Reunion

I'll take part in a table tennis team taurnament on Sunday. My team members are all my old friends. They will come from Yamaguchi, Kyoto and this prefecture, Shimane. 

After the games, we are going to have a party with our old teachers like a class reunion. Every year, we enjoy the annual event. 

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Autograph of Olympic Player

I went to new Matsue City Gymnasium to see my friends. A local table tennis tournament was held there. I had to work a little, so I couldn't join the games. 

I got there before noon and I found a Japanese female table tennis player, Kasumi Ishikawa, seating in the audience. She is four-times Japan's champion and won the team silver medal in the London Olympic Games. She is my friend's daughter and came here with her father. Luckily, I could get her autograph for my son. He's a big fan of her. 

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My American Friend

My American friend and I talked to each other on Skype in this morning. We met on a language exchange site and became friends 13 months ago. We've been busy recently, so it was the first time in a month we talked online. Other than that, we've been chatting almost every Sunday. It's not only good for studying, but also a precious time for me. I learn lots of things from him.

He lives in Florida and has studied Japanese  by himself for several years. He kindly teaches English to me and his attitude toward studying Japanese has inspired me a lot.

I hope we can visit each others countries and drink beer together.

The Last Song

Next Friday, I'm going to go to see a performance with Kyoko Koizumi, aka Kyon-Kyon, and a singer Mariko Hamada. I like both of them so much. The title is "The Last Song". Kyon-Kyon will read essays written by Mitsuhiko Kuse and Mariko Hamada will sing many songs which reflect the era of the songs. They have been performed the show for a long tome together but this is the first time they perform in my city which Mariko lives in.

Mariko and Kyon-Kyon are old friends. And I have a friend of Mariko. That means Kyon-Kyon is a friend of a friend of a friend of mine. Yey!

A Friend in Canada

I had a free time around noon today. I was bored so I tweeted if anyone want to talk with me on Skype. An Indian Twitter friend kindly offered to me to talk with.

He was born in India and graduated from university in Singapore. After that he moved to Canada where his parents and brother live in. He works there as a computer programmer.

He speaks Japanese really well. He said the only thing he did for learning Japanese was watching animation with English subtitles. Three years of watching anime made him a fluent Japanese speaker.

He spoke to me in Japanese and I spoke in English on Skype. It was strange feeling but was really fun.

All Japan Table Tennis Championship

Kasumi Ishikawa, London Olympic Games silver medalist, won the All Japan Table Tennis Championship this year. It was her second victory for the tournament. 

I'm reall glad her title because her father is my friend. When we are high school students 

I sometime stayed overnight his home and played mar gang. Off course we played table tennis too. We even played table tennis this New Year's Day, exactly January first.

Anyway, I really hope she gets a medal in Rio de Janeiro Olympics again.

Greeting Cards from Russia

My Russian friend sent me some greeting cards and arrived here today. There are Christmas card and New Year's card. They are beautiful picture cards printed in Russian and she translated in English and Japanese for me. She learn both English and Japanese and works for Japanese center in her city. She wrote beautiful Japanese.

I also sent her a New Year's card and she got it today. What a coincidence!

A Funeral

I had to say farewell to a good guy today. A friend of mine from college passed away. I went to his funeral. It was too early to go to the other world. He was three years younger than me.

He was a good husband and father of two daughters. He was good table tennis player and coach. He was a good teacher and vice principal in his high school. We lost him so much. He did everything he could.

May he rest in peace.

I Stayed My English Coach's House

I stayed overnight at my English pronunciation coach's house with my English learning friend. My coach lives in the US and came back to his hometown Hiroshima for vacation now. He and his family ware welcome us very kindly.

His parents' house locates at hilly place where you can see beautiful view of the Inland Sea and lots of small islands. 

We spend a wonderful time together.