I have been writing here for a year and 2 months. Yesterday, I suddenly thought it is about time I closed this blog. Thank you for reading and commenting. Special thanks to Hiroko, passerby, suiren, bietan, inavalley, Ren, Mike, for intere…

I am making my tax report. Every year I am surprised that I almost forget how to fill out the forms. But when I remember how I was at a loss the first time I made it 5 years ago, I can recognize my progress even if barely. Papers like this…

Say, you and your friend go to see a movie in a theater. You take seats side by side near the end of the rows. When you are waiting for the movie to begin, your friend finds his son sitting on a seat in the front row. Your friend says "Oh,…

Simple things are occasionally hard to translate. A few days ago my sister asked me how to say "かけ算の九九の２の段". I thought about it and answered later "the 2nd row of the multiplication tables." I believed this would at least get acr…

It seems as if everyone would be dead during 2009, as if there were no 2009. Everyone I talk with seems to talk about 2010 when the economy is supposedly better and when they are revived. So they do not talk about 2009. But this does not m…

"Departure (おくりびと)" won the Oscar in the best foreign language film division. Japanese movies are really good these days. I happened to watch a movie titled "Bandage Club(包帯クラブ)" on TV yesterday. You can say that it is what we ca…

When I woke up this morning my eyes were itchy and puffy with full of eye boogers that glued my left eyelids together. I removed the yellow stuff with wet kleenex carefully and now I can see things clearly. This year I reluctantly take ant…