are going to speak in the symposium.

I went with Ayako to the Ivy Plaza, a community hall in the center of the city.

  In the morning, I drove with Ayako to the Ivy Plaza, a community center in the downtown, to see an exhibition of little plaster dolls made by Ms Masumi Miyatake, an artistic doll maker who lives in Higashikawa near Asahikawa. The dolls were mostly of those of farmers before or during World War II, so the expressions on the faces of the dolls were very familier to us who had lived in the era.  

Jan.28th - our neighborhood association's New Year party was held.

  71 people took part in the New Year party which was held "Yunomi no yu", a public bath in Akeno in the suburbs of the city. I offered a toast in the opening on behalf of all the staff members. I said in the short speech before offering a toast, " Calling this a new year party seems to be a little too late, but according to the lunar calendar, it is January 6th and hundreds of millions people in China, Mongolia, and other Asian countries are still celebrating new year."  

Memanbetu high school and Otaru Hokusho high school were selected as participants in the invitation tournament of Koshien baseball.

  Today, 32 senior high school baseball teams were selected by the Japan High School Baseball Federation as participants in the invitational baseball tournament "sennbatsu" to be held in Koshien from March 20th. Among them, there were two teams from Hokkaido, one was Otaru Hokusho high school and Memanbetsu high school. Otaru Hokusho was the champion team in the all Hokkaido in the autumn championships tournament last year, while Memanbetsu was selected for the first time from the special division which was named "21st century frame" by the Federation.

At Shimukappu, -31.4 degrees, the lowest temperature this winter.

  It has snowing heavily in many parts of Honshu. At more than 90% of the weather stations all over the countries, was recorded the temperature below freezing point. The meteorological agency says this cold weather will continue. Some parts of Tottori, Toyama, and Niigata, as well as Iwamizawa in Hokkaido are almost buried in over one-meter-deep snow. But, we are lucky we haven't had so much snow here in Tomakomai.

Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister in the care house.

  The weather was not good almost all across the country, and it snowed in the western parts of Honshu and Hokkaido. But here in Tomakomai, it was sunny, and not so cold.
  Ayako went to Sapporo to see her sister Emiko in the care house. She returned home at about 2:00 p.m. Ayako said Mr.Shimizu, Emiko's husband, had come to the care house. Both were as usual, which means, Mr.Shimizu was on wheelchair, and Emiko didn't speak, but was sleeping sitting in the chair. They are over eighty.

It snowed in Kanto including the center of Tokyo.

  It was sunny here in Tomakomai, but in Kanto district and in many other parts of Honshu,especially the districts along the Japan Sea, it snowed very much. In Tokyo and in its vicinity, it is reported that more than 1,000 car accidents occurred. Many pedestrians slipped and fell, and some of them were carried to hospitals. In those places where they don't usually have snow, people are not used to snow. Shoe shops are crowded with people who want to buy removable spikes to attach their shoes.

It didn't snow today, and the temperature was high for this time of the season.

  It was not cold today, and the snow on the road was melting as if it were spring. I walked around in Nisshin cho and dropped in at the 100-yen shop and B-top book store on the way. I looked for memo pads and some other stationeries. I am thinking of beginning to prepare for going to Nayoro. In the afternoon, I read aloud some English sentences and dialogues for a part of my preparation for my task in Nayoro. Lately I have had almost no opportunities to speak English, so I thought I needed some practice.
  A Japanese tennis player, Kei Nishikori, won three matches in Australian tournament, and, as a Japanese player, proceeded to the semi-final for the first time in the past 85 years.

It snowed much through the night.

  It had been snowing through the night, and I had to shovel away the snow with Ayako. It took us about two hours to finish.

Mr.Hasegawa sent me an email asking me to work as an interpreter for the snow sculpting competition.

   I have worked as an interpreter for the international snow sculpting competition held in Nayoro  for five years in a row until last year. This year, it is going to be held from February 6th to 11th. Mr.Hasegawa, chief of the organizing committee, emailed asking me to work this year, too. I accepted the request and decided to go to Nayoro by train on February 6th, and stay there until 11th. Mr.Hasegawa says there will be participants from Argentina, Canada, Russia, Germany, and Korea from abroad. I look forward to seeing the artists.

I didn't feel all right today because of yesterday's drink after this year's first meeting of the neighborhood association.

   I didn't go out today because I didn't feel good because I drank a little too much after the monthly meeting of the neighborhood association yesterday evening.

Darvish Yu agreed to a contact with the Texas Rangers on Thursday.

  The Hokkaido Nippon-Ham's ace pitcher,Darvish Yu has agreed to a six-year $60 million contact with the Txas Rangers. The $51.7 million posting fee which will be paid to the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters is the biggest amount of money to be invested to a player who has never pitched in the Major Leagues. I hope and believe he will do a very good job in US, and on the contrary, I worry that in the coming 2012 pennant race, how the Nippon-Ham will perform without Darvish.   

Today, it got a little warmer - hint of spring?

  The highest temperature was above the freezing point for the first time this year (?). We can hardly wait for spring to come. But it is mid-January. There are still two months before true spring comes.
  In the morning, I could enjoy a pleasant walk along the Tomakomai river.  Ice covered the surface of the river almost completely with thin snow on it, so the water birds were swimming in the narrow open spaces of cracked ice.
  Tomoko in Sendai sent me an email. She is still in the hospital because this cold weather might affect her lung disease. She attached a photo of her wearing a mask on her mouth and sitting on the bed with a bunch of flowers. I hope she will get better.

Jaunary 17th - the 17th anniversary of Kobe-Awaji Great Earthquake.

   It was a very cold day today, too. The winter vacation of elementary school is over, and school kids began to go to school. In the morning, I had to stand at the crossing to watch them walking to school. It was very chilly, because the temperature was  - 11.5 degrees.
   Today, January 17th is the 17th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. In 1995, at 5:46 a.m., on January 17th,
a big earthquake which hit Kobe and its vicinity including Awaji island did a great damage and killed 6,434 people. Today, series of ceremonies and commemorative events took place in Kobe and many other places. In a park in Kobe, people gathered and lit 6,434 candles in bamboo lanterns to remember those lost in the quake and also to pray for those lost in the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami.  

I phoned to Mr.Mikami to say I want to resign from the official of the neighborhood association.

  Today, again, it was reported that it was snowing heavily in Iwamizawa. The amount of snow it had fallen so far was 1.8 m and it was the most in history. Because of the heavy snowfall, traffic was almost all stranded in and around Iwamizawa. But here in Tomakomai, the weather was fine and sunny, though the temperature was low.
   In the morning, I phoned to Mr.Mikami, who is the chief of the official candidates selection committee of the neighborhood association, and told him I would like to resign from the official for the next term.

Why are Hokkaido teams so weak in Ekiden or relay marathon?

  It was so cold today, too. I attended the funeral service of late Miyakawa in the morning. In the afternoon, I watched on TV the inter-prefectual relay marathon women's race. Hokkaido team is so weak that every year the result is lower than the 30th of the 47 teams which participate in the race. This year's result was, again, the 35th. 

Late Mr.Miyakawa's funeral wake.

  How long will this cold weather continue?  This morning, again, the temperature in most places in Hokkaido went down below -10 degrees. I was always feeling severely cold while I was walking along the Tomakomai river even in the afternoon.
  In the evening, I went to Yasuragi Funeral Hall at Hokko cho by chartered bus to attend a neighbor's funeral wake service. The deceased person was Mr.Miyakawa's father who was 85 years old. Both Mr.& Mrs.Miyakawa are officials of our neighborhood association.
  In the afternoon, Takashi and Sachiyo called us on Skype.Two bottles of wine and a kind of health appliance for Ayako were sent from Takashi. After returning home from the funeral wake, Ayako and I enjoyed drinking the wine Takashi sent us from California.

3,394 people are still missing more than 10 months after the great earthquake in eastern Tohoku.

  15,844 people were killed and 3,394 people are still missing. The Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11th last year. Since then, 10 months have passed. It is reported that the number of volunteers has decreased by one tenth of that in the peak. In the disaster-stricken areas, the reconstruction is steadly going on, but still, big heaps of debris are seen everywhere. When we think of the solution of the problem of nuclear leakage from the power plant in Fukushima, we feel just daunting.

-29.1 ℃ at Rikubetsu, northern Hokkaido this morning.

  How cold it is !  In the morning, in many parts of Japan, the lowest temperature was recorded this morning. I walked to the hospital to have my diabetes checked. The result of the check-up was very good. HbA1/c was 6.3, and it was below 7.0 for two regular check-ups.

The number of the people who killed themselves in 2011 was over 30,000.

   It is the coldest season of the year now. In some parts in Hokkaido, the temperature dropped low as -20 degrees. Even in southern Honshu, there are drops in temperature, and heavy snowfalls.
 
   The National Police Agency reported that 30,513 people killed in 2011. (20,867 men, 9,646 women)  The number of suicides got over 30,000 for the 14th consecutive year. According to age bracket, the number was the largest in the fifties, followed by 60th and 40th, which means the largest in their primes.

Sawa Homare was named as FIFA women's Player of the Year for 2011.

  It was a fine winter day today, too. I walked along the frozen Tomakomai river. Swans, wild ducks, seagulls, and three geese were swimming in the narrow open waters.

  News from Zurich, Switzerland : FIFA named Sawa Homare, Nadeshiko Japan's captain, as the Player of the Year for 2011. They also named Sasaki Norio, head coach of Nadeshiko Japan, the women's Coach of the Year. And, also, the Japan Football Association won the Fair Play Award. Congratulations !

The Coming-of-Age Day

  The second Monday of January is a national holiday, the Coming-of-Age Day.  1.22 million people turn 20 this year. This number marks record-low, falling below half the 1970 peak of about 2.46 million. Roughly 620,000 men and 600,000 women  comprise 0.96 % of Japan's population, down for the fifth straight year. The population of Japan is continuing to decrease. On the contrary, the aging population is increasing. What will become of Japan's future?

Intercollegiate Rugby Football - Teikyo univ. the champions 3 consecutive years.

  It was a fine day. I walked in the morning as usual and dropped in at  a 100 yen- shop in Nissin cho to buy a special envelope to send Takashi in California a CD in which I dubbed a tlevised program on the management of companies.
  Ilsemarie in Germany, who is now staying in an Spanish island, sent me an email asking if I might accept an email from her friend named Marian living in Chile, South America. I answered I would be delighted to receive her request.  

The roads covered with fresh snow was not slippery, but pleasant to walk on.

  We don't have much snow around here in usual winter, but for these few days, it snowed much. In some areas along the Japan Sea including western Honshu, it is reported to have snowed twice or three times as much as in usual winter. In the morning, when I was walking toward Kawazoe, it was very pleasant to walk stamping snow.

It was fine, but I was busy shoveling out snow.

  It was a sunny day, but I had to work to clear away the snow around the house. It took me about two hours to finish it. But I thought it was a good exercise, so I didn't have to go for my everyday walk.
  I emailed Tomoko in Sendai. She has been in hospital since the end of last year, because the weather is so cold that it may affect her lung disease. She answered me later, saying she is not bad. I am relieved.

It snowed much in the afternoon.

  Since the weather forecast sait it would snow in the afternoon, I left home for my routine walking earlier than usual. In the afternoon, as the weather forecast had predicted it began to snow and snowed very much. It took me about an hour to clear the snow around the house while it was still snowing. In the evening, after dinner, I heard a snow plow clearing the snow around my house, and I went out in a hurry to clear the snow out into the road. The snow plow carried the snow I cleared. I felt thankful to the snow plow!

January 4th, a very cold morning,but it got warmer toward noon. A new Year card from Dr.Uehara.

  Today I received a New Year card from Dr.Yoshimasa Uehara, professor of Iwate Medical University. Dr.Uehara was one of my old students in Takikawa Koryo junior high school, where I got a job as a teacher for the first time in my teaching career in 1959. Mr.Uehara was a very bright boy who liked sports such as skiing in winter, and was interested in some events in track and field such as tripple-jump. He took part in English speaking contest, and showed his wonderful ability in mathematics and science. After graduating from my junior high school, he went up to Takikawa senior high school, and then to Tokyo university. In the 1960s, when he entered Tokyo university, the universities almost all across the country, especially Tokyo university as it was the most prestigious university, were in  big dispute and he couldn't study in his university, and so he went to go to study abroad. He majored in pharmceutical science in a university in Sweden ( though I'm not sure exactly ). Then he returned to Tokyo university after the dispute ended, and continued his study there. He became a researcher, and worked in National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan. He had worked there until he became 60 years old, and after his retirement age, he began to work as professor at Iwate Medical university, and still he works there. He is a member of the Japan Cancer Association.

January 3rd,Hakone Ekiden - Toyo Univ. won the runaway champions !

  In Hakone Ekiden, or marathon relay race between Tokyo and Hakone, Toyo University won overwhelmingly, and became champions. The second was Komazawa, the third, Meiji. Before the race, Waseda, last year's champions team, were expected to be one of the potential winners, but they had to resign themselves to the 4th.   

I slept 10 hours.

  I couldn't sleep last night because I had to go to the shrine, so I had slept for 10 hours until this morning. When I woke up, I was still feeling sleepy. It was snowing during the night, and I had to clear the snow around the house. Then, after eating breakfast, I drove with Ayako to the Tarumae Shrine to pray for  our health and happiness.
  I watched one of the annual New Year events "Hakone Ekiden", an inter-collagiate marathon relay road race in which the students go and return from Tokyo to Hakone. Today, the race from Tokyo to Hakone was held, and Toyo university team was in the 1st place, followed by Waseda univ.(2nd) and Meij univ.(3rd). The race back from Hakone to Tokyo are going to be held tomorrow.   

January 1st,2012

  Yesterday, our two daughters' families came to spend New Year's Eve. But Haruna's oldest sister, Marie, and Chiaki's husband, Kazuyuki, didn't come. our house was so crowded with people, and with two dogs and a sick old cat, and it became very busy and noisy.