八月六日(hachigatsu muika) ： August 6

It's been 65 years since the world's first atomic bomb was dropped in Hiroshima (広島). Up to now 269,446 people have been recorded as death as a result of the atomic bombing. 　We are not sure how many people were suffered in total. But there are still many people struggling for both physically and mentally.
There was a memorial ceremony today and the representatives from 74 countries including the USA, UK, and French attended. The U.N. Secretary general also attended and made a speech.
As a citizen of Japan, the only country that experienced the catastrophe, I really wish the World Peace.

Tonight I went to see a movie "SALT" starring Angelina Jolie. I did not expect before watching, but I found she was a great action actress. It is a double spy story, a series of betraying. As a movie it is powerful but as a story I am not sure what SALT wanted to do after all. I believe there will appear the Part II someday.

八月五日（hachigatsu itsuka）： August 5

It was another hot day. In 177 places it recorded more than 35 degrees centigrade. Tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day in this summer all over Japan, and for about 2 weeks more it is going to be hot.
Speaking of the Japanese summer, besides fireworks, we can think of the songs of insects, especially cicadas. Cicadas is semi (蝉) in Japanese. There are many cicadas in Japan, but the sound is different depends on the species and time (morning, afternoon, evening).
Today I found a very interesting thing in the center of Tokyo. Please see the picture. I have seen many cast-off skins of cicadas in my life, however, it has been always one of them. But today I found many of them on a leaf. I could not believe at first. But when I looked up the cherry tree, there were so many cast-off skins of cicades on a leaf here and there, especially at the tip of the trunks.
The life of a cicada is considered very short like a week, but they have a longer life in the ground. For the very short life, they come up the trunk all the way. And they hatch on a leaf together! I was impressed.

八月四日（hachigatsu yokka）： August 4

It was another hot day.
I had a send off party for an ex-colleague who will go to the USA next week to teach Japanese at the university for a year.
We went to the Kyoto (京都)style restaurant & bar called izakaya (居酒屋). The name of the place is Machiya washoku Kyomachi Koishigure(町屋和食　京町　恋しぐれ).
http://r.gnavi.co.jp/g465407/
The design of each private room is interesting. So was the washbowl of the restroom.
There are some things I missed about Japan when I was abroad. One of them is izakaya and the other is kissaten (喫茶店), tea or coffee room. There are so many of them in Japan and they are very popular and convenient to eat and drink. At izakaya you can order many dishes and a variety of beverages. They are not so expensive as restaurants. At kissaten there are many desserts. We do not need tips, so it is easy for us to pay. They offer many coupons.
When you come to Japan, please try them.