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.