LICENSE etc. (August 21-27, 2011)

LICENCE
My son, twenty-six years old, is due to take the license examination of the first class architect. He studies hard for it while he works hard every day. He needs much effort in order to pass it. He challenges the difficult thing. I am going to visit Kameido-Tenjin Shrine and to pray that he pass the examination. (Sunday, August 21, 2011)

FIFTY YEARS AGO
I walk the town where I lived fifty years ago. There are many buildings, shops and houses on both sides of roads. Almost all of them are different from the ones I ever saw there long, long ago. But the roads are the same as they were. Using them as clues, I remember the old view or landscape of the town. It is interesting and sentimental. (Monday, August 22, 2011)

SILENCE
I am afraid that I talk too much. I had better to hide my intentions, thoughts, and feelings. Enemies use my remarks. Moreover, those who are neutral for me can become enemies when they hear what I talk. Don’t talk too much! Silence is good for me. (Tuesday, August 23, 2011)

UNHAPPINESS
When Mark Twain lost almost all his fortune, he became pessimistic and mentally crooked. He was a great novelist and wrote many optimistic and energetic novels. But unhappiness made him drastically changed. Now I sympathize him. Every person is weak when he or she becomes unhappy. (Wednesday, August 24, 2011)

ATTENDANTS
I think about my mother’s funeral in the future. I have only a few friends. Then I think that the funeral will have only a few attendants. It will be sad. I become pessimistic. But I never inform my thought to my wife. If she knows it, she necessarily gets angry and says to me that I should be responsible for what I did. (Thursday, August 25, 2011)

RURAL AREA
A road bounds my house in the north. Only a few cars run there. It is quiet all the time. A tree stands near a porch of my house. It has beautiful red flowers. Around here, the natural environment impresses you. It is good to live in rural area. (Friday, August 26, 2011)

IKEBANA
Ikebana is a Japanese traditional art of arranging cut flowers. Especially, it interests me very much that ideological significance is attached to the composition. For example, three basic sprays signify respectively sky, earth, and mankind. Generally, ikebana expresses the harmonic balance of nature. It makes me calm and eased. (Saturday, August 27, 2011)

A TRREE OF PERSIMMON etc. (August 14-20, 2011)

A TRREE OF PERSIMMON
There is a tree of persimmon in my garden. It is not so big. But it casts a shadow and makes cool in summer. It has many fruits and falls its leaves in autumn. I can see a blue and clear sky through branches that have no leaves in winter. In spring, I can see new leaves emerging. They are green and beautiful. I like this tree of persimmon. (Sunday, August 14, 2011)

GOOD SCORES
When you do well in school, what does that mean? Getting good scores is useful for you. But it doesn’t mean that you are virtuous and good. (Monday, August 15, 2011)

COURTEOUS
I want to live my everyday life neatly and regularly. I get up early in the morning. I eat breakfast, lunch and supper adequately and properly. I go to bed not so late at night. I want to be polite and courteous. (Tuesday, August 16, 2011)

FIGHT
You are discouraged. You are pessimistic. You are unhappy. You are lost. You fear your future. The reason of these minus feeling is that you are likely to escape from your real situation. You have to try to fight against it. (Wednesday, August 17, 2011)

LUNACY
Lunacy looks sad. Lunatic people are always condemned even if they are peaceful. They are spoken ill of. These things make me sad. (Thursday, August 18, 2011)

CALM
I have to keep my feeling calm. I hope I am relieved. In order to realize the hope of mine, I become rational, sober and cool-headed. (Friday, August 19, 2011)

MALICE
You can’t trust your wife. She loves only money. She is selfish. She hates you. She only makes use of you. She takes advantage of you to get much money. She is lazy. Why does she divorce you? These thoughts derived from your malice. (Saturday, August 20, 2011)

GYU-DON etc. (August 7-13, 2011)

GYU-DON
I eat gyu-don, a bowl of rice with cooked beef, at breakfast. A person who becomes to know this fact is surprised because I have a very good appetite. I think that to eat much means to live long. Of course, I am careful to be healthy. (Sunday, August 7, 2011)

STOCK PRICES
Stock prices extremely went down three times for these five years. First, “Lehman shock” in 2008, second, “Tohoku earthquake and tsunami” in 2011, and third, “Downgrade of US’s AAA credit rating” in 2011 made the value of my stocks going down severely. I lost much money. It makes me gloomy. (Monday, August 8, 2011)

ALCOHOL
I can’t drink any alcohol because of my physical condition now. A few years ago, I can drink very much. But rapidly I become to drink less and less. I am neither unhealthy nor ill. This makes me unsocial because I can’t drink with my friends so often. (Tuesday, August 9, 2011)

FAT
My mother in her eighties always says to my wife “You become fat.” My wife gets a little angry. But the reason why my mother says such a thing is as follows. She is not careful about other’s feeling because she is too old. Her ability to understand it becomes weak. Therefore, my wife endures such a remark of my mother’s even though she becomes indignant a little. (Wednesday, August 10, 2011)

ONE-PIECE DRESS
My wife sews two one-piece dresses for two granddaughters of hers. She looks pleased at doing such a thing. She loves the two girls. So she is happy when she dedicates herself to them. Doing something energetically makes you happy when you do it voluntarily. (Thursday, August 11, 2011)

AGEDNESS
My wife’s mother is 87 years old. She says the same remarks again and again. She becomes to think something obscurely and unclearly. Its cause is her agedness. But she can recognize clearly who talks with her. This makes me relieved. (Friday, August 12, 2011)

PLAY
What do little girls want to play? I have two granddaughters of mine. One is four years old and the other is two. The elder plays TV games. The younger plays with golf balls rolling on an inclined slope. Both of them enjoy fireworks in a garden. They also like to play tag with my son. The elder granddaughter says to him “You are a tagger.” She dislikes to play such a role. (Saturday, August 13, 2011)

GRAVESTONES etc. (July 31-August 6, 2011)

GRAVESTONES
I visit Arlington National Cemetery near Washington D.C. I see so many lines of gravestones. It makes me shocked. There were many people died in wars. They dedicated their lives to U.S. I feel their braveness and at the same time their sadness. (Sunday, July 31, 2011)

SINCERE
I am always afraid about what others think about me. Consequently, I hide what I really think. I try to pretend that I am a person that they image about me. I hate to behave like that. I want to sincere about myself. (Monday, August 1, 2011)

FRIENDS
I have few friends. I avoid persons who are not intimate with me. Moreover, I avoid others who are hostile toward me. At the same time, I can’t understand what friends mean. After all, I am not good at making friends with others. (Tuesday, August 2, 2011)

MY TOOTH
I see a dentist today. A tooth of mine is painful. I ask him to pull out it immediately. He doesn’t agree with me. He says that I must take care of my tooth and that I must use it carefully for a long time afterwards from now on. (Wednesday, August 3, 2011)

BORED
I repeatedly do similar things almost every day. Days pass similarly. I can’t differ one day from the other. My life looks simple. I am bored. (Thursday, August 4, 2011)

TRAVEL
My travel for sightseeing is not only joyful pastime but also hard work. The reason is that I record its data such as geographical, cultural, social characteristics of the areas where I visit. Afterwards, I review and summarize them. Then I make a report about the travel that consists of many papers. Of course, this hard work brings me interesting new knowledge. It makes me happy. (Friday, August 4, 2011)

TOO HOT
It’s too hot these days. The thermometer shows more than 35 degrees Celsius. I feel like that I live in the air of hair driers. I remember my old trip to Egypt in summer some years ago. It was extremely hot. It was 48 degrees Celsius. (Saturday, August 5, 2011)