(Tuesday, July 4, 2006)
　According to the TV news, we're getting out of the rainy season in a few weeks. It has been raining a lot in some areas of Japan, but we don't have much rain here in Shonan District. Is that all for this rainy season? Are we going to suffer from lack of water this summer again? What will become of the third Typhoon which is now moving around south of Okinawa.

　When I was walking Ryoma with my wife, we noticed that in the evening the air still gets cool although it's so humid during the daytime. Before the sunset we need a fan, but late at night the air is so cool that we have to close the window and turn off the fan or the air-conditioner. I'm afraid we're having a very cold summer this year, because the weather so far has been so strange. I hope I'll be wrong in predicting a cold summer.

(Wednesday, July 5, 2006)
　It's been raining a lot since this morning. The rainy season front stays throughout Japan, which is giving lots of rain to some limited areas. Why doesn't it rain averagely? An incredible amount of rain at a small limited area in a very short time. Too bad.

　With the heavy rain came the 6 missiles from North Korea. How dare he could be so crazy to put the threat into practice? By doing this crazy deed, the poor country is now surrounded by lots of political pressure. What advantage did they expect by launching as many as 6 missiles? I was wrong. The 7th missile was launched in the evening. Maybe they will never be interested in what will follow what they do. They're real crazy!

(Thursday, July 6, 2006)
　It was a stormy weather that we had this morning. While I was riding my car along the Seisho Highway, the radio weather broadcast kept saying that we were going to have a hot humid weather this afternoon. It's 1:17 in the afternoon now, but the sky is still covered with clouds. Are we really going to have a sunny afternoon today? I doubt it.

　School kids are so lovely. Those kids learning English conversation at KGC often come and call me "Isshi" to talk to me about various kinds of topics. Yesterday I saw some little boys playing with interesting cards I have never seen. I asked them how they play with those cards and they were kind enough to tell me about it. Now I'm not a school teacher who has the critical power to give them marks. They don't have to pretend to be good kids before me now. That's why I feel even happier when they come and talk to me happily.

(Friday, July 7, 2006)
　In Hiratsuka City, which is located just next to our city Chigasaki, they are celebrating the Star Festival until July 9. It is well-known that the celebration in Sendai City is much bigger in scale than that of Hiratsuka. The Star Festival celebrated in Hiratsuka used to be much more gorgeous when I was a little kid. In those days we were looking forward to the festival around this season every year. However I've been to the festival only once in the last 10 to 15 years. It's become so boring to us local people.
　Anyway it didn't rain tonight and Orihime and Hikoboshi must have met each other with happy smiles on their faces. When I was a school teacher, I often brought a bamboo tree to school for the class to hang strips of paper with various wishes written on them. I hear from some children that there still were such romantic teachers at school.

(Saturday, July 8, 2006)
　Now on the cable TV a new series of "Abarenbo Shogun" can be watched. It's a very interesting drama about the 8th shogun Yoshimune Tokugawa, who made a sensational reform to the political system in those days. Most of the usual people were poor farmers then, and he wanted those people to live a happier life. It is said that he did everything he could think of to make the Tokugawa government better. In the drama Yoshimune Tokugawa secretly goes out of the Edo Castle and pretend to be a poor samurai named Shinnosuke Tokuda. Every time he goes out he tries to solve many difficult problems with the help of his secret guards called "oniwa-ban." Because he is the shogun he does his best not to kill people with his own sword. He's a good sword warrior, of course, but he usually hits bad guys with the back of his sword, which is called "mine-uchi," or a sword-back strike.

　Maybe it was almost impossible for a real shogun to sneak out of his castle to be a hero of the city, but the story is full of dreams. In any days people hope that good guys always win and bad guys have to pay for what they have done.

(Sunday, July 9, 2006)
　I'm sometimes surprised to know that unexpectedly many people believe in today's school system. More than half that I have experienced will surely disappoint them. What's exactly going on in public schools today is quite different from the ideas that many people have about public schools. It's been told by top teachers for more than ten years that we school teachers should insist what we can do and what we can not do. Can you guess the percentage of those two items? 20 % of what we can do and 80% of what we can not do? Or worse? The answer should be checked out by your own self. It's not so difficult. You sometimes go to the meeting with teachers and listen carefully to their opinions.

(Monday, July 10, 2006)
　I heard from my wife that Germany got the third prize in the World Cup 2006, which made me happy. This morning I was surprised that Italy won the World Cup this year. I believed that France would win the cup, so I was a little shocked. Italy won the championship for the first time in 24 years, and this is their 4th time to win the cup. OK, I have to say "Congratulations" to all the people who have been cheering for the Italian team.

　It's not so easy to manage a school, which I expected when I opened my language school this April. Students, young and old, will surely get good lessons if they come to my school. And that at a very cheap price if compared to that of the lessons given by major language schools. But the problem is financial capability of advertising the advantages they can get to learn English at my school. I know I should not expect early responses, though.

(Tuesday, July 11, 2006)
　Do you collect coins or stamps? When I was an elementary school kid, I used to collect coins and stamps. New ones were always given to me by my parents, but as to the old ones I often visited a shop that dealt with coins and stamps and bought some with my own pocket money or allowance. When I entered junior high school, I started to collect foreign coins too. More than half of them are gone now, but the remaining collection is my treasure, of course.

　It's obvious that Washington has betrayed Tokyo, supporting Beijing that is now trying to persuade Pyongyang to give up any more missile launches and to come back into the six-party talks. The TV news says that late last night there was a phone call from the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who asked (or told?) Japan to give some time to China to negotiate with Pyongyang. If Tokyo keep following the United States, similar kinds of things will happen at any time in the future. Is that really what most Japanese statesmen want? Or is it almost time for Tokyo to start seeking its own policy?

(Wednesday, July 12, 2006)
　Tomorrow morning I'll have to leave home early in the morning, so I'll write about what happened today after I come back from Odawara tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to bed now.

　Many Japanese people like "masaki" trees, or spindle trees, to be the fences around their houses. We used to have those fences when I was a little kid. The problem was that around this season of the year, they had a lot of black small worms in them. They were so disgusting that I didn't want to go near the fences. My father often sprayed worm-killer over the fences so that no worms would appear at this time.
　More than 30 years have passed and these days there're many people who use weedkillers instead of pulling out the weed with their own hands, but there're not many people who take much time spraying worm-killer over the spindle trees. Now you might see lots and lots of black creatures moving around at the foot of spindle tree fences. I hate those worms!

(Thursday, July 13, 2006)
　The highest temerature in Tokyo and Kanagawa was 31 degrees Celcius. It was so-called a midsummer day. Japanese summer heat comes with lots of moisture, which makes us feel uncomfortable. It's too humid in summer here in Japan. But once I was told by someone that the summer heat in Singapore was much worse. I think I could never live in the small southeast island country.

　Because most of the buildings are air-conditioned, we feel even hotter when we come out of the building to be exposed to the shining sun. We have to get accustomed to the summer heat as soon as possible and stop using air conditioners too often.

(Friday, July 14, 2006)
　During the day it was incredibly muggy. Our dog Ryoma seemed to want to escape from the crazy heat of the summer. There's a very dreadful illness called "hyperthermia," or "necchu-sho" in Japanese. According to the symptoms, it is divided into heat syncope, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, heat stroke, and sun stroke. In order to escape from getting hyperthermia, you need to take plenty of water every day.

　Ryoma is now lying on the cold tiles of the entrance hall. He likes the place the best in our house. Maybe the baked clay tiles are colder than a usual wooden floor of the living room. My mother is thinking of buying him a cool lying mat, which will get cooler as a dog starts lying on it. Is it like a water bed? We have lots of high-tech tools for pet dogs today too.

(Saturday, July 15, 2006)
　Suzuka Hatakeyama, the suspect killer of the elementary school boy Goken Yoneyama, has started to confess a different story about her daughter's death. At first when Ayaka's body was found 8 kilos down the river, she insisted she was missing just after she left home for her friend's house. But now she says she was with her daughter on a bridge 4 kilos down the river from her house. There was a witness who saw the crazy mother holding her daughter between her thighs. Some specialists suspect that the girl was already dead when they were seen together by the witness. If she had been drowned to death, she should have swallowed a lot of river water that must stay in her lungs. But only less than a cup of water was found in her lungs, which means she was already dead when she fell into the river.

　Now it's 90% certain that Suzuka killed her daughter too. But what for? It is known that she put some health insurances on her daughter. Her aim was to get a big sum of money after her daughter was killed by someone else? But unluckily the local police was rude enough to decide Ayaka's case to be an accident. That's why Suzuka ernestly asked the police to investigate the case more carefully and to decide the case to be a murder. The killing of the little boy was to let the police start the investigation again? If so, she's a real devil.

(Sunday, July 16, 2006)
　A very sad new ran this morning. Suzuka Hatakeyama finally confessed the killing of her own daughter Ayaka. At present she says she threw the little girl into the river from the bridge, but the police suspects that before throwing into the river, she had killed the girl. She often pretends to feel sorry for what she has done, but you can't believe that. Almost 90% of what she says is against the truth. She's a real devil that I've seldom seen.
　
　The United Nations Security Council made a resolution in which they condemned the North Korea's missile launches, but the critical Chapter 7 was excluded from the resolution, because China and Russia were strongly against the idea. The most imortant thing was for all the nations to work together to order North Korea not to do any more missile launches.

(Monday, July 17, 2006)
　A Russian sumo wrestler was punished for making violent actions against some TV reporters. Some people compare him to Zidane, who butt an Italian player during the final game of the World Cup this year, and say that they're somewhat similar to each other. Hey, give me a break! They're completely different from each other in that Zidane fought for his family.

　It rained for the first time for the last ten days or so. In the Kanto District the rainy season this year was not actually a rainy season but a dry season. Was it because it had rained a lot last May? The weather system has been adjusting itself? Then why do they have lots of rain in the western Japan? So may people have been killed by showers. Something's wrong with the world weather of recent years.

(Tuesday, July 18, 2006)
　It's been drizzling since this morning, so my mother took Ryoma for a walk in the rain without letting him wear a raincoat. After coming home, my mother let him take a shower, which made him feel so refreshed that he ran around in the house when he came out of the bathroom. I tried to dry his hair with a hairdryer but he didn't stay still.
　In the evening it was still raining, so this time I let hime wear a raincoat so that he might not get wet and catch a cold. My wife followed us and we walked about an hour, but he didn't do his business. He doesn't feel like pooing especial on rainy days.
　He must have been very tired from working in the rain. He's now sleeping on the sofa, where I usually lay myself. My wife is sleeping on the futon next to the sofa. It's a very peaceful scene which makes me really happy.

(Wednesday, July 19, 2006)
　I hate people who can't be nice to animals like dogs and cats. There're some people who keep them as pets and smile at them when they're happy but who easily get angry with them when they're not happy. Those who really love animals should always be nice to them. This is what I should say to myself, I know.

　The end of the rainy season has been postponed and we're going to have a lot more rain toward the end of this month. According to the radio weather forecast, the rainy season this year will be longer than usual. What will happen?

(Thursday, July 20, 2006)
　The computer is getting improved so quickly that a "new" computer will become an "old-fashioned" one in half a year or so. The new Microsoft operation system named "Windows Vista" will be installed in usual computers at the beginning of next year. I still feel Windows XP is rather new, and so do many other people. The DVD recording system will be renewed into two ways, one of which is called Blue-Ray Disc system. Maybe the computers available today is good enough for us to do almost anything, but the computer makers would like us to buy a new one. Of course I'm interested in the new type of computer with Windows Vista. However to tell the truth I don't know what difference we're going to have when we buy the new machine.

(Friday, July 21, 2006)
　"It's a big mistake." That's what Jack Slater(Arnold Schwarzenegger) tells to the little boy Danny in the movie "Last Action Hero(1993)." I'm crazy about American movies because there's always a punch line at the very end of the story. And there're lots of phrases full of wit and wisdom.

　"I'll be back." has also become popular, which Terminator(also played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) told the police officer at the police station. The phrase became popular among American people too.

　"Independence Day" has a very simple plot, but in the movie there're a lot of words of wisdom, which make it one of my favorite movies. Even Science Fiction movies like Terminator series have lots of interesting words. American movies are so fantastic.

(Saturday, July 22, 2006)
　I haven't been so much interested in Tom Cruise, but the movie entitled "Mission Impossible Ⅲ" has really made him an very attractive Hollywood star. I hear he's done almost all of his stunts. He's so brave, which makes the movie so thrilling, I suppose. It's been on air for some time and I'd like to go to see it with my wife in the near future. I'm also interested in a Japanese comedy called "Love Com," which has been made based on a popular series of comic books. It's so funny that I'm sure it'll take away all the stress that both my wife and I have had so far. Sounds like a good idea. Right?

　By the way it will cost you about 1,700 yen to see a movie at a movie theater. We all know that in three months or so the DVD will be released for around 3,000 yen. If you plan to go the the movies in a couple, it will cost you at least 3,400 yen. Which is more economical, going to the movie theater or waiting for the DVD to be released? I'd choose the latter.

(Sunday, July 23, 2006)
　I used to have a very cheerful girl in my class about 10 years ago, whose name was Miyuki Yanagita. She was a soccer player. Now she's one of the regular members of Team Japan of Women's Soccer called "Nadeshiko Japan." Today she had a game with China and she made a splendid -pass to the player waiting just in front of the Chinese goal, which became the first and the only goal of the game to lead Japan to win against China for the second time in history. A few months ago Miyuki got seriously injured and I thought it was impossible for her to come back to Team Japan, but she has made it. She's such a great player. She looks quite different from the girl I have known for a long time. I hope she will be one of the leading players of Nadeshiko Japan for some more years to come. Go for it, Miyuki!

(Monday, July 24, 2006)
　In Japan junior high school kids belong to a certain sport team and compete wth the teams of other school every summer. Now is the season of those games and matches, which would be the last ones for most of the players. Those who didn't win the last games or matches have to "reitre," or leave the team to be called OGs.
　Many people are excited to watch high school baseball games, but the summer season is not only hot for high school baseball players but also for all the young athletes.

　I was a coach of the softball team for about 10 years and I experienced a lot of smiles and tears around this season of the year. What we call the last game means so much for everyone related. I hope every young player would be able to do his/her best, win or lose.
　To my great surprise, Hagisono lost the semi-final game against Tsurugadai and they had to fight against Shorin for the right to take part in the Prefectural Championship Tournament. After all Hagisono got the right and the short summer of Shorin came to an end. Too bad.

(Tuesday, July 25, 2006)
　It seemed that Ryoma gained weight. He kept weighing 13.2kg for some time. This morning I held him and stepped on the scale, which indicated 95kg. Then I stepped on the scale by myself, which showed 80.8kg. That measns Ryoma has gained 1kg and now weighs 14.2kg. My mother is worried about that, but I'm happy to know that. He's a boy, so he should be a big tough dog. I gues it's OK that he weighs up to 15.0kg. Boys should be bigger.

　Have you heard of the scam of selling a high-tech machine that can burn plastic objects to produce propane gas. Actually a Japanese scientist has succeeded in building the machine in Tsukuba Laboratory, but the machines sold for about 3 million yen was completely fakes. Those who have bought the fake machines are going to sue the president of the company for his scams. I wonder how such a fraud has been able to keep working on his scams so far.

(Wednesday, July 26, 2006)
　My mother-in-law is now in a serious situation. The doctors have found cancer in her esophagus. The esophagus cancer is said to be difficult to treat. Tomorrow my parents-in-law, my wife, and I will go to see the doctor to talk about what kind of treatment we would like them to give to my wife's mother. She's already decided not to have an operation. I hope there will be another effective medical treatment for the cancer.

　On the contrary I've had a husky voice for about a month, but I stopped using the air-conditioner while I was sleeping at night and I suddenly got better. Now I can speak in a usual voice. The use of air-conditioner should be limited for a real hot day.

(Thursday, July 27, 2006)
　As was planned, my parents-in-law, my wife, and I went to see Dr.Kano to talk about the treatment plan that my mother-in-law's going to have from now on. She insisted that she wouldn't like to have an operation and the doctor understood how she felt about that. He told her that radiotherapy would be as effective as having an operation and that nobody could tell which was a better treatment. My wife's mother looked very much relieved to hear that.
　After having an interview with Dr.Kano we all went to the beach and stayed there for some time to enjoy refreshing breeze coming from the sea. And then we had an early lunch. I was very happy to see my mother-in-law ate much more than I had expected she could. My wife also looked happy to see her mother having a good appetite. It was a good morning for us.

(Friday, July 28, 2006)
　Hagisono softball team won the first game against Hodogaya Junior High, which made me really relieved. Hodogaya's also a good team, so if Hagisono was still in no good condition, they might have lost the game. But I had an English lesson this morning and I didn't have time to go and watch the game. Tomorrow morning I'm having an English lesson too. I believe they will win the second game to make it possible for me to go and watch the third game.

　An elementary school somewhere in Japan has been introducing a juku instructors into the classes to give effective lessons to the pupils. What a crazy idea! Why don't the elementary school teachers make more efforts to do it themselves. Is it OK to ask juku instructors to give them a helping hand so easily? Where has their pride gone? The board of education of the city should fire all the elmentary school teachers and hire juku instructors as teachers officially.

(Saturday, July 29, 2006)
　A female office worker came to observe the TOEIC class of my language school today. She lives and works in Fujisawa, and needs to use English in her work. It seems that she fully enjoyed today's lesson. I hope she will join us in the TOEIC class next month.

　I'm having another female office worker who would like to have an 6-day intensive TOEIC course during the summer vacation next month. I really hope that more and more people will be interested in my language school and that come and try some lessons.

(Sunday, July 30, 2006)
　It was a real hot day today. I went to Nishihama Junior High to observe the Prefectural Girls' Softball Championship Tournament 2006. Today was the last day of the tournament and they had two semi-fainal games and the final game. As more than 99% of people had expected, Tokiwa Junior High of Yokosuka won the championship. They won the championship last summer too. Last fall they won the Prefectural Championship and this spring they took part in the Kanto District Spring Meet and won the championship also. Last summer they won the Kanto Championship and of course this summer they're aiming at the same honor too. I wish them every good luck. This summer the Kanto District Championship Tournament is held in Chiba Prefecture. If possible I'd like to drive all the way to Chiba to watch the game with my own eyes.

(Monday, July 31, 2006)
　The rainy season came to an end yesterday and the real hot summer has started. We can feel the strong sunshine as soon as we get into the real summer. I try not to use the air-conditioner too often and make the best use of usual electric fans. It might be wise of you to use so-called "rei-fusen," or a kind of fan using cold water.
　On the other hand I'm happy because the caterpillar season's over. We don't have to see disugusting black worms in the spindle trees. When I walk by the spindle fence with our pet dog Ryoma, I always tell him to walk in the middle of the road. I say to him, "In the middle," and now he understands what I mean. He's such a smart dog.

　I heard from Kahana's owner that she bit her dad's hand when he tried to let her take a shower. Maybe she didn't feel like going into the water. But the dad was too much shocked to be bitten by Kahana for the first time. Kahana was also so shocked to have bitten her owner's hand that she didn't come into the house all that day. I hope they'll build good relations between them again.

(Tuesday, August 1, 2006)
　It is reported that there was a battle yesterday between South Korean soldiers and North Korean soldiers. Now that it is more isolated than ever, no one can predict where North Korea is heading for. If they have a new political situation, there'll be lots of humanitarian aid from all over the world. I hear the poor country is now suffering from great flood damages.

　As to the North Korean problems, China insists its own stand. On the other hand as to the Palestinian problems, the United States insists its own firm stand. What is this? When they hold on to their own stand, so many innocent people are dying from bombing or hunger.
　I sometimes wonder what the United Nations is there for? In the Security Council there are five fixed permanent member countries and they always try to control the world as they like. There are as many as 192 countries in the organization for peaceful world. If I were the Prime Minister of Japan, I would suggest that we should get out of the United Nations and go on seeking for peace in our own way.

(Wednesday, August 2, 2006)
　These days there are only a few women who are good at cooking. Haven't they had any chances to learn how to cook? Or don't they like cooking itself? It is often said that men are better cooks than women. As a matter of fact, almost all the cooks working in restaurants are men.
　I myself think cooking is a lot of fun. I once tried to slice a fish into three pieces and ate them raw with my father when he was still in good health. One of my best dishes is French food. I learned to cook the dish on a TV cooking show. It's so good. You bet!

(Thursday, August 3, 2006)
　Last night the spotlit boxer Koki Kameda fought the Venezuelan champion. Toward the end of the 1st round, Kameda got a strong punch and was knocked down, which affected the rest of the match. After all two of the three judges decided that Kameda had won the match, which made him the world champ. But very many people including some of his fans doubt the decision. I also think that the Venezuelan obviously performed much better than Kameda. Now that he's the world champ, I hope he'll learn to know how to behave better. If he keeps on talking like that, he just looks like a stupid monkey who has come out of the jungle to beat human beings.

　I'm so happy that two more young ladies are starting to learn English in my language school this coming Saturday. It's so nice to know that my own school is getting bigger and bigger. It's been only four months since I started my language school. It's a good job, isn't it? I think I'm going to make my school much more unique one.

(Friday, August 4, 2006)
　It's been so humid today. The sunshine itself was very strong too. This is what we call a mid-summer day. On a day like this you may feel like going to the beach and enjoy swimming. But unfortunately the beaches in the Shonan Area are so dirty that many people living here would go swimming in as far as Izu Peninsula. Maybe the Shirahama Beach just before the city of Shimoda is very popular among young people and families also.

(Saturday, August 5, 2006)
　My wife and I were planning to go to see the fireworks at Southern Beach Chigasaki, but my wife suddenly changed her plan and I got upset. After all we didn't go to the fireworks. My wife wanted to take her parents with us and I understood that. But it was different from the original plan. Before going to the fireworks I had to walk our dog Ryoma. I was so busy that I didn't have time to pick up her and her parents. I sent an e-mail to her cell phone telling that I would not like to go to the fireworks anad that she and her parents were free to go to the fireworks themselves. I don't know if they went to the beach or not, but I'm still a little bit angry about that. Now my wife has come home, but it doesn't seem that she feels very sorry for what she caused to happen today. Maybe she know I'm still angry. I'm just like a little kid, which I know very well, though.

(Sunday, August 6, 2006)
　61 years ago this morning, the world's first A-bomb(actually the second one if we consider the test bomb as the first one) was dropped on Hiroshima from the then biggest bomber B-29 named "Enola Gay." The bomber was reassembled and now is shown at the Smithsonian Institution. The U.S. government ignored many Japanese people who were against the exhibition of the bomber, which has to make us think that the U.S. doesn't regard the bombing as a big sin in its history. If they don't think it was a great sin, how can they blame Hitler for murdering millions of Jewish people around the same time they dropped the monster-like bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in a flash? I think the U.S. government is a hypocrite or a aggresive wolf in sheep's clothing.
　This morning the memorial ceremony was held in Hiroshima and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the event. He made a speech that was not impressive at all. I couldn't feel any condolence that he should have expressed before a lot of people who suffered from the disaster that happened on the morning of August 6, 1945. The U.S. government still insists that they had to drop the bombs to bring the long war to an end. But is it true? Didn't they want to show the Soviet Union that they were much stronger than the biggest communist country?

(Monday, August 7, 2006)
　Last night before going to bed I saw the DVD "YAMATO" with my wife, who went to sleep before tha last scene as is usual the case with her. It was more impressive than I had expected it would be. Most of the crew should have known that they were not going to win the battle that was waiting for them on their way to Okinawa. Many of the crew lost their lives in the blue sea leaving lots of people who loved them and who hoped they would come back alive.
　Now we live in a very peaceful country where most of the young poeple don't understand how the peaceful lives we enjoy were brought about. I'd like many young people to see the movie to know that we should not ignore so many precious deaths of 61 years ago.

　My father often told me about the days he spent as a soldier when he was still alive. I felt sorry for him, because he couldn't realize any of his dreams. If he had been able to go to school, he would have been an artist or an engineer. He was such a smart guy. But he happened to be born in a poor farmer's family and he had to be trained as a soldier. Now that he has passed away, I sometimes wonder if he has been happy while he was alive. I strongly believe that it's the greatest sin for us to bury children's talents.

(Tuesday, August 8, 2006)
　A 14-year-old American boy has made a movie dealing with the A-bombs that his country made and dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He says it was when he became a junior high school student that he learned that the A-bombs had been actually used for the cities of Japan. Since then he has been interested in how and why atomic weapons were produced by the government of his own country.

(Wednesday, August 9, 2006)
　Today was the 61st anniversary of the U.S. A-bombing on the City of Nagasaki. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also visited the ceremony to give an address and pledged that he would try his best to seek world peace. But after the ceremony he told the press that it would be quite likely that he would pay a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15 for the first time since he became the leader of the country. Now I'm not sure if it's right for the Japanese top politicians to visit the shrine and prey for a peaceful world. If Mr.Koizumi visits the shrine on the memorial day, some Asian countries, especially China and South Korea, will response in a very strong negative manner. Will it be beneficial to us Japanese?

(Thursday, August 10, 2006)
　It's beeb so muggy since this morning that I don't have a good appetite. Neither does our dog Ryoma. In the Japanese language there is a phrase "the beautiful weather just after the storm is gone." And the weather today is just that. Now Typhoon Maria is gone and the severe summer heat is back with us.

(Friday, August 11, 2006)
　I sometimes wonder why there are some people who try to force other people do what they want them to do. Someone who claims to have been one of my ex-students wrote on the mimic board of this website of mine and told me to rebuild the index page into a more simple one for visitors to understand where to go on the site. But what he or she said was too much. After I reformed part of the index page he or she still said to me, "Did you really do anything to make it simpler?" It was too rude of him or her to say that to me. I decided not to answer the words. I don't like those people who don't try to understand the jobs that other people have done and make whatever comments they like on the jobs. Why don't they try to understand the hardships that other people should have gone through? It's quite easy to criticise things, but it's not easy to accomplish something yourself.

(Saturday, August 12, 2006)
　This afternoon a young mother living in Chigasaki City came to observe my language school to know if she could take lessons that she wanted. I was happy that she decided to start learning English conversation at my school next Tuesday. I hope my school is getting bigger gradually.

　As many as 24 terrorists were arrested in the United Kingdom. They were suspected to have planned to explode some airplanes heading for the United States using a kind of liquid bombs. Thanks to their means to explode the planes, all the passengers on board the planes heading for the United Kingdom and the United States are not allowed to bring in anything in liquid forms. Even plastic bottles of drinks were prohibited. Too bad.

(Sunday, August 13, 2006)
　Today I made the bon paper lantern into a one with an electric lamp. It used to be a one with a candle put inside, which seemed to be quite dangerous especially when it was windy. I haven't often handled electric equipments, so you can say that I've made a great progress. It's a lot of fun to produce something unique. When I was a school teacher, I sometimes went into the workshop to enjoy do-it-yourself. Among what I made were bookends, bookshelves, pitching plates, a wrist-strengthening equipment, and so on.

　At night as I was roasting half a piece of sweetcorn, Ryoma came into the kitchen and sat politely looking at whatever movements I made. It must have smelled good, but it was obvious that he couldn't eat it because I used soy sauce, which is too salty for dogs. Anyway when he asks for something to eat, he looks so cute that I tend to give him what he wants. I know it's no good and against the rule of my family, but I'm a type of a dad who spoils his kid.

(Monday, August 14, 2006)
　My mother-in-law was told that she had esophagus cancer at the end of last month. The doctor advised her to go to another big hospital that could give her radiotherapy and wrote a letter to a doctor he had known in the Fujisawa City Hospital.
　This afternoon my parents-in-law, my wife, and I went to the Fujisawa City Hospital. But incredibly the doctor who was to recieve the letter of introduction had already retired. And the woman doctor who talked with my mother-in-law was surprised to know that we didn't have anything needed for the medical treatment. She told us that the Chigasaki City Hospital should have given us some necessary X-ray films and documents. This time she wrote a letter to the doctor in the Chigasaki City Hospital. Of course she wrote it with anger.
　We went back to the Chigaski City Hospital with her letter, but the doctor who was in charge of my mother-in-law was not there. We knew that, but we thought the Chigasaki City Hospital should do something in favor of my mother-in-law immediately. At first they didn't seem to feel sorry for what they had done. So I made a claim and insisted they should take responsibility for what had happened. Of course their attitudes changed quickly. The most unreliable people in the world today are school teachers, police officers, and doctors!

(Tuesday, August 15, 2006)
　Prime Minister Koizumi paid a visit to the Yasukuni Shrine today. Why did he have to put his political promise into practice just a month before his retirement? I understand his point of view about visiting the shrine, but his visit could never be a personal one. He should know what the top leader of a country has to do. Today the relations between Japan and China or North Korea are quite important from many aspects. In the age like this, he should think of how he could improve the relations with those two countries. It seems that the only country he is interested in is the United States and that the other countries are of no importance to him. What a crazy politician he is! I hope the next prime minister will take our country out of the wrong lane. I don't care about who will take the role.

(Wednesday, August 16, 2006)
　One of my friends married a Chinese woman about two years ago. He's a math teacher. He visited me at my house this afternoon to pray for my dead father. I asked him if his wife was angry about Mr.Koizumi's crazy idea of visiting the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15. He said she laughed at the TV news and that she was not interested in the question at all. According to my friend, who has been to China many times now, most of Chinese people are having hard time living the day. They're too poor to get interested in the international affairs. I was sorry to hear that. At the same time I thought that the mass media should tell us the true situation in China. They should not exaggerate the claims made by the Chinese government in order to bash Prime Minister Jun-ichiro Koizumi.

(Thursday, August 17, 2006)
　I was really surprised to hear the new that Mr.Koizumi had gone into his summer holidays just after his unreasonable visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. Who will have to deal with the claims coming from China or South Korea? You have to make an end to what you yourself started, which has been said in our country for a long, long time.

　It's been humid for the last few days and it seems that the similar muggy weather is going to stay with us for some more days before Typhoon 200610 attacks the Kanto Area. According to the Tyhoon Site, Typhoon Wukong will bring lots of rain to Kyushu and Shikoku soon. Typhoon 200611, named Typhoon Sonamu, disappeared as if it had been absorbed into Typhoon Wukong. Many people might be surprised to know that every typhoon has its own English name commonly given in the Pacific area. More details about the names of typhoons will be given on the website above.

(Friday, August 18, 2006)
　Strong hatred ends up with stronger hatred. That's what I've learned for the last few years. But still there is time when I can't help having intense hatred toward other people. Men are such stupid animals after all. What I can do is just give a deep sigh.

　I now feel like listening to good old music just as I did when I was younger. I have a lot of music CDs in the bookshelves that are always within easy reach of. I just have to take out a favorite one, put the CD into the player, and push the button to play it. It looks so easy, but actually it is a little bit difficult to put into practice. Easy things could be done easily only when they are constantly done. I'll have to make it a rule.

(Saturday, August 19, 2006)
　There was an interesting TV program tonight which introduced lots of good music in between 1990 and 2006. Around the year 2000 I listened to Japanese pop music almost every day, so the program brought back some scenes and feelings to my mind. Music is wonderful in that it brings back losts of memories to our mind instantly when we listen to it again.

　The TV news tells that it hailed on top of Mt.Fuji today, which showed a very unusual scene of the mountain tinted white around the top, or "Yuki-gesho." It makes me think that we're going to have a great natural disaster in the near future. We've seen some SF movies that dealt with natural disasters likely to happen on the earth. Those movies could be real scenes. The most scary disaster that comes to my mind first is, of course, another great Kanto earthquake. I'll be really disappointed to see my new house break down thanks to the disaster.

(Sunday, August 20, 2006)
　It's still 10 o'clock in the morning, but the temperature outside is incredibly high. It really is a mid-summer heat that we're having from early in the morning.

　In the afternoon I went to visit my wife's parents' place to check the Internet. It seems that my parents-in-law enjoy the difficulty they have in working with the computer. Isn't it incredible to start using a computer after they're over 65? I think they're doing a great job. I downloaded two online games from an American company for them. As soon as the games were installed, they started to enjoy playing those games, of course, very very slowly. They looked so happy, which also made me happy as you could imagine.
　Later my wife came to see her parents, so I came home to have dinner with my mother. I could easily imagine what happened to them after I left.

(Monday, August 21, 2006)
　It's 2:48 in the afternoon. The final game of the highschool baseball championship tournament is now going on to the top of the 9th inning, which might become the last inning for Komazawa University Tomakomai High School. How many pitches the ace pitcher Saito of Waseda Jitsugyo has made, most of us are not sure. What we can say for sure is that he is exhausted.
　What a surprise! While I was writing in this diary, Komadai Tomakomai made a two-run homer to make the score 3-4. They're great and incredible.
　The ace pitcher of Komadai Tomakomai Tanaka happens to be the last batter. It was a perfect last scene, wasn't it? God bless all the players on both teams. We have to say thank you to them for showing us an ultra-exciting baseball game. I hope this victory will be the best medicine for Sadaharu Oh, one of the old boys of the Waseda Jitsugyo High School baseball team and now manager of the Fukkuoka Softbank Hawks.

(Tuesday, August 22, 2006)
　It's got so popular for people to learn English conversation. Especiall those who have got extra time after they retire would like to start someting new to enjoy during the rest of their lives. As I wrote before, I bought a new desktop computer for may parents-in-law. They're now quite into it and sometimes tend to sit up late at night to work with the computer. One of the difficulties they have when they use the computer is clicking with the optical mouse. Now that they're so old that they tend to be too stiff when they try to move the cursor and stop it to click. I think they're doing a great job when I think of their ages. They just look like little kids who succeeded in getting a brand-new portable video game machine from their parents.

(Wednesday, August 23, 2006)
　This morning I completed the exam for the English class I was in change of during the spring semester. I should have done that earlier, but time quickly passed by. Now I notice that I gave them a lot of difficult information in the lessons. Is the exam too difficult for them to pass? No! I'm sure they will make it all right.

　Have I been to the beach this summer? No, I haven't! Should I go and enjoy sunbathing and a refreshing breeze from the sea? Yes, I've got to! I think my wife and Ryoma will be happy to go to the beach in my car. We've got to go before the stormy weather comes. Did I say that my wife was trained to become a competitive swimmer when she was a little girl. She went over the Pacific Ocean to take part in the swimming races held in Los Angeles. I myself am an English instructor and have never been to the United States. Anyway she quit her swimming club, because she didn't want the coaches to tell her everything she had to do. My wife Kayoko's a born-free type of a woman. She doesn't like to be kept silent inside the cage. In other words she doesn't want to become a big fish in a small pond.

(Thursday, August 24, 2006)
　What a smart dog he is! Yes, I'm talking about our pet dog Ryoma. Last night he ran away with one of my socks. My mother told me this morning that he had spent whole night keeping the loot under his belly. But this morning my wife took my sock away from him, so he decided to take my slipper instead. It was easy for me to take back the slipper. Then my mother felt sorry for him and gave him my sock again. He looked so happy and started to play with it, telling me to come and take it back from him with his eyes.

　Very interestingly, however, he looked scared to see the blue vinyl ball that I got at Daikuma last night. He was so afraid of the new toy that he gave up keeping my sock. Now my sock is thrown away on the straw mat next to the living room. Why so scared? He often behaves in his own way that we had never expected, which could be mentioned as "soteigai" responses.

(Friday, August 25, 2006)
　The TV weather forecast said last night that we're going to have a cool fall day today, and it really is a cool morning we're having now. It still gets hot in the afternoon, but it's not going to be a humid afternoon, which the weather forecast also said last night. Now we're facing the end of the mid-summer heat. It's been such a long summer, but at the same time we miss the summer heat now that it's almost over.

　Why do we have more and more people who can't consider what other people feel about what they're going to do? Why am I always complaining about those thoughtless people? Complaints mean expectations. When you complain about someone or something, you still expect a better change. But it's almost hopeless, isn't it?

(Saturday, August 26, 2006)
　What do you think we need to do to prevent our English from getting less and less fluent? How do you try to polish your English every day? Talking to the wall of your room? Speaking to your dog as I do every day? It's worth trying to imagine someone sitting just in front of you and start talking to him/her in English about some topics you'd like to make comments on.
　But the most important thing of all is that you should try to make the best use of what you've got so far. When we see something new and attractive, we tend to jump at it, but that should be the last thing for you to do. My experience tells me that the cheapest way is the best way.

(Sunday, August 27, 2006)
　Our dog Ryoma is now two and a half years old. He's getting a little more stubborn day by day. He doesn't like it when we try to make him do something he himself would like to do. He wants to make it when he himself wants to. I tell him to turn right, then he turns left. I want him to go straight on, then he tries to go back along the same road. It is often said in Japan that dogs get similar to their owners. Am a a stubborn guy like him? Well, I'm not sure.

　I know I'm now easier to get upset, partly because I'm pretty tired both mentally and physically. I know I should be nicer to my wife or mother, but I can't stop some strong words from coming out of my mouth. I'm such a cheap guy, which I have to confess.

(Monday, August 28, 2006)
　Three kids (a four-year-old boy, a three-year-old boy, and a one-year-old girl) were killed after their car was hit by the car that had been running behind at the speed of about 100km/h, which was obviously against the traffic rule. Because of the shock, their father couldn't control his car and crashed into the railings to dive into the sea. Their mother dived into the sea and tried to pull out all the three kids of theirs, though in vein.
　The mayor of Fukuoka City told the press that he would tighten the atmosphere among the city employees. In my opinion he should resign taking the responsibility of the accident (or murder) caused by one of the young employees of the city. Drunk driving by a public worker― that's what should never happen. When I was a school teacher, I was often told to be careful about that. Things must be the same in Fukuoka City.

(Tuesday, August 29, 2006)
　I saw a very impressive TV program this morning. In that program, a Labrador Retriever named Sonia had been too shocked at her master's death to keep her fur black. According to a vet, the change of her fur color could have been caused by the mental stress that she had got when her master did from liver cancer. But now she's become a grand-mother and the only daughter of the dead master has got married, she's getting back her black fur again. I couldn't prevent some tears coming out of my eyes. These days dogs are much smarter and much more warm-hearted than us human beings. Such an impressive dog!

　The Japanese Little League Baseball champion team went to the United States and had a final game to decide the world champion. Kawaguchi Baseball Team fought against American National Team as the representative of the Asian Area. Kawaguchi Baseball Team was leading the American Team by the score of 1-0 until the American slugger hit a two-run homer to lead the game by 2-1. After all Kawaguchi Baseball Team lost the close game. Great job, isn't it?

(Wednesday, August 30, 2006)
　Why aren't there many good language schools today? We're now in the age of English learning when a surprisingly large number of people rush to language schools to brush up their English proficiency. Sorry to say, however, the number of good language schools is getting smaller and smaller. Even some famous schools let many students go and knock on the door of NOVA, just because they can't offer highly-qualified lessons to students in exchange for very high tuition fee. They should go back to the pioneer spirit that they had in their first ten years or so. Now more than 30 years have passed since most of the major schools were built. And they don't know how to let the English learners return to them. It's not so difficult at all. All they have to do is just get sincere again about offering good lessons to the learners of English.

(Thursday, August 31, 2006)
　It seems that Ryoma had diarhhea all through last night, but he's fine this morning. Late last night my wife noticed that there was something wrong with him, so we took him out for a walk to let him vacate his vowels, though in vain. He's been very sensitive to cold air. He's easy to get the runs after a few hours' stay in an air-conditioned room. He was in that room for about an hour after coming back from his evening walk, which seemed to have caused his trouble.

　Late this afternoon, before leaving home for work, I took Ryoma for an early evening walk. It was so refreshing to take a walk outside today, because there was cool wind coming from the south. Ryoma didn't want to come home so soon that he tried not to be pulled into the small paved sideroad leading to my house. If I had been free this evening, I could have walked him a little longer, but I had to hurry. Anyway I felt the fall was just around the corner.