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(Sunday, December 31, 2006)
　Less than 6 hours are left before the New Year starts now. There have been lots of terrible incidents this year. Children who kill themselves because of bullying have been in the spotlight. Some parents killed their own kids and some kids killed their own parents. Many public workers have done antisocial behaviors. It seems that the society has lost its moral standards. Is the New Year going to be a better one or a worse one? Many people would predict that things will get worse and worse.

　On the other hand many athletes have done great jobs this year. Especially both men and women skaters have been doing quite well in figure skating competitions. We also remember clearly that the Japanese pro baseball players won the first WBC championship at the beginning of this year. However at the end of the same year we saw some great players going over the the United States to play in the Major League. How many people will be interested in pro baseball games next year?

(Saturday, December 30, 2006)
　I've been managing my language school since this April and now about 10 students come and learn English here. The number of the students may sound small, but actually it's not so easy to have the number when there are so many language schools open here and there. Town News will publicize my school on the issue of January 19, which I hope will invite 10 more students to my school. I believe if you keep trying steadily, you will have a great success someday in the future.

　They will start teaching English at public elementary schools soon. Some specialists insist we should not introduce English education into the elementary school pointing out today's kids' lack of understanding of their own Japanese language. However when you learn a foreign language, it will offer you a good chance to understand your mother tongue more deeply than before. As a matter of fact, I've been teaching English for about 30 years and now I find myself so much interested in the Japanese language also.

(Friday, December 29, 2006)
　The youngest figure skating genius did a very impressive performance tonight and won the All-Japan championship for the first time in her skating career. The new champion Asada Mao couldn't participate in the last winter Olympic Games because she was too young to make a worldwide debut. Now she's practicing hard to get the gold medal in the next winter Olympic Games. Many people including me are very much sure of her success. Her dream must be realized.

　I understand she should be quite aggressive inside, but she never looks so every time we see her on TV. She's always pretty calm. It seems that she's always trying to do her best. And she has lots of grace with her. Other skaters don't seem to have her grace with them. Every move she makes impresses us so much that we feel like cheering for her.

(Thursday, December 28, 2006)
　Wow! It's so cold outside. What a difference! Yesterday we had a rather warm night, but today it's freezing cold in the evening. When my wife and I took Ryoma for an evening walk around 8 o'clock, it seemed that Ryoma wanted to go home A.S.A.P. He walked so fast that I had to follow him quickly. He does hate a cold weather. Now that he's back from a cold evening walk, he's sleeping in his cage. It's so warm in here.

　I know it's a crazy idea to eat something like "okayu," or softly-boiled rice just before going to bed, but sometimes I'm so hungry I feel like eating "udon" or "okayu." It might affect the system of producing insulin, which will lead to diabetes. I know I have to take good care of myself and stop doing that. What do you thing is the best way to abstain from eating something kind of heavy before going to bed? Will it work to try not to stay in a room where I can get food easily? Oh, I'm getting hungry now. I think I have to stay away from the fridge for a while. How stupid I am!

(Wednesday, December 27, 2006)
　I was born in the year of the dog and this has been my year, which is coming to an end in less than a week. Do you know what you should call the animal of the coming new year? In Japanese we call it "inoshishi," which literally means a wild boar in English. However some dictionaries tell us it's the year of the pig. The year of the "pig"? I'd rather call it the year of the boar, though.

　It's been so warm today. What's going on with the weather system here in Japan? Are we having a great earthquake or something in the very near future? We can't do anything to prevent a big earthquake from happening, but I hope it will never destory my house which has been built for just 11 years now. Usually around here in Shonan Area, it snows a lot from the end of January to the beginning of March. I hope we'll have some snow next year so that we might not need to see a big change in the weather pattern.

(Tuesday, December 26, 2006)
　I've been rapidly losing weight for the last few months. I weighed about 85 kilos this June, and now I weigh only 69 kilos. I lost 16 kilos in half a year. My mother's worried that I might have diabetes, which is caused by a lack of insulin and makes you produce a lot of urine and feel very thirsty. I go to the bathroom much more often than before and feel very thirsty. My gosh!

　It's been about 35 years since it rained this much in December last. It's still raining heavily outside. The wind was also so strong that I felt even colder while I was walking Ryoma with my wife. We let him wear his own raincoat, which he doesn't like very much. He didn't do his business as we had expected, so we hurried back home. He only does his business during the morning walk these days.

(Monday, December 25, 2006)
　This morning when my wife was about to leave home for work, I asked her if she'd like to go out for dinner tonight. She was so happy to hear my proposal that she surprised me by saying, "OK, I'm not going to work today." I also told her that if she could come home earlier than usual we'd have time to visit our favorite jewelry shop. She looked ever happier and jumped out of the door. I think I'll be able to be her great Santa Claus this year too. You should spend your money on something worth it.

　Do you know how to use jsut one monitor with two computers? I wanted to do it, so I went to a PC shop to buy a special equipment that would enable you to switch from one computer to another by just pushing the keyboard. Last night I connected the lines and the new system worked all right. I made it!

(Sunday, December 24, 2006)
　It's a perfect holiday for me today, because I don't have anything to do. Now I think I'm going to the Pachinko Parlor for a few hours and I'm going to buy a TV cable on my way back home.

　Well, I didn't make it in the Pachinko Parlor today. I don't care. You can't always win there, can you? On my way home I droped in at the computer shop to buy a TV cable. As soon as I got home I tried to attach the cable, but it was not successful. I'll have to talk to my brother about that later. After all I'm no good at dealing with electrical equipments.

　At my home it's been a very quiet Christmas Eve. Maybe tomorrow I'll take my wife out for dinner or something. Should I be her Santa Claus this year too? Yes, I think so.

(Saturday, December 23, 2006)
　I bought a new desktop whose OS "Windows XP Media Center Edition" could be upgraded to the new OS named "Windows Vista Home Premium" at the end of January next year. Many of you would say it's a waste of money to buy two desktops at the end of the year, but I can't stop my curiosity about high technology. Once I firmly believed I had not been born for high-tech machines. Actually I didn't know how to connect electric lines. I didn't even know how to record a TV program into a video tape. Now I know you should not easily decide what kinds of talent you've got with you.

　A sales rep from a local newspaper called me around noon telling me that he would like to present an advertisement plan for my language school. I wanted to hear more about his plan, so I asked him to come and visit me at my house first thing this afternoon. He was an energetic 24-year-old man and I liked him so much that I immediately decided to put an advertisement on the newspaper in the middle of next month. When I think of the big size for the advertisement, about 45,000 yen is not too expensive.

(Friday, December 22, 2006)
　It was a great mistake for the U.S. government to expect something possitive from North Korea during the 6-nation talks. They just insisted that any economic sanction against them should be lifted. How dare they could behave like that ignoring every request from the member countries. However I think they have also miscalculated the actions that the other member states would take in response to their stubborn attitude. There might be some military attacks by the U.S. to the crazy country that has been irritating Washington.

　Do you often listen to music that is very popular among young people today? Tonight I watched a TV music program, but I didn't like the music. For me those songs with beautiful melodies or comfortable beats would be much better to listen to. Tastes differ, don't they?

(Thursday, December 21, 2006)
　I managed the last classes for this year today at KGC. I feel it's a little bit early for the school to get into its winter holidays, but I'm not at the position to say anything about that. When I was a school teacher, long holidays made me happy. But now I get paid for the lessons I manage, so long holidays are no good for me. Furthermore it's most important to keep in touch with it every day when you learn English. I don't see why major language schools have long holidays in common. At my own language school, you can take a lesson until December 29, and you can start taking a lesson on January 4. It's enough for us to stay away from school during the last three days of the year and the first three days of the New Year.

　According to the weather report, we're going to have warmer days than usual toward the end of this year. I didn't expect a warm winter this year, so I'm afraid something surprising will happen in the near future.

(Wednesday, December 20, 2006)
　I wrote about the junior high school kids who murdered an old homeless woman. Actually the killer group included three junior high school kids and a 28-year-old leader. The oldest one is still running away from the police. According to the news, the crazy boys continued to attack homeless people after killing the old woman by hitting her harshly with wooden sticks that they had found at the crime scene. How could they have been so cruel? Do you think they could be regenerated to be rational citizens?

　In a society where murder cases happen so often, people will become less sensitive to human lives. It will become easier to kill people. Every day somewhere in this country, terrible murders are sure to happen. What causes this serious stituation? What could we do to stop this? Do we really have to completely destroy our society to build a much better one?

(Tuesday, December 19, 2006)
　I went to the dentist this morning without wearing a jacket. I was so cold walking less than 100 meters to the dentist. I feel this year it's much warmer than a usual year, so I'm sure many people will catch cold if it suddenly gets cold.

　The terrible news trembled the country today. The murderers who had killed a homeless woman were two junior high school kids. They must have hit and kicked the old woman so severely that the police found some bleeding under her skin. How dare they could be so cruel as to kill an old woman who could never fight back? This time again are they just going to the detention center because they are still children who are believed to have no legal ability to take the responsibility for their crimes? I myself believe that they should be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison. I'm really sorry for the homeless woman killed by the gangsters.

(Monday, December 18, 2006)
　On the schedule sheet I got from the KGC, I was supposed to have a class in Odawara this morning, but I had been wondering fi the schedule was correct or not. On the sheet was printed the day "Monday, December 19." But actually today was "Monday, December 18." Anyway I decided to go to Odawara. When I got into the instructors' room, I felt something unusual in the next teachers' room. Yes, I was right. I was supposed to have an English class tomorrow―that is "Tuesday, December 19." The school was kind enough to arrange classes so that I could have the lesson today. It was my fault, so I really thanked them for treating me so good. I should have checked the schedule sheet times and times again.

　So it was the last lesson that I was supposed to carry out this year. I'm going to visit the school on Wednesday, January 10 next year. Am I sure of the date? Yes, I am. I checked the schedule sheet carefully together with the teacher of the school. I'm planning to show a DVD movie in the next lessn. I hope the students will have fun watching an English movie with Japanese subtitles not dubbed.

(Sunday, December 17, 2006)
　It's been a very lucky day for Ryoma today. We went out for shopping by car four times today, which means Ryoma could enjoy going for a drive four times. He's so carzy about going for a drive that he soon comes to me with asking eyes when I was about to grab my car key. He always knows what's going to happen now.

　Are you happy to know that Daiske Matsuzaka was finally welcomed by the residents of the City of Boston? I am glad to hear the news. I was worried that even if they had reached the agreement, Daisuke might have lost a lot of baseball fans in Boston. So I was really happy to see so many people in Boston smiling while talking about the Japanese most aggressive baseball player. I hope he'll make it during his first year as a Major League player.

(Saturday, December 16, 2006)
　I've got a new computer at the Internet auction. It has a extremely good CPU, which will work so well when the new OS "Windows Vista" is installed in the new computer. But to tell the truth, I'm not sure if it's been a good buy or not. It may be that I should have waited for the brand-new computer with Windows Vista to be released at the beginning of next February. You think I'm stupid? I might be, I have to confess.

　One of my cousins passed away a year ago. He had a sudden bleeding of the brain and it was too late when he was carried to the hospital. Before that happened he had been complaining about some difficulty in breathing, so we had been telling him to see the doctor. We though he might have some trouble with his lungs because he was such a heavy smoker. He was really nice to people around him, so when he passed away, everybody was very sorry for his death. He really loved animals and Ryoma was one of his favorites. Now it's been almost a year and I'd like to wish him a happy life in the heaven.

(Friday, December 15, 2006)
　We had a beautiful weather this afternoon. It was not very cold, and I liked that very much. I'm not sure if we're going to have a white Christmas this year, but it is true that Christmas is just around the corner. If I were younger, I would be more excited about the yearly event. Now that I'm close to the age of 50, a few pieces of Christmas cake is good enough to spend the holy day. Is my wife expecting something nice from her Santa Claus? Maybe yes. I wish she will prepare a small sock for her present. Wait. Even a small sock is big enough for a diamond ring, isn't it?

　These days our dog Ryoma has a great appetite as if he was going to get into hibernation like a bear. But interestingly his weight has been quite stable. He weighs about 14.5kg, which is not so much for a 3-year-old male Shiba dog. I myself is not a big guy, so I hope Ryoma will become one of the biggest ones.

(Thursday, December 14, 2006)
　After finishing the grammar class for the 3-month Intensive Course in the morning, I went to play in the Pachinko Parlor, because I had another converstaion class for 7th graders in the evening. It really is a waste of time to come home just after the morning class. But I didn't make it. I've been no good at pachinko these days. I don't know why, but maybe the good luck doesn't stay with me.

　It's not so easy, of course, to gain a big sum of money with just a piece of good luck. My mother seems to have bought some lottery tickets for the year-end "Jumbo," which I'd never buy. I have never gained big money by buying lottery tickets. What I feel like trying most is "Loto 6," but it's also quite difficult to even win the third prize. I could hear God wispering, "The best way to get a lot of money is to work hard."

(Wednesday, December 13, 2006)
　Many baseball fans here in Japan are interested in when the official contract will be made between the Boston Red Socks and the Japanese most excellent pitcher Matsusaka Daisuke. Some people say that "Mat" wants too much from the team, and others doubt if Boston really wants Matsusaka to jon them. I think they have already reached the goal and that they are now trying to invite as much attention as possible from many people interested in their relations with each other.

(Tuesday, December 12, 2006)
　The travel sketch of Kyoto has been so effective in inviting a lot of visitors to my website. Recently I feel people tend to make severe decision whether they'd like to visit a certain website or not. If the contents are not updated often, you'll have less and less visitors in a short period of time. Even if you keep updating the contents, it could happen that they might suddenly lose interest in visiting your website. Attached to my webpage are so many blogs that it is quite difficult to let many people come and visit them constantly. It's almost impossible to update all the blogs every day, which might discourage constant visitors.

　I started to recieve registration for the Winter English Grammar Classes on Monday afternoon this week. So far nobody has contacted me yet. I understand it's not so easy to have students at a newly built school, but I'll do whatever I can to have as many students as possible at my language school. There must be something more to do to attract both children and grown-ups to my school.

(Monday, December 11, 2006)
　I completed the webpage for our trip to Kyoto of the other day. Before starting to work on the page, I didn't have any idea as to how to build the page. So without any specific idea, I suddenly started working on the travel sketch. It's sometimes important to make an early start without wondering what to do too much. An English proverb says that you should think before you leap, but I would say that you should sometimes leap before you think too much. As a matter of fact, I could finish the tough work in just two days.

　Congratulations on the victory against the Korean Team. Of course I'm talking about the women's soccer game fought between Japan and South Korea last night. Miyuki, who was once in my class in junior high school, made the second goal by letting the free kick directly go into the Korean goalmouth. She looked so tough and brave, which surprised me a little because Miyuki had been a shy girl as far as I knew.

(Sunday, December 10, 2006)
　This evening my wife and I took Ryoma for a walk together as we did last night too. Last night we came to know a 3-year-old Flat-Coated Retriever named Ralie. Tonight also we met a 2-year-old mixed-blood named Mari. After that we came across a young Golden Retriever, who was so friendly as to stick not only to Ryoma but also to my wife and me. His owner was an old gentleman. When I saw the gentleman, I thought dogs reflect their owners' personalities. How about our dog Ryoma? Of course he does. He's so much loved by all of us that he's friendly to anybody without hostility toward him.

　Yesterday I started to use Homepage Builder 11 by IBM, the newest version of the series. It was released at the beginning of this month. I'm so curious about something new, so I already ordered one last month. As soon as it was delivered to my home, I tried to install it into my laptop. It seemed that it was installed safely, but interestingly I couldn't find the icon to click on to start the program. Yesterday I found it at last and started to update my website with the new program. It's so easy to use. I like it so much.

(Saturday, December 9, 2006)
　I watched a TV drama "Iwo Jima―Delivering Mail on the Battlefield" tonight. Today one of the two Clint Eastwood films, "Letters From Iwo Jima," started to be shown all through Japan. The other film entitled "Flags Of Our Fathers" has been on air for nearly two months. When I saw the movie "Yamato" on DVD a few months ago, I felt myself trembling with fear and respect. I think I'd like to see both of the films about Iwo Jima, but they must be too shocking. I feel I have to see them, though. I think we all have to know a lot about the war between Japan and the United States fought 65 years ago.

　Don't you think the Hollywood star Clint Eastwood is such a great guy that he thought of describing the terrible battle on Iwo Jima from different points of view―from both the Japanese side and the American side? I think there are roughly two types of film stars. One thinks nothing of what's supposed to be described in the film starring him and the other thinks more than what he has delivered to us.

(Friday, December 8, 2006)
　The Pacific War between Japan and the United States broke out 65 years ago today. The Japanese fleet made a surprise attack on the Pearl Harbor on Sunday. All the people living in Hawaii, including most of the soldiers, didn't know what was going to happen on that peaceful day. Japan wanted to destroy all the four aircraft carriers that happened to be out of the harbor that day. Did the situation happen by chance or on purpose? There should be some people who knows the answer, but I don't think it will be made public in the near future. I wonder why the Japanese government decided to open war with the United States. Some top officers in the military forces had been to the United States and knew the real power of the country well enough. Did they really believe that our country was going to win the war against the huge enemy?

　Anyway lots and lots of young people on both sides were killed during the long war. What did they die on the foreign fields for? What did we learn from their deaths? If we had learned something from the miserable past, we would never have started the wars with Iraq.

(Thursday, December 7, 2006)
　I woke up this morning to find myself still faving a fever. I took my temperature, which was 37.9 degrees Celcius. I usually don't have a fever so often that even a slight fever affects me a lot. I had a class from 10:30 at KGC in Fujisawa. So I took a cold medicine and rode my bike there as usual. It was not so cold outside, but I felt as if I had been walking on the clouds while I was managing the class.

　After the morning class was over at about 1:00p.m., I came back home, ate lunch, took a medicine, and slept on the sofa for about a few hours. When I woke up about 6:00p.m., I felt a little better. I had to go to KGC again to teach 7th graders. It seemed that the medicine had worked very well. I could enjoy teaching them English conversation. I think I'm getting rid of my sudden cold, but I'll still have to be carefull.

(Wednesday, December 6, 2006)
　Is it possible that you suddenly feel too cold to just sit and work? Late tonight after eating curry udon I started to tremble from coldness. I didn't know why, but it seemed that I had caught a cold. I tried to warm myself up, but it was almost impossible. So I soon went upstairs and went to bed. My wife was so much worried about me that she put a plastic bottle of Japanese tea at my pillow. It's going to be a hard night I'm having tonight.

(Tuesday, December 5, 2006)
　It's quite surprising and shocking at the same time that a 33-year-old elementary school teacher has been managing a disgusting website in which he made some strange comments on many young victims. It is reported that he had peculiar sexual habits and that he sometimes touched little girls in his own school. More surprising thing is that this is not his first case that has been found by the police. When he did a similar crime in June this year, neither the principal of his school nor the board of education took any action against his peculiar deed. How could something incredible like that be happen?

　It seems that my wife's so much tired. I didn't have any classes today, but she had to go to work. Even if she was happy to make a trip to Kyoto as planned, she had to be so tired that she didn't feel like working. Now she's sleeping on the heater carpet. Just close to her is Ryoma sleeping in his cage. It realy is a peaceful picture I could enjoy. They look so happy, which of course makes me happy too.

(Monday, December 4, 2006)
　Yesterday while we were walking toward the Yasaka Shrine through Gion, I suddenly had a cramp in my leg. First it happened in my right calf, and then it was happening in my right thigh. If it had actually happened in the thigh, it would have been a serious problem. We decided not to visit the Yasaka Shrine and took a taxi directly back to the hotel to check in. This morning we were both worried my leg, but we left the hotel for the Kamigamo Shrine as my wife had planned last night.

　Although the peak for colored leaves seemed to be over, we could still enjoy red and yellow leaves of the trees everywhere we went in one of the oldest cities in Japan. This afternoon we went to visit the Manshuin Temple. The beautiful garden of colored leaves there really charmed us as we had expected it would, which made us satisfied so much. How long have we walked today? It was a little bit hard for me, but it was really refreshing for us to walk around in Kyoto together.

(Sunday, December 3, 2006)
　This morning my wife and I got on the Shinkansen at Odawara Station at 7:10 and started for Kyoto. It took us just two hours and ten minutes to reach Kyoto. It was not so cold as the weather report expected it would be. We directly went to Arashiyama and enjoyed walking around in Sagano for about 5 hours. It was about 5:00p.m. when we checked in at the hotel near Kyoto Station. The trouble I suddenly had while walking in Gion disappeared after about an hour's rest lying on the bed. So I woke my wife up and went to the restaurants ward in the underground shopping arcade called "Porta." All the restaurants were so crowded that a long line of people were waiting in front of almost any restaurant there. But we could find a Chinese restaurant with a few vacant seats. The Chinese noodles we had there were really good. After we sat at a table there, there was also a line of people in front of the restaurant. We were quite lucky.

(Saturday, December 2, 2006)
　This evening I took Ryoma for an evening walk. On the way I don't remember how many times I yelled at him because he didn't listen to me and tried to go on his own way. The last time I got angry with him, he looked so much surprised to hear my loud voice. He looked up at me with a scared look, which made me very sad. It is obvious that I'm physically much stronger than him and that he's just a young dog. It's not fair for us to put pressure on him, because we know he'll be scared to get some strong words from us. Now he's sleeping on the sofa. A few minutes ago I went up to him and said sorry that I had yelled at him this evening. Another reason that I wanted to be nice to him is perhaps I'm not going to see him for the coming two days. I think I'll have to go to him and pat him gently before going to bed. Tomorrow morning when my wife and I leave home for the station, Ryoma will still be sleeping and we won't have any chance to say goodbye to him. Be a good boy for two days, Ryoma.

(Friday, December 1, 2006)
　The TV weather report says that we're going to have really cold days from the coming Sunday. Tomorrow will be a warm sunny day, but the last warm day. The freezing mass of air will visit Japan on Sunday and we're going have an extremely cold weather next week. Come on. Give me a break. We're starting for Kyoto on Sunday morning. I can easily imagine we're getting off at Kyoto Station trembling with coldness.

　I got an e-mail this morning from our Indian friend living in Toronto, Canada. She's a doctor and her husband works for IBM in Canada now. They lived in Japan for some years and my wife's mother worked as a housekeeper for them. They have a son and he likes my mother-in-law so much. Now it's been more than a year since they moved to Canada. My parents-in-law miss them so much that they often ask me if I've got an e-mail from their Indian friends in Canada. Her e-mail reminded me of a popular song entitled "A love letter from Canada." I hope we all will have a chance to visit them in Toronto in the near future.

(Thursday, November 30, 2006)
　Ryoma's so funny. Tonight he was attacking my wife. Suddenly he started to lick my wife's face. My wife thought he was going to stop licking soon, but she was wrong. He stood up as if he was pushing her down on the floor. She tried to run away from him, but he didn't let her go. It is often said that the dog ranks people around him. What's my wife's ranking in his list? A good friend? His mother? His sister?

　In today's Loto 6, seven people won the first prize. Can you guess how much money they will receive? You would be surprised to know that each of them will get more than 100 million yen. How I wish I were one of them. I hope someday I'll be one of the winners of the first prize.

(Wednesday, November 29, 2006)
　Do you really believe that you can stop bullying by school kids? I don't think so. I think it's possible to let usual students have a little more sense of justice. In order to stop bullied children jumping off the school building, you have to let them know that they're not special cases and that they can get over their tough days. They believe the bullying will go on forever, and that robs them of the courage to keep walking.

　Have you ever thought of comitting suicide? I have. I have actually put it into practice, but I failed. I think I was too fragile. I should have known there was a vast world around me and that I was not alone. School kids live in a small world. They couldn't find a place to hide themselves in. If they come to know they could fly around through a much larger sky, they'll get back the courage to live along once again.

　To punish the kids who bully friends? Is it really an effective way to stop bullying? I think something's wrong with the idea. Look around yourself. You notice lots of bullies here and there in our society. You only care about the bullied kids? How about the poor people who have to live in the cold park? How about the middle-aged businessmen who were suddenly fired by their companies? What we really need is not the authorized punishment but the strong sense of justice and humanity.

(Tuesday, November 28, 2006)
　As we already know there're so many Korean people living here in Japan. They're, of course, descendants of those who were abducted by the Japanese government and were forcibly brought here to Japan. Now some Japanese are blaming them for what Kim Jong Il has been doing against Japan. Why? They're not responsible for what's going on between North Korea and Japan. I understand some Koreans in Japan are acting as spies for Kim Jong Il, but when we think of their miserable past, I don't think we can simply blame them for what they do at present. If we were in their place, what would we do? Would we work hard for the Japanese government who treated us like slaves 65 years ago?

　I don't understand those crazy guys who enjoy writing something disgusting in the mimic board of someone else's websites. I have some kinds of mimic board in my website and I often find crazy writing there. "You idiot!" I say to myself and erase the writing as soon as possible. I hate those who try to say anything they want without identifying themselves. They don't have the courage to do so, which I know for sure, though.

(Monday, November 27, 2006)
　Do you have a pet dog? Do you walk him or her every day? In my family my mother walks Ryoma every morning and either my wife or I take him for an evening walk every day. We often talk about the few people who would never answer our greetings. If the owner happens to be unfriendly and antisocial, his or her dog will surely become unfriendly too. When we see those kinds of dogs, we cannot but think of some human children who seldom trust other people just because their parents don't. Too bad.

　Within a few days, I'll have the result of the United Nations English Proficiency Test. I know I only have little chance to pass the test, but many times I go out to see if there's an envelope from the UN office in Japan in the mailbox. If I fail, I'll just try the test in June next year. That's what I'll do. Mr.Postman I'll be waiting for you to bring me good news tomorrow too.

(Sunday, November 26, 2006)
　I got a phone call from a friend from junior high school saying that she'd like to meet me after a long time. We promised to meet at a coffee shop near my house. I went there a few minutes past the promised time to find my frined and another lady. First she asked me some questiones as to what happened to me two years ago when I quit a school teacher. And then suddenly she started to talk about a famous Buddhist monk. It seemed that she was deeply into a kind of a religious group. I didn't like her way, because she called me to say that she'd like to talk about our common memories in the past, which was just a bait. I interrupted her talk and frankly told them that I really hated listening to religious talks especially from someone I knew very well. Actually I don't usually want to talk about religious things and make an argument. People who are blind to a certain religious idea are apt to invited their friends into the same religious group, which I really hate. I told her that we might possibly meet again without talking about her religious group, but I don't think it's quite possible. Maybe this would be the end of our relationship, I'm sorry to say.

(Saturday, November 25, 2006)
　It's been a long time since I read such tough magazines as "TIME" or "Newsweek." I used an article in the latest version of Newsweek today and found it too difficult to use the difficult article as a material even for a TOEIC class. There were too many technical terms, which are apt to make the students less confident in reading English passages. I though I had to be more careful when I was going to choose a material.

　Tonight too I had to take Ryoma for the third walk with my wife. Before the last lesson I took him for a usual evening walk, but he didn't do his business. I was in such a hurry that we came home soon. When I was about to make a turn to reach my house, Ryoma refused to follow me for a second. I thought he would like to walk more and accomplish his sacred mission. That's why I took him out for the third walk after I finished my last class. My wife was sure that he would do his business and she was quite right.

(Friday, November 24, 2006)
　As to the learning of a language, it is often said that practice makes perfect. That means that you have to keep learning a language constantly. However most of the major language schools have too many holidays. You usually go to a language school once a week. If you have no class on a holiday, you'll have to wait two weeks to take the next lesson. Don't you think something's wrong with that system? You pay the tuition fees monthly for at least four lessons, because a month has at least four weeks. So if you miss a lesson because the lesson day happens to be a holiday, you should be able to get one fourth of the tuition fees back from the language school. But actually the school takes the money and never gives lessons on holidays. If they don't give back the money, they should have an extra lesson during the same month. In my own language school, I will never take any money from the students for doing nothing.

(Thursday, November 23, 2006)
　Why do they want to come back to the Liberal Democratic Party? They didn't agree with Mr.Koizumi's idea of postal privatization. Have they changed their own ideas? They're now for the idea of postal privatization? Or do they just want the financial aids that are given to the members of any plitical party? I belive politicians should behave according to their strong beliefs. However it seems that for most of the Japanese politicians "political beliefs" are almost nothing. They should think of those people who voted for them because they had the courage to stand against the tyrant-like prime minister.

　Now we understand that the new Prime Minister Abe doesn't show his true colors about sensitive matters. What does he really think about the prepared questions made at the town meeting? Is he for or against the idea of allowing the rebels to join the LDP again? He might be a calm politician, but in terms of "decisiveness" Mr.Koizumi was much easier to understand. "Show us your true colors, Mr.Abe."

(Wednesday, November 22, 2006)
　Are you going to buy some lottery tickets that are supposed to start going around tomorrow? Now that the gap between the minority of rich people and the majority of poor people is getting bigger and bigger, many people dream of getting a big sum of money just by buying some lottery tickets. I myself will not try to get the tickets, because I don't think I have good luck in that field.

　I was happy to know that the poor little dog trapped in one of the frames on the huge concrete wall was rescued safely this morning. The little creature seen on the TV screen looked so scared that she sometimes howled for help. We've had more than enough disgusting news these days, so the rescue news was big enough to console our hearts. I hope she will be owned by a warm-hearted person and have a happy life from now on. God bless her.

(Tuesday, November 21, 2006)
　Wemen are basically exhibitionists? Do they want to expose themselves to as many men as possible? These days some famous TV personaities or public servants have been accused of molestation. It's obvious they were quite wrong in molesting women on the crowded train or something, but those women targeted should also be blamed of wearing too sexy clothes, such as super-mini skirts or very short sweater to show their navels. I sometimes suspect many women are intentionally exposing their bodies to the public so that as many men as possible might be interested in or attracted by the exposed parts of their bodies. The crime "indecent exposure" is usually applied to queer men, but today it should also be applied to disgusting women, I strongly believe.

　In Hokkaido hundreds of thousands of Pacific sauries were found dead on the beaches. A fisherman told the reporter that he had never seen such a strange scene before. This year we've had a series of strange weathers, and now we're confronted with a strange natural phenomenon.

(Monday, November 20, 2006)
　I've had a severe pain in the gum of the back tooth for the last few days. I was afraid the pain would become too severe to bear, so I knocked on the door of the dentist nearby this afternoon. The doctor took the X-ray of the painful area and decided there was nothing wrong with the back tooth itself. He told me that the pain seemed to have been caused by the virus coming into the space between the gum and the tooth. He cut the swollen gum to take away all the pus produced there. About an hour later, when I got out of the anesthesia, I had a more severe pain and I took painkillers. Now I feel quite comfortable. I was right in deciding to go and see the dentist soon. I think I'll have a refreshing morning tomorrow.

(Sunday, November 19, 2006)
　Late this afternoon my mother took Ryoma for an evening walk in the cold rain. She walked Ryoma this morning too, so I was going to take him for the second walk. However my mother was worried about the weather and she went out in my place. After coming back from the walk, she let him take a hot shower. My wife and I were waiting for Ryoma to come out of the bathroom to dry him up with towels and the dryer. He usually gets so excited after taking a shower that we have a hard time letting him stay calm. This time it took us for about 20 minutes to finish our business. After that Ryoma looked so refreshed and he came up to each of us to show his thanks by licking our cheeks.

　Ryoma doesn't like cold weathers. Now he's sleeping under the futon with my mother. I sometimes wonder if he has a hard time breathing, but it seems quite OK for him to hide himself under the futon. When he feels it's too hot to stay there, he soon comes out to move onto the sofa, where he stays for some time until he feels cold again. He repeats moving up and down all through the night. My mother sometimes finds it difficult to have a good night sleep because of that movement of his.

(Saturday, November 18, 2006)
　It's been so cold since this morning. At the beginning of the morning TOEIC class, one of the students looked a little cold. I didn't use the air-conditioner, but I had turned on the air purifier, which seemed to have cooled the room. Soon I turned off the purifier and he seemed quite comfortable this time. Maybe in a few more lesson I'll have to turn on the air-conditioner to warm up the room. Japanese air-conditioners are also used as heaters. So it must be a little strange to American people for us to call the equipment an "air-conditioner" during the winter time.

　The new computer arrived this afternoon. When I first switch on the computer, I felt a little nervous, wondering what if it didn't work at all. After all I didn't have to worry about it. It worked so well that I installed almost all the software I need to manage the lessons. I still don't feel a big difference in speed that the machine does complicated jobs at the same time at.

(Friday, November 17, 2006)
　The new hi-tech computers with Windows Vista as a new operating system will be released to the market at the beginning of next year. Every computer companies are now struggling hard to sell out their last computers with Windows XP as an OS. Of course they have newly developed CPUs named the Core 2 Duo, which is capable enough for the next operation system Windows Vista. However is it wise of you to buy the computers now? Isn't it wise of you to wait a new more months and get a brand-new one? I have bought a really capable one for the classroom, because I have to use three kinds of English-English dictionary and the Wikipedia on the Internet and the word processing software called "Ichitaro" at the same time. The laptop I use for the lessons now is rather good, but it's not enough to do the jobs I mentioned above quickly. That's why I couldn't wait for the brand-new computer with Windows Vista. My new one is good enough for the new operating system, so when the new OS is released next year, I think I'm going to update the OS to Windows Vista as soon as possible. I just want to see what the new OS Windows Vista is like.

(Thursday, November 16, 2006)
　After the first class at KGC, I had lunch at Yoshinoya and went to play in the Pachinko Parlor. Last week I could make some money and today also I won about 30,000 yen. With that money I went to the book store to buy 4 copies of Newsweek for use in the TOEIC lessons at my own language school. When I came back home I gave 10,000 yen to my wife as pocket money, of course. I always thank my wife for caring about me so much. She has never complained to me about having only a little money to use for herself. She's such a thoughtful woman that I do want her to feel free to spend some money on her own things. It seems that she's got a bad cold. I hope she'll be able to get rid of it in a few days.

(Wednesday, November 15, 2006)
　Today I was almost trying to knock down a guy who suddenly cut in my lane on Route 1. I was just about to make a right turn, when a crazy guy suddenloy changed his course just in front of me. I was surprised and shouted at him. "What the hell are you doing?" The crazy guy, who looked in his fifties, stopped his motorbike and butted me with his helmet. I shouted at him again. Then he kicked my botorbike, so I told him to move his motorbike to the side of the street. There he kicked me again. I grabbed his arm and told him to apologize me for what he had done. He didn't understand what I was talking about at first, But later he calmed down and apologized for his violence. He was a real idiot. I didn't hit him back because of my injured shoulder. If I had been able to hit him back in the face, he might have been seriously injured and I might have been arrested by the police for excessive self-protection. Was I lucky or unlucky?

(Tuesday, November 14, 2006)
　Another junior high school boy hang himself up to death yesterday. Now our country is seriously sick and every day some innocent children are dying for nothing. Isn't it just chain reaction? Do they feel less scared when they know there're some other children who have killed themselves for similar reasons? Your life is yours. It must be different from that of someone else's. Even if someone decided to stop living, you have to make your own choice. You have to live on to find that your life is not so bad as you've been thinking it is. Suicide could not be the solution. It just turn out to give other people deep sorrows. It is just that you ran away from the hardship that you could go through if you would. Even if you choose to kill yourself, you should know that you could never be a hero or a heroine of a tragedy.

(Monday, November 13, 2006)
　Again a little boy was killed by his mother. He was just 4 years old. It must be that he didn't understand why his real mother tried to kill him. He must have been so scared. It's crazy of her to leave the body of her own boy at the bed of the stream. He must have been so cold. He must have been incredibly shocked. The two similar killings happen in the same Akita Prefecture. The guy who helped the crazy mother hit and kick the boy to death had the same family name as the terrible mother who killed her own daughter months before. What a sick society we live in!

(Sunday, November 12, 2006)
　Why did the principal kill himself? Of course he should feel responsible for having ignored the bullies done to the girl who was urged to give more than 100 thousand yen to her classmates. The principal must have been under great pressure, which is quite understandable, but the bullied girl should have been under much greater pressure. She must have been afraid of going to school. If he was really sorry for the girl, he should have done what he should do. I'm not happy to bash someone dead, but I would have to say that the principal just ran away from the reality.

　Why do so many people, young and middle-aged, have to choose death one after another? If you have the nurve to kill yourself, you could do anything. You should choose life and try to do whatever you think you could do. Suicide is not a solution at all. School teachers are the ones who have to tell that message to their children. Never run away. Face the reality.

(Saturday, November 11, 2006)
　I was surprised to wake up this morning to find it was raining hard outside. The rain we have at this time of the year is so cold that we feel like staying inside the house. Riding a motorbike through the cold rain is extremely terrible, which I've got to do if I have some lessons to take care of in Fujisawa.

　The most disgusting type of a guy for me is the one who always criticizes other people and who never produce anything himself. I understand it's important to read a lot of books and to learn the principles of life from them, but I don't think it's the most important thing for us to do. It's even more important to get into the real world and to find the principles of life yourself. It's so easy to imitate wise people, but it's doesn't mean you can become as wise as them. Basically you're just imitating. Have you ever produced or found anything original? Do I sound too arrogant? I don't usually say these ironical words to others, but this time I feel like giving those words to the guy who believes he's the wisest one ever existed.

(Friday, November 10, 2006)
　Our dog Ryoma really hates coldness. In the winter time he often tries hard to stay away from cold places. My wife also hates coldness. It may be that Ryoma has been growing to be like my wife. Some of his favorite places are on the sofa, by the side of the large window facing the south, under the futon, and in his own cage. Especially he likes sleeping by the large window where he could get a lot of sunshine to keep himself warm. Of course he likes to lie on the floor just in front of the heater. But he doesn't stay in one place. I don't know why, but he moves from place to place as if he was patroling his territory. Hey, it's my house, not yours.

　All the baseball games between Japan and America finished before I knew. One of my students told me that America had won all the five games also winning 140 million yen. I can easily imagine the happy smiles of the manager of the Major League Baseball team, which was organized seriously to beat All Japan. Japan won the first championship in the WBC, which surely stimulated the Major Leaguers.

(Thursday, November 9, 2006)
　I sometimes wish if I had started my own business just after graduating from college. At that time I had already decided to become a school teacher, which was too stiff for anybody to change. I now believe that being a good business person requires good command of foreseeing the future. If you just look at things happening now before you, you'll lost a great profit in the future. You've got to have the courage to put lots of money into something that seems to be a waste. You always have to think of a great profit you're going to have in the future. But today there are not so many good business people who could think and act this way. I'm not sure if a make a great success, but my business is worth trying my best to do.

(Wednesday, November 8, 2006)
　The other day I almost ran into a woman who was riding a bike doing e-mail on the cell phone. I honked the horn to warn her, who looked very much surprised to hear the big noise. She turned to me, so I shouted at her, "You asshole! Where're you looking at?" She must have been shocked at my strong words, but I would really tell you she was a real idiot. I don't care what happens to her while she's doing e-mail, but I don't want to be involved in an accident that has been caused by such a stupid woman. You know how I feel.

　It's so cold tonight too. I turned on the heater for my wife and Ryoma. They're more sensitive to coldness than I am. Actually it seems that my wife has got a cold again. She's been working too hard for the last few months. She's been also busy taking care of her parents, especially her sick mother. I think I'll have to take her to Kyoto at the beginning of next month. Kyoto is her favorite place, which will surely console her tired mind. Around that time Kyoto will be all red covered with colored leaves.

(Tuesday, November 7, 2006)
　A twister attacked the eastern coast of Hokkaido, killing 9 people. It's been a windy day all through Japan. There'll still be even stronger winds blowing during the night because of the freezing cold mass of air coming into Japan from the north. I wanted to eat some crashed ice. When I went out with a vinyl jacket on, I felt so cold that I almost decided not to go shopping by motorbike. It was really cold on the way to and from the convenience store by the side of Route 1.

　A junior high school boy might have sent a set of seven letters telling that he was planning to kill himself if nothing was to be changed by the end of this week. How can a boy who's thinking of comitting suicide send messages like these to the Minister of Education? It's quite doubtfull. But the minister looks embarrased not knowing what to do with the invisible boy. The society's getting crazier and crazier every day.

(Monday, November 6, 2006)
　I sometimes wonder what would happen if I were a dog sniffing into the grass to be scolded by the owner. I often imagine what would be like to be a dog when I'm walking our dog Ryoma. He's always sniffing around to see if there are any changes in his territory. The territory which he believes is of his own. He sometimes tries to lick piss done by female dogs. I don't like it, so whenever I see him try to do that, I pulled him hard telling him not to do that, But he soon try to do the same business again. It seems that's what he has to do before coming back home from a long walk.

(Sunday, November 5, 2006)
　Is it usually this warm around this time of the year? It's as warm as a spring day. Yesterday it was suddenly cold because of the small low pressure coming into Japan from the Korean Peninsula. It rained a little late in the afternoon. I really hate winter rain, which is just too cold.

　The healthiest one in my family is perhaps Ryoma. He always enjoys walking such long hours at least twice a day. Sometimes we have to take him out for the third walk because he hasn't done his business during the first two walks in the morning and in the evening. So the third walk tends to be a midnight one. It's OK to go out late at night unless it's not raining outside. But walking at midnight in the rain will never be welcomed. It seems that he doesn't easily complete his mission when he has eaten too much, especially human food. We have to stop sharing human food with him, not only for us but also for himself.

(Saturday, November 4, 2006)
　Tsuneo Watanabe, the president of the Yomiuri Giants, called Mr.Kuwata by his family name without any prefix and said that he didn't care what the former ace pitcher of his team would do. "He wants to play in the Major Baseball League. I don't care. Do whatever he wants to do," he told the reporters. Is that what he should say about the ace pitcher who contributed a lot to the Giants? I hear he wanted to play in America when he was still young. I guess at that time all the staff persuaded Mr.Kuwata to stay in Japan for the Yomiuri Giants. And so he did. But now that he's out of his peak, the president's no longer interested in the player who should be respected much more. Now I understand why the team cannot win the championship in spite of so many great players on it.

　North Korea condemned Japan for requiring "too much" from Pyongyang. Too much? What does it mean? Is it too much to ask them to return all the abductees to Japan? They've done a great crime, which has to be compensated for as soon as possible. The TV news says that they insisted Japan should not be at the table of the 6-nation talk. There must be some people who feel like destroying the country in a flash.

(Friday, November 3, 2006)
　I was thinking of getting a ticket for the Japan-U.S. baseball game tonight, but I didn't feel like staying on the train for more than an hour to get to Tokyo. I watched the game on TV, which was so exciting that I regretted I hadn't been to Tokyo Dome to enjoy the exciting air. Japan lost the first game tonight, but it was such a close game that most of the baseball fans must have been satisfied with the result. Mr.Wakui of the Seibu Lions was especially impressive. He would surely be the ace pitcher after Mr.Mtsusaka has gone over the sea to play in the Major League Baseball.

　I saw some writing about bullies that still exist in Hagisono Junior High School. It was the mother of a boy in Hagisono JHS that wrote in the mimic board of this homepage of mine. Her son is now unable to go to school because of the bullies he got from some of his friends at school. I don't think this is a problem to be solved by school teachers, but it's very important for both teachers and parents work together effectively. Otherwise bullies could never be stopped or they could go even worse.

(Thursday, November 2, 2006)
　I can't believe this. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology asked some of the participants in the local forum for discussing today's educational situations to ask favorable questions of the guest talker. It happened when the forum was held in Aomori Prefcture inviting the Minister of Education. The ministry is now planning to reform the Fundamental Law of Education. The bullying problems now in the spotlight could help the ministry reform the law, and it seems that they want to make the best use of the situation. Are they really people who have to think of the educational system of Japan?

　Our society is obviously rotten. No justice is seen, so is no honesty. Most people are interested in their own businesses and seldom pay attention to important social problems. I agree with those who insist that Japan should be destoryed completely once to be born as a new country. Once a society has gone bad, it would be almost impossible for the system to go back to its genuine form. No solution to the problem.

(Wednesday, November 1, 2006)
　This morning again the TV news is focusing on the bullying problems all through Japan. The principal of one junior high school in Gifu Prefecture admitted the suicide of a girl student had a lot to do with the bullying on the girl. He visited the girl's parents at their home to appologize for what his school couldn't do to save their daughter. Why did it take them such a long time to do such an easy job? Just to admit what wrong they did and to say sorry for that―that's what a kindergarten kid can do. However as I have been insisting, it's not only the school's fault but also the parents' fault to have missed the SOS signs from the dead girl. I'd like to express my sincere condolence for her in the Heaven.

(Tuesday, October 31, 2006)
　Time flies. It's already the last day of October. November is the best time to gro around Kyoto. They say we could enjoy the colored leaves fully toward the end of November this year. How I wish I could take my wife to the old city next month. I have checked up the hotels in the City of Kyoto times and times again, and I have found a reasonable one near Kyoto Station. I'll have to make a decision during this week.

　I'm now getting ready for suing the Chigasaki City Board of Education. I don't know if the police department will take it seriously, but I'll have to carry it out now. The Chigasaki Police Department has been famous for its idleness. If they're not going to listen to me honestly, I'll have to go to the Yokohama Prosecutor's Office directly as I was advised to do so by one of the prosecutors there.

(Monday, October 30, 2006)
　This afternoon I went to Roppongi to visit Livedoor Credit Company in the famous Mori Building. I've been asking them to finance me for managing my language school. They finally gave it a green light and I went to fill in some official documents in the presence of a lawyer that the company appointed. It took me more than three hours to finish all the procedure, which made me feel really exhausted. But on the other hand I could enjoy breathing in the IT business air in that area. I thought I would like to have may own language school in a high-tech building like that. Maybe someday.

　When I came home from Tokyo around 5:45, Ryoma welcomed me by jumping at me and licking my face. I knew he had been so lonely keeping the house for more than 6 hours by himself. He hadn't finished his lunch yet, which showed how lonely he had been all by himself. After he finished his lunch & dinner, my wife and I went out for a long evening walk with Ryoma. He looked really happy.

(Sunday, October 29, 2006)
　We had a class reunion tonight. They graduated from Tsurugadai Junior High School 15 years ago, which makes them 28 or 29 years old now. Because of my poor memory, I couldn't remember the names of most of them. I recognized most faces, though. I hear about 100 people including 4 teachers gathered for the first dinner party, which is of course quite incredible. I had to take the United Nations English Proficiency Test in the afternoon, so I joined them in the second drinking party. About 50 of them showed up, which surprised me a lot. The organizers were Keiko Naito(Kimura before marriage) and Takuma Hayakawa. They both were members of the students' council in those days. The party was so enjoyable that almost all of us stayed until 10 in the evening. We really had a happy time talking to each other.

　The U.N. English Proficiency Test was really tough. I don't think I have passed the test this time either. If I fail the test, I think I'll have to think of a better way of reading difficult articles with lots of technical terms in them. I have to enlarge my vocabulary.

(Saturday, October 28, 2006)
　The Japanese figure skaters performed really wonderfully―Nobunari Oda, Miki Ando, and Mao Asada. Nobunari Oda was great to win the gold medal by fantastic performance. The American silver medalist was much taller and better-looking than Oda, who showed higher skilles and more emotion than any other skater. Miki Ando was really elegant, actually as elegant as Mao Asada, but she perhaps missed something that Asada could show the audience. I don't know exactly what it was, but when I saw Ando look discouraged to see her artificial point, I knew the difference between Mao and Miki. Because of the same reason, Mao gets a lot more fans here in Japan too. Mao is agressive but doesn't look so; onthe other hand Miki is agressive and looks agressive too. It's not bad to be agressive. As a matter of fact Mao's coach always tells her and her sister to be agressive. But too much agressiveness sometimes annoy the audience.

　Tomorrow I'm taking the United Nations English Proficiency Test in Yokohama. Last time I tookd the same test, I got 10 points behind the required score. I don't know what will happen this time, but I'll try my best. If I fail again, I just have to take another test. Quite easy, isn't it?

(Friday, October 27, 2006)
　One of the major electric department store has opened just in front of JR Fujisawa Station for a few months now. I sometimes go around the store from the basement to the 6th floor. When I first dropped in at the building, I was surprised at the big number of goods displayed on each floor. But as I went there more often, I found that the prices were not so surprisingly cheap. You can buy the same products at much lower price if you shop online. However the problem is online shopping is a little bit dangerous. When you decide what goods to buy, you can't touch or see it directly. So a wiser shopper would try both ways according to the kinds of goods he's going to buy.

(Thursday, October 26, 2006)
　Now it looks like the Japanese society has lost its justice. We can no longer trust doctors, police officers, or school teachers. How about lawyers? Can we still trust them? Now is the time for us to protect ourselves by ourselves? Do we have to arm ourselves by getting secretly guns at the dark market? Who can we trust? What an awful society! Can we have a better society after completely destoryed by some missiles from North Korea? Then Kim Jong Il is the only reliable guy that could reform our rotten society? No way!

　The Nippon Ham Fighters were so powerful. They were always trying to be cheerful and they were always trying to do their best. They were really skillful and at the same time they were mentally tough. I was impressed by the manager Hillman who didn't want to be tossed up high in the air by his players. I think it's partly because there's no such custom of toss-up in the MBL. I guess he thinks the victory should not be brought about by the only one super manager, but that it should be gained by all the players bound tightly together. Yes, we all felt strong ties between each player. Congratulations on the first national championship for the last 44 years. Congratulations, all the fighters!

(Wednesday, October 25, 2006)
　Here I wrote down all what I'd like to complain about, but I should not make it public. So I erased all the writing. Usually I try to speak frankly, but this time if I uproad everything I'd like to say, I might lose my present job, which I couldn't let happen. OK, let's forget all about that.

　I asked my favorite barber to let me put another poster of my language school on the wall of the shop. Next to my posters are big posters of another major language school. Today most of the language schools have a hard time gathering students. Only the pink rabbit's school has been making a lot of profit thnaks to their wise advertisement on TV. On the other hand most other schools haven't thought of changing its old-fashioned way of managing school. I think they should respect students a lot more than now. In my school I try to pay as much respect to the students as possible. The monthly tuition fee to the usual lesson is 12,000 yen. I'm trying to let them feel that they are learning a lot more than the fee they pay every month. That's the biggest difference there is between major schools and my small one.

(Tuesday, October 24, 2006)
　Lots of false taxi tickets have been changed into cash in Tokyo. At the time when there're not enough jobs for people, this kind of crimes will increase in number. The only effective solution is, of course, for the government to assure us good jobs. If those who want to work can get full-time jobs, the Japanese society will get more stable than before. The number of crimes will automatically get smaller, because crimes basically do not pay, which everybody knows too well.

　Tomorrow morning I'm driving to Zengyo Station on the Odakyu Line to pick up one of my students, who has broken her ankle and now has to walk with crutches. She's so great not to give up coming to my English conversation school every Wednesday. She's over 50, so I hope she'll take good care of herself. I understand she would really like to go out of the house, but now is the most important time for her to get well.

(Monday, October 23, 2006)
　Another bullying case has been reported on TV. The bullies happened in a public high school in Hyogo Prefecture. The school is so-called "shingaku-ko," literally meaning many of its graduates go on to famous universities. Of course bullying has nothing to do with how smart the kids are.

　Why have so many bullies been spotlit recently? There were more severe bullies long time ago. At that time nobody was interested in the bullying. Only a few school teachers were struggling with the problem. Nobody tried to back them up. Why are they suddenly interested in the problem? I really wonder why. I'm surely against those crimes named "bullying," but I'm more against those who showed no interest in the problem at all and who suddenly started to shout against the problem. I would call them "hypocrites."

　After complaining so much, I went out for an evening walk with Ryoma. On the way we met a 14-year-old big female dog named "Poron." Her owner was worried that she would bark at Ryoma, but I felt that they would make good friends, because Poron looked very much like Kahana. Kahana has been behaving as Ryoma's sister. They enjoy wrestling every time they meet. As I expected, Poron and Ryoma suddenly started to wrestle. He got another good sister. Congratulations, Ryoma!

(Sunday, October 22, 2006)
　The professions I hate most are school teachers, doctors, police officers, politicians, and public servants. They're very important people, but at the same time they're very hard to trust. We cannot live without their help, but sometimes we get into trouble with them, which is quite annoying and irritating. I myself was a school teacher, so I know every detail happening inside school. What terrible people they are!

　When you are apt to think of something disgusting, it's a better idea to go out to the beaches. The seas are so beautiful especially in a cold season like fall or winter. It's perhaps because not so many people come and play in the water in those seasons. The water looks a little cleaner than in summer.

　After coming back from the evening walk, I let Ryoma take a hot shower. It seemed that he was a little bit sick, so I though a hot shower would make him refreshed. As I expected, Ryoma's now having a sound sleep in his cage. I hope to see him greet me cheerfully tomorrow morning.

(Saturday, October 21, 2006)
　There's a junior high school just a minute's walk from my house. Today four teams got togeter there to have some practice games of softball. As I heard the girls in the afternoon, I felt like going there to watch them play. I finished my lunch quickly and walked to the schoolground with my camera. Hagisono JHS was there to fight with Hikarigaoka JHS from Yamato City. The managers of both teams were quite familiar with me. I really enjoyed watching the game, which was of the top level for junior high school girls. Hagisono lost the game partly because some regular players were missing. But it's usually a good chance for other players who always stay at the bench cheering for their teammates. A good chance to be one of the starting nine.
　I saw one of the chance-takers at bat, but she was too careful about her batting to swing the bat. She was struck out without making a swing. She was scolded severely by the manager, which was quite natural, but I know how she felt in the batter's box. She was just too careful and nervous. I saw her again at bat a few innings later. At that time I wished hard that she could make a clean hit. What do you think happened to her? She made a clean hit herself! Great job! I was so happy to see her standing happily at the first base.

(Friday, October 20, 2006)
　As to the suicide case that happened in Fukuoka, the mass media are still quite interested in what action the pricipal of the dead boy's school takes. This morning the TV news tells that the principal rejected talking to the boy's parents about how to prevent any other suicide from happening. Of couse that's what the upper board of education told the principal to do. But as a school teacher or as a responsible human being, I'd like him to take the right actions possible. That's the only way he can express his condolences to the family.

　I think encouraging kids to study and urging them to study are completely different from each other. Some people think that if you don't push kids, they won't be willing to study. But others, including me, think that if you push them too much, they'll lose interest in studying. Which do you think is convincing? I really want to help them learn English, but I don't want to make them sit and study the foreign language.

(Thursday, October 19, 2006)
　Do you know there's an e-mail website that matches people from all over the world who would like to have e-mail friends in other countires? Registration is free of charge, but you've got to be careful when you start exchanging e-mail with the one introduced to you by the site organizer. I think it's a good idea for both sides to make the best use of the webcameras to talk to each other on the Internet. That's what is called a TV phone. Even if you talk more than an hour, you'll never be charged, because it's just a kind of e-mailing.

　I bought a lottery ticket a long time after I had bought one last. The ticket I got was Loto 6 and I couldn't get any money this time. I've been collecting precious data of Loto 6 for a few year, but it doesn't work well yet. Once it was easy to guess at least three numbers to win at least 1,000 yen, but the tendency of the appearance of numbers has been changing little by little. I have to work out a new rule for guessing the right numbers, hopefully to get as much as 200 million yen.

(Wednesday, October 18, 2006)
　There have been some writing on the mimic board to my webpage. They also feel that something was wrong with the grown-ups around the dead boy including his parents. I don't think we should blame his parents because they have been in deep sorrow just a few days after their kid's suicide, but at the same time I think it's unfair to put every responsibility on the principal. Of course he should resign on his own will, though. The boy's death will be of great importance if many people start thinking more deeply about this kind of bullying problem in school.

　NTT DoCoMo's started to use the serious bullying situation as part of its TV advertisement. A young girl appears and say that she'd like to talk to her frineds on the cell phone and that when she finds her frineds depressed she'd like to use the TV phone. Do they want to say that DoCoMo's cell phones will help solve the bullying problem? They're so aggressive, aren't they?

(Tuesday, October 17, 2006)
　The mass media are focused on the suicide committed by a junior high school boy in Fukuoka Pref. Why do they only blame the principal of the school? Is he really the one who should take the responsibility for the suicide? How about his parents? Why wasn't it possible for them to realize that their boy had been in trouble for such a long time? I don't care how severely teachers are bashed for not doing anything about the case, because I hate school teachers. However you should not be too emotional when you think of the suicide case that happened to an innocent boy. Why do parents know nothing about their own kid? Why was the principal blind to the bullies that had been done by the boy's homeroom teacher for a long time? Why didn't his friends have the courage to tell the fact to other teachers?

　Don't blame just one person for what has happened. It may be that you could have done something to prevent him from killing himself. A TV reporter is said to have recorded secretly what was talked about during the metting of teachers and parents. Is that what we really want from the mass media? The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology has nothing to do with this case? Why don't they make any comments on this case? The problem of bullying has been rooted much more deeply into the society. Who is to be blamed―that's what we can't or shouldn't decide so easily. You should ask yourself, "Have I done anything to help someone being bullied so far? Have I been of any help as to this problem?"

(Monday, October 16, 2006)
　Don't you think that children should have rights to choose their own schools to go to? Now they have to go to public schools that are decided by the regions they live in. What if there is no tennis team when you want to play tennis there? If there's another public school that has the tennis club nearby, you should be allowed to go on to that school. In that case, of course, their parents have to be responsible for what might happen on their way to a farther school.

　It's so easy to insist that school teachers today should change themselves. However do you think you could change youself so easily? If it's difficult for the teachers to improve themselves, how can public schools change themselves? The most reasonable way to solve the problem is to set up a completely new system of hiring teachers. The local boards of education should select whose who are willing to improve themselves even when they get older and older.

(Sunday, October 15, 2006)
　Do you watch TV with a big wide screen? Today liquid crystal displays bigger than 32 inches are very popular in Japan. Digital Terrestrial Television (DTTV or DTT) will start in 2011, when everyone who wants to enjoy watching television will have to buy a new TV with a digital tuner. Our family has been enjoying CATV, so we just had to change the tuner into a digital one, which was just 1,000 yen more expensive than the previous analog one. We use a 32-inch LCD without a digital tuner, which works so beautifully. Of course we can enjoy watching DTTV with that display. Good idea, isn't it? It was incredibly cheap!

　Tonight again I won a bid for a 8.2-inch PC monitor I had long wanted to get for the classroom. We have two big displays now, but I need one more of a smaller size to use for myself. It's not so easy to work on the keyboard while watching a 27-inch display just by the side of me. I've wanted to have my own display that I can watch from a 90-degree angle. I've been looking for one for a long time, visiting some of the major electrical appliances shops, but I haven't found any. I got this one for about 12,000 yen including sales tax, postage, and collect-on-delivery fee. I hope it will work well. The deal is safe this time, because I'm supposed to pay for the display on delivery.

(Saturday, October 14, 2006)
　Today a new English conversation class for high school students started. The first high school girl was a daughter of my friend's. I have to thank him for letting his daughter study at my language school. I know he thinks he can expect a lot from me, so I feel really responsible for his idea. Anyway she's such a smart girl that I'd like to teach as many things as possible. Of course I'd like to learn more about the English language together with the young girl. She's now in the second year of high school and last year she visited the southeastern part of England to stay at a private home for three weeks there. Her pronunciation is quite clear, which surprised me so much. I hope she'd become an active worker with highly evaluated English proficiency. I'm sure she will. But she herself says that she'd like to marry a pro-baseball player to go over to the United States together. Her favorite player is Mr.Kawasaki, the cool guy on the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. I can easily imagine her excited look sitting in front of the TV screen, watching WBC games.

(Friday, October 13, 2006)
　Somehow our dog Ryoma has loved cats since he came to us two and a half years ago. While he's walking, he tries to become good frineds with cats he happen to meet. But cats are often very dangerous for dogs to play with, because they have sharp claws to scratch dogs' eyes. We usually keep him away from cats, but he is still very much interested in them. Interestingly cats themselves know that if they come down from the wall to play with Ryoma, they might be insured by him. That's why they try to threaten Ryoma every time they meet each other. It is also said in English that a cornered rat is dangerous.

　Online shopping is sometimes quite dangerous. I won a bid for the MP4 player, which very much resebles iPod by Apple Computer, about a week ago. Soon I paid the money into the seller's account, but I haven't received any e-mails telling he/she confirmed the money in his/her account. I'm afraid I have been deceited by the seller, whose name sounds like that of a Chinese. It's been my fault. Too bad!

(Thursday, October 12, 2006)
　Give me a break! Why are there so many crazy bicyclists in today's Japan. They don't know anything about the traffic rules. I don't think they can even understand the meanings of the three different colors of traffic lights. Most of them will never stop at the railroad crossing. They ignore the red traffic light and go across the road when they can't without hesitation.

　The police says that they're going to take decisive action against those crazy bicyclists, but they are often just talkers. In order to prevent terrible traffic accidents from happening, they really have to crack down on those who ride a bike without obeying the traffic rules. Otherwise they should start a new system in which bicyclists also have to get a driver's license. It's not a bad idea, is it?

(Wednesday, October 11, 2006)
　How can you easily decide that North Korea is an evil-minded country? It's true that the leader Kim Jong Il is someone who can never be trusted, but the people living there haven't done anything wrong. The United Nations should intervene the North Korean government and advise them to build up a really democratic country. If they have a peace-seeking government, the world would be glad to give them enough aids. If they become a richer country, they don't have to do a nuclear explosion test to get attention from the other countries in the world. The most important thing is for the world to stop regarding North Korean people as crazy ones that have ever existed. I think it's also a serious problem that we still have lots of people in Japan despise Korean people just as the older generations did. All the people have been created equal. That's what is needed first to build a peaceful world.

(Tuesday, October 10, 2006)
　Today I had a new student in my language school. She's a high school student going to a private school in northern Kanagawa. Her father, an art teacher at a junior high school, and I have been good friends. I really thank him for sending his daughter to my school and at the same time I feel very much responsible for having an important daughter of my friend's. She says she is crazy about baseball and that she'd like to marry a baseball player to live in the United States together. Big dream, isn't it?

　Do you know what gender identity disorder is? Even though you were born as a boy physically, you are sure that you are a complete girl mentally or vice versa. Until you become a certain age you have been feeling something is wrong with your gender. And one day you realize you are the one who has gender identity disorder. There's nothing you can do about that, but you just have to wait for the day when your situation is widely approved by the society. It's a serious problem―really serious.

(Monday, October 9, 2006)
　As I had planned, I went to Sagamihara City to watch a quarter-final between Hagisono JHS and Tokiwa JHS of Yokosuka City. According to the manager Ide of Hagisono JHS, his players hadn't prepared enough for today's game. It's really difficult to keep junior high school girls in good condition both physically and mentally. Tokiwa won the game by the score of 10 to 6. It was a good lesson for them, too.

　I went to Ohno Kita JHS near Fuchinobe Station on the Yokohama Line by motorbike. I wondered if I should go there by car, by train, or by motorbike. It was so far away that I didn't want to ride my motorbike there, but at last I chose the fastest way. That was going there by motorbike. I had never been so far by motorbike, so sometimes I stopped to check where I was on the map. It was not so difficult as I had expected. But I was pretty tired paying much attention to the cars running by my side. I would never go there by motorbike. Next time I'd use my car. The parking fee is no problem when I think of the scary ride.

(Sunday, October 8, 2006)
　I didn't go to Sagamihara City to watch softball games between junior high school girls' teams. It's a prefectural championship tournament to decide the best freshgirl team. The winner will go on to the Kanto District Tournament that will be held next spring. I think I'll go there tomorrow if the weather is as beautiful as today.

　I feel something is wrong with my stomach. Maybe it's my liver or one of my kidneys. When I had some kidney stones about 10 years ago, I had a similar symptom. I somtimes feel I have a dull pain in my left stomach. I thing I'm going to try to drink as much oolong tea as possible. Ooolong tea is said to have great diuretic effects. I don't want to have that sharp pain again.

(Saturday, October 7, 2006)
　I didn't know that Kawasaki and Yokohama were in the list of nuclear bombing after the first meeting for the serious decision. Of course Kyoto was one of them. It was a little later that Kyoto was moved out of the list because of not a few opposition by American specialists. They thought Kyoto was too important for the Japanese people to be destroyed by the brand-new bomb. What did the U.S. government have to drop the bombs for? They've been insisting that they had to use the nuclear weapons in order to bring an earlier end to the second World War, but now we know it was not true. They had to show their war potentialities to the Soviet Union. For the U.S. government it was just a small piece of cake to kill more than one hundred thousand people in an instant. I wonder if they could blame Hitler for killing tens of millions of Jews.

　It's quite different a weather we're having today than yesterday. A big tropical storm was bringing a lot of rain and strong winds to Japan all day yesterday. It was tough to keep an umbrella opened safely in the air. Today it's such a beautiful day after the storm is gone.

(Friday, October 6, 2006)
　North Korea is said to be planning a nuclear explosion test in the very near future. It might happen during this month. What if they really put the test into practice? All the other countires will be completely againt the poor country in the northeast Asia. Is Kim Jong Il so dull not to understand the international situation today? Maybe yes, and maybe no. Nobody know how crazy he could be.

　It was a very big storm that we've been having since last night. The tropical storm has been stimulating the low pressure front of the fall season, which has brought an indredible amount of rain to Japan. Hey, give me a break. My wife has been talking to me about the long-sleeved shirt I'm wearing for tomorrow's lesson. I'm not Shotoku Taishi who is said to have had special ability to listen to more than dozens of people at the same time. Now I'm completely at a loss where I am, what I wanted to write about.

(Thursday, October 5, 2006)
　They call it "Tu-chan Phenomenon." Are they crazy? It's them, the mass media, that made up the craze. I wanted them not to make the high school baseball boys into TV personalities. But actually they did. Stop call Mr.Saito "Yu-chan," or Mr.Tanaka "Ma-kun." The craze makes us sick, real sick.

　The Takigawa City Board of Education admitted that the elementary school girl had committed suicide because of a series of bullying by other kids. They should have known the fact from the very beginning, but they've been trying to pretend to be innocent. How crazy they are! They should think of the parents in deep sorrow who has lost their precious girl.

　It's not so difficult to imagine how many other bullies are being ignored at school everywhere in Japan. I experienced the same situation myself. For most of the school teachers, students are just other people's kids. You may not want to believe this, but it's the truth that they have at school today.

(Wednesday, October 4, 2006)
　Why did the little girl have to kill herself? It must have been so scary to take her own life away. How could a 11-year-old girl do such a dreadful thing? For her it was much more painstaking to go on living than to kill herself. In her letter she said she had been bullied at school. She is said to have talked to her homeroom teacher about the problem, but the teacher didn't do anything to help her get out of the situation. What if the girl had been his/her own daughter? Did the teacher also ignore what was going on around his/her own child? No way!

　One of the biggest problems that school teachers have today is that they can't love their pupils or students. If they love kids, they could be more serious about solving bullying problems. But actually they pretend not to notice the bullies, or they couldn't find out there are bullies at school. Who is to be blamed? The parents who didn't pay good attention to their kids? The teachers who didn't try their best to carry out their jobs? Or the kids who was easy to be bullied by other kids? What do you think? I know there are some cold-blooded guys who dare to choose the third answer. You son of a bitch! Ooops, sorry.

(Tuesday, October 3, 2006)
　I'm so happy to know that Mr.Matsui of the New York Yankees is supposed to be a starting member for today's game. It was his first time to have a "summer vacation" during the season, which made him so much embarrased that he might have felt responsible for every game his team lost. Now is the time for him to blow off every stress he's been piling up since he got injured while rushing for the batted ball.

　Tomorrow the fall holidays are over for the KGC and I'm starting to teach the classes there again. On Thursdays I'm supposed to teach the new 3-month intensive course, which will make me a little bit busier. I like working constantly, though.

(Monday, October 2, 2006)
　Look at the picture in the left. This is our pet dog Ryoma, who is waiting for the engineers from J-com Shonan to equip our house with a new digital tuner that is needed to receive the brand-new digital terrestrial television. It took them about a little more than an hour to complete the job, which was long enough to make Ryoma bored.

　This lonely-looking pose of his reminds us of his young days. He used to stick out his forehands from the cage and stayed there looking bored when he was a little boy. Does a dog usually make this kind of expressions? It's more like a human being than a usual pet dog. He may make such expressions because he's been living with us since he came to our house two years ago. When we look at his various expressions, we don't feel he's just a pet dog who seldom shows his feelings.

(Sunday, October 1, 2006)
　Have you ever eaten the eyeballs of a tuna? I have once seen the big head of a tuna served on the table. My friends were happy to eat it, but I couldn't. I know the meat covering the head is so delicious, but when I think of the whole head before it is cooked, I don't feel like regarding it as food. No way! Especially its eyeballs really make me sick. Do I know they are said to be good for curing cancer? Yes, I do. I think I could take it if it is smashed into powder or something. Otherwise, I would say, "No, thank you."

　My wife seems to be worried about the weight that she has gained since we got married three years ago. Now the term "metabolic syndrome" is widely known here in Japan. It's not a new term in the world, but in Japan, where there are not many overweight people, the term has not been so popular among us. The most important thing to cope with the disease is to do a lot of exercises and stop eating oily food. I always carry some pictures of my wife and me, in which we both look much slimmer than now. Can we go back to ourselves in those days? Of course we can. Let's hustle!

(Saturday, September 30, 2006)
　As I was walking Ryoma this evening, we met Kahana, a half-breed of the Golden Retriever. She's a big four-year-old girl who has been taking care of Ryoma since he was a little puppy. Still now every time they meet, they get into a kind of wrestling. If they were seen wrestling, most people would think they were fighting harshly. After saying good-bye to Kahana, Ryoma suddenly stopped walking to wait for somone coming from behind. It was Lucky, also a half-breed of the Siberian Husky. She's also a big four-year-old girl who is incredibly smart. She can really understand what we're thinking about and she never runs away from her owner. Sometimes she helps "Dad" walk the other four dogs living together now.

　I don't know why Ryoma is interested in big girls. If I'm guessing right, most of his good friends are all big boys and girls. It's also interesting that he is liked by most of the big dogs he happen to meet. He may be as broad-minded as Ryoma Sakamoto, who tried to change the Japanese society at the end of the Edo Era.

(Friday, September 29, 2006)
　Our dog Ryoma often changes the places where he takes a rest. Sometimes he dives into the upper "futon" to stay under it for a long time. If you don't know his habit of doing that, you might step on him to cause a terrible fatal accident. It's very important for us to take away anything that could be dangerous to him. It might be wise of us to keep him inside the cage during the night, but by so doing we might have a hard time falling asleep because of his cries to be freed. Let's think of a better idea anyway.

　The new prime minister Shinzo Abe told the press that he would do his best to improve the relations between Japan and China or South Korea. While he was the Chief Cabinet Secreatry in the Koizumi Cabinet, it would have been impossible for him to express his own idea as to foreign affairs. He said that he would support Mr.Koizumi's visiting the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15. However I guess he won't do the same thing that is sure to worsen the relations with the two major Asian countries.

(Thursday, September 28, 2006)
　Today I don't have any classes to take care of at KGC. From yesterday until next Tuesday they're having fall holidays. They say that the holidays are set at this season of the year to adjust the number of classes throughout the year. I myself don't think we need these holidays. A famous English proverb says that practice makes perfect. So it's very important to try to have time for learning English every day. Major language schools have too many holidays. If you blame them for being too lazy, they can't say anything about that. I believe they should be more sincere about managing their schools.

　When you start something new, you might be really concentrating on how you manage your business. You might be so much interested in what other people think about your business and try hard to catch up with their opinions. But as your business gets bigger and bigger, you could lose your keen interest in what you have been doing. You could become a poor manager at that time. It's very important to sometimes make sure if you're doing what you first aimed to do.

(Wednesday, September 27, 2006)
　The stormy weather said goodbye to our region early this afternoon. It started raining heavily while my mother was walking Ryoma. So when she came back home, she let him take a warm shower. As is usual the case with him, he's so happy he runs around in the house after taking a shower. He usually doesn't like the hair dryer, but today it was OK to be blown with hot air coming from the dryer, perhaps because it was a little too cold for his wet body. He looked extremely happy and rubbed his body against my pants.

　He's now sound asleep with such a cute sleeping face. These days he's been nestling up to us so much. I don't see why, but it' true that he strongly hates to be alone. When one of us leaves home for some shopping or something, he cries as if he could never see him/her again. You could hear his cries even when you're standing at the opposite side of the condominium that is built to the north of my house. Is this what you call a "yoji-gaeri," or returning to the babyhood?

(Tuesday, September 26, 2006)
　Kaoru Kobayashi, the suspect who killed an elementary school girl in Nara Prefecture, was sentenced to death. The crazy guy himself said that he'd like to accept the death penalty, but his lawyers decided to appeal against the decision to the upper court. Why? The victim's family are still in great sorrow. When you think of how they feel about this dreadful murder, you can't give more time for the final decision to be made at the Supreme Court.
　
　Killing people has become so pupular that we're getting less and less sensitive to the biggest problem we have in today's Japan. How can you kill your parents, kids, brother or sisters? Why do you carry a weapon that could take away people's lives? You have to be careful when you feel like yelling at people who have done something immoral. If you stop them and let them make an apology for what they have done, you might be stabbed to death. So scary, isn't it?

(Monday, September 25, 2006)
　This morning in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, a careless driver ran into the line of nursery school kids and three of them are reported to be in a very serious situation in which their heartbeats and breathing system are stopped. It's not a big car like a truck that caused the terrible accidents. When you see the medium-sized car, you'll suspect that the driver was not just careless but possibly sleeping or drunk. We'll know the details of the accident in the evening news.

　A 27-year-old woman was killed near the mouth of a tunnel last night. She was stabbed in the stomach and was killed because of too much breeding. The traces of her blood show that she tried hard to run away from the killer and got out of breath on her way out of the tunnel. How can you kill an innocent woman just for fun? Is it so easy to take away people's lives? It should never happen again. The only thing we can do is just wish for her happiness in the heaven.

(Sunday, September 24, 2006)
　Again I made a critical mistake when I was about to catch the grounder. I don't know why, but I often make mistakes when I deal with the ball. One reason may be lack of practice, and another reason could be lack of confidence. You have to believe in yourself when you try something difficult. It is not so easy as most people think to catch the ball directly coming to you. It's much easier to jump at the ball that is about to go through your side. But I could hit a two-run homerun, which made me get back part of the confidence I was losing. Next time I stand on the diamond, I'll never be afraid of making mistakes.

　Our dog Ryoma spent half of the day by himself. When I came home from the softball game, he looked so happy that he almost jumped at me. Dogs never hide their emotions, so we can tell easily when they're happy and when they're lonely. He's got a lot of different kinds of expressions, which make us feel he's so cute and daring. We didn't give him a piece of beef steak, though. No way, Ryoma.

(Saturday, September 23, 2006)
　I watched a TV program entitled "The Abe Shinzo Story" on TV this evening after the private lesson was over. Until then I had not been so much interested in the 52-year-old statesman. Now he's going to be the youngest Prime Minister that Japan has ever seen. It seems that he's much more trustworthy than I had expected him to be. Let's see what he would do after being officially appointed as Prime Minister.

　I'm playing in a softball game at 3 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Before the game some of us have to work as judges for the previous game. I don't think I'll be able to play well, because I have a kind of still shoulder. I feel I have some trouble swinging my right arm. Is it what you call a "shiju-kata," or the trouble in the shoulders you have when you are in your forties? It seems I need some training every day.

(Friday, September 22, 2006)
　My wife's mother is now fighting with her esophagus cancer. She's been staying in the Fujisawa City Hospital for about three weeks now. On the weekend her doctor let her leave the hospital to stay with her husband in Tsurugadai, Chigasaki City. Today she was in good condition and the woman doctor allowed her to go home for a few days. She's been taking both radiotherapy and anticnacer drugs. Before the treatment started, the doctor explained the danger that could accompany the medical treatment.
　So far no big troubles have been found. I hope the painstaking treatment will help her greatly get rid of the scary cancer. God bless my mother-in-law!

　I sometimes wonder what education should be. I've seen so many dishonest people called "teachers" who don't seem to care about their students. Basically education is not business. Education is to help students develop his/her hidden possibilities and talents. Those who dream of becoming a super-rich people can not have somthing to do with education, I believe. As Billy Joel sang in his song, "honesty" is such a lonely word. And "honesty" is what they mostly need from us.

(Thursday, September 21, 2006)
　I haven't done anything to my new computer yet. First I'm installing some software including "Ichitaro," "Hanako," "Sanshiro," and some English-English dictionaries. I'm not using it to access the Internet, so nothing complicated is not needed. I just install necessary software and fill up the battery and start using the most modern machine I've got in my house. I guess installing will take me about 2 hours or so. It's a piece of cake, isn't it?

　Have you ever tried sesame seeds cookies. They are a type of Japanese rice cookies called "senbei" or more politely "o-senbei." Sesame seeds are believed to be quite good for your health. In that sense sasame seeds cookies are very healthy food that's worth eating. They don't look delicious because of their black color, but actually they're really good to eat. You bet!

(Wednesday, September 20, 2006)
　Why is it that most of the banks only lend money to rich people? Those who really need money can't rent money at a low interest rate. Something's wrong with the system, I believe. The government has decided to order the finance companies to set the highest interest rate to 20% per year, but I hear there're some exceptions. Are they really going to protect us from aggressive financiers?

　I bought a flash memory stick for transferring certain data from one of my computers to another. I got it on the Internet. The online shop I used was mangaged by a very nice man who was kind enough to give me enough information by e-mail. I returned his e-mail and after that we exchanged some e-mails with each other. It was really nice meeting him.

　Late this afternoon the DELL computer I had ordered two weeks ago was delivered to my house. They started building up my laptop on September 5. It took them only about 10 days to finish the task and the computer was shipped to Japan. I checked the transportation website and knew that it was going to be delivered to my place much earlier than had been scheduled. I can't tell you how I felt when I unwrapped the cardboard box in which "my" computer had been carefully kept.

(Tuesday, September 19, 2006)
　We're going to have the new Prime Minister tomorrow. Most people believe that Mr.Abe will win the party leader election. I wonder how much we can expect from him. He used to be pretty energetic in order to solve the abduction problem between North Korea and Japan. But what about now? I personally don't think we can expect a lot from him. How about building a new election system in which all the people living in Japan can vote for a leader they think they can trust?

　Now the very big typhoon, named "Shanshan" after a girl's name in Hongkong, has gone, and the hot late summer heat is back here with us. Last night you couldn't go to bed easily, could you? My wife and I turned on the air-conditioner, which was still working when I woke up early this morning. After going to the bathroom, I turned it off and opended the window and the door widely. A nice cool wind came in and I felt really good, which didn't last long until we had a humid weather around 9 o'clock.

(Monday, September 18, 2006)
　Why are there sill so many drunk drivers? A lot of traffic accidents caused by drunk driving have been reported for the last few weeks. It's not so important whether the driver is a public servant or not. It's critical for everyone to decide to grab the steering wheel after drinking a few glasses of alcohol. When you know your state of driving could cause a serious car accident and still go on driving, you would be charged "dangerous drunk driving," which can give you 25 years in prison at most. While the victims are buried under the ground, the traffic criminals can live until they die natural deaths. Something's wrong with the system, isn't it? If a member of your family should be killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, can you forgive him/her after their staying in the prison for 25 years? I don't think I can.

　Today's my mothers birthday. She was born on September 18, 1938. She's become 68 years old. She was just 18 when I was born. She was such a young mother, but she tried her best to work for the PTA. Last night I asked her what she wanted as a birthday present. She said she didn't want anything special, so I took my wife and my mother to a small Chinese food restaurant to have lunch together. Someday I'd like to be rich enough to give her a very big birthday present.

(Sunday, September 17, 2006)
　This afternoon one of my ex-students at KGC came to visit me at my house. After studying in the three-month intensive course, she went over to New Zealand to learn English at a language school there. Now she's back here in Japan, wondering if she should go to New Zealand again. I would say she should take the chance and go to New Zealand again. You should try everything you could while you're young. When you get older, you have to think of the important people around you to make a big decision.
　When I was a college student, I also thought of going to the United States to major in the teaching of English as a foreign language at college there. But I didn't have the courage to put the idea into practice. Still now I regret what I decided to do―to stay in Japan rather than to study overseas.

(Saturday, September 16, 2006)
　I've registered my homepage and all the blogs on the raking website. It's very stimulating in that I can see how many people are interested in my webpages. It gives me a good chance to think over the contents of my webpages to make some modification to them. What are people interested in now? Why don't they come and visit my websites? When I give deep thoughts to those questions, I might be able to see what I should do. It's also important to hold on to what you think you have to do, though.

　I'm crazy about popcorn. A few times a week I go to the nearby convenience store to get a pack of popcorn to fill my empty stomach at night. I know it's no good to have too many snacks before going to bed, but I can't stop eating it. A scientist who studies the areas of a long lifespan decided that corn and beans are effective for the longer lifespan of people. That's why I feel like eating popcorn even at midnight. Anything wrong?

(Friday, September 15, 2006)
　Children are so smart that they absorb everything they learn. I take care of two conversation classes for 7th graders. There are five in one class and three in the other class. Very surprisingly they can understand what I'm talking about in English. They're still 12 years old and they've been in junior high school for about half a year. If all the English teachers had good command of teaching in simple, fluent English, Japanese children would surely become much better speakers of the common language of the world.

　Matsumoto Chizuo, the founder of the Aum Shinrikyo religious cult, was finally sentenced to death today. It's been such a long time since he was arrested for directing many crimes including the Sarin gas attack on the Tokgyo subway on March 20, 1995. Many people think that the judgement system of Japan takes too much time to make the final judgement. I think so too. Why do they have to feed a dreadful criminal using out tax? When we think of the anger and sorrows of the victims and their families, we earnestly hope the system will be reformed as soon as possible. I hope that he'll be executed immediately. And the religious cult should officially be broken up, which most of us sincerely want the government to do.

(Thursday, September 14, 2006)
　Drunk driving has been drawing our attention for the last few days. It's been a big problem for a very long time, and the number of car accident caused by drunk drivers is increasing. Why can't they stop drinking when they're going to grab the steering wheel? You wouldn't like to be deeply involved in the lives of other people, would you? Accidents will happen, but you should do anything you think of to avoid some of them.

　This morning my mother took Ryoma our for a morning walk, but soon after they left home, it started to rain a little heavily. Ryoma was all wet when he came home, so I let him take a shower in the bathroom. He looked so happy taking a warm shower. To tell the truth he didn't like taking a shower when he was a little boy. But now he understands it's very refreshing to take a warm shower. The problem is that he tends to lose much or his hair after taking a shower. You can imagine how hard a time my mother had brushing him.

(Wednesday, September 13, 2006)
　This evening I had to ride my motorbike through the cold rain. I had a TOEIC class for the KGC, Fujisawa. I could go there by bus and train, but the transportation fee is not supposed to be fully paid. So I decided to use my motorbike in order to save both time and money. However riding a motorbike in the rain is quite dangerous today. You can't expect what will happen just ahead of you these days when more and more people ignore the traffic rules to involve other people into terrible traffic accidents.

　Oh, my gosh! My motorbike has broken down. Something seems to be wrong with the brake system. It's so scary, isn't it? I suddenly noticed a strange smell coming from the rear tire. I guess the brake pad has burned out for some reason. I was happy it hadn't happened on my way back home. I think I have to pay more attention to the maintenance of my motorbike. I'll take it to the repair shop tomorrow.

(Tuesday, September 12, 2006)
　It's suddenly become cool for the last few days. It's so cool that I don't have to be taken care of by the air-conditioner of my room upstairs. Maybe my wife feels the happiest because she doesn't like staying in an air-conditioned room, especially during the night.

　This afternoon I'm expecting a new TV set to be delivered to my house. It costs me about 60,000 yen including sales tax and transportation fee, which is surprisingly cheap. When I think of the cheap price, I wouldn't be able to complain about the clearness of the screen, but it's OK if it works well as just a monitor for the classroom. I already have a 19-inch monitor and the new 27-inch one is going to be the main one instead of the old monitor. That means that we have two big screens for the lesson room so that every student will have a good view of the monitor wherever they decide to sit. So great, isn't it?
　However, toward the end of tonight's lesson there was something wrong with one of the computers in the lesson room. I didn't work out what had caused the trouble, so I shut down the system without following the normal process. After all it was all right. The computer has been working so hard for the lessons that it somtimes needs a holiday.

(Monday, September 11, 2006)
　Five years ago today, the United States was shaken by simultaneous terrors of an incredible scale. The World Trade Center buildings, so-called the Twin Towers, were attacked by hijackers, which killed thousands of people working in those buildings. It was fate that decided who was going to be a survivor. Even some people who worked on higher floors than the floor destroyed by two hijacked planes had chances to get out of the buildings. There were others who tried to rescue people and who never came back.
　There must be some definite reason for those terrors, but if you try to solve difficult questions by killing innocent people, then you'll never be approved by the world citizens. Are they going to kill themselves in order to change the America-oriented world? I understand that the U.S. government have sometimes been too aggressive to be followed, but the people living in the country is as innocent as the people living in other countries. Nobody has the right to kill innocent citizens―ever!
　I'd like to express my condolences for those who were killed at the place that is now called Ground Zero.

(Sunday, September 10, 2006)
　The "blog" incident has not finished yet. The owner of the "kanji blog" bashed me for something I had never done. She suspected that I had done some illegal access to my own blogs to get them to be highly ranked on the ranking website. I told her that I had never done that, but she firmly insisted I had done wrong. Late at night I sent an e-mail to the ranking website and told them that the crazy woman had been bashing me for what I had never done. Everything she did to me was, of course, against the criminal law. Will she have the nerve to face the serious situation that is waiting for her? I don't think she does. Those who are easy to blame others are also easy to run away from difficult situation.
　After all all her blogs were unlisted from the ranking site, which didn't make me happy, though. I'm not interested in making other people unhappy. Even those who like bashing me never make me feel like doing the same to them. I don't want to be one of them.
　Just before going to bed, as I was making the last check on my website, I found her writing in one of my blogs. It seemed that she was really sorry for what she had done to me, but how can I believe her? I've seen so many mean women while I was a school teacher. I really hate that type of a woman, sorry to say.

(Saturday, September 9, 2006)
　This afternoon a man in his 30's came to talk to me about the lesson available for him. He said that he didn't even know the difference between the be-verbs and usual verbs, but in fact most people have the same problem in common. Language learning is different from knowledge acquiring. You don't have to be a scholar of English grammar. What you have to do is just keep practicing. When you try to master a foreign language, practice really makes perfect. If you try 10 times and still you can't make it, then you just try another 10 times to find yourself getting better than before. This is how you improve your language proficiency. It's a piece of cake, isn't it?
　I hope he will decide to join us at the end of this month. I also hope more and more people, young and old, will be coming to knock on the door of my language school.

(Friday, September 8, 2006)
　I heard from my mother that the ace softball pitcher Ueno appeared in the TV show yesterday morning. Her sincerity is highly evaluated by Utsugi Reika, now manager of her team Hitachi Renesas Takasaki and once captain of China's National Softball Team. The 173-centimeter-tall woman must have looked so shy to everybody's eyes. Her modesty attracts many softball fans like me.
　For dozens of years Japanese pitchers have been a few steps behind foreign pitchers as for the speed of a pitched ball. When the Sydney Olympic Games were held in Australia, the maximum speed of a Japanese pitcher was a little over 100 k,/h. However the super girl recorded the maximum speed of 119 km/h, which is of course the fastest pitch in the world. Ms.Ueno has realized our dream!
　Many people tend to pay attention to great baseball players, which is quite understandable. But what happens in their "bright" future? Many of the great baseball players decide to play in pro baseball world, just to end up as junk players. But most of the softball players continue playing until they reach physical limits fo theirs. They're used to the situation with no spotlight, so they're mentally tougher than baseball players.
　Softball is a really exciting sport that everyone can enjoy both playing and watching. I hope more and more people will be interested in the fantastic sport and cheer for many great "shy" players for as long as they can. I'd like to thank the staff of the TV show to have invited her as a guest.

(Thursday, September 7, 2006)
　Last night I drank too much cold drink and had diarrhea just before going to bed. It came to me so suddenly. I think I have to be more careful now that we're in the cool season.
　Many Japanese people are still excited by the news of the newly-born baby boy. He is a little baby weighing only 2,500 kilos, but he's a very important "boy" of much bigger significance. The mother named Kiko-sama seems very happy, but deep inside she might feel embarrassed to have drawn people's attention instead of her sister-in-law Masako-sama. Is it true that the Crown Princess Masako-sama is now relieved to get out of the situation in which she is strongly bashed for not having a baby boy? I doubt it myself. If I were her, I would feel much more responsible for what I couldn't do. I would think of myself as someone not so important to the Royal Family.

　According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word "hypocrite" means a person who pretends to have moral standards or opinions that they do no actually have. I've seen lots of hypocrites so far. How can they be so dishonest, smiling on the surface, but laughing deep inside. Well, I can't write about this in detail. You might know what I mean, or you might not.

(Wednesday, September 6, 2006)
　Late last night Ryoma suddenly started licking my pants, which seemed to be lasting forever. I have no idea as to why he did that, but possibly he was trying to take some salt from the surface of my pants or from the skins of my body.

　It is often said that we should be careful not to give too much salt to pet dogs. Salty food may taste good, but it also brings about a difficult situation on them. But there are some others who insist that they should take required amount of salt in order not to suffer from high temperature syndrome. That's why I usually try to give him some cheese or ham, which will give him enough salt to keep his body in good health.

　We've been having cold rain all this afrternoon. In a weather like this, you don't have to turn on the air-conditioner any longer. You suddenly notice you're in the fall, and you tend to catch cold if you think it's OK to go to sleep without a blanket over your body.

　When I was just about to leave home for KGC, I got a phone call to let me know that the TOEIC class would be canceled for the time being. What? Why do they tell me such an important change of schedule only two hours before the lesson. I can no longer trust them, because this is not the first time for them to make sudden cancel of the lesson. OK, let's forget about that and keep walking forward.


(Tuesday, September 5, 2006)
　One of my ex-students I taught at ECC last year came to visit me at my home this afrternoon. She came to Chigasaki Station and waited for me to come and pick her up. She said it was her first visit to our city, so I took her to a famous ramen shop, which was, sorry to say, closed today. Then I took her to another Chinese food restaurant and ate grilled pork with ginger together,
　Whe we reached home and went into the entrance hall, Ryoma rushed to us and jumped at her with his ears layed flat on the head. It means he was extremely happy to see her. I asked her if she had been keeping a dog herself and found that she once had a dog at her parents' house. She told me that she would like to keep a pet dog again when she and her husband moved to another place.

　I'm dying to know the result of the final game between Japan and America. Yes, I'm talking about the World Women's Softball Championship Tournament. It's about ten minutes past nine, so the game must be over now. Now is the age of information technology, isn't it? Then we should be able to contact our favorite information at any time we like.

(Monday, September 4, 2006)
　It's been incredibly humid since this morning. The south wind might have brought in warm air from the Pacific Ocean. I had to change my clothes a few times in order to handle the English lessons.

　Before leaving home for KGC TOEIC class, I took Ryoma for an evening walk. On our way we met a lot of freinds of Ryoma's, which made our walk longer than I had expected. But it's a great sensation that most of the dogs remember both Ryoma and me and that they try to rub their bodies against my body. I'm happy to have a dog like Ryoma who never looks jealous when I touch other dogs. He's such a cool guy.
　Time flies, doesn't it? Ryoma is now 2 years and 7 months old. I'm sorry for all the dogs for having such short lives. I hope Ryoma will lead a really happy life and that he will live as long as possible.

(Sunday, September 3, 2006)
　I still keep on reforming the lesson room with more hi-tech equipments. Now you can listen to the correct pronunciation either from the speakers set on both sides of the monitor or through the headphones. A new CD-MD player has been introduced to make it easier for me to start the CD at specifid parts again and again. The lesson room is 8-straw-mat large, which seems a little bit small for all the stuff that is related to the learning of English. It's quite difficult to ask a carpenter to reform it into a larger room, of course.

　Late in the afternoon, I went to a major bookstore to buy an English textbook for public junior high school. But the women at the cashier told me that I had to order the textbook from the publishing company. I didn't have time, so I looked for a study aid. It cost me 1,800 yen, which was obviously too expensive for its cheap contents, but I had nothing else to help me.

(Saturday, September 2, 2006)
　Time's passing by so quickly and it's already the third day of September. Will we be able to visit Kyoto this fall? My wife has had a lot of stress by taking care of her mother. It's true that she needs some rest. Kyoto is her favorite place, so jsut a short stay in that old city will be good enough to console her tired mind.

　In the afternoon, after finishing the TOEIC 800-A class, I rode my motorbike to Fujisawa to do some shopping at Bic Camera and Yurindo, one of the biggest bookstores in Japan. It took me about 25,000 yen to complete all my shopping. I'm sure it's not a waste of money, though.

　Something seems to be wrong with my motorbike. Its brake doesn't work well, which is so horrible. I called a relative of mine who runs a motorcycle shop and he came to take a look at my bike. He advised me to take some money to fix the bike, so I'm taking it to his factory on Monday morning next week. You might be surprised to hear the screech that my bike makes when I brake it. It makes such a terrible noise every time I brake it that I've come to hesitate to slow down.

(Friday, September 1, 2006)
　The TV news told this morning that public school teachers are illegally getting salary for something very cheap during their summer vacation. I wonder why they're suddenly bashed "now." School teachers have been quite dull for such a long, long time. There are still a lot more things that could surprise you. I don't recommend you check it out yourself, though.

　Do you know what happened 83 years ago today? Yes, we had the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, which killed more than 100,000 people in the fires that broke out after the major quake. Scientists say that the same scale of earthquake, 7.9 on the Richter scale, should occur every 60 years. It's been already 83 years since the Great Kanto Earthquake. Oh, my gosh! What does that mean?

　I sometimes wonder why there are some people who still how to behave when they become, say 50 years old. Today I taught English to a big group of about 20 students. When I was about to start the lesson, a few of them still kept talking to each other. I couldn't believe that. They're not high school kids. Why don't they understand it is bad manners not to be quiet at the beginning of the lesson? No wonder today's young people don't know how to behave, because they have been grown by those incredible parents. Too bad!

　On my way back home from KGC, I saw my wife walking Ryoma. They were not far away from our house, so I hurried home to park my bike and put all my stuff at the entrance hall and ran to join them. After all he didn't do his business, but we enjoyed walking together in the cool night air.