2013.7.1

A new month has begun.  July is shichi gatsu (七月) in Japanese.  Its old name is fumi zuki (文月).  Fumi means letter zuki means month.  Today I got a nice letter from my ex-student.  I happened to see her last month or so and I gave her a leaflet of my book.  She said she ordered my book soon and read it at a stretch and enjoyed reading it and was inspired to study more to make a dream come true.  I was so glad to hear that. 
These days we tend to read and write through emails, and seldom use letter itself.  Because email is fast and free.  But I really like to receive letters.  When senders use the commemorative stamps, I am very glad because they care of me.  So I also use the special stamps to send letters and cards to make them happier.
Today July 1 is yamabiraki (山開き), the day of opening of Mt. Fuji (富士山) to climbers.  Mt. Fuji became the UNESCO's World Heritage recently.  I have climbed there once when I was a senior.  I recommend you to climb there once if you have a chance.

2012.11.12

These days email has been more popular than letters or cards, so we tend to use emails for business and private.  It is easy and fast.  But I like to receive letters and cards and see the stamps.  Today I received a card letter.  That is it was written in the blank postcard but delivered in the envelop.  It was a thank you card for my book which I sent to my university library early this month.  The librarian wrote me and said "Though you wrote "How do you do?" but it was not for the first time for us because I have known you since you were a senior when I worked at the Department of School Affairs."  It's been a long time since I graduated from the university, so I was very surprised but very glad. 
Today I wrote two letters, one was for business and wrote by MS word, and the other was for private by hand.