A school trip

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....

More orders !

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

A funeral

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.

A business trip

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. :-)

I'm considering about blog services.

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. :-)

I get bald....

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

The Harvest - Persimmons

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..... :-)

My friend came from Australia for the Yagura festival ?

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...

Yagura festival in Sensyu area, Osaka

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.

The commendation certificate of 31-legged race

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 !

Yagura parade

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.

The 31-legged race

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