2012.2.21

It was fine but cold today.

At lunch time I went out with my colleague and ate at the Japanese restaurant. This week's special was the fish named sawara, Japanese Spanish mackerel.
Do you know anything about Japanese letters? There are three different ways to write Japanese. They are hiragana (ひらがな), katakana(カタカナ), and kanji(漢字), Chinese character.
Sawara in hiragana is さわら, in katakana is サワラ, and in kanji is 鰆. Look at the kanji. This kanji 鰆 is composed of two different kanji, left one 魚　means fish, and the right side　春 means spring. Sawara is the fish to tell the coming of spring because spring is the season for egg-laying. And they are often found at the seashore.

Spring is coming.

十二月十六日（jyunigatsu jyuroku nichi）： December 16

It was cold.
I went to the Narita Airport. Not for traveling, but for sending off.
There was a Christmas decoration, such as Santa Claus, sleigh, presents, tree, and snow. At this season there are many Christmas trees here and there. Very beautiful.

七月五日（shichigatsu itsuka）： July 5

It is hot and humid today. It seemed to have rained heavily in the afternoon and night in some parts of Tokyo, though I did not notice until I heard the night news.

When it is hot and there is no air conditioning, we use an electric fan called senpuki (扇風機). Outside we use a fan called sensu (扇子) or uchiwa (団扇). The big difference is that sensu is a folding fan and it is convenient to carry. You can buy them from yen 100 at Yen 100 Shops, but usually they cost from yen 1,000 to yen 5,000 or so.
Uchiwa is fit to the summer casual kimono called yukata (浴衣). Many people often wear yukata when they go to see the fireworks festival. Japanese fireworks festival usually lasts for one hour and a half or so. They are so beautiful.
I hope you have a chance to see them someday.