maiko-san

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 o...

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 st...

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...