2014.12.1

A new month has started. December is jyunigatsu(十二月), its old name is shiwasu(師走), which means teachers run. Teachers become busy and always run. Not only teachers but also everyone feels busy in this month. There are many year end parties. We need to prepare to welcome a new year such as cleaning and writing new year's cards.

Today this year's new and popular word awards were published. They
are shudantekijieiken (集団的自衛権), right of collective self-defense, and dameyo dame dame (ダメよ、ダメダメ), soft way of declining.

Another big news was the death of the famous Japanese actor, Bunta
 Sugawara (菅原文太) at the age of 81. May his soul rest in peace,

2013.9.18

It was another nice autumn day.  The air was clean and clear and cool.  The sky was blue.  Tomorrow is jyugoya (十五夜), the 15th night.  We can expect the beautiful full moon.

There was a news about Linear Motor Car tonight.  In 14 years from now the linear motor car will run between Shinagawa (品川) and Nagoya (名古屋) at the speed of 500 km per hour.  So it will take only 40 minutes between the two cities.  Now it takes about one hour and 34 minutes by Shinkansen Nozomi (新幹線のぞみ), bullet train and costs yen 10,070.  It will be only yen 700 plus.  There are 286 km between the cities and 246 km will be in the tunnel of 40 meters deep.  There will be 4 stations in between, but it seems there will be no ticket vending machines.  They say they will use e-ticket or something.

In 7 years there will be the Tokyo Olympic 2020, and in 14 years there will be new transportation systems.  We can expect the booming economy and many job opportunities.  Don't you think so?

2012.10.1

A new month has started.  October is jyugatsu (十月) in Japanese.  Its old name is kannazuki (神無月), literally god without month.  All of Japanese gods get together in Izumo (出雲) in this month, therefore there are no gods in other places.
October 1 is the time for changing clothing called koromogae (衣替え).  School unforms are changed to long sleeves with jacket.  But it was still hot during daytime.
Today it was the grand opening of the renewed Tokyo (東京) station, Marunouch (丸の内) exit.  They say to renew the station it cost yen 50,000,000,000.  About 760,000 people use the Tokyo station every day.

2012.1.21

Today is daikan (大寒), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節季), the 24 solar terms. The last one was shokan (小寒) on January 6 and the next one is risshun (立春) on February 4.
Daikan literally means big cold. Today it was really cold. This is the coldest season.
Today's big news was the baseball player Mr. Yu Darvish's entering major league Texas Rangers.

４月２９日（shigatsu nijyuku nichi）： April 29

Golden Week has begun. First day is a national holiday called Showa no hi (昭和の日) which was used to be Tenno tanjobi (天皇誕生日), Emperor Showa's birthday until 1989 and Midori no hi (みどりの日), Greenery Day later on. Second day is Saturday and third day is Sunday. That is we have 3 day weekend now. Next week we have 3 national holidays. Therefore many people take two extra days off and have 10 days off. As this year's trend many people apply for working in Tohoku (東北) area as volunteer staff.

There was Royal Wedding in London. They say it's been 350 years since a common citizen entered the Royal Family, and that 1900 people were invited, about 1 million people got together to see the parade, and about 2,000,000,000 people around the world would watch the relay broadcast of the wedding of the handsome Prince William and beautiful bride. I was one of them. It reminded me of the one of Princess Diana and Prince Charles 30 years ago. So beautiful. Best wishes!

１月２０日（ichigatsu hatsuka）： January 20

Today is daikan (大寒), one of nijyushisekki（二十四節季), the 24 solar terms. The last one was shokan (小寒) on January 5, and the next one is risshun (立春) on February 4.
Daikan literally means big cold. And it was cold today.

Today's good news was the reduction in prices at the theaters. Usually the entrance fee for a new movie at the theater costs yen 1,800. But TOHO Cinemas decided to reduce it to yen 1,500 from March in certain theaters and from next year in other places. It's been 18 years since the price fixed. These days because of deflation, many things became lower prices than before. Therefore they decided to reduce.
Since I like to watch the movies, this is a good thing.

１月６日（ichigatsu muika）： January 6

Today is shokan (小寒), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節季), the 24 solar terms. Last one is toji (冬至) on December 22, and the next one is daikan (大寒) on January 20.
Shokan literally means small cold. It is the start of getting cold. Until daikan is the coldest season in Japan.
Actually it was very cold.
But there is a hot news. Ms. Seiko Noda (野田聖子), a member of the House of Representatives, gave birth to a boy today at the age of 50. It was in vitro fertilization between her partner and the third party donor. She has really wanted to have her own baby, and finally her dream came true.
Congratulations!

四月五日（shigatu itsuka）： April 5

Today is seimei (清明), one of　nijyushisekki (二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. The last one was shunbun (春分) on March 21 and the next one is kokuu (穀雨) on April 20. Sei　mei(清　明) literally means pure, clean, clear and bright, light, sunny, shiny. It is the time when everything is refreshing, bright, and beautiful. Unfortunately it was raining today.

But in Florida, it seems very fine and there was a good news there. It is the success of the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. It launched at 7:21 pm in Japan time. The Japanese astronette Ms. Naoko Yamazaki(山崎直子), 39 years old is one of the crew. She became the astronette 11 years ago, after that she got married and became a mother. This is the first space trip for her and she will be back after 2 weeks. She is the second Japanese woman who went to the space after Ms. Chiaki Mukai (向井千秋) who went twice.
She hopes to play the koto (琴) in the space. Good luck!

四月一日（shigatu tsuitachi）： April 1

Another month has just started. April is shigatsu (四月) in Japanese, its old name is uduki (卯月), the month of deutzia. It is a beginning of the fiscal year and the school year.
Many companies usually have an entrance ceremony called nyusha shiki(入社式) on April 1. Schools have an entrance ceremony called nyugaku shiki(入学式) in early April around April 5 or 8.

As a big news of Kanagawa prefecture (神奈川県：kanagawa ken) today was the changeover of the Sagamihara city (相模原市：sagamihara shi) into the 19th ordinance-designated city (政令指定都市: seirei shitei toshi). This is the third ordinance-designated city in Kanagawa prefecture after Yokohama (横浜) and Kawasaki (川崎) and the first one since World War II. The population as of March 1 was 712,635.

二月四日（nigatsu yokka）： February 4

Today was risshun (立春), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気) the 24 solar terms. The last one was daikan (大寒) on January 20, and the next one is usui (雨水) on February 19.
Risshun literally means stand spring. It is the first day of spring by the old calendar. On the calender it is spring, but it was very cold today, so will be tomorrow.

Today's big news was the announcement of the retirement of the Yokozuna Asashoryu(横綱朝青龍). He was the champion of the last January grand sumo tournament. However during the tournament one night he got drunk and had a violence. This scandal caused him to retire.
He was the 68th Yokozuna, grand champion sumo wrestler. He has become a champion for 25th tournaments. It is the 3rd record in history. He has compiled a 669-173 record since January 2001.