Otoshimono

2002.3.31 Sun - 8:23PM It's thundering now. And it began to shower about an hour ago. When spring comes here, we have a lot of rain. So today I felt that it's time to store the winter clothes in a closet :-) I woke up with a sore throat this morning. I took my temperature and fortunately I didn't have a fever. I had a lot of things to do today. I did three loads of wash, aired out the futon and clearn up my room in the morning. I was glad it was sunny. In the afernoon, I went grocery shopping. On the way to the store, I found an old woman standing on the sidewalk. She looked upset so I asked her what the matter was. She pointed out a wallet on the shoulder and said that she'd just found it. Some receipts were lying around. We talked it must had been pocket picked and thrown away here. And I picked up the wallet and a receipt, I found a name and telephone number were wrriten on the receipt. And then, another old woman closed to us and asked what we were doing. We told her about the story and I said them I thought it was better to bring it to the nearest Koban "police box". But the women said that we should call her. And one of them offered to go home and call her. But I told them I took my cell phone with me and called her. A few minutes later, a lady came to the road. She told us she put the wallet into her pocket and it dropped while she riding on the bicycle. We were glad her money wasn't stolen at all. Remembering this story, I think I hadn't seen the kind people like two women for a long time. Most of Japanese people used to be like that. I was very proud of it. But seems like we are getting cold. When I thought of that, I felt a bit sad, but I was glad there were some warm hearted people in such a big city, Yokohama.

They know the time

2002.3.30 Sat We had a hard rain last night. I thought most of the cherryblossomes would fall down. I went out thin morning. And I found a lot of cherryblossomes were still in bloom. Seem like they know the time - they fall down easily when the time has come. It was amazing. I felt their strength today.

"Arita yaki"

2002.3.26 Tue - 9:35PM I bought two nice coffee cups today. I found them a few days ago at variety shop which have only Japanese goods. I fell in love with these wonderful chinas at first sight! I can't wait to use the cups when my friends come to my room.

Ohanami

2002.3.24 Sun - 6:36PM My friends and I went to Hodogaya Park to enjoy the cherry blossoms. We bought hot baked sweet potatos from a stand and had them under the trees. There were many people in the park and they took pictures of their family. My friends and I also took our own camera and hang around the park to find a good tree. Fortunately we could take good pictures. We really enjoyed the spring~~~

"If you begin it, it is the same as having progressed the half of the way"

2002.3.19 Tue - 10:07PM It's a warm day today. We've had warm days lately, so cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than an ordinary year. We are worried about the cherry blossoms will fall soon. I took a off today. I went to the city office and had the medical checkup. It is for presenting the university which I'm going to entry in April. Yes, I decided it! I'm going to learn Japanese culture and literature by correspondence. I know it is a very hard way. It is said that it is only 10% of the students can graduate from correspondence university. Most of the students give up their study soon. I might be a drop out. But I'll take my time and try my best. It doesn't matter how long it will take. Because I just want to learn Japan as a Japanese. I just want to know about my country, people, culture and history more. Now, I'll take a chance.

"Sprited Away"

2002.3.11 Mon - 7:52PM It's Monday again... I didn't feel a lack of sleep today, but I couldn't stop yawning all day. In the afternoon, I had to have a lot of coffee. (=_=;) In the morning, I saw news on TV and they reported an animation called "Sento Chihiro no Kamikakusi" (English title is "Sprited Away"), which won the first prize at Berlin Cinema Festival(?) last month. A cinema in Tokyo started showing English subtitled "Sento Chirio..." a few days ago and many foreigners in Japan showed up there. I've never seen animated movies. I thought they were for kids or families, not for adults like me. I thought "Sento Chihiro..." was too young for me. So, even the movie recorded the largest attendance last year, I didn't pay the attenttion to it. But I've been interested in the movie since I heard the director Mr. Miyazaki' comments. He said that the story has a lot of Japanese elements. I told my friend about it on Friday, she said that "Sento Chihiro..." was worth seeing. I'm going to see it soon. I won't miss it again! About "Sprited Away" http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/sen/

The memorial service

2002.3.10 Sun I went to my hometown to attend the memorial service for my brother-in-law Kyu-chan. We went to his tomb and Buddhist monk intoned a sutra for him. I still can't believe it's been almost a year. It's very hard for family to carry on their lifes without someone to love. The day a year ago, Kyu-chan was still alive. But after next week, we'll have to spend more years without him. We'll have many happy times and saddened times, but we won't be able to share them with Kyu-chan. I was thinking of that while we prayed for him. My niece Yumi didn't know yet. She got boring soon but when we prayed to Kyu-chan's tomb, she did the same. That looked so pretty and relieved us a bit.

"Here comes the sun"

2002.3.1 Fri - 9:46PM It's March. Time flies. I don't have to turn on the airconditioner at morning. And I could hear many birds singing this morning. At lunch time, I went for a walk. I saw a lot of flowers were in bloom. Seems the spring has come here. "It's all right"

Sayonara, grandma

2002.2.25 Mon - 7:27PM My grandmother passed away on Thursday night. She was a hundred years old (!!). She had been ill since November and she was getting well last month, but she couldn't eat anything two days before. I had a phone call from Mum on Friday when I had lunch with my colleagues. I hastened back to hometown. When I saw her lying in her room, I found three testimonials by her side. They are from mayor of Mito city, governor of Ibaraki prefecture and Prime Minister Mr. Junichiro Koizumi! They said that they celebrated her long life. My aunt told me that the testimonials were sent on her birthday in Jan. I was really proud of her. My grandmother used to live next-door. My sisters and I often went to her house and had teas with her. She often told me about her childhood, school life, her marriage and World War II. Many people taught me the war. One of them was my grandmother. She told my sisters and me what happened at that time and she always said, "I hate war. We shouldn't do it again" I think I was lucky to hear it from her. If I have children, I can tell them. My grandmother had a great smile. When my family celebrated her birthday last year, my sister wrote a letter to her, said; "My sweet grandma who have a great smile..." My aunt put some grandfather's photos by her side so that "she can find him soon". I'm wondering they were pleased to meet again in heaven. Thank you grandma for everything. You had taught me. I know I'll miss you so much.

Ume

2002.2.17 Sun My friends and I went to Odawara city to see Ume (Japanese apricot) blossoms. It takes about 40 minutes from Yokohama by train. We were surrounded by 35,000 ume trees. How beautiful the smell was! We enjoyed early Spring.

Thank you for the technology

2002.2.16 Sat - 7:36 PM I had a wisdom tooth out today. I was nervous at the morning, but it went very easy after all - I had no pain and I can eat meals as usual. The dentist said that I had to stay calmly today, so I decided to stay at home and write e-mails to my friends and family. When I opened Outlook Express and tried to find a mail from a friend, I found that I had a lot of useless mail. I deleted all and scroll up the screen, I found many e-mails from visitors of my site. All posts were very sweet. Everyone told me the site's feelings and some people shared their experiences. Every time I was glad to get a mail, but I read them again today, the feeling came back clearly. It feels like I'm connected to the world. It made me very happy. I do understand another language though it is a little. It is a wonderful thing.

Flowers

2001.2.7 Thur - 9:10PM I went to a florist's today. When I feel blue, I want to see flowers. I read Takuboku Ishikawa's "Tanka (poem) ", when I was at high school. The content is that when he feels lonely or feels like his friends are wiser and richer than him, he buy some flowers and enjoy them with his wife. I was moved the poem, and then I try to find flowers of trees when I feel down. Today, I wasn't jealous of anyone. But I felt blue. I was thinking of my future at work. Work, love, marrige, family, boyfriend, dreams .... I don't know why I suddenly began to think, but some problems came into my mind and made me so insecure. It seemed like nothing was going fine. The florist's is at Yokohama station. Not a big shop but they had a lot of colorful flowers. I looked around slowly and enjoyed the colors and smell. I found pretty purple flowers. I hadn't heard the name before, but I fell in love at the first sight! As soon as I got home, I put the flowers in my favourite Japanese vase. The room was brightened. I forgot my blue day. About Takuboku Ishikawa http://www.echna.ne.jp/~takuboku/

"The nearest, but farthest country"

2002.2.6 Wed - 8:34PM Sometimes we describe Korea this way. I know about the history between Korea and Japan. And sometimes I saw the town on tv. But I didn't know much about the people and culture. I saw a drama called "Friends" (not America's drama) yesterday. A Japanese girl met a Korean boy in Hong Kong. They fall in love soon but different problems stand their way -. Frankly, I thought the story line is not fresh. But I was hooked on watching in no time :-) Through the drama, I learned a lot of Korea (Seoul). I know South Korea has the conscription system and many countries have it as well (When I stayed in England, my class talked about the system in the lesson), but I'd never known what it was like. I saw the exercises for the first time on the drama. And also the restaurants in Seoul, the Korean actors, apartments, cars, taxies....etc. Now I feel very close to my neighbouring country Korea and want to know more. Half of the scenes they talked Korean. I got the story line by subtitles. The drama will be on air in South Korea and other Asian countries on 15th Feb. I know the people will hear Japanese actors talking in Japanese and know about Japan at the same time. It sounds very exciting! I stopped by a book store today. While I was reading a guidebook of Seoul, a woman took another one and began to read. I took a glance at her, and thought that she must have watched the drama yesterday. About "Friends"(Japanese only) http://www.tbs.co.jp/friends21/top.html

"Tana-bota"

2002.1.27 Sun - 7:00PM I was woken early by the sound of rain this morning. It seemed it was driving rain. I didn't know the weather, so I turned on TV and tried to get any information, but all channels didn't say anything at all. I woke up about 9 AM. I opened the window. The rain had already stopped. But the sky was still grey and it began raining hard again in a few hours. I decided to not do the washing today, so I opened my iBook and began listening music. But after an hour, suddenly the sun got in through the window. I jumped and dashed to the window. "It's cleared up!!" I turned off the computer, scrambled the laundry and turned on the washing machine. "Hurry up!" I tidied up and cleaned my rooms with the cleaner. I managed the things quickly like a formula car! I felt happy because of the sunny afternoon. I thought it was like "Tanakara botamochi" (Japanese saying. the same meaning as "pennies from heaven").

Cooking

2002.1.25 Fri - 9:01PM It's payday and Friday! And a little income tax returned as well. I spent a lot of money on the move. So that's a mercy :-D I'm still adjusting to the new room and the town. But I enjoy them very much. I started cooking for myself. I didn't like cooking and used to buy meals at Take-away food shops. Now each time I have to struggle to prepare, but I found that I'm not fed up with it. I told my friends about that today, and they said that in fact I might love cooking. Well, do I?? I don't know, but it made me happy.

"Good day sunshine"

2002.1.18 Fri - 7:20PM I moved into this new room on Sunday. I lived in a modern apartment, but new one is typical Japanese style. There are two rooms (a four and half-"tatami" mat room and a small Western-style room) with kitchen and bathroom. The only problem is the airconditoner doesn't work, but it'll be repaired in a few days and everything else is going fine. The room looks to the south. That's what I'm satisfied most. The former room looked to the west. I didn't mind at all, but now I can see the sun for a long time. I feel great. I realised it was a very important thing. While I was hanging the washing at balcony on Monday, I hummed Beatles' "Good day Sunshine". The sunshine is lovely.

Today's thought

2001.1.5 Sat - 8:00PM It's 2002 already. Our family are still in mourning, so this year we have no New Year's cards and didn't go to a shirine. On New Year's day we visited Kyu-chan's (my brother-in-law) grave instead. I couldn't believe that it had been almost a year since he passed away. We had a little snow on Wednesday, 2nd Jan - of course it was the first snow this year. My niece Yumi reconized the snow for the first time. She was very excited and shouted "Snow!! snow!!". Well, Kids loves snow, doen't they? I have a canker sore. It appeared on New Year's Eve and it made me hard to eat. I love Japanese food but soy sauce really stings the mouth (>_<). I thought I would have no Japanese food for a while and today I bought a spaghetti for lunch, but I didn't notice that there were red pappers in it!! Please guess my reaction..... I'm moving next week. I know I must pack my stuff and be ready for a new room, but I was lazy today. I woke up late in the morning and listened music for a few hours. I finally started packing in the evening. It's weird I own laziness and diligence and they always fight over which ways to take. I guess my head is diligent and keep ordering myself. I blamed myself today for not starting the pack soon, but I knew that I also need a rest. Well, I don't know I was right or not. But I found that it's hard for me to think things out and see priorities. On the hand I need to care and love myself, on the other I need to discipline myself... I'm talking about difficult thing, aren't I?? But I learned it today. It was very worth for me.