December 31, 2005
I guess most Japanese people have already finished preparing to celebrate the new year.
December 30, 2005
In Japan, we prepare to celebrate the new year at this time of the year.
We pounded rice cake, mochi, today in order to decorate as a festive decoration and to eat on the new year's holidays of course.
The following picture is the one that my mother and my brother were pounding mochi. After that, I pounded one more mochi.
December 29, 2005
It's the first off day of my winter holidays. I saw the video, which is recorded the concert held in 1977, on DVD.
The DVD title is "Rainbow - LIVE IN MUNICH 1977".
I was really impressed by their great playing. Really excellent !!!
They used to play in the motif of classical music - such as Chaikovski, Bach, and Beethoven.
And the period when the DVD was recorded is called "the triarchy period by Richie, Cozy, and Ronnie".
Richie Blackmore, who was exactly one of the greatest guitarist in hard rock scene just in my opinion, was playing the guitar in euphoria.
Cozy Powell, the deceased, who was called "The greatest drummer in history", was playing energetically and powerfully. Especially, his drum solo was really terrific ! It's the most wonderful drum solo I've ever seen. I actually don't want to believe his death. I'm really so sad to lose a great drummer like him.
Ronnie James Dio, who is still an active heavy rock musician as a vocalist of his band "DIO", was singing with all his heart and soul. His singing style is soulful like Japanese enka singers. Enka songs are traditional Japanese ballad songs. I've attended his band's concert in Japan this June.
Thanks for your great playing. I'll see the DVD one more time !
December 28, 2005
We are finished with all of our this year's work. I was really on edge today. Because the manufacturing line of our factory doesn't work well nowadays. I hoped it wouldn't have any serious problems on the last day. :-)
The wish came true. It did good job ! Thanks a lot ! We was able to finish the last day's work comfortably thanks to the good job of it.
We have 7 days off for our winter holidays ! I'm going to prepare to get the new year started and study English a lot, of course... Maybe ? :-p
I'd like to take my family to ski slopes several times the next year.
December 27, 2005
I'm still pretty busy at work. My brother and I made a prediction of whether our amount of production is enough or not. We have just guessed that our customer's orders would be ahead of our supply. We may have to work more hard... But we discussed our lives... We have been working so hard recently. It means breaking down our health to work more hard. We need to take a rest. So we have just decided not to push ourselves. I suppose most Japanese workers work too hard. For us, health is much more important than money.
December 26, 2005
I'm feeling worse. My cold might get worse....
Just in case, I took some medicines for my cold. The medicines sometimes are called alcohol. :-)
In Japan, we say at times that sake is the chief of all medicine.
And I decided to go to bed earlier than usual. I'm not able to access the Internet any more.
Sorry... Good night.
December 25, 2005
I went bowling with my family this morning. I suppose it's the best way to play inside - such as playing bowls, when it's cold like the recent weather in Japan.
I've heard that the bowling alleys in my city are the cheapest in Japan before.
I'm not exactly so good at bowling. The highest bowling store I've got before is around 180. My best score was 130 today....(ToT)
After that, we went to a cheap belt-conveyor sushi restaurant for lunch. I had 14 dishes. It sounds eating too much, doesn't it ? :-p
Then I visited to the glasses shop ,which one of my ex-classmates works for, in order to get my new glasses. The glasses are bifocals as I've posted on this blog before. I can look at everything well, especially nearby objects ! On the other hand, I realized my aging. I'm really so sad....
December 24, 2005
One of my uncles became 90 years old today. He lives alone because he don't have any children and his wife already died a long time ago. After her death, we suggest living with us to him. But he didn't. He wanted to stay single at his house and to do everything himself - such as doing the laundry, preparing the bath, and making meals. So he can still manage almost all things of housework, though he's 90 years old. That's amazing, right ? I suppose doing everything yourselves is the best way not to age.
And now, it's also Christmas Eve today. My eldest son believes Santa Claus is really coming tonight, though he is already 12 years old. :-)
When I was his age, I knew the fact that Santa Claus is an imaginary person. He's funny, isn't he ?
By the way, I challenged to take some higher level English lessons this morning. They were much more difficult than the ones I usually take. I still feel a comfortable headache. :-) After that I understood why I'm still a beginner of English. I know I have to practice it a lot more. But I don't have enough time to do that. But there's no hurry on improving my English skill. Of course I really want to improve it as soon as possible but I hate to work too hard at practicing it. I just want to study it slowly in my life since it's a kind of my hobby. I may be self-indulgent. :-p
December 23, 2005
I wrote new year greeting cards sent my friend, my relatives, and our customers today. No, no... I didn't write them. I made the original on my PC and only printed them. I've never written them recently. (^^;
My printer is really old one. There were some terrible problems when I was printing them today. It didn't work well first. So the result looked funny, especially color printing. I guess the cause is that it was cold for real even in doors. The printer didn't want to work as such a condition like me. :-p
By the way, I ran short of the cards to print after the trouble. I rushed into my uncle's shop in order to buy some postcards so that I print them as soon as possible since I wanted to finish printing them by the end of the day.
December 22, 2005
I still have a cold. But I'm feeling better than I felt yesterday.
I had a terrible trouble in my factory. My brother and I tried to repair ourselves without calling the makers. Because we hate to spend the cost and the times.
The problem was resolved in two hours. We was able to cut down the cost, however we got greasy hands. I really want Japanese government employees to have such a experience. :-p They have to cut the cost down, right ?
December 21, 2005
I feel much better now. I bet I make a full recovery from my cold tomorrow after I thought of my experience. I will get better whenever I'm able to drink a lot even if I have a cold.
I had one a canned beer and about 300 cc of Japanese sake as my evening drink today. Even if it was the half of usual amount, they tasted great to me. I will be able to work so hard tomorrow !
December 20, 2005
I have a cold now as I have already posted. So I wasn't able to work so hard because of having a cold. I expected an employee, who works at our factory, to work harder than usual instead of me. But he didn't work as hard as I expected. I have just decided to cut his winter bonus and to fire him soon if he still doesn't follow my instruction from now on. :-(
By the way, I'm truly envious of Japanese government workers, especially members of the Diet, because they can get their bonuses even if they face a budget deficit, right ?
December 19, 2005
I think I caught a cold due to the recent cold weather. It's really cold when I work outside of our factory. Of course I put on warm clothes but they don't work well in such a condition.
I have a runny nose.... It will become icicles some time. ha-ha.
Anyway, I will continue to post my English diary even when I have a cold. However, my brain doesn't work well. I bet I will make lots of mistakes in my English. :-)
December 18, 2005
I have felt my eyesight is failing since a few months ago. So I decided to buy new glasses this morning.
Actually, one of my ex-classmates has a glasses shop at my hometown. I went to his shop in order to buy new ones.
He said, "You have old sight a little."
I was so shocked. I'm still 42 years old ! Old sight ? What does he mean ?
But in addition, he said, "Most of my ex-classmates come here to buy new glasses these days due to old sight."
They do ?? Not only me ?? I can't complain.... I was relieved a little after I heard that. However, I felt that I truly got old.
Anyway, I ordered bifocals which there are no boundaries.
By the way, I got a discount of 6000 yen thanks to him. :-)
P.S.
old sight is presbyopia, right ?
December 17, 2005
I went to my daughter's kindergarten today in order to see the school play she and her classmates acted. Should I say kindergarten play ?
My daughter challenged to act a mother who was doing the laundry. It looked very cute to me. But I wasn't able to see her act well because I had to take some videos of her act by my wife's order. In Japan, many fathers take videos or photos of their children on every events. But in my opinion, it's more important to keep looking at them than taking any pictures. They would stay in our memory forever, right ?
December 16, 2005
I expected to go on a trip to the north of Hyogo prefecture in order to have lots of crabs this weekend. But I wasn't able to go there due to the recent heavy snowfall there. The organizer of the trip sent me an e-mail about the abort the day before yesterday.
I was really so sad to hear that we couldn't have the huge amount of delicious crabs. However, I had a lot of freshwater crabs, which live in freshwater such as rivers and ponds, instead of having crabs. They are tasty but not as delicious as expected. I miss crabs....
December 15, 2005
There was a phone call from a woman to our factory. The woman is the accountant's wife who we offer our accounting. He declares for our taxes every year in place of us. According to his wife, he lost his memory after he fell down at the poolside of the indoor swimming pool which is near their house. And she told me he didn't have any serious problems except the loss of memory. I was so relieved to hear that he could carry on his normal life.
Anyway, we are in trouble.... We have to find another accountant immediately.
December 14, 2005
I've decided to buy tire chains in order to go to a snowy district this weekend.
The area is close to Kinosaki hot spring in Hyogo prefecture along the Sea of Japan. It will be really cold, I guess.
I'm going to have a lot of crabs there this weekend with my family, my ex-coworkers, and their family. I sometimes have events like this with my ex-coworkers after I quit my previous job.
We usually go there at this time of every year. We've never used tire chains before when visiting there. But according to today's forecast, it's colder than average year in Japan. So I'm buying them just in case. I hope I won't have any opportunities to use them at that time. I'm not used to driving on snowy roads.
By the way, I'll post the dairy written about this trip later with some delicious-looking pictures. :-)
December 13, 2005
I tryed to upload my English diary on this space(blogger.com) and check the spelling by the spelling checker offered by the blogger.com. But the verb "google", means searching information on the Google site, is notified as a spelling error by it. Why is that ? The blogger.com are managed by the Google, right ? I know the verb "google" is a new word. But they should add the word as a correct English word into their dictionary in my opinion. :-)
What do you think about it ?
December 12, 2005
Today, December 12th, is our 13th wedding anniversary ! We didn't do any special things tonight. But I came home with some short cakes. Today's dinner was yosenabe - I think it called "Japanese chowder" in English.
I remember that day... The reception started at 12 o'clock sharp on December(12) 12th, 1993. And the flight number of the airplane which we boarded for our honeymoon to Australia was 777. Yes ! 12-12-12 and 7-7-7 !!! ha-ha. Of course, the occasions happened by chance. :-)
Now, we have 3 kids. I hope to spend time with my family peacefully as long as possible.
December 11, 2005
My children and I went to my neighboring junior high school, which my eldest son is going to attend next year, to see an event. The purpose of the event is having a relationship in the district we live. So many organizations opened some free shops and cheap shops to sell something to eat or drink. There also are some shops to teach interesting culture. For example, magic, how to play the game of go(Japanese traditional game) and how to train for being firemen.
My wife helped the event as a volunteer staff. So I had to take all my children to the event. I was really exhausted after the event. Because I've been very busy on both business and private since 2 weeks ago. I expect much not to be busy like last week. I will not be probably so busy at work. :-p
December 10, 2005
There was an interesting event at the kindergarten my daughter attend. That was the pounding mochi(rice cake) event. There were no enough members who help (to) make mochi, especially no enough powerful men. So I had to join the event. Yeah ! I'm a factory worker, you know. I have the enough power to pound mochi well. :-)
By the way, I invited my Australian friend to the event. At first, he seemed not to want to pound mochi. But some pretty kindergarten students asked him to try it. After that, he decided to do it. I think most of the children had a good time thanks to his help.
Actually.... I got tired a lot today. I'm tired at my work nowadays. And I tried to speak English during the day. At the kindergarten and some English lessons. But they are truly good exercises for my tough brain. I want to try to speak English even if I'm tired. :-)
December 9, 2005
I went to an English school today, which I always attend on every Saturday morning, in order to change my brain into the English mode. :-)
I'll have an Australian guest tomorrow. So I have to do it.
I joined some lessons which we can talk each other freely about any topics. There were several students in the room. One of them, who looks much older than me, is very good at speaking English. Of course he's Japanese but he seems like a native English speaker for the other students and me. He is truly a high level student ! I was so surprise at his talking. I couldn't catch some words of what he said in English. I was confused a little. But it sounded informative and exciting for me. I got the urge to be an English speaker like him.
December 8, 2005
There are many posts about the recent occasions of my job these days. Is that boring ? :-)
A machine in my factory has broken today. I bet we have used the manufacturing line too much. It's "overload", right ?
I get up earlier than usual in order to repair it tomorrow morning. (ToT)
But I'm going to have some amusing events this weekend. I'll post about them on the day.
December 7, 2005
I really want to hire a new employee because the current employees don't work well. So my brother and I often feel stressed so much at our factory. If nothing is done, either will get injured seriously. I cannot have torn my fingernail off if we have a excellent employee. :-p
December 6, 2005
I'm still extremely busy nowadays. I don't have enough time to access the Internet.
I won't work overtime for so long tomorrow so that I have my spare time many more.
By the way, I wrote my diary yesterday that I have to be careful myself not to get injured at the factory. But I wasn't able to do that. I was annoyed so much yesterday. So I torn my fingernail off a little !
Ouch ! (ToT)
However, it looks like a scratch for me. :-) There are so many wounds on my hands. I'm going to work so hard tomorrow, too !
December 5, 2005
I hate any calls from salesmen. How about you ? I had a lot of calls from them today. I'm so busy these days at our factory. There is nothing more annoying than such calls when I'm busy at work. However I'm annoying, I have to be careful myself not to get injured at the factory.
December 4, 2005
I have to hard so hard in winter and the winter air is so dry. So my hands have a lot of oil spots and rough skins but I can never take them out however I wash my hands many times. I can't complain about that because I'm a factory worker smeared with oil slick.
That's called "labor's hands", right ? :-)
December 3, 2005
One of my friends on the Internet who lives in Cebu Philippine is going to get married to a Filipina. They have to get a marriage license according to his blog.
What's a marriage license ? I've never heard that before. There are no such licenses in Japan. So I've just googled what it means. The origin is a law of the States, right ? That seems interesting for us. In Japan, there is a family registration of each family, which is called "Koseki" in Japanese. All we need to do is to enter in our family registration when we get married instead of getting a marriage license.
December 2, 2005
We shipped a large amount of our products today. The amount is 10 tons ! We usually manufacture 4 tons of products(recycled chemical fiber) a day. We guess we can't respond to the expectations of the orders from our customer if nothing is done.
We fortunately have tons of materials to manufacture these days. So we can increase the production easily if we hire new employees. But the personnel cost is really high in Japan, you know. I wonder what I can do instead of hiring.
December 1, 2005
There are many spam comments on my English blog. They are not fun, of course. :-(
But, they sort of look informative for me. Because most of them are proper English !
I can study for free ! Thanks spam ! :-p
I came up with the idea of this article after I posted a comment on the later article yesterday.
I'm sort of drunk, he-he.
November 30, 2005
There are some tatami rooms for guests in Japanese traditional style house.
In my house, there are 3 tatami rooms as the following picture.
When we have many guests, we took away all fusuma doors. After that, one big room emerge.
These days we hold funerals, Buddhist memorial services and big private parties there. Japanese people also used to hold their wedding ceremonies there in the old days.
November 29, 2005
We got orders from a company, which is in Aichi prefecture Japan, yesterday. The company was sort of a potential customer until now. We have done several sales activities to get a new customer. We did it !!!
On the other hand, there are too many problems caused by asbestos in Japan. Asbestos is included in most slates. Another potential customer has had a plan to make slates without using asbestos. Yes ! The potential customer has had a plan to make slates with using our product(recycled chemical fiber) instead of asbestos ! I hope the plan is determined to implement, of course. :-)
November 28, 2005
I forgot to explain the harquebus at home to my American friend who visited my house the other day. The harquebus is really very old and looks like a rifle gun. I guess it made in the Edo period. I've heard that it was been hiding by my grandfather during World War 2. There weren't enough metal resources in Japan at that time, so Japanese government gathered everything made of metal. That's the reason my grandfather decided to hide it. :-)
There are also some spears with it in my house.
By the way, the verb "explain" isn't used at SVOO sentence patterns. Also, the verb "suggest", too. I didn't know that. I have to study a lot more about verbs....(ToT)
November 27, 2005
I got the urge to become a host family after my American friend visited our family the other day.
The situation was a good opportunity for me to introduce Japanese culture to foreigners. So I can practice my English for free and they can learn Japanese for free, of course.
It sounds give-and-take, right ? :-)
And my children can have lots of opportunities to come into contact with a different culture.
By the way, my nephew and niece came to my house to play with their cousins - my children. Toooooooo noisy ! But if there's no sound children playing, we will have to feel lonely. I don't have any ideas other than being patient. :-p
November 23, 2005
My American friend and I went to an international exchange event. There was a nice activity. It was "Try to make takoyaki". "Takoyaki" is a Japanese snack.
See also this article about takoyaki.
My Australian friend invited me to join the event. He joined the event with his friends, who have been studying Japanese in Japan. There is a international exchanges place at rinku town, where is close to Kansai international airport.
The event was held there. I met a lot of nice guys and had a chat. That was really fan !
After that, my American friend came to my house to see my Japanese traditional style house. He is very interested in Japanese culture. I tried to explain the detail of my house to him. But my English skill is still bad... I couldn't explain well. I have to apologize to him.
Anyway, we served him oden and raw fish for dinner at home and went out for a drink. He tried to sing some English and Japanese songs at a karaoke bar. :-)
November 22, 2005
Let me introduce "Ramma" today. :-)
Ramma is the carvings of Japanese style room. It's made of natural woods and made by traditional workmen in many cases.
The purposes of ramma are ventilation and daylighting. The room which has rammas become elegant.
November 21, 2005
Do you know Butsudan ? It means "Buddhist altar" in Japanese.
A butsudan is in Buddhists's homes to honor both their ancestors and the deceased recently. Generally, they get and put it in the homes when someone of their family died first.
The Buddhist priest gives a name to the deceased each time someone dies. The name is written on an tablet(ihai in Japanese) - a kind of name plates and the tablet is placed on the butsudan. We often offer rice, tea and flowers on it and pray for the repose of souls.
November 20, 2005
I went to the elementary school which my sons attend in order to see show-and-tell this morning.
My 3rd son pronounced a lot in the Japanese way and sang some good songs. The songs are "It's a small world" and "Humans are great". I was so impressed when listened to the songs. The lyrics hit me in my mind.
I wanted to see my eldest son's one, but I wasn't able to do it. Because I had to visit my relative's house to attend a Buddhist memorial service. I think I'll have to attend them a lot from this because my parents have so many brothers and sisters. :-p
November 19, 2005
My wife and I went to a kindergarten where our 4-year-old daughter attend in order to see a concert today.
I was worried about her condition. She had a little bit fever last night. If the temperature went up, I didn't get her in on the concert. Fortunately, it went down this morning. I was relieved.
She and her classmates are really so infant that they can't play well any musical instruments. However, they were practicing a lot for a long time. It's the most important to challenge them, right ? They definitely played so hard. We enjoyed seeing it there. Especially, the scene that many infant girls play musical instruments is so cute. :-)
November 19, 2005
I have to practice my English to explain about my Japanese-style house as I've posted on my blog before.
Today... I try to explain "Tokonoma" in Japanese-style houses.
A tokonoma is an alcove in a traditional Japanese room where art or flowers are displayed. It was originally a religious place to put a statue of Buddha. People today put some seasonal picture scrolls and ones for special occasions with a flower arrangement and an incense burner. The average size of tokonoma is about the size of a tatami mat. And there's an alcove post(tokobasira) beside a tokonoma.
November 18, 2005
I've just decided to try to explain my house, which is a kind of traditional style of Japanese house, in English by some occasions. Also, I'll have to do it about our factory, too.
I'll have some visitors who are native English speakers next week on both private and business.
I received an e-mail which is sent by a likely buyer. He's Japanese, but he works for a foreign company and wants to visit our factory to look on it. Our company is a kind of recycling industry. He has a plan to make something by using our products which are manufactured by our recycling process. He may come with some foreigners. I have to practice my English a lot more ! I've not thought of such a situation before. The recycling industry is very minor, I think.
I've been studying English not for business(for my hobby) because I don't need to speak English on my job. I'm anything more than a factory worker. But it's a good opportunity to practice my English on business ! Thank you so much for sending the e-mail ! I'm really glad that I built the web site of our factory ! Next time... I'll have to build our site in English, right ? :-)
November 17, 2005
It was really cold for autumn yesterday. We decided to take out a KOTATSU - a fireplace with a coverlet last night.
It's truly warm for us. :-) Winter season is coming soon. What a short autumn.....
Anyway, winter is the busiest season at my work. I'll have to work 12 hours or more a day. But I'll continue to learn English if I have to work more hard. It means getting old for me to quit studying English.
By the way, I had a lot of Japanese hot sake last night. It's the best way to spend such a cold night.:-) How do you spend at cold nights ?
November 16, 2005
Today my brother who's working at our factory together is going to Nagoya on business. He left home at 4:30 so that he have a business meeting around 9 am with a likely buyer. He isn't really a early bird(morning person) like me. :-) I'm worried about his driving.
If he succeeded at the meeting, we could get stable benefits every month. I hope he can success for sure. On the other hand, we will have to work more hard every day.(ToT) We didn't have enough purchase on last busy season, therefore we lost a big business chance then. But we have enough it on this season, we manufacture a lot ! GO FOR IT !!! My brother !!!!
November 16, 2005
My wife often ask me to get home until 6 pm on every Saturday. I usually take English lessons on Saturday. I sometimes get home over 6 pm after them. She wants to have dinner with our children on Saturday, she said. I'm not able to have it with them on every weekdays because I'm so busy at work nowadays. I have to work 10 or 12 hours a day these days.
However, I can get home until a quarter after six on Saturday and can have dinner as soon as I get home. How come she adheres to 6 o'clock sharp ? Why doesn't she wait just 15 minutes ? I don't understand why she is stubborn like that. On the other hand, she often say to me I'm selfish because I leave home around ten to take English lessons and never get home until 6:15 pm on every Saturday. :-p
Please correct my English. :-)
November 14, 2005
I often use "mixi" that is the most popular SNS in Japan. (SNS stands for "Social Networking Service".)
The users can find people who likes the same stuff on SNS.
So, I'd like to make some more chances to meet nice guys on the Net. And now, I decided to try to use SNS in the US such as , Myspace or Friendster.
Actually, I don't know which is better now. However I've heard Myspace is the most famous SNS in the US, I don't know the detail until I've tried it myself.
November 13, 2005
I took some English lessons with two other students yesterday morning. We learned the vocabulary of traits, such as rude, generous, optimistic, pessimistic and a lot more.
On the textbook the trait of the person sort of depends on the year that the person was born. Do you know "Oriental Zodiac" ? It's called "12 signs of the Chinese zodiac", too.
The teacher asked us "What's your Chinese sign ?"
I replied "I'm the year of the Rabbit."
Another student replied "So am I."
The other student replied "Wow ! Me, too !"
All of the students have the same sign ! What a coincidence !
1/12 x 1/12 x 1/12 = 1/1728 !!!!!
The teacher is very surprised at the situation ! :-)
I'm 42 years old, another student is 30, and the other student is 18...
Uhm.... I'm the oldest student. (ToT)
November 10, 2005
Some fifth grade elementary school students who attend the school close to our factory visited us today to research the local industries as one of their social studies.
Some students came to our factory at the same time of last year, too.
Our factory is a kind of recycling factories. I guess it's not interesting for them because it sort of looks like unspectacular work. I explained to them what we manufacture and what the use of our products is. However, I couldn't use any difficult technical words in the explanation of course. It's difficult for me to explain to them about our job without technical words - such as "business secret". I remembered I used to be a computer system engineer. It was important to give presentations with words which our customers understand easily.
On the other hand, I felt fresh in the explanation to them because there's exactly no such situations in my ordinary days. I'm happy they could study something in my explanation.
After that, I taught them our factory's web site address and e-mail address and said to them, "Please send me e-mail if you want to ask me about our factory." They replied, "Yes, thank you." And now... I'm waiting for their e-mail. :-)
November 9, 2005
I'm forgetting to donate my blood....
Blood donations makes me feel relaxed. I occasionally go out for a blood donation, about once in three months. It's sort of my volunteer activity.
After doing it, I always feel comfortable. I'd guess it makes my blood circulation better. I usually feel stiff neck, but I never feel it after I donated my blood.
On the other hand, I can check on my health condition after doing it because I get the result of my blood test. My English teacher said to me... That sounds like "combine(join together)". In Japanese common saying, it's "Isseki Nicyou" - getting two birds with one stone. :-)
Wow ! the teacher knows Japanese common sayings so much !
November 6, 2005
I went out for a drink last night after I quarreled with my wife. That's no problem. Quarreling with each other is a method to release our stress. :-p
There were some foreigners in the bar. They all are native English speakers. What a nice bar ! I tried to speak to them and have a chat. We arm-wrestled each other. I had a terrific night ! :D
An American girl was a little drunk. I'm worried if she got home without any problems.
By the way, a man said to me after looking at my arm muscles, "Nice guns!". But I've heard the slang word "gun" has a bad meaning.... I was confused a little.
November 4, 2005
I went to a revolving conveyor-belt sushi restaurant last night to reward my eldest son for his performance at the 31-legged race which was held last month.
We had a good time and had a lot of sushi !
Kaitenzushi means "revolving conveyor-belt sushi restaurant" in Japanese. It's a kind of sushi bars and was invented in Japan, of course.
Almost all Kaitenzushi bars are cheaper than usual sushi bars. :D
Take a look at the following picture.
The number of plates we took is 53 including 16 I had. My wife and my children took 37 plates of sushi. That sounds eating too much, doesn't it ?
However, I used to have over 20 plates of sushi on my own when I was young. :-p
November 3, 2005
I've changed the blog service which I usually post in Japanese.
I've been using the Yahoo! Japan blog service until now. But it's mostly heavy to access. Almost all of the visitors can't access smoothly and sometimes some errors occurred when I posted new articles on it.
I decided to change my usual blog posted in Japanese a few days ago, and researched some blog services in Japan. In the result, I've changed it to the Seesaa blog service.
The Seesaa blog service is a little heavy, however not as heavy as the Yahoo!. In addition, we can customize the design of the style sheet and use almost all of the HTML tags. The capacity of the files we can upload is 2 gigabytes, and there is no limit on posting articles. The specification is the same as Yahoo!.
I tried to use many functions of the Seesaa last night, of course changed the style sheet of my new blog a little bit. Well, I'm lack of sleep today. :D
I'm going to try to post some articles with some pictures tonight or tomorrow. I never tried it yesterday.
October 30, 2005
My eldest son, who is sixth-grade elementary student, is going on a school trip to Ise, where is in Mie prefecture. It's two-day and one-night trip.
When I was sixth-grade elementary student, I went there, too. And he is staying at the Japanese style hotel(RYOKAN) which I had stayed before. It's 30 years ago that I went there. The school trip style has never changed for a long time ! That's amazing ! :-)
So, we needed to prepare for his trip today. For example - extra clothes, snacks, and said to him to keep out of mischief.
I'm worried if he makes make mischief....
October 29, 2005
We generally get a lot of orders by our customers in autumn and winter. But we don't this year...
I'm afraid about the winter bonus in our company at the end of this year. If nothing is done, we can't greet the new year happily....
So we must do something to get more orders !
What ? You say, "You should do business operations a lot !" ???
Most of our customers are in country side of Japan.... If I do business operations a lot, I have to drive a lot. I've driven too much recently, you know. I really don't drive any more. :-p
October 25, 2005
I went to Ehime prefecture, where is located in Sikoku, to attend a funeral.
It was held for the 86-year-old chairman of the board, who was one of our important customers.
The company is managed by his family. He was the first president of it. I've heard that he had been working at its factory until a half year ago. Driving a forklift, a truck... So great old man ! I have no confidence in myself to work hard until his age.
I went there on a last night's ferry, but had to drive back home. Because there were no ferries in good time after the funeral. It was exactly tough for me to drive such a long way. The run(travel distance) was about 450 kilometers(280 miles) !!! I almost took a catnap when driving... Oh... I reminded there was the same situation last week. But I felt more tired than the last week's situation because of luck of sleep. I couldn't sleep tight in the ferry. I might be a delicate person. :-p
P.S.
My sell-phone was broken a few days ago. So I had to but a new one and set up to make it user-friendly for me. It was one of the reasons why I didn't have enough time to post my diary.
October 22, 2005
I went to Aichi, Mie, Gifu, and Shiga prefecture yesterday on business.
Nowadays, we don't have enough orders from our customers. That's the reason why I went on business.
I had to visit many customers of us and to carry some samples of our products, so I decided to go by my car.
It was lucky that I have a minivan type car as my family car. The second row seat and the third row seat of the car can be doubled back easily. After that we can take on a lot of packs.
The run(travel distance) was about 700 kilometers(435 miles). I got tired... So I went to bed soon after dinner last night.
I was glad to meet some customer who has talked each other on phones and emails only before.
That's a good opportunity to have a chat off-line. Some people never say the truth on phones and emails sometimes. I could get some information on the off-line meetings yesterday. That's not a help to get the orders immediately, but I guess I'll be able to get a chance to plan our new business in future.
By the way, I'm going to a party tonight. That's called "Uchiage party". "Uchiage party" means "job well done party" in Japanese. Our last festival was finished without any serious problems. Of course, nobody died and got seriously injured. We are going to celebrate the happy ending tonight. No no... we may only want to go drink over every matter. :-)
October 20, 2005
Do you think the Blogger.com is heavy ? But I know a much heavier blog service than it.
It's "Yahoo! JAPAN blog service" which provides for Japanese.
The blog service is always heavy every night. I know most of web sites are heavy at nigh. But its heaviness is exactly out of the ordinary. So, I'm considering whether I should use another Japanese blog service.
On the other hand, I often get some comments on my current Japanese blog. That's the reason why I don't change my Japanese blog right now.
By the way, which is the most famous blog service for native English speakers ? I've heard that the Blogger.com is the best before. If you know which it the best now, let me know. :-)
October 18,2005
I get bald a little these days, I think..
In my case, I get bald by bits each time my child was born...I have three kids now.
So, I get bald a lot....ha-ha.
Of course that a sort of joke. :-) I'm 42 years old, that can't be helped.
If I got bald more than now, I would shave my head. That's "a shaved head", isn't it ?
By the way, it's called "skin-head" in Japan. The word "skin-head" has a bad meaning in the mouth of some native English speakers.
In fact, I feel nostalgic my luxuriant hair in old days. :-p
October 15, 2005
This is the harvest season these days in Japan.
Almost all Japanese farmers are probably very busy.
My father have many persimmon trees in his farm. That's not his job.
He retired already. That's one of his hobbies. It's pretty good for his health to grow crops, you know.
So, he have a good harvest ! He has harvested a lot of persimmons !
It tasted really sweet.
By the way, my friend, who came to my house Monday to see the Yagura festival, said to me, "In Australia, we wait to harvest until ripe more because they become much softer and sweeter." But they have to eat the persimmons immediately, right ?
There are lots of different customs in the world, I thought..... :-)
October 10th, 2005
I'm sorry to post this diary too late. I wanted to post much earlier this diary.
But I couldn't do that because I was really tired after the Yagura festival. :D
A nice guy and his wife came to my house to see the Yagura festival.
He came from Australia to see the festival....ha-ha...That's a joke.
He lives near my city. I've been taught English by him before. Now... He is my friend, but I'm not sure what he thinks about me. :-)
He had a good time, I guess. When he was looking at the festival, he often said : "Crazy guys!", "Funny !", and asked me "How many people die ?". Of course, nobody die at the festival.
It looks like dangerous but anyone never die. Because almost all the festival-goers know the limitation and we are used to joining in it from a young age.
My neighbors were very surprised at him. Some people said "He looks like a wall".
Because his height is 195cm(6.4 feet) ! Exactly much taller than all my neighbors. Some people spoke to him to have a conversation. I guess they had a good experience. And my son's friends told me "Why do you know each other ? That's strange... You don't seem to speak English". I had a good time thanks to him. :-)
Also, I've uploaded another movie. If you hope, have a look.
http://www2.gol.com/users/prowler/movie/MOV00145.MPG
It's difficult for me to write the English diary after drinking...Yeah...I'm a little drunk. Sorry if I made lots of mistakes...
October 9th, 2005
Today and tomorrow, The Yagura festival is held in Sensyu area, Osaka prefecture.
(Sensyu area is close to Kansai International airport.)
All Yaguras go to the shrine with their guardian god, to celebrate our harvest or to pray good harvest.
All Yaguras in my city go up several steps of the stairs in the shrine.
That's a finale of today's festival. Almost all the festival-goers were so excited and running with pulling their Yagura.
A Yagura has many carvings around it but less than a Danjiri. Actually, the manufacturing cost of a Yagura is cheaper than the one of a Danjiri.
The movie of the scene which some Yaguras crowd into the shrine is on http://www2.gol.com/users/prowler/movie/MOV00146.MPG .
The movie of a Yagura going up the stairs is on http://www2.gol.com/users/prowler/movie/MOV00149.MPG .
The scene is really amazing, amusing, exciting, and interesting, but a little dangerous, isn't it ? :D
The scene of the night festival is really beautiful with Japanese lanterns lighting up.
We'll be able to enjoy at our local area with our Yagura tomorrow.
October 8th, 2005
My eldest son and his classmates took part in the 31-legged race last Saturday which I've posted on this blog.
He brought home the commendation certificate of the race yesterday. But it's a copy of it. :D
The original is in their elementary school. Their teacher decided to distribute the copies to each students.
He look at the copy many times at home. Of course me, too. :-)
Exactly, That is their honor !
October 2nd, 2005
There was a kind of festival in front of the station close to my house last evening.
That's called "Yagura parade".
Also the Yagura main festival is going to be held next weekend. The parade is a kind of the preliminary festival.
A Yagura is similar to "Danjiri" and the manufacturing cost is cheaper than the one of a Danjiri.
But the festival is really exciting and a little dangerous, I think. :D
And a Yagura can turn a corner faster than a Danjiri.
There are 20 Yaguras in the city I live. The view of the lined up Yaguras is actually beautiful.
We walked and sometimes run with pulling a Yagura. I had to take care of my infant children. 
I guess we walked or run about 20 kilometers... I almost had a cramp in my legs. :-) But I have to get more tired next week end. :-p
The main Yagura festival is being as exciting as last year.
October 1st, 2005
I went to Osaka city central gymnasium to cheer for my eldest son.
He took part in the competition of 31-legged race for elementary school students.
It was a regional heat. If his team could win it, they would get in the national convention which is going to be held in Yokohama next month.
I was so excited to see the race ! It was actually amazing, wonderful, and exciting !
The rule is very simple. Each team must have more than 30 elementary students members.
And they have to joint their legs by tapes and run 50 meters. The most fastest team win the race.
One of the teams has only 29 students because a member was injured and wasn't able to run.
But they were allowed to take part in the race. However, they couldn't move into the final if they would do well.
In my opinion, I guess they could get a good experience and memory. That sounds great !
Now, my eldest son's team was just trying the race. In fact, I didn't expect that they moved into the final...
His team did very well ! The ranking was No.2 !!!!
The time was 9.82 seconds ! The time of the No.1 team was 9.78 seconds !
They almost got in the national convention !
I felt chagrined a little bit but they made me feel so happy because they did their best with the good teamwork.
I was impressed by the great race. Also it's good for me to see that they do their best with earnest eyes.
They give me a lot of vitality ! Thanks you guys ! Exactly excellent ! Gooooooooooooood Job !
The video is on http://www2.gol.com/users/prowler/movie/31movie.wmv .
There's my screaming in the video. :D
September 29th, 2005
It's cool weather these days. So I can sleep well everyday.
In summer season, my sleep time was exactly too little. But now, I want to sleep more...
I don't have enough spare time in the result. The time to access the Internet, too.
On the other hand, that's good for my health. I thought that I should change my life style and cut out unimportant things I have done once.
I'm going to sort out the things to do myself when I get home today.
Come again ? You said, "You have to cut down your evening drink time." ????
ha-ha. You're right ! I agree with you.
But it's my the most important time. :-p
September 26th, 2005
"Curry and rice" is one of the most popular foods in Japan.
Most Japanese like it. Of course me too.
We had it last night as dinner, which was cooked by my wife.
She always cook it in plenty to have the leftovers in the next day.
It is said that "curry" improves taste after letting stand for a night.
I think so, too.
Therefore, I had curry and rice for my breakfast. It tasted pretty good ! :D
Is it strange to have curry and rice as breakfast ?
But I'm a factory worker, so I have to have a large breakfast to work hard !
I was able to work hard thanks to having the great meal today. (^o^;
After I came home, I took my weight after a long time....
Wow ! Oh, My God !!!!!!
I gained 4 kilograms !!! My weight was 63 kilograms on this June.
I guess I have had too much beer this summer. I'll bet ! (ToT)
September 25th, 2005
I have been confused...
My eldest son is a 12-years-old elementary school student.
I have said "He is sixth-grade elementary school student." before.
But one of my English teachers said to me...
You should say "My son is a grade sixth student".
When I(the teacher) hear the word "sixth grade", I imagine low level school student.
September 24th, 2005
September 23rd(yesterday) was a national holiday, Shubun no hi, in Japan.
It was the day when nighttime and daytime are almost equally long. Around March 21st(Shunbun no hi) too.
We call the day "HIGAN" in Japan, which means "the next world for Buddhists".
Buddhists believe that the spirits of the dead cross the river which exists between this world and the other world, on the day of equinox the sun rise from the exact east and sets in the exact west.
That brings many Japanese people to their family graves and they offer prayers, flowers and incense for their ancestors.
On the other hand, there is a Japanese common saying on HIGAN.
"Summer heat or winter cold doesn't last after the HIGAN(equinox)."
Yes ! HIGAN brings fall and spring to us. :-)
September 23rd, 2005
I went to the elementary school my children attend today. There was the PE festival at the school.
It's too hot to hold the festival today. I got a suntan...(a - necessary ?)
All students had so much energy and gave a lot of good performances ! That's a heartwarming scene, isn't it ?
I was given so much vitality by them. Looking on such good performances of children is exactly good for everyone in my opinion.
They make me feel bright future whenever I look on their energetic plays.
My children took part in footraces, throwing balls into baskets, and more. 
Also, I took part in a three-legged race and my wife in a tug of war. :D
In almost all Japanese elementary schools, we have box lunch together when PE festivals.
By the way, my eldest son is going to participate in the qualifying 31-legged race by elementary school students live in Osaka prefecture next weekend.
I'm looking forward to seeing it !
September 22nd, 2005
I wonder whether Windows existed 20 years ago when I saw the following article.
Gates on Google: What, me worry? (CNET)
Gates' mantra hasn't changed much in 20 years: The PC is the center of the computing universe, and Windows, along with Office and other products, represents the best platform for new software development.
Mr.Gates COULDN'T say that exactly on such a time ! :-p
Because..
Sorry to post the stupid article like this. :-)
September 21st, 2005
When you met a foreigner in Japan and ask him or her why you are here, how do you say ?
"Why are you in Japan ?"
"Why do you stay in Japan ?"
"Why did you come to Japan ?"
"Why did you decide to come to Japan ?"
There are so many patterns of this question.
I've been taught a nice phrase by a native English speaker before.
"What brings you to Japan ?"
That sounds cool for me ! And I thought the phrase is very useful on so many scenes.
For example:
What brings you here ? ( when met friends at unusual places )
What brings you to this company ? ( when ask a new employee )
What brings you to this jail ?
( What a terrible situation ! Just joking. Sorry. :-p )
September 20th, 2005
I've just studied the English word "Lizard".
It means one of reptile, you know.
It sounds similar to "Wizard".
I've known the meaning of "Wizard"... It means a kind of "Magician".
I thought lizards look like wizards. Because they can reproduce their lost tails.
That's a really great magic !
I don't know why lizards are named lizards actually. But I guess the ancient people named them lizards after looking like wizard.
Do you have any idea ?
September 20th, 2005
I'm tagged the stuff called "meme" by RU a few days ago.
I think "meme" is similar to "baton" on Japanese blogs and
"tagging" means giving somebody the baton.
Let me start.
Songs I'm Fully Digging Right Now
I'm into old British Heavy Metal / Hard Rock.
1. Prowler/ IRON MAIDEN - The song is the origin of my handle name.
2. Wickerman / IRON MAIDEN
3. Child in time / DEEP PURPLE
4. Stargazer /RAINBOW
5. Sacred heart / DIO
6. Painkiller / JUDAS PRIEST
7. Red sky / Micheal Schenker
7 Answers to 7 Questions
7 things I plan to do before I die:
1. borrow huge money under a false name
2. have a lot of sushi and steaks
3. buy a Ferrari
4. try to have some girlfriends :-p
5. go abroad ( everywhere I want to go )
6. hide the rest of the money
7. tell my children where the money is
7 things I can do:
1. make sushi
2. wake up early morning
3. work at the scorching factory
4. type well (touch typing)
5. drive forklift very well
6. built web sites written in HTML
7. speak Japanese fluently hehe...
7 things I cannot do:
1. sleep enough every night ( I alway sleep for around 5 hours. )
2. work as a computer system engineer any more
3. quit to drink alcohol
4. do housework
5. take days off on weekdays
6. run fast
7. speak English fluently
7 things that attract me to another person:
1. good job
2. challenge spilits
3. soulful songs
4. excellent web sites
5. knowledge
6. kindness
7. positive thinking
7 things that I say most often:
1. Aa, Shindo. (I'm tired.)
2. Nemi-. (I'm sleepy.)
3. Harahetta. (I'm hungry.)
4. Sya-naina. (What's done is done.)
5. Honmakaina ? (Is that true ?)
6. Eekangennise- ! (Have done !)
7. Maido ! ( Hi ! )
7 celebrity crushes:
1. Ronnie James Dio
2. Steve Harris
3. Sayuri Ishikawa
4. Mayumi Ono
5. Akiko Yada
6. Waka Inoue
7. Youku Hata
7 bloggers I'm tagging:
I have no idea whom I should tag... Sorry.
If you like, post your meme on your blog freely.
September 19th, 2005
Yesterday was "Tsukimi-day" in Japan. 
"Tsuki" means "the moon" and "mi" means "viewing".
I have heard that the custom was originally introduced from China.
Tsukimi is one of famous Japanese customs. The custom of viewing the moon is held on August 15th on the lunar calendar.
The view of the moon on that day is exactly beautiful.
In olden days, Most of Japanese actually love to view the beautiful full moon.
This time of year is a busy harvest season, so the light of the full moon was helpful for the farmers who had to work late. And they prayed for a good harvest to the moon.
"Full moon" is called "Harvest moon" on the other hand, right ?
Today, many Japanese enjoy viewing the beautiful full moon and offer it dumplings and Japanese silver grass.
September 18th, 2005 
I went for a drink after a couple of English lessons with my English teachers and the other students yesterday.
One of the English teachers quit the English school yesterday. So we had the farewell party !
The teacher had a lot of beer, of course stronger than me. But I drank a lot too. I don't remember how many jugs of beer I had... :-p 
Anyway I'm very glad to have such a good time. All of the party participants are much younger than me. :D
It was fresh to my tough brain.
The end time of the party was over AM 2:00 if I remember correctly.
By the way, I took some pictures at the party. But I didn't ask 
their permission whether I can post them on my blog or not. So I've given them some atmospheric effects. :-)
Thanks a lot ! > Mr.G and the others.
September 18th, 2005
I got an advice yesterday.
My English teachers told me that I should change your handle(nick name).
Because the name - Prowler7010 has very bad meaning.
Almost all the native English speakers must feel fear from the name, they said.
But I named it from a song of my favorite band - IRON MAIDEN's debut album....
So, I have decided to change it ! My new handle is plow7010 !
My new blog address is http://plow7010.blogspot.com/
September 17th, 2005
I decided to grow beard and mustache last week. But I gave up it.
The reason I gave up is that my wife is very frightening. :-)
I've never known she really dislike the men with beard and mustache until now.
We sometimes quarrel each other for many reasons. I don't want to increase such situations. he-he.
But I was taught how to grow cool bread by my English teacher who has beard last week. It's a shame....(ToT) I'll have to say sorry to him.
The following picture is the one when I was working with a beloved vehicle(forklift). :-p
September 16th, 2005
A very famous festival was held at Kishiwada city in Osaka, Japan. 
It's called "Kishiwada Danjiri festival" !
A Danjiri is made of zelkova - a kind of wood.
There are many carvings which illustrate Japanese old histories in a Danjiri. Almost all carvings describe the histories of the age of provincial wars, so there are a lot of carvings of samurai.
The structure of Danjiri is very interesting. It's made without any nails. But it's actually firm. Danjiris sometimes overturn by errors in the operation. But they usually aren't broken.
I think the festival is one of the most dangerous festivals in Japan. It's as dangerous as bull-running festival in Spain. :-)
I live near Kishiwada city. But the festival days are September 14th and 15th... These days are week days....I have to work.... I thought I wouldn't be able to see it. All local workers in Kishiwada city don't need to work during the festival. I'm jealous ! :D
But my brother, who works with me, had a terrible stiff neck. We decided not to work yesterday. I came up with an idea after that. "I'll go to Kishiwada Danjiri festival with my children after they come back from their school !" So, I asked my brother to stay at our factory just in case because sometimes there are some calls from our customers.
After my children came home, I asked them whether they wanted to go to the festival. They didn't want to go there, contrary to my expectation. They told me they had to do their homework. What !? They are TOO SERIOUS exactly ! I missed the opportunity to go..... I'm so sad....(ToT)
Anyway, there are so many festivals in the Sensyuu area in Osaka during September and October.
All of the festivals which is held at Sensyuu area are harvest festivals to thank the farms and the seas for their blessings.
Almost all festivals are really dangerous but exciting !
I'll take part in the festival which is going to be held in my city on October.
Then I'll post the article later.
September 15th, 2005
Old type diesel cars have been regulated by Japanese government recently.
The cars aren't implemented any exhaust emission control devices.
So if you wanted to take the cars to garages for inspection, you wouldn't get through it.
But there's a strange rule in Japan.
You could get through it if you lived in country sides.
I guess there isn't pollution in the sides, so the regulations in the sides aren't tight.
One of my acquaintances has such a old type diesel car.
He's decided to take his car to a garage in another prefecture( country side ) for inspection.
He has a friend in the prefecture, so he'll be able to take it with his friend's name.
His car can go through everywhere in Japan !
There isn't much point in regulating..... :-p
September 13th, 2005
I had some rice cooked with matsutake-mushrooms. It called "Matsutake Gohan" in Japanese. Gohan means cooked rice. 
Matsutake is very expensive mushroom in Japan. We can't breed it if we could use all of the latest technologies.
Most of Japanese like a lot Matsutake, but the other country people never have it. I've heard that it's popular only in Japan. That's strange....WHY ? It smells terrific !
By the way, fall(autumn) is coming soon. There are several exciting festivals in Sensyuu.
Sensyuu is located in the south of Osaka prefecture and near Kansai international airport.
The most famous festival is Kishiwada Danjiri festival hold on September 14th and 15th.
In my city, on October. Many people are busy at the preparation of the festival. :D
September 12th, 2005 
At Shinsaibashi in Osaka/Japan, A big department store reopened.
The name is SOGO - one of very famous department stores in Japan. You know ?
One of my e-mail friends, who lives in Tokyo, has opened her temporary shop in the department store.
The shop looks like Japanese old style shop, kind of antique shop.
She's a great artist of knitting rattan, and has published the book which is written how to knit rattan. I went to SOGO to visit her shop yesterday. She promised to send me her book with her autograph. :-)
She isn't so famous and the rattan art isn't too. But I get interested in the art. I've decided to try it. Of course, I'm a old type Japanese man, so I'm not good at knitting. :-p
Anyway, all artists can make their own art. An artist is ONLY ONE person. All creation they created are only one each in the world. So we hold admiration for them.
I was very happy to see her arts in my hands. :D
As I told on the previous post, I want to change my image and lifestyle. Her arts are fresh to my tough brain( stubborn ).
The figure(looks like a cat) on the right is one of her creations.
That's a good-luck charm. :D
September 11th, 2005
I've decided to grow beard and mustache. :D 
I want to change my image. I haven't tried to do it before.
What ? Why do I want to change ?
I'm getting old...ha-ha. I'll be able to refresh if I could change my image.
But my wife said to me, "You look a little dirty with your growing mustache and beard, like a bear...."
I was shocked to hear that...
And she got angry a little and continued to talk, "If you would actually grow them, I would dislike you." I didn't realize she dislikes a man with mustache and beard.
I might stop growing it....My life is really scary when get angry. LOL
By the way, I'm 42 years old now. What do you recommend to change my image ?
September 10th, 2005
There was a traffic accident near my house the day before yesterday. A boy on his way from school was hit by a car.
He is my eldest son. Yes! My eldest son was hit by a car !
But he luckily escaped with a minor injury. All his bones weren't broken. And the result of CT scanning was good. I felt a sense of relief.
The policeman, who has investigated the spot of the accident, told me. 
"The front of the accident car got dented terribly. I guess the dent was left by your son's bag. His school bag fortunately acted as cushion to protect his body".
Most of Japanese elementary school students carry their school bags on their backs. The bags are called "LANDSEL" in Japan. Should I call it "satchel" ?
Thank you so much ! >> The LANDSEL ! (SATCHEL?)
The driver of the accident car is the young girl who lives in the same district. When I got to the hospital that my eldest son was taken by ambulance, she was apologetically crying... She said to me, "I'm so sorry, sorry ,sorry...." again and again... I felt sorry for her reversely...
So, I said to her, "Get a grip.(Chill out.) Don't worry. My son will be fine soon. Thank you for calling an ambulance quickly after the accident. What's done is done. It's important to think what you should do after that. You are really a honest person."
I guess I was able to say composedly because my son wasn't seriously injured.
Be careful when you drive.
September 7th, 2005
"Why do you have the blog ?"
I've been practicing my English on this blog as for me. And I wanna communicate with people of different nations. After that, I'm much happier if I could make friends from all over the country.
On the other hand, I have another blog written in Japanese. If you can browse the web sites written in Japanese, browse it.
I deliver several kinds of information on it. For example, English tips, sushi, and joke. :D
I sometimes receive spam trackbacks and spam mails on it. I show my Gmail address "prowler7010@gmail.com" on it and this blog. The Gmail service is very convenient for spam mails. Gmail automatically categorize whether received mails are spam mails. But it sometimes categorize correctly. :D Oh well, All the programmed process are not perfect. I know why are not because I used to be computer programmer. :-p
By the way we got to invite 100 people to Gmail service.(50 people, before) What does it mean ? I don't know why they increased the number.
September 6th, 2005
I sincerely feel sorry to hear the news of Hurricane Katrina.
And I thought that we should prepare for typhoons. Many typhoons will hit Japan from now to October. It is said that about 80% of storm and flood damage in Japan is caused by typhoons.
And we have to do something for global environment. It is said that the frequency of abnormal weather is increasing nowadays and it's caused by worsening global environment.
September 4th, 2005
I went to take some English lessons yesterday. The female teacher, who is from Canada, asked me, "The summer holiday for kids ended. Your children have had a opening of a new school year, haven't they ?" --- Maybe she said like this. :D
I was really confused. The opening of a new school year is in April.
I figured out why she told such a thing. That's just a different culture !
In North America, The opening of a new school year is in September, you know.
That's all ! ha-ha...
Also, she asked me, "Do you know why the opening is in April in Japan ?"
Um... another student and I thought for a couple of minutes. And we replied !
"In Japan, there are so many cherry blossoms in April."
"It's the best season to open a new school year. The blossoms smell so fresh to us."
I was really tired from the thinking. :D
September 3rd, 2005
I often login mixi, Japanese SNS. SNS stands for Social Networking Site, you know.
I sometimes see the awful topics which have abstract topic title. For example, just "Let me know."
I really cannot expect the content of the topics by just looking the titles.
If I want to ask someone something, I would name the title to describe the content. For example, "I'd like to tell me about ....."
I've decided to ignore such topics. I want to spend my time effectively.
September 2nd, 2005
I gave my factory's website SEO today.
You know, "SEO" stands for "Search Engine Optimization".
When I was doing it, I had a telephone call.
The calling person said, "I was wondering if we could build your website. Of course the cost would be cheap."
I replied, "No thank you. I've already built myself my factory's website."
He continued talking. "I understand, sir. Also, we would be able to deliver SEO. After giving your site SEO, the rank of your site at any search engines would go up. For example, Google, Yahoo...."
I additionally answered, "I've already done it. And my site is displayed as No.1 at Google, but not No.1 at Yahoo. So, I'm doing it myself for Yahoo right now. No thank you, SEO. By the way, I used to be a computer system engineer. Why don't you send me e-mails as the approach ? You're computer system company, you should approach it on the Internet. That's the ordinary method as website developers in my opinion. Anyway, I really hate such sales approaches by phone. Because, phone calls sometimes interrupt my time without thinking a convenience. I've decided not to buy anything approached by phone."
He got off the line after replied in a small voice, "I'm so sorry...."
After that I thought I had to say, "Thanks to your providing the idea of this diary." LOL
What do you think about telephone sales ? :-)
September 1st, 2005
I've heard a strange(?) custom about beer from a British before.
Most of the British who likes beer request barmen to pour beer with a bit of foam or without foam.
They want to drink beer as much as possible...
In my opinion, foamless beer tastes bad... I prefer beer with about 20% foam to foamless.
The foam matches up well with the bitter taste of beer. The harmony always makes me feel happy.
It's not too hot in Osaka, Japan nowadays. I'll decrease opportunity of drinking beer. ha-ha.
Wow ! I have to make out bills for August. I'll start EXCEL.....
August 30th, 2005
I'm writing this diary without using dictionaries. I always post English diary with using my dictionary in my PC. The dictionary is very useful and convenient. But I decided to post this diary without using dictionary. So, I may make some(a lot of ?) mistakes in this diary. :-p
Nowadays, it's cool to sleep well without air-conditioners. (Did the hot season finish?) I usually fall asleep with an air-conditioner when it's too hot. Air-conditioners make me feel comfortable. And I can fall asleep easily with it. But it's not natural. Therefore, I sometimes feel a little bad condition with it.
I have a good sleep in natural cool condition. How about you ?
August 28th, 2005
I went to ATC(Asia pacific Trade Center) hall in Osaka city to see the exhibition held for kids.
Its title is "Mushi-King World". "Mushi-King" is one of the most popular cartoons for kids in Japan. And it's also the title of very popular TV game.
"Mushi" means "insects" in Japanese.
The story of "Mushi-King" seems like Pokemon.
The official site of "Mushi-King" is here.(English edition)
We can play many kinds of game, can learn about insects, and can experience catching insects. 
There were so many people in the exhibition. Too crowed ! Because that day is the last Sunday of summer holidays for kids. Many parents were for their children there. Of course me, too. :-)
If you can browse the sites written in Japanese, you can know the detail of the exhibition.
ATC web site(written in Japanese only)
The Mushi-King exhibition(written in Japanese only, till August 31th, 2005)
August 27th, 2005
I'm lack of sleep today. Because I have a terrible stiff neck, shoulder, and backache. And I always sleep beside my daughter, she has a bad sleeping posture. She often hit me half asleep.
By the way, Most of Japanese parents who have little children often sleep with them. That's a one of strange custom for foreigners, isn't it ?
When we had a fist-time child, we sleep together. We call the sleeping style "Kawanoji". "Kawanoji" means "the shape of the character of river" in Japanese. Also, "Kawa" means "river" in it. The Kanji "river" looks like 3 lying people. It means married couple sleep with their first child, and the child sleep between the couple.
It's difficult for me to explain correctly.....
My wife bought our daughter a small electronic piano a few days ago. It sort of looks like a keyboard.
Our daughter is only 4 years old. So, we decided to buy a cheap one for her and to buy bigger one when she grow up.
My wife bought the piano at a neighborhood music store without asking me. It costs about 30,000 yen(about $300). I checked the price of it on the Internet store. The price is about 25,000 yen. I got upset. I said my wife, "Why didn't you ask me where we should buy it !?" We lost 5,000 yen. (ToT)
My shopping style is .... First, I check the quality of the real one at neighborhood stores. Then, I compare the price at the stores with it on the Internet stores. Most of the goods sold on the Internet are cheaper than actual stores. Why doesn't my wife know about it ? That's strange... She sometimes use the Internet. She had to check the price herself before buying.
I can't complain... What's done is done....
By the way, our daughter can always practice on the piano at home. The sound might bother us from now. :-)
Two typhoons are on their way to Japan.
One of them won't make landfall in Japan. But the other one will make landfall in Japan.
We have to prepare for the approaching typhoon.
Although typhoons generally cause damage to us, they bring us blessed rain.
There are a lot of areas, where lack water, in Japan. Especially, the people, who live in Sikoku area, may be happy to hear that the typhoon's approaching.
August 18th-19th, 2005
I went to Amanohashidate with my family to have a bathe(swim in the sea) and to do sightseeing.
Amanohashidate is in the north of Kyoto prefecture and one of the 3 most scenic spots in Japan.
The vista from the hilltop is actually beautiful and especially it looks like the bridge over the sky when we see it between our thighs.
"Amanohashidate" means "Heavenly Bridge" in Japanese. ( Probably correct..... :D )
There is a wonder bridge at Amanohashidate. It's called "Kaisenkyo". "Kaisenkyo" means "Rotatory Bridge" in Japanese. When ships go through the bridge, it's rotated on some electric motors.
The beach at Amanohashidate is a little narrow but so beautiful.
But, there was a terrible trouble. I dropped my glasses into the sea. I desperately looked for them. I found out them in the result. I really scared....
This picture is the tourist hotel we stayed. What ? You said "What a funny family ! " ? ha-ha. I agree with you. :-)
Also, I almost got a speeding ticket on our return route. When I was driving my car at 140km/h(about 87.5mph), I found out an unmarked police car by the detector, which I installed in my car when I bought the car. :-p
I got near to the police car and slowed down. When I caught up with it, I said with a smile, "Hello !". Of course, they couldn't hear that.
But they replyed with a smile, "We are discovered... ha-ha", I guessed.
Then I said, "Good bye !", and escaped behind the police car.
I was terrified of the situation....
Anyway, we had a good time !! How was your summer vacation ?
