Employ New Face

Friday, September seventh, two thousand and seven

My brother and I have finally hired a new employee lately. The new face is coming to work from next Monday. Since he has some experience to work in the recycling industry that my factory belongs to, we expect him to make an immediate contribution to us. If he lives up to our expectations, we'll be able to have more spare time weekdays. I'd like to read English newspapers or something like that. As a result, I could improve my English skills and may be able to have fun with my foreign friends a lot... I really hope so, but that depends on how hard he works in my factory. :)

Using English-English Dictionary

Wednesday, September fifth, two thousand and seven

These days I'm into using the English-English dictionary made from paper as the following picture actually. I know one of my weak points in my English skills is the poor vocabulary, so I had been looking for a good way to increase it. As a result, I realized that it could be a good way using dictionaries made from paper, especially English-English ones. Electronic ones are so useful that I can check out any word's meaning quickly, but the way tends not to be memorable through my experience. Honestly, one of my study buddies, who is a female high school student and who passed an exam of a high level English test in Japan which is called "英検準1級(Eiken Jun Ikkyuu)", recommended me that way. On the way, I'll be able to understand all new words in English, not translated in Japanese. If there're some words I don't know in the explanation of the word I want to know the meaning, I would have to check it out to find out the exact meaning of them on the other pages. Anyway, Let me resume writing my English diary from now on. The contents aren't interested for anyone though. :p

Sea Bathing Nearby

Tuesday, August fourteenth, two thousand and seven

I took my third son and daughter to the beach near my house to swim in the sea. Because my wife-in-law(^^) and eldest son refused to go there together, I had to take care of the two kids alone. X(

Let me upload two pictures I took at the beach.




You can see Kansai international airport, where the second runway has just come into operation, behind my kids in the first photo. In the second one, you can see a big shopping mall in the back. Actually, I used to be a student of the NOVA's branch in the mall.

Watching DVD with my kids

Saturday, August eleventh, two thousand and seven

Last night my eldest son and third son asked me like, "Dad, we would like to watch the DVD you often watch!" I didn't understand what DVD they want to watch at first, actually.
No way! Adult DVDs????? NO! Honestly, I DON'T have such a kind of DVDs!
They went on like, "Rio... whatchamacallit...."
I realized what DVD they had mentioned; that is to say, they wanted to watch the DVD that is called "Rock in RIO" and that is presented by IRON MAIDEN.
Like father, like son! They seem to like the DVD. Generally, IRON MAIDEN is categorized as "Heavy Metal"; in fact, they are still one of the greatest British heavy metal band.
I recommend watching the DVD to anyone who usually doesn't listen to heavy metal. Whenever watching the content, I don't think they are older than me through the energetic performance. There are some melodious numbers; on the other hand, they are sometimes excited with the Brazilian audience. In my case, I MUST watch the DVD at least once a week. :)

Doing The Dishes

My 6-year-old daughter is doing the dishes for the first time to help her mother. Her figure in the movie is super cute, isn't it? (^^;

The Dog Days

Saturday, July twenty first, two thousand and seven

In Japan, this year's dog days(土用 doyou) has just started. It's very common in the country to eat eel during the period, especially on July thirtieth, which it's considered that is the hottest day. Actually, I'm sometimes asked from non-Japanese why Japanese people like to have eel during the dog days(midsummer). Whenever being asked that question, I reply to them as below.

Because it's been so muggy during the dog days, they need to have nutritious foods to get through the awful climate, I mean, in order not to suffer from the summer heat. In Japan, it's believed that eating eel makes people energetic. In fact, eel has many kinds of vitamins and other nutrients.
And also, it's common to eat 土用餅(doyou mochi) in Kansai region of Japan during the muggy period, which is a kind of rice cake covered with bean jam and which tastes sweet.

What food is common to eat during summer in your country?

Typhoon No.4 Hit Japan

Sunday, July fifteenth, two thousand and seven

A big and powerful typhoon caused rainstorms almost all over Japan yesterday. Now it already passed by Osaka and is going near Tokyo. Fortunately, my family and I didn't have any serious problems. I personally think most typhoons tend not to bring terrible damage to Osaka, so we are very lucky. :) However, Kyusyu area, the southern part of Japan, got damaged seriously, according to the newspaper. As far as I know, the part is tendency to sometimes have heavy rain during typhoon seasons. Apparently, two people, including an elementary school student, were killed due to the flooding in Kagoshima prefecture, which is one of districts in Kyusyu area. I'm really worried that many of the recent typhoons could be bigger and more powerful than they had because of global warming.

10th Anniversary

Tuesday, July tenth, two thousand and seven

Today is one of the most unforgettable days for me actually. Ten years ago today my second son passed away because of his terrible heart problem, and he also had Down syndrome. As is well known, those who have Down syndrome tend to have heart problems from birth. Let me visit his grave after work today to pray for his soul.

There are some web pages for him that made by me years ago. Access them if you like. The contents are written in Japanese though.
http://www.geocities.jp/prowler7010/naoto/index.html

The Star Festival

Saturday, July seventh, two thousand and seven

It's The Star Festival, which is called "七夕(Tanabata)" in Japan, today. Tanabata bases on a Chinese legend as far as I checked it out on the Internet. According to the legend, a god in space separated a couple of stars that were lovers. Vega(織女星 Weaver) loved Altair(牽牛星 Cowherd) so much that she goofed off her weaving job. The god got angry at her attitude so much that the god couldn't help but put the Milky Way between them so that she can concentrate on her work. However, the god allowed them to see each other only on the night of July seventh because of their strong wish.

It's a sort of romantic story, isn't it?

Anyway, the festival has been held since the Edo period in Japan. Japanese people, especially children, write their wishes on strips of colorful paper, tie or hang them on the branches of bamboos, decorate them outside at night, and pray for their wishes to come true like Vega and Altair.


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
goof off[phrasal verb]: to waste time or avoid doing any work

My Own Pace

Friday, July sixth, two thousand and seven

As a matter of fact, my physical condition has been still a little bad because of the recent muggy weather and my age, 44 years old. :) That's exactly why I don't often write my English diary that I used to.
Anyway, I don't have enough time to study English nowadays, so I have just decided to post articles here only when I came up with interesting ideas and had amusing experiences. In addition, I can't master a lot of knowledge at once because of my tough noodle if I try to write English journals with new words. But I want to try a new approach here. Actually, I sometimes read English newspapers these days after some teachers recommend me to do that so that I can improve my skills. Let me post my opinions here after reading news if time permits. To be honest, it's the most significant to get back my health as soon as possible because my friends and I are planning to have a big BBQ party next weekend. :)