Star Wars Day

“Star Wars Day” is this coming Friday.

Why?

Answer is ... that

“May the 4th Be With You” 

Oh, I see !

To commemorate this day, 
I copied Star Wars poster using Photoshop.

Recently, 

I watched EPISODE I  in 3D.

This is very amazing !

Especially, my favorite part is the battle between Darth Maul and Jedi.
It was very exciting.

I am looking forward to EPISODE II.

Hanami in Japanese garden

Spring has come in Japan and Cherry blossoms are again in bloom. 

As had been the tradition for years, 

Japanese people go out to watch these cherry blossoms while eating, drinking, and generally having fun under the tree... 

this much valued event which we call Hanami.

Last Sunday, I went with my wife to Shukkei-en, a Japanese traditional garden in Hiroshima, for Hanami. 

This place was built by Ueda Soko, a famous master of tea ceremony. 

Whenever I am in a Japanese garden, I feel comfortable.

 It reminds me how thankful and happy that I am Japanese.

Choko and Parabo

Today is the one-year anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami.

I pray for all victims.



Last year, in September 2011,
My wife went to animal relief center in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture from Hiroshima.
She took care of affected pets as a volunteer for about two weeks.

After volunteering, she brought back two cats to our home,
Choco (left side of the photo) and Parabo (right side of the photo) 

Choco

Parabo

They may have had a terrifying experience of earthquake. 

We swore that we would make them happy.

A short-time tour in the north Hiroshima Station

The other day, my wife and I went for a walk as a short-time tour in the north Hiroshima Station.

I climbed the stupa.

It was my first time in 4o years that I visit the place.

There is Buddha's ashes from Nehru the prime minister of India.

The stupa was built in 1954 by the monks all over Japan for the victims of the Hiroshima in World war II.

Aside from Stupa there are a lot of things in North Horioshima station like

the statue of Mr. Yamagata , Jumbo kettle , Tree of passing exam and so on.

The statue of Mr. Yamagata is in Tsuruhane shrine.

He is the first Japanese to successfully flew a plane in somersault.

Jumbo kettle is in Toshogu shrine.

This is like 12 drum put together.

In the time of Samurais the jumbo kettle was used for making swords and bathtubs. Now, people visit Toshogu to pray and eat the soup made from this kettle only new years day.

Tree of passing exam is in Owari Tenmangu , a shrine to a god of learning.

Those leaves doesn't fall from tree.

I recommend walking once in a while and you will learn a lot of interesting discoveries.

Pierced earring

The other day I watched thriller movie "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

This movie of original story is more than 26 million copies sold worldwide.

This is very amazing.

But, I don't recommend it to everyone since it has lots of violent and cruel scenes.

Heroine in this movie is a punk girl.

She has a lot of pierce in her face.

Why does human have pierce?

Although there are many views,

I have heard that pain of piercing makes them realize that they are alive.

By the way,

I'm an ordinary middle-aged businessman, 

But I also had been pierced long time ago.

Really?

You won't believe it.

Let’s go back 20 years from now when I was still a college student.

On one Sunday, I went fishing with my friends.

I'm ashamed to tell that I'm not good at fishing

I don’t do well in surf casting.

Whenever I surf cast, the hook and the line with the sinker turns to the right.

Those who are not good at surf casting release the line from their finger quickly, 

it deviates to the right.

I failed surf casting many times,

I tried concentrating to release the line from my finger on time.

After many trial,

I can release the line on time.

Yes!

But then the accident happened.

I felt some pain at the back of my head, 

The sinker hit at the back of my head.

Ouch!

But my friends laughed at me.

Why?

I felt so embarrassed.

They went on laughing and pointed at me with their fingers. 

"Your ear, Your ear "

I understood why they laughed.

Surprisingly, I was hooked in my ear by a fishhook with sand worm.

It seems like pierced earring ….

Yes!

This is my experience of pierce.

I tried to pull out the hook from my ear.

But I couldn't do because of its barb.

Unfortunately it was a Sunday, 

we could not easily find a hospital nearby which is still in service.

While we were finding, off course I had pierce with sand worm.

(Sand worm is joke. It pulled out.)

After hours of finding, at last we found a hospital in service.

The doctor said, "I have never seen a situation like this before".

Oh!  God! 

Oh! Budda!

I really appreciated that I had such a rare experience.

I think that even such a funny or silly experiences makes me appreciate life.

I understand the feeling of people who have pierce.

I also realize that I am alive. 

About one year has passed since I joined Toastmasters

I am a member of a Toastmasters Club.

Toastmasters Club is a non-profit and educational organization that teaches public speaking, communication and leadership skills. 

We must only English in our meeting and not Japanese language.

About one year has passed since I joined Toastmasters.

My English pronunciation and grammar are still strange.

But my English skill improve from a year ago. 

Before I joined the club, I got 455 points in the TOEIC examination. 

Now I got a score of 730 points in the TOEIC examination.

My TOEIC score has increased by 300 points from a year.

Well, now I am 41 years old.

I don't need to use English at work.

I have never studied abroad.

I have never lived in a foreign country.

I am an ordinary middle-aged salarymen who doesn't need English. 

Why do I study English?

These days, globalization is expanding. 

The world becomes closer and closer. 

I think maybe in the future it' will be quite difficult for Japanese people to live and work in Japan without English ability. 

This is why I want to speak English.

So,

What on earth can I do to improve English skill?

Toastmasters is one way.

Others,

I did not do anything special.

I only studied English for three hours every day for a year.

including listening to English on my iPod in commuter trains.

In short,

Daily "continuation" is everything.

"Continuation" is the best way to study.

As the saying goes,

"Endurance makes you stronger."

Thanks to the English.

My world is getting wider.

I read English news, and English books.

And,

I have many good friends who study English.

I have many good friends in Toastmasters.

In spite of wrong pronunciation and grammer,

my friends in Toastmasters listen to my speech patiently and generously. 

Thanks to Friends of Toastmasters, I have grown up.

However, my English skill is poor.

I am 41 years old. 

Is it too late for me to study English?

I beg to disagree. 

It's not too late. 

Japanese average life expectancy is approximately 80 years old so I still have 40 more years.

In accordance to a best seller book, "Outlier", written by Malcolm Gladwell, there is what we call ten thousand-hour rule saying that if we make effort for ten thousand-hour, we can become experts. 

We just have to dedicate three hours each day for a period of 10 years. 

With this, we can become everything we want to. 

Old age is neither a hindrance nor an excuse. 

Therefore, 

I will keep studying English. 

I will keep practicing English. 

I will keep running. 

And, hopefully, my dream will come true.

Volunteer tour

(This entry is a rewrite of the previous entry.)

The massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Tohoku area in Japan on March 11th,

Now many people in Tohoku still need for many volunteers whether they are experienced or not.

So, my wife and I decided to go to Tohoku as volunteers.

In September,

I participated a two day volunteer tour to Higashi-matsushima, Miyagi Prefecture.

My wife went to animal relief center in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture for about ten days to take care of affected pets.

Last week,

My wife and I participated a two day volunteer tour to Minami-sanriku , Miyagi Prefecture.

In spite of eight months after the tsunami, 

We saw many collapsed buildings, houses and the overturned cars,ships.

We were very shocked unspeakably.

By the way, 

There is one question.

What is a volunteer tour ?

Usually, at first volunteers go to the Volunteer center in disaster area by themselves to find jobs.

But it is not sure whether there are job or not.

Of course they should prepare their own meals and logging.

However, in some volunteer tour, 

Volunteers have a job as soon as they arrive at the disaster area. 

and some meals and logging are prepared.

It is very convenient.

So It is easy for beginners to participate volunteer.

Anyway,

Don't think difficultly about volunteer.

Advanced skills and special skills are not necessary.

There are a lot of job anybody can do.

A large number of people need for human power.

For example, 

look at this picture of the railway covered with a lot of grasses, destroyed by the Tsunami.

I think it takes many many many times to remove all grasses.

But about 100 volunteers started to cut grasses.

After two hours,

This is the human power.

There are many such jobs anybody can do.

If you are hesitant to do something for Tohoku because of lack of experience, lack of skill,

I recommended you to participate a volunteer tour.