Things I like: Golf

One of my hobbies is golf. I started to play golf when I was over 50 years old and I found I liked it very much. 

It was a surprise to me. I didn't think I would like sports when I was a child. My old friends will be surprised if they knew I enjoy golf now. 

I like golf because both young and old can play together in nature. So, sometimes when my family gets together, we play gold while chatting the whole day long. It is a great joy. 

I also enjoy watching golf TV programs. Hideki Matsuyama is the best gold player in Japan. He won the Masters Golf Tournament this year and on the same day, my second grandchild was born!

Now I am looking forward to playing golf with him in the future!

By Yasumi Imai

Being a celebrity: a dream or a nightmare?

A dream of children is to be a celebrity in the future. For example, boys want to be a baseball player or a soccer player, and girls want to be an actress or a pianist. They want to succeed and be celebrities.

The advantages of being a celebrity are they can be self-confident and satisfied. In addition, they can have more possibility to have good friends, a nice house and a good life.

Although there are some disadvantages as well. It would be difficult to have privacy. Because of SNS, it is more difficult than before. They have to think everybody is a spy. In addition, people want to ask them many things. For example, donations, rent money or to introduce friends. Sometimes they are in trouble. However, it is still a dream to be a celebrity. The life is only once. It is a pity to regret not doing the work for a dream, and it is worth it to make an effort to be a celebrity.

To sum up, working hard for the dream is making the life fruitful.


Posted for Yasumi.

The Brontë Story - A letter from Maria Brontë

To Elizabeth, Maria, Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne I love you all very much. I can't tell how much I love you. I am a lucky woman to have such a wonderful children. My life was full of happiness and love with you all. But I am afraid I have to say good-bye to you soon. Because I feel my body is getting weak and weak. I know I can't live long. I wish I could live till you all will grow-up. But I have to accept the reality. When I am gone, you will be so sad. But remember I will be always with you. Even you can't see me or remember my face, I will be with you in the heart of each of you. So, if you want to see me, just close your eyes, then you will feel me. After I am gone, my sister Elizabeth will take care of you instead of me. I asked her to do so. She has a strong conscience and is a determined Christian. I trust her. So, don't worry. But you have to help her doing what you can. Life is full of joy, but sometimes it isn't easy. I hope you all help each other and all of you have wonderful life. I'm sure your father will lead you to the right way.
Please study hard, work hard and enjoy your life. I'm always with you. I love you. Your mother Maria

Posted for Yasumi

The Railway Children - Living near a railway line

If I live near a railway line, I would think about going on a trip often. When I see people on a train, I wonder where they will go and who they are. It is a kind of magic of train that people forget about their real life and dream to go to a new world, just for a while.

When I lived in California, there was a canyon near my house. And under the canyon there was a railway line. Sometimes I saw the trains running and my children were excited to see them. It was nice to see trains running through the canyon.

For people who live in a country, trains associate journey and admiration for the city. But, for the people who live in a city, trains are daily transportation. In the big city like Tokyo, train comes every 5 minutes. It must be very noisy to live near the railway line in a city. When I go to Tokyo by train, I can see many houses very near the railway line. I always think it will be very difficult for me to live near the railway line. Because of noise and light I feel restless and can't sleep well at night.

Posted for Yasumi

Martin Luther King - A newspaper article

Martin Luther King was shot dead. 

On 4 April, King was shot in Memphis. When he stayed in the hotel in Memphis with his friends, after 6 o'clock in the evening, he went out of his hotel room to get some fresh air. Suddenly there was the sound of a gun. His friends ran outside and found King lying on the ground. One of his young supporter, Jesse Jackson, held him in his arms. An hour later Martin Luther King died in a Memphis hospital. He was thirty-nine years old, a leader of Black American.

King was born on 15 January 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. His father was a minister in Atlanta church. After he graduated Morehouse college in Atlanta, he went Crozier, a college for ministers in Pennsylvania. He became a minister in Montgomery.

He married to Coretta Scott, and they worked together to fight segregation in South. He became famous by the bus boycott in Montgomery and the sit-in at an Atlanta restaurant. He believed that non-violence was the only way to win the fights for black rights. On 28 August 1963, he made a remarkable speech " I have a dream" in Washington D.C.. In 1964 he won the Nobel Prize for his civil rights work, he was only thirty-five years old. He had been working on his job for 12 years, and still in the middle of the way to his dream. But people in the world will never forget him.

Police said there was no witness and evidence, so it will take time to find the criminal, but they do their best to catch the criminal.

Posted for Yasumi

The Last Sherlock Story - Doyle Sherlock vs Dibdin Sherlock

Sherlock Holmes in this story is very different from the one in Conan Doyle's story.

Sherlock Holmes by Conan Doyle was one of my favorite books when I was a child. He was very smart, brave, intelligent, and logical, a kind of perfect man. He could find any kind of criminals and he was a hero. He did not take cocaine at all, of course.

Also, he did not get bored by himself. With his intelligence and observational talent, his brain always worked busy. So, he did not need to take cocaine to amuse himself. And he knew how dangerous it was to take drugs. It could destroy a human. He was smart enough to know nobody could be an exception. Also, he never killed innocent women and cut their bodies in pieces. 

Sherlock Holmes in this story takes cocaine and he thinks he can control it, but he can not. He is a criminal, really. He kills women to entertain himself. He looks down poor people. I do not believe it. Sherlock Holmes in this story is also smart, logical and intelligent. But on the other hand, he is selfish, weak and immature. And he can not be a hero.

Posted for Yasumi

A Christmas Carol - Christmas Eve diary

It was a hard day, as usual. I worked at the cold dark office all day long. Today, Mr. Scrooge's nephew came to the office to say Merry Christmas to him. But, Mr. Scrooge said Christmas was humbug and he just said "good afternoon". He is very strange and mean. He doesn't care about other people, especially poor people.

Tomorrow is a Christmas Day. Everybody wants to be happy, cares each other, loves each other. Mr.Scrooge is a rich man and he is very good at business, but he doesn't look like happy. If he cares about others more, he could be happier. Maybe something very sad had happened to him before and he became such a mean man. But I like his nephew. He is a nice man.

Anyway, it is Christmas Eve tonight. We had Christmas Dinner with all my family. How wonderful! I am a lucky man to have such a lovely wife and good children. Poor tiny Tim, he can not walk by himself, but he is lovely. I love him very much.

Mr. Scrooge gave me a half day off tomorrow. I wish I could have a day off, but I don't want to lose my job. I hope Mr.Scrooge will change his mind next year and he will be more gentle and generous.

Posted for Yasumi

Rabbit-Proof Fence - An epic journey (Into the Wild)

I will tell you another epic journey. It is about a young American man who died in Alaska in 1992. This story was become a movie directed by Sean Penn. And this movie " Into the Wild" was nominated to the 80th Academy Award.

Cris was born in a rich family. He graduated Emory University with an excellent results. His parents wanted him to go to Harvard law school. But he refused to go there and donated all his money which supposed to spend for study. His parents always gave him only money, not love. They had a different sense of values from him. He decided to go to Alaska by himself to know the truth of the world.

He changed his name and traveled to Mexico, through the US. As he traveled, he met many kinds of people. Sometimes he wanted to stay with them, but he wanted to go to Alaska to find something. He walked, hitch-hiked and finally he went to Alaska. He survived there for a while, but it was very difficult to find foods. So, he decided to leave Alaska. Unfortunately the desolate river of melted snow disturbed him to go out of Alaska. After 100days in Alaska, he died of hunger alone.

Posted for Yasumi

Current Magazine - Nujeen Mustafa

Inspired by reading a snippet of Nujeen Mustafas's 'Nujeen: One Girl's Incredible Journey from War-Torn Syria in a Wheelchair' in Mary Glasgow's Current magazine, some students wrote about the toughest journeys they've experienced in their lives.


As a matter of fact, I've never had so tough journey in my life. I was born in a peaceful country and
raised up with a nice family in a middle class, and had never desired to have a tough journey.

When I go travel, it was always well planned getting rid of risks. but in 2004, when I went to Europe alone was an exception. My daughter was already in Rome, so I had to go to Rome by myself. It was the first time for me to go to Europe. I couldn't understand Italian at all, so I learned Italian a little.

In the airplane I chose the seat near the aisle. Next to me were two big young Korean guys. They drank alcohol so often, so they went to the toilet frequently. It bothered me. The cabin attendant recognized the situation. At the end of the flight, she gave me a small present of JAL with an apology.

From the airport to Telmine station, I took a train. It was already night, the train was crowded. I could see many kinds of people, looked like from Africa, the Middle East, Asia or America, talking their own language.

At Telmine station, I didn;t know the direction when I saw the policemen. I wanted to ask them the way to my hotel, but they were so big I just hesitated to do it. I checked the name of the road, and began to walk/ But the area where my hotel looked very dangerous. On the dirty road, people were sitting with blank looks.

Finally, I got to the hotel. When I was checking in, there was a phone call from my daughter. She sad she wanted to be with her friend one more day. So, I had to be at the hotel alone. I couldn't sleep all night because of the noise and the neon light from outside.

Posted for Yasumi

A letter of gratefulness - The Wind in the Willows

Dear Miss(the daughter of the prison keeper),

How are you? I am Toad who was in the prison. You helped me to escape from the prison. If you had not been there, I would be in the prison still now. You saved my life. Thank you very much. 

Eventually I have come back to my home. After I escaped from the prison, it was not easy to come here. It was quite an adventure. Sometimes policemen chased me, I happened to meet the person whose car I had stolen before, so they chased me, too. When I was running in the wood, I dropped into the river and I met my friend Ratty. He told me that the Wild Wooders (the stoats, the weasels and the ferrets) took my house and lived there. Idid not know what to do.

One night, I and my friends(Rat, Mole and Badger) had a meeting to talk about plans to take back Toad Hall(my house). Next day we fought with the Wild Wooders when they had a party till they run away to the Woods.

Now I have changed a lot. I know nobody can live alone. My friends taught me that. I am very lucky to have such nice friends.

Please visit me anytime. I want to introduce my friends to you. I am sure you will like them. And remember when you have trouble, let me know. I will do anything for you. I hope I will hear from you soon.

Sincerely yours,

Toad

Posted for Yasumi

Anne Boleyn writes

Dear Henry's next wife,

I am Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife. I have been married to him for three and a half years. But, it is over now. I have to die soon.

I have been thinking what was wrong with me. Before I married Henry, I had wanted to be a Queen very much. I had done everything to marry him and he had broken with the Pope to marry me.

We were happy at first and we had a daughter, Princess Elizabeth. She was very smart and beautiful. But, he wanted a son, a future King. Recently I miscarried a boy, and he was very angry, although it was not my fault. He dislikes me now, and I have to die.

I recommend you to have many children, especially boys. Then he will be satisfied and he will not kill you at least.

Always remember, your husband is a King of England. He is very powerful. He can do whatever he wants. I tried to control him, that was my fault. So, you should be obedient, hide your true feeling inside of your heart. This is my advice to you.

I beg you one thing as a mother. It is about Elizabeth, my daughter. Please be kind to her. Have mercy, please.

God bless you.

Anne Boleyn

Posted for Yasumi

The Piano - A letter to your music teacher

Dear Mrs Lark,

How are you? It has been a long time since I left school. I am Tony Evans. Do You remember me?

I still remember your music lesson. I was not a smart boy, so I did not enjoy school. However, Tuesday was different. There was a music class of you on Tuesday, and I liked it very much. Although my family was poor and I did not have chance to enjoy music at home, I loved your music class very much.

After I left school, I worked on a farm where my parents used to work before.Mr and Mrs Wood are nice and I like my job. One day I found a piano in the farm's building and I had a chance to learn to play the piano by Mr Gordon who was a school teacher. Mr Gordon said I could be a pianist. I practiced the piano very hard every day with him after work on the farm.

There was a piano competition in the town. Mr Gordon told me to participate the competition. It was unbelievable, but I won! I was very happy and wanted to tell you about it. Thank you very much, Mrs Lark. Because of you, I love music.

Now I have a dream to be a pianist. I will practice more and more, and someday I want invite you to my concert.

Sincerely yours,

Anthony(Tom) Evans

Posted for Yasumi

After-reading - A farewell letter

Dear Ellen,

When you read this letter, I will be frozen. I know you are surprised very much. But, please do not cry for me, because I am not died. I am just sleeping in the freezer.

I did not tell you that I was very sick. But to tell you the truth, I was HIV positive, AIDS. Doctor told me I was going to die in a year. I was shocked. I did not know what to do. And I could not tell you about this, because I did not want you to worry about me and nobody could help me anyway.

After my father died you were the only my family, and you helped me so much. I was happy to have a sister like you. Thank you for everything you did for me.

One day, I met Dan Future and his wife Linda who worked for the cryonic company. Their business was very interesting. They said I could be frozen till someone's going to find a cure of AIDS. I had 2 choices. One was doing nothing and die soon, another was sleeping in the freezer and alive again. Fortunately, I had enough money to do it. I decided to be frozen. You do not have to worry about me and my house. They will take care of both. They save my life. And if you want see me you can visit me anytime.

I think I can not see you again, but I hope you will have a good happy life. Good-by Ellen.

I love you.

your brother AL

Posted for Yasumi

Seasons and Celebrations - after-reading: a popular celebration in your country

Example of Osechi in three-tiered box

The most famous celebration in my country is New Year's Day. We celebrate New Year's Day with family. Before New Year's Day, se clean up the house, cook traditional Japanese food (Osechi), send post cards and decorate the house for the coming New Year.

New Year's food is called Osechi. We put many kinds of Osechi into Ju-bako which is square wooden lacker wear container.We eat Osechi during New Year's days, so housewife can enjoy New Year's days without a lot of cooking. But now, people tend to buy it at the departmentsore or supermarket.

At midnight 31th December, they ring the watch-night bells 108 times at temple all over Japan.And people go to temple or shrine to pray. We call it Hatsumode. In the morning of !st. Jan., we eat Osechi and Ozoni(Japanese soup with rice cake in it).

We give children Otoshidama(cash) . Children are happy to get it. We receive New Year's cards on 1st Jan. ,not before the day, hopping happiness and season's greeting. At home, we play games (Japanese card etc.). Long time ago, children enjoyed flying kite or playing Hanetsuki and Koma (top)outside.But, now, they play TVgames at home. Anyway, we relax at home or visit relatives or friends. 

Posted for Yasumi

After reading - A review of "The King's Speech"

I've seen the film "The King's Speech". I liked it, because I like the actor (Coin Firth).

The story was about King George 6th, a younger brother of Edward. (We read a book of him "The love of a King") When King George 6th was a child, he was troubled with speaking (stammering), so he was a shy boy. But his father was very strict. And his older brother Edward was a free man, he choose Love instead of to be a King. So, unexpectedly he became a King of England. He still had trouble of stammering, but as a King he had to make speeches many times.

His wife Elizabeth was worried about him and took him to Lionel, a specialist of stammering. But Lionel was not a medical doctor yet and didn't have much experience. King George 6th was a difficult person and Lionel was a obstinate person, so at first it didn't work well. But it was a last chance for both of them to get over their life. They tried very hard, and gradually his speaking became better. At that time England was involved a war. He had to declare it on the radio to the people of England. Finally he could make a very good speech without any trouble as a King. People could be proud of their King. At the end of the movie, the war began with his speech, so this is not a happy ending story.

Posted for Yasumi

After reading - An unusual story involving an animal

Every Japanese knows Hachi,a akita dog. Hachi was born Akita prefecture in 1923. When he was 1year old, he came to Tokyo.

Mr.Eisaburo Ueno who was a professor of Tokyo University, Department of Agriculture by train. Mr.Ueno wanted to keep a Akita dog although he had had 2dogs.

Everyday when Mr.Ueno went to University, Hachi saw him to the door or to the Shibuya Station. And when Mr.Ueno came back home, Hachi went to Shibuya Station to meet him.

But, after a year, Mr.Ueno passed away by a stroke of apoplexy after a meeting of the University. Hachi didn't have anything for 3days after his death.

On the day of Mr.Ueno's funeral, Hachi went to Shibuya Station to meet Mr.Ueno.
Later, Mr.Ueno's relatives tried to keep Hachi, but it didn't work well.

After 2 years Mr.Kobayashi who was a gardener of Mr.Ueno's house kept Hacchi.He knew Hachi since Hachi was a baby. Mr. Kobayashi loved Hachi very much, but Hachi didn't stop to go to Shibuya Station to meet Mr. Ueno. On his way to the station, Hachi stopped at Mr.Ueno's house and looked inside of the house through the window.

One day Mr.Saito who was the president of Japanese dog preserve association knew about Hachi and wrote the news paper article about Hachi. Hachi became famous, people loved him.
10years later, after Mr.Ueno died, Hachi passed away.People atend his farewell ceremony and he was berried to the grave next to Mr.Ueno. Hachci's blonze statue was built at Shibuya station, and it is still there.

Posted for Yasumi

Luna's anchor ladies - Yasumi & Olga

Driving story - ticket trouble

Closeup of parking violation sticker. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I got my driver's licence 38 years ago.

To my surprise, during this 38 years I just got only one police ticket in Japan because of speeding.

I can say I'm a safe driver inevitably, so my driver's licence is Gold as you might expect. But I got three police tickets in the US while I was living there for 4 years because of parking and stop sign.

Yasumi

E-mail is necessary in the modern world

Quick and easy

Before E-mail, we had to write a letter or call to communicate other people in a long distance. Writing a letter is a good way to communicate, but it takes time to write and we have to buy a stamp (cost a lot) and go to the post office. And when I call someone, I have to consider what time is it there when I call to other country and if it is a good timing for them.

But E-mail, it cost low and it doesn’t bother people’s life, they chechk mail-box when they have time, so it is very convenient.

With E-mail, we can communicate other people equally even though they live in the opposite side of this planet.

Written by Yasumi

It is necessary for me to use cellphone E-mails when I want to meet friends and to send student’s parents information at work.

I can send some friends same contents at the same time. It’s really convenient and I don’t care the time besides.

But I sometimes send summertime letters and new years letters to old friends. While I write letters I think them. It’s a good time for me.

I think each way has each good point.

Written by Hiroko

English: Telex machine Svenska: Telexmaskin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What the heck do you do with one of these!?

When I had been worked for the company, about thirty years ago actually, we had used telex. Our company’s head office is in Massachusetts so we had to contact them everyday.

To send telex, we had to use the special machine and spend time. Sometimes it failed to send. Those are terrible memories for me.

But, one day, the head office decided to use the electric mail, and it made us surprised. It was easy, beautiful and spend short time. But, those days, electric mail was still unstable ways to send important letters.

Now, we call it e-mail and it is easy and quickly to send our situation, opinion, or many other things. We can’t back to telex age. Because we can’t have the telex machine each of us. It’s not easy and it will make us to waste time and money.

Written by Naoko

New York

I read a book about New York. This is a list of 10 things
that I want to do
in New York.
1. I want see the Statue of the Liberty. Because it is
the symbol of New York. I went there once with my family,
but I want go there again.
2. I want go to Museum of Modern Art. There are many
useful things there, it will be very interesting to see
new design.
3. I want go to Central Park. I think it is wonderful to
have such a big park in the big city. It was Sunday when I
went there before, many people enjoyed in the park
running, laying, walking, relaxing. It will be nice to
have sandwich laying on the grass.
4. I want see lights on the christmas tree in front of
the Rockefeller Center. I saw it many times on TV. It must
be beautiful.
5. Tiffany. I want to go there and buy some jewelries(if
it is reasonable).
6. I want go to Metropolitan Museum of Art. I went there
before but I did not have enough time to see, so next time
I hope I will have more time to see.
7. Broadway. I would like to see musical. There are many
good shows there.
8. I want to enjoy to see the baseball game of New York
Yankees.It will be fun to go to stadium and see a game
having some drinks and snacks.
9. Wall Street. It is not so much fun to go there, but I
just want see how it is like where so much money comes
and goes.
10. I want to go shopping to Department store like Macy's
to buy clothes and souveniors.

Yasumi