2021.4.20

It was fine.

Today is kokuu(穀雨), one of nijushisekki(二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. Last one was seimei (清明) on April 4,  and the next one is rikka (立夏) on May 5.

Kokuu literally means grain rain, which moistens gains to sprout. It is a good season for seeding rice.

Today is the 29th anniversary of the opening of EXPO'92 in Seville, Spain.

It was such a "Once in a life time experience."

I really appreciated my fortune to be selected one of the 35 attendants of the Japan Pavilion.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2015.8.15

It was fine and hot.

It's been 70 years since the World War II ended. Therefore there was a memorial service and there were many war-related TV programs today.

I went to the local shrine,  to my mother's graveyard and to see my father at the hospital in the afternoon.
From his room we can see the Mt. Fuji. The sun set in the Mt. Fuji tonight.

2015.8.6

It was fine and very hot today.

August 6 is the anniversary of atomic bombing to Hiroshima. It's been 70 years. They say there were participants from 100 countries to this year's event.

After work I dropped at Miurakaigan to see a fireworks festival.
Japanese summer is very hot and humid and it is not comfortable.
But I really like to see fireworks festival as a summer event.

2014.10.1

A new month has started.  October is jyugatsu (十月), its old name is kannazuki or kaminazuki (神無月), literally means god without month.  All the gods get together in Izumo (出雲) area, therefore there it is called kamiarizuki (神在月), literally means god exists month.

October 1 is known as koromogae (衣替え), changing clothes.  It was rainy and rather cool, therefore we actually needed something to wear on the top.

They say it has been 50 years today since the Shinkansen (新幹線), bullet trains started running.  It runs more than 200 km per hour and connects 500km between Tokyo and Osaka for less than three hours.  Amazing to say, there have been no accidents with the death toll.

2014.8.15

It was fine, hot and windy today.

Today is the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II.  There were many ceremonies here and there, and there were many TV programs dealing with war and peace.

I went to the shrine, grocery shopping, and filled my car up in the morning. The road was so crowded that it took more than three hours to do everything.

2014.8.12

It was cloudy and windy.

I stayed at home all day long.  There were guests in the afternoon.

It's been 29 years since the JAL airplane No. 123 was crashed into the mountain Osutaka (御巣鷹) and 520 people were killed. 

2014.1.17

It was fine but cold.

It's been 19 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake happened.  There were memorial services in Kansai Area.  6434 people 's precious lives were lost and 3 are missing by this big earthquake.

There were some earthquakes today.

At training we debated regarding two issues.  First one I had to think the opposite side of my thought, so it was difficult.  Second one we could choose the position, so it was not so difficult.  We are not used to debate.  So we'd better have lessons at school when we are young.

2013.11.22

It was fine.

November 22 is known as ii fufu no hi (いい夫婦の日), Day of good married couple.  November 22 is written as 11.22, and 11 pronounces ii and 22 pronounces fufu.  Ii means good, and fufu means married couple.  There are some couples which get married on this day hoping to be good couples.

After coming home, I cooked and ate dinner and went to attend a meeting at the nearest hotel.  

2013.10.10

It was fine and very hot today.
October 10 used to be a national holiday called Taiiku no hi (体育の日), Sports Day to commemorate the opening of the Tokyo Olympic in 1964.  This day is one of the singularities of being fine.

I went out for lunch at JICA's water front restaurant with two classmates and enjoyed chatting.
After the training I went to tea ceremony lesson.  The name of today's sweet was "harvest fall."

2013.9.11

It's been two years and a half since the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami occurred.  And it's been 12 years since the 9.11 happened.
How has your life been changed since then?

It was a rainy day today.

After the training I visited a shrine in Kannai (関内).  This was the first time for me to visit there.  Last Sunday when I had dinner with my friends, someone mentioned about the shrine and it is not so far from the place I study, therefore I decided to visit there.  Then I walked to Koganecho (黄金町) station. 
One of the things which changed my life since those events was I try to wear flat shoes, walk, and use stairs whenever I can. 
Many people had to walk home on the day of March 11.  I was working in Shinjuku (新宿), and it was too far for me to walk home.  Therefore I stayed at the office all day long.
We need to train our body by ourselves.

2013.8.15

It is the anniversary of the end of World War II today.  It has been 68 years since the World War II ended. 
There was a formal commemorative ceremony in Tokyo with the presence of the Emperor and Empress and the Prime Minister.  The total number of the participants was about 6000, and among them 4672 were the family members of the dead soldiers.  Their ages are between 10 and 99 years old.   And the number of the wives is getting less and the number of the grandchildren is getting more.  In the last war, about 3100000 people lost their precious lives.  Because of their effort, now we are living in the peace world. 
We have had many TV programs dealt with the war these days.   More and more people are getting old and the records of the war are difficult to be saved.  What can we do with this matter?

2013.8.6

It's been 68 years since the first Atomic Bomb was dropped in Hiroshima.  There was a commemorative ceremony at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima city in the morning. 
This year a famous American film director, Mr. Oliver Stone has visited the Hiroshima Peace Site and mentioned that it was just a myth that to end the war the atomic bomb dropping was a necessity.  I hope he will make another movie to let the people know about the reality of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  
Japan is the only country which has experienced such tragedy.   We should keep telling the world to stop using nuclear weapons.

2013.5.10

It was cloudy and slightly rained.  But they say it became the first summer day exceeding 30 degrees centigrade here and there.
Since today is my mother's 11th death anniversary, Father and I visited her grave yard.
After that I went to the post office to send something.  There I happened to find the beautiful commemorative stamps.  Whenever I find these, I tend to buy them.  And I bought three different sheet.
These days I do not write letters so often, but in the year-end I send many season's greetings to friends abroad, therefore I like to use these beautiful stamps for postage.
Then we went grocery shopping and I cooked dinner after a long time. 

2013.3.17

It's been just four years since I started working at the office in Shinjuku. It takes about five hours for me to commute every day. I have two colleagues who started working on the same day.
One became a mother and left the office last year.
The other got married and is still working and so will be.
My private big news was to have published a book last year.
Four years passed very fast, but I am glad to have many nice colleagues and met many people.

2013.3.11

March 11. It's been two years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami occurred.
How have you spent the last two years？
The number of dead is thought as 15,881 and of missing 2,668. If you count the related death too, the number reaches 20,852 people.
There were memorial services here and there.
There are still 315,000 people living in the temporary houses so-called kasetsu jutaku (仮設住宅).
I hope the early recovery of the affected areas and peoples' happiness.

2013.3.8

It was rather warm like May.  Spring is nearing.  In the morning I saw beautiful cherry blossoms with some leaves, but in the night they had more greens.
I went to travel agency to book flights for the next months after work.  I had two destinations but it was difficult to book both places at once in my budget and decided to book only one for now.  The person in charge was very kind to answer my requests.

March 8 is International Women's Day.  I was asked to write something for this day from my friend in Australia in January, but I could not.  I knew there is something we need to do for the women in need in the world.  First we need to know the reality such as what they really want.  Because from our standard it may look they need something like more education or something, but if they only know their own world, they may be happy in their world.  We cannot press our sense of value.
However before that we need to make our lives.  Without extra time and money it is difficult to do something for other people.  Even in Japan, there are still many people suffering from the Great East Earthquakes and Tsunami two years ago.   I hope to be rich enough to do something for others too......

2012.9.11

It's been 11 years since 9.11 happened.
And it's been 1 year and a half since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami happened.
How has your life been changed since then?
We are trying to save energy, and at the office we try to use stairs rather than elevators, and we turn off the lights during lunch time.

2012.8.15

It was the 67th anniversary of the end of the World War II.  There was a memorial event in Tokyo and there gathered about 5,850 people including the Emperor, the Empress, and the Prime Minister.  The oldest participant of the bereaved family was 98 years old and the youngest was 4 years old according to the newspaper.
I hope the world peace forever.

2012.8.9

It was not hot today.
Today is the 67th anniversary of Nagasaki (長崎) atomic-bombing.　　At 11:02 AM of that day in 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped and about 80,000 people's lives were taken away.  There was a memorial event there.

2012.7.23

July 23 is known as fumi no hi (ふみの日), Day of Letter.  July is called fumi zuki (文月), month of letter and 23 is possible to read fu (2) mi (3), that means letter.  Day of letter of the  month of letter.  On this day the Japan Post issues special memorial stamps of two different unit price every year.  One is yen 50 for postcard, and the other is yen 80 for letter.
These days we often use emails and seldom write letters.
However receiving letters makes me happy, so I would like to write letters as much as possible.
Since my best friend's birthday is in this week, I have just written the card.