I hope she will be OK

My daughter's entrance examination will be started soon. I feel time went by so quickly. She goes to cram school alsmost every day and I'm busy as a driver for her every evening and night.

Recently her pressure is increasing day by day. Whenever I see her, she seems to be very serious. What I can do is that I cook delicious dinner, make an effort to remove her stress.

Actually she has not decided yet  what she should do after her graduation.It means she doesn't have a special goal or dream now. I suggest her to make her own choice. Sometimes others are very annoying. They ask her about the school of her first choice too much. It is reality.

But I think...
"You don't need to worry and care. Life is very long. Even though she will fail, it is no problem. " I advise her.

When we see a very beautiful scenery, we can relax and feel comfortable.
The other day, cosmos were very very beautiful.

I hope she will remove her pressure and she will be OK.

International relationships in October

First of all, let me talk about these experiences. This month I had the opportunity to work as a interpreter, volunteer as a host family for a international student from America and volunteer as a staff member for Higashiohmi`s sister cities. While working as an interpreter for Swedish visitors,  we went to Otsu to see a Judo demonstration. The Swedish visitors were very interested in Japanese judo, and we were able to meet an previous Olympic gold medalist, Kousei Inoue, who now trains younger generations in judo. This allowed me to practice my English a lot because Inoue only spoke in Japanese and the visitors did not understand any Japanese at all. Therefore I had to translate everything that was said into English. After the demonstartion we were able to take a picture with Inoue and meet him. It was amazing.

I went to Gokashou area to see the guests from Higashiohmi`s sister cities at the Marquette city. I helped them to write calligaraphy; after which we participated in a traditional tea ceremony, where I answered any questions they had or translated anything they did not understand. Sitting in Seiza style was very difficult for them, and even though I am Japanese, I  dislike sitting in Seiza style! They said that the green tea and sweets were very delicious. I was lucky enough to be able to enjoy the tea and sweets aswell. I originally come from Kyoto so I do not know about shiga prefecture very well, but I was to understand the meaning of the Ohmishounin (merchant) even though it was explained in English.

 I was  hosting a internation student from Texas. I was  amazed because, although he is only a first year in Japanese, his progress is very good. He does not know a lot of Japanese words so I have had the pleasure of helping him to learn more vocabulary; while he has helped to teach me better English. I was able to talk about a lot of topics and my English skill is improving day by day. He spoke very quickly and at first I could not follow his conversation, but now my listening skill has improved very much and I am able to understand him. He enjoyed played shougi with my husband and I was able to cook dinner together with him. My daughter was  learning English, and he was able to help tutor her. Last night we had a Shabu Shabu party and the food was very delecious. I am sure he was able to learn about a lot of traditional Japanese rules.

Whenever I get to know new people,  I enjoy being able to learn many new things from them. Therefore I will try and volunteer to host more international students in the future.

speech contest and impression

 I took part in the English Japanese speech contest last Sunday. This was first experience to me.

 At the beginning of this March, I suggested  that my acquaintance to produce a new category. She is the orner and  an English teacher of AGE(academy global education) Before now, entrants ahave been  elementary school  and jynior high and  high school students. I go to AGE in Ryuoh once a month. I heard about speech contest from her. I began to be interested in it.

The title was "For our future". I  had to make my own  original title.
It was very hard for me.

As we know,  a huge earthquake and Tsunami hit Tohhoku area in the middle of March. I could not afford to do anything at all after that.I had no idea about
 my future. I did not know what I should do at that time.

My pressure and stress  was increased day by day.
I began to write my essay from  the beginnig of July. I wrote again many times because I was not satisfied with it. Although it was written in Japanese,
it took a long time for me to complete it.

After I finished writting my essay, my son came back home from his dorm during his  summer vacation  in the middle of July. I concentrated on taking care of him  and my daughter because they needed my help.

I did not have enough time to interpret from Japanese to English. I was not sure if I would be successful or not. Whenever  I had a spare time, I  again wrote a lot.

After my son returned to his dorm in the middle of August, I began to concentrate on practicing a lot almost every day.  I often gave some speech in front of my family. They pointed out my mistakes and bad points. I tried harder and harder.

At last, the day of the contest arrived!
When I received the pamphlet , I was very surprised because I knew my turn was last.

While I was listen to the  other student's speeches, my heart began to beat  quickly because their speeches were amazing. Especially elementary school boy student's were very courageous.

My pressure was increased. I did not know how to recover my composure.
I was about to cry.

My turn came. I began to give a speech in a loud voice. I saw everybody was staring at me. I made some mistakes but I didn't use script. That was the  only one my pride. There were many mistakes. But I finished my first speech.

At the final  announcement, I heard the MC said my name. I got 2 prizes. It was  such an unexpected thing that I cried a little.

The reason  I  had a wonderful experience was that there were very nice friends who supported me. I am very proud of them.
I never forget such a wonderful speech contest like this.
I'm sure I need to challenge myself to reach higher levels.

Thank you very much,my dear friends!

Without your support,I could not have gotten this trophy...

Helping each other

Ten days have already gone by since my mother in law was hospitalized. According to my father in law, she is getting better and better.
She will come back home next Monday.

As you may probably remember, we live separately. I have to take care of two houses. The other day, my mother who lives in kyoto came to my house
and stayed for 2 days. She is a perfect housewife. She was willing to help my housework. She made  much delicious food for us and cleaned my room.
I was very appreciate for her kindness.

My father in law will be 81 years next month, He is very fine. He does not
usually do any housework. But this time, he washes the dishes and do the laundry by himself. I cook lunch and dinner for him. He is very good driver.
So he sometimes takes my daughter to the cram school from my house.
Needless to say, he supports  my family very well. I am also appreciate his kindness and good health.

Now my son has been  staying in my house from 7/19 last month. Although he has much homework, he often helps me. He sometimes cook lunch and dinner for us. While I was taking a nap today, he made some rice ball for my daughter. He is very kind and smart student.

Although I face some difficulties, I'm sure I will be able to overcome because I have my valuable family. I feel so happy and learn a lot from them.

These are my parents!

Be careful

This Monday, my mother in law suddenly came to my house and said to me.
"I am so sorry, I will go to hospital and have an operation. "
I knew that she could not take care of her self well. But it was unexpected.

After she fell down because of heat, she became handicapped a little bit.
she went to the hospital and consulted a doctor many times.
He suggested her to have an operation. She thinks that doctor is like God.
So she decided to have an operation.

When my husband and I were told about this situation by her at the first time,
we didn't agree it. But she didn't obey our opinion.
It was no choice.

She had an operation on her birthday. According to my father in law, she is getting better and better. I am relieved now.

It was cloudy last Thursday. I did not drink some in the morning and cleaned the house hard 2 hours. At noon, suddenly I fell down in the living room.
I felt dizzy. I laied  down on the bed, but it was getting worse and worse.
I asked my father in law to the hospital soon.

I arrived at hospital. I consulted a doctor. According to the blood test, I became
bad because of dehydration. I realized that I  was concentrating on cleaning without  something to drink. I was treated by drip infusion for 3 hours.

In my mother in law's case, she fell down outside when it was too hot.
She is an  old person,so it is difficult for her to notice if the temperature is high or not. I am sorry that she had a bad accident out side. If I had fell down outside, I would have been operated like her.

As we know, gloval warmimg is progressing.
Let's be careful especially in summer.

heat sickness

As we know, we are obliged to save  electriciy in this summer because of lack of electric power.
Now it is too hot in Japan. Probably all Japanese people are sure that it is necessary for us to do so.

Last Thursday morning, my mother in law went to play grand golf  with other old people.
At 9 AM, she fell  down because of heat and hurt her neck. My father in law immeadiately took her to the hospital. She recovered consciousness but her hand( fingers) started shaking.
Now she has to go to hospital and she can't move her right hand well.
She regretted to play grand golf outside although  it was too hot. But there was no choice.

When I watched TV, I knew that many young students fell down out side because of heat when it was held  at sport festival. And I also knew that many old people became heat sickness in thier house because they can't feel if  it was hot or not. It is dangerous thing.

My daughter often complains about the heat  because there were no airconditioners in her class rooms and other rooms. Whenever they take PE class outside, many students are about to fall down.
I advised  her to drink something but she told me that she had lack of drink . It is very dangerous situation because they can't go to the store easily and immediately.

Osaka governor  Hashimoto Toru  told us not to worry about saving electric power.
It is Kansai area. Kantou area only lack the electric power.
We can understand what he mention. But we  are sometimes confused ... Which way should we choose" saving or our life???
Even though there were no earthquake anc Tsunami , we would have face this serious problem.

In my case, I usually stay in the house. So I take a shower during a dialy time once. I don't use airconditioner. I use only fan. I try to drink something. When I go outside, I use umbrella to avoid ultraviolet rays. I don't want to become heat sickness. We continue to fight with intense heat.

Japanese educational situation

As you may probably know, Japanese high school students have to study very hard during thier school life. My daugher is a  high school student.She goes to cram school almost every day and I have to support as her  driver every night.

She does not have  a special dream or goal now, so she is troubled by  this situation.
But actually most high school students  wish to go to college or university. There are too many schools in Japan, I think. So some universites  are very popular but other universities are not popular. It is so difficult for them to pass  entrance exams  for popular universities.

When I was a high school student on  summer vacation, I studied  from early in the morning to late at night. It was too hard for me. But it was normal. At that time, there were not so many cram school, so I had to study by myself.
In my daughter's case, I think she is lucky. Her cram school teachers teach her and other students kindly and
politely. Most of the students pass  entrance exams every year. They have to think about after their graduation after that.

But it is said that Japanese university  students don't need to study very hard during  their school life.
They can easily graduate.So many of them slack off. This is the  Japanese people's situation
About 30% students can't find their company or job to work. Many students start to look for a company early in the semester.  Some students cut the class although monthly school fee is  so expensive. It is  a very sad story.

I don't like this Japanese style. But there is  no choice.
I think my daughter continues  to be troubled from now on,too. Because we can't answer the question.

" Why  do students have to study and go to university???"

Talk about victim's pets and animals

As we know,Fukushima power station problem hasn't been solved yet. Of course many victims are compelled to evacuate from Fukushima, but unfortunately their pets and animals were abandoned.

I happened to find one person's blog.

http://ameblo.jp/uchino-toramaru/

According to his blog, he often goes to Fukushima near the Fukushima power station in order to feed animals. I saw many pictures and read it and I was about to cry. That present situation is so terrible and sad.

Many pets were looking for their owner. Some pets died because of hunger.
He and other volunteer people are helping to them. They give some water and food to them.
And he tell about the situation for us.

By this disaster and radiation problem, many pets and animals are also damaged.
We are human being,so we can speak, appeal,cry.
But they can't speak.They can't understand their situation. They don't know what they should do.
I feel so sad and I have no idea.
But actually some kind people continue to help them.

Please read his blog and don't forget these present situation.

What a small world it is!

I usually make use of facebook. I have been using it for about 3 years. The reason is that Canadian   who have ever stayed in my house  suggested me to join.  After that I enjoy communicating with my friends.

The other day, I happened to see my page in my right side. As we know, many members who are my friends's friend are shown in our page. We can sometimes meet again accidentaly.

I saw one person's page. I was so surprised because I knew that we had a lot of in common.

I decided to write a message and ask many things to him.
I received his message.  And I was more surprised again.   Because our home town was the same, my brother's school was the same, our club was the same, my old friend is his school friend,and so on...)


What a small world is! Face book is so useful!  I am so excited now.

I was looking for other old friends by using facebook.
I found some old friends. I was also able to see some of thier pictures. Amazing!
I remember those days.

Most of my face book friends are not online friends but real friends. So I don't need to worry about too much. I will enjoy meeting old friends and communicate with them.

I am proud of them

According to the TV news,　Minamisouma city mayor Sakurai Katsunobu and Dr Kanno Takeshi were selected as  the most influential people in the world.

I didn't know that Sakurai appealed to the world on youtube website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ZHQ--cK40

escape death by a hairbreadth

As the proverb says,"escape death by a hairbreadth".
I happened to find video on the Internet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7IL37t7Wjg&feature=related

I am not sure why he took this video at that time.

Probably he was saved after that.

Who could  imagine  huge Tsunami hit ?

Of course I couldn't imagine and  have never seen  such a terrible scenes like this.

This happening made me sad.  We can't know when disaster happen. We don't think that our life suddenly
end by natural disaster.

Nobody knows  if  we can escape death by a hairbreadth...

Talk to myself

I have a fun with my children in this spring vacation. Time goes by quickly. And my son has to return to his dorm the day after tomorrow. I could enjoy spending time with them.

As we know, there was huge earthquake and Tsunami in Japan unfortunately.
Since it happened, I have been depressed and I did not do anything because of deep sadness.

But day by day, my feeling changed.

" Nobody knows about tomorrow or even after 1 minute. Is it all right for me to waste of time?"

After that, I tried to concentrate on taking care of my family.

My son is very smart  and kind.
Before I ask him to do something, he starts to help my housework. While I was going out and picking up my daughter and husband, he cooked something to eat for us.

← YAKIMESHI

My daughter has been very busy.She goes to cram school almost every day. She has to take some examination to enter the university(or colledge) next year.Recently she is doing her best. I take her to the cram school and pick up her twice a day. Although I am so busy every evening and night as a driver,I want to support her. We have a chat every night before go to bed. We talk about the future, dream, job and so on. I sometimes  feel that she is not my child but my good friend.

This was taken in front of my house.

I know life is tough and there are problems around us. But what I have to do is spend happily everyday and

feel how happy we are in our life.My duty is to give our children in struction. Even though we face difficulties, we never give up...

life is tough,isn't it?

I am sorry that I will write my diary in Japanese today

今日は日記を日本語で書く事をお許し下さい。

ご存じのように日本では大変恐ろしい地震と津波の影響で多くの被災者が今もなお大変な思いをされています。

地震の当日は家でテレビを見ていました。家ごと横揺れしだしたので地震かなと思い、電気を消し
慌てて玄関に逃げました。おさまってからテレビをつけ、事の重大さに言葉を失いました。

何台もの車や家が流されて行くのをテレビで見ました。車が走ってる所に津波が襲いかかるのも
見て叫びました。今でも思い出すと鼓動が早くなってしまいます。

実は地震の２日前に我が家の事でかなりショックを受けていました。義母が来週入院すると言うのです。それもなぜかよくわからないのです。胸騒ぎがするものの、この災害が起こってからはそちらの方も心配で２重のショックに体調を崩すほどでした。

月曜に母が入院し、木曜の今日母は帰ってきました。主治医と話した義姉が今朝やってきました。
”胃ガンが再発しリンパがかなり腫れてるらしい。抗ガン剤は一生続くけどそれも高齢やから体力なくしたり食べれへんかったらどんどん悪くなる一方。もうこれからは元気なうちにやりたい事だけやらしてあげるしかないし、迷惑かけるけどお願いします。母は元気やし治ると思ってて何もわかってないけど”との事。その時は冷静に聞いてたものの、義姉が帰ってからは谷底に突き落とされた気持ちで涙があふれました。

しばらく、学校が休みだった娘が横にいてくれて泣いてる私についててくれました。息子も帰省していたし全部聞こえてたでしょうけど、２階にあがってしまったので泣いていたのかもしれません。

娘が冷静に”泣いてもしゃあないやん、今できる事やるしかないやろ。津波で亡くなった人みたいに
突然でないだけましやろ”と言いました。”でも成人式は絶対見たいっておばあちゃん言うてたから
そこまでは絶対生きててほしい”と涙声になって言いました。

気をしっかり持たないといけないのはわかります。高１と高３の受験前突然亡くなってしまった祖父母の時は泣く暇もなく大変でした。これから私にはどんな悲しみが待ってるのでしょうか。

息子も遠くにやってるから学校を変えようかとも思いましたが、娘と息子のダブル受験の時何か起こったら本当に大変なので悲しいけど息子には遠くで頑張ってもらう事にします。

災害などで亡くなった方や家を失った方に比べたら全然ましな方かもしれません。
ただ今まで普通に皆元気で仲良く暮らせてたので、今の状況が受け入れれないのです。

今私には何が出来るのか考えています。してもらってばかりで何もしてあげれてない、ただ京都から滋賀に帰ってきてすぐそばに住んであげた事くらいしかしていません。
胃が３分の１しかないので普段からほとんど食べれません。義父は義母がすぐ治ると思って外に
元気に働きに行ってます。ラブラブな夫婦でいつも一緒に畑に行ったり旅行に行ったり、軽トラで
買い物行ったり、1人欠けたら大変ちゃうのって村中の人がいつも心配していました。
とうとうその日がやってきました。

今日は1日泣いていたのですが、たまたま英語仲間の主婦友達とスカイプで話し少し元気が出ました。そして娘が”思ってる事をためないで何かに書いたら”と言うので、日記に書く事にしました。
私はとってもいくじなしです。今まで4人の元気な親に助けてもらってばかりいてこういう日の事を
想像しようともしなかったし考えないようにしていました。まだ頭が混乱していて何をどうしたらいいか困っています。義母にはまだ会ってないけど（今日はこのあたり大雪です）会ったら泣いてしまいそうで怖いんです。いつまでも落ち込んでるわけにはいきませんが、何とか気をしっかり持ち直したいのです。

被災した方には何も出来ず後に少々ではありますが義援金を送りたいと思います。自分だけ暖かい所でご飯も食べれる状況にテレビを見てると苦しくなってしまいます。
今は子供が家にいてくれそれが何よりの支えです。普通がいかに幸せな状況であるかを感じます。

しばらくこんなテンションが続くかもしれませんが、何とか頑張りたいです。
暗い内容でごめんなさい。英語で書けたら良かったのですが、何時間もかかりそうなので日本語にしました。お許し下さい。

I learned by mistake

　An installation technician　came to my house at 9:30 to install an air conditioner last Friday. There was no air conditioner in my dining room,so it was very cold and low temperature. Whenever I cooked  in this room, cold  was  pain in the neck.

　It took about 7 hours for him to finish his work.　During his work, we heard the very loud sound many times when he drilled a hole.

　I have a pet cat. He is very nervous cat. He seemed to be scared. Probably he understood that something happened around him. He could not go to his toilet　after he started construction work.

 At 4 pm, he went out  from my house suddenly and I was looking for him for 1.5 hours.I thought he had so much stress and worried about too much. At 5:30, he returned to my house,I was relieved...

At that night, I noticed that his attitude (action) was so strange. He went to the toilet too many times. Whenever he tried to go, he cried a lot.I could not sleep during the night.

 Next day, he seemed to be fine.I thought he got better. But his action became strange. At last he had a accident inside the "Kotatsu"( Japanese heater) many times. I found the blood inside his toilet.
I was very worry about him and decided to go to the animal hospital.At that day, veterinarian told me that it was no problem. He gave some antibiotics to us. When pet become sick,owner take them to the hospital.
But animal medical care is very expensive. I paid 5 thousand yen to the hospital.

 In the afternoon last Friday, I received a foreign student as a weekend hostfamily. He stayed in my house from  Friday to Sunday. I was worrying about if pet chii was ok  or not in this situation. But he likes cat very much and chii seemed to happy to see the  new guest.

 At night, cat chii's action became strange. He also had many accidents inside the Kotatsu  and entrance hall many times. And he did not try to eat anything. I decided to go to the animal hospital again. My husband became so angry because I and my daughter were too nervous. Although he advised us not to go to the hospital, we went there again.

 We did not keep calm because we love pet chii so much.The veterinarian check his condition.At first he examined his blood.Next he took 2 X-ray examination.After all he didn't find chii's problem( sickness)
He advised us that it was necessary for chii to have  a check at least twice a week. He also advised us to use the special food for him.Special food for cat is very very expensive. I have already ordered them by Internet. But he asked me that "why don't you bring special food today? You need to buy!"
I said to him," I have some special food in my house. I will not buy"
He seemed not to pretend to hear what I said.

  My daughter and I relized at last. We wondered if he was a bad doctor?! It was so late.We had to pay "13000 yen"

 After the circumstance returned to the normal life, chii got better. My husband said to me," you must not consult the bad doctor again." I agreed with him.

 We learn by mistakes as we know. I think... Chii is very nervous but I am more nervous. I have to  make sure carefully.

Japanese situation and good news

As we know, the Japanese economy is bad and many people are becoming anxious about the future.


It is said that japan is a very safe country. But the crime rate is rising. Many people are becoming depressed or sad, leading to an increase in the suicide rate. It is becoming difficult for university students to find a good job with a good company before they graduate. After graduation, about 40% still can not find a job and become unemployed.



We don't  trust the Japanese government. They have many serious problems. They have tried to change the highway toll many times. They have been telling the people the budget is in the red, even with such a high tax rate. We are not sure anymore if we can get our pension at age 65. Anyway, these are our concerns about our life and the future right now.



One day though, I was watching TV  and I  saw something on the news that made me happy. According to the news, there was a man who under the name of [Date Naoto] (Translated means, Tiger mask, an old manga hero`s name.) He suddenly one day donated many new satchels to the children of an oprhanage. Soon after, many people started making donations under the name of "Date naoto." They donated money, stationary, and many other things through the orphanage, city hall, and police station. This news became known throughout Japan.



Date naoto was the name of an old manga character. I am not familar with this story because it was popular over 40 years ago. The story goes though, that he was raised in an orphanage where he gained the name tiger mask. Later when he became a professional wrestler he used this same name. Using his fame he was able to generate help and awareness for the poor. 50 years ago people heard this story and began to help the poor. Today this story inspired the elderly and even children to donate to the poor. I was impressed by their generosity.



"This phenomenon and campagin is so good. But I think, even if he did not appear and there was no news like this, we should help and support poor people. We have been making an effort to develop Japanese life( because of high economic growth) after the war. We only forget the people's kindness, it means many of us can't afford to think of others. We always have to have a tender heart. "



After this, I decided to help others as much as I can.

Let's be careful !

From at  the end of last year, it snows a lot many times in Shiga.According to the TV News, it snows a lot from all over Japan. In my area, there were a lot of snow in this season.

When I had to go to the English conversation class last month, I decided to walk instead of a car. At that day, it was too much snowing. The road was like skate rink. I slipped about 10 times.When I arrived at school, I was very exhausted. It took for 1.5 hour on foot from my house to there.

After that, I had a little pain in my knees for a few days. I thought the reason was muscle pain. But it was getting worse and worse. And I noticed that my right knee was swelling up.

I went to the hospital and consulted a orthopedist about it. He told me that a part under right knee became
inflamed.  According to him, it would taken for 2  months to recover. I was surprised and dissappointed.

Of course, I tried  to protect my knees every time and so I used my shoulder and arm too much.
Now I have much pain in my shoulder and arm. I go to the clinic every day. The staff cure my arm and shoulder. But I haven't stretched them yet. Probably some tendon around the muscle is damaged. It is unexpected happenning to me.

There is good thing to me. In my toilet, there are 2 arm bar. I thought we would use them when we become
old at first. But it is very useful. When I stand up, arm bar support my knees.

I liked snow in the past, but I don't like the snow. Every body!  We had better not walk in the snow day. I am a bad example...

This is my parents in law's house.