From somewhere in Japan

It gets warmer and warmer.

2006-03-08T21:53:00.000+09:00

I always put on a coat and gloves on the way to the office in the winter. If I don’t put them on, I can't put up with the coldness.

I checked today's weather forecast in the morning. I found it would be warm and decided to take off the coat.

The forecast is true. I don't mind the cold at all. I feel spring is approaching now…

New clothes for spring

2006-03-05T22:55:00.000+09:00

There is a famous department store near my house. It was renovated at the beginning of March. I was very happy because some brands came there at the same time. I went shopping to buy some clothes.

I walked around every floor and visited some shops. I found a jacket and a shirt and bought them. Each color is good for spring, beige and pink. I want to put them on as soon as possible.

"Phantom of the Opera" in the Japanese version

2006-02-26T22:02:00.000+09:00

I went to a theater to see a famous musical. It was "Phantom of the Opera". This was my third viewing. I watched this on Broadway the first time and the next time I saw it in the same theater as today.

The seat was in the center of the second row on the second floor. It was very good to enjoy the whole stage. How near the famous chandelier I was! I could see it in front of me.

Osamu Takai(Shiki Theatre Company) played the title role of the PHANTOM of the Opera. He always did it very well. I love his sad but strong voice.

I didn't like the actress who played Christine unfortunately. It is difficult to explain the reason. I thought she didn't look young and beautiful. That was very important for me to enter this musical world.

I hope the heavy pain will go away

2006-02-24T16:31:00.000+09:00

Some mouth inflammations have been bothering me for about 2 weeks. I can't taste meals well because of heavy pain. Besides, I sometimes get up early when I feel pain. I wonder if it is caused by lack of vitamins.

I always have some powder made of brown rice with yogurt. Brown rice contains a lot of vitamin B. I mix this powder and yogurt before I eat it. It is very delicious. Unfortunately I've run out of this powder. I need it as soon as possible for my peace of mind.

Result of TOEIC

2006-02-23T09:11:00.000+09:00

I took a TOEIC exam last month. For this I had been listening to an English CD a little on the way to work. I go to the English class in the morning every Wednesday and Friday. I believed I was getting a good score. But...

I didn’t improve my score. It was worse than the last one. What is wrong with my studying? I was very disappointed...

Pursuit games

2006-02-22T12:32:00.000+09:00

I have watched the Torino Olympic games on the TV almost every night. None of the Japanese competitors have got any medals. It is a little sad but it isn't important to enjoy the games.

I found some interesting sports which I have never seen this time. One of them, “Pursuit” games were broadcast a few days ago. Two teams skate in a time trial. One team has 3 members. All 6 members start skating on an orbital course at the same time but the start line of each team is different. Two teams really pursue their opponents.

The Japanese female team got fourth place! If a member hadn’t fallen down on the course, the team could have got a medal. It’s a pity.

I can’t explain very well how to skate pursuit games in English but you’d be excited if you could see pursuits.

Restart!

2006-02-21T09:08:00.000+09:00

I've not been writing anything in English. I've almost forgotten how to write English sentences. Just kidding, but it is partly true.

I know continuing to write is important. How can I do that? At first I've decided to write freely because I can't write any sentences when I think seriously.

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (7)

2005-12-08T12:19:00.000+09:00

After visiting MoMA, I went back to Manhattan by subway and entered Toys"R"Us. I was surprised that there was a Ferris wheel in the store. I bought something as a souvenir.

In the evening my collegues and I went to a restaurant named "HAKATA GRILL". ( http://www.hakatagrill.com/ ) This was next to the hotel where I stayed.

Their meal tasted very good! I felt I ate a real Japanese meal. Besides, they served some sake which also tasted good. I felt very, very happy. We talked and drank a lot.

I thought "Where are we? NewYork or Tokyo? I believe the latter one."

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (6)

2005-12-08T12:16:00.000+09:00

I visited the MoMA museum in the Queens area on 2003/11/30. This was a temporary museum and smaller than I imagined.. The original MoMA's building was being reconstructed then. There were few people around the temporary one. Was the Queen's area not popular for sightseeing people?
I finished seeing all the works in MoMA Queens within an hour. I was a little disappointed but I found two pictures which I had wanted to see.

One was painted by Henri Matisse, and another one was painted by Piet Mondrian. Please see the attached picture. Do you know which artist’s work it is?

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (5)

2005-12-05T17:48:00.000+09:00

It was cold and fine on 2005/11/29. I went to a theater to buy a ticket for "Beauty and the Beast" but some people were already waiting for cancelled tickets. I gave up on getting a ticket.

The hotel I stayed in was near Times Square. I took a picture. This strongly reminds me of the atmosphere in Manhattan , so this is one of my favourite pictures.

As I walked around, I got to the Rockefeller center. There was a big Christmas tree. Of course in the daytime the light wasn’t turned on. I wanted to see a glowing tree.

As I walked around some more, I was surprised that there was Takashimaya department store. Takashimaya is a very famous store in Japan. I went in there and tried to find Japanese things but it was a completely American store.

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (4)

2005-12-04T10:30:00.000+09:00

After seeing the Thanksgiving parade, I visited many places, the land where the World Trade Center had stood, Wall street, the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. It was a lot of fun to see many things in N.Y. but I got tired.

When I came back to the hotel and went into the room, I found water was falling from the ceiling in the bathroom. I complained about it to the hotel and went out again.

I planned to see “the Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic theater that night. Before I entered the theater I bought a T-shirt and a mask at the shop, located in front of the theater. Of course the Phantom picture was printed on the T-shirt and the mask was the Phantom’s one.

All of the actors sang very well. I couldn’t catch their English but I enjoyed the whole of the musical. As soon as the musical finished, all of the audience gave the actors a standing ovation. So did I. I was really satisfied with the musical.

When I came back to the room again, I found water was still falling in the bathroom. I tried to change the room and I did it fortunately.

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (3)

2005-12-01T18:21:00.000+09:00

According to the news, Puffy, who are a Japanese singing group, took part in the Thanksgiving Parade this year. I'm sure they are famous in Japan but I heard that the TV program featuring them is also popular in the United States recently. Is that correct?

I saw Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on 2003/11/27 on Broadway. I had never seen it before even on the television. There were a lot of people along the street to see the parade and they all seemed happy.

In Japan, Thanksgiving/Labour Day is a holiday every 11/23 but we can't see any parades.

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (2)

2005-11-23T20:04:00.000+09:00

2005/11/23 was Sunday. Of course, I wanted to go to a lot of places for sightseeing because I was in N.Y.!

I had planed visiting MOMA with my colleague but when I called him in the morning his voice was so sleepy. I was sure he had just got up at that time. I decided to go alone.

I changed my mind about a destination and took a subway to head for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were many subway lines in N.Y. It was difficult for me to find the correct one.

The Metropolitan Museum was so big! It was too big to look at all the works. I enjoyed Rembrandt, Vermeer, Gogh, etc. Rembrandt's selfportrait was especially touching. I felt something sad from his face.

Memories of a business trip to N.Y. (1)

2005-11-21T22:22:00.000+09:00

I went to N.Y. for a business trip two years ago. I stayed 2 weeks in Manhattan. It was a very happy experience. I will write my memories in installments from now on.

It was 2003/11/21 when the airplane landed at JFK Airport. Before I checked in at the hotel, I went to Central Park to take a walk. It was a little cold but I was hot as I was a stranger. Nobody knew me.

I found something moving on the ground. It was a squirrel. I was very surprised at seeing it as I have never seen any squirrels in parks in Japan. As I looked around, there were many squirrels all over the park. They were all cute.

Cold and shiny day

2005-11-18T20:37:00.000+09:00

It was a little cold but a fine day today. The winter was coming rapidly. I had been busy this week, so I took a walk during lunch hour to refresh my tired brain.

After I bought something, I ate buckwheat noodles with fried squid in a small standing-up-eating restaurant. It was very delicious.

On my way to the office, I found two cats. They seemed to be sleeping. It was a little cold but still a warm day because the sun was shining.

I kept on watching them for a few minutes. I felt happy and refreshed.

Drinking with my friend

2005-11-13T23:40:00.000+09:00

I visited my friend's condominium to drink. Before he moved to the new house 3 months ago, he had lived in the dormitory where I live now. He is as old as me. We joined the company in the same year and we have been good friends for a long time. I will also move at the end of this year, so I wanted him to give me information about moving.

When I got to the station nearest his house, he was waiting for me in front of the ticket wicket. We bought something to go with liquor near the station. It took 6-7 minutes to reach the house along a road with a lot of cars.

His room was very large. It had a clean kitchen and bathroom. There was a new table. We drank a bottle of red wine and sake. We got heavily drunk together. He cooked and served spaghetti. It tasted very good. We drank and talked for about six hours. It was a lot of fun.

I got a lot of information about moving. We will drink in my new house next year. We should be careful not to drink too much.

Turning off the light during lunch hour

2005-11-09T12:38:00.000+09:00

I loved spending lunch hour on the Internet in the office. I always checked many kinds of news items about economics, society, culture, and so on.

These days it is a little difficult to do that because a colleague began to turn off the light in the office every weekday. It is too dark to read the news on the display. He is a member of the campaign to save on electricity. I heard that my company decided to obtain ISO certification about the environment.

It is good for the earth but not for me...

I felt something fall on my head

2005-11-06T21:33:00.000+09:00

I always have my hair cut in the same hair salon. The reason why I like it there is that the fee is cheaper than other salons and they make me look cool.

2 months had passed since I had my hair cut. I looked a little old when my hair was long. I wanted to look younger so I decided to go to the salon.

It was a cloudy morning. After I had just started walking to the salon, I suddenly felt something fall on my head. "What?" I looked up at the sky. I saw a bird had just flown away. I was very sad. I immediately hurried back home to wash my hair.

That was my last experience before going to my favorite salon.

My great new castle

2005-11-03T21:51:00.000+09:00

I'm living in company housing now.

It costs very little,
it is very near to the station (a 3 minute walk),
and it's room is large for me.

However, I have to move from my room at the end of this year, because the company has a limit to live in company housing. I'm afraid that I am too old to live there.

I started searching for a new house. I visited four house agents and some candidates for rooms. I walked from morning till night.

I finally found a very good rental apartment! It takes 3 minutes to get there from the nearest station. It has 2 rooms and 1 kitchen. It is large enough to live in.

I'm very satisfied with my future castle.

I've got a strange airmail

2005-11-03T01:52:00.000+09:00

I went to the office in the early morning. When I sat down at my seat, I found something on the desk. It was an envelope whose color was orange. The sender was printed on it, "MAPLES and CALDER" (http://www.maplesandcalder.com/). The company wasn't a domestic company, but it was in Hong Kong so the company sent the envelope by airmail.

The envelope included an invitation card about a reception. I noticed that my office's address and email address were printed on it. They were old ones. My office moved in May 2004. The printed address was the former one.

I didn't know the name of the sender at all. I had never contacted them. How did they know my office's address?

Autumn air

2005-11-02T21:33:00.000+09:00

It is getting colder by the day. On my way to the office this morning, as the handles of my bag are made of metal, it was too cold to hold the bag in my hand without gloves. Autumn air in the morning was also cold. I thought it was a good time to put on a coat. I'll get it out of my drawer.

Meetings and supper

2005-11-01T21:18:00.000+09:00

I had three meetings in the afternoon at the customer's office. The first one started at 1:30 p.m. I was very tired when the last one was over. It was 5:30 p.m. I always return to the office after meetings at the customer's office, but I wasn't in that kind of a mood today. I immediately decided to go home. After I called my colleagues, I got on a train.

It took about half an hour to reach the station. It isn't the nearest station from my house but the next one. As soon as I got off the train, I went to a restaurant which is located in the station. I ate a bowl of rice with some raw fish. It was delicious. I was a little happier.

A tired tie

2005-10-31T22:21:00.000+09:00

This is one of my most favorite ties. I usually put it on once a week.. I certainly don't remember when I bought it but at least five years ago.

I unexpectedlly found it very tired. One side was almost worn-out. I felt sad. My colleagues knew my tie was very old, didn't they?

I looked at it carefully and noticed it looked darker than before. I have to give up putting it on soon...

I'm thinking about Halloween

2005-10-31T19:37:00.000+09:00

Today is Halloween Day. However, most Japanese people do nothing. I only saw that many Halloween goods were sold yesterday. I was afraid they would end up in the garbage after 10/31.

I don't know why we don't enjoy Halloween.

I don't know the origin of Halloween.

I don't know how much fun Halloween is!

Somebody please tell me the answers.

Kittens!

2005-10-30T18:43:00.000+09:00

On my way home from a supermarket, I found a kitten near a path. It's pretty face was peeping from under a shed. I immediately took a picture with my cell-phone.

After that, I found another one's face in the same position.
After that, I found another one running from the left-hand side. I immediately took a picture again.

I didn't know they were brothers or sisters but they were all pretty.

About my English class

2005-10-27T22:59:00.000+09:00

I have been learning English every Wednesday and Friday in the early morning at the office. It is very important that the class takes place at the office. It is difficult for me to go to an English class in the evening as I always work till late in the evening.

Our teacher is very funny. He has a sharp tongue and talks about many kinds of topics. We always enjoy his stories.

There are seven members of the class. We know each other very well because we have been learning together for a long time. I often go for a drink with some of them.

Having lunch with my friend

2005-10-26T21:43:00.000+09:00

I went to the customer's office this morning to have a meeting. It started at 10:00 and ended at 11:30. I was hungry but I didn't know where any good restaurants were.

I remembered a friend. She worked near there. I sent an email and invited her at once, "I'm just near your office now. Let's have lunch!" She is often busy but today she wasn't. She came out as soon as she sent an email to me and we met in front of a building.

She took me to a restaurant and said "I love a lot of the curried rice in this restaurant!" I ordered a vegetable curry and she ordered another one. (Sorry, I forgot it.) It tasted very good. I was satisfied with a curry and talking with her.

What is the word verification option?

2005-10-25T20:24:00.000+09:00

I referred to the text about some junk comments before. After that, they sometimes bothered me the same as usual.

When I saw "HELP" on this "Blogger" site, I fortunately found a good page to prevent any junk comments. The title of the page was "What is the word verification option?" I read it carefully and changed the setting on my blog.

OK, I'm completely ready for junk comments! (^-^)

Triangular stairs

2005-10-21T18:27:00.000+09:00

Please see the picture attached. It's very geometrical and beautiful, isn't it? This is the view from the 10th floor of a fire-escape staircase in a building which my customers work in. The stairs are not spiral stairs but triangular stairs.

When I took the picture I was scared of the height. As soon as I took it, I ran down to the 1st floor on this triangular staircase.

A cup of barium

2005-10-20T00:25:00.000+09:00

I had never drunk a cup of barium. Did you ever have chance to taste it?

I had eaten nothing since last night, so I was a little hungry in the morning. I went to a company clinic to have a yearly checkup before work today. I had my weight, height, vision, hearing and so on checked out.

After that, I had an x-ray exam. This was a first experience for me. A nurse gave me a powdered medicine in front of an examination room. I drank it. I felt it bubbling in my stomach. Walking into the room, a doctor instructed me with a microphone how to take the exam. He was in the next room with a glass window. I stood on a machine to take the exam and drank a cup of barium. It tasted a little bad. He instructed me many times to move. I did as he said. It took about 5 min. I was tired of moving at the end.

Who writes the comments?

2005-10-14T17:41:00.000+09:00

As soon as I upload an article to my blog, somebody writes the comments. I sometimes read it but they have nothing to do with the blog. Who writes them? They seems to be written automatically because their time stamps are very similar to the articles.

I delete the comments whenever I find them. What a pain! I want to know how to prevent junk comments.

A hungry and handsome cat

2005-10-11T22:15:00.000+09:00

I found something near a dump. It was a cat. I didn't know if it was male or female. It had a very handsome face. I assume the cat was a male.

I wanted to take his picture but I couldn't. He ran away when I pointed a cellular-phone camera at him.

He looked so hungry. I was sure he had had no dinner.

I want to type a lot of things!

2005-10-05T20:35:00.000+09:00

My PC's display at home has something wrong with it. It has been broken for a week. No matter how many times I turn on the power of the display, it doesn't work.

I want to write emails and blogs at home. I also want to use the Web for getting information but I can't. It is very inconvenient and uncomfortable. All I do on the Internet is done at the office. I must buy a new one as soon as possible.

An email from my mother

2005-09-23T17:19:00.000+09:00

I received an email. It was written in English. The sender was my father, but he doesn't write English. I was thinking about this for a while.

Suddenly, I realized who wrote the email. My mother did it. She has been learning English for a few years. When I went home where my parents now live, I recommended writing English to her. That’s why she wrote the English email.

I was very happy to read her email. I replied at once and I was looking forward to reading her next email.

Ga ga ga ga!

2005-09-21T13:20:00.000+09:00

When I drove and turned left at a corner, I heard a terrible noise from the left-hand side. The road was very narrow and there was a telephone pole on the left-hand side of the road. I knew what had happened at once, but I didn't want to know what had happened! I got out of the car and looked at the left-hand side. Of course, I found the door was scratched. I was very disappointed.

Where did you come from?

2005-09-15T20:21:00.000+09:00

At that time, I was almost asleep in my bed.

Then, something was runnning over me quickly from my right side to my left side. I sat up and looked at the floor. "What's happened?"

There was something black.
It was a cockroach.

I had been living in my room for about 3 years, but I had seen a cockroach only once fortunately.

I wanted to catch it or hit it but it moved very quickly and I couldn't catch it. I was very tired and soon went to bed.

The great movie!

2005-09-10T20:31:00.000+09:00

The movie has just come out in Japan! I was excited and went to a movie theater to see "Charlie and the Chocolate factory". I had been looking forward to this movie for a long time.

The movie was fun and great!

The children's acting was great!
Tim Burton's imaginative power was great!
Danny Elfman's music was quite great!!

I enjoyed it very much.

I was surprised that all the Oompa Loompas had the same face. It was not only a little awful but also very funny. They danced very well with the music. I loved it.

In the last part of the movie, there was a little difference between the movie story and the original story. I preferred the movie version to the book version.

I bought a booklet of the movie in the theater after the movie was over. It included many episodes during the making of the movie.

I'm going to see the movie 2 or 3 times more.

A same shirt buddy

2005-09-09T07:08:00.000+09:00

Many Japanese businessmen bought some work shirts this summer. So did I. It was caused by "Cool Biz".

Cool Biz was proposed by the Ministry of the Environment. Japanese businessmen usually put on suits and ties even in hot summer weather. Air conditioners work very hard for such businessmen in the train and the office. If they don't do that, air conditioners don't have to work so hard. "Cool Biz" means wearing casual cloths at work.

I went to the customer office to have a meeting. "You bought today's shirt at UNIQLO, didn't you?" One of the customers said to me as soon as we met. For sure I bought it there.

"How do you know that?"
"I also bought the same one at UNIQLO!"

We laughed at each other. UNIQLO is very famous for selling quality clothes at reasonable prices and started the "Cool Biz" sale. I imagine a lot of businessmen rushed into UNIQLO. I'm sure we have many same shirt buddies.

NABI brought a lot of things

2005-09-07T19:16:00.000+09:00

I know Katrina did very big damage in America last week. NABI, typhoon No 14, is also very big and powerful. It has a clear eye in the center (please see the image attached). It has hit some cities in southern and western Japan this week. According to a weather forecast, it is moving above the Sea of Japan, located to the north of the Mainland of Japan, so Tokyo will not be hit by NABI. I am relieved to know that.

NABI brought great disaster but also some luck. Sameura Dam is located in the Shikoku area. As it supplies daily water for people living in Shikoku, it is a very important dam but it had not rained for a long time and it was really empty on 9/5. Many people in Shikoku suffered from lack of water. Fortunately, NABI came to Japan. It brought a lot of water and the dam filled up last night!! This is a kind of "Kamikaze".

Depp has just come to Japan!

2005-09-06T19:29:00.000+09:00

Johnny Depp arrived at Narita airport on 9/3 to promote his new movie; "Charlie and the Chocolate factory". A thousand people came to Narita to see him. His last visit to Japan was 10 years ago. This is his second visit.

His next movie is “Pirates of The Caribbean 2”. I watched part 1 of the movie in an airplane about 2 years ago. Today, he has a moustache and beard because of the new movie. He gave an interview to reporters with Tim Burton the movie director and Richard D. Zanuck the producer. Many people came there again.

I wanted to see it!

"Charlie and the Chocolate factory" again

2005-09-01T08:07:00.000+09:00

I wrote about the movie, "Charlie and the Chocolate factory" almost one month ago. Since then, I've been waiting to see it.

http://mondeko.blogspot.com/2005/08/charlie-and-chocolate-factory.html

I saw the commercial for the movie. It was very funny, cool and colorful. The scene with a lot of squirrels moving about all together was especially very comical.

Johnny Depp's acting was so funny in the commercial!

I'm going to go to a theater to see the movie on September 10.

Autumn is approaching

2005-08-30T07:59:00.000+09:00

When I went to bed last night, it was a little hot and I left the window open. I got up early because of the cool wind from a window in my room. I thought the air was getting cooler and cooler in the morning and the evening.

I heard the sound of many bell-ring crickets outside last night. They reminded me of autumn. Next month is September. We have three months remaining to finish the year. Time flies

I want to be a well-muscled man!

2005-08-29T00:36:00.000+09:00

I go to an indoor swimming pool almost every weekend. It takes 5 minutes by car, so it is very convenient to swim. It is a municipal pool and very cheap to use. The length of the pool is 25 meters and it is divided into 4 courses; two of them are for good swimmers, one is for walking people, and another is for children.

I went to the pool at 6:40pm. There were about 30 people in the pool. I always swim for an hour but I wanted to do much longer. I did swimming and walking alternately. When I got tired I went to a sauna by the pool to take a rest. It wasn't too hot so I could stay there for a few minutes. I quit swimming after 8:00pm. I got tired but felt very good.

I am not a well-muscled man now. I want to build muscles, especially in the shoulder parts. How long until I become such a person?

MAWAR is coming soon!

2005-08-25T13:37:00.000+09:00

MAWAR means roses in Malaysia and it is another name for typhoon No.11. Americans may often use other names for hurricanes but Japanese people don't use them. I have never heard of "MAWAR" before.

According to the news, MAWAR is coming to Tokyo. Certainly it has been raining heavily from this morning. I have to go to a customer to have a meeting in the afternoon. I don't want to do that!

My lovely mug is reborn

2005-08-22T08:47:00.000+09:00

I have a lovely mug in the office. It has a pretty dog printed on it's surface. I have used it for about 5 years and drink a few mugs of green tea with it every weekday. I washed it carefully before I went home but it got dirtier and dirtier. Eventually it's inside was covered with tea color; brown.

I hoped that my mug's inside color would return to white. One day, I found some bleach in the office kitchen by chance. I decided to clean up the mug with it. I almost filled it with water, which included a little bleach, last Friday.

I am very surprised this morning. The mug is reborn! It's inside has become white again. I'm very, very happy. But I didn't fill it with water completely, so the brown color is still on the surface. It looks a little strange now!

Fireworks with the moon

2005-08-20T23:36:00.000+09:00

My friend lives in a condominium near a river. She sometimes invites her friends to have a party and have fun. We cook dinner and drink a lot and talk intensely to each other.

There was a fireworks festival near the river tonight. We went to her house as usual. She had some women's yukatas. Some women put them on. She also had men's yukatas. I asked her to borrow one. She said Yes, so fortunately I could put it on.

The view from her room was great. We were standing on a balcony to see the fireworks. The wind was a little strong but it made me feel good. The fireworks were also good. Coincidentally we could see the moon and the fireworks . It was a little mysterious!

A lot of peaches

2005-08-15T22:07:00.000+09:00

My parents have lived in Saitama prefecture for 20 years. It takes about 2 hours to get to the house by car when the road and the highway are a little jammed.

I go home 2 or 3 times every year. My mother serves a lot of meals for me whenever I come back home. Of course I became very full this time.

I love fruit. After supper I always want to eat them but I usually have few opportunities, because my room has no kitchen. She knew it, so she bought 6 peaches in advance. How delicious they were! I appreciated her kindness.

Hand-me-down pants from my father

2005-08-15T15:51:00.000+09:00

My father was fatter and shorter than me a few years ago. He didn't play any sports except golf because he was very busy. His shape was very different from mine then.

But now, he is not busy so he plays sports almost every day; tennis, table tennis and golf. He eats a lot but plays sports very hard. He has got thin. His shape is very similar to mine now.

Recently, I gave him some hand-me-downs, shirts, pants, etc. He was always delighted to put them on. Today, he gave me his hand-me-down pants. Their color is cream and they're very good ones. I'm delighted to put them on.

What can I do for you?

2005-08-10T05:31:00.000+09:00

"What can I do for you?"

It is usually used in a store, but I don't mean that. I want to say "What can I do to help you?"

If you are sad,
if you are lonely,
if you are having a tough time,
I want to be with you right away.

Unfortunately, if I am far away from you at that time,

What can I do for you?

Charlie and the Chocolate factory

2005-08-06T04:31:00.000+09:00

I love writing something in Japanese but I don't read Japanese books very often. Of course, I had never read long English books.

However, this winter, I tried to read Roald Dahl's famous book because one of my friends recommended it. The name of the book was "Charlie and the Chocolate factory". Mr.Wonka was so funny and the children had strong characters. It was very, very amusing to read it.

In the U.S. the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate factory" is now on the big screen. I also love Johnny Depp. If I lived in the U.S., I could see the movie at once. I am very sad the movie won't be seen till September in Japan.

I can't wait any more!!

Yukata, the Japanese traditional casual kimono

2005-08-01T08:16:00.000+09:00

In summer, we can see many fireworks, that the Japanese call Hana-bi. They look like very beautiful illuminations in the night sky. I am very happy to see that with some beer and food.

When we see Hana-bi, we usually put on casual clothes. But the Yukata, a Japanese traditional casual kimono in summer is also OK. It's very cool.

There were many passengers coming back home on the train. It seemed they had seen the famous Sumida-river fireworks. I found people who put on casual clothes and casual kimonos.

I saw a foreign couple. I was surprised that they both put on Yukatas. I don't have one but I think I will buy one to see Hana-bi.

Green tea frappachino

2005-07-30T22:34:00.000+09:00

I saw the news Green tea frappachino was released in North America this summer at Starbucks. I knew that it had already been released in Japan but I have never drunk it, so I tried it for the first time.

It is covered with whipped cream, and looked like Mt.Fuji coverd with snow. I drank it slowly. It tasted like a Mac-Shake and was a little sweet.

Next time, I want it without whipped cream.

2005-07-26T08:45:00.000+09:00

Coming soon from Japan!