(Saturday, January 1, 2011)Today is the first day of the New Year 2011. My wife and I drove to the beach with Ryoma early this morning, but the area was filled with cars and we couldn't find any place to park our car. We gave up watching the first sunrise at the beach and came back home to take Ryoma for a morning walk. While we were walking, we took pictures of the first sun and Mr. Fuji.
　My wife sent me an email saying that she's happy to have a happy New Year's Day with Ryoma and me. I hope this year we're going to be richer, but the most important thing is that we have happy healthy days together. I have to get rid of my diabetes.

(Sunday, January 2, 2011)I'm now watching a TV drama entitled "Jin." It's a story of a surgeon who made a time travel to go to the Edo Era. For all the doctors at that time, Dr. Minakata seemed like a super doctor. He made penicillin before it was invented in history. He was afraid that he all the things he was going to do would change the future. On the other hand, he wanted to change the future and his sweetheart would be able to come out of a coma.
　It's such an interesting drama, but we still don't know what will happen at the end of the story. The new series will start this April. I hope I'll be able to enjoy the drama every week.

(Monday, January 3, 2011)The exciting race of the Hakone Ekiden 2011. I'm now watching the race on TV. And the first place team has just crossed the finishing line. It was Waseda University. It was just 22 seconds ahead of the second place team Toyo University. It was such a close race.
　Every runner was so impressive, doing his best. My wife's father went to the beach to watch the race with his own eyes. The impressive run invited my father-in-law to the roadside.
　What else we're interested in is which teams will be the top 10 teams, which can take part in the next year's Hakone Ekiden without elimination. Kokugakuin University made it for the first time in its history, though the last runner almost took the wrong course just before the finish line.

(Tuesday, January 4, 2011)Both my wife and I started working today. Today was the first working day of the New Year for all the public workers. The softball club will start its activities tomorrow, so I went to school to make English materials for the lessons to come. When I left home, Ryoma looked so sad. He doesn't like to say goodbye to his mom or dad. When I came home late in the afternoon, he welcomed me wagging his tail so happily. He's such a lovely son of ours.
　We're going to have three successive holidays soon. My wife and I are planning to visit Kyoto again, but this time I'm not going to tell it to anybody except for my parents-in-law. Because after that I'll have to be in the hospital for a week or so. "How dare you could travel to Kyoto just before being in the hospital!" some teachers at my school would say to me. "Then why did you write about it in this diary?" you may ask me. It's OK because nobody in the teachers' room would read this diary.

(Wednesday, January 5, 2011)It's been such a cold day today as the weather forecast said it would be. The weather forecast also says that the temperature in Kyoto will be 8℃ this Saturday, 7℃ next Sunday, and 6℃ next Monday. It will be freezing cold when my wife and I visit the city. If it's cold, I hope it will snow there. I've never seen Kyoto covered with snow. Anyway last month it was warmer than usual year, but this month it's going to be colder than usual.
　Something is wrong with my computer these days. I bought it in 2002. Is it too old now? Eight years have passed now and today's computers are so advanced. In addition to that, today's excellent computers are quite cheap. I have to be surprised at the big difference. Should I buy a new computer? No, I don't think so. I can still do a lot of things with my old computer.

(Thursday, January 6, 2011)There was a New Year's Party today near our school this afternoon. People in the school area are so united that they like to get together as often as possible. I didn't take part in the party because I was not in good shape. Basically I don't feel like going to any parties at present. I don't like to go to drinking parties either. I don't know why, but maybe I hate chatting with school teachers outside of school. I'm a school teacher, but I hate school teachers. Is it strange?
　School begins tomorrow. On the very first day, there are 6 classes. Of course we're going to have a New Year's assembly at the biginning of the first period. School has become so busy. The reason is that we're supposed to have as many classes as we can. But 6 classes on the very first day? I don't think we have to make students busy from the start. What do you think?

(Monday, January 10, 2011)Now we're back from Kyoto. This morning it was snowing in Kyoto and the scenery was so beautiful. I had been dreaming of seeing the city covered with snow. It was so much impressive. It was freezing cold too. During the three days we spent in Kyoto, we visited a lot of places including the seven temples and shrines called "Shichi-Fukujin." I hope our visits to those places will surely bring us good luck.
　Today was Coming of Age Day. We saw a lot of well-dressed young people in Kyoto. They're going to build our country in the future. Some of them will become statesmen. I hope they won't be as rotten as todays statesmen.

(Wednesday, January 12, 2011)Today was the second working day after we came back from Kyoto. I'm now used to daily life. Today after school was over I went to the Educational Culture Center near Kannai station to take part in the English meeting of Yokohama City. There I met a woman teacher who was born in Chigasaki. It really is a small world. I worked as a chairperson. It seems that I did a very good job. The meeting was over in about half an hour. Yes, it was a good job, wasn't it?

(Saturday, January 15, 2011)Last night Ryoma got a vinyl bag of rice cookies and wouldn't let it go. He tried to keep it and so he couldn't go to sleep easily. When I woke up to go to the bathroom during the night, he suddenly woke up in order to keep the bag. This morning my wife noticed that she couldn't see the bag anywhere in the rooms. Later I found it under the bed. First we were afraid that Ryoma had eaten the bag, so when we found the bag we felt relieved.
　During the morning it was sunny and a little warm, but in the afternoon it gradually became cold as the weather forecast told us last night. If it is warm tomorrow, we're going to let Ryoma take a shower, because it sometimes seems that parts of his body are itchy. Last time he took a shower was in the middle of last month. It's been about a month since then.

(Sunday, January 16, 2011)This morning Ryoma had some trouble in his stomach. After coming back from his morning walk with my father-in-law, he didn't feel like eating his breakfast. My wife wondered if she should let him take his medicine, but she decided to watch him for a while. Around noon he got his appetite again and ate up his breakfast and lunch together. Now he's enjoying an afternoon nap on the bad. My wife is now taking a bath. When she comes out out the bathroom, I'm supposed to let Ryoma take a shower. It's such a warm afternoon, which is quite good for Ryoma to take a shower.
　I'm now watching Ekiden held in Kyoto. It's snowing there, but at the same time it's sunny. It's just the same weather we had when we visited there the other day. On the Pacific side of Japan it's relatively warm these days, but on the Japan Sea side it's been snowing a lot.

(Monday, January 17, 2011)These days kids are very easy to lose their temper. Why is that? Does it have something to do with food they eat? Or do they lack calcium? Some kids think nothing of hurting friends. They like to bully someone who is weaker than them.
　Hurting other people is against the law. We have to teach them that they could be arrested by the police by hurting friends. It's a crime that should be hated most. Kids are not perfect, and so they can make a lot of mistakes. But hurting someone intentionally can't be regarded as a mistake.
　Some kids try to attack homeless people. It seems that they like to hunt the weak in a group. Once a homeless man was killed by a group of boys. They don't know how to respect people's lives. What can we do with those troublemakers? Should we punish them more severely?

(Tuesday, January 18, 2011)The road near my apartment house has been under construction during the night for more than a month. I think the workers are havng a hard time working in the coldness at night. However it's also hard for us to have a good night's sleep when it's so noisy outside. Why do they always try to repair roads toward the end of the fiscal year? Is it really necessary? Or is it done in order to get enough budget for the next fiscal year? Anyway they should not forget that it's our tax. They can't waste our tax. They have to make the best use of our money.

(Friday, January 21, 2011)Tonight my wife and I went to the food court of JUSCO. We wanted to eat ramen for dinner there. White we were enjoying our dinner, my wife noticed a strange scene. "Look at that family over there. The mother has three kids and pays no attention to them. She's been looking at her cell phone all the time. Why can't she talk to her kids?" I agreed with my wife. Just then a mother with her two daughters came by. She was also carrying her cell phone and didn't pay attention to her daughters. They would have been very happy if she had tried to listen to them. They might have wanted to talk about things that had happened in school.
　Why are so many people crazy about cell phones? Do they need to send so many emails? Do they have to spend to much time in downloading things by cell phone? It is true that cell phones are very convenient. However you should not forget something more important than using cell phones.

(Sunday, January 23, 2011)Yesterday I went to a gas stand about five minutes' drive from my place. I was with my wife and we went there to wash our car. There's a automatic car washer there. We put the money into the machine near the washer and waited for our turn to come. Now it was our turn. I thought we were completely ready for the wash, but when the washer started to wash our car a lot of water came inside from the edge of the door of the driver's side. First I thought the window hadn't closed completely, but the truth was that the door itself hadn't closed tight. I was wet because of that. While I was shocked by my big mistake, my wife laughed at me. She was quite safe.
　Anyway our car became so clean that it was shining beautifully. I hadn't wash our car for such a long time that it looked much older than it actually was. I think I'll have to take good care of it from now on.

(Monday, January 24, 2011)Last year we used a calendar of Shiba dogs. It was such an beautiful one that we wanted to use the same calendar this year too. I looked for one on the Internet and finally found one sold by a company in Kyoto. I bought one to hang on a wall and another to place on the table. Then my wife told me that our dog Ryoma was on a page of the calendar. First I couldn't believe it, but when I saw the page of March, I was surprised to see Ryoma there. Both of those calendars are published by Tatsumi Publishing Company which publishes a magazine called "Shiiba." Once the staff came to our house to take a lot of photos of Ryoma and they gave two pages for Ryoma. At that time they might use Ryoma's photos somewhere else. That's why Ryoma is on this year's calendar. His photo on the calendar is so big and he looks so handsome. Everybody in my family is very much proud of his photo. My father-in-law always proud of Ryoma and says, "He is such a beautiful dog. I have never seen such a good-looking dog like him." My wife says, "Yes, of course, he is good-looking. He looks like me."

(Tuesday, January 25, 2011)This morning I went to the City Hospital to see the doctor who I was introduced to by the former doctor in charge of me. I was accepted around 8:30, but I had to wait more than three hours till I was consulted by a doctor who was different from the one I was supposed to see. The new doctor who was going to be in charge of me during my stay in the hospital was so sincere and looked trustworthy. He decided that I needed to stay in the hospital for two weeks and it should be as early as possible. It's a very busy season in school now, but I'm going to start being in the hospital on the first of next month. Until then I'll have a lot of things to do. First I have to make the terminal test, then I have to prepare some material for the lessons in which students study themselves.
　It was surprising that the parking fee of the hospital was quite cheap. I stayed there for about four hours and I payed only 300 yen. And I felt the hospital building became very clean.

(Wednesday, January 26, 2011)The bird flu is now rapidly spreading throughout Japan. I got a flu vaccination last year, but my wife didn't want to do it because she said it would make her sick. But now that more and more people get the flu, she decided to go to the clinic to get vaccinated. She is now lying on the carpet. She says that she feels sick. It will take her about two weeks for the vaccine starts working. I hope she won't get the flu before that time.
　I went to school this morning and told some people that I was going to be in the hospital for two weeks. I asked two English teachers who also take care of 9th graders to teach my classes together. They kindly OK'd. I was so relieved because now is a very important time for the 9th graders who have to take the entrance exams for high school.

(Saturday, January 29, 2011)Today I went to school to take care of my softball team. I had to check the question books first, so the other coach Mr. Gibo looked after them until 11 o'clock. After finishing the job, I went outside to join the practice. I divided them into two groups and we played practice game of three innings. Mr. Gibo and I played as pitchers. Before the game I told them that the losers would have to clear up all the tools and brush the ground. My team was leading Mr. Gibo's team by 3-1 at the bottom of the third inning, but finally they added three more runs and we lost the game. The members of my team looked unhappy, but they should learn something important from the game they lose.
　At the last meeting, I told them that I was going to be in the hospital for two weeks. I really hope that they will follow Mr. Gibo sincerely and have good relations with one another. I have to say that they are not so good technically because of lack of practice. After I come back from the hospital, I'll take better care of them to make a better team.

(Sunday, January 30, 2011)Last night my wife and I watched the final game of the Asian Cup on TV. Japan won the game by 1-0, but it was a really tough game. During the game I was afraid that the Australian team might get the first goal because they were such good players. I guess Australia made much more shots than Japan. Lee Tadanari or Lee Chung-Sung saved the Japanese team. Nagatomo successfully centered the ball and Lee kicked it directly into the Australian goal. It was such a fast shot that the Australian goalie couldn't make a move at all. However the greatest danger attacked Japan toward the very end of the game. Okazaki touched the ball with his arm and a free kick was given to Australia. Thirty seconds to go. If the Australian team couldn't make the chance, they would lose the game. It was such a long thirty seconds. And Japan won the game. My wife and I shook hands with each other.

(Monday, January 31, 2011)The members of Team Japan have arrived in Japan. A lot of soccer fans gather at the airport to welcome the players. It seems that they're still crazy about the victory of the Asian Cup. I would also like to say, "Thank you for the sleepless night."
　It's snowing a lot in the Japan Sea side of Japan. On the main road in Fukui, more than a thousand cars are stuck in a traffic jam and they can't move for more than 12 hours. The weather forecast tells that it will keep snowiing until about noon tomorrow. I hope people in those areas won't suffer from the heavy snow. Last year we had an incredibly hot summer, and this year we're having an extraordinary cold winter. There's something wrong with the weather system.
　By 10:30 tomorrow morning, I'll have to be in the hospital to stay there for two weeks. I have no idea as to what I should do during my stay in the hospital, but I don't want my wife and my parents-in-law to worry about me too much. I'm sure I'll be able to get well after my two weeks' stay in the hospital.

(Tuesday, February 15, 2011)It's been two weeks and I have just got out of hospital. I've been suffering from diabetes perhaps for more than four years. I started to go to see a doctor two years ago, but his medication didn't work effectively. He decided to send me to the hospital and so I did. I have been in the hospital for just two weeks, but I've got better rapidly. When I entered hospital, my blood sugar level was 429. Now it's between 70 to 135. 70 is too low to stay OK, so when my blood sugar level is that low I have to take a 10g pack of glucose and two packs of crackers, which will soon make you better. During my two-week stay in the hospital, I learned a lot of things about my disease. I also got interested in cooking low-calorie food. From now on, my life will get healthier and healthier.

(Thursday, February 17, 2011)Kurt, my Canadian friend, who has been teaching English at our school, has been sick for the last few days. Today I got an email from him telling that he was too sick to come to school. He says he'll be OK tomorrow and he's coming to school tomorrow morning. But I don't think it's a good idea. When you're sick, you need to take a rest. Lessons at school could be done by Japanese English teachers. I don't want him to worry too much about school.
　Today I tried to install Microsoft Office Standard 2007 to my newer laptop. However I couldn't finish the task successfully. I don't know why, but something's wrong with the computer itself or some software already installed to the computer. Microsoft Office Standard 2007 cost me about 15,000 yen. If it can't be installed to the newer computer, the money I paid for the software would become nothing.

(Friday, February 18, 2011)Kurt came to school today, but after the first period he went to see a doctor near Nakada Station. I asked him what the doctor had said to him. He told me that the doctor didn't speak English at all. So I checked the explanation of his medication and told him what kind of medicine had been given to him. According to the medicine, he just had a cold. He likes sweets very much, so next week I think I'm going to buy him a pretty box of chocolates.

(Saturday, February 19, 2011)This morning I have to go see the doctor at Shonan Tobu General Hospital. Today's doctor, Dr. Naito, has been taking care of my bipolar disorder. Thanks to him, I've been in good shape for the last one and a half years. Before him, another gentle doctor was in charge of me, but he had made a very big mistake. He decided that my disease was just depression. The problem is that the medicine you give for depression is quite different from that for bipolar disorder. If you give depression medicine to someone who's suffering from bipolar disorder, something serious will happen and the patient will get much worse than before. I was in such a terrible situation, and Dr. Naito saved me. If you can meet a good doctor or not, that will make a very big difference. I really know that now.

(Sunday, February 20, 2011)This morning my wife and I took Ryoma for a walk. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get back home from the walk. It was a little bit difficult for Ryoma to do his business this morning, but toward the end of the walk he did it at last. On our way back home, we saw some big dogs coming out of the gateball field. They were at the entrance without moving at all. I wanted them to move away, but they didn't seem to move. So we tried to pass by silently. Then the biggest dog suddenly started barking at Ryoma. The owner of the dog couldn't control his dog well. I held Ryoma up into my arms and we walked away quickly. I was very much angry about them, but I tried not to yell at the stupid owners. If you can't control your dog, you have to quess what will happen if another dog comes near your dog. If you think your dog might try to attack another dog, you have to put it back somewhere it can't make any troubles. If you have no idea how to control your dog, give it up now.

(Monday, February 21, 2011)Kurt has got rid of his bad cold and looked very fine today. My wife and I bought two chocolate bars for him. He looked very happy to get the chocolate and put it politely into his bag. I thought he would eat it in the teachers' room, but I was wrong. He wanted to take it back home and enjoy the sweet taste at home.
　Today my blood sugar level was stable. After eating dinner, my wife and I walked to a bookstore which is about 20 minutes' walk from my apartment house. She looked for a book which has our Ryoma in it, but she couldn't. She heard from one of her acquaintances that there was a book entitled "Inu-senryu" that had our Ryoma in it. She says she's going to go to another bookstore to find one. Because of the walk, my blood sugar level before bedtime went down to a normal level, which made me very happy.

(Tuesday, February 22, 2011)Tomorrow we're going to the Tokyo Disneyland on our graduation trip. A lot of schools are expected to come to the amusement park. I hope there will be no fights between our school and other schools. I've been making my own lunch since I got out of the hospital, but I won't be able to take my own lunch into the Tokyo Disneyland tomorrow. Should I eat hamburgers? Or should I eat in an expensive restaurant inside the park? It's a very big problem. There is another problem. Where can I get an insulin shot? A bathroom is no good. A restaurant is also no good. I'll have to think about it.

(Wednesday, February 23, 2011)It seems that our students fully enjoyed their stay in the Tokyo Disneyland. It was such a beautiful day that many people were walking without an overcoat. As is usual the case with me, I didn't use my pass at all. Basically I don't like amusement parks. Maybe I like the Fujikyu Highland better than the Tokyo Disneyland, because they have a big skating link there. I started skating when I was a junior high school kid. But I hate roller coasters, so in that sense the Fujikyu Highland is a very scary place for me.
　There were no troubles at all, which made us feel relieved. I didn't see any groups of bad guys, either. Something has been changing for the better.

(Thursday, February 24, 2011)Ryoma is now hiding from us with one of my wife's socks. Maybe he felt lonely with his mom and dad talking to each other. He would never give it back to my wife until he's sound asleep. He's is now looking at me wondering why we're not going to get back the sock from him.
　Are you interested in Hyakunin-isshu, or a traditional Japanese card game? The 9th graders are going to have a Hyakunin-isshu meet at the beginning of next month. Some of the poems are so famous that when the very first part of the peoms are read, someone's going to take the cards. My favorite one goes like this: Though I tried to hide my feelings, they must have been on my face. Because someone asked me if I was in love. It's a very beautiful poem. I've known it since I was in high school.

(Friday, February 25, 2011)This morning I argued with my wife about the food limitation that I eat. I understand my wife deeply thinks of my health, but too many don'ts or mustn'ts really make me sick. I haven't apologize to my wife for having argued with her. I'm not going to do so in the future, either. I don't want to be told to do this and that by someone else. I don't want to be controled. Maybe my wife will no longer make my lunch, but it's no problem. I'm sure I can do it myself. One problem is that maybe my wife doesn't want me to make her lunch. I make my own lunch. She makes her own lunch. It's a waste of time. But I can't do anything about it. If she asks me to make her lunch,too, I would be happy to do so. I don't think she can say that to me, though.

(Saturday, February 26, 2011)I drove my wife to her office this morning. Of course Ryoma insisted that he should be in the car too. When we arrived at her office, a boy and a girl came to the car to play with Ryoma. According to my wife, they once played with Ryoma. Ryoma was also glad to see them again. After I got some bottles of juice, we left her office, with her waving to us in the mirror.
　The weather forecast said last night that it's going to be really cold this morning. But it's not so cold. It makes us feel that spring is just around the corner. If possible, I'd like to visit the Plum Field in Soga in Odawara. If I remember correctly, tomorrow will be the last day of the plum festival. I don't like plum trees when a lot of caterpillars climb up the trees, but I like the ume flowers.

(Sunday, February 27, 2011)Well, after all, we didn't go to Odawara to see ume flowers. Maybe both of us were too tired to go driving. Ryoma was the only one who was good enough to go out. It's already four o'clock in the afternoon, and I have to go to the glasses store to receive my new pair of glasses. It enables me to see far and see near also. The first thinig I've got to do is to get used to driving with the new glasses. They have special glasses, so it's a little bit difficult to walk or move smoothly with them on.
　The store I went to is called "Megane Ichiba," which is now very famous for its cheap glasses. Even if you want an expensive frame and fine glasses, it will cost you around 16,000 yen. In the store there are many kinds of fashionable frames, and you will enjoy fitting your favorite ones on your face.

(Monday, February 28, 2011)It was really cold today. It must have been so tough for my wife's father to take Ryoma for both a morning walk and an evening walk in the midst of the coldness. He says that it's not easy for Ryoma to walk in the dark and that he's going to take him for an evening walk too. I have to thank him for doing that, but I'm afraid it's no good for his health to walk too much. However I can't come home so early. What should I do?
　It will be fine but cold tomorrow. The warm weather will be back the day after tomorrow. The highest temperature tomorrow will be 4 to 5 degrees Celcius. The highest temperature the day after tomorrow will be around 13 degrees Celcius. What a big difference!

(Tuesday, March 1, 2011)Something was wrong with my new glasses. So I went to the glasses store to ask them to change the lenses. They checked my eyesight again and found that my left eye has much weaker eyesight than the right eye. That must have been the cause of the trouble I had with my glasses. The new glasses will be given to me in a week. This time it will be perfect and so I'm looking forward to it.
　It's been raining since this morning. My father-in-law took Ryoma for the morning walk and the evening walk again. I really thank him for doing such a tough job.

(Wednesday, March 2, 2011)It was really cold today too. But according to the weather forecast, it will be even colder tomorrow. The highest temperature in our area will be about 8 degrees Celcius. We will be able to see the sun, but it won't be warm. Tomorrow is the Doll's Festival. My wife's mother is going to cook chirashi-zushi for us tomorrow night. It's low-calorie food, which is good for my diabetes.
　This morning my wife was too busy to hug Ryoma many times. My wife says that it made Ryoma feel lonely and that he didn't eat lunch. When he's lonely, it often happens that he doesn't feel like eating food. As a matter of fact, when we came back from our parents' apartment house together, he suddenly started eating his lunch which he didn't eat at noon.

(Thursday, March 3, 2011)It's been the Doll's Festival today, and my wife and I visited my wife's parents living in another apartment house near ours. My mother-in-law cooked very delicious chirashi-zushi. My father-in-law had bought a lot of gyoza, kusamochi and sakuramochi. I knew it was no good for a person like me who had diabetes. I'll have to check my blood sugar level just before going to bed. It will be higher than usual.
　I went out to buy some drinks for my wife and me just now. It was so cold outside that I felt some pain in my lungs. One of the major juku schools around here was still open. There were many bikes in front of the school. I feel sorry for junior high school kids who have to study this late at night at juku school. I don't mean to blame juku schools, because they can do something that we can't do at school.

(Friday, March 4, 2011)Today just after I finished my lunch, the crown on one of my teeth was broken off its position. I just thought that it could be put into the original position again easily. Then I left school a little earlier than usual and went to see the dentist in Chigasaki City. The dentist told me that the root of the tooth was almost damaged and I had to have the root of my tooth fixed again and then I had to have a new crown put on the tooth. Today the dentist dug the root deeply. I was scared that it would hurt a lot. Actually it did hurt sometimes, but it was OK.
　Tomorrow my wife will go to work in an apartment building in Atami to help the staff there. The woman working there has been suffering from sexual harassment by an old man there. She is going to sue him sooner or later, but at present there must be someone else who can protect her from the stupid man. I'm very sorry for the woman, but at the same time for the stupid old man also.

(Saturday, March 5, 2011)It's so warm today after long successive cold days. According to the weather forecast, the highest temperature today will be about 10 degrees Celcius. But I guess it will be much higher than that.
　Recently lots of new groups of young men and women are coming out on TV. Some are still under 15 years old. Maybe they have been stimulated by many famous Korean groups who have a lot of fans here in Japan. What's the difference between them? I feel Korean groups look more professional. They are better singers and dancers. They can speak a little Japanese because they think they have to. However Japanese singers can't speak Korean because they think they don't have to.
　In my opinion, Kara or Shojo-jidai are much more attractive than AKB 48. Well, it doesn't matter, though. I'm not one of those young fans who cheer for Kara, Shojo-jidai, or AKB 48.

(Sunday, March 6, 2011)Today I let Ryoma take a shower in the morning. This time again he cried many times, which meant that he didn't want to take a shower. Usually the Shiba dog doesn't like bathing in water. They're quite different from golden retrievers or Labradors who likes swimming very much. So I tried to make it as short as possible. It took him about 10 to 15 minutes to finish taking a shower. Now he's sitting on our bed looking outside. He looks so beautiful.
　Now he stopped sitting on the bed and came down onto the straw mats. It's a little bit too hot inside the house, so it must be refreshing for him to lie on the cool straw mats.

(Monday, March 7, 2011)Tonight a DVD set on Ryoma Sakamoto reached my apartment house. It was first released in 1982 and when I first saw the drama, I was very much impressed by it. Once I wanted to buy the video tape of the drama, but it was too expensive for me to get. And yesterday I looked for the DVD of the same drama once again and found one with a reasonable price. Soon I ordered the DVD for a quick delivery and it arrived at my home this evening. The role of Ryoma Sakamoto is played by Kinnosuke Yorozuya who has been dead for a few years. He is such a great actor that I feel as if he was real Ryoma Sakamoto. In his life he meets a lot of people who influence him. It's very important for us to come to know people in our lives.

(Tuesday, March 8, 2011)One of the teachers in my section is quite mean. He's such a short-tempered man that everyone has to be careful when they speak to him. Today when I was in the gym preparing for the graduation ceremony tomorrow, I suggested something as to how to carry the certificate holders. Then suddenly he told me that I should not worry about it. "You don't have to worry about such a thing," he said very coldly. I was so upset I soon went back to the teachers' room, packed my stuff, and got ready to leave school. I really hate him. I really despise him.
　There is also a woman who doesn't know how to thank people. She asks me to do a lot of small things that she herself could do. I always do those jobs very sincerely, but she seldom says thank-you to me. It's like she thinks it's a matter of course for me to obey everything she tells me to do. I hate her too. I'm under a lot of stress because of them.

(Wednesday, March 9, 2011)We had the graduation ceremony today. It was rather a quiet one, but not impressive at all. They have been practicing for the ceremony for about two weeks, but they have never been serious. Especially they are no good at singing ceremony songs. If your heart is not hot enough, you can't sing well.
　I don't know why they have become such dull kids. Maybe because of their parents. Maybe because of us school teachers. Maybe because of themselves. The chief of our section commented on their songs today and said that they were really good in the ceremony. I thought that was what made the kids spoiled. Many people today say that you should admire kids as much as you can, but I don't think it's a good idea. Admiring kids too much do spoil the children.

(Thursday, March 10, 2011)I hate people who are so mean that they can't think of what other people think or how other people feel. Those people believe that they are always right. But it is very important for you to think that you can sometimes make mistakes and that you're not always right. You should respect other people.
　If you want to be a good leader, you mustn't tell your people to do this and that too often. You just have to do whatever you can do and let your people to follow you. However if you try to look bigger than you really are, your people will never trust you or listen to you.
　Human relationship is very hard to build. And it's so easy to break up. When I was young, I used to trust people around me. But now that more than 25 years have passed since then, I don't trust people around me so easily. I sometimes feel alone in the teachers' room.

(Friday, March 11, 2011)I was very much surprised at the huge earthquake that occurred at 2:46 this afternoon. The epicenter of the earthquake has been reported to be off the coast of Sanriku Area. The energy of the quake was magnitude 8.8, which is the greatest record in Japanese history after the Meiji Era. The National Agency officially named the earthquake "Tohoku-chiho Taiheiyo-oki Jishin," or the Tohoku District in the Pacific Ocean Earthquake.
　I felt the tremor was going to be a major earthquake which is said to happen in the Kanto District every 80 years. It was so dreadful. When I came home, my wife had already packed important things in the backpack and was building a compact radio. Are we going to have another big earthquake during the night? Give me a break. I don't think I'll be able to sleep well.

(Saturday, March 12, 2011)My wife's brothers and sister live in Fukushima, which is very close to the epicenter of yesterday's great earthquake. My wife has been trying to contact them, but she can't. We checked the message board of cell phones, but there were no writinigs from her brother or sister. It is said that in Fukushima a lot of people are dead and missing, so we hope they are safe and we could contact them as soon as possible.
　There is another serious problem about the nuclear plant in Fukushima. They have been trying hard to prevent the container from leaking radioactivity, but it might be impossible. The Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. Forces are said to cooperate to deal with the crisis.

(Sunday, March 13, 2011)Japan Meteorological Agency corrected the energy of the earthquake from Magnitude 8.8 to Magnitude 9.0, which is one of the biggest earthquakes that have ever occurred on the earth. That's why huge tsunamis have destroyed a lot of villages, killing incredible number of people there. I believe it's quite important for the government to send enough rescue teams to the Tohoku District to find out how many places have been damaged severely. On TV many scientists appear to talk about the mechanism of the earthquake or the cause of the nuclear plants' crisis. However what is more important is to move and help those people who are not yet found alive.
　I have to write about my wife's brothers and sister. They all live in Fukushima. My wife has been worrying about them and has been trying to send email to them. But there were no answers. Then last night she got answer mails from them. They were all safe. My wife looked very relieved to read their mails.

(Monday, March 14, 2011)Today the board of education in Yokohama City decided to let the students go home earlier than usual until March 18. Until then there will be no club activities. That's perhaps because there might be a very strong aftermath in a few days. If it comes, the size of energy of the aftermath will be around magnitude 7.
　The nuclear plants in Fukushima are in more serious situation now. Following the first plant, the third plant exploded this morning. And the second plant is now out of control and is in danger of explosion. The government says that there is no danger of radiation. Are they telling the truth? If they say there is a serious danger of radiation, a lot of people in Fukushima are sure to panic. Isn't that why they say it's OK? I think the government should tell us the truth to protect the people living in Fukushima.

(Tuesday, March 15, 2011)As for the second nuclear plant in Fukushima, a serious meltdown may have happened today. It's the worst situation that we have been worried about. In some placed in the Kanto District, a certain amount of radioactivity was sensed, which would never influence human health so badly. However an American expert says that Fukushima is between Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. That means we should not think little of the Fukushima accident.
　I went to school by bus and train this morning. Especially the train was packed with people and many people on the coming stations had to wait for the next trains to come. On my way back home, when I was at Totsuka Station, I had to wait for the down train for more than half an hour. Of course the train was so crowded that I was very tired standing tightly. What should I do tomorrow? Should I look for a gas station available to get gas? Or should I go to school by bus and train again?

(Thursday, March 17, 2011)Around 8 o'clock last night, I was still in my car driving very slowly toward the gas station in Kameino. It was such a long, long line of cars that I was in. I didn't intend to get more gas, but I couldn't get out of the line. So I decided to make the tank full of gas on my way home. It took me a long time to get to the station, but I finally made it. Usually most gas stations never let the drivers get enough gas to make the tank full, but the gas station I usually use is huge enough to allow us to get as much gas as possible. When I got home, it was more than 10 minutes after 9 o'clock. I was very much hungry. My wife and I ate a late dinner together. She waited for me.
　After that we went to bed, but it wasn't easy for me to get enough sleep. Maybe I was afraid of an even bigger earthquake to happen in our place. My wife is soon asleep. It takes her less than 5 minutes to get into sleep. It isn't easy for our dog Ryoma to go to sleep soon. He's very careful about what's going to around him just like a watch dog.

(Friday, March 18, 2011)On my way to school, I saw a long line of cars waiting for gas again. I understand how they feel, how worried they are about the rest amount of gas left in their own cars. I made the tank of may car a few days ago, and so I'm not so worried about the gas. But sooner or later, I'll have to be in the same long line of hungry cars.
　It is said that a lot of oil will be supplied during the coming three successive holidays. If it's true, we won't have to make a long line any longer. I hope the rumor is true. I don't want to wait for more than an hour to get a little gas.
　I'm more worried about the nuclear plants in Fukushima District. The dangerous area is getting bigger and bigger. As I wrote a few days ago, my wife's sister and brothers live in Fukushima. My wife's sister lives about 40 kilos away from the nuclear plants. Please God help them!

(Saturday, March 19, 2011)After I went to see the dentist, I went shopping at a drugstore to buy some drinks. I wanted to buy some 2-litter bottles, but there's a notice on the shelf of the bottles saying that we could buy only 1 bottle. I thought we could buy only 1 bottle of each kind, but I was wrong. We could really buy 1 bottle of any kind drink. I know there are lots of bottles in the storehouse and the shop is planning to sell them gradually. I don't know who is to be blamed.
　The number of people dead and missing concerning the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake is now over 18,000, which is, of course, the worst record of the post-war history. Sometimes there's happy news telling that a group of missing people have been found somewhere or that a man has been found alive under the broken house. However the number of casualties is likely to be increasing.

(Sunday, March 20, 2011)Today's my 53rd birthday. It's also a very lucky day called "Taian." What should we do on such a good day? Should we go shopping? Should we go driving? (It might not be a good edea, though.) Or should we go and get some gas? When I think of things that I can do, I notice that there's not much I could do to kill time. Ah, there one good thing to do! I bought a DVD box of Ryoma Sakamoto the other day. My wife and I haven't finished watching them yet.
　These few days we haven't seen many news programs about the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake on TV. Are they bored of broadcasting those kinds of programs? Even NHK hasn't given up its drama. Is anything wrong with the broadcasting world? We want more information about what's going on in the Tohoku Area. We're very much interested in the nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture. They're still having a hard time in the Tohoku Area. I think we should be more interested in them.

(Monday, March 21, 2011)Today is the spring equinox, when night and day are of equal length. It's still quite cold, but the spring is just around the corner. This winter we had a lot of cold days, so we're all looking forward to warm spring days. My wife and I usually think of going to Kyoto to enjoy cherry blossoms, but this year we'll find a good place nearby because there are a lot of people who're suffering from a terrible situation in the Tohoku District.
　I knew I was wrong, but I went into the line waiting for the gas. My wife was sitting next to me and we waited about 40 minutes to get to the gas station. The station was so generous that they allowed us to make our tank full. I knew that the end of the line was cut, so I was a little bit sorry for them. I still had a lot of gas left in the tank, so I only got a little more than 11 litters of gasoline.
　Day by day news about the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake is going away from the TV. I don't understand why. On the other hand, there are more and more dramas and variety shows are coming up. There are still lots and lots of people who have a hard time there. Why could we lose interest in them?

(Tuesday, March 22, 2011)Yesterday Prime Minister Naoto Kan was supposed to visit a town in the Tohoku District and after that to visit the nuclear plants in Fukushima to cheer up the crew who were fighting the crisis. However he suddenly decided not to carry on the schedule because of the bad weather. What is the "bad" weather? It was just raining. He changed his very important schedule because it was raining? I don't think he's a real leader. If he wants to stay in his position, he has to think of the suffering people in the Tohoku Area and soon decide what to do to save them. Some people say that if he visits the damaged area, it will bother many people working hard there. But I have a different opinion. If he goes and visits the people in those damaged areas, the depressed and shocked people staying there will be very much encouraged and have the courage to stand up again. He should have done this soon after the great earthquake. Why didn't he do so? Maybe for him the Tohoku District is such a faraway place which he is less interested in. If his family had lived in the area, what would he have done? He should have behaved quite differently. He should know what to do as Prime Minister.

(Wednesday, March 23, 2011)Every day a lot of small earthquakes happen around the Tohoku Area. Some are stronger than magnitude 6.0. Many scientists believe that within a month or so there will be an aftermath over magnitude 7.0. The Great Kanto Earthquake, which occurred in 1923, measured magnitude 7.9, killing around 100,000 people. If the biggest aftermath is about that size, we'll be seriously damaged. More tsunami will come and kill an incredible number of people. We have to be very carefull.
　"If they stop watering the plants, they will be fired," the crazy member of the Kan Diet told the press. He himself insists that he didn't say that. Maybe he did. The families of the firefighters staying in Fukushima are very much worried about their heroes. How dare can you insult such heroes? I think Prime Minister Kan should fire Mr. Kaieda as soon as possible. However Mr. Kan is not a man of decision. He cannot make a quick decision and time goes by.
　We really fell the danger of radioactivity. People living near the damaged nuclear plants must be anxious that it's going to be a very serious problem. The government and some of the specialist insist that the level of radioactivity is not so high to be worried about. Is it really true? They just don't want us to pay attention to the worst accident in Japanese history?
　Some milk from the cows in Fukushima Pref. has been found to contain radioactivity, which is not yet at fatal level. The spinach in Ibaraki Pref. is also found to be poisoned by radioactivity, which is not strong enough for us to care about. If it's at safe level, why do they have to have press conferences so many times. My wife's sister and brothers live not far from the damaged nuclear plants. Don't they have to leave their hometowns to come to our place? Our city is also very famous for its huge earthquakes, but there are no nuclear plants.
　When they build nuclear plants, the government always say that they're quite safe. But after they're built they won't do anything to maintain the facilities. They should be more responsible for what they have said. Now that we have had serious problems on nuclear plants, would the government ask for some other nuclear plants in other local areas? Would they say they're safe enough?

(Thursday, March 24, 2011)There were rather big earthquakes in Fukushima yesterday morning. They were magnitude 6.0 and magnitude 5.8, or strong 5 in the "shindo" scale. My wife's sister lives just on the epicenter of those tremors, which made us very much worried about her and her son. My wife soon made a phone call and talked to her. It seemed that everything was OK. I've been thinking that our place is much more dangerous as for earthquakes than Fukushima. But it was not true.
　I've not been in good shape this school year. Actually I was in the hospital for two weeks in February. Many times I got time off for health reasons. When you take all these things into consideration, I'm not going to be a homeroom teacher next school year. It's a shame not to be able to take care of a class of my own, but I should seek something only I could do. What would the principal tell me to do for the next school year? Has he been highly evaluating me? Or does he think that I'm not a man to be evaluated?

(Thursday, March 25, 2011)Radioactivity higher than acceptable levels was found in the tap water in Tokyo. Before that rather high level of radioactivity was found in the original milk in Fukushima and some vegetables in Ibaraki and some other prefectures. In Tokyo the government told the mothers with young children not to let them drink tap water. Just after that lots of parents rush to the supermarket to buy bottles of mineral water. According to some mineral water producing companies, they have plenty of water, but they lack the bottles and caps. A mother of a baby in Tokyo told to the TV that it was OK for her to take the dangerous water but that she would never let her baby take it.
　If the nuclear plants in Fukushima should explode in the future, we will be in much worse situation. We won't be able to take anything around our places. There will be no mineral water in the convenience stores. There will be no safe food in the supermarkets. What should we do? Will we panic?

(Saturday, March 26, 2011)The spring holidays have started today. If we had usual holidays, we would spend every day in doing extracurricular activities. But now that we have had a great earthquake in the Tohoku District, we can't let the students spend a usual school life.
　Yesterday was the last day of the old school year and we had a sushi party in the cooking room at noon. Every year one or two sushi masters come to our school to make various kinds of sushi. Everybody looks forward to the occasion because it's fun to enjoy eating sushi together. First we're supposed to finish the first bowl of sushi, then we'll make a line to eat our favorite sushi made by the sushi masters just in front of us. I loved "engawa" very much. It's the edge part of fish and tastes so good. I also enjoyd "negitoro-maki," which is very popular among many people in Japan. We really had a very good time.

(Sunday, March 27, 2011)Ryoma is such a smart dog. He understands what's going on around him. He usually jumps up on the bed and prefers to sleep in the futon. Last night it was so cold that I take the futon away from the bed and spread it over the rug of the living room. Then he soon moved from his own sleeping place to the living room to ask for a space under the futon. I was very much surprised. Ryoma is a Shiba dog, which is said to be as smart as a three-year-old human child. But I believe they are much smarter.
　I think Ryoma must be frustrated because he can't express his idea with words. He always tries to show his feelings somehow, but we cannot always understand his feelings. I wish my wife and I could understand Ryoma as exactly as possible.

(Monday, March 28, 2011)I hear there are a lot of crimes among the debris of the great earthquake. Some break into broken houses to steal something very imortant. Yesterday morning it was found that 40 million yen had been stolen from the safe of a bank. Now that most people are depressed with great grief, how can you make them more depressed with crimes? Many people have come to Japan to help them in the Tohoku District from all over the world. But on the other hand, there are some mean guys who can't understand people's great sadness.
　What is the government doing to help people greatly shocked by the Tohoku-Kanto Great Earthquake? They still have little food to eat and little water to drink. They need enough fuel to keep themselves warm. A lot of volunteers go to the devastated area to do important jobs, but have any statesmen gone to visit the people in need? Why not?

(Tuesday, March 29, 2011)There are lots of people who have lost their houses in the Tohoku Area. They need places to live in, but the number of houses newly built in the area is too so small that they need a lot more apartment buildings in other prefectures. Near my place there are some apartment buildings which are going to be shut down in the near future. Why isn't our local government going to make those building open to those who are in trouble in the Tohoku District? People living in Fukushima will sooner or later have to leave their hometowns because of the radioactivity. Then we should welcome them into our city. There should be similar apartment buildings in other places in Kanagawa Prefecture. Donating money is not the only way to help the people in the Tohoku Area.
　By the way, have you ever donate money at the convenience store or some other places? I haven't. I've never put my money into the donation box becuase I can't believe that the money will surely go to the people or the places in trouble. But if I keep on doubting it, I'll never be able to do something for devastated areas. I think I'm going to keep small change and take it all to the convenience store.

(Wednesday, March 30, 2011)According to the TV news yesterday morning, workers at the Fukushima nuclear plants are having a hard time staying there. They are given only two meals a day, which only contain 400 kilo-calories. A usual adult needs about 2,000 kilo-calories. What a difference! They are very hungry and don't feel like working hard. Why do the government do such a crazy job about the devastated plants? Those who don't understand how people feel can't be good leaders.
　At Matsumoto-Kiyoshi in our neighborhood cheap green tea was sold last Sunday. A 2-litter plastic bottle cost just 99 yen. My wife and I bought 12 bottles. It might have been a kind of panic buying, or "kaishime." It tasted almost the same as the other branded green tea which was much more expensive. Why does this happen? I want to know the mechanism. If more water is said to be poisoned by radioactivity, an incredible number of people rush to stores to buy as many plastic bottles of water as possible. The Chinese companies that bought the water sources in Hokkaido might be glad to make new brands of mineral water? Sorry, that's a bad joke, isn't it?

(Thursday, March 31, 2011)Most industries in the Tohoku District can't start operating their factories. Japan has been one of the top countries that make high-tech things, but now it's difficult for us to be in the same position as before. People working in those industries look very much depressed. They say they are quite at a loss what to do. In one of the factories the workers still have to clean the floor covered with mud. What would they like the government to do?
　Last night there was a charity soccer game between All Japan and All J-League. It was so exciting that even my wife, who's usually not interested in soccer, watched the game to the very last minute. She yelled when Kazu made an impressive goal. We tend to think that a soccer player acts as an individual, but actually they like to work together. We think that a baseball player acts as part of his team, but actually they're behind soccer players. I thought it was a very interesting phenomenon.

(Friday, April 1, 2011)I'm in charge of the school's webpage this year. Last year too, I was asked to take care of the webpage, but another teacher wanted to do the job and didn't let me get involved in the task. As a result, the webpage was not completed. I have already worked on the webpage for two days, and it's been successfully renewed. It is true that there are a lot more things to do about the website, but it's quite interesting to try to make an impressive webpage.
　Today's April Fools' Day, when people play tricks on each other. However, in Japan today, we can't play tricks after we had a great disater in the Tohoku District. Did you know that the total sum of donations up until today is over 700 million yen? But the Japan Red Cross hasn't been able to decide how to use all the money. They say it's because they can't find out the extent of damage in some areas. They are supposed to divide the money based on how the area is damaged by the disater. Something's wrong with the system, isn't it? They need the money as soon as possible.

(Saturday, April 2, 2011)Here in Chigasaki City, school teachers meet on April 1 and the new school year stars then. But in Yokohama City, we meet on April 4 and the new school year starts then. The English proverb says, "Do in Rome as the Romans do." So do in Yokohama as the Yokohama teachers do. However most of the teachers came to school yesterday to prepare for the new school year. I was on day duty yesterday, so I did a lot of jobs on the school's website. It was not so easy this time to make a successful job and I had to go to the computer many times. I have done more than 80% of what I have to do, but the rest 20% will decide how good I am on building a website.
　In the coming school year, I'm not going have my own homeclass, which has made me a little bit disappointed. I'll have to look for something that I can do to help the children in my grade. This year again I'm taking care of the 9th graders. It seldom happens that a teacher takes care of the 9th graders for the successive three years. Of course I can go to Kyoto again. That's why my wife envies me a lot.

(Sunday, April 3, 2011)Today's the 6th anniversary of my father's death. When he was still alive, he liked my wife Kayoko. Kayoko also took good care of my father. When he was often in the hospital, she went to visit him in the hospital almost every day. It seemed that my mother did not worry about my father very much. I don't know what was the truth, but at present I have stopped contacting my mother. Even when she's seriously sick in the hospital, I'd never go and see her there. When she married my father, she was too young. She often said that she had wished to leave my father many times. She should have done so. Of course if she had left Chigasaki, my brother and I couldn't have been here. Oh, I shouldn't talk about my mother any more.
　Tomorrow morning my wife and I are going to take Ryoma for a morning walk, and after that we all go the my father's graveyard. My wife has already prepared some flowers for my father. Then when we come back home, I'll let Ryoma take a shower after about a month. I hope it'll be sunny tomorrow too.

(Monday, April 4, 2011)Yesterday, just before eating dinner, I checked the blood sugar level, which surprised me so much. When you're hungry, your blood sugar level has to be between 80 and 110, but mine was 303. When I started to stay in the hospital about two months ago, my blood sugar lever was more than 400, which was incredibly high and dangerous. But since then it gradually went down and never got over 300. That's why I was shocked to see the number 303. What caused my high boold sugar level was, of course, the amount of food I had had so far. I mean I had taken too many calories. I ate out with my wife too often. I thought taking insulin every day would keep me in good shape. I was wrong. I should not rely too much on the insulin shots. I have to save the calories I take every day and try to do exercises as often as possible.
　Yesterday there was a final highschool baseball game between Tokaidai Sagamai and Kyushu Kokusai. The result was Tokaidai Sagami won the game by 6-1. After the game was over, the interviewer said to the manager, "Congratulations!" I thought that he should have tried not to use the word "Congratulateions" because it had been only three weeks since the great earthquake hit the Tohoku Area. "You've done a excellent job. Do you have any words to your boys and the people in the Tohoku Area?" He could have asked like that. When you interview people, you have to be careful about the words you use.

(Tuesday, April 5, 2011)We started working officially yesterday. We had some meetings and got ready for the new school year. I'm in charge of the 9th graders this school year too. They're going to visit Kyoto in May. I'm looking forward to going to Kyoto with them. It'll be my 26th visit to Kyoto. My wife loves Kyoto much more than me. I'm very sorry that I'll have to leave her here in Chigasaki. Maybe later I think I'll be able to take her to Kyoto again. We have never traveled to the old city in the summer, so next time the summer will be the best season for us. It all depends on my wife, of course.
　Last school year the three of us took care of the softball team, but this year two of us have left school and I'll have to look after the team for myself. As I said I have diabetes, so I can't go too far. Anyway I'm going to do what I can do for the girls on the team. Today Saturdays and Sundays are both holidays. I'll be able to do club activities on either of them, because I do need a holiday in a week.

(Wednesday, April 6, 2011)Tokyo Electric Company started let a lot of water poisoned by radioactivity flow into the Pacific Ocean. They say the level of radioactivity is not so high that we don't have to worry about the effect on our health. Are they telling the truth? What about the creatures living in the area that will gradually be poisoned? Do we have the right to do this to the nature? What do the other countries think about this stupid decision?
　Maybe the company didn't think of any serious situation like this when they built the nuclear plants in Fukushima Prefecture. They often say, "It's much worse than we expected. Just out of our expectation!" What! They didn't expect the worst situation though they had to build the dangerous nuclear plants?
　I'm afraid the people living in Fukushima Prefecture will have to evacuate their places in the near future. I want the government to let them do so before it's too late. I think Prime Minister Kan should go there soon and see the situation with his own eyes and decide what to do A.S.A.P.

(Thursday, April 7, 2011)Did you hear that the President of South Korea got angry to hear that Japan had started to let the poisoned water go into the ocean without any notice? Did Japan really do such a dangerous job without letting nearby countries know about the important plan? If it's true, it's quite natural for nearby countries to get angry with our country.
　I'm not sure why, but the workers at the Fukushima nuclear plants don't get enough food. Actually they only eat two meals a day, which are not nutritious at all. I guess nobody wants to carry food to the dangerous area. It's incredible! Does the government let the few workers do very dangerous jobs and do nothing dangerous themselves? Mr. Edano appears at the press conference and talks without any emotion. Doesn't he feel sorry for the workers who have to cope with the devastated nuclear plants?

(Friday, April 8, 2011)Have I caught a bad cold? I have a sore throat and cough and sneeze a lot. My wife says that my symptom comes from hay fever. She might be right, but I went to a drugstore to buy medicine to cure a cold. After dinner I took the medicine and I feel most of the problems are gone now. It was not because of hay fever. Yesterday when I went to school, I felt really sick. I had a hard time doing work at school. It was quite wise of me to go and visit the drugstore on my way from work.
　Last night I watched a very stupid TV program in which some TV personalities went around a small island and tried to get food somehow. One of them got a very big lobster and cooked it alive. Why did they have to cook the sea creature alive? They should have killed the lobster first and then cooked it the way they liked. Now that there was a terrible disaster in the Tohoku Area, we should be very careful about how we deal with food. If they say that the program was videotaped before the earthquake, they should not make it on air. They should know better.

(Saturday, April 9, 2011)It's been drizzling since early this morning. My wife and I went for a morning walk with Ryoma in the rain. We wanted him to do his business before we walked for a long time, but he didn't do it at last. Twice or three times he tried to sit over the grass, but it seemed that he didn't like the places. He's always very nervous about the place he does his business at.
　When he doesn't do it in the morning, he usually does it in the evening. Today also he made it during the evening walk. This time it looked easy for him to decide where to do it. It had already stopped raining and we could enjoy some beautiful cherry blossoms in our area. Most of the cherry trees haven't had their blossoms yet. It'll take them a week or so to have beautiful cherry blossoms.

(Sunday, April 10, 2011)As we had been planning, we let Ryoma take a shower around 11:00 o'clock this morning. Because he's a Shiba dog, he doesn't like taking a shower. When he was a little boy, he tried to escape and scratched my body. But now that he's seven years old, he has learned to stay calm in the bathroom. But he still doesn't like his head and face to be wet. Maybe he's scared. However, interestingly enough, after taking a shower he lookes so refreshed and jumps around on our bed. It's my wife's job to dry his hair. It's the hardest job to do. Now she's vacuuming the room covered with Ryoma's hair. This is the hardest season for a dog, becuase a lot of its hair goes off and will be changed with summer fur.
　When we went for a walk this morning, I took my camera with me. We knew we could see some pretty cherry blossoms on our way. Luckily it was a sunny morning, so we could take a lot of good photos. If you'd like to see some of them, please look at the photogalary in my webpage.

(Monday, April 11, 2011)Kurt will back to us next Monday. Last month after the great earthquake occurred, he was told by the board of education of Yokohama City not to go to school any more. So he decided to go back to Canada and travel to Arizona. He looked so refreshed after making a trip to his own country. Anyway I was so glad that we could have him this year too. He's going to sit next to me this year again. Maybe I'll be a good Japanese teacher to him also.
　A woman teacher from Kami-iida Junior High School, named Ms. Hara, was a very good speaker of English. Usually school teachers are no good at speaking English. But she's pretty good. This year her school is making the yearly plan for Kurt, which I did last year. I could say that I could do it for her school this year too, but I didn't. Everybody has to do his or her best.
　Tonight there are so many earthquakes near Fukushima Prefecture. Often the epicenter is Hamadori where my wife's sister lives. The biggest one was magnitude 7.1 which happened at a few minutes past five this evening. I hope there will be no more bigger ones tonight. I'd like to pray for my sister-in-law.

(Tuesday, April 12, 2011)I went to the hospital this afternoon to have an examination. My blood sugar level over the last few months was 6.6. The normal number is under 5.8 and the level between 5.9 to 6.9 is good. I was very happy to know that. The doctor in charge of me has changed to a young woman. I'm not accustomed to a woman doctor, but I'll try by best.
　In Fukushima Prefecture there was a really big earthquake around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The magnitude of the earthquake was under 7.0, but it was about 6 in the "shindo" scale. I'm very sorry for my sister-in-law living there. My wife has been telling her to come over here to live with us. We have two more rooms that my sister-in-law and her son can use. Now they are full of cardboard boxes. But it's not so difficult for us to move them aside. Or we can put away many things we will no longer use.

(Wednesday, April 13, 2011)Both the Central League and the Pacific League of Japanese pro baseball started their pennant race yesterday. Players on all the twelve teams played very hard to cheer up the people who had been suffering in the Tohoku Area. It's very important for all of us to do what we can do for the suffering people there. I'm now collecting small changes to send there. It's not a big sum of money, but this is what I can do by myself now.

(Friday, April 15, 2011)There's a man in the teachers' room who I hate very much. He's often quite cynical and says something to hurt people around him. Who does he think he is? Does he think he's such a great man to look down upon others? I think he's just mean and he's disliked by many people around him. These days I try not to talk to him often. Maybe he feels there's something wrong with my attitude toward him. I won't hesitate to work with him because it's something I've got to do. But I don't want to become good friends with him. Well, this is something that's worth as many as 6 lines of words.
　At the start of a lesson today, my nose suddenly started bleeding. I don't know why, but maybe it was partly because of hay fever and diabetes. Every night I take a pill to make my blood smooth, which might make my nose easy to bleed. It took me about 5 minutes to stop my nose from bleeding. It was my first time to let my nose bleed since the treatment for my diabetes started two and three months ago.

(Saturday, April 16, 2011)It was quite different from what I had expected. I thought it was going to rain today, so I told the softball girls that they were not going to have practices this afternoon. But the weather this afternoon was quite different from the weather forecast. It didn't rain even in the moring and it became a beautiful day in the afternoon. Most of the parents and the players are said to be complaining about lack of practice on Saturdays. I understand what they say, but they don't understand how I feel. Years ago I was very famous as a crazy softball coach in Kanagawa Prefecture. But now I'm not in good shape. I can't go back to the past. Maybe I'm afraid of going back to the past.
　After going to the dentist this morning, I went to the foot of Akabane Hill to take pictures of peach flowers which have come out so beautifully there. After leaving the scene, I went to another place where peach flowers are also coming out so wonderfully. I think I like peach flowers much better than cherry blossoms. Oh, should I call them peach "blossoms"?

(Sunday, April 17, 2011)My wife and my wife's parents and I went to eat eel this evening. There's a good eel shop around here and we sometimes go and visit it. It's eel is either from Miyazaki Prefecture or Kagoshima Prefecture. Both are really good to eat. We usually eat unaju called "mari" which costs 2,400 yen. It's incredibly delicious and the soup that goes with it is also very tasty. I was so glad to see my parents-in-law look so happy to eat eel with us. Next time we'll visit a soba shop which is about ten minutes' ride in my car from our place. My wife's father is crazy about soba and he likes the shop very much. They serve a great amout of soba, which surprised us so much when we went there first.
　Mr. Edano, who's in charge of the press conference of the nuclear plants incident in Fukushima Prefecture, visited the scene for the first time since the incident happened. Why didn't he go there earlier? What does he think the government should do for the people in Fukushima? It's easy for them to say that they're so much worried about the people, but what's the most important is to take action as soon as possible. I hope they won't betray the people living in Fukushima.

(Monday, April 18, 2011)There is a doctor named Mr. Kawahara who usually work as a doctor in Africa to help miserable people there. He happened to be in Japan when the great earthquake hit the Tohoku Area on March 11. He decided not to go back to Africa soon and to stay in the devasted area for the time being. When he decided to work in Africa, he gave up everything he had except for his important family. How dare the Japanese government left him alone in Africa and here in the Tohoku Area! There are many people who say, "Let's hold on and believe in the bright future." However he is quite different from those people. He says little, but he does a lot. I think he is so great.
　My wife bought a covering around the belly for our dog Ryoma. He often has stomach troubles, so my wife wanted him to keep warm with the covering. It was a black covering for a human lady, which interested Ryoma very much. He liked it so much that every night he wears it to go to bed. He lookes so cute in it. He lookes like Bakabon's Daddy. It's a black covering because my wife likes the color black. She might have thought that she could wear it herself if Ryoma didn't like it.
　
(Tuesday, April 19, 2011)While my wife and I were away for shopping at night, Ryoma took out a vinyl bag and tried to keep it to himself. My wife told him to put it away, but he didn't listen to her. Late at night he barked hard, which made my wife very angry. She scolded him so severely that he was scared and almost bit my wife's arm. It was a very scary scene. Later I told my wife not to scold Ryoma too much, because she was the one he loved most. He's a mummy's boy.

(Wednesday, April 20, 2011)When I came home, Ryoma looked very happy today, wagging his tail so hard. I'm sure he was relieved to know that Mom didn't hate him at all. He's now sleeping by the side of the bed. In a few minutes my wife and I are going to go shopping near Chigasaki Station by car. If we make a move, he'll wake up to ask us to take him with us. What should we do tonight? Should we take him for a short drive? Or should we leave home alone? That's the question.
　And what do you think we did about taking Ryoma for shopping? Yes, we took him for a drive. He looked so happy to be in my car. He doesn't have to get out of the car to walk around the department store. He just stays in the car, but it is good enough to make him happy.
　We bought some food and twelve 2-litter tea bottles. They were so cheap. They usually cost us more than 300 yen, but tonight they cost only 158 yen each bottle. We don't know why there's such a big difference in the prices. As far as mineral water is concerned, it seemed that we were allowed to buy up to two bottles. It must have something to do with the nuclear plants accident in Fukushima Prefecture.

(Thursday, April 21, 2011)Prime Minister Kan paid a visit to a shelter in Fukushima, but he was not very much welcomed by people there. One of them got very angry because the Prime Minister tried to leave the place so early. He should have done this long time ago. Now that everything is too late, he should not pretend to be thinking about the people living in the dangerous areas.
　As I wrote before, this is not someone else's problem for my wife and me, because we have our sister and her son living near the nuclear plants. They live about 40 kilometers away from the plants. If the prime minister had a sister in the same place, would he have made such an idle action?
　Some farmers have to leave their cows on their farms without food or water for them. Those cows will have to die from hunger. I can understand how they feel. One of them said that his cows were his families and that he couldn't leave them behind.

(Friday, April 22, 2011)Late this afternoon, my wife's mother fell while riding her bicycle and hit her head on the road and fainted. Some passer-by was kind enough to call the ambulance and she was taken to Chigasaki City Hospital. My wife's father was walking Ryoma when he got a call from the hospital. He soon went to the hospital with Ryoma. My wife went to the hospital and after seeing her mother she went to the scene of the accident and brought her bike back to the apartment building with her parents. Her mother was OK at that time, but the doctor told her father that he should be careful about her during the night. She might have some trouble at night. My mother-in-law is 71 years old now. She's a little too old to ride a bike to the station for shopping. My wife told her not to use her bike any longer. She told her to use a bus when she wanted to go shopping near the station.

(Sunday, April 24, 2011)Yesterday it was raining all day and the softball games were postponed until today. The condition of the ground was no good this morning, but many students tried hard to fix the ground and the games started as planned. I thought I should have let my team arrive at the school much earlier and help fix the ground. It was my big fault.
　As for me, my wife asked her father to take our dog Ryoma for an early morning walk and joined me as a navigator. I first told her not to worry too much, but as a result she helped me a lot. Without her I could not reach the school in time.
　My team lost the game by 0-15, but the 8th graders must have learned a lot from the game. Their parents ask me to have as many practice games as possible. I understand what they say, but I also have to take care of my health too.

(Monday, April 25, 2011)I had a softball game yesterday under the strong sunshine, which made me quite tired. Before the game, I had to be one of the judges. I had to keep standing for about half an hour. Sometimes I felt like fainting, but I tried not to. It was a very tough job for me to do at present.
　This afternoon, when I went out to the schoolground, the players on my softball team couldn't say hello to me. It's impossible for junior high school students not to greet their coach, but the softball girls in my school have been so impolite since I came to the school two years ago. The first players, who were so impolite and didn't know how to behave, already left school this spring. However, interestingly enough, the same blood runs through the bodies of the present players. Those who don't know how to say hello couldn't learn how to play softball. I've often told them that, but they still don't understand what I mean. Their parents believe that their kids are no good at softball because they have too many holidays. But it's not true. Even if they have many holidays, if they are really eager to be good players, they are sure to make a lot of progress.

(Tuesday, April 26, 2011)Today I renewed the school's webpage again. I'm in charge of the website this year, and I've been working on it for about a month. I'm good at building a website. So I've been trying to make the school's webpage much more attractive. However doing too much is dangerous. In Japanese society, sticking out among usual people is not highly evaluated. I'm still safe at present because most of the teachers in my school haven't checked the renewed webpage. I've got to be very careful about my job. Pretending to be quiet is sometimes very smart.
　There was good news too today. Another 7th grader officially joined my softball team. Now we have 6 7th graders in all. Some might say that 6 players are too few, but I would say that too many players are no good. 6 or 7 players are appropriate. They are not too many, not too few.

(Wednesday, April 27, 2011)Today I had successive 5 English lessons. It was so tough that at the start of the 4th period I was almost starving. Tomorrow I have 4 lessons, but I have a break in the middle of the day, which makes me less tired. By the way, in two classes out of five, I had a singing test. I was very much impressed, because many of them were such good singers. Some of the students had the courage to sing in front of their friends. They were really great!
　This afternoon I was with the softball girls who practiced a few hours after school. I thought it was hard to make them eager to practice softball. They say that they want to be good players, but they don't know what they have to do in the daily practice to realize their dreams. To become a good player, you have to be a good person before that. If you don't understand that, it's impossible to become a good softball player however hard you practice it every day.

(Thursday, April 28, 2011)I'm now watching a special TV program about the Candies. One of the three girls (now women) called "Suchan" died of cancer a few days ago at the age of 55. She died too young. When they had their last concert, they said to their fans that they wanted to become usual girls. They were to come back to the TV scene as actresses, but no one can blame them of breaking their words. A lot of people were crazy about the Candies, and they surely made their own age.
　Suchan's brother died of cancer. Suchan's best friend Natsume Masako also died of cancer. She married Masako's brother Odate Kazuo at the age of 35. Who could have thought of her dying so early of cancer too? She herself didn't have any children, but she played lots of roles of many types of mothers.
　For me, the Candies are not so far away into the past. It was just yesterday that I was listening to them. I was not their earnest fan, but I love many of their songs. I wish Suchan great happiness in the heaven.

(Friday, April 29, 2011)Today is "Showa Day," which used to be "Green Day" or "Emperor's Birthday." Out team had softball practice in the morning, but I didn't go to school. This morning Ms. Sano, the other softball coach, took care of the team. It's too tough for me to take part in the practice for two successive days. So tomorrow I'll take care of the team instead of Ms. Sano. Most of the parents asked me to have less holidays, but it seems that the players want to have time to play with friends. I think parents should know that it's not the amount of practice which decides the strength of the team. The most important thing is the players' motivation. If they think that they want to be real good players, they could absorb a lot from daily practice. If not, they can't learn much even from weekend practice.
　I understand how important it is to have as many practice games as possible. I used to be one of the most earnest coaches in Kanagawa Prefecture. I didn't have any Saturdays or Sundays. My team was very strong. But they were strong because they were so sincere, not because they didn't have any holidays. Parents have to understand that the coach is not as young and healthy as before.

(Saturday, April 30, 2011)This afternoon, on my way back from Yokohama, I dropped in at JUSCO to buy some boxes of tea bottles. I bought three boxes of them, in which there were 18 2-litter bottles. You can buy as many bottles as you want, but as for mineral water, you can only buy one bottle. I think if you have a purifier on the faucet, you don't need to buy mineral water. It depends on how you feel about the faucet water. Do you think it's no good for drinking or good enough for drinking?
　Before going to the department store, I went to the barber's. I never go to other barber shops. I've been to his shop since I was a little boy. We talk a lot about many different kinds of topics. It seems that he looks really happy to have me in his shop, because recently there have been less and less customers. Near the station, there are some cheap barber shops, which make it difficult for traditional shops to keep customers. I like his shop, because I just have to say "As usual" to him.

(Sunday, May 1, 2011)I've been working on the school's webpage for a little more than a month. It has now become a beautiful website for anybody to enjoy. Of course its base was built by the people who were in charge of the job in the past. Especially the history page was very difficult to renew. There are no exact records except for the old webpage and its resources. When you try to renew the page, you would usually change the words or the phrases a little bit, because you think it's right to do so. In this way, the exactness of the record is getting less and less weak. The most important thing is to make just one official notebook to record the history of school, which should be kept by the vice principal. In my city the official record is kept very precisely, but I don't know very well about Yokohama.
　Tomorrow I have three classes. We are getting into the new month, which means we're singing the new English song. I haven't got the CD yet, so I'll go to Tsutaya to get the CD of my favorite song. I'm sure they'll like it just as they did with the April song.

(Monday, May 2, 2011)Tomorrow we're getting into the rest half of the Golden Week. But on the evening of the day after tomorrow I'll have to go to the funeral of a student's father. He died a sudden death, which must have been so shocking to his daughter. We might not be able to do anything to cheer her up at present, so the only thing we can do is to go to the funeral and smile at her. I sincerely wish her father's happiness up in the heaven.
　Yesterday my wife and I went shopping at SATY. We wanted to buy a pair of shoes and some training pants. But I was more interested in the yukatas on display. They were so attractive that I felt like buying a set for my wife. It cost 10,000 yen, which was not so expensive. Is there a good jimbei and haori for me that go very well with the yukata my wife might be going to wear in the future?

(Tuesday, May 3, 2011)How can they ask for help? There are lots and lots of animals left in the devastated area in Northeast Japan. Who has been feeding them? Are they destined to die of hunger? I heard that a person who visited the Tohoku District had seen something dreadful there. Human bodies were eaten by crows and cows didn't have anything to eat and became thin and their bones stuck out. The only creature that were full were crows, he said to his friend. The scenes shown on TV are too beautiful to show the reality. You should see with your own eyes if you want to know what has really happened there on March 11.
　There are many people who want Prime Minister Kan to resign. I agree that he's incapable of dealing with the terrible situation of the Tohoku Area. The ability that he lacks is to understand how people feel when they suffer from a great disaster. You can usually imagine what they need, but the stupid leader doesn't know how to. A few years ago, many of us voted for the Democratic Party of Japan. We expected a lot of things from them. But now we know we were quite wrong in doing so.

(Wednesday, May 4, 2011)My wife and I saw a series of good drama on TV. It was about men and women who would like to fall in love with other women and men. The leading role was played by Takahashi Katsunori. He played a type of a man who can easily handle women but who can't confess love to the most important woman.
　Relations between men and women are so difficult. If a man and a woman fall in love with each other at the same time, there will be no problem. But if you fall in love with somebody who doesn't like you so much, you'll have a hard time making him or her a good partner of yours.
　Our parents want to let Ryoma stay at their home secretly. It's a rule for people living in "danchi" not to have a pet inside the building. So they have to put it into practice secretly. They also love Ryoma so much. They want to stay with him for as long as possible. I'm very happy they love animals, especially Ryoma.

(Thursday, May 5, 2011)Today's Children's Day and you see some groups of carp here and there. Well, we can't see any around here. Is it because of the Great Tohoku Earthquake? Do many people think that it's against public morality to put up a pole with a group of carp swimming in the air when many people in the Tohoku District are still in great trouble? I heard a man say, answering the TV interview, that he should not make a trip when so many people are suffering there. An old Japanese saying goes that after hot water goes through your throat, you tend to forget the hotness of water. I feel in myself the memory of the Great Tohoku Earthquake is getting weaker and weaker. This is no good, of course.
　Do you know why people want to see carp swimming against the sky? In an old Chinese story, a carp went up the river and finally became a dragon to fly up into the sky. So a carp is a symbol of a strong boy. Many parents want their boys to become as strong as dragons in the Chinese story.

(Friday, May 6, 2011)Ryoma has some trouble with his stomach today. This morning my wife found that his stomach was making noises and made him take a medicine. He's still in bad shape and sleeping under his own mat. The other day my wife bought him a "haramaki," or a thick cloth to wear on the stomach to warm himself. He liked it very much. But after moving too much, the "haramaki" goes down and his upper stomach is not covered with it. That's why he had some trouble with his stomach. It was cold toward the dawn last night.
　Do you sometimes feel that your dog smells? It is true that some pets often smell. But it doesn't mean that they are dirty. For us human beings they might smell, but it's their natural smell which we should not hate. If you don't like your dog's smell, you can't be a master of his. If you want to keep him as a pet, you have to like his smell too. You shouldn't think that you'd like to make your pet take a shower as many times as possible. You might like it, but your pet might hate it. You should understand how your pet feels. Just imagine, and you'll know.

(Saturday, May 7, 2011)It was raining all this morning, but we practiced softball in the school ground. But I'm sorry to say that some of the girls are not eager to practice softball. They have to work harder, or their coach will lose his interest in teaching them softball.
　While my wife and I were walking Ryoma, we met a female Kai dog whose name was Lucky. She liked Ryoma at the first sight and ran to him quickly. She was a little bigger than Ryoma. She was 5 years old and very active. In our human world recently, women are getting more and more active than men. You see the same trend in the world of dogs. I named our dog "Ryoma" after the famous samurai at the end of the Edo Era, but he is very gentle.
　After playing with Lucky for a while, my wife found Ume-chan far away. Ume-chan is a white Labrador retriever. She is gentle-hearted and very nice to Ryoma and human beings. She is said not to like to play with other dogs except for Ryoma. Ryoma has been loved by other dogs since he was a little boy. Maybe he's so attractive.

(Sunday, May 8, 2011)It's Sunday today. This morning I didn't oversleep and went for a walk with my wife and Ryoma. Last Sunday I overslept and didn't join them with a morning walk. Sometimes when I'm tired out, I can't get up early in the morning. I feel very sorry for my wife and Ryoma, of course. While we were walking near a high school, we met an old man with a little dog. We said good-morning to him, but he didn't answer. That type of a silent person often makes us sick. Exchanging greetings in the morning is very important in human life. If you stop talking to people, your society will become darker and darker.
　Today's Mother's Day. What're you going to buy for your mother? When your mother is already dead, you might visit her graveyard to give her some beautiful flowers. If your mother is still alive, you can buy her something that she might be happy to have. I think this year I'm going to buy her a pretty hat. Hats are very hard to choose, so we 'll have to take her to the department store with us.
　It's already a few minutes past 4 o'clock in the afternoon. I had a small argument with my wife this morning and after that I didn't talk to her. I ate breakfast by myself and for lunch I went out to the next-door sushi bar all by myself. It was my wife today who made Ryoma take a shower. I didn't do anything about that. It was also my wife who dried him. I was too mean to her. I was too childish.

(Monday, May 9, 2011)My wife was angry with my words "meshitaki-onna," which I didn't really mean. She was shocked to hear them because they were the words that she didn't like to hear most. I was wrong to say the words as just a joke. She emailed me to tell how shocked she was to hear the mean words from me. I answered her email just by saying sorry. Did she gorgive me? I don't know, but it should take some time. You have to be very careful with your words even if you don't mean them.
　I've been renewing the school's webpage for almost every day. I feel more and more people have started to visit the site. I'm sure it's getting more and more attractive and full of interesting information. Especially I like to add something new to the history of our school. When I happen to know a new piece of information, I get so much excited. "I'll have to let everyone know that!" I say to myself and sit in front of the computer. Photoes are also very interesting materials to put on the site, but they are difficult to deal with, because I have to be careful about personal information. For example, faces should not be shown clearly, especially children's faces. Principal's talks are very interesting, too. A lot of people will be interested in reading the manuscript. Now you understand how exciting my job is.

(Thursday, May 12, 2011)We left for Nara and Kyoto on May 10 and tonight have come back to Yokohama. I had a very big problem in Kyoto. I noticed that I had left the insulin at home. The insulin I had in Kyoto was not enough, so each time I got a small amount of insulin shot. I hoped it would be of some help, but my blood sugar level went up. When I came home tonight, I soon got an enough amount of insulin shot. I know it's too late, but that's what I can do at present. Let's see what will happen tomorrow morning.
　During the school trip, it rained and rained. It doesn't often happen that it rains for all the three days. We sometimes say jokingly that it rains during the school trip because you are no good in usual school life. However this year our students are relatively good in daily school life. I feel sorry for them.
　Maybe because of the rainy weather, we are very much exhausted. I'm too tired to feel like taking a shower. Tonight I'm going to go to bed soon and tomorrow morning I'll take a shower and go to school before noon.

(Friday, May 13, 2011)The cows in Fukushima have been decided to be killed painlessly. They have been exposed to radiation for such a long time and now it's too late to save them from the dangerous area. If the government had decided to rescue the cows, they might have been destined to live the rest of their lives in other places. The government is going to pay a lot of compensation to the owners. Is that a question of money? Where's an ethic? Killing animals can be easily regarded as a way to solve a serious problem? They have been kept to work for human beings. Now that we need safety, are we allowed to abandon them as we throw away garbage?
　I'm very tired today because I just came back from Kyoto yesterday. Tomorrow I want to oversleep, but it's impossible. I have to go to the hospital early in the morning and after that go to school to take care of the softball team. This afternoon most of them looked very dull. If they are also dull tomorrow, I'll kick them out of the school ground immediately.

(Saturday, May 14, 2011)It's been such a beautiful day today. I wish the weather had been like this during the school trip. I went to the hospital first thing in the morning and then went to school to take care of the softball team. I was surprised to see Ms. Sano, the other softball coach, play softball really well. She said she had never played softball, but she didn't look like a beginner. I was sure that she had been a good athlete since she was a young girl. I was right. She told me that she was always good at PE.
　If it's fine tomorrow, I'd like to take my wife and Ryoma to Satoyama Park, which is about 15 minutes' ride in my car from here. I checked the official website and found that we could walk in the park with a dog. It seems that there are some food stores there, so we don't have to bring our lunch. I haven't told this to my wife yet, but she will be happy to hear my idea.
　My wife will be back from her work later than usual tonight. I'm going to have dinner with my parents-in-law. Then after dinner I'll contact my wife to see here at the station. Of course Ryoma will go with me in my car.

(Sunday, May 15, 2011)We were planning to visit Satoyama Park today, but we're wondering if we'll go or not because we're tired from an incredibly long morning walk with Ryoma. Ryoma seems to be tired too. It's about ten minutes after two in the afternoon. We'll also have to go to a shopping center to order special cookies for Ryoma.
　Tonight we'll see a TV drama entitled "Jin." It used to be a comic story. When it was dramatized for television, it became popuplar all over the world and got a lot of prizes. The second series of the drama started this April all over the world as well as here in Japan. I'd like to read the comic books of the second season soon.
　Now I smell attractive incense that my wife's mother bought me when she traveled to Kyoto with my wife. I really like the smell of incense. Many kinds of incense that are available in Kyoto have really good smell. It makes us feel relaxed. Especailly when we walk up and down the Kiyomizu Slope, the smell comes from around everywhere. It also makes us feel as if we went back to the old times.

(Monday, May 16, 2011)This week the AET(Assistant English Teacher) is visiting our school. Today I had two 9th-grade classes with him, but ini one of the classes students were not active at all. He was almost upset and said, "If she was here, they would be more active." "She" means the teacher who taught them last year. Does he mean that I'm making the kids that dull? Give me a break. I got almost upset too.
　I heard from my wife that Ryoma was really a good boy today. She said, "Tell your dad that you've been so good all day today." I petted him gently and said, "Good boy, Ryoma. Good boy." He looked so happy and proud. My wife petted him times and times again too. There was one trouble, though. When my father-in-law came back home from the evening walk with Ryoma, the old man living iin the same apartment building said to him, "You can't keep a pet in this building, you know." My father-in-law got upset and said to the man, "I'm not keeping a pet. I just walked him and wanted to let him drink some water. Anything wrong about it? It's none of your business, you know." The old man couldn't say anything and went away.

(Tuesday, May 17, 2011)In the afternoon I left school ealier than usual and went to the hospital to see my diabetes doctor. First I took an blood test and urine test. The results were reported to the doctor and when I went into her office, she told me that I was in good shape. My blood sugar level was 6.7. Favorable level is up to 5.8, so it was not so bad at present. I hope within a few months it will be under 6.0.
　When I was about to go to the pharmacy, it suddenly started raining. While I was waiting for my medicine, the rain became terrible. Later I knew that Ryoma went for an evening walk with my wife in the heavy rain. He's now sleeping with his "haramaki" on, maybe because he was tired from walking in the rain.
　After I left the pharmacy, I went shopping at JUSCO. I needed to buy some bottles of green tea. I also bought two bags of beansprouts and some cubes of beef and some motsu. My wife cooked the beansprouts and beef cubes for me, which were so good. Ryoma came to me and sat stil, watching me with a serious look. Of course I gave some beef to him. I know I shouldn't do this so often.

(Wednesday, May 18, 2011)I'm so tired. Maybe from the school trip that we had last week. Although I didn't feel like going out to take care of the softball girls, I decided to go out into the school ground. We had a lot of time before finishing the activities, I had to know lots and lots of balls, which made me even more tired. I'll go to bed earlier than usual tonight. We only have two more days left this week. Let's hustle!
　It's been a nice day today. It wasn't sunny, but it was cool and very refreshing. When I drove my car, I kept the window of my side open to invide the cool air into the car. I was wearing a half-sleeved shirt and that made me feel even more refreshed. It sure is getting near the summer season. Oh, before that we're having the rainy season. I don't hate the season, because I love hydrangeas that are now getting ready to come out.
　My wife told me that Ryoma had been a good boy today. He might have been tired like me. He's now sound asleep. But If he goes to bed too early, he'll get up too early tomorrow morning to bother my wife. He'll try to wake her up by doing whatever he can think of.

(Thursday, May 19, 2011)This afternoon we had an earthquake drill. Everybody had to escape from the school building after the first quake was gone. We gathered in the school ground and then left school in some groups. We needed this drill because a very huge earthquake may hit the Kanto District in the near future. If the Great Tohoku Earthquake hadn't happened, such a drill might have been regarded as just a drill. But now that so many people were actually killed in the Tohoku Area, everyboday has to be very serious even in a drill.
　Whe my father-in-law came to our house to take Ryoma out for an evening walk, he hid behind the bed and didn't come out for about 20 minutes. My father-in-law was thinking of going back home. Then Ryoma came out form behind the bed and started walking toward the entrance hall. It means that he knew what he had to do. Why did he wait for as much as 20 minutes? Maybe he wanted my father-in-law to play hide-and-go-seek with him. Sometimes Ryoma pretends to bite us, so we tend to be get scared. Bad boy!
　Do you like Japanese miso soup? I love it. Especially the miso soup my wife cooks is so delicious. You usually need a long time to get used to the taste of different miso soup, but I soon got used to my wife's miso soup. Miso soup is said to have the mother's taste, but in my home it has the wife's taste.

(Friday, May 20, 2011)There was an earthquake this morning. We hadn't had any earthquakes for some time, so I was a little bit scared. In our Kanto Area, a huge earthquake will surelly occur in the near future. The energy of the earthquake will be about magnitude 8.0, which is big enough to devastate our area. On September 1, 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake hit our area, killinig about 100,000 people. The energy of the earthquake was magnitude 7.9. 88 years have passed since then. It's been such a long absence.
　Tonight my wife and I went shopping at JUSCO by car. Of course Ryoma was with us in my car. He was waiting for us while we were eating dinner and doing some shopping. I bought "tako senbei"(octopus cookies) for the girls on my softball team. Some of them came to the club activites late and couldn't eat the sweets from Kyoto. First I didn't care about it at all, but later I decided to buy something else for them, because I had promised to buy some souvenirs for them before I went to Kyoto. I bought "suhama dango"(dango made of "kiinako" powders) instead of "yatsuhashi." They must have been looking forward to eating it. "Tako senbei" would be as delicious as "suhama dango," I'm sure.

(Saturday, May 21, 2011)This morning I went to school to take care of the softball team We practiced for about three hours. It was a little hot this morning, so I let them take a rest twice. They had my "tako senbei," which made them so happy.
　For me their practices are not good enough. If I was younger, I would yell at them and stop taking care of them. But now that I'm 53, I can stop my anger from bursting. However it's difficult to make them active and eager. An English proverb says that you can take your horse to the river, but that you can't make him drink water. If they themselves don't try to practice seriously, they can't improve themselves. Parents tend to think that I'm the one who has to make them drink water, but it's a wrong idea.
　When I finished the club activities, I felt a little sick and tired. I thought that my blood sugar level had lowered too much. While I was driving home, I also felt a little sick, so I tried to be very careful. When I got home, I soon checked my blood sugar lever. It was 75. It was too low as I expected. It was dangerous to keep on driving with that low blood sugar level. I should have taken some sweet soft drink before getting into the car. Or I should have checked my blood sugar lever before I left school. How stupid I was!

(Sunday, May 22, 2011)This morning my wife and I took Ryoma for a morning walk rather later than usual. We left home about 8:00 and came home around 9:20. The one-hour-and-twenty-minute walk was quite enjoyable. On our way back home, we met a "Kai" dog named "Lucky" in the baseball ground. It was my second time to see her. She likes Ryoma so much that she tries to run around him very quickly. She's two years younger than Ryoma. And she is bigger than him. She's rather muscular, too, becuase of her good blood.
　We didn't make Ryoma take a shower or go out to Satoyama Park, because the weather forecast said that it was going to rain late in the afternoon. It really did. It's almost 6 o'clock in the evening and it's still drizzling outside. But we have to go out for an evening walk now. My wife is tired out and sleeping in bed now. Should I wake her up or let her stay there? Now she's got up herself. Ryoma is also ready to go. I've got to stop writing now.

(Monday, May 23, 2011)My wife's father had twisted his back and he couldn't take Ryoma for a walk this morning. My wife walked Ryoma instead, because I didn't get up early. I feel very tired these days and I can't get up early in the morning. But this afternoon, I tried to come home earlier than usual to take Ryoma for an evening walk instead of my wife. When I reached home, my wife welcomed me with a smile. She told me that her parents had gone for an evening walk with Ryoma. I was very surprised to hear this. Is her father really OK?
　Soon I decided to go to the Kentucky Fried Chicken to buy some chicken and other things for my parents-in-law. I went there with my wife. My wife got out of the car near her parents' apartment building and I came home to bring our umbrellas. I walked to my parents-in-law's house and joined the dinner. They like Kentucky fried chicken so much that they looked very happy. Ryoma wanted to eat it, but we didn't give him any. Fried chicken is too oily for a dog. If you want your dog to stay healthy, you shouldn't give him human food. Ryoma looked depressed, but we want him to live as long as possible.

(Tuesday, May 24, 2011)Late this afternoon, I thought I was going to come home earlier than usual. But when I was about to renew the school's website just before leaving school, another teacher started to work on the only computer that we could connect to the Internet. I waited for him to finish his work, but it took him more than half an hour to stand up. I soon took the seat and started to renew the website. It only took me five minute to carry out my job. Then I left the teachers' room and drove my car home.
　When I got home, it was almost seven thirty. I went up into our apartment and called my wife. She soon answered my call, telling that she was going to come home with Ryoma iin a few minutes. I also went out and walked toward her parents' apartment building to see them on the way. Ryoma looked so happy when he saw me.
　After coming home, my wife and I went to "Sushiro," a revolving sushi bar. Of course Ryoma had to stay home and wait for us to be back. When we came back, Ryoma looked a little bit angry. He was holding his "haramaki" and stared up at us. "Why did you leave me behind?" it seemed he was saying so.

(Wednesday, May 25, 2011)After school was over, a certain group of students gathered together to cover the area around the Martial Arts Gym with lawn. Some officials from Izumi Ward came to teach children how to do the job efficiently. Everything was done in a very short time. At the very end, the officials watered the lawn instead of the students. We have to water the lawn every day. I was observing everything to put the scenes on the school's website. After I came back to the teachers' room, I started my job and finished it as soon as I could.
　When I came home, it was around 7:30. My wife and Ryoma were just at the foot of the stairs. I said hello to them and especially Ryoma looked so happy to see me again. According to my wife, Ryoma had some trouble in his stomach today. I remember he took off his "haramaki" in the middle of last night and I made him wear it again. Maybe it was part of the reason that he got his stomach trouble. These days I go to the bathroom twice a night. So every time I go to the bathroom, I'll have to check if Ryoma is sleeping with his "haramaki" on.

(Thursday, May 26, 2011)There's a TV commercial in which a little "Shiba" dog is walking or playing. It's so cute that we can't help smiling at the scene. My wife agrees with me, but she says Ryoma is more attractive than the cute dog in the commercial. She is what we call a doting parent, which is "oyabaka" in Japanese. Me? Of course I am a doting parent too. I think our dog Ryoma is the most attractive dog in the world.
　My school's website has been growing day by day. It's fun to renew it often, because a lot of people concerning our school are looking forward to the new changes. But what if it's getting bigger and bigger in the future? The Yokohama City Board of Education is going to allow me to keep on doing the job? Or will they tall me to make it smaller and lighter? I hope they will watch the website very carefully and decide to leave it as it is.
　I have some problem with my left arm. I can't raise it high because the muscle aches. I knock a lot of softballs every time I go out to take care of the softball girls on my team. I'm 53 years old now and I shouldn't use my body too hard. I'm very young at heart, though.

(Friday, May 27, 2011)It's been drizzliing since late this afternoon. The rain is going to get worse from now on, the weather forecast says. According to the radio news, the Kanto District has also got into the rainy season. It is said to last until the middle of July. This is the season for hydrangeas. In Kaisei Town near Odawara City, the hydrangea festival is held for the first two weeks of June every year. My wife and I are thinking of visiting the festival this year again. Of course, Ryoma will go with us and enjoy walking around the hydrangea field. Now I've checked the official website and noticed that this year the festival will be held for about a week from Saturday, June 11 to Sunday, June 19, wishing that the Tohoku District will soon recover from the disaster which happened on March 11. So it's not going to be just a festival, but a charity festival.
　Hydrangeas are originated to Japan, but in the Edo Era some of them were taken out of Japan to western countries. There they were used to produce different kinds of hydrangeas and then the various kinds of flowers came back to Japan. This is the reason that we have so many different types of hydrangeas here in Japan.

(Saturday, May 28, 2011)The rain was not strong today. It's getting harder and harder toward tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. This is the influence of Typhoon 2. Each typhoon is given its own name. Typhoon 2 is called Typhoon Songda. It's going to bring a lot of rain to our country.
　Tomorrow my wife and her mother are visiting Kamakura to see their friend who has been suffering from cancer. It will be a good chance for them to enjoy walking around the old city, but they will soon come back after lunch because of the rain. Kamakura is famous for its beautiful hydrangeas. If possible I'd like to visit some places in Kamakura before the rainy season comes to an end in the middle of July.
　One of the teachers in my school also has a "Shiba" dog. She keeps him outside. Yesterday he succeeded in killing a bird and put the bird's body before the house so that everybody can see it. She says he looked so proud of himself. I have never heard of a dog that catches a bird. Did he have some stress on him? She says that she didn't take him for a walk so often and that it could have given him kind of stress. Our dog Ryoma goes for a walk both in the morning and in the evening. Totally he walks for about three hours. I'm sure he won't kill a bird to show that he is such a good hunter. I can only walk with him on the weekend. So tomorrow morning I'll have to get up early to go for a morning walk with my wife and Ryoma. It's a very precious time for us to have something in common. It's very important for a husband and wife to talk to each other on anything.

(Sunday, May 29, 2011)It's quite interesting that today Korean pop groups are more popular than Japanese ones. Especially Korean female groups are quite attractive. For example, I think Kara is as attractive as the old Morning Musume. AKB 48 appeared after them, but they're just usual kids and they don't attract us so much. I know there are so many enthusiastic fans of theirs. Still I'm not interested in them at all.
　Our dog Ryoma is also very attractive. Almost everyone who meets him falls in love with him at the first sight. Because he looks so cute although he's a boy. In most cases, "Shiba" dogs look like foxes, but in his case his looking is completely different from a fox. He looks more like a raccoon dog. He's so special. My parents-in-law love him so much that they can't wait until they come to our home to take him for a morning walk.
　Typhoon Songda is coming toward the Shikoku and Kansai Districts. The Meteorological Agency (The Met Office in the United Kingdom, The National Weather Service in the United States) tells us that they're going to have more than 200mm of rainfall in the Shikoku and Kansai Areas and more than 150mm of rainfall in the Kanto Area by tomorrow noon. I think I'll have to cancel the softball practices tomorrow morning.

(Monday, May 30, 2011)Today's a substitute holiday for last Saturday when we had an open house. Not so many parents came to see the classes, but we had to stay at school all day, which made us really tired.
　This morning I drove my wife to her office. After that I took our dog to see the vet and mede him take a blood test in order to get medicine for staying away from filariasis. It's a very scary sickness caused by filariae. They get into the dog's heart and live there. The medicine must be taken for half a year from May to November. What I got from the vet was meat type anti-filariasis medicine which is easier for a dog to take with food. Ryoma was a real good boy when the vet gave him a shot to take some blood from his hind leg. The results of the test were soon told to me. His blood was clear, which meant he was not suffering from filariasis yet.
　On "our" way home, I went to a convenience store I often visited. I parked my car in the parking lot there and took my camera to take some photos of the beautiful roses nearby. These days I often see beautiful roses on the fences of houses. It seems that many people are interested in gardening. Is that because of the unhappy society that we live in today? Do many people need something to console themselves by pretty flowers or cute animals? I guess so. My wife got some sunflowers from her mother last night. Now the room is bright enough thanks to those flowers. In our house we have Ryoma also. Ours is a perfect home. Right?

(Tuesday, May 31, 2011)Today is the last day of May. It was very cold this morning. My wife opened all the windows to change the air, but I closed one of them. Usually I wear short pants and half-sleeved shirts to go to school, but this morning I wore long pants and long-sleeved shirt. I know I should wear formal clothes to go to school, but most school teachers wear casual clothes to go to school and handle classes,
　This afternoon I left school earlier than usual to go to the hospital. I only had one insulin syringe which didn't seem enough for a week. I'm supposed to see the doctor in a week. However they didn't listened to me and said that one syringe is good enough for a week. I couldn't but believe them. Wasn't it quite easy for them to give me a prescription for one more syringe of insulin? First the woman at the information desk told me to come tomorrow morning again to see another doctor. I said it was impossible because I was a school teacher. They're like local government's officers. Oh, I almost forgot it was City Hospital.
　There's an English-learning material called "Speed Learning." They say you don't have to study English. You just have to listen to the CD's. Is it true? Learning English is so easy? They say babies learn the language by just listening to it. Don't they forget that we're not babies whose brain are very special with something they hear. A famous golfer appears in the TV commercial and a lot of people will believe the message. If you can easily learn to speak English, nobody will go to college or language schools to learn how to speak it fluently.

(Wednesday, June 1, 2011)The number of people who visit the school's website is increasing steadily. I renew the site as often as possible and it invites a lot of people to the website, I suppose. When you see other schools' websites, you'll notice that they are renewed only a few time a year. I don't know if what I'm doing is right or not. I like to build a webpage, but this is not my private website.
　The diet will pass a vote of no confidence in the prime minister. It's impossible for him to deal with the serious situation that our country has been in. People in the Tohoku District cannot wait any longer. However even if Mr. Kan resign, there is no other able person to be in the position.
　Tomorrow's the anniversary of opening the Yokohama Port. Students don't have to come to school. There are no classes on June 2, but we teachers have to go to school. I think it should also be a holiday for us teachers. We work in Yokohama. We have the right to celebrate the day by visiting Yamashita Park, etc. However usual people would say, "Why do school teachers have so many holidays? It's unfair." I would say, "Even if we take care of children on the weekend, we won't get anything. It's unfair."

(Thursday, June 2, 2011)Surprisingly a vote of no confidence was denied this afternoon. This morning many members of the Democratic Party of Japan said that they were going to support the motion, but they actually didn't. Only two of them supported the motion. Some of the important members were absent from the vote. They have much more important things than this at present. They have to think of good plans to suport the people in the Tohoku District. A lot of musicians are more sincere. They've been doing whatever they can do to make the suffering people happier. Why can't statesmen do the same? I agree that Prime Minister Kan should resign. But it should be the prime minister himself that decides when to resign.
　The statesman has to think what is needed by the people of his country. Especially when there are people who are suffering from a great disaster, he has to think of anything that can help those people. "What do they need most?" "What could make them happier?" "What if a great aftershock occurs?" he has to say to himself. While they are voting on the motion of no confidence, the situation in the devastated Fukushima Nuclear plants might be getting worse and worse. Can Mr. Kan and Mr. Tanigaki take responsibility for the issue? I don't think so. I hope they will soon know how stupid they have been

(Friday, June 3, 2011)Tomorrow we're going to have softball games at Nakawasa Elementary School. It'll decide the best team in the Izumi Ward. The best team will also get the Izumi Ward Mayor's Cup. There are four teams in the Izumi Ward and our team is the youngest of all. It'll be quite difficult to win a game, but I believe the girls on my team will do their best. Winning is, of course, very important in sports, but doing the best to become winners is as important. I'm going to leave home around 6:15 tomorrow morning.
　I'm really tired now. I've been knocking too many balls for the last few weeks and that's made me exhausted. Mentally I'm not tired at all. Because I was in the hospital and treated well for two weeks last February, I can keep myself in good shape. It means that I was in a terrible condition before that. Last year and the year before last, I was often absent from school and some other teachers worried about that. They were not worried about me, but they were worried about the fact that they had to take care of the kids instead of me. Just before I got into the hospital, I was preparing a lot of materials for the students to study themselves. But a teacher told me that she would be happy if we could put the two small classes into one. I said to her, "I'm sorry I have to bother you by staying in the hospital." Then she said to me very coldly, "I don't care about your stay in the hospital. I'm worried about the classes you've been in charge of." I couldn't believe my ears. How dare you could say such cold words to someone who's going to stay in the hospital." I'll hate her forever. Do you say I'm too childish? I don't care. I can't forget the words that came out of her mouth.

(Sunday, June 5, 2011)Yesterday was a terrible day for me. We were supposed to play in a softball tournament in Izumi Ward. I was at the elementary school by 7:15 where the games were to be held. The girls on my team had to be there by 7:35 to help to prepare for the games. But actually two of them were late and they didn't call me or the other coach. After arriving the school, we were waiting for them to take all the tools out of my car. But they didn't appear at all. I wondered if they had started helping to prepare for the games, so we started walking toward the school ground. On our way, we met them and asked them what they had been doing. They didn't help to prepare for the games. They were doing anything. After everything were ready on the school ground, they were chatting with each other. They should have started practicing. I yelled, "What the hell are you doing here? You should know what to do now. Move!" I waited for about 10 minutes, but nothing started. Most of them went to the bathroom which was so crowded. They couldn't do anything that they had to do. I carefully told them what to do when they reached the elementary school at the meeting the day before yesterday. I got really angry and went to the judges to tell them that our team was not going to take part in the tournament that day. The judges tried to stop me from making the sudden decision, but I didn't intend to change my mind. The girls couldn't even throw balls and came back to school with those heavy tools in their hands. It is possible that some of the parents might get upset about this and call the principal, which happened a few times in the past. It it happens this time, I think I'm going to quit coaching. It's impossible for me to educate both the girls and their parents.

(Monday, June 6, 2011)Now AKB48 are having what they call an general election to decide their popularity. I don't understand what's so special about them. For me they're just usual young people who don't deserve to appear on TV. I don't understand why so many people, young and old, are crazy about the young gals. Japan is such a peaceful country. People are more interested in their election than in the devasted people in the Tohoku District. It's OK to cheer for someone you like. I myself liked Morning Musume when they didn't have many new members.
　I'm sorry to say that I'm too tired to write more tonight. My left shoulder aches and I can't raise my left arm. Maybe I'm tired from knocking too many balls after coming back from the school trip. Anyway waht I need most now is enough sleep. I've got to say good-night now.

(Tuesday, June 7, 2011)I went to the hospital this afternoon. First I took a blood test and the results told me that the Hb-A1C was 7.0, which was a little too high. Last time I took the test, it was 6.6. So It's got worse. I have to be very careful about what I eat. Food has much to do with the level of Hb-A1C.
　By the way, the consultation fee today was 8,060 yen. And at the pharmacy I paid 7,640 yen for the medicine. Totally I paid 15,700 yen. Everytime I come home from the hospital, I'm very much shocked to know the total sum of money needed at the hospital and the pharmacy. I have to pay around 15,000 yen every month. Diabetes is such a difficult disease. You have to be careful not to have diabetes. It is said that two thirds of Japanese people have or are in danger of having diabetes. Once you got diabetes, you'll never be able to get rid of it. You'll have to get along well with the disease until you die. Don't you think it's scary?
　Recently I often see construction scenes and the guards who are directing cars running up and down. How much money can they get for one night? They work so hard, but the sum of money they get is not so big. The government should do something in favor of those hard-working people. My wife works as a part-timer and she gets only 800 yen per hour. Her job is not so easy. Why does she have to be underestimated? I insist that the lowest sum of money for the part-timers should be more than 1,000 yen per hour. I'm very angry about this.

(Wednesday, June 8, 2011)Last night my wife and I went to "Sushiro" to eat dinner. After coming back from the sushi shop, we found that Ryoma was holding a vinyl bag and hiding behind the bed. Ryoma often takes something away when he wants us to play with him. But he was too excited last night. Maybe he felt extremely lonely because we sneaked out without telling him that we wanted him to wait for us to be bak. I tried to reach out for the vinyl bag. At that moment he bit the tip of my thumb. I was surprised and shocked because he had never bit me before. Maybe I was wrong to try to get the bag while he was excited. My wife got very angry and she pushed him down and sat astride his body. "Why are you doing this? Don't you understand it's no good to bite someone? I didn't raise you to be a bad boy like this," she yelled at him. In a few minutes, he was a calm dog again. He's usually a very calm dog. However he could be too excited to listen to us. I learned that I should not force him to do something when he's too excited. When he bit my thumb, he might have been very sad too.

(Friday, June 10, 2011)This afternoon we had a meeting and I talked to the girls on the softball team. I was surprised that many of them didn't understand why I had got so angry the other day. Are they too childish? Or are they too young to understand what I want them to do? I think they have to be good persons before being good softball players. After they got into the classroom, I told them to put all the chairs down on the floor. The room had just been cleaned and the chairs were on the desks. However after they got seated, I saw some of the chairs still staying on the desks. What I want them to do is to become girls who could pay attention to the world around them. If they couldn't, how could they think of the other players on the same team? When the pitcher is having a hard time getting strikes, some other players have to run to her and say something to cheer her up. I told them to do so times and times again, but still even a catcher can't call time out and run to the pitcher. Now that the other coach and I talked to them very carefully, I hope they'll learn to understand what we what them to do.

(Saturday, June 11, 2011)Bipolar Disorder―that's the name of my other disease. Basically I'm very energetic, but sometimes I get too energetic and my my brain tries to stop it. When this happens I have a very serious mental problem just like you step on the gas pedal and the brakes at the same time. My doctor is named Mr. Naito and he found my disease. My former doctor told me that I just suffered from depression and prescribed me wrong medicine which I should not take. Dr. Naito found the correct name of my disease and started to give me proper medicine and now I'm in good shape. The former doctor named Mr. Kon was also a nice guy, but he was also notorious for giving too much medicine to the patients. I don't want to think that he's such a terrible doctor, but I think I have to thank God for letting me meet Dr. Naito. He says that it's quite difficult to tell depression from bipolar disorder at present. If I hadn't met him, I could have been in a very serious situation. I now understand that meeting a good doctor is quite important in life.

(Sunday, June 12, 2011)This morning I saw some scenes from the devastated city of Kesen-numa. After the major quake on March 11, a great tsunami destroyed the city almost completely. The damage caused by the tsunami hasn't been recovered yet. It's incredible because three months have already passed since the great disaster. How much more time will be needed for the city to recover from the damage? It seems that the government hasn't done much to save many devasted areas including Kesen-numa City. I hope that Prime Minister Kan will resign as soon as possible and the new prime minister will take some effective actions for the people in the Tohoku District. I'm not the only one to think this way.
　This morning my wife and I went for a morning walk with Ryoma. As is always the case with him, he did his business along the big river running through our city. On our way we saw a lot of hydrangeas. Some of them still don't have their colors yet, but many have already show their beautifully colored flowers. Pale pink, pink, pale blue, blue, purple, deep purple, red, and white. We love hydrangeas. In Kaisei Town near Odawara City, the hydrangea festival has just begun today. It lasts until next Sunday. I hope we'll be able to visit the festival next Sunday with Ryoma. Every time we go to the town, Ryoma comes with us.

(Monday, June 13, 2011)The AKB48 had a general election the other day. Why are they so crazy about who's ranked top of all the members? There are so many people who are suffering from the hard lives after the Great Tohoku Kanto Earthquake. Most people have been trying not to get too excited about things around them. Then why did the AKB48 have such an election. It's just like a festival. I think they're stupid.
　This afternoon the girls on the softball team had a meeting themselves to decide what they should do in order to show me their sincerity toward playing softball. I heard from the other coach, who were also at the meeting, that they had decided to cut their hair short. That's what I wanted them to do. I've been telling them to do so for more than half a year, but they didn't want to listen to me. However not all of them agreed to the idea. Three of them still don't want to cut their hair. The three girls are always trouble makers. They have to decide whether they should stay on the team or not.

(Tuesday, June 14, 2011)Late this afternoon, one of the softball mothers called me at school. She was not happy about what I had done yesterday. I told her daughter to leave the team. The mother told me that her daughter was not the only one to be blamed. Her daughter also said that she was not the only one who had been doing wrong. Like father like son―like mother like daughter. I was talking to the mother on the phone for more than half an hour. Teachers in the teachers' room were worried about me, but I said it was OK. I know that it's natural of a mother to try to protect her daughter. I understand that the mother and father strongly want their daughter to continue playing softball. It's up to the daughter, though.
　Do you think plastic surgery is really OK? I think it's OK when the doctor wants to repair wound. It is said that there are many people in Korea who would like to take plastic surgery. In Japan too, the increasing number of people decide to take plastic surgery today. There are some TV personalities who confess that they have changed their features without any hesitation. I can't decide whether it's right or not.

(Wednesday, June 15, 2011)We have an AET(Assistant English Teacher) from Canada at our school. He and I are good friends and we talk about a lot of serious problems as well as funny topics. Today we had a class in which a dull boy didn't stop talking to another boy sitting nearby. The AET named Kurt told him to stop talking, but he didn't listen to him. He asked me to scold him after the class. It seemed that he wanted me to stop him from talking, but I thought it was his job too. If he had been more rebellious against the AET, I would have intervened in the situation. He said, "My job is to teach English. Discipline is not mine." That's the way western people think. I just wanted him to do as many things as possible. If he doesn't like it, I'd like to handle classes all by myself. I myself speak a lot of English in class.
　Every day at lunch time, homeroom teachers have to go to their homerooms to eat lunch with students. When I became a school teacher, students ate lunch without any teacher in the classrooms. When did this lunch system start ini school? Teachers are very busy from morning till evening. They have the right to have a lunch break without watching students around them. I don't have my own homeroom and can enjoy eating lunch quietly in the teachers' room. Even teachers have human rights, don't they?

(Thursday, June 16, 2011)It rained in the afternoon today. But we practiced softball in the rain until 5:30. We're still in the rainy season. The day after tomorrow is the last day of the hydrangea festival in Kaisei Town. If I'm not tired, I'd like to visit the town, but I'm worried about the weather. I know hydrangeas look so beautiful in the rain, but they look more beautiful in the sunshine after the rain. Around here we can only enjoy just a few kinds of hydrangeas. In Kaisei Town there are many more kinds of hydrangeas. Once I loved the hydrangeas called "Kashiwaba Ajisai." Now my favorite is the hydrangeas named "Annabel." I wonder why there are so many beautiful colors coming out. Nature is so wonderful.
　I haven't sung karaoke for such a long time. I don't remember the last time I went to the karaoke box. These days I don't listen to music so often, but basically I love music. Sometimes I enjoy watching music program on TV. I hate noisy music. Recently I introduced "We Weren't Born to Follow" by Bon Jovi in class. It's a kind of rock'n'roll music, but the rhythm was so nice to my heart. It was not just a piece of noisy music.

(Friday, June 17, 2011)I'm still really tired. This afternoon I took three hours off and came home early. I have to go to bed earlier than usual, because I have to take care of the softball team tomorrow morning. Being in charge of a sports club at the age of 53 is not an easy job. I can't sit on the chair and yell at the girls, because I have to be a knocker. I'll have to knock around 4 to 8 cases of softballs, that is about 200 to 400 softballs. Now I can't raise my left arm. Something's wrong with my arm and shoulder. This is what is called a 50-year-old shoulder. I know it'll get well in a few months or in about a year, though.
　While my wife and I were walking with Ryoma, we met a junior high school girl also taking a walk with her dog. The dog named Kotaro is still very young and was very much interested in Ryoma. She crossed the road and came near to us. It's quite unusual for a young girl to have contact with someone she doesn't know. She was such a cute girl and talked in a very polite way. We were very impressed by the girl. She happened to be a soft tennis player and have learned tennis from a woman coach. She used to be my frined.

(Saturday, June 18, 2011)This morning I felt really tired. My left shoulder hurt so badly. I soon called the other coach and asked if she could take care of the softball team instead of me. She said OK and I slept in the bed for a few more hours. Now I feel a little better. First time I felt very tired was after I came back from the school trip on May 12. However I didn't take enough rest and I started to work on the softball team. I did a lot of knocks and that made me a lot more tired. Furthermore I've had a headache since yesterday afternoon. Maybe I've caught a slight cold.
　Surprisingly I've gained 10 kilos since I left hospital in February. Gaining weight is no good for diabetes, because if you get overweight, insuline doesn't work well. I have to do a lot more exercise and lose as much weight as I can. I know I also have to be careful about what I eat and how much I eat. But it's a little bit too difficult to stay away from something which looks so good to eat.

(Sunday, June 19, 2011)Now Ryoma is sound asleep, because he walked a lot in Kaisei Town. My wife, Ryoma, and I went to visit the hydrangea festival there. It's the smallest town in Kanagawa Prefecture, but it's surrounded by great nature. The hydrangeas there are so colorful and plenty in kinds. The streams are so cold and clean. We walked about four hours, which made three of us really tired. But it seemed both my wife and Ryoma enjoyed the festival very much. I was really happy to see them walking happily. It was surprising that it didn't rain at all. According to the weather forecast, it could have been rainy all day there. My wife calls herself a "hare onna" or a sunny woman. It must be true.
　When I came home, I was absolutely exhausted. But now that I have taken a shower, I feel fine. I think I'll be able to have a good night's sleep tonight. Of course I'll never go to bed until I finish renewing my website.

(Monday, June 20, 2011)I'm really tired today. Of course it's because I walked a lot in Kaisei Town yesterday. I feel every muscle of my body is stiff. My wife is complaining about her hurting knees. I heard from my wife that Ryoma also wanted to go home earlier than usual in his evening walk with my father-in-law. Everybody in my family are suffering from physical and mental fatigue. We won't forget the beautiful country scenes, though.
　These days more and more people go to mental clinics. They always feel tired and don't feel like doing anything. Yes, they do have mental problems, but it's not easy to understand how they feel. People with no such problems tend to think that the patients at mental clinics are socially weak people. However it's not true. They're just very sensitive about the small changes in life. The most important thing is to meet a very smart doctor. If you can't, you might a wrong name of disease and could be given wrong medicine. If you go on taking wrong medicine, your trouble will get worse day by day. I was once told by a doctor that I was suffering from depression. But later it turned out that I was not. I had been taking madicine for depression, which had made my disease more and more serious. Now I'm OK, because I have met a good doctor and I'm taking right medicine.
　If you have someone around you who is suffering from mental problems, don't think that they're special people. I hope you'll advise them to try to find a good doctor and have correct medication.

(Tuesday, June 21, 2011)It's almost 12 midnight. Today I'm not going to write much. It's been very humid all day today. The weather forecast says that we're going to have a more humid day tomorrow. We'll have to be careful about heat exhaustion. We'll need to drink enough water and try to keep our bodies cool. This humidity will last until the middle of next month when the rainy season is over. They say that even when the temperature is not very high, you can suffer from heat exhaustion if the humidity is very high.

(Wednesday, June 22, 2011)Tonight my wife and I went out for dinner. We went to the ramen shop near our apartment building. We went into the shop just before 8:00. My wife went out for an evening walk with Ryoma later than usual today, because she wanted it to be cooler. When she came back, it was about 10 minutes before eight. Before she came home, I went to the shop and asked if it was loo late for us to dine there. The wife of the owner said OK. They welcomed us with a warm smile. I guess they were very tired after working so long. Usually when they close the shop, they put down the noren. But tonight the owner's father went out of the shop quietly and put down the noren and took it somewhere we couldn't see. He must have thought that we would worry about the closing time if the noren was put inside the shop. It was so thoughtful of him to do that. I wondered where the noren had gone. We'd like to dine at the shop again.

(Thursday, June 23, 2011)It's been so humid today. The humidity almost killed me when I was handling the lessons. It also seemed tough for students to take lessons without an air conditioner. In our school, only the teachers' room, the principal's office, the reception office, the counseling room, the nurse's office, the music room, the computer room, and the meeting room have air conditioners. Why not usual classrooms? Maybe it's because of lack of budget for schools. What is the most important for a country? Battleships and fighter planes? Of course not. It's education. They the government should put more budget into school education. Building more air conditioned classrooms is quite important for schools. They have to make better environment for young prople to study. Every time students visit the teachers' room in the summer, they tend to say, "I'd like to stay here for a while." I'm very sorry to hear them say that. Money should be spent on something important.

(Friday, June 24, 2011)This morning I was very surprised to see my urine was red with blood. I was so scared that I decided to take a day off and go to the hospital. I didn't have any pain, but the doctor told me that no pain meant something very serious. I was more scared to hear this. He told me that I should come to the hospital again on Monday and take some detailed examinations. The doctor is afraid that there is a tumor in my bladder or kidneys. I felt much more scared to hear this. I can't die now. I've got a very important family to look after.

(Saturday, June 25, 2011)This morning we had practice games of softball at Okazu Junior High. It was so hot that we had to be careful about the condition of players. I myself had to be a judge when my team was in defense. I had to keep my body low when I made judges, which made me so tired. After the games were over, my urine was red with blood again. I'm very much worried bout my health. I can't die leaving my wife and Ryoma alone. I want to be with them much longer.
　My wife works so hard every day. I think she's a good housewife. Especially she does laundry so many times a week. I know she's also tired from everyday work. I want to make her feel relaxed in some way or other. Should I take her for another long drive? Or should I take her to the hot springs in Hakone?

(Sunday, June 26, 2011)This morning I had pain in my thighs, but I went for a morning walk with my wife and Ryoma early this morning. We walked for about an hour and a half. It was not so humid, but the three of us got really tired. On the way, we met a group of baseball boys riding somewhere. The man riding at the top of the liine, who seemed to be the coach, couldn't say hello to us. We waited for them to pass by. I'm also the coach of the softball team and I think being polite is the most important thing of all. Does he think that teaching baseball is everything he has to do? Something's wrong with today's adults.
　Tonight the popular TV drama "JIN" is coming to an end. The new season started this April and only three months have passed since then. I'm very sorry that I have to say goodby to the drama. I'm sure that the writer of the original book is so smart and creative. The story itself is one of the most interesting and exciting of all those that have been made public so far. I hope the drama will have a happy ending.

(Monday, June 27, 2011)I had a detailed examination at the hospital this afternoon and it turned out that I had no tumors in my bladder and that I had kidney stone instead. The stone was the cause of the bleeding. I was so much relieved to know that. My wife was also happy to hear the news. So were my parents-in-law. So was Ryoma, I suppose. There was something mysterious at school today. During the third class, I heard a dog bark in a loud voice. I asked the students if they also heard a dog, but nobody did. I soon went downstairs to call my parents-in-law to ask them to see if Ryoma was OK. My father-in-law answered the phone and he went to see how Ryoma was doing. He was OK. It might be that Ryoma wanted to say, "Don't worry, Dad! You're OK." And I must have heard his voice.
　Tomorrow morning I'm going to leave home earlier than usual to visit the hopital in Yokohama. I have to take a yearly medical check there. I'm just like a ship in a dockyard.

(Tuesday, June 28, 2011)I went to the hopital in Yokohama this morning to take a medical check. The check itself took me nearly 2 hours. I had a barium meal which most people hate to drink. I hate to swallow a gastrocamera, though. After all the examinations were over, they gave me a free ticket for a meal. It was a simple meal, but was good enough for breakfast. On my way back to school, I stopped in at my favorite ramen shop and had an early lunch. You may be surprised to hear this, but I did want to eat miso ramen there. However becase the owner of the shop had been changed, the good taste of the miso ramen had changed a little.

(Thursday, June 30, 2011)Last night while I was lying on the bed I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was past 12 midnight. That's why I couldn't write in this diary last night. I think I was so much tired that I needed to have a good night's sleep. Tonight I'm OK and I'm writing in the diary before 9 o'clock.
　Today was the bonus day. We public servant are lucky enogh to get stable bonus at this time of depression. There are many companies that couldn't give bonus to their workers today. Teachers' bonus is devided inito 4 ranks. How do they do that? On what basis do they decide the 4 ranks of teachers? Are they superior because they have done a lot of special work? Are they inferior because they go to see doctors too often? If this kind of system goes on, everybody will be interested in inviting the principal's attention. Some of teachers' work can't be seen clearly. There are some teachers who exchange notebooks with students for a better understanding. But those types of teachers will never be highly evaluated. I'm against the system.

(Friday, July 1, 2011)In the teachers' room, we don't turn on the air conditioner until noon. Of course in order to save electricity. But it's so humid in there that we can't work effectively. In usual classrooms, there are no air conditioners. Students also have a hard time taking lessons. I think it's meaningless for students to take lessons in such hot rooms, because nothing will come into their heads. Something is wrong with the Japanese educational system. Like in the United States, we should give students a longer summer vacation. It should start at the beginning of July and end in the middle of September. A long summer vacation will give them chances to learn a lot of things that they can't learn at school. Teachers also should learn something new during the holidays.

(Sunday, July 3, 2011)Ryoma has had a stomach trouble since yesterday. He's had diarrhea and has wanted to go to the bathroom so often. We don't know what has caused his trouble or if it's over yet or not. This morning we left home around 6:30 for a long morning walk with Ryoma. He seemed to do his business a few times, but he actually didn't. He hasn't had any appitite since last night, but he ate his late breakfast around 10:00. Is he getting better? We'll know when we take him for an evening walk. The two possible causes of his diarrhea are medicine for filariasis that he took on June 30 and icecream that my mother-in-law gave him the day before yesterday. Or it could have come from the coolness at night, because he didn't have his stomach cloth for a week or so. He couldn't wait for the walk and pooed in the room twice and that made him look very sorry. He understands when he has done something wrong. But we don't want him to feel sad, because he was just sick.

(Monday, July 4, 2011)I had my hair cut short yesterday afternoon. Today at school everybody was interested in my hair style. A student smiled at me saying, "You look good with that hair style, Mr. Ishiyama." A girl student asked me if something had happened to me. The fact was quite simple. I had my hair cut short because I didn't like long hair during the humid summer. Of course there was one more reason for this. I had told the softball girls to wear short hair, so I wanted to wear very short hair myself too.
　Ryoma's trouble with his stomach had been solved maybe thanks to medicine called "seirogan." "Seirogan" is usually for men, but it also good with animals. I thought I should have given him that medicine much earlier. Anyway I'm happy that I don't have to go for a midnight walk with him any more.

(Wednesday, July 6, 2011)Last night I went drinking with 6 mothers whose sons and dauters used to be in my class when they were 8th graders. It's usual for mothers from a 9th-grade class to have a kind of reunion from time to time. So my 8th-grade class was very special. First we had dinner and enjoyed some alcoholic drinks at a izakaya bar. Then after that we went to the karaoke box as usual. I tried to find a good song to sing, but I couldn't think of any. So I decided to try one of the newest songs, but it was a wrong idea. I couldn't follow the music at all. Then I tried an old song, but the tune was too high. After trying two song, I decided not to sing any more. I used to be crazy about karaoke, but it's been more than seven years since I sang karaoke last. Next time I go to karaoke, I'll have to practice a lot before grabbing the microphone.

(Thursday, July 7, 2011)Today was Star Festival. Usually it tends to rain on this day, but it didn't rain today. We're very lucky this year as for the festival itself. However the weather of this summer is expected to be quite terrible―much more terrible than last summer which was extraordinary hot. In our teachers' room we don't turn on the air conditioner during the morning so as to save electricity. Does it really work? Many people are against nuclear plants, but is it really possible for us to get enough electricity without nuclear energy? Solar energy is also available today, but it's still too expensive for everybody to use. What should we do?
　Today on my way back from work, I saw a very friendly old couple walking slowly across the street. I had to wait for them to finish crossing the road, but they made me feel very happy. I'd like to get old with my wife like them. Oh, I shouldn't forget about our dog Ryoma. I want him to get old with us too. And someday in the future, we'd like to cross the street very slowly, holding each other's hand tight, just three of us.

(Friday, July 8, 2011)This afternoon I taught the softball girls how to bat effectively. It'll take a long time for them to becme good batters. Will they be able to achieve the goal? It's up to how hard they try to practice. Usually boys start playing baseball when they are small. However girls start playing softball when they enter junior high school. Some are incredibly good because they started earlier. It's a tough job for us coaches to train them to become good softball players before they play in the last summer game.
　Has my English been making progress? Has it improved a lot? I think it's now easier for me to express myself in English. It's partly because a Canadian comes to our school to sit next to me. Every time he visits our school, we talk a lot about various topics. He is my English teacher and I'm his Japanese teacher. He's been getting better in his Japanese, so I hope I have also been getting better in speaking English.

(Saturday, July 9, 2011)Do you sometimes see women putting on make-up on the train or in other public places? Today on my way back from the softball game, I stopped at a car tire shop where there was a special space for everybody to use. There I saw a mother and her daughter sitting at the counter. I noticed that the girl was putting on make-up. She looked just a junior high school girl. The I turned to the mother to find that she was also putting on make-up. I was surprised to see the stupid mother and daughter. The mother usually has to teach her daughter how to behave in public places. What's happening here in Japan? I hope the girls on my softball team won't be such stupid women when they grow up.

(Sunday, July 10, 2011)During the morning walk with Ryoma, we met a little female dog named "Fuji." According to her mom, she was found in a cardboard box with her three other brothers and sisters. She was a stray dog. Her owner changed many times and finally she came to the present mom and dad. It seemed that she was afraid of people. It's only too natural because she was thrown away by man. Maybe she has naver been loved like she is now. A dog is as precious a life as a human child. Why don't they understand such a siimple fact? I hope Fuji-chan will be loved by her mom and dad forever.
　It is said that the long rainy season in the Kanto District is over. It was incredibly hot today. Now that we're under the burning sun, I really miss the cool rainy season.

(Monday, July 11, 2011)This afternoon we didn't have any meetings. So we had a lot of time to play softball in the burning sunshine. I think it's dangerous for girls to keep practicing for over 40 minitues. That's why I give them a 10-minute rest in every 40 minutes. They have to drink a lot of water druing the rest and if possible they should cool the backs of their necks with water. We're going to have terrible days like this for the next one month. It is said that the heat of the summer is much greater this year than last year. We really have to be careful about heat exhaustion. Wearing a cap while we're outside is also very important.
　Tonight it's a little cooler than last night. You may be surprised to hear this, but in our house we've never turned on the air conditioner this summer. Natural breeze is good enough for us to spend the night so far. Our apartment house may be located in a very good place. Next to our building is Sushiro, but it never breaks the winds. How many more days will we be able to do this?

(Tuesday, July 12, 2011)The rainy season was over in the Kanto Area yesterday. The heat of the summer is so terrible that it's quite difficult to do exercises outside in the sunshine. As I wrote in my blog yesterday, we need shower rooms for students to use at school.
　Last night we didn't use the air conditioner either. Maybe tonight we're not going to use it. Don't you think it's incredible? Even in my car I use the air conditioner, but not in my house. One of the reasons that we don't turn on the air conditioner is that both my wife and Ryoma are easy to get sick in cool air. I'm not good at staying in a warm room, so I use a fan to cool myself. It's very interesting for the two different type of man and woman to live in the same house. Oh, I shouldn't forget our dearest dog Ryoma.

(Wednesday, July 13, 2011)Soon we'll get into the summer vacation. The Japanese summer holidays are rather short compared to those of the United States. In Japan the summer vacation starts at the end of July and ends at the end of August. But in the United States it starts in June and ends at the end of August or in September. In Japan the board of education tends to think that the more time children spend at school, the better results will be brought about. I think this is a wrong idea. It's so hard for children to study in the hot weather. I know this situation will never change in our country, though.

(Thursday, July 14, 2011)Today I asked the assistant English teacher from Canada to go through the 　manuscript for the speech contest held at the beginning of next month. He said, "Did you check it yourself?" Of course I checked it times and times again. Most part of the speech was written by ME! He said that there were a lot of things to be corrected in the manuscript. I was a little shocked to hear that. I've been pretty good at writing English. Why not this time? I write an English diary almost every day to improve my writing skill. Is it meaningless to keep on doing this? Maybe I should also read good English before writing good English. Because when I write English, I kind of imitate impressive sentences that I've ever seen.
　The other day after Ryoma came back from his evening walk, he didn't go straight to our bedroom, but came up to me washing his cloth at the sink. He should have expected taht I would wash the tennis ball my wife and he had found on their way. I was surprised, because I was really going to wash the ball for him. Why could he predict what I was trying to do? He's such a smart dog.

(Friday, July 15, 2011)Tomorrow is the first day of Yokohama City Junior High School Softball Championship tournament. I wanted my girls to practice good enough, but they didn't. It was so hot outside that they didn't try to catch the ball hard. I was not happy about that. I stopped the practice and told them to load all the stuff in my car and go home. They wanted to keep on practicing, but I didn't allow them to do so. "What is the most important thing is not the practice itself, but the strong heart you should have," I said to them. I've been telling that for such a long time. Why don't they understand what I mean? Are they stupid? No, I don't think so. Are they too childish? Well, they might be. Are they going to play well tomorrow? Well, I hope so.
　At 9:01 p.m. there was a strong earthquake. The epicenter was in the middle of the Kanto District. The energy of the earthquake was magnitude 5.5, which was not very great. However it was powerful enough for a very large area to quake. The place which trembled most showed 5 minus on the "shindo" scale.

(Sunday, July 17, 2011)Around noon I made Ryoma take a shower. Last time he took a shower he didn't cry, but
today he cried. Basically de doesn't like to take a shower. But after taking a shower, he feels so refreshed that he runs around in the room. He felt so good that he spent most of the afternoon on sleeping.
　Yesterday we had a softball game at Makigahara Junior High School. We played against Konan Junior High School. We lost the game by 7-13, but it was a very exciting game. It was a great step forward for our team, because there are no 9th graders on our team. We'll have to practice hard for a month from now, and I hope we'll be able to get the championship in September.

(Monday, July 18, 2011)Today was Marine Day. Also today we had Hamaori Festival here in Chigasaki. I's a very famous and traditional festival in which a lot of small shrines called "Mikoshi" march all the way to the beach and get a sacrid wash in the sea. This year they didn't go into the sea because of the East Japan Great Earthquake. My wife is crazy about festivals and she woke up in the middle of the night and went to the nearby shrine to enjoy the atomosphere of the festival. My father-in-law walked all the way to the beach to see the festival. I wouldn't think of walking that distance. Furthermore he walked back to his home after the festival. He's incredible! Me? I was not very much interested in the festival and went to school for softball practices.
　After I came back from school, I took a shower and now I'm sitting before the laptop. A nice breeze is coming in from the window just in front of me. It seems that we're not going to use the air conditioner tonight too.

(Tuesday, July 19, 2011)A big typhoon is now coming close to the Shikoku District. It moves so slowly that all through Japan it keeps raining for hours. The weather forecast says that we're going to have 200 to 250 mm by tomorrow morning. Everybody hopes that the storm is not going to bring disasters to any district.
　Now AKB48 is as popular as the Korean pop groups Kara or Shojojidai. I used to hate AKB48 because I thought they were just girls on the streets. But recently I have come to understand their charm. They're cute and young. It's so natural for young people to get crazy about them. We also have Golden Morning Musume who used to be young Morning Musume. Tsunku wrote their debut song, which didn't make a great hit. Are they too old for young music fans? I think they should sing a song with an up-tempo beat as they did before.

(Wednesday, July 20, 2011)It's almost 6 o'clock in the evening and the rain is not very hard yet. The huge typhoon has been moving very slowly alongside the Pacific coast of Japan. The weather forecast says that it will bring a lot of rain in the wide range of area, but here in the Shonan Area the heavy rain hasn't come yet. Maybe it will start pouring around midnight and continue to rain heavily until tomorrow morning. Will it be possible for us to practice softball in the wet schoolground tomorrow morning?
　The all Japan Women's soccer team called "Nadeshiko Japan" have come back from Germany. They won the final game against the United States and made their long-cherished dream to get the gold medal. However the bonus given to them is only 1,500,000 yen each. In the case of Men's soccer team, if they get the gold medal, the bonus is 50,000,000 yen each. What the difference! Is it because it's almost impossible for the Men's soccer team to get the gold medal? We must stop regarding women's sports as something inferior.

(Thursday, July 21, 2011)The great Typhoon Ma-on, whose name was given by Hong Kong, has gone and the hot summer day will come back tomorrow. But the air is still cool now. Nobody will need to turn on the air conditioner tonight. In Asia a lot of unique names are given to typhoons. The Typhoon 201107 will be called Tokage, which was ofcourse given by Japan. Very interesting, isn't it?
　My wife has been tired for more than a week. It seems that she has lost her appetite recently. Usually she likes to eat ice cream, but now she doesn't want to. She's got a slight heat exhaustion? Or it's because of lack of sleep? Her father comes to our house before 6:00 every morning to take Ryoma out for a morning walk. So she must also get up early to make Ryoma get ready. After that she cooks lunch for me and breakfast for us two. While she is working so busily, I'm still in my dream. I'm very sorry for her. I hope she'll get well soon.

(Friday, July 22, 2011)The Democratic Party of Japan has been trying to guarantee a monthly allowance of ￥26,000 for each child of junior high school age or younger. Is it really possible when Japanese economy is confronted with long depression? Do they really need to give such a big sum of money to parents with little kids? I think they should stop dreaming and abolish the idea as soon as possible.
　This afternoon I took Ryoma to the vet to get a mixed vaccination. When we arrived at the animal hospital and got inside the building, Ryoma looked so scared and he wanted get out of the door. "You don't have to worry, Ryoma. The vaccination shot is just like a mosquitoe's bite," I gently said to him. But when I held him, I felt his heart beating hard. I understand how he feels. When I took a quite painful bladder test a few weeks ago, I was very scared until it was my turn to get in the test room. I have to say, "Good boy." times and times again.

(Saturday, July 23, 2011)It's really difficult to make what I say clear to my softball girls. Is it difficult for them to understand what I mean? What I want to say is to be hardworking. Try their best while they are practicing softball. When they fully understant what I want them to do, they will become really strong. I hope the day will come as soon as possible.
　It's been so cool since the Typhoon Ma-on attacked Japan. It's already gone, but I feel as if the summer was over and the fall had already come. Now that we've got to save electricity, has God presented us a cool summer? As long as this cool weather goes on, we don't have to turn on the air conditioner. It's cool tonight again, and we have to be careful not to catch cold. Summer cold is hard to deal with.

(Sunday, July 24, 2011)It was such a long morning walk that we had with Ryoma. When I was still sleeping, my wife left home with Ryoma at about 5:40 a.m. Then I woke up and dressed myself and ran after them. It was not so easy to find them, because they were taking a different course than usual. My wife was too tired to walk any more, so she went home first. Ryoma and I kept on walking until Ryoma did his business. He walked and walked and when he reached a small ball park, he did his sacrid job at last. When we came home, it was 8:10 a.m. Totally Ryoma walked for 2 hours and 30 minutes. What a trekker he is! But please never do this again, Ryoma. We've got only two legs. We don't want to walk for more than two hours on Sunday morning.
　By the way, Ryoma is crazy about cheese. When I'm about to unwrap a piece of cheese, he soon smells it and comes to me, sit in front of me, and looks up at me. "You're going to give it to me, Dad. Right?" I have never eaten a whole piece of cheese, because more than half of it goes into Ryoma's stomach. For Ryoma it's quite easy to smell a small piece of cheese. For him, it's not a piece of cake, but a piece of "cheese."

(Monday, July 25, 2011)It was very hot today, but the humidity was not high. So we could feel cool in the shade. According to the weather forecast, we're not going to have many sunny days during August. For us who have to practice on the school ground, cloudy days are really welcome.
　On my way back home, I was listening to the car radio. It said that the number of people who commit suicide is more than 30,000. 70 % of them are men and the rest 30% are women. The biggest reason is about health, and financial reason comes after that. About 90 people a day are trying to kill themselves. It's a very big problem. The government has to make it easier for poor people to see doctors and try to provide a lot more jobs for jobless people. You can't say that those people are mentally weak. You never think of killing yourself just because you're a lucky person. I hope Japan will become an easier country to live in.

(Tuesday, July 26, 2011)Do you know what will become of stray dogs caught by the health office? They will be kept there for at most three days and after that they will be suffocated with CO2. The reason why they can keep the dogs only for three days is, of course, lack of budget. The reason why they use CO2 to kill them is that it's the cheapest way to kill them. What were they born for? Only to be killed by selfish men? We live with a Shiba dog named Ryoma. For us he is not just a dog but our partner. A famous saying goes that dogs are men's best friends. If so, we can't kill them just because they have nowhere to go. The local government should give them birth control and keep them in a large area in nature. They have the right to live.

(Wednesday, July 27, 2011)It's getting more and more humid these days. For example, it was cloudy today, but I felt very hot because the humidity was so high. Even if I ask my wife to let me turn on the air conditioner, she would answer in the negative. What should I do? Last night I turned on the fan for four hours, but it was not an easy night. I like the summer, but I hate the humid weather.
　Recently many children have difficulty in understanding what is told to them. What did this happen? Some people believe it's because they don't read many books. But we didn't read many books either. I think the reason is that they don't talk to people so often. When we were kids, we didn't have computer games. We played outside for many hours, but we talked to each other so much. Children today sit in front of computers or spend much time on playing video games. That's why they don't understand their own language. If they grow up like this, they will never be able to live a usual life as an adult.

(Thursday, July 28, 2011)The government is now planning to increase taxes. Is it really necessary? Taxes on luxury items are OK, but raise in income tax will never be OK'd. It must be very easy for the government to increase taxes, but they have to think of any other ways to make ends meet. Do they want to help the people who has been suffering from the great disaster in the Tohoku District? What has become of our donation money? Have they divided the money among the suffering people? What about the child allowance? Are they still going to maintain the system? How about the abolishment of high school tuition? I think the government have been using budget for something unnecessary.

(Friday, July 29, 2011)The softball team of my school has been too weak so far. But this team is now going to change the history. They also had a lot of problems inside the team, but when they cut their long hair short, something changed on the team. Since then they have been practicing hard, and now they are a completely different team. During the summer vacation, they practice six days a week. I myself was going to have one-week summer holidays, which might be impossible. For a weak team to make a debut among strong teams is not an easy job. They might be able to have only a few days off during the summer. In doing so, they could only have chances to win the championship tournament for new teams which will be held in September.

(Sunday, July 31, 2011)Last night I was so tired that I didn't write in this diary and went to bed soon. It's not an easy job to keep on doing something every day. I'm an English teacher and it must be very easy to write English. But it's sometimes very difficult to think of something to write in English. When you have no topic, you can't start writing English. The same thing can be said as to when you write in a Japanese blog.
　This evening my wife was not at home and I took Ryoma for an evening walk. Early this morning my wife went for a morning wali with Ryoma. Ryoma didn't do his job at that tiime. After that my wife went to Kamakura with a friend of hers. So this evening I had to let Ryoma do his important job. He did it early, which I didn't expect. I was going to hurry to my parents-in-law's house, but Ryoma wanted to walk longer. I didn't understand why. He had already done his business. Why did he have to walk longer? I wanted to go to the bathroom, but I followed him because he might want to do his job again. After all he just wanted to take a long walk. Thanks to him, I really had a hard time.

(Monday, August 1, 2011)Some of my softball girls asked me why they were not going to have any summer holidays. Actually I think I'll give them a few days off, but I'm not sure. I want them to experience as many practice games as possible. Practice games come suddenly. That's why I can't make exact plans. If some softball team calls me if they could have a practice game with our team, I won't be able to say no. If I say no, there will be no more phone calls. This is what a weak team has to do. But to tell the truth, I'm getting a little tired. We're now practicing six days a week. About 4 hours every day. I used to practice 8 hours a day, so this is much easier. I wish we had a pitching mashine in our team. That would change the practice completely. It costs a fortune, though.
　Hagisono Junior High School won the championship of the Prefectural Softball Tournament. They are going on to the Kanto District Championship Tournament. This is their second time to do a great job.