年度末（nendo matsu）

Japanese school year and fiscal year start in April and end in March. Therefore today is the last day of the year 2008. We call gaku nendo matsu (学年度末) for the last day of the school year and kaikei nendo matsu (会計年度末) for the last day of the fiscal year.
Matsu (末) means the end. Shu matsu (週末) is weekend. Getsu matsu (月末) is the end of the month. Nen matsu (年末) is the end of the year.
How was your year 2008?

みその日（miso no hi）： Day of Miso

They say 30th of every month is miso no hi (みその日), Day of Miso because of the pun of 3 (mi) 10 (so). In September 1982 Zenkoku Miso Kogyo Kyodo Kumiai (全国味噌工業協同組合), Japan Federation of Miso Manufacturers Cooperatives established this anniversary.
Miso (味噌) is the very important Japanese seasoning made from soybeans, koji and salt. There are many kinds of miso depends on regions such as aka miso (赤味噌), red miso or shiro miso(白味噌) white miso. The most famous dish cooked with miso is miso soup (味噌汁：miso shiru). There are many variations according to the ingredients. I like the one with tofu (豆腐) and nameko (ナメコ), a kind of mushroom or asari (アサリ),clams.

全勝優勝（zensho yusho）： Complete Victory

Today was senshuraku (千秋楽) of harubasho (春場所), the last day of Spring Grand Sumo Tournament. It started on March 15 and lasted for 2 weeks, that is there were 15 matches for each wrestler. It was held in Osaka. There were about 8,000 spectators today.
Yokozuna Hakuho (横綱　白鵬) became the champion after two grand sumo tournaments. This was the third time for him to make a complete victory (15 wins), and the 10th victory, that ranked in the 10th in the history.
He became 24 years old on March 11. The 10th victories at 24 years old is the third youngest record in the history.
Congratulations!

だんだん（dan dan）

NHK (Nippon hoso kyokai), Japan Broadcasting Corporation has a morning drama called renzoku terebi shosetsu (連続テレビ小説, literally TV novel series) from 8:15 to 8:30 from Monday to Saturday (rebroadcast from 12:45 to 13:00). This program has started in 1961. Until 1974 there was one series in a year, but from 1975 there are two series in a year from April to September and from October to March about 150 times in 26 weeks each. The first half program is made in Tokyo and the latter half is made in Osaka.
The title of the 79th drama is Dan dan (だんだん), which means "Thank you" in Izumo dialect (出雲弁: izumo ben). This drama started on Sep. 29, 2008 and ended today. The story is set in Kyoto and Shimane. The 80th drama Tsubasa (つばさ) will be set in Saitama, with this drama shot in Saitama, every prefecture in Japan will be covered by asa dora (朝ドラ), morning drama.
In Dan dan the identical twins who were raised separately in Kyoto and Shimane are heroines. They met by a strange coincidence and connect with many people by chance. The story had a happy ending. This title implies thank you for bearing me, bringing me up, and meeting you. The theme song Enishi no ito (縁の糸, String of Relationship) and the image song Inochi no uta (いのちの歌, Song of Life) are very nice. This drama will be performed on the stage in October this year.

さくらの日（sakura no hi）： Day of Cherry Blossom

They say March 27 is sakura no hi (さくらの日), Day of Cherry Blossom. This was decided by the Nihon Sakura no kai (日本さくらの会), Japan Cherry Blossom Association in 1992.
They made it today because the pun of sakura and 3 (sa) x 9 (ku) = 27. Saku (咲く)in Japanese means to bloom. 　Around March 27th is the day of 桜始開(sakuraha hajimete hiraku: Cherry blossom first bloom) in shichijyuni ko (七十二候), 72 pentads.　Each nijyushi sekki (二十四節季) is divided into 3 pentads of 5 days each. Sakura hajimete hiraku (桜始開) is the second pentads of shunbun (春分).
Cherry blossoms are the Japanese national flower and Japanese people are very looking forward to seeing cherry blossoms in spring.
I hope you will have a chance to come to Japan to see cherry blossoms someday.

春休み（haru yasumi）： Spring vacation

Most of Japanese students are now in spring vacation (haru yasumi　春休み). It is about 10 days long for elementary school, junior high school, and high school students. Since it is the time of promoting to the new grade, usually they do not have homework.
Summer vacation (natsu yasumi　夏休み)is about 40 days long and winter vacation (fuyu yasumi 冬休み)is about 2 weeks. However it depends on the region. For the northern area winter vacation is longer than other places because of the cold and snow. For the southern area summer vacation is longer than other places because of the heat.
Japanese public schools usually have 3 terms, therefore students have homework during summer and winter vacation. Schools adopting the semester have different vacation schedules.
Vacations for adults depends on the company or agency they are working. However the average paid holidays for the new employee are about 10 days in the first year.

修了式（shuryo shiki）： Completion ceremony

Japanese school year starts in April and ends in March. March 25 is usually the last day for the school year and there is a closing ceremony called shuryo shiki (修了式) at school. Then the spring vacation (春休み：haru yasumi) will start.
March is also the season of graduation. The graduation ceremony of elementary schools and junior high schools are held around middle of March, of high schools are usually held at the beginning of March, and of colleges and universities are usually held around March 25. The women graduates of the colleges and universities usually dress up with hakama (袴), long pleated culotte-like Japanese trousers at the graduation ceremony.
Graduation in Japanese is sotsugyo(卒業). The Japanese title of the movie "The Graduate" by Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross in 1967 is also "Sotsugyo" (卒業).

侍ジャパン ２連覇達成！（samurai japan ni rempa tassei）： V2

Samurai Japan (侍ジャパン), the selected Japanese baseball team, won its second consecutive World Baseball Classic (WBC) title with a 5-3 win over South Korea in front of a tournament-record crowd of 54,846 in Los Angles today.
There are 16 teams attending this WBC tournament, and this was the fifth game for Japan to play against South Korea. At the first round Japan won by the called game of 14-2. Next time they lost by 0-1, the third time they lost again by 1-4, and the fouth time they won by 6-2. Therefore Japan and South Korea were even of 2-2, and this game was the final match.
At the 9th inning they became the tie of 3-3, and at the 10th inning our hope, Ichiro (イチロー) hit the ball into center and they could score two runs, which brought Japan to the victory.
The pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka(松坂大輔) was named the tournament's MVP again.
Next WBC will be held in 2013.
Japanese people were so excited today. Thank you very much and congratulations!!

ギネス新記録達成（ginesu shin kiroku tassei）： The New Guinness World Record

The New Guinness World Record was made by the 65-year old runner yesterday at The Tokyo Marathon 2009. His name is Mr. Akinori Kusuda (楠田昭徳) from Saitama city.
Last spring he happened to read a newspaper article saying that 48-year old Italian man had run the full marathon (42.195km) for 51 days. Therefore he decided to try 52 days, and started running 42.195km around the park near his house every day since January 30 this year. He ran in the rain and snow, and even when he had a pain on his left foot. His time was 3 hours 55 minutes, which was the best record among 52 days.
To continue something is very difficult. By his accomplishment many people must have been encouraged.
Thank you very much and congratulations!

東京マラソン（tokyo marason）： Tokyo Marathon 2009

There was the biggest marathon event in Japan today. It is Tokyo Marathon 2009. The fixed number for marathon (42.195km) is 30,000 and for 10km race is 5,000including wheelchair runners. Actually 30,164 people participated in the full marathon and about 97% (29,127) completed the race within the time limit of 7 hours.
When they closed the entry last September, 226,378 people applied for the full marathon, and 35,603 people applied for the 10km race. The applicants were 7.5 times and 7.1 times as many as the fixed number.
This was the first prize race in marathon in Japan. The champion of full marathon got yen 11,000,000, the 2nd runner got yen 4,000,000, and the third runner got yen 2,000,000. Until the 10th runner, there were prizes. There was no bonus for the world record (yen 30,000,000) nor the Japan record (yen 5,000,000) today. For 10km race, the champion got yen 200,000 and until the 3rd runner there were prizes.
Salim Kipsang from Kenya won the men's marathon at the time of 2 hours 10 minutes 27 seconds. The 2nd was Kazuhiro Maeda(前田和浩) at 2 hours 11 minutes 01 seconds. This was his first marathon. He got a ticket to attend the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics Berlin this summer. Mizuho Nasukawa (那須川瑞穂) won the women's race at 2 hours 25 minutes 38 seconds.
Next year it will be held on February 28.

選抜高校野球大会（senbatsu koko yakyu taikai）

Today the 81st National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament (第81回選抜高等学校野球大会：dai hachijuikkai senbatsu koto gakko yakyu taikai) began at the Hanshin Koshien kyujo(阪神甲子園球場：Hanshin Koshien Stadium) in Hyogo (兵庫) prefecture. High school baseball (高校野球: koko yakyu) is very popular in Japan. There are two big national tournaments: one in spring and the other in summer. Spring tournament is abbreviated as senbatsu (センバツ), and often known as haru no taikai (春の大会：spring meeting), haru no koko yakyu (春の高校野球: spring high school baseball), or haru no koshien (春の甲子園: spring Koshien). In this tournament 32 invited high school teams take part in. After the opening ceremony this morning, there were three games. If everything goes well, the championships will be played on April 1.
National High School Baseball Invitational Tournament started in 1924. In those days there were four games in a day. But now there are usually three games in a day. If the game is not finished by 15th innings, they will play again next day or two days later. Usually there are 32 teams, but on memorial meetings such as last year there were 36 teams. In any case the only chosen few players can play at Koshien. Therefore if they lose the game, they bring back the soil of the Koshien as souvenir.

春分の日（shunbun no hi）： The Vernal Equinox Day

Today is one of the national holidays called shunbun no hi(春分の日), the Vernal Equinox Day. It falls on the day of vernal equinox, therefore it is usually March 20th or 21st. To be on 20th or 21st is officially decided by the first business day of February a year earlier. They say this is a very unique holiday system in the world because it is fixed by the astronomy.
Today is shunbun (春分), the vernal equinox. Shunbun is one of the nijyushisekki (二十四節気), 24 terms. The last one was keichitsu (啓蟄) on March 5 and the next one is seimei (清明) on April 5.
Today is also higan no chunichi(彼岸の中日), the middle day of equinoctial week. Since it is a holiday, many people usually visit their ancestor's graveyard.
I think many people have 3-day weekend (三連休：san ren kyu) because it is Friday today. Have a nice weekend!

トークの日（toku no hi）： Day of Talk

They say the 19th of every month is toku no hi (トークの日), Day of Talk, because 19 is 10 plus 9 and they are read as to(10) ku (9). Toku means English word talk. This day was decided by NTT (Nippon denshin denwa kabushikigaisha:　日本電信電話株式会社) Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation in 1986. They wanted people to talk by the phone.

NTT started the mobile phone service in 1987. Since 2000 mobile phones have become multifunction. The top three mobile phone service companies are NTT Docomo (54,320,000 contracts, 48.9%), au by KDDI (30,610,000 contracts, 28.8%), and Softbank mobile (20,120,000 contracts, 18.2%).

How often do you use the phone or the mobile phone? I use more emails and test messages than phones themselves, but I use SKYPE every day at home to talk friends abroad.

頭髪の日（tohatsu no hi）： Day of Hair

They say the 18th of every month is called Tohatsu no hi(頭髪の日), Day of Hair because 18 is 10 plus 8 and 10 is read as to and 8 is read as hatsu. Tohatsu (頭髪)literally means head hair. Tohatsu no hi was established by Zenkoku Riyo Kankyo Eisei Kyodo Kumiai Rengokai(全国理容環境衛生協同組合連合会), National Barber Environmental Sanitation Cooperative Association (?) in 1978.
Oct. 20 is also called Tohatsu no hi(頭髪の日), Day of Hair, but this was established by Nihon Mohatsu Kagaku Kyokai(日本毛髪科学協会), Japan Hair Science Association.
They say the lifespan of men's hair is 4 to 5 years, and women's is 4 to 6 years, and a hair grows 0.3mm to 0.5mm in a day which becomes about 1.2cm in a month. Of course it depends on the person. According to the hair cycle about 50 to 100 hairs fall out daily.

Barbershop is tokoya (床屋) and beauty salon is biyoin (美容院) in Japanese.

お彼岸（o higan）: The equinoctial week

A week in between the equinox day is called higan (彼岸). But we call o higan (お彼岸). Prefix o (お) is often used to say something politely. There are two o higan in a year, in spring and in autumn. We call them haru no o higan (春のお彼岸) for spring, and aki no o higan (秋のお彼岸) for autumn.
The first day of o higan is called higan no iri (彼岸の入り), the middle day is called higan no chunichi (彼岸の中日), and the last day is called higan ake (彼岸明け).
Higan means the other side of the river, which means the state of enlightment without worldly desires. The Paradise in Buddhism is considered to be in the Far West. At the Vernal and Autumn Equinox Day the length of day and night are equal and the sun will set in the due west. Therefore Japanese people started to do Buddhism services on this occasion. We go to visit ancestor's graveyard and hold a memorial service for them and offer special sweets made of rice and red bean paste. They are called bota mochi (牡丹餅) for spring, and o hagi (御萩) for autumn at the household Buddhist altar.
This side of the world full of worldly desires and wavers are called shigan(此岸).

スペースシャトル打ち上げ（supesu shatoru uchiage）： Space Shuttle Launch

Space shuttle Discovery launched to the International Space Station on-time at 7:43 p.m. EDT which was 8:43 a.m. on March 16 in Japan. It was a big news in Japan because the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata (若田光一) is a member of this mission. This is the third boarding for Mr. Wakata since October 2000, and which is the most for Japanese astronauts. This mission is very special for Japanese space history, because he will stay in the space for more than three months for the first time. Until now there are 7 Japanese astronauts but they have traveled to the space for a few weeks.
This launch had been postponed for 5 times, but it seems going very well now.

While I was in Delray Beach Florida, I could witness the space shuttle launch once from the workplace. It was so impressive.

靴の記念日（kutsu no kinenbi）： Anniversary of Shoes

They say March 15 is Kutsu no kinenbi(靴の記念日), Anniversary of Shoes. It was established by Nihon Kutsu Renmei(日本靴連盟), Japan Shoes Federation in 1932 to commemorate the opening of the first shoe factory in Tokyo on March 15, 1870. The factory was made by Katsuzo Nishimura(西村勝三) who was 35 years old at that time. Before that Japan imported the military boots from foreign countries, but it cost a lot and foreign boots were too big for Japanese people. Therefore he decided to make boots in Japan.

Before Japan opened its door to foreign countries in the middle of 19th century, we have worn kimono (着物) as a daily costume. When we wear kimono, we wear either zori (草履) or geta (下駄), wooden clogs for footwear. When we wear zori, we put on socks called tabi (足袋). Geta is usually worn by bare feet.

ホワイトデー： White Day

If you have a Japanese girl friend, you'd better remember March 14 to get a brownie point. March 14 is called White Day in Japan. It is the answer day for Valentine's Day. Different from the custom in other countries, in Japan only girls and women give chocolates to boys and men on Valentine's Day on Feb. 14. In return boys and men will give something sweet such as candy, marshmallow, white chocolate, or cookie to girls and women on March 14.
This event started in 1980 by the promotion of Zenkoku amegashi kogyo kyodo kumiai(全国飴菓子工業協同組合), National Confectionery Industry Association. It seems the main ingredient of sweets is sugar which is white, therefore it was named as "White Day."

On March 14, 1873 the Meiji Government declared to admit the international marriage for the first time in Japanese history. Therefore they say today is also Day of International Marriage (国際結婚の日：kokusai kekkon no hi). According to the statistics of 2007, the international marriage rate in Japan is 5.6 % (=40,272/719,822) of total marriage numbers which was 0.9 % (=7,261/774,702) in 1980.

ラストラン： Last run

The two of the long-distance sleeper trains between Tokyo (東京) and Kyushu (九州) are scheduled to be discontinued, and today was their last run. They are Fuji (富士) and Hayabusa (はやぶさ, falcon).　Fuji runs between Tokyo and Oita (大分), and Hayabusa runs between Tokyo and Kumamoto (熊本).
At 6:03 PM they left from the platform No. 10 of the Tokyo station where more than 3000 train fans got together to see them, say good by, and take final pictures. Fuji will arrive at Oita at 11:17 AM and Hayabusa will arrive at Kumamoto at 0:31 PM tomorrow.
The long-distance sleeper trains (寝台特急：shindai tokkyu, literally sleeping car limited express) are nicknamed as Blue Trains (ブルートレイン) because of the color of the body. It first appeared in 1956 between Hakata (博多) and Tokyo. At the peak of their popularity in the late 1970's, they appeared in many novels and often described as "hotels on the move."
Nowadays Shinkansen(新幹線: bullet train), buses, and airplanes are faster, more popular and sometimes cheaper. Therefore JR (Japan Railways Group) decided to discontinue this service after more than the half century run.
There are still some Blue Trains. Some of them are so popular that it is very difficult to get the tickets.

超人100連発（chojin hyaku rempatsu）: A string of 100 supermen

I happened to watch the TV program introducing 100 super persons who hold the World Guinness Records. Most of them achieved the record by themselves, but some accomplished by groups.
Some were marked by trying something in one minute. Others were marked by making the most, longest, or largest records.
Guest judges chose the top 5 out of 100. No. 5 was the man who put on and took off the underwear like jumping. He did 27 times in a minute. No. 4 was the Leaning Tower of Pisa made of something like building blocks, which was broken by the emcee by chance before broadcasting. So unfortunately he could not be admitted as a record holder. No. 3 was the man who swam in the icy water under the frozen lake for 57.5 meters. No. 2 was the man who walked on the rope for about 6 meters between balloons of 6,522 meters high. No. 1 was the man who jumped from the waterfall of 12.19 meters high.
During the program one new World Guinness Record was made. That is to break the bat by kicking. He broke 54 bats in a minute.
According to the homepage of Guinness World Records, the first edition of the Guinness book of the records was published on Aug. 27, 1955. By Christmas it became a best seller in England. There are more than 60,000 applications in a year. Guinness World Records is translated into 37 languages in 100 countries and sold 100,000,000 copies. Therefore this book itself has the world record.
Would you like to try something to get the world record?

史上最年長記録（shijo sainencho kiroku）: The oldest record in history

Japanese veteran ski-jumper Takanobu Okabe(岡部孝信) became the oldest winner of a ski-jumping World Cup event in history. He is 38 years and 4 months old. Before that 31 years and 8 months old of Noriaki Kasai(葛西紀明)who won on Feb. 28, 2004 was the oldest winner of the World Cup.
The event on the large hill (HS 127m, K-point 120m) was held in Kuopio, Finland on Tuesday. In the first round he was the 4th of 123.5 meters and in the second round he leaped 123m. The total was 241.7 points. Second was 2007 world champion Simon Ammann of Switzerland with 240.4 points of 119.5m and 126m. Third was a four-time winner of the World Cup title Adam Malysz of Poland with 239.3 points of 119m and 127m.

This was the fifth World Cup victory for him. The last time was 11 years ago on March 1, 1998 in a ski-flying event in Vikersund, Norway.

On March 8 the professional soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura(三浦知良) also marked the oldest record of 42 years and 10 days old to participate in the J-league game and he is still renewing the record of playing.

Congratulations!

砂糖の日（sato no hi）: Day of Sugar

They say March 10 is Day of Sugar in Japan because 3.10 is read as sa(3) to(10). Sato (砂糖) is sugar in Japanese. Therefore today is sato no hi(砂糖の日), day of sugar.
There is a certain order to use the basic seasonings in Japanese cooking. That is sa(さ) shi (し) su (す) se (せ) so (そ) which represent the phonemes of the Japanese words.
Sa is sato (砂糖) which is sugar. Shi is shio(塩) which is salt. Su is su (酢) which is vinegar. Se is shoyu (醤油) which is soy sauce. So is miso (味噌) which is soybean paste.
Sake(酒), Japanese rice wine and mirin (味醂), sweetened sake are also used to enhance the flavor of Japanese food.

ありがとうの日（arigato no hi）： Day of Thank You!

March 9 is written as 3.9 and read as san (3) kyu (9). In Japan some English phrases are well-known. One of them is "Thank you." Pronunciation of "Thank you" sounds like "sankyu" for most Japanese people. Therefore today is day of thank you.
Thank you in Japanese is arigato (ありがとう). If you want to say "Thank you very much," it is domo arigato (どうもありがとう). If you want to say "thank you" politely, it is arigato gozaimasu (ありがとうございます). If you want to say it in the past tense, it is arigato gozaimashita (ありがとうございました).

Thank you for visiting and reading my blog every day!

名古屋国際女子マラソン（Nagoya kokusai joshi marason）

They say March 8 is kokusai josei de (国際女性デー) International Women's Day. So here are some women's news today.
There was the 30th Nagoya kokusai joshi marason (名古屋国際女子マラソン), the 2009 Nagoya International Women's Marathon today. The new heroine was born. Her name is Yoshiko Fujinaga (藤永佳子), 27 years old. For her this was the first marathon and she became the winner. Her time was 2 hours 28 minutes 13 seconds. By becoming a champion, she got the ticket to participate in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics（世界陸上選手権：sekai rikujo senshuken）in Berlin this August. When she was a high school student, she attended the World Championships in Seville, Spain in 1999 to run 5,000 meters. It's been 10 years since then.
In this Nagoya race, there was another heroine too. That is Naoko Takahashi (高橋尚子) who was the gold medalist in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She has won the Nagoya race twice in 1998 and 2000. Last October she announced she would retire. This race became her last run. Her result was 29th with the time of 2 hours 52 minutes 23 seconds. She ran smiling and thanking to the 700,000 fans along the road.

There was the women's dual mogul event at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Inawashiro today. Aiko Uemura (上村愛子) who got the gold medal yesterday got another gold medal today. The silver medalist was also Japanese. Her name is Miki Ito (伊藤みき). She also got the ticket to participate in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. This will be her second Olympics.

Congratulations!

五輪代表内定第１号（gorin daihyo naitei dai ichi go）

Aiko Uemura(上村愛子) won the women's mogul event at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Inawashiro (2009年FISフリースタイルスキー世界選手権猪苗代大会), Japan today. She scored 24.71 points which were top in turn, air, and speed. Canada's Jennifer Heil, who was the 2006 Torino Olympics Champion, was second with 22.88 points. Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic became third with 21.76 points. Tae Satoya(里谷多英), who won the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, finished ninth.
Not only for Uemura but also for Japanese skier this was the first gold medal at the World Championships in this event.
By getting the gold medal, she became the first person in all the events to get the ticket to participate in the Vancouver Olympics (五輪代表内定第1号：gorin daihyo naitei dai ichi go) next year. Accordingly she will participate in four Olympics in a row. When she attended Nagano Olympic in 1998 for the first time, she was a high school student.
In Salt Lake City Sayuri Yoshi(吉井小百合) became second marking the New Japan Record of 1 minute 14 seconds 05 for Women's 1000 meter speed skating at the ISU World cup.
Congratulations!

世界一周記念日（sekai isshu kinen bi）: Around the world anniversary

They say March 6 is Sekai isshu kinenbi(世界一周記念日), around the world anniversary. On March 6, 1967 Nihon Koku (日本航空), Japan Airlines Corporation (JAL) established around the world route. Therefore the following cities were connected by JAL: Tokyo - Honolulu - San Francisco - New York - London - Paris (or Frankfurt) - Rome - Cairo - Teheran - New Delhi - Bangkok - Hong Kong - Tokyo. Around the world route was the biggest dreams of the airline companies. JAL made it after 13 years from their first flight. JAL was the second company which established the route. The first company was British Overseas Airways Corporation. However JAL's around the world route stopped its service in 1972.

Have you ever traveled around the world?
I have circumnavigated for 98 days by the 44th Peace Boat Cruise from Dec. 25, 2003 to March 31, 2004. We took the south route. Therefore I would like to take the north route cruise someday too.
There are some "Around the World Tickets" which cost about US$4,500 for economy class and they are valid for one year. I hope I can travel using these tickets someday.

啓蟄（kei chitsu）

Today is keichitsu (啓蟄), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気), 24 terms. Last one was usui (雨水) on Feb. 18 and next one is shunbun (春分) on March 20. Kei(啓) means to open and chitsu (蟄) means hibernated insects. So it is the day of awakening of hibernated insects. Today it is rather warm therefore it is appropriate. However tomorrow it will be cold again.
This winter is said to be remarkable danto (暖冬), warm winter. The average temperature of this winter (December to February) was the second highest in eastern Japan since the world war II.
Yesterday the forecast of cherry blossom blooming （桜の開花予想：sakura no kaika yoso）was announced. In Tokyo cherry blossoms will start blooming on March 25 which is 3 days earlier than usual.

映画（eiga）： Movie

The Academy Award's effect is great. The box profit of the Foreign Language Film winner Okuribito (おくりびと), Departure became more than yen 3,800,000,000. Last weekend (Feb. 28 and March 1) about 300,000 people went to see the movie, and the boxoffice take was about yen 320,000,000. Therefore it became No. 1 for the weekly ranking. The first time since its release last September. It's been more than 5 months. There are fewer theaters which still show that movie. Some theaters wisely decided to show it again or extend its showing period.
I went to see Okuribito today. When I arrived to the theater, about 15 minutes earlier than the show time, tickets had been already sold out for that time frame. I had to wait for the next showing. While waiting, I watched another movie, Seven Pounds. Japanese title is Nanatsu no okurimono(７つの贈り物), which literally means Seven Presents. For me the Japanese title is easier to understand than the English one. I am still not sure what Seven Pounds really means. "Pound of flesh" for seven people??
Okuri bito literally means people who send. Therefore people sending off the deceased remain. English title is Departure. Departure sounds like the start for the deceased.
Both were good movies. I have been thinking of the nuance of Japanese and English and difficulties of translation.

雛祭り（hina matsuri）： Dolls' Festival

March 3rd is known as hina matsuri(雛祭り), dolls' festival or girls' festival in Japan. Families with daughters celebrate this day by displaying hina ningyo(雛人形), hina dolls on a stepped shelf to express the wish for their daughters' good health and growth. The dolls are dressed in gorgeous kimono modeled after those worn by women in the ancient Heian court. This custom started around Heian era (794-1185) and became popular in Edo era (1600-1868).
On the top shelf there are dairi bina (内裏雛), representing the Emperor (o dairi sama：お内裏様) and the Empress (o hina sama：お雛様). On the second shelf there are three court ladies called san nin kanjo（三人官女）. On the third shelf there are five male musicians called go nin bayashi(五人囃子). On the fourth shelf there are two daijin(大臣) who are escorts (zuijin:随身) and guards(eji:衛士). On the fifth shelf there are 3 helpers (shitei:仕丁). Depends on the era and the size of the house, the numbers of steps vary.
Special foods for hina matsuri are diamond shaped rice cakes called hishimochi (菱餅), rice crackers called hina arare(雛あられ), clam clear soup, chirashi zushi(ちらし寿司), and white sake (shirozake:白酒).
We also decorate peach flowers (momo no hana:桃の花). This festival is also called momo no sekku(桃の節句), Peach festival, which is one of five festivals (go sekku：五節句). Other four festivals are nanakusa no sekku(七草の節句) on Jan. 7, shobu no sekku(菖蒲の節句) on May 5, tanabata matsuri(七夕祭り)on July 7, and kiku no sekku(菊の節句) on Sep. 9.

春告鳥（haru tsuge dori）： Spring-annuncing bird

When do you feel that spring has come?
It is fine and warm today like when spring has come. This morning I heard uguisu (鶯), Japanese Bush Warbler were singing. Uguisu has many names. They are haru dori(春鳥): spring bird, haru tsuge dori (春告鳥): spring-announcing bird, hana mi dori(花見鳥): spring-flower-viewing bird, uta yomi dori(歌詠鳥): poem-reading bird, kyo yomi dori(経読鳥): sutra-reading bird and so on.
Its call is heard as "ホーホケキョ(ho-hokekyo)" which is a phrase from the lotus sutra. It is so beautiful. Only the male birds sing like that.
Uguisu is one of three Japanese singing birds(日本三鳴鳥：nihon san mei cho) Other two are koma dori(コマドリ),Japanese robin and ooruri (オオルリ), Blue-and-White Flycatcher .
Uguisu has a very beautiful voice, therefore a female announcer at Japanese baseball games and a woman employed to make public announcements for politicians' election campaign are called uguisu jo(ウグイス嬢), Miss Uguisu.

三月（san gatsu）： March

The third month has just started. March is called san gatsu (三月) or yayoi (弥生) in Japanese. Our fiscal and academic year start in April and end in March, therefore this is the end of the year. For companies it is the main accounting period. For schools it is the time of graduation.

Regarding the third there is a good news from Czech Republic again. Japanese Men's Ski Jumping team got the third place, bronze medal (銅メダル：do medaru) at the 48th FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Liberec. HS is 134 meter and K-Point is 120 meter. There are four skiers in a team, and they jump twice. After the first round the Japanese team got 475.8 points and was the 4th. After all they got 981.2 points and became the third place. This is the two consecutive third place since Sapporo 2007. The members are Shohei Tochimoto (栃本翔平), Takanobu Okabe (岡部孝信), Daiki Ito (伊藤大貴), Noriaki Kasai (葛西紀明).　Okabe jumped 135 meter in the second jump.
First place, gold medal (金メダル：kin medaru) is Austria getting 1034.3 points. They won three consecutive championships. Second place, silver medal (銀メダル：gin medaru) is Norway getting 1000.8 points.
Congratulations!