My favorite hairdresser is gone.

My hairdresser quit. I'm really disappointed. She was very good, but unfortunately she didn't move to her hair salon. She quit her hairdresser job. It's hard to find a favorite hair salon and a hairdresser.

It's time to have my hair cut. I have to find a hair salon and a hairdresser.
But, as I wrote on the last article, I might move to Okinawa. If so, it's no use finding a new hairdresser. So in this time, I will go to any hair salon in my neighborhood, I'm a bit anxious though.

Living in a place other than Tokyo... but in Japan

I might move to a place other than Tokyo. I don't know yet though. If so, it would be the first time I've lived in anywhere but Tokyo.
One start-up business is being launching in Okinawa. If I join it, I will move to and stay in Okinawa for about a year. It's like an extended business trip.

The new business sounds very fun and I'm interested in it, so it would be great to join in it. But I have a mixed feeling about it.

Tempting things are;
Above all, building something from scratch in business is in my line, and I like to do that very much.
Secondly, some staffs will go to Okinawa from Tokyo for this project, so of course, the company prepared for dwellings for them and the rent is free. It's a monthly apartment and very small room (TOO small!), but at least I don't need to pay the rent fee and utilities payments for a year.
Thirdly, I've wanted to visit Okinawa... but on sightseeing trip though.

Concerns are;
I LOVE my hometown Tokyo. I've always thought I never want to live anywhere but Tokyo. I've thought when I leave from Tokyo, it is when I live in a foreign country.
Fortunately, the office and the living place are in central Okinawa city. I was born and grew up in Tokyo and I also live in central Tokyo now. I feel it impossible for me to live in the country side.
One more concern is I will be apart from the English-speaking environment. The project will provide its service just for Japanese people and all staffs are Japanese. Analyzing my motivation for learning English so far, it wasn't that I wanted to do that, but I had to do it. It seems to become harder to keep my motivation.

Anyway, it will be clear whether I join in the project or not by this weekend. If it's decided to join, I will have to move early in the new year, and I will get busy.

The good English workshop by Oxfam

Today I attended an English workshop (an English lesson) held by a NPO, Oxfam Japan.
(Oxfam International website; http://www.oxfam.org)

When I put the article about humanitarian assistance on Lang-8, a member told me of Oxfam. I checked its website right away and applied for participation in the English workshop delivered by foreigner volunteers of Oxfam. The participation fees are used for donation.

The workshop was very useful not only in learning English but also in knowing activities of some organizations.
The workshop was for 2 hours and the participants were 9 people. One teacher is from England and the other is from India. I'm very bad at understanding English with an Indian accent, so I a bit worried but when the workshop started, I found it no problem.

The theme was "Making Poverty History: World Trade, Debt, and Aid".
First, we read a document about the theme, then we asked something we didn't know (both about English words/phrases and about contents itself).

The next, we were divided into three groups and discussed some issues.
For example;
- Are the World Bank and IMF fair institutions? Should they put economic conditions with aid or is this detrimental to the recipient countries?
- What role can civil societies, individuals and organizations play to "Making Poverty History"?
After discussing them, we expressed our opinions.

Lastly, we did a role play. We were supposed to attend an IMF meeting to discuss Mali loan. We were given a character card and acted the role. I was supposed to be the French representative. We insisted each opinion according to each situation written in the character card.
It was fun and useful.

I could get some information about activities of some organizations and various situations in some poor countries.
I think it was really good workshop. So far, they hold it once a month. If possible, I want to attend the next again.

The current job hunting situation 3

Unfortunately, the job opportunity I mentioned the other way didn't work, it was really ideal position though. But it's alright.

Actually, another agent introduced a new position to me. It requires much higher skills than mine, so I don't think it would be going well. But I decided to apply for it.

Today, the same agent contacted me and said; "I want to introduce a great position to you, and I think you would be interested in it". I read the job description. Huh? It's exactly the same as the position she introduced to me the other day. No way! It has been 12 days since the last introducing. She said sorry and would get back to me as soon as she gets the feedback from the company. Hmm... I doubt she has already sent my resume to the company. She doesn't seem to be able to manage her job at all. I said in my mind "Are you OK?

So, I don't expect it would go well.
I concentrate on my current job.

The challange to talking on Skype

One of members of Lang-8 offered me to talk on Skype.

She lives in the UK and is learning Japanese. She said that she wanted to improve not only her writing skill but also conversation skill because she was going to come to Japan on her trip next year.

I have installed Skype over a month ago. But I haven't used it. So it will be my first talking on Skype.

I'm getting nervous and excited.

The current job hunting situation 2

Today, an agent told me about the position I mentioned on the last article.

Although the company just started recruiting the position, many people applied for it. Sure enough.
So the company required the applicants to submit a paper of the motive for the application. I have wrote and sent it to my agent.

Hmm... The ideal position is very far---!

The current job hunting situation

A recruit agent introduced me a position the other day. I read the job description and I thought it was very close to my ideal. I want to expand my specialty from the learning and development to talent management. And as I wrote on this blog before, I want to work abroad sometime for a couple of years. The position seemed to have the possibility on both of them.

I was selected for the interview and the interview had been arranged. Unexpectedly, the 1st interview would be with a person abroad through a video conference. Wow!

But a week before the interview, the recruit agent brought the bad news. The position was closed.

It's a pity, but I can understand because it was one of the American biggest financial companies. I saw the recruit page on its web site. The last time I saw it, there were many positions but most of them had disappeared. I see. It can't be helped.

Today, another agent contacted me to introduce me a position. Surprisingly, it is also very close to my ideal. I'm not sure whether the position has the possibility to be able to work abroad, but at least the position would be required to work internationally. Good!

Recently not only financial companies but also all other industries step back from recruiting new people due to the current global financial crisis, so the number of new positions has been decreasing. According to many agents, positions are very few and many people apply for the same position, so competition is very keen.

Hmm... I want this position. First, I hope I can pass the resume screening.

My addiction to ALF

It has been about a month since I started watching the American sitcom "ALF".
As I wrote on this blog, I really like it and always look forward to watching the next story.
I even watch the same story repeatedly and I never get tired of doing that.

Finally, I set ALF's photo to the wallpaper of my cell phone.
It's almost ALF addiction!

The reality of Indian girls

I attended a documentary screening held by an NGO Plan Japan.
(Plan Japan is the Japanese office of International NGO Plan.)

The title of the documentary was "Is this life? - The reality of Indian girls"

In India, if you are born into a poor family AS A GIRL, it is the beginning of your harsh life.
Girls in poor families... it means most girls in India.

They do oppressive work every day. For example they have to carry a very heavy bucket of water from river or a well several kilometers away, while boys study at school or enjoy succor. They are kept their nose to the grindstone. I think they are not a member of their family. They are treated as a slave or an animal.
It is often the case that they are raped, even by their relatives.

They get married very young. After marriage, their lives become harsher.
Their husbands often behave violently. Husbands order their wife to bring money from wife's family many times, or to engage in prostitution to earn money. If wives don't do that, husbands behave violently as usual, or surprisingly, sometimes burn their wives to death.

I thought that Indian societies are not viable without women (girls). Although they are under harsh situation, they support their families and even their societies. How miserable and stupid Indian men are! What men do is wasting money which their wives earn, behaving violently, raping girls and killing girls. Although girls work very hard every day, boys do nothing. So they grow up such a person.

The NGO Plan provided a six-month learning (education) camp for girls who never go to school. Girls in the school can learn many things. I was impressed by a girl's words. She said that I learned a lot of things so I'm never deceived.
Yes, education is so important. But girls in the school are lucky. At least their husband or family allows them to attend the camp. It's impossible for most of girls to attend the camp because their husband or family never allows them to do that.

What I want to do is helping poor children go to school, so I first thought that assisting this camp fit my thinking. But I go back to the principal of the issue again.
I always think;
Many NGO/NPO help people under harsh situation. For example they build school. But even if there is a school in front of their house, they can't go to school. Changing structure of societies is necessary. It's much more difficult than building a school and it's impossible that NGO/NPO do that. Countries or societies should do that. Although many NGO/NPO help Indian people, what does India itself do? India has money to develop and have nuclear. Before doing such a thing, rescue their poor people.

Lang-8 parts

I tried to introduce the Lang-8 parts on this blog.
Look at the right side on this page. You can access my Lang-8 page from the parts and see my journals corrected A LOT.

Lang-8 is the well-developed site, but isn't this part too simple?
I want Lang-8 staff to consider the design of it.

I met Dalai Lama finally!

Dalai Lama XIV was here in Japan and his speech was held at the Kokugikan in Ryogoku the other day.

I missed his speech in Tokyo twice in the past, so in this time I bought the ticket as soon as it went on sale. Then I went to listen to his speech!

Let me tell about complaint first.
Although I bought ticket of the most expensive arena seat, the stage was very far from my seat and I couldn't see Dalai Lama well. The cheaper seat on the second floor might be better.
The running of the event by the organizer was terrible. They were inefficient.

Finally, Dalai Lama appeared on the stage. When he appeared, I got a feeling I couldn't explain. Being thrilled, atingle or excited? I don't know. And it was unexpected because I'm not a believer.

Surprisingly, he made his speech in English. I know he can speak English but I thought he made the speech in Tibetan, because whichever language he speaks, those are translated into Japanese. He sometimes couldn't find English words and he asked a monk sitting next to him about those words he wanted to use. But of course his English is MUCH better than mine.

He was very charming and mischievous. While an interpreter was speaking, he sometimes clowned, waved someone with smile, checked a microphone equipment and so on.

The last part was the question and answer time. People who wanted to ask Dalai Lama something gathered in front of the stage and they asked one by one.
When the second person stood in front of the stage, I thought he was very similar to Satoshi Ishii who is a Beijing Olympic gold medalist in judo 100 Kg-over category. Yes, He was him!
After the Olympics, his distinctive words have caused controversy. And he just decided to quit judo and try to mixed martial arts. He is a kind of a person in the spotlight.

Many kinds of Tibet-related goods were sold. Although many people bought them, I wasn't interested them. But after the speech, I bought a cell phone strap because I found the profits would be used for Tibetan refugees.

When I participated in the event about to Tibetan Buddhist culture, a monk said that he was very excited and nervous on the eve of meeting with Dalai Lama for the first time. Even a lot of monks and believers can't meet him, so I should be thankful for being able to have the opportunity to meet him in spite of being a non-believer.
His speech was not difficult to understand, but it could be difficult to practice. But I'll try to bear in mind what he said.

Speaking with thinking

It's been a week since I registered "Lang-8" and it's going well so far. Native English speakers are kind enough to correct my journals or put comments and it's very useful. Besides many people access my site even if they don't correct or put a comment, unlike this blog. haha.

So I'm also trying correcting other's journals in Japanese as much as possible.
Then I found it a bit difficult to figure out appropriate Japanese sentences.

Usually I speak Japanese unconsciously. I don't think about Japanese language when I speak. When I try to correct journals in Japanese, I know those sentence are unnatural or wrong. But I sometimes have trouble finding appropriate sentences. I often wonder what I always say in that case. Then I try to say myself repeatedly.

Whenever I speak English, I always think about English language. It's too bad. According to the experiment in the brain of bilingual people, they use different part of their brain between when they speak Japanese and when they speak English. And people who are not so good in English speak English using the Japanese-speaking part of their brain. The same must be true for me.

When will I be able to speak English unconsciously like my mother language?

Google Phone

Google phone "G1" with OS "android" was released in the US.

It's not fashionable at all! I wonder why all smart phones lack in design. Just its functionality is focused.
I think the same applies to cell phones in other countries.

Japan is an advanced country in cell phones. If you go to a cell phone shop, you can find many kind of fashionable, stylish and cool cell phones. Cell phones in Japan have to be superior both in fashionability and in functionality.
I think that's why sales of iPhone in Japan aren't increasing.

I don't make good use of cell phone's functions. I'm using just voice, mails, an address book and sometimes web access. I always choose a cell phone just for its design. So a smart phone seems to be too much for me. But if those were more fashionable, I might buy one.

Another meaning of "swallow"

I was writing to English dictation as usual. In the dialogue, a speaker said;
"Is it difficult to swallow the camera?"

To swallow the camera?! The meaning of "swallow" I know was just a kind of bird. I tried to use my imagination as much as possible.

I wonder if "swallow" is also used as a verb. If so, what does it mean? Does it means "to fly like a swallow" or something? But how does it relate to the camera?
This dialogue was about a medical checkup, so I could imagine fully that the camera meant a gastro camera.

Finally I checked the text book.
Oh!! It means taking something such as pills, foods or drinks. I see.

So does it have something to do with a swallow of a bird?

I might have become one of victims of toxic substances in Chinese-made food?

I heard shocking news yesterday. A restaurant chain announced that a toxic substance melamine was detected in their pizza dough made in China.

Well, normally I'd think "Melamine in Chinese foods. Oh no, not again".

But! Actually I went to that restaurant just last Saturday and even ate its pizza!
Oh! Oh! Oh! I got melamine?

Today, news on the Internet said that the restaurant chain decided to refund the price paid to all customers who visited its 542 restaurants and ate the pizza.
Oh, should I go to the restaurant?
But is it about the money? No, it's about health, furthermore human lives.

Then I read the new closely. What? It said that they refunded to customers who visited from 25th Sep. to 2nd Oct. Hmm... They provided that pizzas containing melamine only during the period?

Anyway, I didn't get melamine.
But I'm surprisingly healthy since I was a kid and have strong solid body. So even if I get it, I would be OK!

Bye-bye, my suitcase

I had two be-wheeled suitcases. I bought biggir one about 7 years ago for my business trip to the US. When I went to a shop to buy it, I told the shop staff that my trip was for two weeks. Then he recommended a very big suitcase.
Actually I haven't used it since then. I used it just once, because it was too big.

I decided to sell that big object which occupied wide part of my closet to a pawnshop. My motto is being simple. I don't want to have too many things.

I took it to the shop yesterday. The shopkeeper checked it closely. Although it was Samsonite, it was old model and there were some scratches, and according to the shopkeeper, its color was unpopular.

Then the purchase price the shopkeeper indicated was no more than 1,000 yen (9.86 us$, 7.42 euro). Haha. Well, it's much better than throwing it away.

Skype

I installed Skype on my PC yesterday. I don't intend to use it. I'm just curious to see what it is like.

The first call to a fixed phone or a cell phone is free so I tried to call my cell phone to check how it goes.
Hmm... there is time lag. It's like a televised satellite link. Is it usual Skype? Or I wonder if it's due to my PC's spec.

On Skype, you can exchange not only voice but also image (video) by webcam, right? In case of talking on the phone, even if I wear no makeup, have rough hair or am in my underwear, it's no problem. But Skype... I don't use it for now.

"bTibet08" The first session

"bTibet08", which is the event to know Tibetan Buddhist culture, is held in Gokoku temple in three-time series.

The first session was held today and I went to attend it. Today's theme was "Touching Tibet and its Buddhist culture".

It's Gokoku temple. Let's go in.


First, I worshipped at the principal image of Gokoku temple.

Then, I went to the site of bTibet08.


Oh, there is the photo of Dalai Lama XIV in the center.


Wow, it's the first time I've seen real Tibetan monks.

The first was the introduction lecture "About the progress of Tibetan Buddhism and its calvary" by a Japanese person, who is probably a leading Tibet-related expert in Japan (I don't know well though).

The second is the sermon by a Tibetan monk. Actually I left in the middle of this sermon because I had to go to a bicycle shop to pick my bicycle up by 6pm.

Today's session was... a bit different form my expectation. What I try to know is basic teachings of Tibetan Buddhism. I don't intend to be a believer so I don't need deep and difficult parts. OK, I look forward to the next session which will be held the next month.

Lang-8

In the comment on other person's blog I often visit, a person mentioned "Lang-8".
http://lang-8.com/

This site is the language exchange SNS for language learners. People write journals (like blog) in the language they are learning. And they correct others' journals as a native speaker. Hmm... I can't explain well in English. In my case, I write journals in English, and I can help other people who are learning Japanese by correcting their Japanese journals.

I tried to registerd it. But I've been writing this blog. So I am thinking about putting the same article on both this blog and lang-8. I would be happy if English native speakers correct my journals.

Hmm... There are a lot of tools for learning something on the Internet.

My URL on Lang-8
http://lang-8.com/?a=page_f_home&target_c_member_id=14470

My goal for the coming year

Based on the remorse of yesterday, I set my goal for the coming year.

[Social activities]
To be active internationally both on business and on humanitarian assistance,
I will do in a year;

- Find and get the position which has possibility to work abroad or work internationally.
- Start something in some way about helping poor children with going to school
- Get enough English skill to do two of the above

[personal]
To achieve my goals of social activities,
I will do in a year;

- Build the health body
- Enjoy a frugal life to save money (I've been a person who doesn't save money at all.)

[additional]
- Become a cool woman with generous heart and remain such a person :-)

Break away from my laziness to achieve the goals!
Happy Birthday to me!

Remorse of the past year

Tomorrow is my birthday. In the past year, I couldn't break away from my laziness.

- I choose sleeping/dozing above all things as ever.
- I often blew off studying English so my English doesn't improve.
- I haven't started anything for real about being involved in the activities to help poor children with going to school.

Lazy Sand remains being lazy sand, not only the past year but also all my life. The older the more terrible.
The worst thing is choosing sleeping/dozing above all things. It is the root of all evil. I think there are many people who like sleeping, dozing and napping. But in my case, it is to the point to addiction. I should have stronger mental strength.

Tomorrow, I'm going to figure out my goal for the coming year.

No human right, no safety of life, in China

A Chinese human-right activist Hu Jia, who was a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, is serving time in prison for "inciting subversion of state power" which is self-serving accusation for the Chinese authorities.

It was revealed that his wife and 0 year-old daughter were held captive in the hotel 500km away from their house during the Beijing Olympics.
The Chinese authorities threatened his wife by telling her that they wouldn't beat him but they had another way.

What a horrible country. Although everybody in the world know there is no human right in China, I realize China's behavior in defiance of human rights.

--------

In Japan, harmful substances were detected in Chinese-made food again. Not again! How many times have this happened? It's for the umpteenth time.

Even though Chinese-made products are cheap, Japan should quit importing them.

It reminds me again that a Chinese said that China never value human's lives.
China ignores not only human rights but also human lives.
It's horrifying that the Olympics was held in such a country.

I can't hear abduct/abduction.

Whenever I watch the news about abductions of Japanese by North Korea, I can always hear adopt/adoption instead of abduct/abduction. Always. Although I know they are talking about the abduction issue.

There is similar situation.
Whenever I hear advertise/advertisement, I can always hear apatise/apatisement or something.

Is it only me who feel "b" of "abduct" and "d" of "advertise" is almost unsounded?

North Korea has been removed from a US terrorism blacklist.

Because the US government announced that they removed North Korea from a US terrorism blacklist, the word "the abandoned abduction issue" is flying all over the news in Japan.

I don't think the US cares about the abduction issue, so it isn't surprising for me.

From another perspective, I have doubt.
North Korea has agreed to all U.S. nuclear inspection demands. But I don't think it can be the reason to remove North Korea from the list. Even if North Korea gave up all of their nuclear-related things they have, it couldn't be the reason. "Whether having nuclear weapons or not" has nothing to do with "whether they are related to terrorism".

The US government's logic always doesn't make sense and is selfish.

Lamb vs. mutton #2

(Lamb vs. mutton #1)
I went to the curry shop next to my apartment today.

I saw the menu for takeout. It's the same as before. Chicken curry, vegetable curry, mutton curry etc... There is no lamb curry.

I usually don't do such a thing but I tried to ask with courage.
"Can I order a lamb curry to go?"
A staff said "yes" EASILY. Haha.

Then I ate it. Huh? It is almost the same as mutton. There is no so big difference. Oh, yeah. Both are the same meat of sheep.

If I ate lamb, I would prefer Jingisukan, which is kind of barbecue of meat of sheep.

Jingisukan
* The name of "Jingiskan" is supposed to be from Genghis Khan of Mongolia.
But the dish itself has no relation with Genghis Khan or Mongolia.

ALF

As I wrote before, I put some English TV dramas into my English drama lineup for studying.

One of them is "ALF" and I didn't have a so high expectation of it. But contrary to my expectations, it's very amusing!
Besides, their English is very clear for me. I can't wait the next story!

So, I checked ALF on the Internet. Surprisingly, ALF is very popular and there are many funs all over the world including Japan.

I like Full House, too. Those kinds of dramas are called "sitcom", aren't they? I wonder if both ALF and Full House are for kids. I think adults can enjoy them enough, at least I'm really enjoying.

Japan and France

Japanese anime and manga are popular in the world. Especially manga is very popular with French people.

Judo is also popular in France. The player's number in France is greater than that in Japan.

I wonder why Japanese culture rings the bell with French people.

I've heard that French parents teach their children to be able to speak pretty language, because it becomes great wealth even if they are lower-class families and aren't rich. Awareness of speaking pretty language seems to be very high in France, as well as in Japan.

I think there is also a similarity between French cuisine and Japanese cuisine. Not only taste but also fineness of look is very important on both cuisines.

Japanese people respect and purse beauty/fair not only on language and cuisine but also on other many things. I think it applies to French people.

Hmm... temperaments of French people and Japanese people are similar?

I doubt it.
Japanese people who are workaholic and French people who take an unbelievable long vacation. Their temperaments can't be similar.

There is nothing which you can't do due to busyness.

When a friend of mine and I talked about meeting after a long time, we hardly couldn't decide when we meet, because she always said she was busy or she has something to do. In the end, we couldn't meet. My understanding is that she doesn't have the will to meet.

She also said, "I may not send someone e-mail because..." What I hear from her in the last couple of months is "because I am struggling with something...", "because I am a bit busy..." and so on and actually I'm fed up with hearing those things.
I think she should send the e-mail from a commonsense perspective, and her reason not to be able to send the e-mail doesn't make sense to anyone's ears.

Then I realized that her logic was very similar to another friend of mine. What they have in common is "being a stay-at-home housewife for a long time", which means they have been away from the public world for a long time.

But unfortunately there are people in business world who say, "I can't/couldn't do so-and-so because I'm busy." But a REALLY busy person never says "I'm busy." And he/she in fact does everything.

"I can't/couldn't do so-and-so because I'm busy."
is equal to
"I don't have the will to do so-and-so."

There are a lot of such people in business world. Almost all of them are inefficient and dull.

The dramatic upset victory by the Yomiuri Giants

The Yomiuri Giants clinched the Central League baseball season title yesterday.
Congratulation!!

The Giants had been the second place and was 13 games behind the leading team at one point. So most people must have thought the Giants couldn't win the pennant. But somehow, I thought the Giants could make it. Somehow... Then they did!!

Some years ago, the Giants was the first place by a VERY large margin although the pennant race just begun. No one doubted the Giants' victory and people said it made the pennant race boring. But, somehow, I was worried and didn't think that large margin was not enough. Somehow... Then as I predicted, the Giants couldn't win.

Hmm... I wonder if those are a big fan's six sense.

The next is the climax series, which is entirely disapproved system, at least for me. Teams have to win the climax series to advance to the Japan series.

Go in and win, the Giants!

Manager Tatsunori Hara (center) and players, waving to fans

The definition of Japanese people - Homogeneous nature of Japanese society

On the previous article, I wrote "3 Japanese won the Nobel Prize in Physics".
Yes, 3 JAPANESE. All news in Japan also say so.

But one of them, emeritus professor at Chicago University Yoichiro Nanbu lives in the US now and got American citizenship when he was around 50 years old. So American media say about three Nobel laureates in physics "one American and two Japanese".

I can understand that they say so. Chinese American, Italian American, Indian American, Japanese American etc... various races gather in the US, and they are Americans. But for Japanese people, professor Nanbu is surely Japanese.

Probably "blood" is more important than nationality on a piece of paper which means laws or something in administration, for Japanese people. For example, a figure skater Rena Inoue. She moved to the US to improve her skating and became a US citizen in 2005. (More info about her is here.) She now participates in competitions as an American skater with her partner who is an American guy. But most Japanese regard her as Japanese.

On the other hand...
Many non-Japanese athletes came to Japan and plays in Japan. Some of them obtained Japanese citizenship. But for Japanese people, they are "foreigners".

When people ask someone about his/her country of origin, they say "Where are you from?" in English. But what Japanese truly want to ask is probably "Where is your blood come from?"

Novel Prizes rush

Nobel Prize in Physics was announced the day before yesterday and 3 winners are all Japanese, Yoichiro Nanbu, Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Masukawa. Three Japanese!

From left, Makoto Kobayashi, Toshihide Masumawa, Yoichiro Nanbu

Then Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced yesterday and one of winners is Osamu Shimomura who is Japanese! Wow!!

Osamu Shimomura, holding the test tube containing GFP

Elementary particle physics? CP symmetry violation? Green Fluorescent Protein? Actually I have no idea about their findings. All I can say is that these 4 people have one thing in common. It's that they have intense curiosity. Their intense curiosity brought their excellent findings. Although they are now old men, they don't lose their curiosity. What a wonderful thing!

The last game of our home run king, Sadaharu Oh

Sadaharu Oh, manager of Japanese pro baseball team the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, has already announced his retirement at the end of this season, and his last game was held on 7th.

His performance during his playing days was by far the best. Probably even MLB players know him. The number of home runs in his lifetime is 868!
He is the eternal superhero in Japanese baseball world, along with Shigeo Nagashima.

He has been in the professional baseball world for over 50 years. Half a century! It's long, very long. He has been fighting for such long time and showing us wonderful games.
He suffered from stomach cancer and underwent the total gastric resection on 2006. I hope he can get plenty of rest.

Sadaharu Oh, greeting fans after his last game

New English dramas

In Japan, TV dramas last 3 months. TV program scheduling is changed and new TV programs start in April, July, October.

So some TV programs of my English drama list for studying English have finished, such as HEROS season1, Handy Manny (sad...), Mortified, Hannah Montana... and unfortunately Desperate Wives season 2 will also finish soon.

Of course new programs start. I added 3 programs into my English drama list so far, Kidnap season 1, 4400 and ALF. Hmm... Actually I don't like suspense dramas so much though.
I hope those dramas are fun!

$700B bailout was approved.

Stupid! It's really stupid!!

There are MANY poor people in taxpayers. Why is their money used for such a thing?

Top management of companies such as Lehman, AIG, who caused spending (wasting) people's money, still live in a stately mansion, have huge money and live a rich lifestyle.

America is really rich people-friendly country. It's the same in every country though.

"When the rich wage war it's the poor who die."
by French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre

By the way, the US's "financial rescue plan (bill)" or "Bailout plan" this time is translated as "Kinyu Antei-ka ho" in Japan and this word is flying around. It means "financial stabilization bill". Is this translation appropriate?
And, I don't think it can stabilize the financial industry.

Meanings of "stable"

The meaning of "stable" I know was "settled", "steady" or "firm".

I found that it has other meanings.
It means a kind of horse house. Surprisingly, it also means Sumo-beya. Sumo-beya is places or groups which sumo wrestlers belong to. For example, Sadogatake stable.

Hmm... are sumo wrestlers equated with horses? No way!

A lo---ng line in front of H&M

The Swedish fashion retail store H&M opened at Ginza in Tokyo on13th Sep. It was the first store in Japan, so it became hot topic and was also introduced in the news.

I was looking forward to going there, then in fact I went there yesterday. But...





Look! You have to stand in a lo--ng line to go into the shop. Gah! Actual line was twice the length of this photo. Of course, I didn't stand the line and gave up going into the store yesterday. About when can I go into H&M without standing in a line?

Thanks for recommending me.

The other day, a headhunter contacted me by email and said that she wanted to introduce a job opportunity to me.
I have relations with some recruit agents but I didn't know her. It was the first contact.

Then I tried to meet her today to hear about the position.
It's somehow for a younger person. So probably the role and responsibility are a bit simpler and salary is lower than my expected one. But there seems to be possibility to fulfill my hopes, which is to work abroad sometime.
Hmm... everything has both good and bad points.

By the way, I wonder how she got my information.
I'm sure somebody let her know my info. (Thank you for recommending me to the headhunter, somebody!) But I have no idea who he/she is.
I just changed my email address a couple months ago, so there are few people who know my new address. And, kanji (Chinese character) of my name is very rare, but she wrote it correctly. And of course, she knows what field I've been working. These indicate that somebody is a person who is near me?

Aso Cabinet

Taro Aso became the prime minister and new cabinet was formed yesterday.


Japanese prime ministers are short-lived. They soon quit. TOO short. I always think they should keep engaging their duties a bit longer.
But actually I was discontented with previous prime minister Fukuda. So changing this time is good for me.

I hope new cabinet will last longer.

Lamb vs. mutton

A couple months ago, my friend who lives in Australia told me that lamb was very good for health, especially it combats anemia. I don't suffer from anemia but according to my friend, lamb is also good for skin and women who eat red meat have good skin.

So, when I buy curry at a curry shop next to my apartment, I always buy mutton curry. Unfortunately there is no lamb curry on a menu for takeout. It's only for eating inside.
But mutton's odor is much stronger than lamb's one.

I told my friend about that. And she said that she didn't think Aussie ate mutton because she hardly ever saw mutton in Australia. Oh, really?!?!

So what about New Zealanders? The number of sheep is greater than that of human in New Zealand. Such a lot of adult sheep are just only for getting wool?

My watch has come back!

Finally, finally my watch came back from a repair shop.

It took a lot of time to repair, about 2 months.
And,
It took a lot of money, 21,000 yen!! (195 us$, 134 euro)

The watch is one of necessary things in my life, so it was very inconvenient. I had to look for the clock to know the time.

Even now, I still look for the clock, although I have my watch.

Job opportunities day?

As I wrote before, I'm seeking a good opportunity to achieve my purpose, which is to work abroad sometime. Even if I can't work abroad, at least I'd like to work in global circumstance.

I had job interviews with a foreign company. There seemed to be little possibility to work abroad. And I doubted capability of the position's boss as a director.
I always thought it's terrible to work under an inefficient boss.
OK, OK. I'd like to find a satisfactory position.

Unexpectedly, 3 job opportunities came along yesterday, in different ways.Was it job opportunities day?

Why was AIG rescued?

"I entirely didn't think about bailing out Lehman using taxpayer's money."
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

But the "taxpayer's money" was used for bailing out AIG.

The US government abandoned one company but rescued another company.
The reasons people say are almost the same. But those reasons don't make sense at all. The HUGE taxpayer's money is used for just one company. The solid and convincing reason is necessary.
One business man in Wall Street said, "The government can't (must not?) control the economy, so it shouldn't bail out a company."
Yeah! He is right!

Paulson is ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs. Hmm... I wonder if he didn't like Lehman because something happened while he was the CEO. This is much more convincing reason, isn't it? Haha.

But necessary convincing reason is not why they abandoned Lehman, but why they bailed out AIG.

After the G7 on April, Paulson said he didn't think that bailing out with taxpayer's money or government intervention would be considered. He emphasized that The US wouldn't adopted those things.
In the G7, he explained the US's countermeasures against the subprime loan problem, and he also said that using taxpayer's money and government intervention were not included in the program because the harm would be more than the benefit.

But AIG was bailed out. I'm not convinced at all.

Lehman Brothers failed

There were a lot of news about Lehman Brothers these days, then finally it filed for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy of the big, famous and over 150 years old company...

I had worked for Lehman. I worked in the mortgaged-related department. Yes, it's exactly the section in connection with the subprime loan problem which caused the bankruptcy. The department became one company, kind of Lehman's subsidiary. I checked its website and it said that they didn't deal with new loans any longer. Oh. It was very good that I didn't continue to work there.

It was said that Bank of America would buy Lehman, but BofA chose Merrill Lynch. Merrill, which is also a big and famous company, was amalgamated. Wall Street must be stormy situation.

Actually, I was involved in Merrill in business, too. They have their own gym in their office. I thought only the company like Merrill could do that.

A few years ago, who could imagine that the companies like Lehman and Merrill fell into such situation? It's really scary. The affairs in this time can happen to any companies. There is no solid company in the world.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

I tend to respect people who have SUPER mental strength. A person I respect was only one, Matsui Hideki of the New York Yankees. I have known him since he was in high school.

Recently I have one more person I respect. He also had SUPER mental strength.
He is Randy Pausch, died of pancreatic cancer on 25th July 2008. He was a Carnegie Mellon Professor and held "The Last Lecture" at his university about a year ago, and this lecture became very big YouTube hit.

I heard about this information the other day and saw the video.
Although he knew that his days were numbered, his attitude and words were very positive.

After the lecture, a book "The Last Lecture" was published.
http://www.thelastlecture.com/

The Japanese translation of it was also published and I found it in a library. But it was reserved by MANY people. I made a reservation but I have no idea when I can read it.

His lecture was very interesting and his expression with humor was wonderful.
But what I was impressed more was his web site.

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/news/

He faced his reality and wrote philosophically.
He must have felt chagrined strongly that he had to leave his 3 small kids. He must have cried with his wife too many times. He also must have cried alone too many times.
But, I think nobody could detect a whiff of that in his lecture and web site.
I couldn't read his web site without tears.

I wonder how his family is now. He was a wonderful person so many of his friends must help his family. And a wonderful person's wife must be a wonderful person. So I believe she is doing well with her kids.

"Capable / Capability"

I learned the word "capable / capability" recently, then I found those word are often used in the news, TV drama and the movies, which means in the native speaker's conversation.

Hmm... I wonder if those are polite and formal words. What is different from "ability"?

Japan is in tropical area?

Hurricane Gustav is closing New Orleans and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation of the city. It is said that Gustav might become bigger than Katrina.

One resident says that hurricane comes every year, but it getting bigger year after year.

Recently terrible heavy rain attacks all around Japan, and it is called "guerilla heavy rain."

In Tokyo, it's been raining for the last a week. It's like rainy season seemingly but type of rain is a bit strange.

It's torrential heavy rain in a short time. Such type of rain happens all around Japan recently
After short torrential rain, the sun comes up, then soon it starts rain terribly. It's like the climate of the Tropics. It must be due to global warming. Japan will be included into tropical area sometime.

By the way, I don't think it good idea that the US names hurricanes human names. Hurricanes usually cause huge damage. For example hurricane Katrina, all people whose name is Katrina must feel bad.

Pronunciation of "cooperation"

Today I was taking English dictation as usual and there was a sentence "I want to cow operate with you". I wondered what was "cow operate" then I found the correct pronunciation of "cooperation."

Oops! I had thought that the pronunciation of "cooperation" was "kuu pa ration", and I had said so for a lo--ng time.

Not only my English but also my mental ability?

In my English TV program lineup which I watch for learning English, there are some for kids.
Those are sometimes boring. It can't be helped. Those are for kids, or toddlers.

But, "Handy Manny" is a bit different. I don't know why but I'm enjoying its story and I always look forward to the next story.

A leading character Manny is a fixer, and his tools are talking and they are very cute.
Manny is probably a Hispanic American, so he and people around him sometimes speak Spanish. But What I can understand are just "hola", "adios" and "gracias". Haha.

As well as other TV characters, it seems that there are Handy Many toys.
Look! It's the tools set! I want that!

Not only my English but also my mental ability is the same as children.

My bad listening comprehension #14

"It costs more to stay in the hospital for two days than it would to stay in the most luxurious hotel four night."

I see. But I thought it was a bit strange to comparing staying 2days and 4 days. In this case, it should be compared between 1 day and 2 days, right?

But, the correct sentence is...
It's not "four night", but "a fortnight."

I heard the word "fortnight" for the first time.Why does only "2 weeks" have another word? How about 3 weeks or 4 weeks?

My hearing wrong of the past:
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-bad-listening-comprehension-13.html

The evaluation of Beijing Olympics by other countries media.

The article about the evaluation of Beijing Olympics by other countries media has been placed.
I try to translate it.

"China committed to increasing the freedom of expression, improvement of human-rights issue and so on when its Olympic bid. We now found those were lies."
The Washington Post criticized China's behavior on their editorial titled "In-jail Olympics." They also say, "China also got the gold medal in REPRESSION."

"The Chinese government got the success of the Olympics without offering any concessions." The New York Times criticized the IOC's coward attitude toward China. They also say Bush and other leaders should tell China that China's breach of the policy pledge of the Olympics wouldn't be ignored and forgotten.

The Daily Telegraph says, "Who can remember the opening ceremonies of Athens, Atlanta, Sydney or Seoul? Things which happened in the athletics track field, the swimming pool and other competition sites are never disappear from people's memories.

Whew... It's hard to translate news articles...

By the way, I'd like to go to London to see the Olympics 4 years later. London says, unlike Beijing, they wouldn't hold the Olympics for boosting national prestige. Yes, it's right. It's the right Olympics. I'm looking forward to the London Olympics, I've heard that there are many British people who don't like Japanese though. OK, OK, I don't mind.

"Appendix"

An example sentence;
A friend of mine had his appendix out and it cost $12,000.

Speaking of "appendix", it's a thing attached additionally, such as something in the last of books.

I didn't know it has the meaning of typhlon.
Hmm... Typhlon is a kind of additional thing in human body. I see.

By the way, the operation for appendicitis costs no less than $12,000!? It's too expensive! I checked its cost in Japan. It's about 300,000 - 400,000 yen. (2,721 - 3,628US$, 1,860 - 2,480EUR.)
I can't be sick in the US!

"China is not qualified to host the olympics." by a Olympics uncle

I think the closing ceremony is much more wonderful than the opening ceremony. I fall asleep during watching the opening ceremony...

There is a Japanese called "Olympics uncle". He has been cheering ALL summer Olympics ON SITE since the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He appears most of all games sites in noticeable costume.
It's a kind of his pastime but in a sense, he is the person who knows Olympics best.

Surprisingly, he has come back to Japan before the Olyimpics finishes in this time. He says it's the first time he hasn't been there until the closing ceremony.
What happened?

He talks about the Beijing Olympics;
Although there were many unoccupied seats, many Japanese couldn't enter the competition site of judo. He urged to have them enter but it didn't work. Such a thing is the first time of his experience in Olympics for about half a century.
Chinese booing was terrible. He has never seen such Olympics. They are not qualified to host the Olympics. And the air was so bad, so I have a sore throat.

I'm glad that Wansiru won.

Samuel Kamau Wansiru won the gold medal in the men's marathon in a new Olympics record.

He is Kenyan, but I'm very grad as if a Japanese won.
He went to high school in Japan, and participated in high school ekiden and made good results.
After graduated from high school, he joined a company in Japan and became a member of its track and field team.

So, he speaks Japanese fluently.
In the interview from a Japanese, he was asked, "what did you learn in Japan?" he answered, "Patience. So I could win today."

Hmm... yes, it's Japanese line.

Wansiru in high school days

Hugh McCutcheon made it!

Today is the final day of the Beijing Olympics.
The final game of the men's volley ball and the strongest team Brazil was defeated, by American team led by Hugh McCutcheon. Wow!
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2008/08/american-volley-team-coach-hugh.html

I can't believe! Japan got a bronze medal in the 400m relay!

The final race of the men's 400m relay took place just now, and Japan finished in 3rd place!

When an American team and a Britain team were disqualified from the first heat, a Japanese commentator said the Japanese team had a chance of winning a medal.
I thought, "No way!"

It's miracle for Japanese to win in a short-distance sprint. Besides, an ace sprinter Suetsugu is in bad form in this Olympics.

It's a historic affair for Japan!

By the way, I wonder what's different between "historic" and "historical".

My bad listening comprehension #13

In a dialogue about life insurance, they talks about several life insurance frauds.

"In fact, some have actually faked on dance."

Faking on dance? What people fake about dancing? And what relation is there between dance and insurance frauds?

The correct sentence is;
"In fact, some have actually faked their own deaths."
Geh--!
Own deaths <---> on dance.

And I couldn't catch "their". Actually this sentence continues.
"In fact, some have actually faked their own deaths, and others tried to kill their spouses or burn their houses in order to collect."

I couldn't catch all 3 "their". And "their" sometimes sounds like "neir".

My hearing wrong of the past:
http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-bad-listening-comprehension-12.html

It was a good job opportunity though.

As I wrote on this blog, I'm looking for the opportunity that I can work overseas. (ref: http://sandfriend.blogspot.com/2008/06/before-working-abroad.html) So I sometimes have interviews with some companies which agents introduced to me.

I had an interview with one company last month. When the agent introduced it to me, I thought it might have been a bit different from what I want to do. But having the interview, I thought it a good opportunity for me and hoped it was going well.

The next day of the interview, the interviewer who is manager and a direct boss of the position informed through the agent that she wanted to talk with the head of APAC region who would be the next interviewer after he/she would come back from vacation at the biginning of August.

In the middle of this month, the agent told me that she talked to the manager I had the interview with, and the vacation of the head of APAC region was until 18th and after that they would talk.

But I still haven't any feedback. It's almost a month since I had the interview. So I decided if I don't receive any feedback by the end of this week I will decline.

I've always thought that a company, which can't make a quick response and can't make a quick decision, can't survive a competitive business world. Because, due to their late response and late decision making, they misses a lot of good business chance and even good human resources. Oh, it's me? Hehe.

My tiny luck

Tully's was running a kind of summer campaign the last month. Shop staffs were passing out application forms to customers.

All customers do is filling in their name and giving it to the staffs. I did.

I got a parcel from Tully's today. It was a tumbler. Oh, I seem to have won it in the campaign.

In the situation that bad things go on around me recently, a small good thing happened. But is it OK to use my little luck for such a thing?

Hmm... I don't like this design so much... I will use it in my office.

A monkey appears in the heart of the city

Yesterday, a security guard found there was a monley in Shibuya station. Shibuya is center of Tokyo and where many people gather. Why monkey is...

Kitajima butcher shop is booming

Parents of Kosuke Kitajima, the gold medalist in the breaststrokes, are running a butcher shop.

After he got two gold medals with one world record, many people are going to visit the shop.

A long line in front of the shop

By the way, I heard that the specialty of the shop is menchi-katsu (mince cutlet) and it is Kitajima's favorite food.

Too fast Jamaican!

Usain Bolt got the gold medals in both the 100-meter and 200-meter sprints in the world records. It's fast. Too fast. Look!Although the above is the final race, he won by a BIG margin.

In the women's 100-meter sprint, Jamaicans monopolized the podium.
According to Reuters, Jamaican Prime Minister is considering setting up a national holiday.

Today is Bolt's Birthday and he became 22 years old. Still 22 years old?! He doesn't look like so young though...

American volley team coach Hugh McCutcheon, family of the victims

The last game of the first round of men's volley ball, Japan vs. the US is now taking place.

American couple, the husband was killed and the wife was seriously injured by a Chinese in Beijing on 9th, is family of the coach of the US, Hugh McCutcheon.
The couple is parents of a player of the US international team at the Athens Olympics. Hugh McCutcheon is her husband.

So current players of the women national volley ball team of the US know her well and they are also terribly shocked.

It was an unprecedented incident regarding in Olympics history.

Go on and win, American team!

The coach, Hugh McCutcheon giving direction in the time-out

Liu Xiang withdrew from the competition

It's incredible for Chinese. A men's 110-meter hurdles athlete, Liu Xiang couldn't participate in the race due to injury, although he once stood at the start line.

It must be thrown into a commotion in China.
It is leading to a lot speculations. Many people are saying that his injury isn't real. I'm not sure but it's for certain that Chinese people are terribly shocked.

Usually 2 races are taken place a day in the hurdles. But in this time, just a race per day. The 1st elimination, 2nd elimination, the semifinals, and the finals. 4 days. It is said that the reason is China wanted Liu Xiang to show up as many as possible. A commentator said that most athletes aren't used to "a race a day", so it might not be good for their conditions. But China changed just because...

But Liu Xiang left from the Beijing Olympics without any races.

Liu Xiang getting set to start the race

Monster Michael Phelps made new legend

The last race, the men's 400m medley relay took place and American team won.

An American swimmer Michael Phelps achieved getting 8 gold medals in the Beijing Olympics. What an incredible deed!

Many athletes are expected to win gold medals, but achieving that is not easy. Some of them missed it. But Phelps carried out as expected. 8 gold medals! Besides, 7 of 8 are the world records!

I understood he was an outstanding swimmer. But he participated in races almost every day. How strong physical strength he has. And it's usually very hard to keep motivation. Hmm... Indeed, he is a monster.

The US team which won the gold medal in the men's 400m medley relay
from left; Peirsol, Hansen, Phelps, Lezak

Japanese team got the bronze medal in the men's 400m medley relay. Good job!

Kitajima, who is thrown into the pool by his team mates after finishing all swimming races

Suddenly autumn?

It was very hot humid weather every day, but today, it's quite cool. The weather forecast says it's like almost autumn. In fact, I felt even cold this morning. What happened?

Such a climate is big welcome, if it isn't one of abnormal climate.

Prefix of antonym

In English, opposite words have "un", "in" "dis" or "non" in the biginning of its word, such as "unstable", "incredible", "disregard", "nonblank" and so on. I think there are more... Why does it depend on the word? Please get everything from one prefix!

In my previous article, I wanted to write an antonym of "mature". First I wrote "unmature" but there was no such a word. Hmmm... Then finally I found. It was "immature". Ahhh---! It's "im", not "in"?
Uhh, another prefix...

Great top athletes

Japanese soccer team was defeated consecutive 3 games. They had to leave the Olympics without a win.
It's not surprising. The level of Japanese soccer is quite low.

I found the site by chance. A lot of bashing and booing against Japanese soccer team are written in the site. Mainly it accuses the team's terrible performance, team's coach and a player who is Keisuke Honda.

I don't know him, because I'm not interested in Japanese soccer. (But I like European soccer. It's fun because its level is much higher than Japan.)
He is accused of his terrible performance and his BIG MOUTH. And many people say to him on the site, "Get away from the national team".
I don't know his play but judging from some his interviews, BIG MOUTH is true and his personality is childish and immature.

Whenever watching international competitions, I can't help admiring personality of top athletes. They have not only high level skills as an athlete but also high level mind.
To become one of the top athletes in the world and to keep its position, just having excellent athletic ability is not enough. Great mind is also necessary.
That's why Japanese soccer players can't become top-level players, or, their mind is silly because their level as an athlete is very low?

As it was mentioned in the comments of my article, a Japanese judo athlete, Ryoko Tani has such great mind. She kept being in the top position for quite a long time.

I think a Chinese judo athlete Dongmei Xian, who won 2 consecutive gold medals in the women's judo 52kg category, is also such a person.
I'm not familiar with her but I feel her personality is great.
I heard that she is a national heroine, respected and popular in China. She is probably the same age as Tani and both of them are mother.
Dongmei Xian always smiles except during matches. After the match, she looks like expressing concern for a defeated opponent.
She always smiles, but when the Chinese flag was been raising, she was moved to tears. She must be overcoming a lot of difficulties. But such a person is usually smiling and never says negative things.

But, there are a lot of exceptions, although they are top athletes.
The IOC announced that they decided the disqualification of Ara Abrahamian, who placed 3rd in the Graeco-Roman, and taking away his bronze medal.
He fiercely protested against the judges about the call, and threw the bronze medal away.

I'm evaporating!

It's hot, very hot, TOO hot yesterday and today.
Meeting with someone, everyone says, " it's very hot today." by way of greeting.

A polar bear in a zoo is also getting knocked down?

There is a winner. It means there is a loser.

Keiji Suzuki, judo 100kg category, was defeated at the first-round match, by ippon. He was also defeated at the first match of the consolation tournament, by ippon.

He won the gold medal in the over 100kg category at the Athens Olympics, and was one of Japanese athletes who were expected to win the gold medal this time. Especially I thought his wining was for sure.

After losing at the consolation match, he couldn't stand up for a long time, quite long time. It was heart-wrenching and I couldn't go on watching him.

Behind delighted winners, there are losers. When I watch sports games, I tend to focus losers unconsciously. I can't help thinking of things about them, especially about what they have been doing for the competition.

Keiji Suzuki crouching on the floor

too, then, three?

In an American drama;

Girl A: I think bla bla bla.
Girl B: Me, too.
Small girl: Me, three.

Huh? I thought it was just her joke.

The other day, in other American cartoon on TV;

Person A: I can do. (Actually I don't remember well the sentence.)
Person B: I can do, too.
Person C: I can do, three.

Oh, it wasn't the small girl's joke. Is it said occasionally?
Or I wonder if I misunderstand. Three isn't three but other word?

How many times? An incident again and again in China

Near the site of Olympics, the Beijing law enforcement authority detained a British journalist and also took 8 activists of Tibetan problem.

The activists were detained as soon as starting a protest. Their whereabouts after detaining is unknown. S, s, scary!

According to AFP (not Xinhua. So this info is reliable), the British journalist tried to take pictures of the activists, then the police held on his arms and forced him down on the ground. He was released after 20 minutes but he injured his arms and he said;
"This is a threat. I was infuriated from the bottom of my heart."

On the request of the IOC, the Chinese government is committed that people can do any media activities freely in China during the Olympics. But, on 10th, a Japanese journalist, who was covering the bombing incident in Hsinchiang Uighur Autonomous Region, was also detained. And access to some web sites is restricted in the media center of the Beijing Olympics.

I wrote on this blog that the Chinese government made a kind of manual for Chinese people because their behavior is terrible, but people don't follow them at all.
It's natural.
Even the Chinese government doesn't follow the request of the IOC, although they once accepted that.

If the Olympics isn't successful, I don't think it's China's responsibility. The IOC would be to blame, because they selected such a country as the host of the Olympics.

The counterfeit opening ceremony

In the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, it was revealed that big footprints of fireworks were CG. Huh?
After that, one more thing was revealed. A 9-year-old Chinese girl was singing in the ceremony. But actually she wasn't singing. A 7-year-old girl was singing in the backstage. Huh?? I heard that even Chinese are complaining about this matter.

But, no wonder that such things happened. Both the footprints and the singing girl were counterfeit.
"Counterfeit" is in China's line.

Chinese bad behavior

Chinese bad behavior is very famous around the world, such as, they never stand in line. And China itself seems to be aware of that.

According to an article on the Internet;
In the women's doubles badminton game, a Japanese pair defeated a Chinese pair who ranks No. 1 in the world and top-seeded in this Olympics.
Then in the next match, Japanese other pair vs. Chinese other pair, Chinese cheering group continued shouting "kill! kill!" (of course in Chinese) at the Japanese pair in retaliation.
I watched this game on TV but I didn't know that because I can't understand Chinese words.

The article ended with the following;
China made the manual about cheering, such as waving the national flags and banners is strictly prohibited, but Chinese people are completely indifferent to that. The Chinese flags are waved and many Chinese who wear red shirt occupied here and there in event sites. Then, "Kill! Kill!" It's the scene hard to imagine in the Olympics.

I am defeated by toddlers in English

I'm writing about the Olympics these days, so I write about English on this article.

I found a Japanese site about English dramas on the Internet and it says that English in the TV programs for KIDs is more difficult to catch. I agree with that. I can't understand those English. But... native toddlers can understand...

As I sometimes wrote on this blog, I like toddlers and have some favorite toddlers blog sites. On those sites, sometimes conversations between toddlers and their parents are written funnily. It's very cute!
But reading those conversations, their English is much better than mine. My English is much lower than 2 or 3-year-old kids. Whew...

Murder case again in China

People were killed in China again.
The news say;

The Chinese government has taken all-time security precaution for the Beijing Olympics, but the fact that they can't inhibit such murder cases is highlighted.

In this time, according to Xinhua News Agency, a person stuck a knife into 4 security guards in Sinkiang, 3 of them were killed and the other was injured.
But Xinhua's reports are always unreliable, as well as Chinese government's announcement.
Those cases may be more terrible or more terrible cases may be happening somewhere.

Noguchi... That's pity.

It was announced that Mizuki Noguchi who is a marathon runner won't show up the race due to injury.



According to the news, she said what she had done for the past 4 years was all for the Beijing Olympics. I feel very sorry. I can't say anything when I think about her feeling.

Abbreviation of countries name

Athletes put a kind of sheet on the back. It shows their country code, name, event... I don't know what it is called though.
The biggest is the country code, such as Japan is JPN.

On the back of North Korean athletes, "PRK" is written. PRK? North Korea --- PRK? I wondered why.

According to a dictionary, PRK is an abbreviation of People's Republic of Kampuchea. ??
So I looked up North Korea in the dictionary.
I see. Its formal name in English is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. I understood. It is very strange that there is "Democratic" in their name though.

But... what about Cambodia's code?

Thinking about Judo

I think European judo is different from real judo. Real judo... I mean Japanese judo or orthodox judo. Japanese judo, for example, games Japan vs. Korea are very exciting, but games by Europeans are a bit boring and not fun.

But it can't be helped. Now, judo isn't Japan's sport. It's the sport of the world. Globalizing things are always changing from original orthodox ones. For example, sushi.
There are many sushi restaurants all of the world now. But I don't think most of them provide real sushi. Those are not real sushi, at least for me. Sushi has been globalized, then changed.
I think Brazilian judo is similar Japanese judo. I wonder because there are many Japanese Brazilian in Brazil.
Many Japanese care about orthodox judo. So we are fed up with boring European judo and even don't regard blue judo wears as real judo wears.

I wonder why there is consolation match system in judo. I feel it a bit strange. Then 2 persons get bronze medals. Hmm... I don't know well about this system but, person A defeats person B at the first-round match, but person B wins the bronze medal although person A can't do. It can happen, right?

Judo is very active in France. I heard the number of the judo players is higher than that in Japan. So in the international competitions, France is the strongest rival for Japan. But both Japan and France are not making good results in the Beijing Olympics so far. I wonder if it means other countries go from strength to strength.

While I am writing this article, Ayumi Tanimoto, judo 63kg category, won the gold medal! She won all her matches by IPPON. Aiming to win by IPPON. It's the orthodox real Japanese judo!

Ayumi Tanimoto. Before finishing throwing, she is secure of her victory and smiles.