(Monday, January 1, 2006)
　I watched Asada Mao's videotaped performance at the exhibition a few hours ago. I was very much impressed by her grace while she was skating around the rink. These days there are not so many people who performs so professionally that we tend to think they will be able to do anything that we expect from them. This year I'd like to go on trying my best to become such a professional English instructor―hopefully one of the best teachers here in Japan today.

　I thought of going to the beach with my wife to see the first sunrise of the year, but I was too sleepy to do that. Last night my wife and I enjoyed watching a DVD movie "Mission Impossible �V" starring Tom Cruise. We went past half of the film, when I found my wife sleeping. I stopped ploying the DVD, which we could restart watching later. It's such a great movie, packed full with lots of thrilling scenes. I think I'm lucky to start the New Year with such an impressive movie.

　Now the first day of the New Year 2007 has passed so quickly that we're getting into the second day in 4 hours. Every year we wait for the moment for the New Year to make a start, but once we get over the line time also starts flying as usual. I'd like the days of this year go on as slowly as possible.

(Tuesday, January 2, 2006)
　I've enjoyed "Mission Impossible 3" starring Tom Cruise. It was just as great as I had expected. Last year when it was released, I really wanted to go to see it at the theater. But I was too busy to do so. When the DVD of the movie was released, I soon tried to buy one, but I was still too busy to see it. So I was happy to be able to enjoy the movie at the beginning of the New Year.
　One of my American friends told me that Tom Cruise was a crazy guy who was deeply involved in the strange religious group. However in the movie he acted so greatly that I didn't have to care about his involvement in the strange religion. I really enjoy the film.

　I like action movies, so I'm looking forward to Bruce Willis's "Die Hard 4." I've seen all the "Die Hard" series, which were so impressive to see. In the United States they spend such a big sum of money on producing an enjoyable film. That's why American movies are much more impressive than Japanese ones.

(Wednesday, January 3, 2006)
　The top 10 teams get the right to take part in the 2008 Hakone Ekiden race. This year 6 teams are competing for joining the top 10 within one minute. For us spectators it's a thrilling race, but for the runners it's such a harsh race that they might hope the race will comes to an end as quickly as possible. Juntendo University started the first for Tokyo this morning and they're running at their own pace keeping the top position. Now nobody doubts they're reaching Tokyo first steadily and successfully.

　The third day is now ending. My wife will start working tomorrow. Me too. But in western countries, there's no New Year holidays and I hear they start working on the second of January. When you're a full-time worker, the more holidays you have, the happier you may feel. But when you're hired as a part-time worker, you'll never welcome many holidays. I hope this year I'll have a lot more students at my language school, which will make it unnecessary for me to work part-time at other bigger language schools.

　Tonight my wife's parents living in the Tsurugadai Building Complex came to visit us at our home. We all had dinner together and after that my parents-in-law and my wife took Ryoma for an evening walk. It was about an hour's walk, but it seemed that they had had a good time together.

(Thursday, January 4, 2006)Why do many young people tend to choose the social status called "freeter," or an unemployed young guy? While they're young, it might be OK, but when they get older, it might be a very big problem for them. I kind of understand they don't like to be bound by human relationships. However as long as they live in a society, they can't do without contacting other people in some way or other. If they really want to live by themselves, they'd have to go and live on an isolated island. They have to notice that there're no convenience stores or hamburger shops where they want to spend much time, though.

　At the end of last year a college girl was murdered and her body was found inside her house in pieces. It was obvious that her body was cut into pieces somewhere in the house after she had been murdered. Tonight her 21-year-old brother was arrested as the suspect. He is reported to say that his sister insulted him too badly to stop him killing her. She told him that he had no dreams and that he could not pass the entrance exams because he was too stupid. He got upset to hear that and killed his real sister and cut the body into pieces with a knife and a saw. He put the pieces in three vinyl bags that were left at the corner of the closet with their mouths open. His mother noticed the smell and called the police. What a terrifying ending!

(Friday, January 5, 2006)
　I understand that we all have to pay our taxes that will be used for our country. Paying taxes is a must, which is clearly written in the Constitution of Japan. However I don't think we have to pay too much. Do you think the rate of the sales tax will be raised this year? From today's 5% to 11%? For example the goods we can get for 5,250 yen at present would cost you 5,550 yen including sales tax. When the price goes higher, the difference we feel will get bigger and bigger.

　Part of the employment exams for school teachers has been leaked to the examinees. Why do they need the topics for discussion beforehand? If you cannot talk about some topics immediately after they're given, how can you cope with unexpected situations that will happen at school? Why do they want to be school teachers? Is it because you can get stable income when you start working in public schools? They're so stupid. It's not so easy to keep standing in front of school kids who are so cruel to stupid teachers.

(Saturday, January 6, 2007)
　Today I had the first three classes of this year. One of the students at the TOEIC class has been in the hospital because of a varicose vein in the leg which has become swollen and painful. He's still in the middle of his 30's. The other student in the class got an e-mail from him telling that he was not in a serious situation and would be able to leave the hospital soon. I hope to see him next Saturday.

　This is the year for some Japanese pro baseball players including Daisuke Matsuzaka to try their talent in the Major League. I think Daisuke will make it for the first few years, but I'm not sure the other players like Kuwata from the Yomiuri Giants will do a good job. Many people are complaining about so many pro baseball players going over to play in the United States, but you have a right to follow your dream whether or not you're professional. Nobody can't blame others for wanting to get their own goals.

(Sunday, January 7, 2007)
　We're having a beautiful morning here in the Shonan Area, but the TV weather report says that we're going to have a lot of rain and snow toward tomorrow morning. The sudden change in the weather pattern at the beginning of this year, I guess, implies something surprising will happen one after another in the year 2007. As is pointed out by some people, we might have a great natural disaster just as we had the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, which was also the Year of the Wild Boar.

　The 21-year-old brother killed his sister and cut her body into several pieces. He put those pieces into three vinyl bags, but the internal organs were gathered together to be put in a plastic case. Her breasts had been cut off, which might mean he had a complex against women. He's been telling the police that the relations between the killed girl and her family were in serious danger and that was one of the reasons why he decided to kill his 20-year-old sister. There might have been some problems with the girl herself.

(Monday, January 8, 2007)
　A large low-pressure system has been swirling all around Japan since yesterday, giving lots of damages to many areas all through Japan. The pressure is about 960 hPa, which is about the same level of a typhoon. It's called "bakudan-teikiatsu," or explosive low-pressure. The satellite photo in the left shows a big low-pressure attacking northern Europe.

　According to the TV news, a group of the LDP lawmakers visit the City of Yubari to see how terrible the situation it's in. The group leader was the immature young guy named Sugimura Daizo, who didn't even know the city's budget for this year's Coming-of-age Day's ceremony was just 10,000 yen. Everybody around him was so surprised at the scene. How can a man like him work well as a lawmaker? He's one of the so-called Koizumi's Children. Most of us are sure he's not going to win the next election. However until then he'll get a big sum of salary from our taxes. Too bad.

(Tuesday, January 9, 2007)
　It's been incredibly warm for the last few days. It becomes suddenly cold at night, but toward the dawn the temperature gradually goes up for us to enjoy a beautiful warm morning. This morning at 9:30 I went to see the dentist for the first time this year. It'll take me another month or so to have my teeth completely treated.

　Tomorrow morning I'll have to drive to Odawara to have the first English classes of this year there. I'm going to leave home around 7 o'clock and it'll take me about an hour to get to the school. We're having two lessons together and so I'd like the students to enjoy the movie entitled "I AM SAM" starring Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning. It's a great movie and I'm sure they'll like it very much.

(Wednesday, January 10, 2007)
　As I planned, we enjoyed watching "I AM SAM" on DVD today, which was quite successful. It was so quiet in the hall because everybody was deeply involved in the story. It was my 5th or 6th time to see the movie and I still found something new about it. I thought it was a great movie again. I was so much impressed by the warm heart of Sam, the mentally handicapped father of Lucy.

　After coming back to Chigasaki from Odawara, I dropped in at a family restaurant by the beach. The winter sea was so beautiful, which was shining under the warm sunshine. I was really refreshed exposed in the slight breeze from the sea. Suddenly I felt like visiting the junior high school where I worked last, but I decided not to. There would be some teachers who would be embarrassed to see my car coming in through the gate. I knew I wouldn't be welcomed.

(Thursday, January 11, 2007)
　For the last few year, the number of murder cases has been increasing rapidly. And now the way they kill people is getting crueller and crueller. They easily cut the victims into pieces and throw them away. How can they be so cruel? When we think that even those killers look quite usual, we cannot but shiver.

　I saw the latest version of "X-Men," which was as impressive as I expected it would be. But the ending was a little bit too simple, which I suppose was the cause the film didn't make a great hit. Anyway the special effects of the movie were quite surprising. That's why I liked it so much.

　This morning I left home at 10:00a.m. and came home at almost 9:00p.m. Ryoma didn't have much time either with my wife or me. My mother told me that he had been so quiet all day. Maybe he missed us so much. I think we're so lucky to have a faithful dog like him.

(Friday, January 12, 2007)
　I found a writing in the mimic board of my website. It was written by one of my ex-students at Hagisono Junior High School. She was a member of the school band. She was so smart a girl that she often complained about things she could not understand. Usually school kids pretend to be good before their teachers, but she was one of a few exceptions. I guess she was such a honest girl. Now she's stugying at a university in the U.K. This is her third year and I'm sure she'll come back to Japan as a really international young person who will surely help build a better country.

　I heard from the girl at the dest that I might have another open class for Basic English conversation at KGC. It means that the principal trust me so much as an English instructor. I was so pleased to hear the news. It's a lot of fun to teach English to people of different generations. Some of them are young housewives and others are retired people who can often travel overseas to try their English. It's also interesting to hear a lot about foreign countries from those older people with much wisdom.

(Saturday, January 13, 2007)
　I ordered three new cell phones from a nearby PC shop, which were released at the end of last year. The new type of Softbank cell phones are called "Aquos Cell," which enables us to watch one-segment TV broadcast. But I don't understand they have no idea as to when the ordered cell phones will reach us now that more than 10 days have passed since we made the order on January 1. Of course I cancelled the order and went to the Softbank shop on Route 1 near Chigasaki Station. But surprisingly enough I couldn't even reach the desk. I saw so many people waiting to be served. So this afternoon I gave up talking to them at the shop. Maybe I'll visit the shop again tomorrow with my wife. I hope I'll be at the top of the long line.

　Hey, can you believe that? Ryoma ate spaghetti tonight. I gave him only a few pieces, but he ate them so happily. I know I shouldn't give him something salty. This is going to be his first and last time to try the Italian food. I'm sorry, Ryoma, but it's for you to live long.

(Sunday, January 14, 2007)
　We live in an age when killing people is getting more and more usual. Most of us will never be surprised to hear the news of murders. "Someone's been killed again?" we might say to each other. Now the news of cutting the body into pieces surprises us, but someday the time will come when we think of the same news as usual. People are getting crazier each year and nobody can stop it. If this was a computer game, we would just have to reset it and start from the very beginning.

　My mother, my wife, and I went to have lunch at "Shonan-tei." It's a small Chinese restaurant famous for its tasty "ramen" and Southern All Stars goods. It was introduced in some popular TV shows and many people come all the way to try "sanmamen," or Chinese noodles in rich soup full of vegetables. I'm sure just one bowl of "sanmamen" will good enough to make you feel happy and full. Whenever you visit the shop, you'll enjoy some famous pieces of Southern All Stars music. Some foods and drinks have been named after the pop group. Yes, of course, the vocalist Kuwata Keisuke san once visited it to enjoy the great "sanmamen" there.

(Monday, January 15, 2007)
　It's interesting to know that more and more people are getting so short-tempered that they can't wait for things to happen. Many people ignore the traffic lights trying to reach their destination as quickly as possible, but they won't make it because they'll be trapped by the next traffic lights, which will irritate them so much. It's wise of you not to hurry so much and learn to wait another second.

　This afternoon my wife and I took our dog for a walking on the beach. That's what I promised him that I would do long time ago. It seemed that Ryoma was so happy walking on the sand beach because it might have been such fun to do so. At first he was afraid of going near the water, but soon he got used to it and enjoyed talking along the water with my wife. He got some new friends there, one of which was a-year-and-a-month old femal Shiba dog. Her name was "Haru" and she seemed to like Ryoma so much. If you had seen them playing together, you would have thought that they were fighting. She's so cute, isn't she?

(Tuesday, January 16, 2007)
　Last night I went to bed at around 2 o'clock in the morning. So this morning while I was driving to Odawara, I sometimes felt too sleepy and stopped my car to get something hot to drink to keep me awake. It's so dangerous to go on driving when you use an expressway. Just a tiny mistake in handling the car might take you to a quiet cemetery.

　Today there was a murder too. We hear the news of murders almost every day recently. Is it a kind of chain reaction? Because we have so many murders, we have more murders the next week? Or when you're upset, it's a piece of cake to take away somebody's life? It's just as easy as cutting trees to cut a human body into pieces? Have we had such scary days before? Today it's so difficult to tell unusual people from usual ones. Someone who looks quite normal suddenly becomes a scary killer and surprise people around him/her.

(Wednesday, January 17, 2007)
　I went to the dentist first thing this morning. I had an appointment. It'll take me another month for my tooth to be completely treated, but it's OK as long as I can stay in good shape. When I was a college student, I had a terrible time suffering from a bad tooth. The decayed tooth had been giving me some pain for a month or so, but I thought little of it. Then one night I could hardly stand the pain and called my mother to come to Saitama to take me back to Chigasaki. The bone of my lower jaw was almost eroded by the pus produced around the decayed tooth. The next day I went to the dentist and I was saved. Since then I've been very much careful about my teeth. I'd never like to have that pain again.

(Thursday, January 18, 2007)
　The TV news says that they had an incredibly chilly day in California, with their oranges frozen to have icicles hanging from them. Everyone knows something has been terrible wrong with the weather system for the last few years. And when we see so many strange phenomena all around the world, we cannot but worry that a great natural disaster will occur in the near future. So scary, isn't it?

　As I've been saying, I'm planning to upgrade the Windows XP to Windows Vista as soon as it's released at the end of this month. This afternoon I installed the software to check the computer if it was good enough to be upgraded to the new operating system. I was relieved to know that the three of my computers were good enough to have the new OS. You can download the software from the site named "Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor." Now all the computer companies are ready to release their brand-new computers with the new OS at the end of this month. We're now facing the new age of information technology.

(Friday, January 19, 2007)
　I hear there are so many people, especially businessmen, who leave home in the morning without eating breakfast. Breakfast is said to give you energy to spend an energetic day. If you don't eat breakfast regularly, your brain will never help you do your task effectively. When you don't have much time for breakfast, just an apple or a glass of vegetable juice will work. It will help you make a good start of the day.

　Do you sometimes go to a karaoke box with some of your friends? When I was a school teacher, I often went to enjoy karaoke with some of my co-workers. Now that I've quit a school teacher, I seldom go singing. It seems that my wife likes singing, but she doesn't ask me to take her out for karaoke, I think singing aloud in a karaoke box is good for your health, both mentally and physically.

(Saturday, January 20, 2007)
　It snowed a little this morning, which surprised me so much. That was why it was freezing cold when I woke up this morning. I had to manage an extra class from 9:00a.m. to 10:20 for a 9th-grade student because she was going to take the entrance exams for high school next Monday. I wish her every good luck. She lives near Tsujido Station and comes to my house by bike. This morning she didn't have gloves on, so my mother gave her a nice pair of gloves to wear when she went home. They must have been a really warm present for her.

　Tomorrow I'm going to go to Kikuna, Yokohama, to take the TOEIC Writing & Speaking Test, which has just started here in Japan. I'm so accustomed to writing English because I do that every day, but I don't know how I can manage the new test that is Internet based. I mean you're supposed to wear a headset to face the computer monitor. You are to speak to the microphone and for the writing test you're expected to use the keyboard to send them online to those who mark them. It's a hi-tech test, isn't it?

(Sunday, January 21, 2007)
　Can you describe a photo in English about half a minute after it's shown to you? You have to describe the picture with as many English sentences as possible. In today's TOEIC Speaking & Writing Test, the examinees were asked to do that kind of things within a short limited time. It was much more difficult than I had expected. But the results were not satisfactory to me at all. I think I'll have to try the test again this year.

　I went to Yokohama to take the test with my wife. She asked me if she could go together and I had no reason to say no. We went to Yokohama Station on the Tokaido Line and changed trains there. We took the Keihin Kyuko Line to Higashi-Kanagawa Station and changed trains again for Kikuna. We took the Yokohama Line. After reaching Kikuna I knew that we could have got on the Yokohama Line at Ofuna Station. Did we change too many trains or did we have the right choice?

(Monday, January 22, 2007)
　A popular TV show has produced a falso program in which they insisted that eating two packs of natto every day would help you succeed in going on a diet. Part of the program was based on false data and the producers told the press conference that they were responsible for the case. After watching the TV show many people rushed to the grocery stores to get as many packs of natto as possible, which invited a situation in which most of the natto producers had a hard time providing enough natto to meet the consumers' demand. The producers of the TV show have to be blamed for all the troubles, but those who easily thought of carrying out the ideas proposed by the show also have the responsibility for the troubles they got involved in. Do you think it's really possible to lose your extra weight in such an easy way? Don't you think it's better for you to take a long time to reach your goal of getting slim? No pains, no gains.

　This evening after finishing the KGC junior high STEP class, I went to look for an Oxford textbook for children. I found a good one, but I was surprised to find it cost me 1,800 yen a copy. Foreign Enlish textooks are usualy very expensive here in Japan. I hope they will get cheaper enough for us to get easily. Anyway they're so beautifully edited and I'm sure they will make children learning English so happy that they will get more willing to learn more.

(Tuesday, January 23, 2007)
　A new conversation class for elementary school kids is starting late this afternoon. As I wrote last night, I have already prepared a nice enjoyable textbook. I've ordered some more sample textbooks from the Oxford University Press. The audio CDs and the picture dictionaries will also be delivered to my place in a week or so. I have to make some photo cards to be used in today's lesson, which is such a lot of fun.

　The elementary school student who started learning English conversation was a 9-year-old girl. I was happy she liked the cute textbook and the workbook. By next lesson the audio CDs and the picture dictionaries will be here for us to use. I was a little bit surprised to know she had already learned some English words in her daily life. It means that there're so many Katakana English involved in the Japanese language.

(Wednesday, January 24, 2007)
　Last night I felt I had gained some weight again and I tried to stood on the scale. What a surprise! I was still losing weight little by little. I only weighed 70 kilograms with all my clothes on. I'm going to have a softball game next week. If I don't have a serious problem with my right shoulder, I'd be able to do a good job in the game. I've lost 15 kilograms for the last six months. You have to believe I've never been on a diet.

　Just a day after he was elected governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, Mr.Higashikokubaru Hideo, more widely known as "Sonomamma Higashi," was confronted with the problem of bird flu. Some people say that this is going to be the first test for the new governor. Most of the councilors belong to the Liberal Democratic Party and are expected to go against Mr.Higashikokubaru, who won the election throwing away the candidate with the back-up from the LDP. Let's see what will happen to him within the next few months.

(Thursday, January 25, 2007)
　My wife sometimes say that Ryoma is metally stable because he always has somebody close to him. There are so many pet animals who have to spend the day all by themselves. Some of them feel too lonley to feel isolated and possibly become violent. I guess it's similar to taking care of little children.

　Tonight I found something interesting. The ease with which I talk to my native co-workers in English differs according to my physical conditon. Today I felt a little tired and I had some difficulty expressing myself fully in English. I mean English words didn't come out smoothly from my mouth. I found myself looking for proper English words while talking to my native co-workers. Last Sunday when I went to Yokohama to take the new TOEIC Speaking & Writing Test, I also found it a little more difficult than usual to express my ideas in English. Maybe on that day I had already started to have a cold. It's quite interesting, isn't it?

(Friday, January 26, 2007)
　Have you ever tried the map website called "Google Earth"? This morning one of my students at my school told me about the website and I tried that super-hi-tech software soon. It was so great! I suppose it's based on the precise photos taken from the satellite. When you put in the address of the place you're looking for, the virtual camera starts to zoom in on the exact spot. It's an amazing experience. I tried to look for my house. I was really surprised when I found the roof of my house so clearly on the satellite photo. But at the same time I felt so much scared because you could easily start war if you make the best use of the data.

　You might be very interested in Ryoma when he shows his belly to us with extreme happiness. He does that performance of his especially when he wants us to rub his belly. It's said to be a sign of obedience for a dog to show his belly to his master. But in the case of Ryoma I sometimes guess it's not a sign of obedience but a sign of his rule over us. He might think of him as the leader of our family. Well, we don't care as long as he's happy and in good shape, though.

(Saturday, January 27, 2007)
　I still have some troubles with my right shoulder. I can't raise it high in the air. I don't think I'll be able to play in tomorrow's softball game in the morning. Anyway I'll have to go and watch the game because this year I'm in charge of recording the game results. I'm not actually a scorer, though. Our team is going to be 30 years old in a few years, when we have to publish a memorial booklet of our team. I'm supposed to work as the head editor and I'm going to print all the pages and make them into books to be published.

　Do you think we'll really have to see the third world war? If it really happens, it must be brought about by a crazy guy like Kim Jong Il of North Korea. There are some especially dangerous areas where another world war could be triggered. Iraq, Iran, North Korea, and so on. The United States has been putting so much pressure on them, but is it really a good idea to put them into a dead end? An English proverb says that a cornered rat is dangerous. We have a similar saying here in Japan too.

(Sunday, January 28, 2007)
　Though I still have a trouble with my right shoulder, I played in one of the two softball games that our team had today. I usually play second base, which is impossible for me to do now. So the manager of our team was kind enough to let me play first base. I thought I would never have to throw the ball hard as long as I played as the first baseman, but I was wrong. I didn't expect the scene when the batter on the enemy team should try to make a bunt. I would have to dash to the bunted ball to pick it up and throw it to the second baseman on the first base. I was happy I didn't have to do that actually because it was quite impossible for me.

　Why has Mr.Abe been so crazy about revolutioning the educational system? Does he really believe that all the educational problems have been caused by stupid teachers and stupid parents? What about the whole social system? If he really try to rebuild the educational environment, he has to reform the whole society beforehand. I don't think his ideas will work. I recommend he stay in a certain public school for a while as a student teacher. Then he'll know what he has to do as the leader of the government.

(Monday, January 29, 2007)
　The so-called "gakeppuchi-ken" or the "cliff dog" finally went to an old lady living in the same prefecture. Most of us hope that she'll take good care of the dog as long as she lives. I guess the dog herself would encourage the lucky old woman to live the rest of her life. I hear there're many other stray dogs around the cliff where the cliff dog was found in danger of falling. What will become of those miserable dogs? If they're caught by some local officers, they will be destined to be poisoned to death, because unlike the cliff dog they're not famous enough to received as pets. I'm very sorry for them. It might be cold out there, but it'll be wise of them to choose the way to live. I hope no more people will think of leaving their pet dogs up there just because they're not needed any longer. Every stray dog must have a human owner who is responsible for their miserable status.

(Tuesday, January 30, 2007)
　Tonight I feel a little sick and I don't feel like writing my English diary. Maybe I'm having a cold. I think I have to go to bed early not to make it worse. Tomorrow morning I'll have to leave home early to drive to Odawara to teach English at the vocational school. So let me stop writing now. Good night.

(Wednesday, January 31, 2007)
　I'm really sorry that I did a terrible job here last night. I was so tired that I went to sleep as soon as I got into my bed. Thanks to the good night sleep, I could get up as early as I had planned to the night before. I got up at 6:00, had a light breakfast, and left home at 7:15. I arrived in Odawara in an hour. It was so refreshing driving down the highway along the beaches. While I was driving to Odawara, I could enjoy the beautiful feature of Mt.Fuji just in front of me. Can you imagine how I felt relaxed sitting in the driver's seat?

(Thursday, February 1, 2007)
　I checked the Microsoft Upgradeweb on the Internet and found that my orders have been properly processed and that they were already on their way to my home. I felt so relieved because I was afraid something had been wrong with the way in which I had ordered the two upgrade versions of Microsoft Vista, Home Basic and Home Premium. They will be delivered to my place in a day or two, I suppose. I'm looking forward to receiving them.

　It's quite surprising that Ryoma seems to understand exactly what kind of problems the people around him have with them. When someone is down, for example, he walks slowly to him/her to lick their hands in a very gentle manner. My wife has had a stomachache for the last few days and Ryoma has been pretty nice to her while they're walking together, which my wife told me. I'm sure he's much more sensible to human minds than usual people. Now I'd have to say that animals are so great.

(Friday, February 2, 2007)
　Tomorrow's the day before the beginning of spring on the calendar here in Japan. But actually we're still having a lot more cold days until the end of the first two weeks of March. We usually have some very cold days at the end of February. Many times it snowed a lot around that time. Many 9th graders had a hard time hurrying through the heavy snow to high schools to take the entrance exams. This year, however, 9th graders are going to be blessed with a nice weather on the day of the entrance exams.

　Do you think it's a good idea to put the advertisement of my language school in the phone book? The manager of KGC where I work as an English instructor advised me to do so because it was so effective. I think I'll try that if it's not very expensive. Let's see how it works. In order to have many students in my language school, it's very important to make the name of the school well known to the public.

(Saturday, February 3, 2007)
　It's been a beautiful day today, but the temperature didn't go up for us to feel warm. But I didn't have time to go out into the cold air because I had three classes at home today. Oh, I almost forgot. Before the last class in the evening, I went out with Ryoma for an evening walk. I had to scold him many times because he often tried to lick the urine of other dogs'. After all he didn't do his own job.
　It seems that Ryoma is quite tired after playing with an elementary school boy who came to my house with his brother. He's still a 1st grader, but he knows how to behave so well that my wife finds it fun to talk to him while his brother is learning English conversation from me in the classroom upstairs. Ryoma is now in his deep sleep, but if I make a slight move of leaving the dining kitchen, he will wake up to say good night to me.

　I think I'm going to go to sleep now. It's been a hectic week and I feel a little tired. I have some DVD movies that I haven't seen yet. Will I feel like watching them tomorrow? I'm not sure.
　
(Sunday, February 4, 2007)
　No, I didn't watch any of the DVD movies today. I went to see a softball game that was played at Hagisono Junior High School between Hagisono and Tsurugadai. It was such a sunny day that the players on both teams looked so active to do their very best. Some of the regular players on both teams were not there becuase of injuries or sickness, which gave a good chance to those who hadn't often played in games as regular members. Something that is no good for some people is sometimes good for other people.

　You may be surprised to hear this, but I've lost 18 kilos since the beginning of last summer. Now I weigh about 68 kilograms. My best weight should be between 60-65 kilos. I'll just have to keep doing exercised every day to get the best weight. I know it's no good to lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. My mother says that I might have diabetes. She could be right, but I'm afraid of seeing a doctor.

(Monday, February 5, 2007)
　Mr.Yanagisawa, Minister of Health, labor and Welfare, said in his speech that Japanese women were "birth-giving machines," which invited a lot of arguments throughout Japan. Nobody would deny that he was too careless in mentioning women that way, but I don't think it's a good and fair idea for the opposition parties to refuse to attend the Diet in session. There must be so many important things to discuss and they only have limited days toward the end of the session. They can't waste time by keep bashing Mr.Yanagisawa day after day. A junior high school boy killed himself by jumping from the roof of an aprtment building yesterday.

　Late this morning I went to a discount store downtown to buy a DVD. It was a movie entitled "Contagion." Though it was a used DVD, it cost me 2,900 yen. Don't you think DVDs cost us too much here in Japan? It shouldn't cost them a lot to make copies. They should put down the prices then so that more people would be able to enjoy watching them on TV.

(Tuesday, February 6, 2007)
　In the English class that I had at Odawara Nursery Vocational School today, we saw a movie entitled "Contagion," which dealt with a attempted chemical terror using the Ebola virus. It was a sci-fi movie, but it might actually happen in the near future. There are two types of infection; contagion and airborne. If the virus is airborne, things will be much more serious and only a little could be done to prevent it from spreading into a wider area in a short period of time. When the movie started, there were some students chatting with each other, but as the story went on, there was a total silence all over the hall.

　While my wife and I were walking Ryoma, we happened to visit Kahana's house. Ryoma and Kahana, a 4-year-old mixed blood of a Golden Retriever, have been good frineds since Ryoma was only a little dog. It seems that Kahana thinks of Ryoma as her cute little brother. As is usual the case with them, they soon started to enjoy wrestling, which lasted for about 10 minutes. They were so energetic. Ryoma is such a lucky dog to have a good friend like Kahana. I don't know why, but about 90% of Ryoma's good friends are girls.

(Wednesday, February 7, 2007)
　A woman tried to kill herself by throwing herself into the running train last night. A honest police officer tried to save her and was hit by the rapid train. He's been in a serious situation with a fractured skull. On the other hand, the woman who attempted to commit suicide is also in the hospital with a broken leg and so on. Everybody who has heard the news sincerely hopes the brave officer will survive his injuries.

　Our dog Ryoma finds it fun to go under the futon deep and make a kind of nest there. This evening when I was watching a DVD movie, I felt him trying to do his mission behind me. Can you believe that he pushed me so hard off the futon to build his nest. After completing the mission, however, he suddenly lost interest in it and went away back into his cage. What in the world was his mission for? Just to attract my attention? He's so smart and mischievous. But that's what makes us feel he's cute.

(Thursday, February 8, 2007)
　The Just System has sent me an e-mail telling that its new software "Just Suite 2007" was not going to be released on the planned day and that the new release date would be a month later March 9. I've been looking forward to receive the package on Februay 9, so it discouraged me a little. Didn't they have plenty of time to make sure the software would perfectly work on the new OS "Windows Vista"? I think they should do something to compensate those who have already ordered the software for the delay of release. Well, I just have to wait another month for the arrival of the package, which is no problem when I think of the Windows Vista released about 2 years later than had been first planned.

(Friday, February 9, 2007)　
　I've seen some plum trees bearing lots of pretty pink flowers along a river. We're having a very warm winter, which makes most flowers come out earlier than usual. Some people enjoy beautiful ume flowers in the Soga Plum Garden in Odawara City. But one of my students at KGC told me that she had been to the garden and that it had been still too early to enjoy ume flowers in full bloom. I'd like to visit the garden to take some photos of ume flowers someday in March.

　Tonight I had a substitute lesson for a student in TOEIC class. It started at 9:10p.m. and lasted about 100 minutes until 10:50p.m. He had voluntarily memorized the first several lines of President Kennedy's Inaugural Address, which I also did when I was a college student about 30 years ago. He works in a chemical company in Shizuoka Prefecture. He must have been pretty tired after coming all the way back from Shizuoka. Do you think you can do the same? I hope he'll make great progress in his learning of English.

(Saturday, February 10, 2007)
　I've traveled to some of the southern islands five times. The first island country I visited 22 years ago was Fiji. The second, third, and fifth country was the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. The fouth country was Tahiti where the famous French painter Paul Gauguin loved so much. I read that he didn't have a happy time living there, though. As you've already noticed, I've never been to any modern cities in Europ or the United States. I'm going to be 49 years old this March, but if I have a chance to live in a foreign country, I'd choose one of the biggest cities in the United States, such as New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago.

(Sunday, February 11, 2007)
　It's such a beautiful day today. We were blessed with the warm sunshine from early in the morning. Late in the morning I took a shower with our dog Ryoma. He looked so relaxed. Of course I was too. After getting out of the bathroom, I didn't have to turn on the fan heater just at the back of my chair for the laptop shelf. It was so warm inside the house.

　However toward the evening, it rapidly got colder. I rode my motorbike back home from Fujisawa late this evening. It was so cold outside. It was so scary riding a motorbike along the dark street. I had to be careful to see if there was any car parked by the side of the street. If I hit an illegally parked car, I would surely be dead. A slight thought of the possible accident scene was enough to make me flightened.

(Monday, February 12, 2007)
　Late this afternoon my mother, my wife and I took Ryoma to a dog run in Samukawa Town. The dog run called "Punahele" is owned by Mr.Shigeta Koichi, whose male Flatcoated Retriever is a good friend of Ryoma's. Ryoma spent the first few minutes by sniffing around in the run, but soon he got used to the place and started playing with the two other little dogs, Nene and Anzu. About twenty minutes later, two other huge dogs arrived and became good friends with Ryoma at first sight. One was a female Akita Dog and the other was a male Kishu Dog named "Yuji." Yuji was so friendly to Ryoma and they enjoyed playing together for a while. When we were about to leave the run, Mr.Shigeta was kind enough to let Duke(his Flatcoated Retriever) out of his ban and allowed him to play with Ryoma for a few minutes. They both looked so happy. I thought Ryoma was a really lucky dog to have so many good frineds around him.

(Tuesday, February 13, 2007)
　It's got really cold toward this evening. Such a great difference in temperature between day and night. It must be so cold outside that when I think of the poor people living inside the blue tents I cannot but feel very sorry for them. Why does the government just watch them live a hard life? Is it OK just because they're losers? Do they have to try hard to get out of their miserable lives by themselves? Could Japan still be called a wealthy country with a lot of rich people called "winners"? I don't know what to do.

　This afternoon the results of the TOEIC Speaking & Writing Test was made public on the website. My score for the Speaking Test was much lower than I had expected. I got the full score of 200 points for the Writing Test, but I didn't feel happy because I didn't do a good job in the Speaking Test. I'll have to think of an effective way of improving my speaking ability. I think I'm going to take the test again in a few months.

(Wednesday, February 14, 2007)
　Today is St.Valentine's Day, which makes many Japanese people crazy about giving boxes chocolate to one another. It's been believed here in Japan that on this day only women are to give something sweet to men. But it's not true. In western countries giving something nice has nothing to do with gender. So it's a good idea for a man, for example, to give some flowers to someone he loves with a message card. You don't have to get angry because most Japanese people are not Christians and still try to celebrate St.Valentine's Day in a crazy way. If it gives us a good chance to express our thanks to other people, it's worth existing in this Buddhist country.
　As for me, I got four boxes of chocolates. When I was a young school teacher, I needed a cardboard box to bring all the chocolates back home. As I got older, the number of boxes of chocolates got smaller and smaller, which was quite natural. Now I get only a limited number of chocolate boxes, but they taste so good to eat.

(Thursday, February 15, 2007)
　Today was Ryoma's 3rd birthday. It's been two years and 9 months since he came to my house. Time really flies and now he's three years old, which is about 20 years old if he was a human boy. As I promised him, I baked him a big pancake for the third time. He ate three fourths of it and gave up eating the rest. I first saw him leave some food behind. It must have been too big for him. He looked so happy and now he's enjoying his deep sleep on the sofa.

　Well, this is the age when we can't tell men from women. Why are they so neutral, or vague? I'm the type of a person who want things to be black or white, so I don't think I can get along well with them. Men should be like men and women should be like women. I don't need anyone in between. I know this is too much to say and I don't mean it. But especially when I see boys who want to look like girls, I feel like throwing up. No, thank you.

(Friday, February 16, 2007)
　The major language school "NOVA" is now being bashed for its too businesslike management of school. I hear it was founded by a financial company. They must have thought that a language school would make a good business and bring lots of money to them. They were right in predicting a promising business, but education should not be regarded as a mere business. They've been hiring a lot of native speakers as instructors, but are they really suitable for their positions? How much do they know about education? It's common sense now that it's most important for Japanese people to learn English grammar first in order to become good speakers of English. Do NOVA instructors have enough knowledge and skills to teach English grammar in an understandable way? They've been too easygoing and now they have to pay for what they've done so far.

　Something seems to be wrong with Ryoma's stomach. It's been making big noises. If he's got diarrhea, it's because of the big pancake I gave him last night. I should have baked a smaller one as my wife advised me to. I think we'll have to watch him all through the night. I'm really sorry, Ryoma.

(Saturday, February 17, 2007)
　"Princess Masako: Prisoner of the Chrysanthemum Throne; the Tragic True Story of Japan's Crown Princess" has been written by a famous Australian journalist Ben Hills. However the Japanese Government issued a statement condemning the book for containing too many inaccurate sentences. At last Kodansha has decided not to publish its Japanese version. One question is if the author really had an intention of building up a wrong picture of the royal family of Japan. Another question is if it's allowed for the government to intervene in the publishment of a book even if they regard the ideas as too unfavorable. Some people worry that the problem might affect the relationship between Japan and Australia. The two countries have been in good relations with each other for many years. I hope the both sides will finally reach a peaceful resolution.
　I think that it's very dangerous for the government to try to decide whether certain ideas are favorable for the country and its people or not. If it goes on happening in this country, Japan might have to repeat its miserable history again and again. What do you think? Don't you think it's wiser to let the book go around Japan? If the book really is a junk, not many people will be interested in it.

(Sunday, February 18, 2007)
　Do you sometimes talk to someone you have never met before and who lives in the same region as you do? It's very important for the people to become more sociable and try to be nice to one another, but it's also dangerous to be too nice to someone you don't know. We have a pet dog and he gives us a lot of chances to get to know people living in our neighborhood. As a matter of fact, we've known so many people in our area thanks to him.

　It's quite interesting that we've had such cold days since we celebrated the last day of winter called "Setsubun" on the 3rd of this month. At least on the calendar we're already in spring, but it's also true that we often have much snow at the end of February or at the beginning of March. This year we're not expecting snowfalls, but we might have a lot more freezing days toward the middle of next month. The real spring will come after that.

(Monday, February 19, 2007)
　Ryoma has now completely recovered from his trouble with his stomach and has a really good appetite. The lesson this time is that we should stop giving him human food even if he strongly asks us to let him eat some. It might sometimes be difficult to ignore his genuine eyes. When we think of the size of his body, it's quite obvious that the same amount of human food will surely affect his health much more than it does with our health.

　Last night my wife and I enjoyed watching a DVD movie called "Outbreak" starring Dustin Hoffman as an expert soldier to deal with fatal diseases caused by Level 4 viruses. About a week ago we saw another movie entitled "Contagion" dealing with the same subject. If we compare the two movies, almost everybody will agree that "Outbreak" is much better than the other one. "Outbreak" gave us a chance to re-evaluate Dustin Hoffman as an splendid actor. I was really impressed with his gentle eyes full of honesty. In the movie he showed us how a man should act in the face of extreme danger.

(Tuesday, February 20, 2007)
　Do you know a online encyclopedia called "Wikipedia"? It gives us a lot of information not only in Japanese but also in many other languages. When I can't find any explanation about a new word, especially a new technical term, it will always help me get some information in English. Today I searched for "norovirus" on the site and got a lot of detailed information about it. According to "Wikipedia" the original name for the virus is "Norwalk virus," which comes from the name of the place Norwalk, Ohio, where the first outbreak occurred in 1968 at an elementary school. The use of the online encyclopedia is free of charge, which is quite surprising, isn't it?

　Our dog Ryoma has done another great job. An elementary school girl learning English at my school didn't like dogs. Her mother had tried many times to let her touch a dog, but she had never make it. It must have been surprising news for her mother to see her daughter trying to touch Ryoma in her presence. Ryoma has been making those who don't like dogs start to love dogs. He's such a great dog we're proud of so much.

(Wednesday, February 21, 2007)
　Late at night I went to a nearby convenience store to guy something to fill my stomach and my wife's and our Ryoma's with. When I went to the cashier, I saw an old man in dirty clothes talking to the owner of the shop. It seemed that he was asking if there was any place to spend a night at. The owner stayed calm and just told him there were no such places found at that late. The old man looked discouraged and followed me out of the store. I felt so sad that I couldn't do anything to help him. On my way back home I was asking myself, "What will become of an old man like him in this cold night?"

(Thursday, February 22, 2007)
　One of the native instructors at KGC was enjoying a recorded drama on his hi-tech HDD player, which he says is quite up-to-date and cost him about 60,000 yen. On the TV show he was watching a famous comedian was giving funny talks. He sometimes laughed at his jokes, which were too fast and difficult for me to understand. I was really sorry I couldn't laugh with him. He understood how I felt about the situation and told me that the comedian was speaking too fast. I felt even sadder to face his thoughtfullness.

　Something seemed to be wrong with one of my desktops. I sent an e-mail to the computer builder in Tokyo and he answered it by saying I should try re-installing the operating system. I followed his advice and turned it on. Then I found it had started to work well again. Something might still be wrong with the computer, but I think it's wise of me to let it keep working for a while.

(Friday, February 23, 2007)
　It was raining all through this morning, but luckily it stopped raining by the time I left home for KGC in the afternoon. Of course it was not cold rain, but most motorbike riders wouldn't like to run through rain. According to the TV news, they had a phenomenon called "Kosa," or yellow sand, or more officially Asian Dust, in the western Japan including Kyushu District. The yellow sand comes from China and the phenomenon is usually observed here in Japan during the period from March to May. Most of the cars are covered with thin coat of yellow sand, which tells us we're exactly in the door to spring.

　Time passes so quickly and now we're almost at the end of February. It seems as if we had celebrated New Year's Day only a few weeks before. I'm going to be 49 years old next month. I hope time will go more slowly because I have a lot of things to do before getting into my 50's.
　
(Saturday, February 24, 2007)
　In the afternoon I drove to Fujisawa to do some shopping. Roads were so croweded as I expected. The traffic was especially busy on my way home from Fujisawa, so I had to avoid the usual way I use to drive home. When there are too many cars on the streets, most drivers are so irritated that they apt to ignore the traffic lights. I wondered why they didn't turn on the headlights when it was getting dark. I'm sure headlights will help you stay out of car accidents.

(Sunday, February 25, 2007)
　It was freezing cold this morning. According to the weather forecast, it was the coldest morning this winter. Now we're getting accustomed to the warm winter, a really cold morning makes us feel even colder. It seems that our dog Ryoma had a cold night sleeping on the futon and had some trouble with his stomach this morning. We were a little bit worried when we saw him throwing up. He's now quite OK, though.

　I played first base in the first game of a doubleheader this morning. I still had a stiff shoulder called "shiju-kata" in Japanese, so when I caught a bunt, I couldn't throw the ball anywhere. I usually very good at throwing a ball, but now the only thing I can do is just catch the ball. That's why I played first base. It's a pity that I can't do much for my team to win the game.

(Monday, February 26, 2007)
　I was a little sick this morning, maybe because of a cold I was catching. I had to wipe away the sleepiness from my head by the time the first lesson in the afternoon started at 1:00p.m. It was almost OK when I started the lesson at the scheduled time. It's always the case with me that once I start teaching I don't feel tired or sleepy any longer until all the classes are over for the day.

　Before the last lesson tonight, I had enough time to take Ryoma for an evening walk, but I was a little tired and I asked my wife to do that for me. I washed the dishes instead. I was sorry for my wife because I knew she was not in good health either. She's not a type of woman who complains about anything that would happen to her. I think I have to get rid of my cold as soon as I can.

(Tuesday, February 27, 2007)
　Something has been wrong with one of my desktops I use for my language school. I tried to re-install the operating system last night, but it was not successful. So tonight I looked for a website that gives detailed information as to how to re-install the operating system. The website I found was really understandable and it seemed that I had succeeded in the re-installment of Windows XP Media Center Edition. I think it's so tough to fix a computer for those who don't have much knowledge about the system of a computer. Many times I thought I was going to give up everything to deal with the problem.

　Ryoma took a shower this morning and now he smells really good. It's natural for a dog to start smelling after sniffing around in the grass where other dogs spray their piss. But it's not wise of you to let your dog take a shower too often, because it will take away the protective oil from the skin of your dog. Maybe once in two weeks is good enough. If you're too sensitive to the smell of your dog, you'll have to keep him outside of your house. If you want to keep your dog inside the house, you'll have to get used to its smell. You should not forget that for them you may also smell terrible.

(Wednesday, February 28, 2007)
　I've been suffering from hay fever for the last few weeks, which is not very serious but still annoying. According to the weather forecast, we don't have much cidar pollen here in the Kanto District, but the facts are a little bit different from their prediction. A lot of people in the Kanto Area are struggling with the irritating disease. It's something that tells us spring has come, though.

　It's so warm today. I went to the nearby convenience store in the afternoon, bought a hot can of coffee, smoked a cigarette drinking the coffee outside the store. The wind was not so strong and it was so comfortable staying in the sunlight there. Across the street from the store is Shorin Junior High School. Some softball girls were practicing batting on the opposite corner of the school ground, which was a warm spring scene.

(Thursday, March 1, 2007)
　I tried tonight to ride my motorbike home without wearing my gloves. I think it was a little too early for that. We've got into March, but it's still too cold to take off our overcoats outside.

　I got an e-mail from AMAZON that told me they had already shipped my order "Princess Masako" written by a famous journalist in Australia. It took them some time to ship the book, so I've been wondering if it's impossible to ship a book whose Japanese version was not allowed to publish here in Japan. I ordered the book just after the Kodansha had decided to give up publishing its Japanese version, because I was afraid the original English version would be available for only a limited period of time. It seems we could still get the book although it takes some time until it's delivered.

(Friday, March 2, 2007)
　The book I wrote about last night has arrived. Its cover is so beautiful that I feel like reading it as soon as possible. How long will it take me to read it through, I'm not sure. When I read the original book of the movie "Outbreak" starring Dustin Hoffman, I read about 10 to 20 pages every night. I came across many unfamiliar words, but I just went on reading. It must have taken me more than two weeks to finish the book.

　Tonight from 9:10 to 10:40 I had a substitute lesson for the TOEIC class usually held on Saturday morning. The student has been working for a chemical company in Shizuoka. Can you imagine you have to spend as long as three hours on a commuter train to a far away office? You'll have to spend 6 hours on the trips to and from the office in Shizuoka. It would be so tough that only a few people could get along with the schedule.

(Saturday, March 3, 2007)
　My motorbike insurance will expire on April 17, which has to be renewed before the expiration date. I wonder why we have to pay lots of money on cars and motorbikes. Just to buy them is so expensive and to maintain them is more expensive. It should be cheaper to keep something we need for our daily life.

　There's a ditch along the filed about 10 minutes' walk from muy house. It's one of Ryoma's favorite places to do his business. I'm sorry that the ditch is disappearing. This evening I found it under construction to be renewed. It'll be covered with concrete blocks, which will look neat and clean. I understand it's no good to leave the ditch covered with grass because it will produce lots of mosquitoes when the humid summer comes. But at the same time it means we won't be able to enjoy a scene of countryside any more. I think we'll have to look for another grassy place for Ryoma to complete his mission. He always takes much time and carefully decides the place to do his holy job. I'm sure he doesn't welcome mosquitoes either, though.

(Friday, March 9, 2007)
　It's been a week since I wrote in this English diary last. It's so important to keep doing it every day. If you skip just one day, the interval might someday be a week of so before you know. In my case I had a flu and it was impossible to renew the diary site every day, but I think I could have tried some other way to keep it alive.

　I went to the Internal Medicine on the morning of Tuesday and I started to take "Tamiflu," which has been famouse for its effectiveness to both Influenzavirus A and B and also for its serious side effects recently. Some of the teenagers who had been taking the drug tried to kill themselves by jumping off the tall building or running into the heavy traffic on a highway. It is said that it's OK with grown-ups, which nobody can prove. At first I was afraid of taking the medicine, but as long as it remains the most effective anti-influenzavirus drug, I had to keep taking two capsules each day. Usually a set of Tamiflu is consisted of 10 capsules for 5 days. Today's my fourth day and there's only two capsules left in the medicine bag. I'd really like the last two capsules for tomorrow to be the last one that will bring a real end to my flu.

(Saturday, March 10, 2007)
　It seems I've been successful in getting rid of the fever from the flu. I still have pains in some parts of my body, though. I don't feel like going out for shopping yet.

　Late this morning "Just Suite 2007" including "Ichitaro 2007", "Hanako 2007", "Sanshiro 2007", "Agree 2007", etc. was delivered to me. I already ordered the software package a month ago, but it seemed that it would take them another two weeks or so to accomplish its shipment. I canceled my first order and re-ordered one yesterday. Then quite surprisingly my order was immediately processed and they shipped the package during the same day. I' happy that I can get the package I've long been waiting for within 24 hours after I made an order, but isn't something wrong with the ordering system? New orders can be processed prior to orders made long before the release of the product? "Just Suite 2007" was supposed to be released a month ago, but some problems were found to take place while installing the software package and the release date was set again to a month later than scheduled. March 9 was the day. OK, let's forget all about this now that I've got one.

(Sunday, March 11, 2007)
　When was the last time I traveled overseas? It was perhaps 15 years ago when I made a lonely trip to Tahiti. It was about three months after I got divorced from my first wife. Tahiti was the island I had long wanted to visit since I saw a musical entitled "The South Pacific" as a junior high school kid. It was just as beautiful as I had long expected it would be, but the fact that I was traveling alone made the trip less impressive. If I have another chance, I'd like to visit the charming island with my present wife. Would I like to live on the beautiful island forever just like a French painter Paul Gauguin? No, I wouldn't. It's a fantastic island for me to just spend some holidays. But there is one big problem. Both my wife and I are afraid of being on board the plane. We couldn't drive there, could we? Too big a problem. Too big.

(Monday, March 12, 2007)
　I drove my car to the nearby shopping center to look for a big mirror for the mouth of the sideroad leading to my house. I usually get into the street very carefully and very slowly so that I might not hit a bike or a car coming from the direction I can't look into. These days vehicles tend to run at an incredible speed even along the narrow roads off the center of the city. Children on their back home from school are usually paying little attention to the traffic around them. A big mirror will be of great help, but I'm a little bit worried that it might be taken away by a stupid guy. The mirror of a reasonable size I found in the shop cost about 4,000 yen. I think I'd have to give it a second thought before buying it. In the same shop I bought some packages of dried chicken and two bags of dogfood and a package of chewing bones for Ryoma. How much do you think it cost me? It was a little more than 5,000 yen. You think it's too expensive?

(Tuesday, March 13, 2007)
　It's been about a week since the book "Princess Masako" was delivered to my place. Of course I've already started reading it, but I think it'll take me a few weeks to finish it. Reading an English book is such a difficult job for me to do. Anyway I don't want to talk about the matter without reading the book in spotlight myself.

　Influenza still seems to be very common all through Japan. Usually most people suffer from the bad flu in a period of time between the end of January and the end of February. However, because of the extremely warm winter, the prime time has shifted to the middle of March. Now that the problems about "Tamiflu" have not yet been solved, lots of people are wondering if they should take the medicine or not. I did and nothing terrible happened to me, but it doesn't mean the medicine is completely safe with usual people.

　It's been so cold for the last few days. My wife and her mother are visiting Kyoto from March 15 to 17. I hope they'll be blessed with a nice weather while they're staying in Kyoto.

(Wednesday, March 14, 2007)
　Now that so many serious cases have been reported, no one is sure of the safety of the anti-virus medicine called "Tamiflu." More and more people have started to believe that it has serious side effects on children. If it is not completely safe, why isn't the government going to take some measures ro protect infected children. Or is there unbreakable relations between the government and the Chugai Pharmaceutical Company? It was revealed yesterday that the leading professor of the research group had been given as much as 10 million yen by the Chugai Pharmaceutical Company since the research started five or six years before.

(Thursday, March 15, 2007)
　It's such a beautiful morning that we have today. My wife and her mother have already left Chigasaki for Kyoto. They're going to stay there for two nights and three days. I hope they'll be blessed with beautiful warm days while staying in one of the oldest cities in Japan. It is reported that it's a little too early for cherry blossoms, but we can enjoy very beautiful ume flowers in full bloom at places like the Kitano Tenmangu Shirine where Sugawara Michizane, the god of learning, has been enshrined. I'm sure they'll find it refreshing to walk along the Kamogawa River, along the path called "Nakaragino Michi." Bon voyage!

　When I was about to go home from KGC in Fujisawa, it was raining a little outside. The rain made me feel ever colder that it really was. I rode my motorbike through the cold rain, which was really freezing. When I got home, our dog Ryoma welcomed me wagging his tail so strongly. He must have been so lonely without anyone to play with him. It was not so cold inside the house.

(Friday, March 16, 2007)
　An increasing number of children today start learning English to pass the STEP test. There are many materials available for those who want to try the STEP test. Why don't they buy one and prepare for the test themselves? It's very important for you to study English yourself using either an English-Japanese dictionary or an English-English dictionary. But most students prefer to choose an easier way―expect to learn something beneficial in order to pass the STEP test. You have to realize that even if you pass the STEP test, it doesn't mean that you're a good speaker of English. I hate teaching English to a STEP class.

　It's been chilly today too. I can't believe we'll soon get into April. The Meteorological Agency annouced earlier that we were going to expect cherry blossoms much earlier than usual this year. But where can we expect cherry blossoms now? Most cherry trees look so shivering they don't feel like coming out. What's wrong with the weather system these days? A cold spring after a warm winter? That's incredible!

(Saturday, March 17, 2007)
　Tomorrow we're celebrating the first anniversary of my father's death. He passed away on April 3 last year. When my wife and I arrived at his hospital, he had already stopped breathing. Did my father live a happy life? I asked me the question times and times again. I quit my teaching job while he was in the hospital. So he believed I was a school teacher until the very end. I couldn't tell the truth to my sick father. Even if I had told him the truth, he would not have been able to understand what was going on about his oldest son. He was always a hard worker and I wanted him to have a happy retired life. Let us wish his happiness in the heaven.

　My wife came back home from Kyoto late tonight. Ryoma soon felt the door opened by my wife and ran to her to lick all her face. He looked so happy to see her. His welcome lasted for about 10 minutes or so. My wife also looked so happy to be with Ryoma again. They're such good friends.

(Sunday, March 18, 2007)
　It was a very warm day in the late winter today. We were very happy that we could celebrate the first anniversary of my father's death on such a sunny day. After visiting the graveyard we went back to the temple and had a late lunch together. It's been such a long, long year since my father passed away on April 3 last year. I still remember the day. We got a emergency call from the hospital early in the morning. My wife and I hurried to the hospital by my car, but when we arrived at the hospital, my father had already passed away. I would like to think that we were happy to meet my father's death in peace. Now that a year has passed and I sincerely hope that my father will have a happy life up there in the heaven forever. And I'd like my father to watch us from the heaven until the day comes when we join him there in some years.

(Monday, March 19, 2007)
　Our dog Ryoma is getting more and more popular in our neighborhood. He is so charming that everyone tends to come and touch him at first sight. Since he was a puppy, we've been feeling something special about him. He's been friendly to every dog and every person he happens to come across in town. Those who has been no good with dogs start loving dogs after they meet Ryoma. We're very much proud of him.

(Tuesday, March 20, 2007)
　It's a very warm morning in spring we're having today. But sorry to say, most of the cherry trees haven't come out yet. They have a lot of buds, but it'll take them a few more weeks to come out. When I look around the garden, I see some beautiful young leaves on the hydrangeas there. They're gettng ready for the rainy season. Come on. Isn't it a little too early when we don't even see cherry blossoms?

　Today was my 49th birthday. I had late evening classes, so my wife and I celebrated my birthday last night. I only have one year left before getting into my 50's. I'd like to make my language school a bigger one during the last year of my 40's.

(Wednesday, March 21, 2007)
　When we go on a walk with Ryoma, we usually see some dogs on the way. Some of them look very happy to see us. We make it a rule to pat them and speak to them gently. Every time we see them, we feel that they might lack physical contact by their owners. It's very important for dog owners to make as much physical contact as possible with their dogs. Dogs could feel relaxed and comfortable when they're sure they're loved by their owners. Just walking them once or twice a day is not enough. You should try to speak to them as often as you can and pat them while they're staying near you. It is also said that it is extremely important for parents to have physical contact with their babies. Both pet dogs and babies must be given a lot of love.

(Thursday, March 22, 2007)
　It was a warm spring's day today. It was refreshing to ride my motorcycle in the city. Today my mother took Ryoma for a walk both in the morning and in the evening because both my wife and I would be late coming home from work. He usually likes to take a long walk, so it must have been a tough job for my mother to walk him twice a day. I heard she tried to ask Ryoma to take her to Lucky's house and she was surprised Ryoma actually did. We all know he understands what we're talking about even when he doesn't look interested in our conversation. He's so clever and smart.

(Friday, March 23, 2007)
　Is there anyone who suffered from influenza and took Tamiflu? As I wrote before, I had influenza and my doctor prescribed Tamiflu for me after asking me if I was worried about the side effects. Luckily I didn't have psychiatric symtoms like hullcinations, but many cases have been reported so far in which teenagers fell off or jump off from buildings after taking the flu drug. Yesterday the Health, Labor, and Wealth Ministry issued emergency instructions about the use of Tamiflu and told all the doctors not to use the drug on patients aged 10-19 except when they're in serious situation. Why didn't they make that decision earlier? Many people including me suspects that they have had intimate relations with the Chugai Pharmaceutical Company and tried not to make any decisions that would damage the company's profit. This is a very serious problem about life and death. They should know better as to how to cope with the situation.

(Saturday, March 24, 2007)
　I was so glad to see the two Japanese figure skaters on the awarding platform, Miki Ando, the gold medalist, and Mao Asada, the silver medalist. Mao made a big mistake in the short program yesterday, so it's is a great job for her to get a medal. It was her first participating in the World Championship. Miki was also great performing at the very last without making any mistakes. She must have had great pressure on her because she was in a position closest to the gold medal. Congratulations again on their splendid performances!

(Sunday, March 25, 2007)
　Late this afternoon I went to the Pachinko Parlor near Fujisawa Station. I got the first hit after using just two 500-yen coins. I played for about three hours there and got more than 60,000 yen. It was a good part-time job. After I came home from Fujisawa, I gave some money to my mother and my wife. They also looked happy to get unexpected pocket money. We've got to share something good and happy, haven't we?

　Tomorrow a 11-year-old girl is coming to my house from Tochigi Prefecture. She's going to stay here until April 6 to learn both English and softball from me. It's a kind of studying camp that I manage for the first time at my language school. It was her father, who got to know me on my website, tho proposed the camp. When I first heard about his proposal, I was at a loss what to do. But I though it was most important to try something new as a challenge. I think I'll do my best to make the camp really memorable for the little girl.

(Monday, March 26, 2007)
　I've got a daughter now! Actually a 12-year-old girl has come to my house to stay her about 10 days and learn English and softball from me. You might be surprised to hear that she came all the way here alone. It took her more than three hours to get to Chigasaki Station by train. When I drove to the station to pick her up, I saw her standing with some heavy-looking bags and a softball bat. I think she's a great girl and that her parents are also so great that they've put the famous saying into parctice; Let the dearest child go on a trip alone to grow big. She love dogs so much that she and Ryoma became good friends at first sight. Late in the afternoon, the little girl named Karen, Ryoma, and I went to the beach together and enjoyed walking along the seashore for about an hour and a half. It seemed that she was so happy walking along the wet beach becuase usually she doesn't have a chance to to and see the sea.

　Ryoma also enjoyed walking around on the beach so excitedly that when he came home he was pretty tired. Now he's sound asleep behind the curtain of the living room. He might be running along the beach with Karen in his dream. I believe Karen has made a great start of her ten-day studying camp.

(Tuesday, March 27, 2007)
　Karen and I went to Odawara in my car to watch the Seisho District Softball Meet in which Hagisono JHS had been invited to participate. Two of the regular members were injured and could not play in the games, but the team won the top of the preliminary league, which made them go on to the final tournament held tomorrow. We're not going to go to Odawara tomorrow because I'm having two lessons at my language school. Anyway I was happy to introduce Karen to the players of Hagisono JHS. I'm sure she'll have a good and precious time practicing with them for some days to come.

　I was very much surprised to learn that Karen was such a splendid player. She was very good at catching balls and at the same time she is a really good batter. I told her that she should be proud of herself because every movements of hers showed she had been born as a good athlete. But she said that she had been practicing hard since she started softball at the age of 6. I also think her fantastic performances owe much to her father who had been training her and her sister when he found time to stay with his daughters.

(Wednesday, March 28, 2007)
　I was planning to let Karen practice softball pitching, but when I went shopping at the convenience store, I saw the softball team of Shorin JHS starting their practice in the afternoon. After I finished the second class today, I took Karen to the school ground and asked Mr.Yamanoi, manager of the team, to allow us to practice pitching in the same ground. Then he was kind enough to propose Karen should take part in their fielding parctice. I thanked him for his proposal and let Karen play shortstop. After the practice was over, Karen had already become good friends with the players on the team, which was a happy experience for her, I'm sure.

　Tomorrow morning we're visiting Tsurugadai JHS softball team and practice pitching for one hour and a half. After that we're planning to move to Yokohama to watch the Seifu High School Cup games. Both Hagisono and Shorin are taking part in the games. We're expecting some exciting games of a rather high level.

(Thursday, March 29, 2007)
　It was an early summer day today. The temperature changes so frequently that it's hard for us to adjust our physical condition to the changeable weathers. In the ground of Tsurugadai JHS there have been some cherry trees since I was working there about 15 years ago. They've already come out and I could take some good photos of beautiful cherry blossoms with my digital camera.

　I was just standing in the schoolground for about 5 hours in the sunshine, and I got sunburnt. Maybe the sunshine was much stronger than I felt it was. Mr.Matsunobu, manager of the team, continued knocking the balls for the players for about 4 hours without taking a break himself. I felt he was surprisingly tough. If I had been him, I would have taken a break every 40 minutes.

(Friday, March 30, 2007)
　Now you can see lots of cherry trees in full bloom here and there. I've been expecting they will come out around the same time as usual, but thanks to a few warm spring days, it seems that they have decided to show their graceful flowers earlier than usual. On my way back from the KGC English conversation class, I took a way around and took some photos of beautiful cheery blossoms. It was a little cloudy this afternoon, so I think I'll find some time to take more photos of cherry blossoms in the sunshine.

(Saturday, March 31, 2007)
　Today was the last day of the academic year 2006, and many teachers must have been busy moving to their new schools. The day after tomorrow, on April 2, the new academic year 2007 is starting with the teachers' meeting. New teachers will be introduced to start the brand-new day. Some are willing to start the first day at new schools, and others are reluctant to start working. Lucky schools with many energetic teachers could expect something new throughout the year. On the contrary, unlucky schools with lazy teachers could never have a bright future. Students should be able to choose their schools to go to. What do you think?

(Sunday, April 1, 2007)
　Karen and I went to Hagisono JHS to practice softball. We didn't know until we reached school, but they were having a farewell game between the present team and the parents' and OG's team. Karen played second base as a mamber of the present team. I was happy to see Karen welcomed by all the members of Hagisono. We're taking part in tomorrow's practice too. I hope Karen will get a lot by practicing with them.

(Monday, April 2, 2007)
　It was the first working day for all the public school teachers in Chigasaki City. They had to have a lot of meetings to prepare for the new academic year, but Mr.Ide, manager of Hagisono softball team, tried to come out to the ground to take care of his players. The young manager of the baseball team never appeared, which is the big difference between them. I saw the baseball boys practicing themselves, but it seemed that they didn't know what to do or how to concentrate on their jobs. These days there are less and less teachers who cannot devote themselves to the management of their sports teams.

　It started raining late in the afternoon, and it got rather cold at night. Most of the cherry trees have been coming out recently and I hope we'll be blessed with warm spring days to enjoy the beautiful blossoms.

(Tuesday, April 3, 2007)
　I went to the sporting goods store named Hiratsuka Sports near Hiratsuka Station with Karen. I was planning to buy a new pair of softball spikes for Karen who was going to enter junior high school this April. Her shoe size was 23.5, but no spikes of that size were available in that shop. The shop owner, who I have known for years, recommended that we should buy one of one size bigger. So we decided to buy a pair of spikes of the size of 24.0. It might be a little too big for the little girl, but there's still some possibility for her feet to get begger. She looked so happy to have her new spikes in her hands.

(Wednesday, April 4, 2007)
　The weather today was quite different from that of yesterday. Do we usually this changeable weather around this time of the year? I drove Karen to Hagisono JHS and asked Ms.Kodama, assistant coach, to take care of her for me while I was back at home to teach English conversation for one and a half hours. After the lesson I drove to Hagisono JHS again to pick Karen up. We dropped in at a family restaurant to have big lunches there. After we came home, we tried to study English for an hour or so, but we were too tired to carry out the plan. So I decided not to continue the lesson and had a long nap together. We restarted the lesson at 10:30 at night, which lasted until 11:40. The lesson was like softball practice in which I never say OK until the student reaches the goal I had set for him/her. Karen looked so tired when the lesson was over.

(Thursday, April 5, 2007)
　This morning I called Mr.Munekata, manager of Hiratsuka Shogyo High School, and asked him to give a pitching lesson to Karen in the afternoon. He said OK without hesitation. Karen was so lucky that she could get a lesson directly from Mr.Munekata, who has been famous for his pitching theory throughout Japan. It was around 5:40 when we arrived at the high school ground. I was really glad to see the great guy again after a long absence. He looked happy to see me on the ground again. He told one of the players on his team to turn on the large lights for Karen and spent about an hour training her. The way he explained how to pitch was surprisingly easy to understand and Karen improved her pitching skills so rapidly. She has to be very proud of the lesson because Mr.Munekata is sure to lead his team to win the championship in the near future.

(Friday, April 6, 2007)
　I'm in charge of an open seminar of English conversation for beginners this academic year too. Today I had the first lesson for the first term. There're three terms in one school year. In my class I have 19 students this time. Each class has a capacity of 20 students, so my class is almost full, which I have to be proud of.

　The last class tonight was for 7th graders. I started to teach English conversation to a class of one boy and one girl. At first they looked a little nervous but when the 65-minute lesson was over, they looked so relaxed. I think I'll be able to enjoy teaching them for half a year.

(Saturday, April 7, 2007)
　Isn't is a crazy idea for a hospital to have a rescue box for babies abandoned by their mothers? I think it would promote a tendency for irresponsible young mothers to give up bringing up their own children. Those women who have no confidence to take responsibility to what happens after having sex should not have babies, which is clearer than anything else in this world. The government gave a green light to the crazy idea, but I don't think they have some definite future plans for the system.

　According this morning's paper, a stupid young mother gave up feeding her young children and let them live alone in an aprtment. One of the children had already died, and another child seems to have died of hunger. But to our great surprise, the other boy survived the hell eating garbages he happened to find inside the room. I insist the mother should be sentenced to death, but it means the boy must lose his mother.

(Sunday, April 8, 2007)
　Today was the election day for the governor and the councilors of Kanagawa Prefecture. I know it's very important to vote in an election, but I didn't go and make a vote. I was not interested in the election, because I knew nothing would change whoever won the election. Even if they sound like good politicians, once they're in post there will be no difference between good politicians and bad ones. They will forget what they have been insisting and start thinking of themselves. I hate politicians and I'll never believe in them.

　Once politicians, doctors, and school teachers were the ones to be most respected. But today there are more and more trouble makers among them and many people are losing trust in them. If there is no change in this situation, there will be no bright future to our country. However, they're not the only selfish people. Today usual people are more interested in themselves than in the world around them.

(Monday, April 9, 2007)
　Now that Karen's been away for two days, Ryoma seems to be pretty lonely without a girl to hug him tight. Instead he comes to me more often than usual. It seems that he wants to feel someone very close to him. We can express our loneliness with our own language, but he doesn't know how to speak. The only thing he can do to cope with his loneliness is to just stand it. My wife and I tried to be with him for as long as possible so that he might not get depressed any more.

　Most of the cherry blossoms have gone and the scenery of the early spring has been changing rapidly. Now the season is getting ready for the time of green leaves. I feel like enjoying beautiful peach flowers instead for the time being. The weather is still so changeable and we suddenly have cold days. The weather forecast says that it's going to be rainy next weekend, when there going to be some big practice games of softball in Chigasaki. I hope the forecast will be a very big mistake.

(Tuesday, April 10, 2007)
　One of the students at my school had influenza for the second time in this season. When I first heard that from her mother, I couldn't believe my ears. Why can the same person have influenza twice in one season? I asked the girl directly and knew that she had defferent types of influenza, Type A and Type B. Her little sister also had both of the two types. The notorious Tamiflu is said to be effective only to Type A. How many people have had both types of influenza for the last season?

　I have had a sore throat for about a week. My voice's been husky for the last few days. First I was worried that I might have larynx cancer. I saw a doctor soon and he said it was nothing serious. However I think I have to be careful with my throat. If the pain is not gone in a few days, I'll have to see another doctor.

(Wednesday, April 11, 2007)
　What's going on in the weather system? It started to rain late in the afternnon. It was cold rain and when I got home from work by motorcycle, I was completely wet and cold. I understand that we have a changeable weather at this time of the year, but I still long for warm spring days. Neither my wife nor I have enjoyed staying under the cherry blossoms this April. I'm afraid it's too late now, though.

　It seems that my wife is having a cold. She never complains about her physical conditions, so I have to watch her very carefully so she might not work too hard. She's always thinking of me and so I don't want her to get sick. She never goes to sleep until I get into bed. I've never known such a thoughtful woman as her. Many husbands tend to lose interest in their wives as they live together with them. But I'm sure I'll never stop thinking of my wife because she'll be always a good wife that I should love most.

(Thursday, April 12, 2007)
　I tried Loto 6 today. The key number predicted was quite right but I couldn't hit the other numbers. Will I get the first prize by the time I say good-bye to this world? Anyway I'll try times and times again till I'm called the very lucky guy someday.

(Friday, April 13, 2007)
　Friday has become an enjoyable day for me this school year. I started to teach two 7th graders at Kokusai Gaigo Center. They look so fresh that everything I say seems quite interesting to them. Teaching English conversation is very different from giving lessons for the STEP tests. Those students who study English to pass the STEP tests are often not good enough for learning difficult English, which makes teaching so frustrating. I myself was not interested in the STEP tests when I was a student. The only grades I tried were the 3rd and 1st. I didn't do anything special for the tests. I think it's kind of nonsense to do something special to prepare for the tests. What do you think? What do most mothers say?

　Nearly one o'clock in the morning, I had to take Ryoma out for the third walk because there seemed to be something wrong with his stomach that had been making a noise since my wife came home from work. We walked about half an hourm but he didn't do his business. He walked so quickly that while walking he didn't look like a sick dog at all. Maybe nothing was wrong with him. It was OK because we felt relieved. Now he's sleeping behind the curtain of the living room where he likes to stay for many hours.

(Saturday, April 14, 2007)
　I was happy to see a clear sky this morning. After breakfast I rode my motorcycle to Hagisono JHS to watch a softball game between Zaike JHS in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, and Tokiwa JHS in Yokosuka. It was such an exciting game that I was impressed with every play in the game. After the game was over, I watched a little bit of the next game between Zaike and Hagisono and came home to have the first lesson at my language school. I'm going to go to Hagisono JHS again to wach some more games played by famous teams of top level.

(Sunday, April 15, 2007)
　I love double-flowerd cherry trees. Near Kita-Chigasaki Station on the JR Sagami Line, there is one in a private garden. The double cherry blossoms of the tree is so beautiful that I've wanted to take a good photo of it. This morning I had a chance to do the job and I took some photos of the beautiful flowers. The double cherry blossoms come out later than the usual cherry blossoms and they're so beautiful. We human beings will also be great when we come out late, I believe.

　Tomorrow I'm having the first lesson of this academic year for the nursery school in Odawara. I'm excited because I'm meeting new young people there.

(Monday, April 16, 2007)
　It's been pretty cold this evening. I had to walk our dog in the cold rain. When we went out of the house, he didn't want to go for a walk, which I knew to see him walk quite slowly. My wife let him wear his raincoat. As is always the case with him, he never does his business when he goes out with his raincoat on. Tonight was no exception. We walked about half an hour and he just peed to come home. After coming home, he looked so hungry, though. He asked for some more food. It's no good to give him too much food, but he looked so hungry my wife gave him som more food, which he ate up in a second. Now he weighs 14.6 kilos. Wow!

(Tuesday, April 17, 2007)
　One of my ex-students works for a juku school in Tokyo. It's a branch school of a major cramming school, but many of the branch managers are junks, he says. He works as a part-time math teacher there. One day he went to teach a 9th grader privately, but when he got to school, the manager told him that his lesson had been canceled. The truth was that the manager had forgot to tell him that although she had known the cancellation for a week. He says that the woman manager is so fogetgul that he has to ask her the same thing times and times again. He's a part-time teacher, so he can't be paid for the lesson he doesn't have. After all he went to Tokyo for nothing. How can a irresponsible woman like her be hired as a branch school manager? It should never happen to an educational organization with a lot of students who pay so much money to get splendid lessons. Schools of that kind will never have a bright future, I'm 100 % sure.

(Wednesday, April 18, 2007)
　In the United States yesterday a Korean-American student shot many people and killed 32 of them. It's the worst gun crime in the U.S. history. America has some federal gun laws, but they can't have strict restrictions as to the use of guns. If you have your ID card to show you're over 21 year old and you have no criminal record, it's easy for you to purchase a gun in America. Many of the U.S. people believe that they have to protect themselves by holding guns. Now that so many guns are available, it's quite difficult for the U.S. government to get rid of all the guns held by a lot of citizens.

　In Japan too a terrible incident happened in the City of Nagasaki. The governor of the city was shot to death last night by a member of the major Japanese mafia. We should never allow that kind of a crime to happen in our society. If you say or do something unfovorable for someone else and you're almost shot by the person who does not like your deed or words, how can you express yourself freely? It should never happen in a democratic society like Japan or the United States.　

(Thursday, April 19, 2007)
　I made a new bank account at Mitsui Sumitomo Bank, but I didn't get a bankbook for the account. It was a web account and I could only see the flow of money on the Internet. It's so convenient and I don't have to pay extra service charge for moving money in the account.
　My mother, my wife, and I all use softbank cell phones. I can check everything about the use of each cell phone on the Internet too. This is the age when we can do anything using the computer without going to the places we used to go to in order to ask for something very important and confidential.

(Friday, April 20, 2007)
　My wife has been working at the reception desk for the apartment building on a hill. She works part-time and her pay for the hour is incredibly low. I believe she works harder than a full-time employee. Perhaps the management company will say that there are many women available who would do her job without complaint. I want the managers of the company she works for to fairly evaluate her work and raise her pay for the hour.

　I also have a lot of things to say as to my pay at the KGC, but when I think of my wife working hard for her low pay, I don't feel like complaining about my working condition. She has as much pride in her job as I do. What's the difference between us? People should be paid according to how hard they work, don't they?

(Saturday, April 21, 2007)
　During the noon recess I visited Shorin JHS to watch a softball game. They had the 2007 Spring JHS Tournament there. Today was its first day and I saw a game between Hagisono and Samukawa. Of course there was a great difference between the two and nobody doubted Hagisono would win the game. I found out some good players on Samukawa softball team. They played so poor, but I thought if they had been trained properly, they would have been as good as the players on Hagisono. Now most schools need energetic teachers who would be happy to take care of a sport team. It's quite difficult, though.

　Our dog Ryoma has grown so big that my wife insists the Shiba dog belongs to the middle-sized dogs. However, it actually belongs to a small-sized dogs. But when we think of the average weight for the adult Shiba dog as around 11 kilograms, Ryoma must be very big. He weighs about 14.6 kirograms. He doesn't look overweight. He looks rather muscular. I guess his parents must have been of great blood.

(Sunday, April 22, 2007)
　Because of the rainfall in the morning, both the JHS softball games and the Shorin Area softball games were canceled. We might have waited a little longer, because it stopped raining late in the morning. In the afternoon I went to Fujisawa by motorcycle to play Pachinko. I was not lucky today.

　Tomorrow morning the important MLB games between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Socks will be broadcast on TV. I think I'll have some time to watch the exciting game before leaving home for KGC. Well, this is all for tonight. I have to go to bed to get up early for the game tomorrow morning.

(Monday, April 23, 2007)
　I'm so happy that Matsuzaka Daisuke made his second win of this season. He had lost the two games brfore today's game and I was worried that if he should lose today's game again, he might lose his confidence in his pitching also. That's why I'm extremetly happy to know about his victory. I'm looking forward to his next game against the New York Yankees, when he will pitch to Matsui Hideki, who has just recovered from the trouble in the back of his thigh.
　Look at the photo in the right. All the fans of the Red Socks were giving big hands to Matsuzaka as he returned into his bench. When we think of the fact that he had lost 6 runs at the time, it was so surprising that they still cheered for him. I guess he's so attractive to the baseball fans in the United States, because he never loses his fighting spirit even when he's in a very difficult situation. I hope he'll do a splendid job in his next game too.

(Tuesday, April 24, 2007)
　There're many funny things about our dog Ryoma. One of them is that he usually tries to "bury" his food before starting to eat it. He lives inside the house with us, so it's actually impossible to bury something very important to him. He he lived outside he could bury anything he likes. What is more interesting about this is that he starts eating his food after trying many times to bury it. However hard he tried to bury it, there will never be any change to the situation of his food. Maybe it's customary for him to try to bury food. It's just like prayer that a Christian makes before eating meals.
　Just a few minutes ago he started to bury the food and now I've noticed all his food is gone into his stomach. Once he starts eating his food, it will only take him a few minutes to finish it. He's a fast eater as well as a big eater. And recently he soon gets hungry and askes us for something to eat. A surprising appetite!

(Wednesday, April 25, 2007)
　This morning Ryoma went to take vaccination against hydrophobia. It was done at a nearby temple. A shot costs 3,500 yen, which would cost double the sum if you go to a vet. Well, it's OK as long as Ryoma can stay in good shape.

　How can you study effectively for the STEP tests? If you force young children to study a lot of difficult words in order to pass the STEP tests, it might make them hate learning English. They could think that they have to have a hard time learning English. But learning itself should be fun. If they don't feel English learning is fun, how can they keep on trying hard? That's why I don't find it enjoyable to teach STEP tests classes. I think I'm going to think of a better way of making good use of the lessons, which often tend to be boring.

(Thursday, April 26, 2007)
　Late yesterday afternoon I went to a major bookstore next to Fujisawa Station. On the fifth floor they have plenty of books on language learning. Everytime I visit the floor, I feel like buying some of them because there are always so many attractive books there. Yesterday I bought three books. Two of them were about learning English through American elementary school textbooks. The other one was a book on useful short English phrases often used in daily conversations by native speakers. It cost me almost 5,000 yen. I think I have to be careful not to visit the shop too often. You know what I mean.

(Friday, April 27, 2007)
　This morning I took Ryoma for a walk instead of my mother. She had to see her doctore for a monthly check. It was so refreshing to walk through the morning air. I could see a lot of colorful flowers and I enjoyed taking some pictures of them. Recently I love the color green. I like lots of green in the background of a photo. Did you know that the color green ease your tired mind because it's the basic color of nature. It's widely known that watching something green such as faraway mountains is good for your eyes. When you feel tired after working so long, you could watch faraway mountains and your eyes will be refreshed.

(Saturday, April 28, 2007)
　To say what seems to be right is one thing, to put the idea into practice is quite another. This is a popular phrase that many people use to describe those people who easily blame other people. Suppose that you have a daughter who plays on a softball team of her school. You have some chances to see her games and other greater players on other teams. You might wish that the manager of your daughter's team would be much more enthusiastic to make a stronger team. But you might also want to spend a holiday with your daughter. In that case, you might not think of the manger's schedule. He also has a family to take care of. How many times might he have wished to take his own daughter to Tokyo Disneyland on a holiday?
　I understand how the parents feel when their daughters' team was beaten by a stronger team completely. But they should not forget that they have to teach their daughters to make the best use of what they have.

(Sunday, April 29, 2007)
　My wife and I took Ryoma for a walk along the beach called "Southern Beach Chigasaki." It was a warm sunny afternoon of the spring and we enjoyed walking together along the beach. However there was a surprising incident that happened at the very beginning of our walk. When I was taking photos of my wife and Ryoma, a border collie rushed to us to attack Ryoma. The owner of the dog didn't attach his leash to the crazy animal and he should have been blamed for his dog's crazy attack. I could have kicked him down on the beach, but I didn't. I knew the owner was watching the scene. We were so surprised and at the same time angry about the crazy owner, but we didn't want any trouble on the beach. The owner hit his dog with a stick and apologized to us very politely. How can you let your dog go in a place where many people are enjoying themselves? It's completely against the social rules. Next time I see a border collie, I'll have to be very careful in order not to allow them to attack Ryoma. If it should happen, I'm sure I'll kick the dog down to be paralyzed.

(Monday, April 30, 2007)
　It's the very last day of April at last. We're getting into May, but we still have cold nights. Thanks to the unusual cold weather in spring, there still are some places where we can still enjoy cherry blossoms. Tsutsuji flowers are in full bloom now. Along the Route 1, not far from my place, there are rows of beautiful tsutsuji flowers, called azalea in English. They're so beautiful that early this afternoon I went to take some photos. They look very beautiful even in the photos too. They're shocking pink, white, and pale pink. I like pale pink flowers best. They remind me of the same pale pink of the cherry blossoms at the beginning of the spring. My wife wonders how they could survive the exhaust gas from the vehicles running along the road. I would say that all the plants are full of vitality.
　Late this afternoon I went to an Internet cafe for the first time in my life. It cost me 300 yen for half an hour. All the drinks were free of charge, which was much more gorgeous than that of a restaurant. But it was a little dark inside the cafe. I thought it would be more comfortable if it were brighter there. It's not a place to give a second visit to.