Chinese Fishing Boats Invade

Over 200 Chinese fishing boats have invaded Japan's EEZ to steal coral illegally. I watched some videos on TV about the incidents. There were many rusty iron boats searching and stealing valuable red coral. 

How many miles do they travel for the coral? I don't know they can get enough money for the fishing. 

Japan's coast guard's vessels are too busy to arrest them or make them away from the area. 

I think they come to the area not only for stealing coral but also for the will of Chinese authorities' to annoy Japanese government. Japanese government should enlarge the number of coast guards for protect Japan's sea areas. 

Congratulations, Hawks!

Fukuoka Hawks won the baseball Nippon Series against Tigers. Congratulations, the players, fans and of course head coach Mr. Akiyama!

Speaking of the Hawks, I sometimes went to see baseball games of the Hawks when I was a college student. I didn't go to Fukuoka Dome, but Osaka stadium. Yes, I watched Nankai Hawks' games at Osaka stadium. 

I was not a fan of Nankai Hawks at that time. I just wanted to kill the time. When the bottom of the fifth inning finished, we could watch the rest of the game for free. So, I never bought any tickets for the games. 

There were hundreds of people, literally some hundreds, including kissing couples watching the games. I could hear drunk fans shouting some indecent words. It was a nice memorie for me. 

Pronunciation

I'm making word cards for expanding my English vocabulary. While I make the cards, I check phonetic symbols. I'm so disappointed that I have memorized a lot of wrong pronunciation before. I need to be more carefully when I try to memorize new words otherwise no one can understand what I'm trying to say. 

Word Cards

I've decided to make word cards for extending my English vocabulary. It's not an easy work to make them, and of course hard to memorize them. I hate my poor ability to memorize new words, but I have to over come it. 

This way of vocabulary building is a very traditional way. Many learners recently use PC or some of other IT devices for memorizing new words, but I believe using paper cards is still an efficient method of that. 

Score Card

My TOEIC score card has arrived. It says I've improved grammatical knowledge a little and my level of grammer became obove the average for the first time. I've been studying English sentence structures and it works well. 

I got 840 this time, and I'll try to get over 900 next time. I need more practice indeed. 

Miyajima

I went to a world heritage site, Miyajima in Hiroshima. This was the first time I visit ther. I supposed to be there for school trip when I was in elementary school, but I wasn't able to go there because I had a high fever. It was one of my sad memories. 

There I studied guiding for foreigners with a volunteer group I join in. The teacher was a professional tour guide. I had a great day today. 

Go to Miyajima

I'm going to go to Hiroshima with volunteer guide members tomorrow. We will take part in the Miyajima tour with English guide. We can learn how to guide in English there. 

After that we will visit Hirishima Atomic Bomb Dorm. I've been there several times before. I feel really sorry for these victims. The atomic bomb attack was definitely against humanity. I just feel angry when I think about the tragedy. 

War Dogs

War dogs became famous when they succeeded in finding Saddam Hussain of Iraq in 2003 and the Osama bin Laden mission in 2011. 

They play an integral role for U.S. military operations overseas. They can protect soldiers, search dangerous things, attack enemies and so on. 

Their breeds are mostly German Shepards and Belgian Malinois because these breeds are highly intelligent. 

And they also play another important role. They heal soldiers' mental feelings especially in the battle fields. The soldiers can release their tension when they touch these military dogs. 

But like many soldiers, some of war dogs develop PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Unlike U.S. soldiers, dogs are not volunteers. Only human beings can make them working in the military fields. Thinking of that I feel sorry for these dogs. Are they happy working with human in that conditions? I'm not sure. 

Ebola Infection

The Ebola virus causes serious desease. Scientists first found the virus in 1976 in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Although the virus has been recolonized for more than 35 years, no efficient vaccine or drugs were invented. That was because the desease has been occered in a limited area, so pharmaceutical companies though they could not get enough profits from the vaccine or drugs. 

But now, the situation has been changed. The virus is traveling to many countries now. It's obvious the desease would be found in Japan sooner or later. 

I believe scientists and pharmaceutical companies have the potential to invent anti virus production. They need to accelerate that development for helping people. 

Indonesian New President

Mr. Jokowi has taken over the office in Indonesia, the world largest Muslim community, on October 20th. 

Just a decade ago, he was only a successful furniture company owner and besides he was raised in a poor family. In 2005 he became a mayor of Solo and then governor of Indonesian capital, Jacarta. 

He governed these regions so well and became a popular politician in the Muslim country despite he is a Christian. Unlike former presidents, he is not from political elite family, so lots of Indonesian people thought he could change the country to the good direction. 

There would be many controversial issues to solve in the largest democratic Muslim country. I hope his governing goes well and be safe from anti government extremists. 

Minister Obuchi Quits

Japan's Economy, Trade and Industrial Minister Yuko Obuchi has stepped down over her financial scandal. She provided some tours for her supporters and it might be against the law. In addition, she might spend political money for her own family. For example, she bought her child's baby buggy using her political fund and spend the money at her relatives' shop so often. 

I think she is guilty of Political fund control law, but like many other cases she would escape from the prosecution at the end. Some of her secretaries or supporting stuff might get punishment instead of the former minister. That's the way it is with ruling party. 

TOEIC Score

I've got a 840 point from TOEIC test in September. I'm really glad to get over 800 score this time. I want to get 900 within a year. 

The Tigers Goes to The Final

The Hanshin Tigers won the climax series against the Tokyo Giants and they are going to the Japan Series for the first time since 2005. The Tigers finished regular season at 2nd place behind the Giants, but upset the regular season winner. 

Some of The Tigers fans are enthusiastic or rather crazy. They have a habit to dive into the Dotonbori river form when the team won a historical game. Or even the Colonel Sanders statue of KFC was forced to dive into the river in 1985.  

Two teams finished the second and the third place at the regular season won the climax series since it had started and the two teams also won the Japan series. Will the Tigers win the series like these two teams? 

Ebola Pandemic

Ebola virus desease is spreading many places. According to the World Health Organization, the number of deaths from Ebola has hit over 4,500 now. 

Political and religious conflicts are everywhere in the world but aside from that we have to cooperate with each other for solving this problem. 

Pay Attention More

I have to be more careful when I read English articles. Even an article can make different meanings. Remember, don't hurry. 

I didn't use the dictionary before, but now I'm trying to use it when I have time. I even checked 30 times in a page. I should have used it more often, but it's not to late. 

Without You, There Is No Us

I listened to the Diane Lehm Show this morning. One of the guests was a Korean-born American writer Suki Kim. She was born in South Korea and moved to the U.S. when she was 13. She published a book about North Korea where she stayed for six months in 2011 as an English teacher.

She taught English at a missionary school. The staff there were missionaries, but they never mention Christianity openly. They even had to say J for Jesus, M for Minister. In addition, the students were watching each other so no one can talk about Christianity and even their leaders, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. But they sang songs to honor the Kim families. One of the songs was titled "Without You, There Is No Us."

They didn't know what the Internet was even they learned computer science. They only asked questions to the author like what is your favorite color or what is your hobby. She said they were so pure. 

She came back to the U.S. and when she was about to publish the book, some North Korean authority asked her to stop publishing. She said "No."

I'm really interested in such a mysterious totalitarian country and their life. 

Victims of ISIS

A VOA reporter interviewed with several survivors escaped form kidnapping by ISIS soldiers. They said, ISIS have abducted many young people including children and young girls. They are not only forced to be soldiers but also become sexual victims. Some young girls have been sold as sexual salves and others are forced to get married with ISIS soldiers or others. 

Whenever political or religious conflict occurred, children and women are facing severe circumstances. I understand there would be complicated issues, but we need to save these people first. 

First Sight Project

According to TIME, India has an estimated 12 million blind people in its nation. Some of them are suffering congenital cataracts. Their lens of the eye is clouded from the moment of birth. 

The patients need an operation to open their eyes. It takes 15 minutes and costs $300. But because of their poverty, most patients couldn't get a surgical operation.

An American NGO group is trying to help these blind people. The project called First Sight makes their lives literally brighter. 

Eiken Reviews

I can see lots of Eiken reviews on my Twitter timeline. There are many useful tips for me. They said vocabulary section in the reading part is getting harder recently. I think world book can help me to develop only limited vocabulary, so I need to read lots of articles and stories. Checking new words in the dictionaries is also needed. 

To examine new words, I ordered an English-Japanese dictionary for the first time after graduate from college. 

Keep Good Habits

Memorizing new English words is not so much fun, but I'm trying to do that everyday. Through this practice, I've encountered many words that I recently memorized from word book. Vocabulary makes reading easily. That's for sure. 

Word Book

I bought an English word book for my son. My son is a middle school student and he isn't good at English. He is going to take a high school entrance exam next year. He doesn't have much time to prepare for the exam but he doesn't care much about that. 

I told him to memorize about 400 essential words. If he remembers these words, he would get 50 points in the English test. I really want him to be serious for the exam. 

Happiest Childhood Memory

What is your happiest childhood memorie?

My happiest childhood memorie is a family trip to Hiroshima when I was in the sixth gread at elementary school. That was a special travel for me. 

It was not only the first family trip for my money but also the last one for my family.

Shortly before the trip, I was supposed to go to Hiroshima for school trip, but I couldn't. That was because I had a high fever at that time, so the doctor didn't allow me to go to the trip. I was really disappointed. My parents felt sorry for the absence, so they gave me a family travel to Hiroshima instead. 

Before the travel, our family went trip several times, but since I was little I wasn't able to remember anything about the events. The travel to Hiroshima was a special memory for me. 

Kohei Uchimura

Kihei Uchimura won The 2014 World Artistic Gymnastics men's individual-all-around six times in a row including the Olympics victory. He has not only astonishing gymnastic skills but also has strong mental power. Although he didn't satisfy himself, his performances today were so beautiful and steady. I think no one could surpass him before his retirement. 

Nobel Prize

Two Japanese and a Japanese-born American won the Nobel Physics Prize. They invented the blue LED lamp, which nobody couldn't create it for a long time. 

LED lights are environmentally friendly products because the ramps use only a little electricity and last for a long time. 

Their work has transformed into many devices which enhance our lives. 

I'm really proud of them and I hope many Japanese researchers follow these Nobel Prize winner. 

A Typhoon Has Gone

A big typhoon has passed and the next one, Vongfong, is approaching. These series of typhoons might cause floods and landslides. I hope people live in the dangerous area should be careful and be sure to protect themselves from danger. 

Vocabulary Building

I feel uncomfortable to my poor vocabulary in English. I thought only I had to do was to guess the meanings when I met unfamiliar words. I didn't have any problems at first, but now I understand how important vocabulary building is. Because of lack of vocabulary, I can't understand exact information in English articles and books so often. 

To expand my vocabulary, I'll use knowledge of roots, prefixes and suffixes. It a never ending journey but I believe it worth to do. 

I Might Have a Problem

The administration ticket for Eiken hasn't come yet. I think I forgot to apply Eiken, maybe, possibly, definitely. I checked the website, but I couldn't find my name or ID. 

Ok. I'll take the test next time on January. I'll never forget to apply any English test. Sigh. 

Tea and Sweets

Today, I'll tell you about tea in my city. I live in Matsue, Shimane prefecture. Matsue is not a good place to cultivate tea trees, but we drink a lot of green tea. In fact, we consume the second largest amount of green tea next to Shizuoka. 

We usually drink green tea at 10 am and 3 pm. At the tea time, we have not only sweets but also have pickles and nishime, boiled veritable dishes with tea. 

Many families drink maccha green tea casually. We usually drink matcha without tea ceremony form. 

Since we drink a lot of green tea, there are many good Japanese sweets shop here. According to a survey, we spend the largest amount of money among all over Japan on wagashi, Japanese sweets. Of course the sweets here are so nice. Why don't you come here to have delicious sweets and tea?

Nine Days To Go

I'll take Eiken for the first time next Sunday. I've solved a workbook for preparing for the test. It was harder than I'd thought before. Of course there are many problems, but lack of vocabulary is the biggest problem for me. It takes a lot of time to get enough vocabulary for the test, but I'll do my best until the day of the test. 

Good Result

I had an ear examination by CT today because I felt awkward on my left ear. I was worried about the result, but I got a good news that there was no sign of the recurrence of the illness. 

According to some articles, the illness that I had an operation eight years ago often causes a recurrence. I'm a quite lucky person. 

Japan Won the Silver

Japanese women's table tennis team was defeated by China at Asian Games in Incheon, Korea. 

Ai Fukuhara upset world No. 2 player at the first match, but after that Japan lost three matches. Japanese team was not able to win the final, but they played quite well. I believe they will win against Chinese team in the near future.