maiko-san

Mr. Hayashi was an English teacher at Seikei Junior High School. He was in charge of Class C which I belonged to. His nickname was "Gaku" because he had a square head like a picture frame. He had also taught my sister and brother. It was not the first time I met him in the class. When I was a pupil at Seikei Elementary School, my brother was hit by a taxi in front of the school gate. Gaku accompanied my brother with a bandage to my house. I recall seeing him standing with his back straight on the porch and bowing before my mother. Well, he used to be a Japanese soldier in the World War 2. He was proud that he fought against the formidable Americans and survived the war. However his English pronunciation was horrilbe. My class mate Asai-kun always mocked at him. For he stayed in Seattle, USA and went elementary school there. It goes without saying Asai-kun spoke English fluently. My first impression of Gaku was scary. Rumor has it that in the class D he gave a slap on the

Susanne Doebesche is an Austrain independent writer. She studied law science at Vienna University. She is one of my favorite friennds on Facebook. Last Saturday I uploaded a photo of Chrismas decoratation at Osaka Imperial Hotel. My wife took that picture. Immediately Susanne poked at me and I poked at her back. We repeated this at least ten times. Then she started chatting with me. First of all she showed me pictures of biscuits and Christmas cakes she has just baked. It looked so delicious that I wanted to eat. All of a sudden she called me up in Facebook. It was surprising, because I have never talked over the phone. I didn't know what to do.Naturally I missed out on getting her call. It was a shame. But we continued to chat each other for a while. In the meantime I found a telephone button on the chat column. I just wanted to test her and pushed the button. At the other end of  the line I heard her saying, "Guten Tag! Wie geht es dir? or in English, Hello, how are you

As I worked for Teijin Amoco in Tokyo, we Japanese received Christmas cards early in December from America. It was a little bit surprising because Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December. I took it for granted that I could write gradually Christmas cards in the middle of December. But I was really glad to see colorful Christmas cards with Santa Claus and white snow. In the course of time I retired from the company. Then I went to Goethe-Insitute and took the course of Mrs Rohde, a German teacher. She often taught us how to write postcards in German during the lesson. So I gave it a try to write a Christmas card to her. Immediately she sent me a beautiful Christmas card, too. Unlike the flashy American Christmas card, it is a reserved and thoughtful. I like the German way. After that we even exchanged New Year's cards, too. Regarding New year's cards I write to about 30 people that is my former colleagues, my former boss and my best friends at a university. Ma

(Indtroduction) Recently Islamic terrorists are on the rise again in Paris. I was in Paris almost 40 years ago when I went on a honeymoon trip there. At that time everything was new to me, Eifel Tower, Luvre Museum,  Lui Vuitton handbags and beautiful French belles and all. It's a shame that Paris is now in a state of chaos. But I believe the struggle between the Islamic world and the European's Christian world is impossible. Because the Europeans went on a crusade to Jerusalem about 1000 years ago and killed many Muslems. This incident reminds me of my own experience that is dangerours, sad, uncomfortable and very scary. (Body) On March 1995, I escaped from Tokyo Metropolitan Subway which was splashed with sarin (poisnous substance) by the religous terrorist group named Aum Shinri-kyo-Religion. I was waiting for a subway train at Kasumigaseki donwntown Tokyo on my way to work. I waited for a long time. But the train never pulled in. Meanwhile the platform was full of co

On the 3rd of November I invited Hidenori to a cafe near my house. We read together a German book entitled "The Dairy of a Young Girl." We took a  style of Harry Potter Club. First, Hidenori read and translated his assigned pages, and then I read my part and translated into Japanese. It's been almost a year since this book-reading club started. What's special about the last meeting was that I prepared a Japanese version of the dairy published by Bunshun Paperbacks. Usually my direct translation is choppy, but Hidenori understands what I wanted to say. Sometimes we are stuck with the difficult German grammatical usages. As a last resort we relied on the Japanese version for reference. It was helpful but it took solid three hours to finish the meeting. We started at 11 am and ended at 2 pm. After the meeting I took him down to a bread-coffee shop on the first floor. As Hidenori comes all the way from Takatsuki, I bought him lunch. We ate spaghetti. It was good.

One one Sunday evening Mrs. Braun called me. She used to be my German teacher at Goethe  Institute. Now she's retired and lives with her Japanese husband in Arashiyama, Kyoto. Since I did't expect that she called me up so sudden, I couldn't speak German well. I just wrote down key words such as an exhibition, Japanese dance, "Suita" Theater and the next Sunday. I got on the internet immediately and checked out on the key words. Presumbably Mrs Braun is willing to invite my wife to her Japanese dance performance at Suita Culture Center. Then I told my wife what Mrs. Braun was up to. My wife was glad to hear the invitation. The next morning I practiced a telephone call in German by reading a textbook entitled,"The successful telephone conversation in German". Then I called Mrs. Braun. Up front she said, "Guten Morgen!" But after that she started speaking Japanese. I was a little bit disappointed, though. I told her that my wife was going to s

Oka-chin was one my best friends at Seikei School. He was kind of a swarthy good-looking boy. As a matter of fact he wanted to look like Troy Donahue, an American movie actor who starred in "Surf Side Six." I once visited his house in Kichijoji. Oka-chin said, "Hey Kinko (my nickname), you're always welcome. But don't wear an Aloha shirt when you come to see me." At that time Aloha shirts were in fashion, but only Yakusa wore them. His mother was an amicable person who came from Shizuoka Prefecture. Oka-chin often said that people in Shizuoka are good-natured because of the warm weather throughout the year. His father's profession was related with management of movie theaters. Thanks to Oka-chin he took me to various movie theaters in Tokyo. I was able to see a lot of movies for free. Firstly, we hanged around in the neighborhood of Shinjuku 3 Chome near Isetan Department Store. Then we went to see the movie entitled "Chushingura（忠臣蔵）". Se

Our condo was built in 2000 and it's time for maintenance. For the last three months the condo is being renovated. They put up iron poles around the condo to hold a gondola that goes up to as high as the 30th floor. I often bump into workmen with a helmet in the elevator and in the corridor. Sometimes one of the three elevators are used exclusively by them. That's a shame. They painted the walls near the elevators and hanged a sign, "Just painted!" I hate this unpleasant smell. It stinks a lot for a while. They used the gondola to climb up to the 20th floor where I live. The tiles on the balcony have been already removed. Soon they will conduct water-proof painting on the surface of the balcony. It'll take more 2 months before the whole job is done. I'm nervous when the gondola is going up and down. To protect privacy my wife and my daughter strictly lock their windows and draw their curtains. As for me it never bothers me watching the workmen hangrin

Her name is Natasha Koba, who is happily married to her husband with her son. We started exchanging email in 2002 when she lived in a city by the name of Novosibirsk, in the Siberian district. She is a dentist. Once she sent me a couple of her pictures .She was sitting on the bank by the river. She was surrounded by a lot of beautiful flowers on the plateau field that stretched as far as the eye could see. I have never seen such a big land. She looked chubby but intelligent. In return I sent her my family's pictures. At that time I worked for Teijin Medical in Saitama. Since I didn't get along with other young medical representative, I was no longer a saleman. I was only responsible for machine's maintenance. It was a dull and toilsome job because every day I visited a couple of patients' home to check oxgeon concentrater machine. To kill the time I wrote her email twice or three times a week. Suddenly my wife visited me from Osaka. As usual I got email from Natasha o

The other day I surfed on Facebook. Then an interesting quiz popped up. "Who is the most suitable woman for you?" I hesitated for a moment, but I gave it a try. She turned out to be an Austrian woman by the name of Susanne Dobisch. Unlike a hot woman I expected, she looks reserved and intelligent. I looked into her personal file. Wow, she studied law at Vienna University and she's now an independent writer. Recently she started writing a book on a female lieutenannt in a monarchy in the middle Ages. It sounds thrilling and breath-taking, I thought. All of a sudden she poked at me. In return i poked at her by the same token. We repeated that 10 times. After that she started chatting with me in German. First of all we exchanged greetings, "How are you doing?" "Oh, I'm doing great" or something to the effect. Since I went on a honeymoon trip to Vienna in the 1970s and a lot of fun there, I flattered her on Austria. I said, "I have a wonderful

Today I'd like to talk about my best friend in Seikei elemenary school His name is Tanaken. He lived in Chofu in a suberb of Tokyo. His father ran a large Tofu factory and owned 5 Midgets by Daihatsu and a Nissan Prince Gloria.An interesting thing is that his brother went to the same Seikei high school. My brother was one of his classmates, too. Tanaken said to me, "Once your brother visited us. He took out a gold fish out of an aqauarium and put it into a glass of water for fun. I don't know what drove him crazy. But he gulped down the water!" As for me I often visited his house. We used to go to Nogawa River nearby for fishing. All of a sudden I wanted to piss. I found three make-shift mens rooms on the bank. Tanaken said, "Wait a minute. I'll check it out by myself, if they are available." He opened the first one and said, "This is "A"."No one was using it. He went on the next and said, "This is "B". Oh, shit!. It&#

Today I'd like to talk about my best colleague at the former textile company. His name is Mata-chan. We entered the company together in 1971. After schooling we were transferred to the same industrial fiber department at Osaka headquarters. He lived in the company dormitory for singles in Ashiya, while I in the Kashiwara dormitory. In the early 70s we had to work also Staurdays until noon. Mata-cahn always asked me after hours, "Sada-chan, how about going to the movies this afternoon? Would you like to see Japan-Porn or Western Porn?" We ended up seeing Yakusa movies starring Ken Takakura and Junko Fuji. Then we dropped in a snack bar and gossipped about boss's love life and figures of young working women in the office. He said, "Oh, you mean Ms. Muto who sits next to the section manager?  She is a pretty chick but I have never seen such a big ass she's got! Furthermore she sucks up to the managers." I could blow off steam. One of his hobbies is liste

I'm going to take part in Japan-German-Society on the 3rd Saturday of this month. The theme we are going to discuss is My Favorite Fairy Tale".  A fairy tale is passed down on from generation to generation among the common people. I think reading them is the best way for learning English and German. I selected two German fairy tales written by Brothers Grimm, namely "The Star Money" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". First, let me take a brief look at "The Star Money". "Once upon a time there was an unnamed orphan girl. She was poor and had no house to live in. She has only her clothing and a loaf of bread a kind-hearted soul has given her. She is a good-hearted person. She goes out into the countryside to see what might happen. She gives a hungry man her bread, When she bumps into the three cold children, she gives her cap, her jacket and her dress. In a forest she sees a naked child begging for a shirt. Since it was already dark

After this Fullnest Club was over last Thursday, I walked to Makiochi Station. I was scorched by the hot summer sun. But I wore a summer hat. Thank God! The summer hat prevented my bald head from the heat. At Ishibashi Station I went to Hankyu Soba on the platform. There were many choices on the menu such as "Kitsune" noodles, Tenpura noodles, Curry noodles and Kipper noodles. It was so hot and muggy that I decided to eat something light. I ordered "Zaru" noodles and "Onigiri with pickled "Takana". I paid 500 Yen for lunch. Then I got on the train and reached Umeda. After that I walked down the underground street named "Whitey" At the end of Whitey I dropped in a coffee shop. While drinking a 200 Yen priced iced coffee, I reviewed the English lesson on that day. It was interesting to hear Mrs. Yamaguchi talking about the relationship between China and Tibet. The Government of China always clamps down Tibet.What drove me home was that A

The Obon time reminds me of the Maiko Graveyard where my parents are buried for years. Nowadays I deliberately avoid the Obon time to visit the grave, because it is so hot and muggy. I usually visit my mother and father in December, because my father died at the very end of December. But when I was living in Minoo, I used to pay tribute to them from time to time. I went to  Tarumi Station and rode a bus up to the graveyard. At that time I had another reason to visit the graveyard. For I met Mr. Takatani, a 70-year-old man who also sufferes from tinnitus for years. He lives in Maiko city. We got to know each other on the internet, namely on my blog entitled "Learn to Live with Tinnitus". We exchanged information on our symtoms, used of drugs and discussed the way to deal with this disease. For instance, when Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Co. developed new pills for tinnitus, named "Nari-Pitan!", he tested the pills right away. He filled in me on that fact that it d

As all you know on the 25th of July, when Tenjin Festival was held, my wife invited only women to our condo on the 20th floor, where man can watch great firework down the Ohkawa river. It follows that she drove me out of the apartment to "Apaman Hotel". A fly in the ointment was that I was allowed to stay as late as 5:30 p.m.  and able to eat a feast, which Masumi-san, my wife's best friend, meticulously cooked for hours. Before the guests came at 6:00 p.m. I sneaked out of the condo. I carried a lap-top computer, underwear, toieltries, pajamas and so on. "Apaman Hotel" turned out to e cozier thatn Toko Hotel. Besides it is only 1000 Meter away from my house. When I chilled out in the hotel room, I found two booklets based on Mr. Tamogami's thesis. I believe because of this he got laid off from the job as Self-Defense Navy Admiral a couple of years ago. While I thumbed through the booklets, three patriotic opnions drove me home in his adovocates. 1. T

Today I'd like to introduce to you Mr. Kobayashi. He lives in a small town, Minoo. He's big into the German language and Germany. He visits Germany from time to time. As a matter of fact, he took a German course at Goethe-institute last May in Germany. He belonged to an intermediary class (A2). But he had a hard time to catch up with the lessons. The reuslt is that he lost confidence in speakig German. Back to Japan, he was drinking a coffee at Starbucks in Minoo. He bumped into an American named Donald, who turned out to be an English teacher at "Don Don English". Mr. Kobayashi took the plunge and dared to speak to Donald. The next day he joined his class and met Shimazu-san. It was nice of Mr. Shimazu to send me email and introduced to me Mr. Kobayashi. On one evening I was about to go to bed and shut down the computer. Just in case I checked out on my email box. I was surprised to read Mr. Kobayashi's email. For he wanted to see me on the next day at 11

Good morning, every one. Today I'd like to talk about a summer hat. You know, when I attend this meeting especially in August, I'll have to walk from Minoo to this classroom in the scorched summer sun. Since there is no shade along the way, I need a summer hat to prevent from suffering from sunstroke.On one evening I talked over skype with Ikeda-san about this. It was surprising that he showed me a summer hat exactly I wanted to buy. He had bought at Don Quixote in Minoo. He wanted to give it to his son as a present. It cost him 2,000 Yen. The next morning I decided to go to Don Quixote on my way to the supermarket. Unfortuantely Don Quixote in my neighborhood is located in the opposite direction of the supermarket. As usual I left 10 minutes past 9. It was the hottest day in this summer. The temperature was as high as 34 Celsius degrees.I walked across the Ginbashi Bridge. Of course my bald head was burned by the strong sun. I reached there at 9:30 a.m. As the door was op

My aunt was a daughter of  a famous phislosopher, Kitaro Nishida. For my mother she was a sister. They grew up in Kyoto. Unfortunately my aunt was a rheumatic person. So, she didn't get married. She liked painting cats and flowers. I met my aunt for the first time when I was in the first grade of Seikei elementary school. For my mother took me to her house in Kyoto during the winter vacation. The second time was when I went on a school trip to Kyoto at the age of 14. She visited me at Station Tower Hotel. It was nice of her to give me cookies, candy bars and one of Kyoto's specialities, ie, "Yatsuhashi". Facsinated by this school excursion, I decided to go see my aunt alone during the summer vacation. She lived together with various foreigners and many cats in her typical Japanese house. Actually she was a landlady. I thought it was a good opportunity to brush up on my English. The foreigners were an English woman, a Pakitani, a Indonesian couple and Chinese stu

When I was a pupil at an elementary school, my father used to take me to the Shonan Seashore on summer vacation. Two destinations, firstly Oiso in Kanagawa Prefecture, secondly Itoh in Shizuoka Prefecture. Mr Takeuchi, or rather a professor who specialized in western art history at Tokyo University invited my father and me to his house in Oiso. He had a daughter who is as old as I am. Immediately we went to the Oiso Long Beach and swam in various kinds of swimming pools. On the lawn I practiced Sumo with the girl. That was a lot of fun. It seemed that she was a tomboy. When I stood blankly on the rim of the swimming pool, she suddenly pushed me down into the water. I was pissed off and said, "What do you think you're doing? You scared me out of my wits!". She just gave jubilant cries. After that we went together to the seashore filled with rocks. So, we were not able to swim in the sea. Tha's a shame.Instead I watched women walking on the beach. It was the first

Last Saturday I had lunch with my wife and my daughter. Then I took a nap. When I was awake, there was nobody in my house. I wondered what happened to my wife and my daughter. At last they came back home at 4:00 in the late afternoon. I asked them, "Where have you been?" My wife responded cheerfully, "Hew, women's meeting! Women's meeting! We were in the café" It was a pleasant surprise to hear her voice, because its tone was extremely similar to Yamaguchi-san who said in this room last week again and again, "Women's meeting! Women's meeting! or in Japanese "Joshikai!, "Joshikai!, Anyone who's interested in attending the meeting, raise your hand!" Meanwhile my curiosity has peaked. So, I asked my wife, "What exactly do you talk about at the women's meeting?" She smiled at me and said, "It's a top secret!" Incidentally Osaka Firework Festival is scheduled on the 25th of July. According to my w

Good morning. Today I'd like to talk about a last week's review of a discussion about a marriage ceremony  at German-Japan-Soeciety in Sannnomiya. Before the discussion, I chatted with an 80-year-old man who suffered from a stroke last year. As a mattter of fact he wasn't able to take part in the meeting for solid three months because of the hospitalization. He told me that the nurses who took care of him were all old women. That's why it took him so long to get out of the hospital. If the nursers had been young pretty ones, he could have be cured so fast. We laughed each other. But soon two elderly women came to the meeting room. We changed the subject abruptly.  Instead I said to them, "Hello, cuties" How are you doing?" I was a little bit embarrassed when they were pleased to sit next to me. Joking aside, a couple of points about the theme, 1. What day is proper for the marriage ceremony? Because the Germans hate the sinister number 13, they avoid

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my memory of Sugiyama-kun, my high school friend. Unlike me he was tall, handsome and popular among girls. He was on baseball team. He was really a sportsman, When his team was defeated, he did a butch head, in other words, he had shaven off all his hair like a monk. That surprised me. Well, we had not so many things in common, but the both likeed learnig English. We once went to a cram school named Kensu-Gakkan in Ochanomizu for a summer crash course. In the winter after high school marathon race was done, he invited me to the ice rink in the Yoyogi National Stadium. With an ice skate on for the first time, I could hardly stand up and hanged on the rail. On the contrary Sugiyama-kun skated on the rink gracefully. Then we went to the same university. After the graduation, he entered Marubeni Co.,  a Japanese trading company. He was assigned to Tokyo Headquarters. Soon he was dispatched to San Paulo, Brazil for  a schooling

Good morning, today I'd like to talk about my vivid memory of my Judo practices. Actually I belonged to Judo Club when I was in the first grade of Seikei High School in Tokyo. Why did I take up Judo? Kazuo, my best friend in Seikei Elemnetary School and the very son of a porno writer, Tamura Taizo, took me to the dojo in Nishi-Ogikubo. I saw Judo lessons for the first time. It must be a hard training. But it seemed to me that it was a good opportunity to learn martial arts("Bushido"). According to Tamura-kun, his father recommended his son should discipline his spirits and his body, because Tamura-kun was not big into studying. That's why he started practicing Judo in junior high school. In the Judo Club I always practiced Judo with a big fighter, Yamazaki-kun. He was 180 cm tall and weighed 90 KG. He threw me out to the ground so hard that I was out of breath for a moment. In the meantime Tamura-kun dropped out of Seikei School and joined Nichidai- High School.

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my vivid memory of my marriage ceremony. On the 8th of November, 1975 I married my wife at Osaka International Hotel. I was 27 and she was 28. About 50 people gathered. The ceremony cost us 3,000.000 Yen. First I'd like to tell you about the engagement period, then refer to the ceremony later on. In the summer my brother and his wife on behalf of a matchmaker brought betrothal money 300,000 Yen to my wife's parents in Kashiwara. My wife seemed to be unsatisfied with the amount of money. A month before the marriage ceremoeny, I'd alredy moved to Izumisano company's apartment by car. To my surprise my wife brought 3,000.000 Yen worth of furniture to the apartment. I recall a small truck with muli-colored flags circling around the ground in front of  the apartment many times, as if my wife wanted to show off her fortune. I was a little bit ashamed. Well, on the Big Day my wife wore kimono at first. Then she and

Good morning, everyone. As I promised, today I'm going to talk about mutil-lingual's benefits of the language learning. Before I go into that I have two points to cover. In the afternoon of the 17th of May I went to an elemnetary school nearby to cast my vote against integrating Osaka Prefecture with Osaka City. Actually I haven't gone to the polls for a long time. Because I'm not interested in  politics. On the contrary my wife and my daughter are against the policy of Osaka Mayor, Mr. Hashimoto, as he's cut drastically costs for cultural matters, such as museums, orchestra and ballet. To be honest with you my wife bribed me, or rather she gave me one thousand Yen on that morning. She said, "Go to the polls and vote against Hashimoto." As you all know that I'm an obedient hen-pecked husband. I just did what my wife told me to. Unfortunately within the Kita-District in Osaka City the affirmative votes exceeded the negative ones.But the results of

At last my wife went to my favorite dentist on Tuesday afternoon last week. It was a raniy day because of the Taifun, though. For years my wife used to go to the dentist in the neighborhood. All of a sudden he insisted that my wife needed treatments this and that like installing bridges and covering teeth with rubber objects、which my wife thought  unnecessary. She decided not to go to that denstist again. In the meantime she suffered from the swollen gum. From time to time, she said, "It's time to go to a skillful dentist. My tooth gum aches. Moreover I want to have them get rid of tartar and cleaning up the teeth." Of course I suggest that she go to my favorite dentist in Minoo, because the dentist is a nice woman. But my wife didn't feel like going to Minoo, because Minoo is located a little bit far from Osaka City. Well, last month all the participants of Harry Potter Club, to which I belong for years, went to Ganko Sushi Restaurant in Ishibashi for lunchen to

In May, 1995 I flew with my company colleagues to Atlanta, Georgia to attend a World Sales Conference. The five-day-meeting was held Monday through Friday. By Friday most of my colleagues left Atlanta for Japan. My Japanese boss and I stayed on a weekend at a hotel, as we were going to visit a customer in Chicago on the next Monday together with an American counterpart. Unfortunately my boss was up to his ears in his work at the hotel. I was allowed to go on a sight-seeing trip alone. Immediately I sent for a taxi and visited the Atlanta Theater where they performed the American Civil War-Play. You know, Atlanta was the fierce battlefield between the Yankees from the northern part and the Confederates from the sourthern part. Then I went on foot through the Piedmont Park to Atlanta Zoo. I took a break and sat on the bench. A decent American woman with a baby baggage appeared out of nowhere. She said, "Konichiwa!" I said, "You speak good Japanese!" She said she u

On Sunday, the 10th of April I went to the Osaka Mint House to see double cherry blossoms. This year double cherry blossoms seeing or in Japanese "toorinuke" was held from April 9 through April 15. It usually take 20 minutes or so to reach the Osaka Mint House from my house. But on that day it was so crowded that I had to walk at a snail's pace. I cound't afford to drop in booths where they sell Yakisoba, Okonomiyaki and ice cream. All of a sudden I wasnted to piss. These days I can not endure it when Mother Nature calls me. I was impatient. But soon I found a small hut by the entrance gate. Oh, shucks, it's women's restroom! I was disappointed but at the same time I was surprised to see so many women waiting in line. Then I looked up the other side of the hut. Thank God! It really was a men's room, because a couple of guys were standing beside the john. I was relieved. Then I went down the slope. I was aghast when I saw again a large number of women w

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about school trips in my younger days. You know the month May is the best season for those school trips, as the weather is fair, warm and mild. For starters, let me talk talk about a school trip when I was in the 3rd grade of Seikei Junior High School in Tokyo. The teachers designated our destination as Kyoto and Nara. Actually I stayed at an inn near Kyoto Station Tower. I slept with other classmates on the large tatami mat. My aunt living in Kyoto visited me at the inn. She gave me one of Kyoto's specialities, that is, "Yatsuhashi" as a gift for my mother. On one hand I was very happy to received it. On the other hand I was a little bit ashamed when she spoke loudly the Kyoto dialect. Everyone seemed to be curious to know the relationship between my aunt and me. After sightseeing in Kyoto, we moved to Nara. Just like Kyoto, we visited various temples and shrines, such as Yakushiji-temple, Todaiji-temple and Kasuga

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about Kansai dialect. When I was a child, my aunt living in Kyoto visited us in Tokyo from time to time. All of a sudden my mother spoke Kyoto dialect. She always said somthing at the end of the sentence " Dosu ". and  instead of Thank you, " Ookini ". I found my mother foreign. The tone of Kansai dialect sounded unfamilliar, uncomfortable and mean to me. When I entered a company in Osaka, I made friends with colleagues from the Kansai district. I sometimes talked with Mr. Katsuki, who graduated from Kobe University. One day he asked me,"What do you think, myself ?" or in Japnese " Jibunwa ?" I was disturbed by his last remark, " myself ". I thought if he asked me for my opinion, he shoud give his thoughts at first. Later on I got to know " Jibunwa" of Kansai dialect meant " you" or in Japanese " Anatawa". My company was located in front of Osaka Stati

Good morning, today I'd like to talk about nepotism. First of all, let me read to you the definition of nepotism. "(Disapproving) the use of a powerful or influential position in an organization or government to obtain good jobs or unfair advantages for members of your own family" The first time I heard this word  was from an American named Eric Hilton back in 1998. He said something to the effect this word sounds in America derogatory, because it is related with corruption and incompetence. Now I'm going to show you an example. Have you ever heard of Otsuka Canned Goods Company? Mr. Goto, now chairman of the company was in charge of the president for a long time. His father founded the company in 1930s. Then Mr. Goto took over his father's job and pomoted dramatically  the sales of canned sea-foods, "Sea Chicken" which became popular in 1970s. The turnover had been expandig throughout the early 2000s. He had married a woman from Kyoto whose famil

Last Saturday I visited Japan-German -Society in Sannomiya for a debate in German. Mrs. Dorothea Goda sat next to me. I said, "Guten Tag!" She answered me, "Konnichiwa!" Immediately I noticed a rash all over her hands. I thought it was caused by allergy. But she denied it. It was caused by the strong water in Japan instead. She had taken a blood test and gotten a clean bill of health. I asked her, "Don't you use rubber gloves when you do the dishes?" She said, "No, I have never done that. After all it's not my job." and turned to his Japanese husband. The poor Mr. Goda, he's been washing the dished for about forty years." This incident reminded me of stinging red spots all over my body I had back in May, 2008. I checked out on a couple of clinics near Minoo Station. But their  medical fee seemed to be expensive. I gave up on searching clinics. I said to myself, "Oh my god, I have forgotten an important thing. The key must

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk to you about what happend to me last week. First, bitter incident. Last Monday my wife asked me to buy red rubber gloves for washing the dishes in the kitchensink. It was a raniy day and somehow my left knee ached becasue of the wet weather. I walked slowly to Sugi Drugstore, located Minami Morimachi. It's strange I found white golves on the pavement. I didn't give much thought about it and crossed the street. All of a sudden an elderly woman spoke to me and asked, " Grandpa ! Aren't those white gloves yours?" I shooked my head on the double, but I wondered why on the earth she knew the gloves on the other side of the street. I was depressed all the more that she called me " Grandpa". It's too bad that she let me down. I said to myself, "I am not that old chap and could still hang around with young girls." Looking back on the incident, I must  have probably been  bending over forward be

On the 1st of March my friend Hidechen and I got together in a seminer room to read "A Diary of a Young Girl" in German. It lasted only one hour because the seminar room fee is expensive. Hidechen, a graduate of Osaka University, now works for Osaka Metropolitan Office is my former classmate at Goethe-Insitute. First of all we read the book aloud in German and translate into Japanese. Then we correct mistakes each other. That's quite a good excercise for me to brush up on German. Wow, one hour passed so fast! We were able to read and translate only 3 pages. After the meeting we had lunch at a coffee shop near Umeda Station. I bought him lunch because he had given me mandarine oranges the last time I saw him. I just wanted to show him my gratitude. Next meeting is undecided. Because Hidechen hinted that there's a possibility of personnel transfer at the end of March. After all I am a pensioner and he is a salaried man. I can not force him to hold the meeting. B

What's the advantage of living in a big city like Osaka? Well, a couple of things occurr to my mind. You can lead a cultural and pleasant life, for instance, you can go to museums, kabuki theathers and USJ Universal Studios. Besides there are nice and genteel coffee shops, discos and karaoke bars where you can enjoy chatting, singing  with your friends. I'm of the opinion that this entertaining atomophere in Osaka attracts many people from small towns. On the contrary there are of course disadvantages living in a big city. We're vulnerable to sresses in workplace and obnoxious noises caused by the congested traffic. Imagine during the rush-hour at Osaka station. People are packed into the train like sardines. That's inhuman. I'm afraid that would bring about damaged health, such as hypertention, tinnitus and  heart attack. I prefer to live in the village Minoo, because Minoo offfers not only the funny-looking character, Yuzuru-kun, but also awesome waterfalls,

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my memory about my father. When I was a pupil at Seikei Elementary School, I used to see lots of foreign thick books on my father's bookshelf in his study. I was wondering why he took interestes in those books. Over the years I went up to Seikei High School. My father retired from Tokyo University and was in charge of the Literature Faculty of Seikei University. I could have gone up to the Economic Faculty of Seikei University with only a school report. But I overheard my father's subject i.e., "Philosphy and Ethics" was a must for every student. My mother threatened me that my father was supposed to be hard especially on his son. So I decided to prepare for the entrance examination of other universities. I studied hard and stayed up late at night. I usually took some rest at 11:00 o'clock. I turned on the radio for a change. Then I heard a German lesson on NHK radio station. Eventually I listened to th

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about a seminar on a volunteer at the City Hall. It was held at the end of Janauary on the fourth floor of a volunteerig department of the building. It began at 10:00 in the morning and ended at 3:00 in the afternoon. They want  to recruit caregivers who are willing to help disabled, or rather handy-capped elderly people. The volunteering service includes household help, for instance, cooking, washing and cleaning up the room and so on. Caregivers also watch people who suffer from demnetia by talking with them. I applied to the caregiver's job, because I have nothing to do on the second week and the fourth week of every month. I want to contribute something to the society. In the seminar the lecturers gave pointers how we deal with the diseased elderly people at home. The most mind-boggling experience was that I simulated a ninety-year-old man. I wore goggles. I had a bad eyesight. I carried sandbags around my arms and leg

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my best friend, Nobuo. He's from Marugame-shi, Shikoku. I got to know him when I was a freshman at a university. We joined the same book club and read a book entitled, "Japanese Octopus Culture" written by Masao Maruyama. I thought it was a non-political group, because we used to play Mahjong after the meeting. It was a lot of fun. But my father was against the idea of reading the book. He feared that I would get involved with the political student movement eventually. However it was nice of Nobuo to invite me to his house on summer vacation. I visited his house. His father, a high schoold director, was unfortunately not home. But his mother greeted me graciously. It was a typical large Japanese wooden house with a bamboo mat and believe it or not with a "Goemon Bath". I was scary to take the bath, because I had to lower down a floating round wooden lid to the bottom and sit on it quietly without touchin

Good morning, everyone. Today I'd like to talk about my plans for learning German. This year I'd like to especially concentrate on a discussion meeting at German -Japan -Society. For the past two years I took part in the meeting 20 times. My German vocabulary has increased tremendously. The characteristic of the meeting is that we talk about a designateｄ theme every month. For example, in February, we're supposed to talk about "Setsubun" and "Fasching"(Fasting) or Carneval. For that purpose what I'm going to do is write a blog about the theme and write down  keywordｓ in a note pad. The trick  at the meeting is while taking a glance at the note pad, I try to speak about my opinion. I know what the "Setsubun" ritual is like. On the 3rd of February I'll open the window and throw out beans and growl "Goblins out, Fortunes in!" Thus we celebrate that winter is gone and wait for spring, although the weather is the coldest in Feb