My Son's Trip

My son came home from a week of table tennis trip. He went to Fukushima and Osaka. The National High School Table Tennis 

Team Championships was held in Fukushima. His school advanced to the top 16. He was not a regular player, though. A local high school table tennis tournament was held in Osaka. He could take part in the tournament.  

It was the first time he traveled such a long time. He looked tired, but it might be a good experience for him. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Murakami Magazine

I bought a magazine called Haruki Murakami English Magazine published by English Journal. The magazine is for English learners. You can see the difference between Japanese are English via Murakami's works.

The most interesting part of the magazine for me is the interview with Jay Rubin. He has translated some Murakami's novels. He talked about the difficulty of translation especially between English and Japanese. For example, he worked hard to translate into English Kaeru-san and Kaeru-kun. He finally decided to translate as Frog and Mr. Frog. 

If you are English learner and a fan of Murakami, the magazine might be worth to read. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Seven Hours Left

I've been listening to a Murakami's novel "1Q84" with Audible, an appropriation for audiobook. The story is 46 hours long and I have seven hours left. 

The story is far from reality. That is because the author doesn't like realistic story. Only "Norwegian Wood" was a realistic one.

I'm into the unusual story almost three weeks. But it'll end soon. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Migratory Politicians Party

The Democratic Party of Japan and Japan Innovation Party formed a new opposition party, the Minshin To. As the upper house election is approaching, the two parties took a survival way at last. 

Looking at the members of the new party, I can see lots of politicians who have been busy for traveling party to party, like migratory birds. They might think their next survival place for themselves even at the very first day. 

The new party should decide their concrete policy, and the policy should be for our country. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Protect Your Account

My VISA account was hacked again. I found out it after checking the account on the web. This was the second time someone used my account illegally. This time, the amount of money was 108,000 yen. What happened to my VISA account?

The previous time my account was hacked, VISA company sensed that there was something wrong in my account and canceled the illegal purchase before I knew it. But they couldn't find out this time. I have to report this incident to the company tomorrow morning. 

You have to be careful with your credit account. You can check it on the web. If you find something wrong with it, you have to report it to the company immediately. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Rio Goes to Rio

The Rio Watari, 24, has been selected to the women’s 75-kg division at this summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics. 

She was originally two categories under the class. After she failed to go to the Olympics at the 63-kg division, she decided to try 75-kg division. She had to gain 10 kg, so she had had five meals a day for six months. It might be tough, but she did it. 

She was born in Matsue, where I live, and named Rio by chance. At the time, of course, no one knew the Olympics would be held in Rio de Janeiro. Her name might lead her to Rio de Janeiro. That's for sure. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Reaches 50 Hours

I've been listening to audiobooks in English for fun since last November. My listening time reached almost 50 hours, but it never surpassed 50 hours. This month, I have reached 50 hours of listening. 

I usually listen to audiobooks in my car. Get into my car and my car seat turns into a listening theater. That is really nice.  

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Twitter Turns 10

Happy 10 years anniversary! Twitter started on March 22, 2006 with a tweet "just setting up my twttr” by the founder Jack Dorsey. Since then, the number of users have been increasing and 320 million people use the 140-character messaging service all over the world now. 

I like Twitter as a good communication tool. I joined the service five or six years ago. At first, I used Twitter for reading English tweets or news articles. I thought it was good for learning English. I didn't want to make friends or socialize with people. I only followed English speakers then. I never thought I would follow Japanese people at the time. 

Before I knew it, I've followed many Japanese who learns English. I enjoy socializing with these Twitter friends and learned a lot from them. They have encouraged me to studying English. Thanks, Twitter friends.   

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Terrorists Attacks in Brussels

Terrorists attacks in Europe happened again. This time, it occurred in Brussels, Belgium. Thirty four people have died and more than 200 people have injured by the attacks. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

Wars on religion have been happening thousands of years, and sadly it seems this kind of tragedies would be never-ending in the world. A Japanese Philadelphia Hajime Nakamura who studied religion especially Buddhism said that only Buddhism was able to be spread across the world without violence. Missions and violence are strongly tied. That is very sad, but that's the reality. We have to face the fact and seek at least a better solution. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Table Tennis Journey

My son will take part in a national high school table tennis tournament in Fukushima. After the event, he will move to Osaka for another table tennis tournament. The seven days journey would be so much fun for my son. 

I hope he will enjoy the events and perform well as much as he can. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Online Lesson

I took an online English lesson for the first time in over one year. I thought it would be good, but since I didn't speak English for a long time, my tongue was twisted so hard. My mind worked well, but my mouth worked terribly bad. 

My volunteer guide for English speakers will start soon. I have to practice more. At least I should read books aloud or do some shadowing. Otherwise, I'll have trouble while guiding in English. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Town Meeting

I went to a community meeting in my town. My community is a small one. Only 31 families in it. The community started 36 years ago and the members were young at the time. Now the average age might be around 75, I guess. I'm relatively new to this community, so I might be one of the youngest member. 

Since we have small members and many of them are old, it was hard to select the president of the community. After a long time discussion, we finally made it. Exhausted. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Can't Stop It

I enjoy listening to audiobooks recently. My listening time has reached 40 hours since the beginning of March. That means I listen audiobooks about two hours a day on average. I think it will reach over 50 hours this month, and that will be my record. 

While listening to novels with Audible, I've found many sentences that l want to memorize. I might stop the audiobook and jot down them, but I can't stop listening to the stories, so I easily forget about that. But I think that's okay. I just enjoy the stories with sound of English. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

868

This is my 868th blog posts in English. The number 868 has a kind of special meaning for some Japanese like me. The number means Sadaharu Oh's world record of baseball home runs. That doesn't relate to my tiny blog, though. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Duty for Guiding

I've been busy and tired these days. My duty for volunteer guiding in English is approaching, but I couldn't practice for it. I'm not sure I can do it well. 

I have only ten days left for the first duty. I think I should take some online English class and speak English a little. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Argentina Sinks Chinese Boat

Argentina cost guard sank a Chinese fishing vessel because the boat was illegally fishing in Argentina territorial waters and ignored warnings. 

The similar incident happened in Japan. At the time, Japan couldn't do nothing but let Chinese boat attacked Japanese coast guard vessel. 

Japanese government should study this case and should do the correct reaction to the similar situations. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Table Tennis Player Hirano Retires

Five-time national table tennis champion and the 2012 London  Olympics team silver medalist Sayaka Hirano will end her career in April. 

She is very popular among table tennis players and fans because she has full of fighting spirit. She made a lot of come-from-behind victories in the big tournaments. 

She took part in the world table tennis championships 14 times and two Olympic Games, but she couldn't join Japan's national team this year both world championships and Rio de Janeiro Olympics. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Little People

I've been listening to "1Q84" with audible. Thirteen hours have passed and now little people appeared in the story. The story is going into Murakami world. I really enjoy the world. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Studying Rubin's Translation

I went to a book store and bought a book about an English translation work. The original text was "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" written by Murakami Haruki and translated into English by Jay Rubin. Original Japanese, English version and some explanations of transportation in it. 

Jay Rubin is famous for studying Japanese and Murakami himself chosen him as a translator, so Rubin's work might be a good one. More over, he used simple English for the translation. 

Comparing with original and English, I've found lots of interesting and worthy things. For example, Rubin translated rather in detail. While original said simply took off his shoes, Rubin translated into English as unlaced his shoes. 

I don't represent NHK Publishing, but I recommend this book for English learners. It's useful for translation and writing English. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Senbatsu Koshien

As the Senbatsu High School Basketball Tournament starts soon, I found my son's friend on the newspaper. The newspaper introduced the local high school baseball team and he was on the list. He will take part in Senbatsu as a player. I rarely watch high school baseball, but I'll watch his game if I have a chance. 

Speaking of high school baseball, I don't really like it because they don't have limited pitch for pitchers. Many good pitchers might be destroyed their arms and shoulders by too much pitching at Koshien. I hope they will limit the number of pitch in the games. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Listening to 1Q84

I'm listening to another Murakami, "1Q84" in English with audiobook. 1Q84 is a long story. It takes over 46 hours to listen to, but I don't feel that long. 

I really like Murakami stories. In fact, I've read all of his novels. Listening to his novels in English is so much fun for me. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Someone Hacks My Account

I had a phone call from VISA. They asked me if I bought something cost 80,000 yen. I answered I didn't. Someone might hacked many VISA accounts and asked for the same amount of payment. 

The company said these hacked accounts including my account were protected immediately, but the accounts were still in danger. They said that I should change VISA account number as soon as possible. 

Be careful everyone. You should monitor your credit account carefully. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Gambling on Baseball Again

Japan's popular professional baseball team Yomiuri Giants announced another player, Takagi Kyosuke, was involved in gambling on NPB baseball games, while three players had expelled from the team for gambling last year. 

The president of Giants said that he was sorry for they could not find Takagi's illegal gambling through interview last year. But that's not the point. Gambling itself is the problem, especially on their field. 

Think of it. If a jockey bet on his own race? How about a sumo wrestler? If they bet on their profession, what do you think of it? That definitely shouldn't do.

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

 

Sharapova Positive for Doping

Maria Sharapova, a Grand Slam champion tennis player, announced that she was positive for illegal drug test at the Australian Open. 

She said she had been taken the drug for ten years because of her health problems. The World Anti-Doping Agency newly banned the drug, but she said that she didn't aware of that. 

Her explanation doesn't have much conviction. Her agency might know what drugs were banned. In addition, she has lived in the United States since she was 7 years old and the drug has never been approved in America. It's hard to believe that she has used the drug for treatment. Only Russian doctors use the drug. In fact, some Russian athletes had tested positive for the drug, too. It's natural that Sharapova used the drug for boosting her performance. 

She must have obeyed rules. Fairness is necessary for sports competition. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Finished "Kafka"

I finished English version of "Kafka on the Shore" with Audible. It took 19 hours, but I didn't feel that long. I wasn't bored at any moment while listening to the story.

One of the theme of the novel would be death, almost every novel has the topic though. "Death is not opposite of life, but a part of it". That really is. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

China Defeats Japan

Chinese men's and women's table tennis teams completely defeated Japan at the finals of the World Table Tennis Team Championships in Malaysia. China was too strong through the competition. No player could win over Chinese players. 

Japanese men's and women's teams both got the second place in this tournaments. Women's team has advanced to the final two times in a row. On the other hand, men's advanced to the final for the first time in 39 years. They performed well, but China was far more stronger than any other countries. 

How many years would be needed to defeat Chinese table tennis team? It seems impossible for now, but I believe Japan would be the first one to do that.

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Hayabusa and Pro-wrestling Accidents

A former popular pro-wrestler Hayabusa died at age of 47. He was too young to die. He didn't perform on the mat since 2001 because he got heavy injury when he was fighting in FMW ring. He fell down from the top of the rope bending his neck in the right angle. It was terrible accident. 

I really liked watching pro-wrestling, but I rarely watch their performances after the accident. Recent pro-wrestlers' are fighting too much danger in order to make audience excited. I like old-fashioned performance. I could enjoy watching ancient pro-wrestling matches. 

 More dangerous performance is "amateur" pro-wrestling. That's weird amateurs fighting like pro-wrestlers, but you can see that kind of performance everywhere in Japan. I don't like these pre-like performance. Even real pro-wrestlers often get injured, so something serious accident will happen in the future.

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

The 2016 Presidential Campaign

The 2016 Presidential campaign is going on in the United States. American Presidents have been chosen by votes every four years since 1789. There is no exception even in war time. And there is no dictator appeared in its long democratic history. I really admire the facts. 

Donald Trump is stirring the Republican presidential campaign and he might be selected for running candidate in recent views. His policies are somehow controversial, but still he has the chance to become the President of the United States. American citizens have the right to select their next leader. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

 

Writing

I bought an English writing reference book. The book describes proper English sentences and structured writing. It may help my English writing. 

The book shows bad examples that English learners often make. These also indicate my mistakes. The author recommended to search correct sentences on the web. I should do it in order to make a proper English sentence.

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Studying English?

 I decided to study for Eiken 1st grade one year ago. I bought some text books then, but I rarely opened them through the year. I just didn't feel studying English for tests. Time is limited, so I did what I wanted to do. 

I listened to radio and read books in English instead. I simply enjoyed doing these activities. Since last December, I began to listen to audiobooks with Audible. That was really fun. 

I guess I should learn more and more now English words. Lack of vocabulary is the problem for me. I know reading and listening English is not the solution for the problem. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村

Unstoppable Story

I listened to an audiobook in English for two and a half hours today. I couldn't stop listening to the story. The novel was "Kafka on the Shore" written by a Japanese writer Murakami Haruki. 

The story was unstoppable. I finished a half of the book now. Interesting characters appeared in the story, like Nakata-san and Jhonney Walker. The story has just begun to move faster and faster. I read the novel before, but I almost forgot about the remarkable story. I really recommend it. I think audiobook version would be good for the novel. 

Click to vote →
                        にほんブログ村