Kishiwada's Danjiri Festival, and Mr. O

I went to the Danjiri festival, in Kishiwada, the other day. It was my first time. And quite honestly, I loved it. It was very exciting and itneresting. And the partipants of the festival, many of them pulling the heavy danjiri(carriages) were so passionate. I could feel their emotion, and actually got a little choked up once or twice. (choked up=almost cry.) However, I could not have had such a good time if it wasn't for Mr. O. He and his wife met me and gave me a "special tour" all around Kishiwada. I went to the wonderful Kishiwada castle, and also could go to the famous "S spot" to view the danjiri. At the S-spot, the danjiri reach high speeds and have to make two shapr turns. If they make a mistake they crash into the wall of a house or restaurant. Luckily, all the danjiri which I watched made the turns safely and no one was injured. In addition, he invited me to his house and I could meet his mother, a housewife, his father, retired and now an avid fan of cycling, and also his brother, a train conductor. His mother made and served a lot of delicious food, including crab, which is always eaten in Kishiwada during this festival. Did you know that? While eating and drinking a little beer, we could all talk a lot and have a good time.
And, for Mr. O, this was one of his last times to eat Japanese food for a while, because on this Saturday he will go to Canada for 6 months to study English. He has guts! Maybe he was born with those guts in Kishiwada, because Kishiwada is a tought town!! He resigned from his job and decided to make a new start, a new beginning. He will go to Canada by himself and go to school and do a homestay...I am very excited for him! And I am very much looking forward to see him when he gets back to Japan...It won't be easy, and it will take a lot of sweat and tears and bravery to overcome the challenges of living in a foreign country and speaking a foreign language every day, but I know his English and his confidence about English will be amazing at that time! I can't wait!!! Mr. O, thanks a lot, and truly Good luck and safe travels!!

below is a picture of a different friend of mine, who i ran into by chance at the Kishiwada Danjiri festival. Mr. N. He kept his promise of a few years ago and treated me a beer.

Welcome back!

I am sure today is going to be busy for most of you, because it is your first day back to work after 4 or 5 days off. So I will be short and sweet.

My vacation was fantastic. Pure R & R!! Some of the little highlights were:

-went to Kishiwada's famous Danjiri Festival (I will write more about this later. Thanks Mr. O!)
-had a BBQ(I will write more about this later too...thanks T.D.) and also ate sushi(of course hand-rolled, NOT turntable!)
-went jogging(twice) and swimming (once)
-went to the spa and sauna(once)
-splurged and went out to eat to a really nice restaurant (If you are interested to know where, please ask me in person, and I will tell you the name of the restaurant. it was really good!)
-read some books and watched a couple DVD's (the best DVD was "The Grand Torino." I really liked it. BUT if you do NOT like a little dark story, ending, PLEASE do NOT watch it!!)
-spent a lot of time outside

...that's about it. I know it doesn't sound too exciting, but it was really good!

What did you do over the Silver Week Vacation?

The race for the 3rd spot in the playoffs is heating up. My two favorite teams, THE TIGERS and THE EAGLES are hanging in there!!

Below are some "behind the scenes" shots from Koshien. (Koshien Food)

Water event

There is a big event along Yodogawa river now. I think it is called "Suito," but I am not certain about that.
I don't know exactly when it began, but I heard that it will be held for a couple of months. I know many people who have gone there, and the reviews are mixed. The jury is still out on this one...Some people like it a lot, and others don't. If I have time over the Silver Week vacation, I might check it out.

Speaking of Silver Week (the naming of this vacation, 5 days off in a row, is funny I think. It is a play on words of the yearly vacation in the spring "Golden Week."), what are you plans?
Do you have any exciting plans? Any trips or small excursions planned?
I have a few things planned, but I am not totally decided yet. Some things might not materialize. So after the vacation I will let you know the highlights and lowlights of my vacation.

Hope everyone has a safe and good vacation!!

Below are photos from the "Suito" event

Drinks

What is your favorite drink?
What do you drink every morning?
How about at night?
What do you drink when you are tired? feeling sluggish?

I like drinks and I drink a variety of things...If I had to choose my favorite, I would probably say beer or water. It is a tought choice.
Every morning I drink coffee. Usually two cups of Instant Nes Cafe Gold Blend. It is the begging of the day and wakes me up, my mind and my body. While drinking coffee, I like to read the newspaper or surf the net.
After that, all day I usually drink water or tea. About tea, hot tea or cold tea, green tea or English tea or flavored tea, bascially I don't care. Anything is OK. I drink a lot of fluids every day. In the summer, I drink more than 2 liters of water/tea every day for sure.
At night, with dinner, I usually drink water. Speaking of water, the other day I tried sparkling water, Pelligrino, for the first time. To my surprise, I liked it very much and felt it was healthy, and I am scared that I will get hooked on it because Pelligrino is a little expensive...Have you ever drank Pelligrino? If not, I recommend you try it.
And, do you drink sparkling water?
About 2 times a week I drink alcohol. Beer is my beverage of choice, followed by shochu (on the rocks,) and also wine. I like both red and white wine. About red wine, sometimes red wine is served chilled in Japan. It is always served at room temperature in the States and in Europe. At first I hated chilled red wine...but recently I got used to it and actually developed a liking for it.
I rarely drink Japanese sake...maybe about twice a year at a sushi restaurant for a special occassion. I used to like the hot type, but recently I prefer a high quality cold one. And, whiskey also, about twice a year. I used to hate whiskey when I was younger, but my tongue must have changed because now I actually like it.

Below is the Doctor7s favorite ginger ale. Have you ever seen this brand before? It was my first time. I only drink ginger ale on an airplane. It is one of the many rules which I have.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Nine eleven ...and Ireland in Osaka

9.11
Do you remember 9.11? Where were you? What were you doing when you heard about the terrorism?
I wrote about my experience on that day on past blogs of September, so if you are interested, please check them. For those of you who have already read them, I don't want to repeat myself... Just click on "September 08"
"September 07"..etc. You can find it if you try!


On to another topic, a few years ago I went to Ireland. It was my first time to Europe, and I really had a rgeat time and learned a lot. Since then, I always like to look for a new Irish bar or restaurant in the neighborhood. And, the other day, I found one. (Look at the photos below)

Speaking of Ireland, that reminds me of an article I read a while back.
Check this out: Green beer in Hokkaido
http://www.japantoday.com/category/new-products/view/green-beer

To change the topic, how do you feel about Prime Minister Aso being kicked out of power?
Please write your opinion and and show me in class.
For reference, read below for the opinions of others:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20090908vf.html

This weather this week, the second week of September, had been gorgeous. Cool in the morning and evening, and gorgeous in the afternoon. Perfect! I wish the weather was like this all year!! I think typhoons will start hitting Kyushu and Okinawa, and other parts of Japan too, soon. Please watch out and hope everyone has a good weekend!

Free Cafe's English Home Page

This is the English version of the Free Cafe right around the corner. It is a very informative and interesting English page, with info not only related to the company and management concept/system, but also to solving various environmental problems. For general knowledge, as well as for English study/practice, I recommend that you check it out.

http://www.harimayahonten.co.jp/pc_english/index.html

Below are more sunflower photos from Mr. M

Ichiro gets 2000, and Sunflowers

Read all about it here:
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10032452/Ichiro-second-fastest-to-2,000-hits

What did you do over the weekend? I ran into some friends by chance on Saturday night, and we had a few drinks and chatted together. After that, my friend got me a reservation at a very popular and crowded restaurant, which is really difficult to get into on the weekends. But he has connections, so we were lucky! It was a good way to finish up the summer. Ah-, maybe I forgot to mention that this year I was also very luck to be able to go to the Obon dancing festival, not only once, but twice. It was really relaxing and fun both times.

To enjoy the last days of his summer, Mr. M went to a sunflower field the other day and took many pictures with the new camera which he bought.
Sunflowers are my favorite flower. Did you know that?What is your favorite flower?

Hope everyone enjoys the week!

Koshien and September

Below are some of the best photos I have ever seen from Koshien. On Wednesday, Ms. A went to Koshien. She loves the Tigers and every year buys tickets for one game each month during the season. So, Wednesday, the 2nd of September, will be her last game this year...BUT if the Tigers make the playoffs...there is still a slim, slight, chance that they can make the playoffs. If you don't know about the Japanese baseball playoff system, basically here it is: presently the Tigers are about 5 games behind the third place team, the Yakult Swallows. In order to make the playoffs in Japan, you must finish in first, second, or third place in your division. So Ms. A, keep your fingers crossed...It's not over yet!! Go Tigers!

The other day I wrote about Ms. e's thoughts about September. Now I would like to say some of my own thoughts...

I don't love September, but I don't hate it. In recent years, for various reasons, actually I like September more and more. In America, September is the start of the school year...elementary school, junior high school, and high school, and Univeristy and Graduate School. So, September
has a feeling of "a new beginning," "a new change."
Also, for many Americans who are die-hard football fans, September marks the beginning of the NFL (National Football League) season. Have you ever watched a football game? It's pretty exciting IF you understand the rules...
I am a big Philadelphia Eagles fan. So Go Eagles!!!

and this is Ms. Y's thoughts about that ALL FREE CAFE:
Hi.
I took your class after that I went to free rice cracker café.
I could drink a cup of coffee or tea or juice and eat one plate rice cracker.
It was beautiful.
I recommend it.
I will go there again next week.
And I will talk to my friends about that cafe.
She work at Yodoyabashi.
She will go there too.

Ehime and a FREE CAFE in Honmachi!!

Nature, nature, nature...I really love it...
So, the other day when I got this email from Ms. K, I was really jealous. Her hometown is deep in nature, in Ehime. I don't know much about Ehime, other than that it is famous for oranges and fishing, and fresh fish. One day I want to go to Ehime and pick oranges...


Below are Ms. K's email and photo:
"Hi,Glenn.How are you today?I'm fine.I have 5days off since yesterday.So,I went back to my hometown from yesterday.My parents and grand mother lives a country in Ehime.There is only nature in this place,but here is very nice place. Can you see a picture in your PC mail?I took this picture in front of my house. I'm reraxing here. Have a nice day!"

And yes, it's true, a free cafe in Honmachi. Yes, I am serious. It is FREE. 100% FREE!!! No strings attached. And it is clean and convenient. They have coffee, tea, and orange juice. They may have a few more drinks but that is all that I saw. And they also have rice crackers. Many delicious rice crackers!!! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the place...so I had to go in. And it wasn't a lie. Everything is FREE. You have to check it out. It is on Midosuji street in Honmachi, next to Shinseibank, or about across the street from Risona Bank. The name of the place is "FREE CAFE HARIMAYA STATION." You have to check it out!!!

Have a good rest of the week!

Welcome to September!

Do you have a message for the new Prime Minister? If yes, please voice your opinion and speak up like the people did in the below link:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/fl20090901vf.html

You should speak loudly, and strongly, so the new Prime Minister can hear you.
For example:
"Mr. Prime Minister, I want you to______________________"
"Mr. Prime Minister, I insist that you_____________________"
"Mr. Prime Minister, I urge you to_______________________"

Try to make a few sentences of your own.

Today is a beautiful day...Sunny and blue skies. The first day of September. What do you think about September? Some people like this month, and some people don't.

This is what Ms. e thinks about September:
"What's up ? August is almost end..I don't like crazy hot summer these days, so I'm happy but I don't likeSeptember,Because it is not summer but not autumn and I feel a loneliness a little.When I was a student,I always had finished summer homework until thebegging ofa new school term,so it is not the reason that I don't like September !"

Personally, September is not my favorite month, but it is also not my least favorite month. It is OK. And this year is extra good because there is Silver Week, a 5 day vacation in the middle of the month. What do you think about that? I am pretty happy about it, and even though I don't have any big plans, I wanna chill out and take it easy again, just like Obon Vacation.

A small tidbit: Yesterday was the first day since summer began that I wore a long sleeve shirt in the morning...It means summer is definitely over. Recently it is a little chilly in the mornings and evenings, so I am sure I will be wearing pants or jeans, not shorts like I have been wearing, soon too...

Below is a message and some photos from Mr. T. He is in Montreal to study Law at University for about a year. The photo of his apartment and the one of the classroom and the squirrel are pretty cool.

"It has been more than two weeks since I came to Montreal.Everything is going well. The weather is nice, although it is sometimes hot and humid here.The student of McGill buddy program took me to the tour of the Facutly of Law. The other day, I played tennis with him. He is a sincere and nice guy. My mother is leaning English through the notebook with your memo. Now I am preparing blog( in Japanese!), so I will let you know when it is completed."