Farewell & Birthday Party

Saturday, May twenty sixth, two thousand and seven

This afternoon I'm taking the last free talk lessons of the Canadian female teacher who is leaving Japan next week. After all I wasn't able to take her regular lessons before she leaves. I had been eager to take them from my heart because I've heard she is one of the most excellent teachers in the English school. Anyway, I'm going to present her a CD, which I sometimes give the teachers who leave Japan.

Besides, tonight I'm having a birthday party for an American guy at LONE STAR, that serves nice Mexican food and so many kinds of alcohol in Izumisano city, Osaka. He haven't been there and have wanted to go get a drink there as far as I know, so my friends and I organized the party actually. Since my kids asked me to take them fishing, I can't get drunk tonight and have a hangover tomorrow. :)

Shape up or ship out!

Friday, May twenty fifth, two thousand and seven

An employee in my factory often drives me nuts actually, so I often tell him, "Shape up or ship out!" However, apparently, he doesn't have the intention to quit his job. In Japan, it's quite difficult for company representatives to fire their employees.
Actually my brother and I are struggling to make ends meet, therefore we can't afford to hire new employees so far. But, the recent profit of our factory has been going up, so we'll be able to dismiss him soon for neglect of duty. To be honest, I'm looking forward to getting rid of him from my heart. Go fly a kite!


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
shape up or ship out [spoken]: used to tell someone that if they do not improve they will be made to leave a place or their job
make ends meet: to have only just enough money to buy the things you need

Subscribe To English Newspaper

Thursday, May twenty fourth, two thousand and seven

When it comes to casual talking, I'm kind of good at speaking English. But, on the other hand, it's quite tough for me to talk about difficult topics such as politics and economy due to my poor vocabulary. Some teachers recommended me to read English news the other day to improve it. Since then, I sometimes try to read English news on the Internet, for instance, BBC or TIMES. However, I suppose reading newspapers written in English could look cool when I'm on a train or somewhere. So I couldn't help but subscribe to a newspaper published by The Japan Times, Ltd. I'm looking forward to receiving it for the first time now. Needless to say, I'll take great pains to read it though.


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
take/go to (great) pains to do something(also: take pains with/over something): to make a special effort to do something

Got HairCut

Wednesday, May twenty third, two thousand and seven

It's too hot to work in my factory these days even though it's still May! So I couldn't help but get a hair cut after work today. Let me post my picture taken after having gotten a haircut below. Looks handsome? :) Actually, an American guy told me two years ago that I looked like a Japanese Russell Crowe. Since then, I introduce to anyone who I meet for the first time like, "I'm Japanese but might be a dead ringer for Russell Crowe."


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
dead ringer [countable noun]: someone who looks exactly like someone else

Loose Tooth

Tuesday, May twenty second, two thousand and seven

I lost a tooth yesterday.... No, just pulling your leg.
A capped one on one of my right back teeth was removed after having lunch yesterday. The recent job makes me work late, so it was quite difficult to go see a dentist on weekdays. I applied to the dental clinic about the ending time of reception. According to her it's usually 7 pm, therefore I had to go there as soon as I called it a day and took a shower. The time I get there was 6:55 pm. I could make it somehow. Since it was just gotten off, the treatment ended much earlier than I had expected.

Modest Japanese Businessman

Monday, May twenty first, two thousand and seven

Some of my customers always tend to be modest to me, although I'm just one of suppliers for them. But they ask me unreasonable demands sometimes, so I don't think that too modest business people count for a great deal in business these days. Since there are tons of orders from all of the clients, I might have to make a choice, I mean, I'd like to deal only with good business partners. On the other hand, my factory's business scale is quite small, therefore, we need to deal with as many companies as possible for a rainy day. Um... quite difficult to decide...


modest: 控えめな、腰の低い
count for: ～の値打ちがある
(They count for nothing. : 取るに足らない連中だ)

Finished ZONE-E

Sunday, May twentieth, two thousand and seven

The review of all ZONE-E lessons, which I took at NOVA two years ago and last year, has just been over as the following picture. But I haven't put all of the contents into my mind yet actually.
Let me start brushing up them from the beginning again with reviewing ZONE-F lessons, which I took last year and this year. I also have to take ZONE-G lessons now and review them but I can't start reviewing them unless I haven't finished ZONE-F lessons' review. It looks so far to finish it because I'm no spring chicken. :)


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
no spring chicken: used to say that someone is no longer young - used humorously

Farewell Party for American

Saturday, May nineteenth, two thousand and seven

This evening a farewell party(送別会 soubetsukai) for an American friend of mine was held in the Japanese style pub(居酒屋 izakaya) that's managed by one of my second cousins. My family, friends and I organized the party for him because he leaves Japan very soon. Actually he's a history teacher in the US, therefore he's very interested in Japanese culture and history. That's why he came to Japan, I suppose. As far as I know, he has to renew his teacher licence and get a job as a teacher in the States. So he need to get back to his country for that, I guess. Since I have a Japanese traditional style house, I occasionally invited him over to introduce our custom. It was quite difficult but fun for me to describe Japanese culture in English. I often tried to do that as he brought me a lot of good chances. Anyway, I want to improve my English skills much more until I have a reunion with the nice guy. Of course, that's pretty tough for my old noodle, though. I bet his Japanese skills will become much better than my English ones then, because he's much smarter and younger than me. X(

My Factory on Textbook

Friday, May eighteenth, two thousand and seven

Two years ago a publisher emailed me if it's OK to list the contents of my factory's web site on a textbook for Japanese high school students. The company was planning to publish a textbook that mentions recycling industry so that students can learn social skills. Of course I replied to him it was my pleasure.
I'd forgotten the email for a long time but he sent me the printed textbook yesterday.
Great! I'm so glad to look at the pictures of my factory on it. The fact doesn't bring me any money, however, I'm very excited now!

Ranking Second

Thursday, May Seventeenth, two thousand and seven

When you google with a keyword in Japanese related to a recycling industry my factory belongs to, my factory's web site comes up as the number 2 or 3 on the result list. But when searching with the keyword on the search engine provided by Yahoo! Japan, it used to be ranked as the number 20 or so in spite of the SEO I implemented into it. Actually Yahoo! Japan search engine is more popular than Google in Japan. Therefore I've been considering how to make the web site rank up for a long time.
Today I tried to check its ranking on Yahoo! Japan. I was so surprised at looking at the result because it was ranked as the number 2 although I haven't done anything special. I guess that the system has been changed recently. I've just realized that's why we've got many emails lately.