Godzilla's retirement

A baseball player, Hideki Matsui, aka Godzilla announced his retirement.

Whenever I am asked who I respect, I answer his name. I'm sad to hear his retirement.
He was not only one of the greatest players but a great person. Unlike arrogant Ichiro, he is very modest and loved by many people. Also he has strong mentality. I know him since he was a high school student. From that time, he was a great baseball player, and his mental was strong even though he was a teenager.

Here it is an article about him on the Wall Street Journal.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/12/28/japans-favorite-son-hideki-matsui-retires-from-baseball/


He was the fourth batter of both the top team in Japan "Giants" and the top team in the US "Yankees."

He won the MVP title for the 2000 Japan Series.

He won the MVP title for the 2009 World Series.

Climbed down the stairs from 25th floor

An evacuation drill took place at a building where my office is in the other day.

I climbed down the stairs from 25th floor. It would be easier than climbing up, but I heard that actually climbing down is tougher for muscle. In fact, I had muscle pain of my thighs. haha.

We were supposed to experience in an earthquake-simulation vehicle, but unfortunately, we couldn't due to breakdown of the car. What's a pity.

I experienced in a smoky room, which allow you to simulate walking in smoke of a fire. I couldn't see even 10cm ahead and was scared to walk forward. S, s, s, scary!!

New history of my career has started.

I have started working for a new company last week.

I'll do my best aiming to my career goal I've had.
I'm now thinking about having the other two blogs, one is about my job, writing about a path toward my career goal, and the other is about my goal in life, writing about a path toward creating situation where all children around the world can receive education.

Good Job, Japan!

The London Olympics has finished.
This time, Japan did really well. I think we heard the news about getting medals almost every day!

Judo team always got medals most, but this time, their results were not good. In spite of that, Japan won 38 medals which was the most in history for Japan!! WOW!

what always impresses me most is history/story which each athlete went through to get here.
new history/story has started for the next Olympics.
I should emulate their incredibly efforts toward their goals.

Japanese athletes in the closing ceremony

An athlete I have an eye on in the London Olympics

Like other world sports competitions, I often see something like good-looking athletes rankings. (good-looking guys rankings and beautiful women rankings.)

Among those, I noticed one guy, British diver, Thomas Daley, because he looked cute "boy" rather than good-looking guys. So I tried checking to see how old he is. Then I have come to learn history about him.

Many athletes have long deep histories, and so does he, I guess. He is still 18 years old though.

Surprisingly, he attended the Beijing Olympics too. Wow. He was 14 years old back then. Then, according to some articles, he became a hero in England. I wonder if it's like young equivalent to David Beckham.
However, after the Olympics, he was bullied in school and moved to another school. Terrible! It must have been tough situation.

His father died last year because of brain cancer. His father had been battling the disease for about 5 years. Oh, that means, he already suffered from cancer when Tom participated in the Beijing Olympics.

Going through bullying, father's battling cancer, father's death and so on, Tom is now in his home country Olympics.

He participated in two competitions, 10m synchronized platform diving and 10m platform diving.

Unfortunately, he missed a medal in the synchronized diving. After that, he was subjected to abuse via Twitter. The person who wrote "You let your dad down I hope you know what." was arrested.

The details are here;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2181189/London-2012-Olympics-Tom-Daley-blasts-Twitter-troll.html

Although such a terrible thing happened, he got a bronze medal in the 10m platform diving!!
Unfortunately, the diving competitions were not broadcasted on TV in Japan because diving is not popular sports here. (So most Japanese don't know of Thomas Daley.)
So I had to check the result of the competition on the website. I was pulsated when I saw the site. And I found he won the bronze medal!!!!!

His father must be very delighted and proud of him.

The details are here;
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2187152/London-Olympics-2012-Tom-Daley-wins-diving-bronze.html

Tom biting his bronze medal

As long as I'm in Japan, probably I can't see him on TV and any news about him would never delivered to Japan, so I have to wait until the next Olympics.
See you in four year!

Cinderella girl!

In the London Olympics, Japanese athletes get medals one after another! Great!!
Usually, Judo team get medals most, but this time, Japanese Judo ended in not so good results. In spite of that, Japan got already 27 medals, which surpassed 25 medals in the Beijing Olympics.

Especially swimmers are great! They aimed to get 8 medals. Although an ace swimmer Kosuke Kitajima couldn't get any medal, Japanese swimmers got 11 medals!!

Satomi Suzuki.
She wasn't expected to get a medal, but in the end, she got 3 medals, one silver and two bronze.!

Satom Suzuki with a silver medal.

She is cute, isn't it?

Showbiz has already started aiming for her!

It's almost like playing with athletes' feelings.

In the Olympics this time, there are too many misjudging and re-judging. Each time, athletes are delighted or driven to the depths of despair.

All athletes had been trying hard to do everything in the past 4 years for the moment in the Olympics. So I think it's all too cruel.

For example, the men's gymnastics team final.
When all of them finished their performance, the fist place was , the second Britain, the third Ukraine, and the fourth Japan. The Ukraine team were very delighted to get a medal. However, Japan lodged a protest over the judgment. It took a long time for judges to make a decision. During that, all athletes showed an anxious look on their faces.

In the end, the judges accepted the Japan's protest, then Japan was in the second place, which means Ukraine missed a medal.
It was good for Japanese, but when I thought about the feelings of Ukraine team and their extreme efforts for 4 years, it broke my heart.

The first time x2 for Japanese in Olympics

In the first day of the London Olympics, following Hiroaki Hiraoka I mentioned in the previous article, two Japanese players got medals.

Kosuke Hagino won a bronze medal in the men's 400-meter individual swimming medley.
It's the first time that a Japanese swimmer get a medal in a individual swimming medley! Above all, he is still 17 years old!

Kosume Hagino with his fist in the air

By the way, Michael Phelps seems to be in very bad condition. He missed a medal and ended up in the fourth place. What happened with him?

Disappointed Michale Phelps

Next, Hiromi Miyake won a silver medal in women's 48-kilogram weightlifting.
It's the first time that a Japanese woman get a medal in weightlifting.

Hiromi Miyake lifting MUCH more heavier weight than her body weight

By the way, his father was a bronze medallist in weightlifting at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.
And, I didn't know but her uncle got two gold medals and one silver medal in weightlifting at the Olympics.

Japanese first medal in the London Olymoics

Men's Judo - 60kg, a Japanese guy, Hiroaki Hiraoka won a silver medal, which is the Japanese first medal in the London Olympics.

He aimed at only a gold medal, and Japanese people expected him to get a gold medal, so he couldn't hide his shock.

Disappointed Hiroaki Hiraoka gives an interview

Getting a silver medal is really really great achievement, isn't it?

I saw a person who showed incredibly terrible behavior.
In the consolation match, an Armenian, Hovhannes Davtyan was being very exhausted. So he tied his obi (belt) loosely and whenever it came untied, he tried taking as much time as possible to retie it. Many times. Also, whenever a refree stoped the game, he lay down and slowed to stand up.
Hard to believe!! At least Japanese judo players never do such abject thing!

Of course, there were many booing in the competition site.

Judo put premium on spirit that technique. Learn the spirit first! The Armenian Judo federation doesn't know what judo is?
Shame on you!!


On the other hand, his opponent, a Frenchman, Sofiane Milous was commended for his refreshing by a commentator.
Although Hovhannes Davtyan showed such terrible behavior over and over again during the match, Sofiane Milous never showed any angry or upset look. He appeared to just concentrate on the match.

So I rooted for Sofiane Milous and he defeated Hovhannes Davtyan. Goody!

Unfortunately, he lost in the bronze medal match and couldn't get a medal. But he is still 24 years old. He is a promising young player.

The London Olympics has started.

Finally it has started.

I've always thought I should go to see an Olympics opening ceremony. And I pledged to go see the London Olympics opening ceremony when the Vancouver Olympics was held two years ago.

My article at that time
http://sandfriend.blogspot.jp/2010/04/im-going-to-see-opening-ceremony-of.html

I thought the same thing even four years ago when the Beijing Olympics.

http://sandfriend.blogspot.jp/2008/08/evaluation-of-beijing-olympics-by-other.html

However, I'm here in Japan now. haha...

Hopefully, Tokyo will be selected the host country for the 2020 Olympics and I will go!

One of the most impressed parts was the national anthem by the deaf and hard of hearing children.

It may be the greatest moment of a boy's life.

According to an article, a photo booth was set up in a shopping center in front of the Olympics center in the UK, and a surprise was prepared.

When people are taking pictures in the booth, a soccer player David Beckham pops his face round the corner and ask "Can I jump in?"

Everybody was VE----RY surprised. I realized that David Beckham is really the hero for all British.

The following video shows how they are surprised when they saw David. What impressed me the most was that a boy bust into tears!

The following article says about more about the boy. Cute!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2177896/London-2012-Surprise-young-football-fan-poses-Adidas-picture-shocked-appearance-David-Beckham.html

The London Olympics Games is starting soon!

Exercising an emotional muscle "Gratitude"

It is often said that "gratitude" is very important for relationship in many kind of self-help books. I try to keep it mind but often forget.

I found an article, which says that  if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude, and you can exercise your sense of gratitude like a muscle.

The article is here;

http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/gratitude-true-secret-to-success.html


It seems to be how to develop positive thinking rather than how to develop gratitude.

Anyway, I try doing it.

The situation of orphans in Russia

I saw one article aobut Russian orphans. It showed their facial expressions, the difference between their facial expressions shortly after being taken care of their foster parents and ones several years after being in those family.


http://bigpicture.ru/?p=281292#more-281292
(Russian site)

The circumstance of the most orphans' homes is very bad. Most important of all, being loved is definitely necessary for children.



I've known that the situation of orphans' homes in Russia and countries of CIS is terrible. So after reading the article, I checked it again.

One article says that the number of orphans in Russia doesn't reduces at all, and the main reason is destruction of families. I think it's caused by immature country's measures.

In spite of that, Russia is planning to reduce the number of orphans' homes in the country dramatically, and provide foster parents with the many which was used for the orphans' homes. However, it's often the case that people become foster parents for money. Also some children are abused by foster parents.

The following photo is taken by TASS. I'm not sure but probably they are kids in an orphans' home in Russia.
Whenever I see children with such bright smile, I feel a pain, and I can't help hoping that they are happy and something which makes them unhappy never happens.

What is it I can do?

Speech by the minister of Central Tibetan Administration

A small speech by Ms. Dicki Chhoyang, who is the minister of Central Tibetan Administration (aka Tibetan Government in Exile), was held in a temple in my neighborhood.

The main topic is about the current situation of Tibet. There was nothing new for me. But what impressed me was her atmosphere. She looked peaceful, cheerful and calm, but she also looked dignified, like Dalai Lama.

EURO 2012 - too strong Spain

Spain won the EURO 2012.
The final game, vs. Italy was 4 - 0!!

Spain won the cup  three times in a row, EURO 2010, World Cup 2010 and EURO 2012. Incredibly strong--!!

I wonder what the reason is why Spain is so strong. What is the difference between Spain and England?

Spain team celebrating in the dressing room

Movie: The Dark Knight

I have no idea why this movie made a big hit.
I dozed off during watching it.

EURO 2012 - Knockout Phase

EURO 2012 has moved to the knockout phase.

Surprisingly, Netherlands couldn't advance to the knockout phase. They couldn't win even one game.
Most people say Spain and Germany are the favorites in this EURO 2012.
Go for it, England!!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some Topics which are not associated with games.


One of the hot topics is an England player Wayne Rooney's hair transplantation.
He himself announced it on his Twitter.

Old Rooney

Current Rooney

When he scored a goal, he showed a performance which was pretending to spray hair spray in his head. haha!

He is such a cheerful funny guy!


UEFA imposed a fine of 100.000 euro on an Denmark player, Nicklas Bendtner, because he showed an underwear with an company's name.
Of course, the problem wasn't showing an underwear, but showing a company name.

100.000 euro!?!?!?!? It seems that UEFA is all too strict about advertisement.

No motivation

Somehow, I don't feel motivated whatever I do recently...

Develop willpower!!

EURO 2012 - Denmark lost in the Group Stage

Pity...

Denmark was defeated by Germany, and couldn't advance to the knockout Phase.

Really pity...

EURO 2012 - Wow, wow wow! Denmark! Almost!!

In the first game, Denmark defeated Netherlands, as I wrote before.

The second game, vs. Portugal led by Cristiano Ronaldo, finished just now.

In the first half, Portugal scored two goals. Ah... I almost gave up, but soon, Denmark scored a goal!
In the second half, Denmark equalized with a goal!!!!! I was so------ excited!

However, only 10 minutes before finishing the game, Portugal scored a goal. AH------! I was shocked!

I think, as a team, Denmark was much greater than Portugal. Portugal didn't function as a team, in my opinion. They just relied on some talents. (There was nothing good about Cristiano Ronaldo though.)

I have been keeping an eye on Denmark defender, Simon Kjær since the last World Cup. I think he is a capable defender.

Whenever I see him, I say in my head, "Cut your hair, delete your tatoo." haha

In this game, I found one more talented Danish player, who is Tobias Mikkelsen.
He entered the game midway, and as soon as he entered, he was showing good performance.

The difference between "up until" and "until"

I saw a sentence with the "up until."

I wonder if it is completely same as "until."
There might be subtle difference. I wonder what it is.

EURO 2012 - Shevchenko is still great.

I know Andriy Shevchenko is a great player, but actually I thought he had retired.

But he is still playing!
In the game Ukraine vs. Sweden, he got 2 goals and won by 2 -1.

I didn't watch the game, but he is still a great player!!

According to an article, He announced that he will retire just after EURO 2012. EURO 2012 is taking place in his native country Ukraine with Poland. It must be the best final scene for his soccer career.
Surprisingly, the article also says that he will make a career switch to a golfer and aim the 2016 Summer Olympics. I wonder if it's true.

EURO 2012 - Lampard missed EURO 2012!?

My favorite team, England is about to start a game against France.

I didn't know!! Frank Lampard, who is my most favorite player, missed EURO 2012 due to a injury.
Oh my gosh!! I'm shocked!! It's a great blow to England team.

Frank Lampard

Anyway, go for it, England!!

Oh, the game is starting. I'll come back to this article after the game finishes.

-------------------------------------------------

The game finished just now. 1 - 1. It was not a exciting game so much. England seemed to be focused on defense. In fact, their defense was almost perfect and France couldn't break it.

I felt that France's playing style has changed a lot compared to the time Zidane was playing.

It's 3pmam now. Good night.

EURO 2012 - It has begun.

EURO 2012 has already begun.
It is co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

The opening game, Poland vs. Greece was very exciting and eventful!!
European soccer is really fun!

I cheer for England and Denmark as usual.
This time, Denmark belongs to Pot B, which is called ”Group of Death."
But Denmark defeated Netherlands! Great!!

Japan is now full of the 2014 World Cup Asian qualifying round fever, but I'm not interested in Japanese soccer. It's boring because of their low level. When seeing Japanese soccer after watching European soccer, Japanese soccer looks like kids' soccer.

I can't say "likely to"

In a vignette I'm using this week for learning English, the idiom "be more likely to" appears many time.
As I was doing shadowing and overlapping, I found that I can't say "likely to" well. Apparently, (<-- I used it on purpose.) it's difficult for me to pronounce LY + T. My tongue can't keep up with normal speed.

I don't mind. I'm not a native speaker. haha.

Meaning of the word "apparently"

I just found that I'd used the word "Apparently" wrongly.

I've thought that the meaning of "apparently" was almost the same as "obviously" but I found it wrong, completely different.

However, when you say "It is apparent that ---",  it means something like "it is obvious", right?

Hmm... difficult.

Movie: We Bought a Zoo

It was a pretty good movie.

The story goes on calmly. Almost all are good people. No villain appears. No all too dramatic thing happens. Of course no action scene, no car chase scene, not fighting scene. Some people might feel bored. But for me, it's a good movie.

It was sprinkled with humor. It often made audiences laugh. Also there were many scenes which I was moved to tears at.

I think this movie can make people feel happy and warm.

Book: "Lincoln the Unknown" by Dale Carnegie

I read the famous Dale Carnegie's book "How to Win Friends and Influence People" some times. In the book, Carnegie often mentions about Lincoln. That's why I thought I read this book.

Hmm...
Abraham Lincoln was surprisingly depressed person, surprisingly. And his wife was surprisingly a terrible horrible person, morbid hysteric. It is said that Lincoln's unhappiest thing was not the assassination but marriage.

The God gave him the gift, which was his great talent for speech in public. I couldn't find any other reason that he could be the president.

I could know more details about the America Civil War as well as about Lincoln.
Horrible. Incredibly amount of people were killed. Yes, war is always horrible.
Ｗａｒ is always conducted on a surface cause. In the case of the American Civil War, it was conducted on the pretext of the emancipation of slaves. However, it was apparent that even Lincoln didn't fight this war in order to emancipate slaves. In fact, he himself said it. The real purpose of this war was completely different from the the emancipation of slaves.

In despite of the fact that it was not Lincoln's intention,  eventually, the emancipation of slaves was his biggest achievement.
However, while I was reading the book, I was wondering where this war was going and felt scared.

Kill-THREE-birds-with-one-stone website

A TV station started this April broadcasting presentations in TED, and I decided to watch it because I thought it's useful to see presentations in English.


I didn't know of TED. It's good to know!!
You can see many GREAT presentations!!

The TV station shows the presentation with just Japanese subtitles. But I found the website of TED and you can chose subtitles from various languages.
http://www.ted.com

It's very useful for improving my English listening skill. But above all, you can know various knowledge, and learn effective presentation ways.

It's exactly killing THREE birds with one stone.

Movie: Clash of the Titans

 
"Wrath of the Titans" has been just released, so before that, "Clash of the Titans" was broadcasted on TV.


I like Greek mythology. But some situations were changed in the movie. It can't be helped, because it's a "Hollywood movie."

In Hollywood, not only mythology but also highbrow literature works are always converted into just "entertainment."

I like Hollywood movies and often watch them, but I sometimes feel that some of them are somehow shallow.

I wonder if some of Americans who grew up amid such shallow entertainment can understand something deeper works, like French movies, or even Japanese movies.

By the way, the movie used many great actors, such as Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes.

Ralph Fiennes as Hades and Liam Neeson as Zeus

Bombing low pressure

Incredibly strong wind and rain are hitting Japan today.
News are full with this topic all day today. There are many damages across Japan. It's as if huge typhoon hit Japan. But it's not a typhoon, but storm wind.

Many people had trouble to get home. It reminds us of 3.11 last year.

Don't watch TV in Japanese!

Prior to planning the strategy of the Operation Listening-improvement (OLI), I've started watching all TV programs in English. If a program is provided only in Japanese, I wouldn't watch it.

Actually I've always thought I should have been doing that, but I wasn't able to resist watching Japanese TV programs...

It has been a few days since I started doing that, and I somehow feel my listening skills are improving a bit. (No way! haha)

However, I'm allowing myself to watch morning news in Japanese, because if I watched both morning and evening news in English, I couldn't understand details of important affairs in Japan and in the world.

By the way, I wonder why English in news is much easier to understand than in dramas and movies. Although I watch one drama several times, I understand just its outline. I'm sad that I always miss something subtleties. It can't be helped.

Anyway, my motivation is high at the moment. I'm sure that it will be up and down. haha.

Finally spring?

This winter was really cold. During the winter, greetings among people were "this winter is very cold." And recent greetings are "spring is slow to come this year."

But it seems spring is finally coming. I felt something spring smell today. Finally!

Operation Listening-improvement

Tim was kind enough to provide me with great information about sites on the comment column of the previous article, which can help improve English listening skills. Awesome!

Seeing those sites, I realized that listening English with seeing English subtitles is very useful to improve listening skills.

I think I should strategize how to improve my listening skills using those sites. It is called "Operation Listening-improvement." (Sorry for the exaggerated expression.)

Listening, listening, listening

My worst part about English has been listening skill. I can't improve it at all.

How can I improve my listening?

What should I do?

Movie: Sarah's Key

Before I watched the movie "Sarah's Key", I thought it was a war movie. But I was wrong.

Although it covers Vel' d'Hiv Roundup and Auschwitz, the theme is... hmm... about life, or more like decision or choice in the course of each life. Anyway, the theme is really really deep.

However, I tend to be focused on war-related parts. Whenever I see something about war, I wonder why human beings can be so cruel. I didn't know about Vel' d'Hiv Roundup. I planning to watch the movie "The Round Up." Both "Sarah's Key" and "The Round Up" are French movies.

3.11

It's been a year since the horrible earthquake and tsunami hit Japan.

About 340,000 people are in refuge life. And I realize many people still have a deep hurt.

Every TV station is broadcasting TV programs about the disaster almost all day. I got fed up with some of them, because they show the programs as if it's something like entertainment. The leading character is exactly famous reporters or newscasters and the stories were created too dramatically putting the casters at the center. Shame on you! (Especially Fuji TV!)

A couple days ago, I watched a documentary, which showed just videos that showed the real scenes. No too much narration, no any casters. It showed just facts. Because just after seeing it, the entertainment-like programs look a farce.

I'm now watching a TV program which features help by the US armies. As I wrote here about a year ago, their help was tremendously worthful and helpful. Thank you very much.

Prerogative vs. Presumptuous

Although meanings of "prerogative" and "presumptuous" are different at all, I often mix up them... Probably because I learned them almost the same time...

Movie: 50/50

Although it's a movie about a cancer patient, it's like a comedy movie. However, the movie is based on the real story of the movie director, and it includes deep issues behind the comedy.

One article says that Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the leading actor, is the best when it comes to playing an ordinary guy. It might be true, but the first time I saw him was when he played in the movie, Inception, in which he played a character far from an ordinary person. So my impression of him was different from "ordinary."

  Joseph Gordon-Levitt in "Iception"

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was great in the movie, but the best for me is Seth Rogen!

 Seth and Joseph

I can't believe Seth is 20's!!

It's snowing!!

It's snowing in Tokyo, which is the first time in this winter.

It rarely snow in Tokyo, but I've been feeling that it's colder this winter than usual, and I found that it was true seeing the snow.


I miss spring!

A Japanese won Ballon d'Or!!

A Japanese soccer player Miss. Homare Sawa got FIFA Ballon d'Or!!
Terrific!! Incredibly great!!!!!

After women's national soccer team won the World Cup last year, "Nadeshio", which is the nickname of the women's national soccer team, has been the thing in Japan. Then this wonnderful news of captain Sawa.

Many people in Japan must be encouraged by their brilliant achievements.

The National team's coach Norio Sasaki was also awarded the Women's Coach of the Year prize.

Sasaki and Sawa with their trophies

Men's Ballon d'Or is Lionel Messi. He is awarded for the Third consecutive year!!

Messhi, you are unbelievably a great player!!!!!

Sawa and Messi shaking hands

Happy New Year 2012

As usual New Year's day, I visited a shrine, praying and drinking amazake.

Although New Year's day is always fine whether with clear blue sky in Tokyo, it was cloudy this year.

Unlike other women, I seldom see any fortune-telling, but there is one I always check. According to that, the important thing for me this year is to gain the trust of people around me.

The word of this year:

Gaining Trust

I hope all of you have a great year.