"You waited for my bus to arrive, then rode the bicycle. You followed the bus until our ways parted. You could not see I was watching from the rear seat of the bus. I followed your diminishing figure, my eyes sometimes losing you, then fin…

The other day an ex-student of mine called me to invite me to a concert where she would play the trumpet. She was very diligent in both trumpet practice and studying English, a little bit in favor of trumpet perhaps, throughout her high sc…

The flowers withered, Their color faded away, While meaninglessly I spent my days in the world And the long rains were fallingThis is a famous tanka regarding 桜 translated into English by Donald Keene. How do you compare it with the Japan…

Cherry blossoms were supposed to delay this season because of the colder-than-usual winter. But as it turned out it started to bloom earlier than the average season. Once it bloomed it swiftly coming close to a full-bloom. Last night many …

Sorry I have no time to update today. Does this count as an entry? Anyways there should be an underline on March 27 in the calender upper left on this page.

The morning train was bloated with people. It slowed to crawl, then lurched foward suddenly, as if to save power for full speed. The train's brief diception jolted passengers. At once, an announcement from the overhead speaker apologized f…

The deadline of the report is drawing near. I have only 3 weeks left. In such period, I have to get by with less sleeping hours because of emails during night. Usually I can ignore those emails but when things get tighter, I cannot afford …

Morning-blue-dragon won the bout with White-phoenix in a showdown at the final bout of 千秋楽 of the grand sumo tournament. At the last tournament he was beaten by Phoenix. So this time was his revenge match. I am a big fan of both rikishi…

Getting warmer day by day. Yesterday ウグイスcame to my garden and was singing that beautiful song in that sweet voice. This is absolutely a prettier harbinger of spring than hay fever. The adorable warble of うぐいす is so familiar to us …

Puffy, watery eyes. Three consecutive sneezes. Running nose. Completely blocked nostril(right one). Hay fever exploded this morning. It came out of the blue 10 years ago and has been a harbinger of spring since then. As everyone in Japan k…

Raining Raining two days in a row. Is it rainy season already? I like looking out the window just idly when it's raining. Everything is moist and calm. I like hearing the sound of raindrops hitting the roof. It somehow makes me surrender t…

I stayed all day at home yesterday. It was partly because I had to write a report to my client, a big automaker. When I put data together to write a report, quite often I come up with a new idea to think further. But regrettably I do not h…

"Birds have flown the coop." he said, opening a bedroom door. "Birds?" I said. "My children." he said. "Your children went abroad?" I asked. "No, they are here in US." He said. I remember this conversation although about 20 years have past…

Once a year we, freelance workers, are obliged to file our income tax（確定申告）. It is troublesome indeed for a man like me who is a bit impractical about worldly things. I am working. So it cannot be helped. I can manage. But it is next…

Up at 6:30. Headache. Heavy one. Have to get up. Have to pay a visit to my father's grave today. Everyone in my family gets prepared and I am a driver. Too late to stop it now. Get out of the bed and change clothes. Go out of the house. Ge…

When I was a small child, someone told me that the moon is lighting because it reflects the light from the sun. It was a kind of shock to me because I had thought that it was glowing on its own. I was also very much disappointed that such …

The other day when I visited a professor in Nagoya University, one of the students in his lab explained his research to me. He looked quite serious about convincing me his experimental results. I asked him. "What hopefully is the use of yo…

Just as I was going to bed last night, the chime-like sound of computer signaled me that I had got an email. It was from the Swiss office answering my question about a problem regarding the simulation program we are developing together. It…

As I wrote yesterday I went to return the wrong coat to its owner. Just as I was leaving home my wife said "Oh, you should not wear that coat." "Why? it's cold." "Who in the world wears other person's coat knowing it's wrong? " "I wore it …

Yesterday, when I came home I received an email from a worker in my client's office. It said "I am very sorry to say, but I am afraid you might have gone home in my coat. There is one coat left here, which looks kind of similar to my coat.…

As of today, I have kept this blog for 60 days. I would like to thank all of you readers, including what suiren called "lurking" readers, for the inspiration. Now I have a report to write to my client which is due in about a month. This ma…

This is what I heard from a Swiss guy. He was once asked by his Japanese girl friend, who he said was sexy for a Japanese girl by the way, what his blood type was. Since he did not know his blood type, he answered he had no idea. Surprised…

Long time ago, a friend of mine said to me, "You are blood type B, aren't you?" "Yes, why do you know?" "Well, I just thought so. Blood types are said to have something to do with your personality." "What is that something in my case?" "We…

We live this moment. Everybody knows it. But this very moment we regret the past and are worried about the future, even if we, at present, can eat enough food, living in a comfortable house, watching TV, enjoying talking to family and frie…

I'm leaving for Nagoya to have some technical discussion with a professor of Nagoya-University about something supposedly very furtive and important :-). I am excited about taking a window seat of Shinkansen as usual to enjoy a magnificent…

Ending Everything that has beginning has its end. Said a famous philosopher or Buddhist. Or I made it up. Whoever may say, this is true. But there is more to it than that. "Everything that has beginning has its end. Then is there anything …

At dinner last night when I ate salad, I found it unusually tasty. I am not a big fan of salad. "It's good." I said. "To think you got to like ginger!(ショウガが好きになるとはね）" My wife said. I didn't notice there was ginger in the sala…

Along the jogging course in the park, joggers pass a training gym. When they look inside the gym they find another joggers looking outside the gym. Tens of people are running facing the window, without uttering a word, on treadmills placed…

I jogged yesterday. I jogged fast, jogged slow, kept jogging slow and jogged fast again. I went like this for a mile before I took about 200 m walk. Never mind that my fast-jog was a little faster than a young guy walking brisk. Never mind…

What a great day! A day for me to do nothing, perfectly nothing.... but to write this. Freedom... I hope it will not turn into boredom any soon. Maybe I'll go jog to the park or read John Updike or both. I can do it if I like, I don't have…