English,,,,and

I wonder how much have I spent on time and money to have a good command of English. I don't know the exactly answer and to tell the truth, I may be afraid to know that , but anyway a lot. It's hard to imagine how difference I am now if I had'nt studied it.
Thank you for English! Now I don't "study " English especialy -as taking English classes, but I am trying to put myself in "English circumstance" -for example, watchind dvd in only english, reading English novels and I am using English at my work.

Just like I was, there are so many people who want to be able to speak English in Japan. To our pity, it is difficult for us to speak it fluently only by school education. We may have " admiratuin" for English and native English speaker. There are ao many English school here, I can't miss the advertisement of the English educational materials in the magazine or internet.

On october 26 2007 "NOVA" filed for court protection ,which is the biggest english school with more than 300000. students and 5000 teachers at about 800 branches. The school is closed until another sponcer will appear.

Most of students has paid their school fees in advance (some of them paied more than 600000 yen ) , without new sponser they can't expect their money back , on the other hand many teachers and staffs hav'nt get their wages more than 2months. According to TV news some of them don't have money only to go back their countries. Some of them are trying to get another job,(actually they need another job to stay in Japan for visa or work permit) but it is not so easy. I don't mean there are no jobs. The creterion for being a techer at NOVA was actually low, even you don't have a licence to teach, if you are native English speaker, they accepted. But at some English school , the licence is required.

I am really sorry the teaches ,students and staffs.
Because of NOVA, some of the students may feel no more English.
Because of NOVA, some of the teachers may think no more Japan.

If so , that's pity.

The annoucement from NOVA

British embassy

Austrarian embassy

Dojo ....

Sometimes many people in Europe or America doesn't care for eating what Japanese (or Asians prpbably) like to eat.
For example, Sushi. Yes I know . Sushi became already a kind of famous international food, although still many people might refuse to try that.
Maybe Unagi(eel) less popular than Sushinbut still known to many people. I know eel souceis popular/

Well, how about Loaches (Oriental weatherfish)? We call them "Dojou(or Dozeu)" in Japanese.
There is one long river (acctually second longest) called "Tonegawa" Kanto region where is the easy place to catch Loaches So that's why since long time ago many people prefer to eat Dojou( Loaches) near Tokyo.

Yesterday I went to one famous Dojou( Loaches) dining place which has more than 200years history in Asakusa- downtown area in Tokyo. The building is old enough to imagine an old period ,and atomosphere is nice. It was first time to have Dojou(Loaches) for me.I was satisfied the taste more than I imagined ,because I was afraid of the appearance. So soft that I could eat up bone, too. If you don't mind fish, I think it's worth trying. Well, Dojou has aboundant of collagen ,calcium and vitamin.



Dojou pot tasted soysause

Fried Dojou










Besides Dojou, they serve whales dish, too. I know many countries are against whaling . But the people roughly over 25years old had been provided whales dishes as a school lunch in Japan. So we know taste. Really delicious.

If you have a concern, try Dojou and whales wih Japanese Sake!!

Czech experience.

Probabley you know , I like to travel , but unfortunately at present I am not able to take long vacation to go many contries. The easiest way to soak up the atmosphere to be in another country is to go to the restaurants. Tokyo is a very convenient city, really!, I mean , there are so many things to do, places to enjoy,and restaurants to eat..

The other day I went the Czech cuisine restaurant with my co-workers. Because we had a Czech trainee for last 2months. So it was very good time for me to try Czech cuisine for the first time. (Actually that country is one of the place which I wanted to go!)To my surprise, there is only one Czech cuisine restaurant in Tokyo, and only three in Japan.



Do you know "Budwiser" is not originally from U.S? It was from Czech!! Taste was more heavier than one I knew. In the ranking of per-capita beer consumption, the Czech Republic won first place for the 12th straight year. Wow, they drink beer a lot, aren't they?? I thought it is England ot Ireland.

Brambarak is like a pancake made of potates. I thought like Japanes Okonomiyaki or Korean pancake. It is a kind of home cooking the mom make.



This is a kind of Czech style stew called "Gulasch" in German and "goulash" in English. I ate with beef style of that with dumplimgs called "Knedlíky" 　The stew was so tasty. I guess almost all Japanese people like this tasta, it is not too strong but have thick taste.

It is fun to try to eat different food. I really wanna have a oppotunity to go and eat real Czech food!

GOCHISOUSAMA (Thank you for the meal!)

Atsuiiiii

Atsui ...atsui
Hot, hot everyday.......


Accroding to the annoucement of the Meteorological Agency, it was 40.9 degrees centigrade of today's highest tempreture in Japan (in Tajimi city Gifu pref. and Kumagaya city in Sitama pref. ) This is actually highest in Japan so far.

No wonder that it is too hot here in Tokyo!!!!
Need beer!!!!

Curry in Japan

If somebody ask you, "Do you know what is the most popular dishes in
Japan???" If you are not living in Japan, you may answer " SUSHI and TEMPURA"
Of course , we love Sushi and Tempura.In foreign countries they are known as typical Japanese food.

But I can say CURRY RICE and RAMEN are the most popular dishes for Japanese.
They are usually more casual , cheeper.

In paticular we are fond of CURRY RICE in the summer season, and Ramen in winter.So now a kind of the Curry season! To be honest , I don't care for spicy food so much, but I love Curry so much.


Curry- the cooking that stewed vegitables and meats with curry powder consisting of plural spices. Originally from India , but it is seen in all over the world now.

Speaking of Curry in Japan, it comes Curry stew and white boided rice with some pickles.

Just like this! ummmmm yummy

Can't wait tomorrow night !!!

Maroon5 is in Japan now ! They are my favorite, Actually I like them the best of the non-japanese singers. Tomorrow , I am going to their Live!!!Wow! Compare with their popularity , the capacity of the live place was so small that amde me difficult to get the ticket.　But I am very luckey to be one of the audience. I like Adam's voice, feel very coolthie songs...etc.

About 3years ago I went to their live once in the U.S. So great. I can't find the exact words to express my feeling by my English vocaburary. It was so happy night!

I wish the member of maroon5 would read this blog, so they can know how much Japanese people are exciting. hehehe Anyway can't wait!

more lines

As I wrote the other day, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts is very popular here. Still need to wait to get ones. Since one of my friend never tried yet, she really want some, I went there again. Sunday morning 9:30. I thought that I had to wait still now, but as it past already 6month since the shop opened, hopefully maybe 20-30minutes?

I was so surprised the situation, I could see much longer line than before.



Two hours for Doughnuts !!! For me inpossible. Gaveup at onece.
Maybe because they had special limited star-shaped ones!

Kanmi-ya～Japanese sweet paｒlor

I love to going to a Kanmi-ya which is difined "Japanese sweet parlor."

The other day I went to one with cozy atomosphere. The name of the parlor is "Irori" which means fire place in old Japanese houses. Recently there are only houses having Irori. Let me show you some photos.


Wow , there were many samples of the sweets, which made me difficult to decide.


This is the Irori, but normally it would be on the ground.


I had "Mitsumame" which is similar to Anmitsu , but without red bean paste called Annko.
Some fruits , some agars, cream some beans with syrup... Ummmm yummy. Decent time , isn't it????

Register just started.-Tokyo marathon 2008

I wrote quite a lot about Tokyo marathon 2007 in this blog. You can find how much I was moved and excitment.

Yesterday the register for 2008 has just started. Of course I already did.
I am sure it is going to be over capacity like 2007. On that day many TV program about the marathon was broadcasted. Since then I heard many people stareted running. Even magaxined for young women have featured severak times. At the Tokyo marathon 2007 only one -third people could run. I really hope I can join this event as well as last time.

"Turbaned Noguchi"

The Japanese 1000-yen bill has a depiction of Hideyo Noguchi on it.
Here it is.

He was a doctor and bacteriologist who discovered the agent of syphilis disease.When I was a kid, I would read his biography.


Recently folding bills is popular among some young people.
This is one kind.
"Turbaned Noguchi"



It is said , if you keep it in your wallet, you can save up your money. I don't know truth.... It may be a of urban legend...

Tabi making

I wrote about my kimono life on the previous post. Many items are nesessary to put on Kimono, for example Tabi.

You can consider Tabi is socks for Kimono. Usually the color of Tabi is white,the casual Kimono fans wear Tabi with paterns. The day before yesterday I joined the class of Tabi making. I show you some photos about it.







Compleated!!!!( Although they are irregular shapes , but should be O.K.)
It took about 8-9hours....

Kimono life beginner

As you know, Kimono is Japanese traditional cloth.About 150 years ago, everybody in Japan was waring this kind. To our pity, nowdays many people can't weatr Kimono by theirselves. People take it for ganted that wearing western style cloths is normal, and Kimono is just for special occasion.

Before I posted about my friend's wedding, which I put on kimono, at that time I had to ask to wear kimono by professonal Kimono dresser. When I was working at Japanese restaurant, I had to put on Kimono costume-but it was by summary method. Thus I couldn't able to wear kimono by myself.

I wanted to learn how to wear Kimono, because I like the Japanese design fablic, I have some kimono from my mom and granma. So I have taken Kimono wearing lessons from last February. It was a bit hard to memorize all orders, but I have done almost the basic lessons . Yes now I can wear it by myself. Not to forget how to do, now I want to put it on at least once a month.

My Kimono life has just started... I will write some post about it since now on...

Have you taste????

Unbelievable.
It is cucumber pepsi.
It is scheduled to go on sale on 12th of June in Japan.
Only limited period!!
I don't like cucumbers very much, but I want to try this!!
Has anybody tried it already?
I am not sure it is only in Japan or not....

At Tsukiji Market

As I wrote before, the Tsukiji fish market is nice place to to, we can eat fresh sish, can see gigante tunas at the auction. In some turistic guidebook published in foreign countries, it is introduced as a great tourist point. You will be surprised the characteristic atomosphere there. Now everyday on average more than 500 foreigners visit this place. Before writing this post, I read some blogs written by torists from overseas. They seemed satisfied so much about thier trip ti Tsukiji. It is about there past four or five years the number of the foreigners increased drastically.　It is considered that there is a kind of "Sushi Boom"in many countries.

However, in proportion to tourists increasing , the badness of a manner came to be outstanding.. For example, touching tuna to take photos by hands, and too many toursts for tracter to enter auction place.

The market is actually bussiness place, not to be set as a tourisut point. So if the bad manner wil keep outstanding, now they have started thinking to limit foreigners by making closed area.

It is so pity, I am not agree with this idea. But for some people who work there it must be very big problem. it won't be helped. So please please be good at the market. It it really nice place to see Japanese culture.

Tsukiji market official page in English

At the zoo

The other day I went to the Ueno Zoo (Onshi Ueno Doubutuen) which is most famous and old zoo in Japan. It opened on March 20 1882. Wow very old. It is located near Ueno station in Tokyo and convinient to go. There are many kinds of animals -more than 400kinds , one of the place that we can see a Giant panda in Japan.



Watching the animals, I could find the kind of sociality from their movement. For example, a monkey was teaseing others, a gorilla was acting like a middle age woman. (Look the photo!)It is healing power for my mental stress. So nice.


As for the Ueno zoo, I would like write one story.To be honest I was thinking for a while to do, because you may think it political topic, I am afraid that how non-Japanese people think about it. But anyway I determind to tell it finally.

In Japan at summer time the students take the class about war and peace. Because the world war Ⅱfinished on August 15 1945　after twice of the atomic bombing .Then one story was used for the classes often. When I was a child, I listened the story, the book was still published, so far more than 2million copies have sold. This is nonfiction story.

"the poor elephants"
The aerial attacks to Tokyo was getting worse, the goverment decided to kill fierce animals to avoid them runnning from the zoo, and acting violently in the city. Lions and bears were killed. The three elephants nemed "John" ,"Tonky"and" Wanly" had left.
The people who worked at the zoo gave them feed with poison to kill then, they threw up soon. Then they used injections to kill them, their skin was too thick. Finally they decided not to give them feed to make them strving. The three elephants were trying to perform in a desperate attempt to get their feed. At last they died one after another.

Just writing this story makes me cry, this story is true, and many kinds of animals except lions bears and elephants were died mostly for the luck of the feed when the war had ended. There is the memorila place in Ueno zoo, and still now they take place memorial service for the animals.

Sometimes I take it for granted that I can live a life peacefully. But I have to remember just 60years ago the people's living was completly different, I am lucky to be born such a peace situation. I felt like this at the zoo.

Do we love the lines ?

you may think Japanese people love to que the lines.
Is it true? , Or not?
I can say we are veru used to wait for a long time.
At Disneyland we have to wait at least one hour for riding just one attraction usually.
As you know , the popularion is quite big, although we have small lands.


On Dec 15th 2006 one shop opened in Shinjuku, center of Tokyo. Over there we have to wait more than one hour still now.
Do they selling such a nice things?
That shop is the very fast Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in Japan.
Yes, if you are in the United States, you can find them in the supermarkets without any difficulty.
Here many people is waiting everyday everyday. The other day my friend wanted to buy the doughtnuts, we went and waited about 40 minutes at 10o'clock at night. You can see by one of my photos.

The doughnuts are tasty, but I won't wait such a long line anymore. But I am sure many people is waiting at this moment.

TOKYO MARATHON 2007⑤～ memories

Needless to say, I ran with my camera:)

■Many people heading the start area■



■Before start -freezing and raining■


■START-Tokyo governer Shintaro Ishihara waving his hands■



■Many audience in front of Asakusa Kaminarimon-very famous sight seeing spot■



■on the road for vehicles usually■


■GOAL■

TOKYO MARATHON 2007④～ finish

Yes, I became the one of the finisher at the end.
Really, it was tough.

At goal point, I could find one friend, she told that she was cheerig my and other frinds at other points , too. When I saw her, I really thank her and relieved.
At that time "I was very hungry, starving---". as many runnner who couln't get food.

The record is not good, and was so close to limited time.
It's no problem. I am satisfied.



It has passed almost 2months.
Since then I am jogging 2-3 times a week. Better than before , you can guess:)
Well, it is so surprising to me that I really enjoying jogging now. I am sure I will apply the 2008 Tokyo marathon again , although I need luck to win the lottery. When I was child , I HATED RUNNING. Don't laugh, I am changing...much to my surprise.

Next time , I want to goal by ruuning insted of walking!

There are many marathon in the world, I like traveling so , when I go abroad if I would join , would be nice.....

If you are interested....
http://www.tokyo42195.org/

TOKYO MARATHON 2007③～ in the rain

Harder than I imagined- this was my frank feeling.

My plastic raincoat made me harder to run. Still so cold ,although I started to run. Through the Shinjuku- the biggest down town Tokyo, there were so many people cheering us. Waving their hands, having the sign board with a messege, yelling "Ganbare!!(Cheer up.)" My tears leaked from the corner of my eyes naturally.

Raining getting harder and harder.

The marathon course was selected to the runners can enjoy with many sight seeing points and flatted.I have lived in Tokyo quite long -maybe 8-9years. I knew the all places on race course. But the scenery was totally different. Newness and rediscovery. I felt happy and lucky to run on the roads which are usually for cars , and not permitted to walk .

When I passed Hibiya park where was the goal of 10km race, it rained so hard. I saw many runner head for 10 km. "Wow, should I have choosen 10km?? Still I had more than 30km....." I knew at that park they prepared for foot bath, I really wanted to go. At that time , extremely cold . I had some candy and snack in my belt bag , but too cold to open them. I was cring for cold.

Around the 20km, I felt pain on left knee. "I didn't have enough time for training." I had to walk as fast as possible insted of runnning. Already I was in late group .I felt a kind of jealousy a little bit to the runners they already pass the returning point. But some runner, when they run pass , spork words of cheer like "Let's goal by everybody". I was really happy.

During race I saw many volunteers who smiling me with freezing in the cold. They were so great, they did perfect job. They looked so cold, needless to say, they were colder than us. I heard the many people applied for volunteers since they couldn't run because of lottery. Oh, yes more than 60000people couldn't run. I said to myslf I was lucky , I had to do my best, I had to enjoy insted of them.....

And I was so encouraged by many people along the course. They don't know me, and I don't know them, but they cheered and supported with full of their passion. In fact this was the very first city Marathon in Tokyo, many amount of foods and water were prepared, water was fine, but the food were not enough- it might be much colder than they expected. Anyway, we were severe lack of foods. Only the fast runners could get foods from the official aid. Some runners who had some money with them would go to the convenience store to buy something to eat. After Asakusa area- about 30km from the start point- the people noticed the runners were so hungry, many people offer us candy, sweet, soup, hot tea that gave us the energy for another step.

My legs were so heavy, but I want to say thank you to those who imvolved this marathon.

The goal was coming soon.

【to be continued】

TOKYO MARATHON 2007②～ START

On that day I woke up 4 o'clock in the moning, actually I didn' mean it, I was going to get up around 5:30, yes, I was nervous . It was raining hard, as suspected. But I didn't think of call off this event , I don' t know why. After breakfast , I head for Shinjuku where was the very "START" of this marathon.

In Shinjuku station I saw many people prepareing for the race, with the numbers on their T-shirts. Many ,so many people. Still raining and cold. Before I deposit my belongings, I made a phone call to one of my friends who also was going to run this race. "How are you????"etc.... I was tring to find where are they.... but I gave up at once because of the big crowd.

The runner must be at start position that they designed as a block decided depends on the declaration of the time to goal.As I submitted it by 6:40, I was the last block "K" . There we couldn't hear any sounds or voice from the ceremony , it was too far..... We had to wait for a quite long time before and after starting to race. I was freezing, and shaked with cold .Everubody was same. But we had fun, too. The people from the behind started the wave with yelling "Yeah-- ". The one woman on the balcony of the buiding-maybe 8th or 10th flour - was cring "Cheer up !!! " Everybody in K block was waving their hands, it was just like a greeting from the Royal Family on the new year day in imperial palace.

After 16minite passed already from the starting time , finally I was able to pass the startline with waving my hand to Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara.

The race was started.

【to be continued...】

TOKYO MARATHON 2007①

The day have came.
February 18th -Tokyo marathon 2007.
I am nervous,,,and excited. What's going on ?????


As you know , Tokyo is a capital city in Japan, is such a big city, has a big population -more than 12million and the central of political and economical of Japan , but never had a city marathon like New York, Boston , Berlin, London and Chicago. Since several years before they are planning to take place City Marathon in central Tokyo. The Governor of Tokyo had decided to hold on February 18th 2007 for the very first time . Actually there were not a few pople who express objection against it, the function of city would go down because of the traffic regulations of main roads for seven hours.

From last June to August the registration began. The applicants was three times than capacity (Entrants Marathon : 25,000 athletes , 10km Race : 5,000 athletes, but more than 95000pople entried.!!!). Only luckey 30000 people who were selected by lottary got their rights to be a runner.

Frankly saying, I was the one. When I got a email about to be ruuner on October, I was happy, but at the same time I was annoyed. How I can run 42.195km again??? It was so tough・・・・etc. (In fact I joined Walt Disney marathon 2005, so I know how difficult was it.....) But reading many poeple's blog , many people wrote about their shock from losing their lack of luck. So I decided to try the Marathon.

Although I strongly felt necessity of training , but I have been busy from last Autumn, went Mexico two weeks, had to find new apartment, and moving, in my job I had a lot to do. I couldn't have spare time for training. At last I could find my free time on January, became a member of sports gym. But obviously I needed training more and more....

【to be continued ...】