Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Online Bank

I opened an online bank account the other day and the cash card has just arrived. I had to do some set up for the bank account but I was really confused. 
I put my account number and password but I couldn't login the account. I tried it again and again, but the situation was the same. I'll call the support department tomorrow, sigh. 
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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Sanma

Sanma or pacific saury represents Japan's autumn dish. The fish mainly cames from Hokkaido. My family had grilled sanma and raw sanma at dinner tonight. 
Thanks to the distribution revolution, we can eat sanma raw now. We wasn't able to eat raw sanma before because the fish loses its freshness easily. Sanma puts on tasty fat in this season, so today's dishes were really nice. 
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Monday, September 28, 2015

Congratulations!

A Japanese super popular actor and singer Masaharu Fukuyama, 46, has just got married. I thought his partner would be Dan-mitsu, but I was wrong. The bride was an actress Kazue Fukiishi, 33. 
Probably, many women would be shocked by the marriage, but everyone would congratulate him on his marriage at last. 
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Sunday, September 27, 2015

Card Reading

A friend of mine from Twitter kindly offered card reading for her followers. I asked her to read my future job directions. The answer was "Courage".
She said that the important thing for me was to have courage for believe in my own thoughts. For having courage, I should make a careful plan in advance. 
She gave me some accurate advice from reading cards several times. Her readings have helped me a lot. I really appreciate the help. She is a great card reader, definitely. 
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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Reading

A friend of mine sent me some interesting books. She really likes reading and always highly recommends reading books to English learners not only for study but also for fun.  
One of the books she gave me was a children's book. That was a funny story. Even though the book tries to use plane words for children, I can find many new words and phrases for me. I've learned a lot from the book like, for example, even afternoon can grow. 
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Friday, September 25, 2015

The Pope

The cover of TIME this week is Pope Francis. He played an important role for the relationship between the United States and Cuba. He has visited to the States and made a warm atmosphere there, according to the media. 
The Pope is the leader of the Catholic Church and the head of Vatican. The status has had strong influence on all over the world. 
I'm not a Christian, but I was interested in the Catholic Church when I was young. I read some books written by Shusaku Endo, Shiono Nanami and others. I learned both bright side and dark side of the history. A religion could do anything whether for good or for evil. 
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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Rugby World Cup

Japan's rugby team has lost its second game against Scotland with a 10-45 score. I watched only the first half and Japan looked a little bit tired. The game was the first game for Scotland. 
Next match would be tough, but Japan has enough time for preparing the third game against Samoa, so they will perform well in the game. 
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Wednesday, September 23, 2015

My Nephew's Marriage

I've heard a surprising news today. My nephew has just married. He is 21 years old, two years older than my son. I'm happy to hear the news, however, I'm worried a little about the marriage. He doesn't have a full-time job now and his wife is expecting a child. They are staying my brother's house because they can't afford to rent an apartment. I hope my nephew gets a good job soon and will build a good home with his wife and new born child. 
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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Electric Hair Clipper

I bought a new electronic hair clipper because the old one has just broken. The adjuster no longer works, so I could not cut my hair short with the old clipper. 
I usually shave my head with electronic clipper to save money and more over, I like the hair style, if I can say that. If I had a chance, I want to cut YOUR head. It would be fun. 
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Monday, September 21, 2015

Two Believed Teachers

I enjoyed a reunion party with my table tennis friends yesterday. We invited two former teachers to the party. They are our old middle school teacher and high school teacher. We love the two teachers so much. 
We started this party around ten years ago after one of the teachers won the Ojuhosho. We celebrated the teacher's honor then and after that, we had a party almost every year. 
The party this year was special. One of my table tennis friends' daughter has been decided to participate the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. We were very happy to hear the news. Our beloved teachers looked really happy too.
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Sunday, September 20, 2015

Japan Beat South Africa

Rugby World Cup has just started in England. Japan has made a historical victory over South Africa at the first game. The third ranked South Africa is two times champion of the World Cup and Japan is the 13th. Japan's victory was the first time in 24 years. 
Media reported the match with surprising. I listened to a BBC radio news this morning, they even reported the astonishing event two times in a 15 minute segment of the show and some media said that this was the biggest shock in rugby history. 
I'm not familiar with respect rugby, but rugby was very popular when I was young. That was partly because of a popular TV show, School Wars. 
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Saturday, September 19, 2015

A Reunion Party

I will take part in a reunion party with old table tennis friends tomorrow. We offer held reunion party after playing golf, not table tennis, when we were in our twenties and thirties. 
Before the party, we will participate a local table tennis tournament. We have formed a great team for the tournament. It will be so fun. 
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Friday, September 18, 2015

Family Mah-jongg

My older son came home with a set of mah-jongg. He learned how to play the game on the web recently. He brought my mah-jongg set to his apartment and sometimes played with his friends. 
I almost forgot the rule because I quit the game two and half decades ago. My family played mah-jongg a little and that was nice.  
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Thursday, September 17, 2015

Childish Oppositions

I watched TV news shows today. Opposition lawmakers were hardly against the ruling parties. The new Self-defense Forces bills are about to pass the Upper House, but oppositions are trying to prevent them. 
Their efforts look so childish. They should've done that kind of activities or efforts more earlier. They didn't do that seriously before. It's too late now. They should be more mature. 
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Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Vegetables

Vegetable prices have risen because of a long rain caused by typhoon, but I fortunately got some vegetables from my mother. She has a kitten garden and grows vegetables herself. 
She gave us cucumbers, green peppers, sweet potatoes, onions and welsh onions today. Thanks for my mother, we could save spendin a lot.
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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

China's Power Balance

This week, TIME magazine issued Chinese Military Parade. In the picture of the article, President Xi looked unhappy for me. Only Russia's President Vladimir Putin attended the parade from the main World War 2 Allies and that made Xi depressed? Or he overwhelmed to control Chinese military power? I'm not sure. 
A historian said in the article, if the Communist Party losses power, it will have lost power forever. Xi knows the fact, so he has to handle their military very carefully for survival. In my opinion, Xi stands on the dangerous balance between The Communist Party and the military. No one knows when it will collapse into chaos. 
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Monday, September 14, 2015

A Table Tennis Trip

My son came home from a table tennis tournament in Hamada. The tournament was for under 18 years old who lives in Shimane and the winners will advance to the national tournament in January. 
My son reached the top 8 for doubles and the top 16 for singles. That was not bad for him. Other top players started table tennis when they were elementary school students, but my son started to play it from he was at junior high school. 
He stayed three days in Hamada with his team mates and he looked enjoy the trip. 
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Sunday, September 13, 2015

Matsue City FC

I want to see a soccer game today. That was a Tyugoku Soccer League match, Matsue City FC vs Mitsubishi Mizushima FC. Matsue City has already won the league before the game. 
It was a nice game because my team, Matsue, won over Mizushima with a 7-0 score. Everyone my side looked happy with the victory. 
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Saturday, September 12, 2015

Reading

I tried to read The Great Gatsby as reading with Japanese translation, but now I'm stuck. Later, I'll read it again, perhaps. 
Instead of the book, I'm reading Animal Farm by George Orwell. I listened a BBC radio drama version of the story four or five times before started to read the book. While reading the novel, I feel I became a narrator and that is nice.
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Friday, September 11, 2015

Self-defense Force

Japan Self-defense Force, police, firefighters and Japan Coast Guard are saving lots of lives from flood disaster in Ibaraki. I really thank their works. You might watch their efforts on TV news shows. 
Some Japanese people strongly oppose Self-defense Force because Japan's constitution doesn't admit any military forces. They often call SDF as murder equipments. If they were in the situations like the floods, could they deny SDF's rescue? 
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Thursday, September 10, 2015

Studying for Eiken

I managed to get Eiken Pre-1st grade this year. I should've started preparing for grade 1 as soon as the test ended, but I didn't have a feeling of studying English at all. I bought some work books for the test, though. 
Listening to the radio in English and posting English blog everyday are only two things for learning or using English for me. These are not boost my English skills so much, but I just enjoy doing so. 
To get Eiken 1st grade, I have to get more and more English vocabularies. I tried an onlin English vocabulary test and I got only grade D for Eiken 1st grade. It was a sad result. I have to work hard to get a lot of new English words. 
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Wednesday, September 9, 2015

A Duel

I've been listening to a VOA radio program from Monday to Friday called The Making of a Nation. The program describes the history of the United States. The topic yesterday was about Alexander Hamilton. He was a Founding Fathers of the United States. 
He supported George Washington during the War of Independence, played important role for making the U.S. Construction, established the national bank and did many things for the United States of America. 
The last part of yesterday's show was about his death. I was shocked by his last because he died in a duel with his political enemy, Aaron Burr. Were duels common at the time? How come they were not debating to the last but fighting with a duel?
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Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Kanji and History

Korean government has banned Kanji or Chinese character since 1970's. That was because their anti Japan policy, no other reasons there. Before that, Korean intelligent people wrote and read official documents and history books in kanji. Hangul or Korean script was mainly used by people who could not use kanji then. The government allows only hangul now. 
As a result, contemporary Korean people can not read old history books. That means they can not study their own history by old history books. The true history has gone with kanji. That is really sad. 
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Monday, September 7, 2015

Meet the Beatles

I listened to a BBC radio program. One of the topics was about a female fun of the Beatles. When the Beatles first went to the United States, she was 17 years old. The members stayed at Hotel Plaza in New York then. 
I forgot where exactly she lived, but not in New York. She wanted to see the Beatles especially George Harrison, so she decided to go into the hotel. She headed to New York with her friends. 
Guards were stationed at the hotel, so it seemed hard to steal into the inside the hotel. They tried and finally managed to get the lobby. They looked at a sofa where Paul, John and George sitting with their legs crossed. They screamed and then they were caught by the guards. 
A TV news reported the scene. Her father watched it and he understood his daughter was absent from school for went to New York to see the Beatles on the day. Of course she was scolded. 
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Sunday, September 6, 2015

Steinway and Yamaha

I listened to a BBC radio program today and the show was about Steinway piano. Steinway is the most popular piano for major concert halls and piano contests. 
The company has its 150 years history and the products have high quality and their business model is to sell their products to concert halls. That's why many halls have chosen Steinway pianos. 
Coincidentally, I watched a TV show about Yamaha, a Japanese music instruments company. They have been made high quality pianos too, but they are struggling to surpass Steinway pianos at major halls and piano contests. 
Musician have given good evaluation for Yamaha, but they hesitate to take risks for using Yamaha because they are used to use Steinways more. Yamaha had to create more highly qualified pianos than Steinway. 
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Saturday, September 5, 2015

What Are You Doing, Mr. Ban?

China held its huge military demonstration parade on 3rd September.  The event was called the 70th anniversary of the victory over Japan. At the time World War 2  ended, current communist party ruling China did not exist, though. Most major western countries did not go to the event. The absence was part of because that was apparently an anti Japan event, so they did not want to join the military show. That's normal. 
On the other hand, only South Korean president from western advanced countries went to see the parade. That's okay. The president might hate our country and wanted to obey Chinese government, but one thing I could not understand was the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's attendance. He should keep a neutral stance in politics. That's what his position must be. 
Obviously, he might want to be the next Korean president, so he wanted to show his anti Japan policy to Korean citizens because taking that stance could make him the president more easily. But he should do his own business. There are plenty of things he has to do as the U.N. Secretary General, if only he wanted to do. What do you think of that?
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Friday, September 4, 2015

Eiken Application

My son brought back an Eiken application form his high school. He was thinking about what grade's test he should take. He tried to solve some sample questions and failed a lot. He decided to take Eiken grade 5 this time. I'm sure he won't study for the test because he is not interested in English at all. 
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Thursday, September 3, 2015

Chinese Military Parade

China held a huge military parade for, they said, 70th anniversary of victory over Japan. More than 30 countries attended the event, but major western countries did not come to the parade. 
The parade looked strictly organized. If I were the participant, I would die while practicing for the parade. 
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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Sano Withdraws Olympics Logo

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics logo has been criticized for plagiarism since it officially revealed in public.
At first, a Belgian designer pointed out the similarities between Sano's logo and a Belgian museum's logo that he had designed. Sano denied stealing aides from the logo. 
After that, Sano admitted that his company's employee plundered ideas from someone's works on an advertising campaign. In addition, he noticed that he used a copyrighted pictures for his presentation of Olympics logo without any permission from the author. 
He made a statement after announced the withdrawing that he didn't admit stealing ideas on Olympics logo, but he couldn't endure current situation on him and his family. 
Who is responsible for that? I think it never be decided who is. It's really shameful. 
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Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Yakuza War

The top yakuza group Yamaguchi-gumi has been split into two groups according to some news articles. I'm not familiar with that issue, but it might be dangerous for us too. 
That kind of conflict happened from 1985 to 1989, called Yama-Ichi War. At that time, 29 yakuzas were killed and 70 people including police and citizens were injured. Really dangerous. 
You should not go to dangerous areas, if you know, and hope ordinary people will be safe this time. 
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