An exhibition of Tomomi and other two freidns

This week, my elder daughterTomomi is holding an exhibition with her two friends.

Last month she held her personal exhibition, and displayed large works. This time she displayed small works.



 

The gallery is in Kichijouji, which is in Tokyo, and very popular among young people. So she and her friends seems to focus on young people. Their works suit to them.

 

I used to go Kichijouji, when I was young. Yuki also used to go there. It was about more than 30 years ago. Still now some shops, cafes,  and Jazz cafes, which we would go there  are kept being run. I'm very glad to see them.  In Kichikouji there is a famous Japanese sweet shop. Since I was young it has been famous, and there is always a long line waiting. On the day I went, there was also a line waiting. I don't like to wait in a line, but this time I felt some nostalgic, so I stood in a line.

 

It made me happy that the town where I used to go and play has still been lively and active.



 

 



Extreme Sports

The other day I read this book at an intensive reading meeting.
Do you know extreme sports? What extreme sports do you know?
Such sports are introduced in this book; aerial ballet, aggressive in-line skating, BASE jumping, BMX bike riding, canyoning, cave diving, hang gliding, snowboarding, street luge, wake boarding, zorbing.
I know some names, but I thought some of them are just just fun things not sports.
Have you tried any of these sports?

Anyway a common thread is "danger" (or you can say excitment).
I found an interesting report.
Do you know the word T-type personality?

Ts tend to be extroverted and creative, and crave novel experiences and excitement. Most of this type seems to be a man. It seems to be related to Y chromosome. Ts have more of an enzyme which makes themselves excited.

I also found another interesting report. We can be able to classified into 19 types. Which type are you?
Well, in Japan we love to classify people according to blood type. My blood type is O, so it is said the O blood person is easygoing.
Additionaly many people love holocope. When we open a magagine or newspaper, we can easily know how our luck is today.

Calm Sunday

How was your weekend? I had a calm Sunday.

Here in Japan cherry blossoms finally started to bloom. Some people might think that why Japanese people are so excited blooming cherry blossoms. Anyway we love seeing cherry blossoms.

Sunday afternoon, I went to an art museum.
At the art museum, an exhibition of MINIMAL was hold. Do you know the word MINIMAL? It seems to be a shorten word of minimal art. There were not only pictures but also 3D-works. I really enjoyed.

After that I dropped by KARAKU where I play the piano once a month. I'm really happy to have such a familiar tea-room. I talked with the owner for a while.

At night we invited our neighbor, and had a YAKINIKU party ( kind of  barbecue inside of the house). These days we seldom have a chance to have YAKINIKU at home, because there are two members in my house. So We had a good time.

 

And we ate too much, So this morning we had a light breakfast. But it was a little interesting. Can you see two yolks? These are not two eggs, there are too yolks in an egg. We got special eggs.

 

A new week has started. Have a nice week!

 

 

 





Monday

How was your weekend?
I didn't know that yesterday it was St Patrick's Day. In Japan the day isn't so familiar yet, but in some big city St Patrick Parades are held.
When did I notice the day? It was a concert.
Yesterday I went to a guitar concert organized a group. When I arrived the place, some people were wearing green clothes. And though I had thought it would have been a guitar concert, it was an Irish harp and guitar concert.

 

 

Did you celebrate St Patrick's Day? My friend Jan sent me a photo of corned beef.

She said

"Cooked for 8 hours in the slow cooker.

First, red potatoes, carrots, onion and some dark beer for the liquid. Then add the corned beef and sprinkled with pickling seasons. At 7 hours add wedges of cabbage for another hour."

Thanks Jan. If I had been with you, I could have enjoyed the day with you.



 



Do you know the shape of your kneecap?

Now I'm suffering from a bad pollen allergy. Though I take medicine, I'm not so comfortable. What I can say is my favorite phrase " it can't be helped."

Well, yesterday I had Tracey's individual English lesson. I learned a new word, which is "kneecap".
When I was asked "do you know the shape of your kneecap", I didn't understand the question. She wanted to show an example of having no meaning.

Anyway after she left home, I checked my kneecap, It was ellipsoidal.

Japanese love to talk about four seasons. And we are proud of having wonderful four seasons. So it's a usual question  for to ask foreigners who come to Japan how many seasons you have in your country? Actually I asked the guests from East Timor and they said that they had two seasons, which are the rainy season and the dry season.
When I met Tracey, probably I asked her the same question, and she said they had four.
I thought it was a natural question.
For her it seemed to be odd. She seems to think that asking the number of seasons has no meaning.

Do you think it's odd when you asked the number of seasons?

East Timor -2-

After visiting YUNUSHIGAWA, we went  to NIKKO which is one of　the  World Heritage sites. Have you ever been to NIKKO? or have you ever heard about NIKKO?
We visited TOSHYOUGU in NIKKO.

This is YOUMEIMON, the most elaborated gate with white poles, which has been mainteined for about 400 years.

This is called "Sleeping cat", which is a symbol of peace.
We  walked there for around one hour.

Well,, do you know what is the most major product in East Timor?
It is coffee. We got coffee from them.

 

 

The last day of their stay in Tochigi, a farewell party was held, and they made a presentation. Before coming to Japan, they had thought Japan would have been affected by radioation first and it caused Tsunami. And now they understood, first a big earthquake affected us, and Tsunami occurred and gave IWATE a lot of damage. On the other hand in FUKUSHIMA, because of the earthquake an atomic power station was affected. Unfortunately still now  it is prohibited to get in within 20 km of power station. But the food in the marketplace is safe, because the level of radiation in the food is checked.



Unfortunately many tourist spots and food in Japan have been hit by harmful rumors. We are really happy for their coming without fear of harmful rumors.

East Timor -1-

Do you know the country of East Timor? It is the first country to be independent in 21st century.
 The group consisting of about 44 members came to Tochigi prefecture to visit affected areas from the big earthquake which occurred two years ago through the Foreign Minster international program. Northern Tochigi was affected by the big earthquake, and now mostly they were rebuilt. They learned  how to rebuild their farm, shops, houses, and factories, and what measures are taken against earthquakes since then. And to experience a real Japanese life, a home stay program was organized for the last three days.

Two ladies came to stay with us at our house.
Fortunately they loved our sticky rice.

They stayed in Japan for ten days, and for the first 7 days they had no fun time. This home stay for the last three days was their fun time.
 In East Timor they have two seasons , which are the rainy season and the dry season.
Now in  Tochigi, we are still in winter. It means we can see snow when we go to northern Tochigi.
So we went to YUNISHIGAWA, which takes one and half hours  by car from here.

Ta-da!

KAMAKURA festival was held there. Can you see snow houses like igloos? We call them KAMAKURA. "KAMAKURA" is a snow house, about 2 meters square. The Kamakura tradition dates back over 400 years when small snow houses were made for the Gods and filled with food and Sake, which shelters an altar dedicated to the God.

Wedensday

It's a season of pollen. Many people are suffering from pollen allergy. Last night one high school student came in red eyes. She couldn't bear runny nose and itchy eyes and went to clinic. It was the first day to take medicine, it means she was too sleepy to take my lesson, though she said that the medicine which wouldn't make her sleepy had been prescribed.)

Actually I'm also suffering from pollen allergy. Though I take medicine, I feel listless. I thought I would caught the flu from Yuki, but I don't have a fever, not have a sore throat. 

And about Yuki, he has recovered. Fortunately he didn't suffer from high fever. Anyway he had to stay home until today. So he is contacting with his office via Internet. He cannot go out to play golf. Playing golf is his most important hobby. The next important hobby is playing tennis, of course he can't. Anyway he has to stay in his room quietly. So he works at home.

These days I often think about "parent and child" and "family".
Have you ever thought of the difference of two words?
The other day my family who are Yuki, our two daughters and I had a photo taken at a photo studio. It was the first time to have a formal photo taken.
On particular days like Adults day we went to a photo studio. But we didn't have a family photo taken. Because my mother or my mother-in-;aw was with us. I thought if we had a photo taken with only my family, my mother or my mother-in-law would be sad. And if we had a photo taken with my mother or my mother-in-law (It's rare that both of them are with us.) would be sad. So we had missed the chance to have a family photo taken.
I think my mother and I are permanently parent-child. Yuki and his mother are permanently parent-child. But our family consists with Yuki, M, T, and I.
Is it wrong?

Now our family is separating, probably our daughters make their own family. If we should live with them, we could keep our family. (Does it make sense? It's difficult to use subjunctive mood correctly)

Well, I got chocolate of Leonidas. Do you know Leonidas? In Utsunomiya we don't have a shop. So I'm really happy to get it.

March came

Now it's March.  Hina festival (March 3) has gone, so I put off Hina-dolls, and decorated  something to celebrate Easter.

Today Yuki is at home, it is unusual. Why? Finally he has touch of a flu. In the morning he went to clinic, and antiviral Tamiflu was prescribed to him. He has not a high fever now, but still has a slight fever. I hope he will recover until tomorrow.  We are going to have guests from East Timur this weekend, but if he doesn't recover, we have to  cancel it.

Well, what would you like to eat when you have the flu or have a fever?
I don't like to cold myself, so I usually drink lots of hot green tea, and like to eat hot UDON (Japanese noodle.)
I bought some oranges and a  big bottle of water with Vitamin C. He likes to have something cold.
I heard in America, people who have a fever usually drink coke. Is it right? I think it's not healthy.
Anyway he has enough appetite, so I sauteed beef for him for dinner.

Be careful not to catch the flu.