ビスケットの日 （bisuketto no hi）： Day of Biscuit

They say Feb. 28 is bisketto no hi (ビスケットの日), Day of Biscuit. On Feb. 28, 1855 Shibata Hoan (柴田方庵) who was a Dutch learning doctor from Mito han (水戸藩), the Mito Clan living in Nagasaki sent the recipe of biscuit to the Mito Clan. This is the first document written of biscuit in Japan. Therefore Shadan hojin Zenkoku Bisuketto kyokai (社団法人全国ビスケット協会), Japan Biscuit Association decided Feb. 28 as Day of Biscuit in 1980.
The word "biscuit" is from Latin "bis coctus" which means the thing that was burnt twice. In Japanese nido yakareta mono (二度焼かれたもの), so it is also pun of 2 (ni) and 8 (ya).
Biscuit in England and in the USA are different. In Japan there are many kinds of biscuits. They are hard biscuit, soft biscuit (cookie), cracker, hardtack, pie, pretzel, and processed biscuits.
The total amount of products per year is about 225,000 ton. Amount of money of production was yen 213,400,000,000 and retail amount of money was yen 315,400,000,000 in 2007 in Japan.
What kind of biscuits do you like? I like chocolate cookies with nuts and biscuit with gravy sauce.

金メダル（kin medaru）: Gold Medal

Today is the coldest day of this winter. It snowed in Tokyo. Speaking of snow, it is a season of winter sports. Here is a good news today.
Japan Nordic Combined Team got kin medaru (金メダル), the gold medal at FIS Nordic World Championship in Liberec, Czech Republic. It has been 14 years since a Japanese team last got a Gold medal in this field in 1995. From 1992 to 1995 the Japan Nordic Combined Teams got gold medals in World Championships and Olympics.
Nordic Combined is a combination of cross-country skiing and ski jumping. Cross-country skiing needs stamina and ski jumping needs agility. The winner is called "the King of Ski" in Europe.
There are 4 skiers in a team. First they jump twice then they relay 5km each (20km). The result of the jump records are converted to the time difference of the start of the relay. Japanese teams were very good at ski jumping and they won many times. However the rules have been changed several times, and it became difficult for Japanese team to get gold medals.
However in this World Championships they are champions. Japanese team were 5th of 452.4 points when they finished jumping. They started after 24 seconds later than the first team but were successful in a come-from-behind victory. The members are　Norihito Kobayashi(小林範仁) 26 years old, Yusuke Minato (湊祐介) 23 years old, Taihei Kato (加藤大平) 24 years old, and Akito Watabe (渡部暁斗) 20 years old.

Congratulations!

風呂の日（furo no hi）： Day of Bath

Today is 26th which is read as 2 fu 6 ro in Japanese. Therefore in May 1985 Tokyo Gas Co., Ltd. decide the 26th of every month as furo no hi (風呂の日), Day of Bath to deepen the relationship among the family to take a bath together.
The way of taking a bath in Japan is quite different from other countries. The room itself is different. There are a bathtub and a washing space. Before entering the bathtub where holds lots of hot water around 40 to 43 degrees centigrade, we clean ourselves first outside the bathtub. Then we soak in the hot water, get warm and relax.
There are many public baths called sento (銭湯：literally cash hot water). There used be many of them, but these days most homes have their own bath. People go there when they want to take a big bath or special baths like in a Jacuzzi or sauna.
Japan is a volcanic land with more than 2,700 onsen (温泉)hot spring resorts all over the country. Hot spring water is very good for treatment of chronic disease. We love hot springs very much.
I hope you have a chance to try Japanese hot spring someday.

宇宙飛行士候補（uchu hikoshi koho）: Candidates for astronauts

Uchu koku kenkyu kaihatsu kiko (宇宙航空研究開発機構), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) chose two candidates for astronauts today. It's been 10 years since the last three candidates were selected. So far there have been 8 Japanese astronauts selected. These will be the 9th and 10th.

This was the 5th selection. 963, the most number in the past, applied last April. After 8 months selection process only 2 were selected. They are Mr. Takuya Onishi(大西卓也), 33 years old, who is a pilot of All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Mr. Kimiya Yui (油井亀美也), 39 years old, who is a pilot of Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF). This is the first case to be astronaut from pilot in Japan.

They will enter JAXA from this April and have 2 years training at NASA starting in June. After being accredited as astronauts, they will engage in the experiment at Kibo (きぼう) the Japanese proving ground of International Space Station (ISS). They are scheduled for space travel to the ISS in 2013 at the earliest.

Congratulations!!

四字熟語（yoji jukugo）: Four-character idiomatic phrase

Yoji jukugo(四字熟語) is the idiomatic phrase made of four kanji characters. There exists so many yoji jukugo. Today I would like to introduce some of them using the numbers.

First let's review how to count one to ten in Japanese. 1 is ichi (一), 2 is ni (二), 3 is san (三), 4 is shi or yon (四), 5 is go (五), 6 is roku (六), 7 is shichi or nana (七), 8 is hachi (八), 9 is ku or kyu (九), 10 is ju (十).

Isseki nicho (一石二鳥)literally means one stone two birds, that is to kill two birds with one stone.
Sankan shion (三寒四温) literally means three cold four warm, that is a cycle of three cold days and four warm days.
Gozo roppu (五臓六腑) literally means five internal organs six bowels, that is heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, small intestine, large intestine, gall bladder, urinary bladder, stomach and san jiao, therefore it means whole body or what is in mind.
Shichiten hakki (七転八起) literally means seven falls eight rises, that is undaunted perseverance to rise after a fall or repeated failures.
Jicchu hakku (十中八九) literally means ten among eight nine, that is in all probability of eight or nine cases out of ten.

Are there any yoji jyukugo you liked here?

アカデミー賞（akademi sho）： Academy Awards

The biggest movie event of the year, the 81st Academy Awards ceremony was held in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, which was today (23rd) here in Japan.
Two Japanese movies got Oscars! One is Okuribito (おくりびと), Departures directed by Yojiro Takita (滝田洋二郎) for Foreign Language Film. The other is Tsumiki no ie (つみきのいえ), La Maison en Petits Cubes by Kunio Kato (加藤久仁生) for Short Film (Animated). Congratulations!!
This is the twelfth Academy Award nomination for Japan. It's been 54 years since Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵), Samurai, The Legend of Musashi got the Honorary Foreign Language Film Award in 1955, though as an Academy award it's been 6 years since Sen to Chihiro no kami kakushi (千と千尋の神隠し), Spirited Away for Best Animated Feature in 2003.
Okuribito was released last September and its box profit was yen 3,050,000,000. More than 2,720,000 people watched in Japan. It has already got many awards both inside and outside of Japan including 10 categories of 32nd Japanese Academy Awards on Feb. 20. This became 61st awards. This film will be released in 36 countries and regions.
Tsumi ki no ie has also got many awards by now and it became 20th awards.
The Best Picture, "Slumdog Millionaire" will be released on April 18 in Japan.
I am very looking forward to watching all those nice movies.

横浜国際女子駅伝（yokohama kokusai joshi ekiden）： Yokohama International Women's Ekiden Final!

There was the 27th Yokohama kokusai joshi ekiden (横浜国際女子駅伝), Yokohama International Women's Ekiden Relay Race today. It started in 1983 and today was the final race. In the history of the event 39 countries have participated. There were 6 relays and the total distance is 42.195 km. This year 14 teams from 7 countries of China, Kenya, Rumania, Russia, USA, Finland, Japan participated. The Japanese National team won after four years, and it was the 10th victory and the most. Their time was 2 hours 15 minutes 5 seconds. The second was Kenya team, the third was the selection team from Kanto and Tokyo area. Congratulations!
There had been Tokyo kokusai joshi marason (東京国際女子マラソン), Tokyo International Women's marathon until last year, but the location will be changed to Yokohama from this year. This long-distance relay road race will end.

Today is sekai yujo no hi (世界友情の日), World Friendship Day since 1965 in honor of the birthdays of Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell in 1857 and his wife Olave St Clair Baden-Powell in 1889. He is the founder of Boy Scouts.
I think it is very nice to be held something international on World Friendship Day.

世界の絶景100選（sekai no zekkei hyaku sen）: 100 superb views in the world

There was a live TV program sekai no zekkei hyaku sen (世界の絶景100選), 100 superb views in the world for four hours last night. This program series have been broadcasted since 2004, and this was 12th special. Its subhead was "Final decision! 100 superb views to see before we die and the declaration of the most superb view in the earth special." They introduced 100 superb views of the earth by video, and televiewers voted by cellphones. The total number of votes cast was over 150,000.
The number one was the scenery of the rainbow over the Jeep Island in Micronesia. The reporter was the ex-Major Leagues baseball player, Tsuyoshi Shinjo (新庄剛志) who is known as "the man calls miracle." He has stayed three days in the miracle island called Jeep Island which is said to be made from one coconut. It is only 30 meters wide. On the third day finally it rained and the rainbow appeared. Before it arched over the island completely it began to disappear. That day he could not see a complete rainbow, but he said he saw about 6 rainbows at that time. Unfortunately there were no videos of them made. To see the superb view many things must be present such as time, season, and weather. If one of the conditions is missing, you can't see the best view.

How many superb views do you think you can encounter in your life? I have had the good fortune to have experienced about half of these and plan to experience as many more as possible.

水戸の梅まつり（Mito no ume matsuri）: Ume festival in Mito

There are many gardens in Japan, but three of them are especially famous and called nihon san meien (日本三名園), Three Famous Gardens in Japan. They are Kenroku-en (兼六園) in Kanazawa, Koraku-en(後楽園) in Okayama, and Kairaku-en(偕楽園) in Mito. The size is 99,180 square meter, 133,000 square meter, 130,000 square meter respectively and all are made in Edo period.
Kairaku-en is very famous for its ume (梅), Japanese apricot. The 113th Mito no ume matsuri (水戸の梅まつり), Ume Festival in Mito started today until March 31. There are 3,000 Ume trees of 100 different kinds. There are red and white blossoms, and about 70 percent of them are in bloom.
It's been 400 years since the Mito-han (水戸藩), the Mito Clan opened. To commemorate they gave special postcards to the first 500 visitors from 9 AM today. Kairaku-en is open from 6 AM to 7 PM for free of charge. On Sundays there are special events such as outdoor tea ceremonies or Japanese music concerts.
I have been there once in 1997. I was very surprised to see the red and white blossoms on the same tree, because usually there are only haku bai (白梅), white plum blossoms or ko bai (紅梅), red plum blossoms in one tree.

御神楽（o kagura ）

Most of Japanese people are both Buddhist and Shintoist at the same time. However I do not think we are very religious. Whenever there is an occasion, we practice the ceremony either at temples　（寺院: ji in） or shrines　（神社: jin ja）. 　There are about 85,000 shrines in Japan.
Today there was o kagura (御神楽), at the nearest shrine from my house, so I went to see the ceremony for the first time. Kagura (神楽) literally means god-entertainment. First kannushi (神主), Shinto priest recited a ritual Shinto prayer. Then he danced with the music by drum and bells for dedicating to God. Finally he purified with hot water around. It lasted for an hour. It seems there was naorai (直会), drinking party later.
Here attached the picture of the Wakamiya jinja (若宮神社).

雨水 （u sui）

Today is u sui (雨水), one of nijyushi sekki (二十四節気), 24 terms. The last one was risshun (立春) on Feb. 4 and the next one is keichitsu (啓蟄) on March 5.
U sui literally means rain water. That is it is the time to change from snow to rain that falls from the sky in this time, and it is the time for snow to start melting. Around this time it is considered that the coldest peak has passed.

In the world history, they say today is the Day of Airmail. On Feb. 18, 1911 the first official flight with air mail took place in Allahabad, India for an airshow. Henri Pequet, a 23-year-old French pilot, delivered about 6,500 letters to Naini, which is about 10 km away. He made the journey in thirteen minutes. The letters were marked "First Aerial Post, U.P. Exhibition Allahabad 1911" according to Wikipedia.

I like writing and receiving airmails. Whenever I travel, I try to send postcards. In December I sent Christmas cards and New Year's cards to my friends around the world. To my surprise it took nearly 50 days for my new year's card to be delivered to Florida this time.

天使の囁き記念日（tenshi no sasayaki kinen bi）

They say Feb. 17 is Tenshi no sasayaki kinen bi (天使の囁き記念日), Anniversary of the Whisper of an Angel since 1994. Tenshi no sasayaki, the whisper of an angel is said to mean diamond dust.
On Feb. 17, 1978, the coldest temperature was recorded as - 41.2 centigrade in Horokanai(幌加内), Hokkaido, however it did not become the official record. Therefore young people of Horokanai organized a group of Tenshi no sasayaki wo kiku kai (天使の囁きを聴く会), Association of listening to the whisper of an angel and has winter events to commemorate the coldest day.
Diamond dust appears in a fine morning of less than - 10 centigrade. I have seen them once when I was in Pullman, Washington in January 1996. They were so beautiful.

宝くじ（takara kuji）: Lottery

There are many lotteries in Japan. Gurin jambo takara kuji (グリーンジャンボ宝くじ), Green Jumbo Lottery, the first Jumbo Lottery of this year was started to be sold today until March 6 throughout Japan. There are 170,000,000 tickets. One ticket costs yen 300. The total sales of Green Jumbo Lottery will be yen 51,000,000,000. The draw will be on March 11, in Yamagata.
The first prize is yen 150,000,000 for 17 tickets. The second prize is yen 10,000,000 for 170 tickets. The one before and after the first prize called Zengo sho (前後賞) is yen 25,000,000 for 34 tickets.
So if you are lucky enough you have a chance to get yen 200,000,000 for yen 900.
This year there is a special prize called Haru no otozure sho (春のおとずれ賞), Spring Has Come Prize of yen 10,000 for 510,000 tickets.
What would you like to do if you get yen 200,000,000??

お菓子の日（o kashi no hi）

In 1981 Zenkoku kashi kogyo kumiai rengokai (全国菓子工業組合連合会), National Confectionery Industry Association decided the 15th of every month as O kashi no hi (お菓子の日), Day of Confectionery.
The first Confectionery Fair (全国菓子大博覧会：zenkoku kashi dai hakurankai)was held around April 15, 1911 in Tokyo therefore they decided the 15th. Every 4 years they have the Confectionery Fair around Japan. The 25th Fair was held in Himeji, Hyogo last year.
In Japan there are so many confectionery, but we can roughly classify them into two groups: Japanese confectionery (和菓子：wa gashi) and Western confectionery(洋菓子：yo gashi). Both of them are classified into three categories according to water quantity: more than 30% are fresh sweets (生菓子：nama gashi), 10% to 30% are semi-fresh sweets (半生菓子：han nama gashi), less than 10% are dry sweets(干菓子： hi hashi).
Japanese fresh sweets are often made from rice and sweet bean paste. Japanese dry sweets are not always sweet. The representive is senbei(煎餅：rice cracker), which is baked with soy source or salt taste.
I hope you have a chance to enjoy Japanese confectionery.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today is Feb. 14, St. Valentine's Day. In other countries I think both men and women exchange cards or presents. In Japan there is a unique custom. Only women give chocolates to men whom they like. In return men give women something sweet a month later on March 14, which is called "White Day."
In 1958 a Japanese chocolate company started a gift campaign and the custom of giving chocolates to men became popular. One fourth of chocolate consumptions of the year is for St. Valentine's Day.
There have been three types of chocolates: honmei choko (本命チョコ： chocolate for true love), giri choko (義理チョコ: chocolates to boss or colleagues for obligation), jibun yo choko（自分用チョコ：chocolate for myself）. Since it is Saturday today, maybe there are fewer giri choko this year.
This year there is a new trend too. That is gyaku choko(逆チョコ：reverse chocolate), men give women chocolates.
How do you celebrate Valentine's Day in your country?
I hope you have a Happy Valentine's Day.

春一番 (haru ichiban) : The first gale of spring

Haru ichiban (春一番: literally spring No. 1) is the first strong southern wind which blows between risshun (立春) and shunbun (春分). Today it blew in many parts of Japan. It was about 10 days earlier than last year and the earliest in 10 years in Kanto area.
According to the Meteorological Agency, the peak gust was 27.5 meters per second in Tsushima city (対馬市), Nagasaki（長崎県）. In Tokyo it was 12.7 m/s, in Chiba 21.2 m/s, and in Yokohama 18.1 m/s.
The temperature also went up, and in Okinawa it became 26.3 ℃（79.34F) which was the highest record in February.
The name "haru ichiban" was started to be used since Feb. 13, 1859 when 53 fishermen were shipwrecked by the gust in the offing of Goto retto (五島列島). In the late 1950s the term became generalized.

豆腐の日 (tofu no hi) : Day of Tofu

Today is 12th which is written as 12日 or 十二日 and read as jyu ni nichi in Japanese. 十二 is also read as to (十) fu (二) . Therefore Nihon Tofu Kyokai (日本豆腐協会), Japan Tofu Association decided 12th of every month and Oct. 2nd as Day of Tofu （豆腐の日: tofu no hi）in 1993.
Tofu is a traditional healthy food made from soybeans and water. It contains high quality protein and it is called "Meat of the Field."
There are mainly two different types of tofu in Japan: kinugoshi dofu (絹ごし豆腐), silken and momen dofu(木綿豆腐), cotton. The feelings of the texture on the tongue, tastes, and nutritional contents are different between the two.
Since 90% of tofu is water, to make tofu, water is very important. Kyoto has been famous for tofu since ancient times and its water is soft water.
Tofu is a very flexible food. You can make it cold and eat just with soy source and some relish especially in summer. This is called hiya yakko (冷奴). You can cook tofu in many different ways. Japan Tofu Association has some English recipes of tofu. So if you are interested in, please visit the following site.
http://www.tofu-as.jp/english/recipes/index.html
Enjoy!

建国記念の日（kenkoku kinen no hi）: National Foundation Day

Feb. 11 is one of national holidays called kenkoku kinen no hi (建国記念の日), National Foundation Day. This was established in 1966 and practiced from Feb. 11, 1967.
From 1873 to 1948 this day was celebrated as Kigen setsu (紀元節), which was one of four major holidays (四大節：shidai setsu) then. Other holidays were shiho hai(四方拝: new year), Tencho setsu（天長節: Emperor's birthday), and Meiji setsu(明治節: Emperor Meiji's birthday on Nov. 3).
According to the old Japanese history book called Nihon shoki (日本書紀) written in early 8th century, the first Emperor Jimmu (神武天皇）succeeded to the throne on Feb. 11, 660 B.C.

ニットの日(nitto no hi)

Feb. 10 is written as 2.10 which is read as 2(ni)10(to), therefore they say today is day of knit. In 1988 Yokohama handmade knit circle (横浜手作りニット友の会：yokohama tedukuri nitto tomo no kai) made Feb. 10 as Day of Knit originally. This group opens training courses and holds exhibitions at this time of the year.
In 1994 Nihon knit kogyo kumiai rengokai (日本ニット工業組合連合会）, Japan Knitting Industry Association established Feb. 10 as Day of Knit nationally.

Usually in Japan women knit. But there is a famous knit designer called Prince of Knit Industry. His name is Mitsuharu Hirose (広瀬光治). He has a museum in Hokkaido. He said he has knitted a wedding dress for his sister for two to three years.

When I traveled to the Lake Titicaca in Peru in 1997, I saw many small boys were knitting something and was so surprised.
How about in your country?

ふくの日（fuku no hi）

Feb. 9 is written as 2.9 which is able to pronounce as 2(fu)9(ku). Therefore today is day of fu ku .
In Japanese there are three different alphabets of writing: hiragana(ひらがな）, katakana（カタカナ）, kanji（漢字）. Both hiragana and katakana are phonetic signs, and there are 46 letters each. Kanji is pictographic character imported from China. To read a newspaper, we need to know at least 2,000 kanji characters.
If it is written in hiragana as ふく, we are not sure what it is meant. But if we write them in kanji we know the meaning. Today's case fuku is 河豚(fugu). Fugu is a blowfish or globefish or swellfish or puffer fish. The most famous place of fugu in Japan is Shimonoseki, and there fugu is pronounced as fuku like 福（fortune）. Shimonoseki Fuku Renmei (Shimonoseki Blowfish Federation) decided Feb. 9 as Day of Fuku in 1980.
Fugu is very high-grade winter food. They have poison, so only special-licensed cooks are allowed to cook. They are expensive but very delicious.
If you come to Japan in winter time, please try.
Today is also day of 服 (fuku: clothes), day of 福（fuku: fortune）, and day of 風(kaze: wind) because it blows which is 吹く(fu ku: blow) in Japanese.

針供養 (hari kuyo): Memorial service for broken needles

Feb. 8 is known as hari kuyo (針供養), memorial service for broken needles.　This custom started in Edo period (江戸時代：edo jidai 1603-1867). Needle works were very important for women. On this day they took a day off to have a memorial service for broken needles which they had used for the past year. They put those broken needles on tofu (豆腐), bean curd or konnyaku (蒟蒻), devil's tongue which are very soft to let the needles rest and brought them to rivers or shrines or temples. They thanked the needles and wished their improvement of needle works and safety.
In Kanto area (関東地方:kanto chiho) this is held on Feb. 8, but in Kansai area (関西地方:kansai chiho) it is usually held on Dec. 8.
Until the middle of Meiji period (明治時代：meiji jidai 1868-1912) this custom was held at home, but nowadays this is mainly held at Japanese and western dressmaking schools.

北方領土の日（hoppo ryodo no hi）: Northern Territories Day

On Feb. 7, 1855 the Treaty of Commerce, Navigation and Delimitation was made between Japan and Russia and the border was established between the islands of Etorofu (択捉)and Uruppu.
This area is called Northern Territories （北方領土：hoppo ryodo）which includes 4 big islands Etorofu-to(択捉島), Kunashiri-to(国後島),Shikotan-to(色丹島), Habomai-gunto(歯舞群島) and some small islands nearby.　The total area is 5,036 square kilometers.
Until the end of World War II there were 17,291 people had lived in the Northern Territories, however they were forced to evacuate the islands by 1949 and 80% of them settled in Hokkaido(北海道), which adjoins the Northern Territories.
The Four Northern Islands are currently illegally occupied by Russia. The Japanese government is trying to solve this problem through diplomatic negotiations,conclude a peace treaty between Japan and Russia, and establish stable relations based on true mutual understanding between the two countries.
To enhance people's understanding of and increase interest in the Northern Territories issue, and to promote reversion campaign the Japanese government decided in 1981 that Feb. 7 every year be Northern Territories Day.

海苔の日（nori no hi）: Day of Nori

Feb. 6 is nori no hi(海苔の日), Day of Nori or laver. Nori is traditional food liked by Japanese people from ancient times. To thank nori which is a gift from the ocean, Zenkoku nori kairui gyogyo kyodo kumiai rengokai (全国海苔貝類漁業協同組合連合会), National Federation of Nori & Shellfish Co-op Associations (NFNSCA) decided Feb. 6 as Day of Nori in 1966.
According to the oldest Japanese statute code called Taiho ritsuryo (大宝律令)in 701, 29 kinds of marine products were paid as taxation. 8 of them were sea vegetables, and Nori was one of them. Nori was a representative product of many places and very valuable.
Taiho ritsuryo (大宝律令) was enforced Jan. 1 of Taiho (大宝)2 in Japanese old calendar, which corresponds to Feb. 6 of 702 in the new calendar. Therefore NFNSCA decided Feb. 6 every year as Day of Nori to wish Nori and Shellfish industry's development and conducts memorial events.
The size of nori is 21 cm x 19 cm. Every year 10,000,000,000 pieces of Nori are cultivated. Nori is healthy food which contains vitamin, mineral, dietary fiber, iron, calcium and so on.
I hope you enjoy healthy Japanese food sometimes.

第60回さっぽろ雪まつり（dai rokujyukkai sapporo yuki matsuri）：The 60th Sapporo Snow Festival

The 60th Sapporo Snow Festival (第60回さっぽろ雪まつり：dai rokujyukkai sapporo yuki matsuri) started today. This is one of the biggest and well-known winter events in Hokkaido (北海道) which is the north island in Japan. It is one week event until Feb. 11. Every year about 2 million people come to see the festival.
There are 286 statues and sculptures made of snow and ice this year at three festival sites: Odori site(大通会場：odori kaijo), Tsudome site(つどーむ会場:tsudomu kaijo), and Susukino site (すすきの会場：susukino kaijo).
It is said they need the amount of snow of 6,000 5-ton trucks and about 1 month to make those statues.
If you are interested in, please check the following sites to see some pictures.
http://www.snowfes.com/english/place/oodori/index.html
http://sapporo.100miles.jp/snowfes/

立春（risshun）

Today is risshun (立春), the first day of spring by the old calendar. On calendar it is spring, but it is still cold at this time of the year. In old calendar risshun was the first day of the year. Therefore in some fortunetellings one cycle of the year means not from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 but from risshun to setsubun.
Risshun is one of the nijyushi sekki (二十四節気), 24 terms.　 The last one was dai kan (大寒)on Jan. 20 and the next one is u sui (雨水)on Feb. 18.
There are four seasons in Japan. Spring(March, April, May), summer(June, July, August), autumn(September, October, November), and winter(December, January, February). Spring is haru(春), summer is natsu (夏), autumn is aki (秋), and winter is fuyu (冬) in Japanese.　
Which season do you like?

節分（setsubun）

Today is setsubun (節分), the day before changing the seasons. There are four seasons in Japan, therefore there are four setsubun, but we usually refer the day before spring.
On this day, we do mamemaki (豆まき), scattering roasted soybeans called fukumame (福豆：good luck bean)to drive out bad luck. Depends on regions shouts are different, but we usually say "Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi (鬼は外、福は内)", devils out, fortunes in. After mamemaki, we eat the same number of soybeans as our age to wish our good health and good luck of the year. This custom started around the Muromachi Era (1392-1573).
There is another custom so-called ehomaki(恵方巻き) in the evening of setsubun. That is to eat a big rolled sushi (futomaki: 太巻き）facing toward eho (恵方), the good luck direction of the year which is tohokuto 東北東, east-northeast this year without saying anything. If so, it is said that the fortune will come. This origin is not sure, but it has become popular since 1970's in Osaka.

中学入試（chugaku nyushi）：Entrance examinations for junior high schools

The season of entrance examination of junior high schools has begun. In Tokyo and Kanagawa usually there are entrance examinations of private junior high schools on Feb. 1st. However it was happened to fall on Sunday this year. Some Christian schools changed their examination dates to Feb. 2nd. It is estimated that about 53,000 6th graders took the private or public junior high school examinations yesterday and today in the metropolitan area.
Usually you do not have to take an entrance examination to go up to public junior high school from elementary school. In the special cases you do. For example, in Kanagawa prefecture the first two public six-year secondary schools, so-called "公立中高一貫校(koritsu chu ko ikkan ko)," will be open in Hiratsuka and Sagamihara this April. They had aptitude tests and essay tests on Feb. 1st and will have group activity tests on Feb. 7th.
The fixed number for admittance was 80 boys and 80 girls for each school. One school had 1,022 applicants and the other had 2,601. Their acceptance rates were 6.39 and 16.26 respectively.
Public six-year secondary shools are popular because they are less expensive than private schools and students don't have to take the rigorous entrance examinations for high schools therefore they can expect long-term education and concentrate on sports or study.
The results will be published on Feb. 11th.
Good luck!

テレビ放送記念日（terebi hoso kinen bi）: Anniversary of the first broadcasting

At 2:00 PM on February 1, 1953, NHK(Nippon Hoso Kyokai: Japan Broadcasting Corporation)started broadcasting. At those times there were only 866 receiving contracts and the TV reception fee was yen 200 per month. The starting salary of the college graduates was yen 8,000 per month and a TV set cost yen 170,000. A TV set was beyond their budget.
The history of TV is said to have begun with the invention of the Braun tube in 1897 by German Nobel Prize Winner, Karl Ferdinand Braun.
In 1936 BBC started broadcasting. In 1939 NHK tried experimental broadcasting.
In Japan on July 24, 2011 will be the last day of analogue broadcasting, though U.S. will start all digital broadcasting from this year.