Scott Murphy

I'm currently interested in an Artist whose name is Scott Murphy. He is from Chicago in the United States. He covers Japanese songs and sings them fluently, he also translated some songs into English, and they sound so cool for me. Maybe you can't notice that he is an American with his Japanese songs (but i think if you listen to them carefully, you might notice that some of his constant sounds sound stronger than Japanese as English speakers do). But yeah, when I listened to his songs at a store, I got so shocked, and bought some CDs of his.

I heard that he used to sing and play music in a punk band "ALLister", and couldn't even speak Japanese until he visited Japan some years ago. When he visited Japan, and listened some J-Pops, he liked them and started leaning Japanese by himself. It is interesting enough that an American artist covers J-Pops, but if the person can sing such songs well, it's more interesting. So, I'm curious about him so much. He is gonna come to Japan next year again. Hopefully I can go to his live concert and listen to his songs in person.

He writes a blog in Japanese too!
http://blog.livedoor.jp/scottie_allister/

Who Will Become My Husband??? :P

You know what girls around this age talk about when they meet after a long while? It's about work, private life...especially marriage! However I really don't feel I'm mature enough to get married; I still feel like I'm just a girl...I like playing around, shopping, want to be pretty...I'm sometimes irresponsible, feel like I'm thinking only about myself, and regret about it again and again...lol. So, I'm still just a girl. But talking about such a topic is fun. Actually, when I met some of my uni friends the other day, our conversation came alive with the topic. It is interesting, because when I was a kid, my present age looked so adult and mature, but now, About my friends who are used to be around me haven't got married yet because maybe we are walking kind a similar way (like going to an uni, work...etc.) but there are a lot of girls who already got married and even have a kid however they are younger than me! Living with a guy that you love the most will be so enjoyable but I can't imagine me doing that now. I don't think that I can become a wife or mother yet. There are some reasons.

Firstly, I can't do housework...err, of course I can, but I can't do it efficiently since I don't do it at home. I know I have to do but, you know, living with families makes me feel I don't have to do...Secondly, I can't afford to do other things now. I started working in this year, and don't have any space to care about other people seriously.Although I'm feeling like that now, just talking about our ideal marriage or talking about other people's love is fun. For example, about my ideal.

1. The guy has to be smart in some degree and he has to listen to my opinion and take care about it; I don't want to go out with a guy who pushes just his plan every time.
2. The guy must not be just sweet to me; when I'm doing bad, he shouldn't just spoil me. I want a relationship that both help enhancing each other.
3. The guy has to be serious about relationships; I hate guys who sleep with a lot of girls.
4. The guy has to have a stable job, and earns money enough to do something +α beside our normal life; I don't wanna be busy with just to live day by day).
5. The guy has to let me manage all of the money of us; of course I won't waste it!
6. The guy and I have to have a similar sense about spending money and educating a kid.
7. The guy has to do housework as well; I really don't want a husband who can't even cook.
8. The guy has to take me to a trip a lot since I want to go!

There are much more, lol. Do you think it is a lot? But I think marriage is life, not a goal. So we have to spend time together in the rest life (hopefully..). If it doesn't work well, maybe I have to think about divorce. Of course I haven't experienced it, but such a thing looks troublesome sometimes especially when it involves matters about children and money.

I want to have a stable life. But just being stable will be boring. I also want to have an exciting life sometimes. As a same thing can be said about a bf. Girls want their mind to be peace, on the other hand, they want to have thrilling things (not a big one!) too. Of course it's just my opinion but I think maybe a lot of girls are feeling like that. So we want a nice bf/husband who is not just boring but also being reliable :) Lastly, I'm not interested in a wedding reception as much as other girls. Girls says they want to wear pretty wedding dress and want to be blessed by everybody in their wedding party. But about me, It is okay if I can take a nice picture at a photo studio in a pretty dress. I'd like to go on a trip rather than making such a great party if I have money to spend on a big party. I wonder if someone wants to become a husband of such a weird girl :P~ But I know that myself have to become close to my ideal before requesting a lot of things to my future husband :D

Candies For Throat

I caught a cold recently. When I woke up, I noticed that my throat hurt and my voice sounded strange. I felt like my throat itself was dry in some part, and it was hard to keep breathing for a long while without swallowing my saliva. In such a case, what helps me is のど飴. Most kinds of them have some menthol in it, and eating the candies let our throat keep moisture. So I don't feel uncomfortable while working because I kept eating the candy :P

The two sticks of candies in the picture are my most favorite ones. VC-3000のど飴 is a lemon flavor and the other one 梅のど飴 is ume flavor. I love ume flavor very much. I like drinking ume juice~, eating picked umes, and ume jellies too :) They are so yummy. Ah, you might know, ume onigiris (the rice ball that has a picked ume inside) are so yummy, and you can get them in convenience stores so easily. I heard that it is said, eating a picked ume in the morning is good for the health since it is said that it has 6 good effects.

1. A picked ume helps you with recovering from tiredness.

2. A picked ume prevents you from getting arteriosclerosis.

3. A picked ume removes activated oxygen from your body.

4. A picked ume relieves your constipation.

5. A picked ume removes your hangover.

6. A picked ume prevents you from getting food poisoning.

Thus, a picked ume's so useful. I know that an ume candy doesn't have such effects...but still love it when I get a cold and feel uncomfortable about my throat :P

Hung Around Ueno Park

As I wrote before, I love museums. Last Sunday, I went to National Science Museum in Ueno park with a couple of friends and a girlfriend of one of them. I'd known about the museum since before, but hadn't been there. The museum is much bigger than I expected and there was a lot of things to see. The museum is constructed of two areas, one of them is a Japanese area, and the other part is an Earth area. Since there are a lot of information's in hole of the museum, I looked it was not enough to see everything in a day. I really thought that I can spend whole a day there. I heard that the museum in Toronto that I went before was the 5th biggest museum in the world, but for me, the museum I went was as much great as it. Histories, science, plants, animals...everything was there. The area that amazed me the most is an area in the Earth area where a lot of stuffed animals were. Anyway, I thought the museum was pretty good because it costed only 600yen to enter the museum once however the scale is large. (And if you want to come again in a year, you can buy a year ticket either and it costs only 1,000yen!)

I don't know if there are many travelers' guides that have about places around Ueno park in it, but think that is interesting for foreigners too. There are a lot of museums around there, and some performers too (but maybe there's not as many as in Yoyogi park). And there is a very famous unique shopping street whose name is Ameya-yokocho around there too. On weekends, there are a lot of visitors hanging around there and in evening, you can hear fishmongers or vegetable men yelling for a discount of their items. Of course there are some people yelling from cloth stores, but I bet that they don't discount more than their normal price since the stuffs don't go bad! :P

Thumb Seeking (Seal -3-)

Takeshi was back to his town Koto-ku. It's not a big city, but it doesn't have a lot of nature too. Takeshi likes the town because he has no problem to live there.
The sun is about to go down. A school boy came out from the park with holding a gum ball and ran toward to his mother. Takeshi thought that he would go back home like the parent and child, however he didn't feel like that.
He started walking toward a direction that is different from his home, and he noticed that he was in front of the playground of his old school Nishida elementary school. He noticed that everything was unchanged there and felt nostalgia. Takeshi walked there. The playground was small.
There were some kids playing with a ball centre of the playground. Innocent voices are heard.　In the basket court, there are four kids that seem to be junior high school students. They are moving hard with a ball there. By the court, there are a middle aged guy with a dog, and he tries stopping the dog desperately that wants to jump at the ball. Takeshi smiled looking at those scenes.
There were swings, horizontal bars, and climbing poles. Takeshi sat down on a vaulting horse which was made of a tire. He breathed once, and looked at his old school again. It's almost unchanged, especially about the buildings. What changed is maybe just flower beds were made beside the building. Expect it, nothing has been changed. Hence he remembers about the past without unconsciously.

"What's up? Why did you call me here. Isn't it okay to be the passage?" said Takeshi.
"Yeah...it was better to be the roof though," said Yumi.
It was when Takeshi was the 6th grade. He was called out to the roof by Yumi suddenly. He didn't know why she called him at all.
"Anyway, what's up? Hurry up, or else, the break will finish."
Yumi was in a fluster about the insensitive words, but said self-consciously.
"Sorry, I want to give you something today."
"Something to give me?"
Yumi nodded and put a ring that made of beads from her pocket.
"It's this."
Looking at what he was handed carefully as if he were criticizing it, he moved his mouth.
"What is this? You give me?"
In the centre of it, there were beads shaped a flower.
"I made it with Chie. If the beads circle doesn't break until you get an adult, your any wishes will come true."
"Lies."
"But it was on a book. It really said your wishes really come true."
"I see...but unbelievable."
"It's true! So, take care of it until you get to be an adult."
"O..okay. I see."
He put the ring in his pocket. It was silent for a while. When he was thinking what to say, the chime rang.
"Let's go back to the classroom," said Yumi lastly.
When he came back from his recollection, he saw the sight same as just before. The guy with a dog was gone without Takeshi's notice.
After that, Takeshi checked if his very good friends Tomohiko Igarashi and Yoshida Nobuhisa also got rings from Yumi. Both of them said they didn't. He noticed that Yumi gave only to him. Then he finally got its meaning. Such an experience was the first time to him, so he felt ashamed more than glad at that time. It's not because of it, but he made up his mind to take care of it. After Yumi was gone, the feeling got stronger again.
Takeshi's kept regretting for these 7 years. Why did he do such a thing, why did he do such a thing partly for fun...But it's too late. However he regrets, Yumi won't come back.
Takeshi was looking at the kids playing in the centre of the playground seeing old him and his friends on them. He was seeing themselves. Five of them look happy playing with a ball. Takeshi is there, and of course Yumi too. They are smiling and look joyful. If I could go back at that time...
Tears overflowed. It passed on his cheek smoothly and fell down to the ground.
"Hey you, catch the ball!"
A ball rolled to him and touched his leg. He saw a girl running toward him and got shocked. Maybe it's a hallucination but she looks like Yumi.
Or, he might just have seen Yumi in her.
"Here you are," Takeshi handed the ball to her.
"Thank you."
The girl ran to her friends.
watching at her back, Takeshi put the beads ring out of his pocket.
"Any wishes will come true," He muttered.
"Please come back."
After watching at it for a while, he put it into his pocket again and left his old school with dropping his shoulders.
He walked with heavy steps. He kept looking down and walked slowly. Even little kids overtook him.
He kicked an empty can on the road. He remembers that he had played such a game how far he can bring a can with keeping kicking it. He remembers about the time when he was with Yumi too. How far can he keep kicking the can, he remembers he has done such a game. He remembers memories with Yumi too.
He decided to go to Yumi's house because it's been just 7 years since Yumi was gone. He worried about her mother too.
Arriving at Yumi's home, he ranf the door bell. After a while, Yumi's mother Atsuko came out of the entrance in an apron. She looked that she got old after long while no see; her hair went gray and lines gained.
"Oh, Takeshi, long time no see. Have you been good?" Her gentle and mild tone hasn't changed as before.
"Hello. I apologize for my long silence."
"Yeah, it's really after a long time. Please come in."
Takeshi was called into the house.
"Welcome. So, what's up today? Something happened?"
She spoke to him from her back view, but he couldn't say that because it had been just 7 years since that time.
"Err..it's not because something happened...but..."
"Don't hesitate, you came here because it's been just 7 years since then, right?"
Takeshi didn't have a choice to tell her a lie, so he said yes.
"You are about to turn into your second year at university, and you will celebrate Coming-of -Age day next year."
Takeshi felt her wish from the words if Yumi were here, so it was painful to answer.
"Please sit down there. It's a little bit untidy, but don't care."
Takeshi sat on the soft brown sofa.
"Wait a sec, I'll bringing you some juice right now, or do you prefer coffee better. You've got look mature while I haven't see you."
Takeshi got shy to her words and smiled.
"Really?"
"Yeah, but I'll bring you juice, all right?"
"Yes, thank you."
Takeshi tried not to reserve as much as possible. He has visited here a lot when he was a kid, so if he reserves, he will look just stiff. He didn't want to be like that.
"Here you are."
Takeshi received the orange juice that was poured into the glass.
"Thank you."
After taking a sip, he put the glass on the table softly and looked around the room. The room was filled with Yumi's photos. Yumi was smiling in all of those photos. What was sad was, the pictures were completely same things as he visited here last time. It means that, the time has been stopping at that moment.
"It's really been 7 years," dropped Atsuko.
"Yes, it has," answered Takeshi heavily.
"A lot of things happened in these 7 years."
Atsuko's voice sounded tired. When Yumi disappeared, her parents acted for Yumi very hard. They put posters, distributed handbills in front of the station...they did that a lot, almost everyday. However, Yumi wasn't found at all. They even went to TV stations again and again. Maybe Atsuko is reminding of those things.
"I have to say thank you to you too."
"Don't mention it, you don't have to thank me."
Atsuko looked like she was longing old days and said, "You might be the person who worried about her most. Aren't you the person too that was the most close to her?"
Actually, he was. Takeshi was close to Yumi as much as Takada Chie. He's played with just her secretly.
"You used to come here when you were little."
Takeshi reminded about those days and smiled gently.
"I did."
"You played game all together."
"We did a lot of things here."
"Yeah."
There was a momentary pause in the conversation, and the atmosphere went heavy. Takeshi couldn't break the silence.
"I wonder where she disappeared. Probably whe might be..."
"No, absolutely not!"
Atsuko looked shocked with Takeshi's words, but made a gentle smile.
"Yeah, especially I shouldn't say such things."
"Of course, probably she will be still somewhere."
Atsuko nodded again and again without words, and said, "Yes, she is alive."
It sounded like she was telling herself to believe like that with a strong tone.
Atsuko took Takeshi to Yumi's room when he finished drinking juice.
"You haven't seen her for a long while too," said Atsuko opening the door.
"Yes."
Inside of the room wasn't changed at all. Pink colour wall paper, posters of anime characters. The arrangements of stuffed animals. Things on the desk also don't look changed.
"It's been unchanged ever since at that time. For any time she comes back."
"Certainly she will come back."
"Takeshi."
"Yes?"
"Do you still have the thing and taking care of it?"
He didn't need to hear what it was, it was about the beads ring. He's shown the ring to Atsuko when Yumi disappeared.
"Sure I do."
He put it out, and showed Atsuko.
"Please take care of it."
"Definitely." Takeshi nodded strongly.
After that, what he could do is only to cheer her up. It was not a sympathy, rather he felt guilty. Atsuko doesn't know why Yumi disappeared suddenly. Today, the day Yumi disappeared seven years ago, Takeshi and his friends made sure their stories agree.
"Yumi disappeared suddenly when we were playing hide-and-seek."

Look at Me!

Look at my legs. Don't I have slender beautiful legs?

Look at my fur. Isn't it so soft and mild?

And look at the colour. Don't you think the stripe of white and light brown is so pretty? Especially about my tummy, it looks like a towel that is just finished washing.

Look at my pose. Oh, maybe it is too sexy for you. Better not to gaze at me so much, your nose will bleed.

Uh-oh, don't touch me ladies. I'm so noble and beautiful. Only my master can touch me :P

Cofortable Works

I like poems of Aida Mitsuo. He might not be so popular, but I'm sure maybe everyone has seen one of his works once at least. Especially recently, his poems are shown in the screens of JR trains.

However I wrote that I like his works just now, it doesn't mean that I have read his poems a lot. Maybe I just like the style of his works. He writes his poems with an unique letters. So, what I meant was maybe everyone has seen his poems with his letter. They are so peculiar and maybe you will remember it that you've seen it before when you see them again.

The other day, I went to his museum. There were a lot of his poems and they are replaced a few times in a year. It was my first time visiting the museum but I felt that I wanted to go there again. I felt calm at the place. What made me surprised was there were English translations beside each poem that was put on the walls. Regretfully, there wasn't any English translations in the goods at the museum store, but I think that it is still interesting to go to the museum and see his poems and buy some goods. His works are really tasteful and maybe you like them...But it's just my guess :P

Stumbling does not matter; to err is human.

Human Relationships

Special days help me with meeting my friends. However I had some good friends in my school life, I haven't hung around with them so much. I like my friend Kaori so much but haven't even go shopping with her! We also haven't been somewhere just with each other. We sometimes say things like that "Let's go somewhere together" but I haven't gotten the chance yet. Usually, we meet at drinking parties that I make and some events of our circle in the university, so the chances are little.

Let me write about our past. I belonged to a circle when I entered my university. In the same grade, five people including me belonged there firstly. Three guys and two girls. Mayumi was one of them. She was a talkative and fun girl. We got close soon. After a while two other girls came. One of them was Kaori. Kaori belonged to the same group with the other girl in her school life, and they were close. We had some events in the circle but I was feeling that it was something hard to be close to the two girls since they were so close. I told it to Mayumi and she felt the same way.

After a year, the the things changed a lot. Kaori and the other girl didn't speak to each other anymore. It's because the other girl started going out with one of us, and didn't like Kaori talking to him. She got so jealous when she found them talking enjoyably one day and got so mad. She accused Kaori and stopped talking. At the same time, Mayumi repeated a year. So Kaori and me got closer since then. The couple became unsociable because of the girlfriend's jealousy. I asked them to come to drinking parties sometimes but stopped because they didn't come however I asked them again and again.

The girlfriend was a really jealous person. I don't know if it's because he was her first boyfriend, but her actions were too terrible sometimes. For example, he used to have a lot of friends to talk with. But his girlfriend didn't like it when he talked to his friends no matter they were guys or girls, and made him stop talking to them. She didn't allow him to email his female friends, even we couldn't talk to him like before. Soon, they stopped coming to the circle. I saw him on the campus sometimes, but couldn't talk to him so much. And since then, Kaori and me have kept becoming closer and closer.

Alittle bit before, we had a farewell and welcome party of two important people of our circle. I contacted Kaori beforehand, and we both went there. It was the 3rd or 4th time that I met her after graduation. We talked a lot about our jobs, love, etc. I thought that only three out of seven people of our grade would come, but a special one came lately. It was him. One of the couple came! I was so glad talking to him again. I thought that I should start asking him again when we make events. I'm not sure if he can come...I even don't know if he still go out with her, but I don't want to break our relationship anymore. He might feel sorry if he can't come however he's asked a lot, but it will be better than nothing. I'm sure that seven of us' common feeling is about us, the days around when we went to a hot spring together was the best. We all were close and sharing enjoyable time. Maybe the time was the most precious time of our relationship and it would be the best time forever. We can't go back, we have to keep going. Our relationship got lost, but I got Kaori as one of my best friends instead. Someday, I want to go to hot spring with her again. I really hope we can be good friends forever.

Thumb Seeking (Seal -2-)

When the train went into the tunel, the sun's glare vanished.
It was 4 o'clck in the evening. Takeshi was shaken up by the train. It is screeching in a fixed manner.
March 25th - the universitiy is already in its spring break. Takeshi had been with his friend from university Tsuchiya Yuuki moments ago. All of a sudden he got a call from Yuuki, and he asked Takeshi to come with him to take a look at some cars because he wanted to buy one soon. Takeshi didn't have to work at that day, so he decided to go with Yuuki. As a result, he has been taken around since morning.
The day is the day that Takeshi can't forget. No, it's the day that he must not forget. It has been just 7 years since Yumi suddenly disappared. The 7 years went so quickly. Takeshi turns twenty this year.
Is Yumi alive now?
His hope is for her to be alive. But if he says he didn't give up, it would be a lie. Because he didn't even hear a single word about her in these 7 years.
He will become an adult soon. He rememberd a conversation with Yuuki thinking about things like that.
After all that seraching they couldn't find a car that Yuuki liked. On the way to the station, the words that came out of Yuki's mouth were almost exclusively about cars.
"Only the driving skills test is left. So I have to get my car quickly to be able to drive it soon after getting mt licence."
Takeshi got tired of Yuuki's constant babbling about cars. Yuuki's always been the talkative type, but at that time his excitement level was beyond the norm.
Takeshi and Yuuki both belong to the faculty of Japanese literature at their university. They got close little by little taking advantage of sitting next to each other. And now, they meet on holidays.
"Hey, Takeshi."
Surprisingly Takeshi recovered his senses. He thought about what happened 7 years back.
"Oh, sorry. Well, what was the topic about?"
Yuuki got mad and clicked his tongue.
"Well, was the written exam difficult?"
Takeshi got his drive license as soon as he graduated from highshool. He passed the written exam and the driving skills test smoothly. So, he is kind a Yuuki's senior.
"Yeah, you can't pass it if you don't study in some degree."
"I know that. Hey, can't you ask me a few questions?"
"I don't remember any questions. Maybe I can't pass it if I take it now."
"Then, it's okay to ask me your own questions. Ask me some questions."
"I wonder if I can make my own questions though." Takeshi looked doubtful.
"Damn, you are not useful. But, it's okay. Somehow I'll manage on the day of the exam."
As usual, Yuuki was going his own way. He kept talking like a chatty girl.
"Hey." Interrupting him, Takeshi moved his mouth.
"Uh? Why did you get serious all of a sudden?"
Takeshi found himself starting to tell about that incident.
"Sorry, nothing."
"What? I wanna know. Say it," said Yuuki fretfully.
"No, there is really nothing."
"Anyway, say it!"
Once things become like that, Yuuki was so persistent. He seemed he wouldn't stop asking until Takeshi said something. Takeshi gave up and told him about it as a rumor.
"It's just a rumor."
Yuuki nodded.
"I just suddenly remembered about it."
"About what?"
"Have you ever heard of a rumor about thumb seeking when we were the age around a kid at elementay shool?"
Takeshi finally broke the seal.
"Thumb seeking? What's that?" Yuuki scowled nervously. Takeshi evaded.
"Ah, I also just heard about it. Just suddenly it came on my mind."
"I see, but I really don't know about it."
"Yeah, I see."
When Takeshi smiled and made it all right, Yuuki started talking about cars again. Takeshi felt it easier talking about cars.

When the train shook hardly, Takeshi found himself holding a strap. He bowed lightly and sayd sorry in a low voice since he hit a person beside him.
As he was vacantly viewing outside of the window holding the strap, he heard a conversation between three highschool girls sitting in front him. Their discussiion reached his ears naturally, but he wasn't all that concerned.
"Wasn't the movie scary, especially the last scene."
"Yeah, I was about to scream."
"But it's just a movie in the end. It's just a made-up story."
It was just small talk. Their voices were very loud and they stood out conspicuously. Based on the old lady's facial expression, she looked pretty annoyed.
"By the way, did you watch the TV program last night?"
"Yup, I did. There were some stories that we knew. I felt those ones were more terrifying in comparison to the events that transpired in the movie."
"In particular, there were a lot of stories when we were school girls."
"Yeah, there were. I head of 'kokkurisan,' but it isn't a scary story."
"Ah, I know that."
"The story 'The samurai in the grasses' that Tomo told us was scary, wasn't it?"
"Eh? What was the story about?"
"Tomo and her friends played with a ball in a park when they were schoolgirls and schoolboys. And then, Tomo kicked the ball and it went into the grass by accident. Another kid went to find the ball but she couldn't find it anywhere. And when she started going back, she suddenly saw a samurai style guy covered with blood."
"Isn't it scary? And then?"
"It was too shocking and scary so she lost her consciousness. They all went together to see the samurai in the grass next day."
"And?"
"Suddenly blood came out of Tomo's leg, so it was cut! Then at the next moment, suddenly the girl who lost her consiousness said, 'did you come here to find me?' in a different voice. Don't you find it scary?"
"It's really freaky!"
"I have another story too."
"What's that?"
"The story 'thumb seeking.'"
All of the noises; the train noise, the cell phone's ringing noise etc. dissapeared into her words.
At the moment, Takeshi reacted sensitively. He looked at the girls. Without noticing it, three of them keep talking.
"Thumb seeking? What is the story about?"
"I don't know the detail either. In the story, a woman was living in a villa alone. One day, she was killed in the villa and dismembered. But only her left thumb remained missing."
"Isn't it creepy?"
"It's a story about going finding the lost left thumb..."
"How do you find it?"
"I don't know. Wasn't the part going to find it made up to scare people?"
"Hmmm."
No, it's wrong. Takeshi was stupefied and gazed at them.
'Do you know thumb seeking?'
Yumi's voice came back on his mind.
He didn't expect them to talk about the story. He swallowed his saliva and looked at them hard. Then, one of the girls noticed him gazing at them.
"Sorry...? "
Coming to his senses, he realized that they were looking at him. A sense of shame emerged within him.
"Sorry."
Takeshi let the strap go and went to another cart, it looked as if he were trying to escape.

I'd Rather Choose...

I remember that I wrote about taking snapshots almost a year ago. This time, I will write about it again. As you know, most people can't smile naturally when a camera is focused on them. About me, it's the same. It's impossible for me to make a non forced smile in front of a camera unless I'm really enjoying something and don't care about the camera so much. What do I do at that time then? I'd rather choose making a funny face at the situation.

I've made funny faces when I took printclubs too. I was trying to smile before, but one day I stopped since I noticed that it was impossible for me. Gladly, I was good at making funny faces more than other friends of mine (some friends said my face was something like I gave up being a girl sometimes, lol), so I started trying making such faces instead. The more my face in the printclub becomes horrible/funny one, the more happy I got. You know, when you try smiling naturally in a picture, but if you notice that it was not the face you wanted to make, you'll get upset and maybe you can't like the picture so much. But if you made a funny face in the picture and it was horrible/funny more than you thought, it's a success! So, I can be more happy in the situation since I made a face better than I expected. Maybe some girls can't understand but I'm still happy enough because surely I can make my friends laugh with my funny face :P

Thumb Seeking (Seal -1-)

"I have had very strong abilities to see ghosts since I was a kid, so I've encountered them a lot."
Takeshi got interested in the female performer's words in the screen talking innocently. He woke up slowly and sat crossing his legs on the bed.
"Really?" Asked the MC in a strained manner.
"Yes, the first time I saw it was when I was in third grade. I suddenly woke up at midnight. And then, I saw my dead grand father standing before me. I felt that he was saying something to me, but did't know what he was saying. Grandpa? I called him, and he disappared softly."
"Weren't you scared?" Asked the MC curiously. The performer shaked her head.
"It was definetely not scared. I was glad rather than it. I was a kid who really liked grandpa."
"But if I were you, I'd get scared, if a dead person were standing." The MC reacted exaggeratedly. The performer chuckled and said I see.
"I don't know why, but ghosts I encounter are't scary. Like when I was temporarily paralysed, an elf was running in front of my eyes. I didn't know what it meant." "I don't know either." Smiled the MC.
"And I had an out-of-body experience once."
"An OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCE?" Takeshi reacted sensitively and gazed at the TV much more.
"Master, what is an out-of-body experience?" The MC turned his face to the medium and asked.
The medium who puts a lot of rosaries moved her mouth.
"Simply, it's understandable to say that it is a thing that your soul goes out from you body. The soul can move freely. It is an out-of -body experience. Some people say that it is a dream, but I don't think so."
The MC gave affirmative nods.
"Did you really experience such a thing?" He turned his body to the performer again.
"Yeah, it's true. At that time, I woke up at midnight too. But surprisingly, I saw me sleeping. I got scared. I was floating in midair."
"And then?"
"I got happy about myself floating and went out of home and went various places. But I suddenly got scared, and a critical mind like I have to go back crossed my mind, and went back to my body."
After hearing that, the MC folded his arms with making a wry face. He nodded and said, "I can't imagine. I haven't experienced it even once. But I remember that we livened up with scary stories and rumors when we were little kids. We have made some scary sotries by ourselves too."
Rumors...
Takeshi turned off the TV reflecxively. It became silent again. After breathing out and standing up from the bed, he sat down in front of his study desk.
The desk was messy. A laptop. Comic books. Teaching materials of his university. Coins and convenience store's receipts. Sunglasses. Rubber bands. An eraser was there too. Regardless of how messy his desk was, one thing was actually kept organised. It has been 7 years since that happened.
Takeshi streched his hand to his collection of graduation compositions. He turned the pages.

'My Dream' 6-3 Sawa Takeshi
I want to become the best cook in the world. The reason why I think so is, when I was watching TV by chance, a cook was making a very nice food. He gave it to guests. They said it was yummy and their face looked very satisfied. When I saw it, I felt that I wanted to make a yummy food too. In the future, I wanna go abroad for training, start my own restaurant, make yummy foods, and want to become a cook that guests say yummy to my foods. So, therefore I want to start studying about foods a lot.

When he finished reading his composition, he was smiling. He doesn't think about such a thing these days. He can't even use a kitchen knife, and also isn't interested in it. He was thinking that he wanted to become a cook at that time by chance. He jeered at himself for writing that he wanted to become a cook as a child. Usually, things are like that. There are not so many people whose wishes were realized. We don't know about the future. He lives an ordinary life without thinking about his dream. No, it's wrong. When he thinks about something, things about Yumi always cross his mind. He is bound by the past. Takeshi always had a guilty conscience.

'Memories of My 6 Years and Me' 6-3 Tadokoro Yumi
I made various friends in these 6 years. Takeshi, Chie, Tomohiko, Nobuhisa; these are the four people whom I've became especially friendly with in my 6th grade class. We were also in the same group during our school trip. Five of us hung around after school a lot. They sometimes came to my house and played video game, card game, sometimes went to the park and played hide-and-seek, so they were really fun.
I had made bead accessories with Chie. We also made a ring that make things whatever we wish become true if it doesn't break until we become an adult. I want to value it.
And I want to become a school teacher. If I can, a teacher at an elementary school. I want to become a teacher like our cheerful class teacher Ms.Itagaki. So, I want to study a lot after entering junior highschool and make efforts to become a teacher.

Takeshi closed the composition gently. If we didn't do such a thing at that time, Yumi might have made an effort to become a teacher, or she might have aimed for other goals. Anyway, Yumi isn't here anymore. From that moment on, it was apparent that her dreams could not be fulfilled.
'Thumb seeking'
If we didn't do such a thing at that time.

Oh My Wallet Is Old!

I think there are three things that I should buy at that time, if I find them.

1. Shoes: Since my feet are larger than Japanese girls average, sometimes it is hard to find shoes of my size. If you wear wrong shoes, your feet will be hurt.But however the size doesn't matter, even finding design of shoes that you like isn't easy. I think finding the right size shoes with your favorite design.

2. Bags: Finding favorite bags is also not so easy. In some cases, when you are looking for a bag, maybe you have something that you can't give way. For example, when I was seeking a bag for school, I couldn't give way about finding "a strong bag". It was because my textbooks are so heavy, and I had to bring it to school. The bag also had to have size in some degree because of the textbooks' size. But of course, if you don't like the design, you don't wanna use it. Strong bag with right size plus, your favorite design...so hard to find. Actually, when my bag broke at the end of my school life, I didn't buy a new one since I didn't think I could find a bag that I would like, and also didn't think that I needed such a strong bag for bringing heavy textbooks anymore after graduation.

3. Wallets: I think it will be the most difficult one to find if you are particular about it. I decided that I should buy the wallet when I find my favorite one since I noticed that it was so hard to find my favorite wallet. It might be just my taste, but about shoes and bags, I have ways to give. But about a wallet, no. About bags and shoes, I can keep many and use different ones for the purpose or my feelings. But I don't think that most people uses some wallets and use different ones because of their feelings everyday. So, I can use only one. Therefore when I find one that I want, I want to try to buy it as soon as possible. Or else, I wouldn't meet other wallets that I feel like buying for a while. However I'm thinking like that, the real is not so easy. Actually I found my favorite wallet today, however it was almost ￥14,000. It might be not too expensive, but expensive for me. So I have to have a talk with my present wallet if I can buy it or not...I need some space inside of my wallet (of course it doesn't mean that it is better if my wallet is empty, lol) or else, I might get involved in a big trouble later :P

PS. Do you know what is easy to find however I have my taste? It is clothes!! Some brands have similar designs of clothes at the same time, so it is much easier to find clothes that I want to buy!

Crows

I know that people don't like crows, at least here in Japan. But I like them. Especially what is called ハシブトガラス (Corvus macrorhynchos) in Japan. Crows are hated by people because they look scary, break garbage bags and mess up. But I like them because I they look cute. Especially their eyes. I know that I'm different from general people, but they really look cute for me. I like their size too. Bigger than other birds we can see generally. Here, I have some stories of crows.

• A crow put a walnut on the road to make cars run over it and broke the nut and ate it. What's interesting is, it put the nut where the cars tires came after the traffic signal turned to be blue.
• Crows in a precinct buy their food by themselves. You know that Japanese temples or shrines have offertory boxes in front of the structures. The shrine has a vending machine of pigeons' food close to the structure too for people that feed pigeons. Crows living there steal money from the box and buy the food by themselves.

So they are very clever. They are much more clever than normal monkeys. And that's why I like them. I heard that they remember people's faces and never forget people who attached their nests. Actually, my mom told me that her dad brought a baby crow -whose eyes were not opened yet- from a mountain, and fed it. It grew up and when he called its name, it flew down from the sky and perched on his shoulder. It sounds really nice for me. I really want to experience it! Since they are such cleaver birds. If they become tame with humans, it would be so nice to play with. I dream that one day I'm putting a big glossy black crow on my arm and patting it :P But I know, it would be just my dream.

What I am Lack in...

Recently, my off days are like something boring. It is fun when I go somewhere or do something with friends of course, however when I have nothing to do, it is really boring. Today is the day like that, I woke up and stayed at home whole a day without doing anything special.

Yesterday was fun. I went to karaoke and drinking with my pharmacist and nurse friends after work, and did a lot of GIRL'S TALK. The pharmacist friend is my classmate of high school, and the other nurse friend was in the same room with her when we went to a training in March. So we all are working at hospitals in the same group. After separating with the nurse friend, we hang out in LUMINE EST (a department store in Shinjuku) and my friend bought a pretty skirt. It was almost 50% off because the summer bargain was just started and she looked so happy. I like fashion too. I didn't see and buy anything last night. We didn't have so much time and I thought that I shouldn't spend a lot of money for clothes, but of course I want to go shopping...I love it.

The friend who broke up just a couple of days before the training meeting looked so tired, mad and sad at that time (but it couldn't be helped) however she got to like a Physical Therapist guy at her hospital, and now her life is kind a fun thing because of him. But regretfully, she doesn't have any common thing with him, so she's thinking how to get in touch with him.

I envy her since she makes efforts to get prettier. She buys pretty clothes, spends money to make her hair pretty, do diet...and she is interested in depilation of whole body now. As you know it is expensive, almost 200,000 yen (she said), but she is seriously considering about it. Of course I'm interested in it too, when I heard the price, I thought maybe I couldn't get the operation because of the prise. So she is really a girl. She is proud of being a girl, and always wants to get prettier for herself and her bf. Maybe I can't be girlish more than her. But anyway I hope that she can get a chance to talk to him and get him. But unexpectedly, it is decided that I'm transferred to the hospital in this month, so I will get a chance to glance him. I hope that we can go out more than before (to tell the truth, we didn't meet even once in a year after graduated high school) since we will work at the same hospital soon, and get a little more girlish than now like her :P And I know that I have something to fix about my character because I'm usually negative about new things, so I have to say like "Ah! It sounds good! Why don't we try it?" obediently (^_^;) I always want to be like such a girl, but you know...the real doesn't go so easily :S

Hydrangea

As you know Cherry blossoms represent Japanese spring, Hydrangea is also a very popular flower in the rainy season of Japan. The rainy season is in June and beginning of July here, and it is so popular to see Hydrangeas blooming beautifully in gardens. The language of flowers of it is "fickleness" since the colour of the flower changes while it is blooming. The parts that look like petals are actually sepals, and real petals are in the centre and don't stand. The origin species of Hydrangea is from Japan but it looks different from what is popular these days. Hydrangeas' colours depend on the pH of the ground they are. If the pH is acid, the blue colour is strong, but if it is alkalinity, the colour becomes much more purple.

I don't like the rainy season here because it is so dump and not comfortable to go out, however, the season is so important for us because it is necessary to grow rice. And however I feel so uncomfortable about this season, not everything is bad since I can see pretty Hydrangea flowers. If you come to Japan in this season, you should definitely see Hydrangeas. It is not as popular as cherry blossoms for foreigner, but I believe that it is also one of the most beautiful flowers that you can see generally in Japan.

花火 -Fireworks-

Hanabi / plane

You tell lies really well
With the speed even tears don't come out
Pass the ticket gate, and it's there soon
I saw the day's sight

However my last hope is gone
I have to walk the present time
"Don't worry, sleep well tonight"
I wanna hear words like that

Like the loneliness after fireworks
You catch and let off my heart
If I were you, I will absolutely protect you
I don't let off, can't let off

I was holding not to get astray
The sky we saw together standing on tiptoe
You looked down without saying anything
Beside me frolicking innocently

Like the loneliness after fireworks
You come to my mind softly
Can I forgive you longing for another one some day?

If I say I'm okay, it is a lie
Wanna meet you, can't meet you
My heart gets ache
What made me remind of you that was not here anymore was
The small station the train specially stopped

Like the loneliness after fireworks
You catch and let off my heart
If I were you, I will absolutely protect you
I don't let off, can't let off

In the noises after fireworks
You come to my mind softly
"See you again" in the end of the summer
The season started changing

You tell lies really well
With the speed even tears don't come out

Summer is the season that a lot of fireworks are displayed anywhere in Japan. I like going to fireworks displays, however I haven't been there for a few years. It is popular for girls to wear yukata...kind a kimono when they go to fireworks display or festival in the summer especially when they go there with their boyfriends. I guess guys like seeing girls in yukatas since they look different and much prettier than normal days :) I haven't gone on a date wearing my yukata with my bf since I was too shy to act like a 'normal girl', however I think that I should before getting old, lol.

Anyway, I felt the styles looking at fireworks are different between Japanese and Americans when I went to the Friendship festival at Yokota Air Base last summer. In Japan, we see them without saying anything since fireworks are things that make us feel a little bit lonely and sentimental since they are the symbol of the end of the summer. We sometimes say something like "Oh...so pretty" or something, and clap hands...but that's it. We don't say something loudly, and also don't whistle. However, when I saw some fireworks at the air base, American people were shouting and whistling a lot. I thought it interesting. However, I prefer Japanese style. Looking at fireworks wearing yukata and holding around fan. Hopefully, I have a nice boyfriend beside me at the time :P

Worthless Thought

"Doing something for other people is like, you get satisfied because of it, so actually it is not for other people but for yourself".

Someone told me it before. I thought it was true. I didn't think in the way like that, so it was a really new way of looking at things, but I agreed without any objection. I even thought it was interesting. However the action is what we sacrifice ourselves, we get satisfied instead, so we do such a thing. However little the satisfaction is, we act like that because we definitely get the small feeling of accomplishment or satisfaction. If we really don't get anything, we won't do anything for other people. But what I wonder is, movement of feelings like getting sad or getting glad like that is caused by some chemical substances. For example, say I am jilted by my bf, so I get very sad, get nihilistic feelings, and even if I want to die, those things are just controlled by electronic impulse among neurons or hormone or stuff like that. If I think like that, things get silly but we desire such joy or satisfaction caused by such chemical substances and live every day. People's working is just that of chemical substances', lol.

I'm living today with using electricity and hormones to think such a worthless thing.

　「人にために何かするのってそうしたことによって自分の心が満たされるんだから、結局は人のためじゃなくて自分のためだよね。」

　昔誰かが私にそう言った。確かにって思った。今までそんな風な考え方をしたことなんてなくて、まったく新しい物の見方の切り口だったけど、すんなり納得がいった。面白いとさえ思った。自身を犠牲にしたような行動でも、それと引き換えに満足感を得るから私たちはそういうことをするんだ。たとえそれがどんなに些細なものだったとしても、その小さな達成感、満足感を確かに私たちは得ている。自分が得るものが本当に全くないのであれば、人のために何かをしたりなんてしないだろう。でも不思議なのは、悲しかったりだとか嬉しかったりだとか、そういう気持ちの動きは何らかの化学物質によるものだということ。例えば私が彼氏に振られたとして、すごく悲しくて虚無感に襲われてたとえ死にたかったとしても、その感情を支配しているのは神経間の電気刺激だったりホルモンだったりするんだよね…。そう考えると何かいろいろ馬鹿らしくなってくるけど、その化学物質によって起こされる喜びや満足感を求めて人は日々生きている。人々の営みってまさに化学物質の営みなんだね（笑）

　そんなくだらないことを考えるのに電気やホルモンを使いながら今日も私は生きています。

I Love Museums!

I love museums!! Especially museums that we can touch their exhibitions directly. And about such museums, I know one here in Tokyo. It's name is Fukagawa Edo museum and I went there today. It was the second time of my visiting. I have been there several years ago when I was a junior high school student. I remembered that there was really interesting place to visit, and wanted to go there again. So, fortunately, I got the chance to go there again! The museum has an Edo period display of reconstructed Fukagawa Saga-cho people houses. I really love those historical displays. I know a few amusement parks that they have something like Showa period display as well, and love them too. One of them is Namco Namjatown in Ikebukuro, and the other is Raumen museum in Yokohama (it's name is 'museum', but it is an amusement park).

What do I like about the museum I went today is we can touch almost all the things that they are displaying. We can see what they were using at that time, how the room was, what they were eating...etc. So, we can know how people were living in the era through walking around there, going into the houses and see stuffs. And what is amazing is, things there are really payed careful attentions to details, (the measurement of everything is exact) and they even has a robot cat on roof of a house (it is very typical thing in Japanese old days)! Moreover, they have a huge screen at the in the exhibition hall and change times and weather by using sounds and lights! Don't you get interested in the museum? The museum reminds us some emotional things about old good Japanese days. But I'm sure that such a historical place about Japanese culture is interesting for foreigners. How do you think?

Feel Like Doing BBQ

I suddenly thought that I wanted to do BBQ!! My ideal is doing it beside a river. I haven't done it for a long while. Doing it with some friends is really fun, don't you think? It is better to do it with some guys since they work a lot, especially about fire. I like eating rice that is cooked with fire that we make at campsite since it has some burnt rice and it is so yummy. I love it!

It is needless to cooperate with friends when we are making meal outside. And it is fun if we do it with not only a few friends but more friends. I want at least 5 or 6 friends at that time and if I have 7 or 8, it would be much nicer! Going to supermarket with some people to buy some meat, correcting some twigs to help making fire, and chatting while cooking, etc. Everything is so fun. I wanna do that at least in this summer! But the problem is, I don't have many friends. :S And however if I had, i suppose that it would be hard to make a time with all my friends. It is sad since I want to share my time with my friends that I like.

As I wrote before, I don't need a lot of friends. I need just a few good friends that I can talk anything that I want to, enjoy sharing times, help each other when we get into trouble. But I think that things like doing BBQ is different from what I want to do with my good friends. Of course I will definitely enjoy it with my friends too, however I think that it is a kind of things that I can enjoy though I'm with only strangers. (But to tell the truth, I'm shy of strangers, lol.) Anyway, I really feel like doing it now! It must be so enjoyable!!

Golden Week

There are three consecutive national holidays on the calendar (from May 3rd to 5th), and it is called golden week. Golden week is the longest vacation for most people that are working here in Japan. However the holidays don't last for whole a week, some people get their paid holidays beside the days, and make it be for a whole week. It may be hard to believe about it for you since I heard that you can get more holidays in Western countries, but Golden week is the first and also the last chance to get such a long holidays in a year. In Japan, getting holidays for a week or two weeks in other time is almost impossible. Therefore people go trip and rush to amusement places in the week, and everywhere is crowded. Guess that if you go to Tokyo Disney Land at the time! You'll wait for 2~3 hours in the line at every attraction, and will get very tired! It is smart not going such a place!

Since everyone goes somewhere, the costs about going to trips are much much more expensive than that in normal seasons. However I like going to somewhere, I would like not go anywhere this time. So expensive and crowded, don't feel like going somewhere. :( I'd rather get holidays in another season if I could, but I know that it is impossible... I envy house wives on this point that they can make time for going to trip much easier at the time that they want to go than people that work. However, this golden week is one of when I can get to meet my friends. About this year, I have for 4 consecutive days holidays since May 3rd is Sunday (Next Monday goes into a holiday instead in case like that), and I will meet different friends each day. :D Since I don't wanna go crowded places, it can't be helped maybe. So, I'll try going to some normal places that people won't rush to very much.

Ah! I want to go to a trip so badly now! Maybe I should catch a nice rich guy as my husband who can get some long holidays, and turn myself to be a part time worker!!! Lol.

Capybara

Lately, I like capybara very much. It is one of friends of rat, but very big. They live east in south America close to water places. I think they look very sleepy, and hence, they are cute. Don't you think? lol. Also, their stuffed toys are very popular in Japan now. You can see they are sold as products feature at stores, and in UFO catcher games in arcades too. I sometimes go there and get some. I'm not good at getting things with UFO catchers, therefore I try getting it only if I think that I can.

A few days ago, I saw capybara at Ueno zoo. That was first time that I saw them as long as I remember, and I thought that they were nice as I had thought. They were eating foods at that time but suddenly, one of them evacuated suddenly!! I got shocked, because I was just saying my friend like, "Hey, look! Aren't they cute?!" or something. Life is like that, lol. Can't go cool.

Anyway, I wanna keep one as my pet someday, but know that this intention will end as my dream. :P I will keep a cute rat again and dreaming about keeping capybara one day, lol.

Circadian Rhythm

Every animal has its circadian rhythm and about humans, it is almost 24 hours. Since I started working, my circadian rhythm got front loading. It is because I have to get up at 5 in the morning, so I usually go to bed at 11 p.m. You may think that it is later than 11 o'clock already, but I'm staying up because tomorrow is my off day. :P

It's interesting that I haven't fell into a sleep while I was talking to my friend on phone before working; I stayed up until morning sometimes but lately, I fall into a sleep EVERY TIME without noticing. :S Maybe it means that I am getting so tired recently. :( Work is so tough.

When I went to Canada, I really didn't feel the jet lag (but it was maybe because I slept a lot on the flight), however, lately I can't stand staying up, always feel so so sleepy around 11 p.m. and fall into a sleep so quickly.

I think that sleeping in early time is good for skin, and good for next day. There is a proverb "早起きは三文の徳". It means that the person who gets up early profits something. "文(mon)" is one of old denominations. I searched the proverb in English, and in some websites, it is said, "the early bird catches the worm". Is it popular in Western countries? lol. I wonder if I can really get something if I get up early, however, guess that at least I can spend time usefully. :) So, maybe I should keep this habit when the next day is off too. :S

By the way, I can't say SQUIRREL correctly yet however I tried to fix my pronunciation a lot! I wonder if I'm able to say it in the future, lol.

Sakura

Cherry blossom trees are called "Sakura" in Japan, and its flower is very familiar with people here. Usually, the flower is in bloom early in April, and people go cherry blossom viewing to places that have beautiful cherry blossom trees. It is like a picnic, since we keep the places with blue seat, and bring foods and drink. We call it "hanami".

Sakura reminds us a new life too. Not as same as western countries, our new life starts in April. People start going to school, woking at a company as a new member of society...etc. Therefore sakura is a symbol of beginning of new life. And of course, it is a symbol of spring too. What is the most beautiful in Japan is sakura I think. If you ask Japanese what is beautiful in Japan this time, I'm sure that most of them would say "It's sakura".

We even have "sakura front forecast" in spring in the weather news. The kind of sakura they pick up is someiyoshino. It is the most popular kind of sakura here. Its flowers come out in the spring first, and leaves come out after flowers fall. I don't like when both flowers and leaves are on the same tree since it looks dirty. The best time of sakura is when it has only flowers on its branches, and the second is when it has only leaves.

However, I like falling sakura too. Especially when it is in a Japanese style garden. If its petals fall in the pond, it looks pretty. Anyway, I like sakura too, and think that feeling calm with seeing sakura is a kind of feelings that most of Japanese have.

It Was a Special Day

It was a special day...however, I didn't feel that it was special. It was like one of normal passing days, and I felt like the new semester would start from April.

However, it was my last day of school. We all were dressing up. In Japan, most girls wear "kofurisode" and "hakama" on the day of their graduation ceremony in universities. Yeah, it was one of my special day...it must be, however, I really didn't feel so. It wasn't so impressive, and some of my friends told me that they thought so too.

I can't believe that I have to start working from April...as a new member of society. My past life went so quick. Soon, I have to earn money...not for making pin money, but for living. When I was little, I felt that adults were mature. Even junior high school students or high school students looked so. But in real, I passed the age, graduated my uni, and now, I'm about to start working in a hospital. I can't believe, I can't believe. Is my mentally age enough to be called an adult? Maybe no.

I worry about my new life from April at my working place. It is natural that worrying about new life if there are nothing special, but I think that I have to worry about it more than others since I didn't send the new year greeting card to the person who will be my boss (and I heard that he was an unreasonable person) and made him call me twice when I was abroad. (T_T) Maybe I made him bad impression of me before starting working. Moreover, I noticed that he was a person that makes sarcastic remarks when I called him back...

Anyway, I still have a lot of things to do before starting working. Getting documents, buying something, etc. I hope that I can survive in the tough ADULT world.

Which Do You Like Better, Sightseeing or Resorts?

I prefer Sightseeing much more than going to resorts, since I think that sea resorts don't have much differences wherever I go. It may be wrong, but I think spots for sightseeing have much more difference and their own colours.

Lately, I went to Thailand with my friends as our graduation trip. Some friends around us chose resorts like Guam, but we chose the country. We visited Bangkok and Ayutaya there. The cultural assets were really cool. I liked them. :) We saw there statues of Buddha a lot. In Japan, we have a lot of them that are sitting, however, in Thailand, there are a lot of them that are lying down. I didn't notice it until my friend told me about it, and thought it was interesting.

What I surprised about Bangkok is that sometimes traffic signals didn't work. The tour guide told us that in some area, traffic signals work only in the morning time, and at night, it is impossible to believe it because I live in Japan, however, I surely saw that the traffic signals that didn't work, lol. And the public streets in Thailand are bad. They are bumpy roads however they are big. I sometimes felt like I was hopping on the car's seat. And I saw people who ignore traffic signals! They went their own way because if they hesitate, they can't go across the roads! Cars never stop for walkers when they are on side of roads and wait for car stopping. So, we had to find the timing to go across roads. It was a little bit scary since we didn't get used to it. We appreciated local people a bit, lol.

Anyway, it was interesting to visit Thailand. I want to go there again if I get a chance, and I wanna go some other places for sightseeing too. Hope that I will get a chance in the future. :D

Web album: A Trip to Thailand

I Want to Go to Enoshima

はるかな夕べ　作詞・作曲/岩瀬敬吾

何故昨日さえも憶えていないんだろう
何故不安な日は凍えてしまいそう
何故動けないと思ってしまうの
何ひとつ成し遂げられていないの
重ねてゆく中に思い出してしまったんだ

はるかな夕べ 動き出す列車は響き合い掛けのぼった
憧れはもう夢から覚めて何処かへと消えた
あれは確か君と見ていて綺麗だった

上手くやり直す事ばかり願った
今僕はひどくこじれてしまった
隠し続けるのはひどく胸を締め付ける

はるかな夕べ 動き出す列車の窓に立って眺めた
街並は揺れ遠い日差しが包んで溶かして行く
君の頬を黄色に染め綺麗だった

唱えた事がまるで指に止まる日
疑う事もなく来たんだと思う
空に似た

はるかな夕べ 動き出す列車は響き合い掛けのぼった
憧れはもう夢から覚めて何処かへと消えた
あれは確か君と見ていて綺麗だった


It's one of my favorite songs. It is writeen when Keigo went to Enoshima. He made it while he was in the jolting train which was called 'Enoden'.

I've heard that I can see pretty sunset in Enoshima. Since I listened to this song at live concert of Keigo at first, I've kept thinking of visiting Enoshima. I want to feel the scenes that are pictured in this song. This song has an atmosphere that is sad, mild, and warm.

I like the contrast of sunset. Especially sunset of summer. The orange and yellow light is so strong and makes silhouettes of things hard to see, but on the other hand, it makes very dark and long shadows too.

When I'm listening to this song, I always imagine a coach that is filled with orange light of sunset, and also the look of stores and houses on a street I can see from the windows, that are also hined by the sunset and making long dark shadows. I wanna experience the world that is filled with orange, yellow, and dark colour with the song at Enoshima someday.

The evening in the dinstance, I stood by the window of a pulling out train and gazed at it.
The rows of houses shook are been engulfing and melting by far off sunlight.
It dyed your cheeks yellow, and that was pretty.

The evening in the dinstance, the pulling out train echoed and I run up.
The longing already came out of a dream and dissapared somewhere.
I surely saw it with you and it was pretty.

Snowed in Tokyo Again

I played a Life Game Ⅱ of PS with my sister yesterday. I haven't touched my video game for a long time, and it was a little bit fun. At least, it helped killing my time. :(

We were thinking about climbing Mt. Takao yesterday, because it was 節分(the day before the calendrical beginning of spring) and we thought that we could see scattering parched beans at the temple there, however, we didn't go. It was snowing yesterday, and the snow lied on the load 15cm or so. Climbing a mountain in this weather is not sensible. I heard the snow was 5cm or so in the central of Tokyo, and it is a heavy snow for Tokyo. The Kanto region doesn't have snow, because clouds that bring snow come from the Sea of Japan (it is west side) and they stop at the mountains of Japan that run through our main island like the backbone. So, it is rare snowing here.

When I was a kid, I liked snow. If it snows a lot, schools are cancelled and I made a snowman beside our home. It used to snow like 30 cm a decade of years before, but sometimes. Maybe it is an effect of global warming. :( In our geography textbooks of junior high school, we saw a impressive picture of an area of heavy snowfall. It was Nigata, and people foes in and out from the second floor, because the snow was over 2m. But it is the story of past...like 50 years ago. It doesn't snow so much now.

What I hate about snow is roads with ice bar. ( It is not too cold like Hokkaido here, so snow melts in the daytime and becomes hard again at night. It is very dangerous. As I said here, it rarely snow, so we don't prepare for snow usually. The roads aren't prepared for snowing...like in Nigata, roads have a special structure for removing snow with water, and there are special cars for removing snow too, but we don't have them, and even don't have chains for car at home usually. To sum up, it is better not going outside and stay home if it snows. :P So, therefore I spent time with studying studying...doing video game video game and video game...

My New Friend

To tell the truth...I'm not good at waking up in the morning :S Though I have low blood pressure, I'm not bad at moving from early time, however, I can't wake up even I set my alarm, and make it ring again and again (I'm using my cell phone). I used to use an alarm clock long long time ago, however, don't remember if I woke up when it rand. But, I wanted to buy a loud alarm clock and found it, so, I bought it yesterday. :D I like analog clock more that digital clock, because I like the sound of clocks that have bells. The alarm clock that I bought was definitely one with two bells. Mentioning about the sizes, there are almost two sizes of this type of alarm clock, and bigger ones looked more noisy, however, I bought one of smaller ones. It was just because I thought that the smaller one looked better.

So, I got my new friend who will (may?) wake me up everyday. Of course I set the time last night and it woke me up at time today!! 素晴らしい！！（笑）I got a good friend. :D I went to sleep at 2 am last night. Normally, if my mom doesn't wake me up, I'll sleep until 9 or 10. However, I could wake up at 7!! I thought that I should take care of this small noisy friend. :P Especially about food? Because it wouldn't wake me up if it is hungry. XD

Want to Know How Much They Are

There are many bar code guys in Japan. They lost hair on top of their head, so they bring their little hair of the side to the other side via top of the head. Of course, it is not enough to cover all of their head, and seem unnatural. So, it's look like "bar code".Therefore they are sometimes called "バーコードオヤジ(bar code man)" or "バーコードハゲ(bar code bald)". However, you must not say the "bar code" when a man who has the hair is beside you. He may get shocked...or angry and you would involved in a trouble.

Most people who have little hair look that they don't have confidence about their looks. Maybe they think only if they had lots of hair...bla bla bla. Why do I think so is because a lot of people who don't have hair is trying to hide it by making their head like bar code. It may be a good way to hide their skin of top of their head, however, so UNNATURAL. Hair like kappa (it is a imaginary living that lives in rivers, and has a plate on its head) looks poor, however, bar code hair is so too. At least, I think so. Bar code hair makes us pay attention to his head. Think that a man who has poor hair on his side head, washing it carefully and setting the hair with a hair spray to bar code shape. Hmmm....looks soooooo poor. :S To people like that, it is better not to mention about hair. They will get upset. :( I would think that it is better not to hide the bald head, if I were a man, and noticed that my hair was decreasing. I'd rather shave all of my hair than hiding it with making bar code! Isn't it sportsmanlike? lol.

One day, I saw a man who has poor hair on the train. I was surprised his skin around his hair was so red. I thought that he tried using some strong medicine for growing hair. Of course it is not sure...but I thought people can try so hard like this when they want to take their hair back.

By the way, I want to do one thing to バーコードハゲ. It is...READING THEIR PRICE WITH A BAR CODE READER!! Do you think that it is possible? How poor he is if he were only ￥100? He can be sold at a 100 yen shop then. :D I'm sure that I'm too naughty and rude in this archive. What I have to say is...I'm sorry for bar code people all over Japan. Or all over the world, if they exist out of Japan.

How Do You Pay Money?

When I visited Canada, money annoyed me. Because in Japan, the size of coins is in order of the value of the coin, however, Canadian $ was different. And about Japanese coins, the number of the coin is very easy to see, however, Canadian coins are not so. It took for a while until I recognize which coin is which quicker.

In Japan, we usually pay money in the way to lose small coins as many as possible because it is troublesome to have a lot of same coins in the wallet. For example, if the things what I want to buy are totally ￥2,623, and if I don't have ￥623 exactly, I will pay ￥3,123 and will get one coin back as the change, so ￥500. We don't like having small coins like ￥1 or ￥5 or ￥10 so much. In Canada, I also tried to pay in such way, but, I couldn't since I haven't got used to their coins. I also thought that maybe I shouldn't pay in that way because we have to pay tips in Canada. When we first got to the hotel, a porter took our baggage, I thought that I should pay him tips, however, I didn't know the value of each coins yet and therefore couldn't do it well. I even couldn't use vending machines enough at that time! I was trying to put big paper money into it, however it didn't accept it. I was in a hurry, and didn't know what to do. While I was flustered in front of the vending machine, the porter came back and helped me! I was very ashamed at that time. I wanted to hand the porter tip for carrying our baggage, however, maybe I was acting weird because of getting strained and being ignorant.

After all, when I went to our room, I noticed that I did something wrong...I was shocked because I thought that I did some rude thing because of the ignorance and impatience. And I was a little bit shy to see his face whole the days at the hotel, lol.

Anyway, I learned that, in foreign countries, it is better to pay with big money and get big coins back as the change for tips :S However, the problem is, I will get small money that I can't use as tips a lot. So, I thought Japan is nice. However, it is just because we don't have to pay tips, and I've just got used to Japanese money :P

Written Oracles

In connection with the last archive, I wrote about Written Oracles. They are called "おみくじ (omikuji)" and it is very popular to consult an oracle (in Japanese, it is called おみくじを引く") especially in the new year season. People go to a Shinto shrine or temple...especially Shinto shrine, and pray for good luck of the year. And they consult an oracle to know their fortune of the year. The best one is "大吉 (daikichi)", and we are glad if we get it, lol. After reading the small piece of paper, we tie it to the trees or some places there.

What is written on an omikuji is complicated because it is written in old style Japanese. However, it is not too difficult to understand. The picture is the omikuji that I got last year, and it is "大吉"!! lol.

On the top, there is a song...that is in "短歌 (tanka)" style. Tanka is a style of old Japanese songs. it consists of 5 parts with 5, 7, 5, 7, 7 sounds. About this omikuji, the tanka is,

渦を巻く 谷の小川の 丸木橋 渡る夕べの こゝちするかな

explanation: 初めは危ない谷の小川の橋を渡るような心配事があるが驚き迷うことはありません。後には何も彼も平和に収まります。凡て小さいことも用心してすればよろしい。

At first, you will have some uneasiness like going on the bridge above a small stream of a dangerous valley , however, you don't have to get surprised and worry. Later, everything will fall into place peacefully. It will be all right if you do things carefully however small they are.

And the main part is from here.

願望 できかねるように危険を覚えるが後調う

待人 さわりあり 来たらず

失物 出がたし 下にあり

旅行 吉日をえらべ

商売 買うのは損控えよ

学問 安心して勉学せよ

相場 売れ 大利益あり

争事 時を待たねば勝てず

恋愛 将来幸福になる

転居 さわがぬ方がよし

出産 産前を用心すれば安産

病気 信心すれば治る

縁談 他人の口舌に惑わされるな

Wishes: It looks that won't granted, however it will be all right later.

The person you wait for: You can feel, but won't come.

The things you lost: They are hard to find. It is in the bottom.

Traveling: Choose a lucky day.

Business: It will be a loss. Keep from buying.

Study: Study without anxiety.

The market price: Sell. It will bring you a big profit.

Arguments: You can't win if you don't wait for an opportunity.

Love: You will be happy in the future.

A move: Better not to be noisy.

A childbirth: You will have an easy delivery if you take care beforehand.

An illness: It will get well if you believe in it.

An offer of marriage: Don't be confused by others talking.

That's on the omikuji I got last year. I'm not sure how many things hit. And of course I don't believe in things like that seriously. However, consulting an oracle is fun for me, and maybe for many people too. It is one of cultural things of Japan. And I know, some temples have omikuji for foreigners...like Sensouji temple in Tokyo. The omikuji is written in English. Maybe it is because many foreigners visit there. Go there and try it if you find omikuji in Japan. It will be a topic for conversation at least :P

What Do You Believe in?

According to the statistics of Japanese government, Shintoists are 160 million, Buddhists are 96 million, Christians are 200 thousand, who believe other religions are 1,100 million in Japan. So, the total is 250 million and this number is much more than Japanese population. Even only the sum of Shintoists and Buddhists is more than 200 million, and this is because Japanese join plural religion's events. We cerebrate festivals or events at Shinto shrines, and hold funerals or Bon festival in Buddhist style. In other countries, they become to the religion's believer when they are baptized, however, in Japan, we are considered as the religion's believer when we pray to the god. So, who pray to a god and Buddha has two religions.

As my feeling, Japanese have no religion. We originally have the recognize that everything has own god and we respect each god (it is values of Shintoism)...like, the sun has sun's god, trees has trees' god...so, even the Buddha or Christ are one of these gods if they come to Japan. Maybe we accept this style and believe all the gods. I think that Japanese don't believe gods so eager too. Maybe especially young people...of course it depends on the person, however old people look much more pious than young people.

We also have Christian events like Christmas or St. Valentine's day. However, about Valentine's day, it is the day that girls give their boyfriend a chocolate in Japan, so, it is different from western countries :P And about events like them, we don't feel religious meaning. I guess, some people may not even know these events are from Christianity. Events like them are known as important events for love here.

Thus, Japanese don't strongly believe only one god. We believe every god that is around them and also don't believe any god. Or, we may just accept what is here. It may sound contradictory, however, it is what Japanese are I think.