http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/rss Shiro's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Thu May 23 16:56:02 UTC 2013 Thu May 23 16:56:02 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8


I'm folding my family's clothes into neat piles after our evening meal I prepared. My wife also works and we share housework. Today, it's my turn to cook and take care of our sons. I continue my laundry.

Casting a glance at my sons, I find them playing games with their Sony's portable game devices. It's okay with me that they enjoy their games as long as they study as much as they play games.

As usual, I check it with my elder son, who is a 9th grader, "hey, it's okay for you to enjoy games, but did you finish and do further study by yourself?" "Yes!," he replies. I continue with him, "good and how long?" He replies, "thirty seconds," uncomfortably. "What? Thirty seconds? What on earth do you mean by thirty seconds?," I blaze away at him.

Well, it's okay with me that I do all of these: wrap up my work at company, rush home, prepare evening meal, do dishes, fold laundry, yet and... but then he innocently says that he did study for as many as thirty seconds today, doesn't he? I have many things I do want to study. Yet, he's just playing games with only thirty second study, isn't he???

Now finally I get an idea and loudly proclaim to my sons, "ok, sons, from today, after evening meal, persons who are studying have higher priority; if you are studying, it's okay. But if you don't, you will do housework with other persons who aren't studying. I want to learn many things, so I won't need to do housework. How about you? Regarding studying, our family is all equal!"

Then their serious eyes gazing at me show that they do understand what I mean. This will be effective from next Monday.

Photo 1: The order
Photo 2: The Folded Laundry
Photo 3: Textbook of my elder son (9th grader), younger son (3rd grader), and myself.

Posted at Sat May 18 12:40:17 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/32493080848803183641830717461512062727 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/32493080848803183641830717461512062727 Shiro Sat May 18 12:40:17 UTC 2013 http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html


When I clicked the video button of her talk on TED, she started it with her calm and deep voice. Her talk was full of researches, considerations, and insights on creativity. Although she spoke seriously in most of the time, she sounded humorous sometimes and episodes were also very interesting.

She was one of my most favorite types in terms of personality. And I thought that she was beautiful and "cute"—especially at the last scene of the talk. After having viewed the video several times—although the talk was quite long, 18 minutes, I purchased her work "Eat, Pray, Love" on Amazon Kindle. Someday when my English skill is ready for the book, I'll read it.


Posted at Sat May 11 08:11:24 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/126696416325037663392472717718037962340 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/126696416325037663392472717718037962340 Shiro Sat May 11 08:11:24 UTC 2013


The day before yesterday I participated in a long-distance relay race, 25th Yokohama Ekiden. It was held at a running course near Tsurumi River and 663 teams entered the race this year. It was a very warm day for the end of April—the high was 22 degree Celsius—or probably a little hot for running.

Each team was composed of seven runners who ran 42.195 km in total. I was the third runner of our team and ran 5 km for 25 minutes. Our team record for the whole distance was about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

After the race, I enjoyed beers with my team mates and some of their families at our site that some of our team mates had prepared before the race. It was a nice and memorable day during our Golden Week holiday.

Photo 1: Many teams prepared their sites for their team mates.
Photo 2: The Exchange Zone of The Race: The relay-race was held in a circular course.
Photo 3: My Team's T-shirt with My Number Tag


Posted at Wed May 01 10:15:29 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/17286207179585489245328391184741015140 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/17286207179585489245328391184741015140 Shiro Wed May 01 10:15:29 UTC 2013


My younger son is a third grader in his elementary school and, last Saturday, he joined the local baseball team to which his brother also belonged.

For next three and a half years, every Saturday and Sunday except for several days like Obon holiday or New Year's day, my wife and I will take turn going with him for his support as we did for our elder son.

Photo 1: Last Saturday, the team's members were warming up with their coaches in their elementary school's ground.
Photo 2: He's my younger son in uniform for practice.
Photo 3: This Saturday, he practiced catching a ball at a baseball field near Tamagawa River.


Posted at Sun Apr 21 01:00:54 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/312718513851840711734771523130401359525 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/312718513851840711734771523130401359525 Shiro Sun Apr 21 01:00:54 UTC 2013
This watch was delivered from amazon.co.jp this evening. I couldn't resist my impulse to purchase it last night. I'll participated in a long-distance relay race on April 29. My part is 5km and my target time is 25 minutes. I'll take part in a race for the first time in 25 years!

Posted at Sun Apr 14 12:23:25 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/35446236282234477989626072258090501797 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/35446236282234477989626072258090501797 Shiro Sun Apr 14 12:23:25 UTC 2013


About two weeks ago, my son went to New Zealand on his school trip. He stayed for seven nights at his host family's house in Oxford, which was about 60km from downtown Christchurch.

In the morning when he came back to Japan, my wife got an email from him and forwarded it to me (photo 1). He must be somewhere among many people, perhaps on a train. It read "日本語が頭に入ってこない!!" which meant that he couldn't catch Japanese!!

Sometimes after I returned from an a-week business trip to the US, I experienced similar experiences: it was not exactly that I couldn't understand Japanese conversation among people but rather their conversation sounded like English one and didn't make sense to me as Japanese, that kind of feeling. I thought that it happened to him. What a fast improvement he achieved during his trip abroad. It was just a week! I kind of jumped for joy.

When I came back home that day and asked him what he meant by it, however, he said that he was just sleepy because of jet lag and couldn't get what other people said.

Sigh... but it should be so. People can't improve their foreign language skill dramatically just within a week or so, so can't he...

Photo 1: His email forwarded from my wife to me
Photo 2: The sister school he visited
Photo 3: Flight attendant of the flight from New Zealand to Singapore: my son said that he took the photo because she was beautiful. I agree :)


Posted at Sat Apr 06 07:19:41 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/118515655193373454741152746446585988773 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/118515655193373454741152746446585988773 Shiro Sat Apr 06 07:19:41 UTC 2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KPk2BUdmhM

With the back-ground music, appeared several women looked speculative and passionate about their jobs at CERN*. Their talks made me consider views of occupation.

When I was a child, my dream was to be a scientist. After going to university, however, I finally gave up and entered to industry as an "engineer." When I was single, I was a hard worker. At many nights, I had worked until 4 a.m., went back home, took shower, and left home to attend a video-meeting with my customer, which started at 8 a.m. Although I wasn't conscious clearly that time, I should be proud of myself working at the leading edge of semiconductor industry. Also I was very pleased when I felt that I could have done a contribution to my customers although that kind of situation happened very scarcely. But, after I got married and had two sons, I couldn't work so hard any longer. My wife also worked full-time and I had to balance my job with my private life. Yes, it was and is also to me a daily challenge as one of women in the video said!

We don't work just for living. For each person, his/her job means various meanings. In my case, my view for occupation has been changing all the time. Well, I have 10 to 15 years to work in my life. I'm very looking forward to have new experiences in my career ahead.

So what were special moments for you in your job?

* CERN: http://home.web.cern.ch/


Posted at Fri Mar 22 14:58:40 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/334509372044439467133775884222790960438 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/334509372044439467133775884222790960438 Shiro Fri Mar 22 14:58:40 UTC 2013

During weekdays, I take care of my younger son's homework typically three times a week. He's in the 2nd grade of his elementary school and he'll become a 3rd grader next April—a new school year starts in April in Japan. His homework is usually mathematics, Kanji practice, and reading aloud.

For a long time, materials of his reading aloud practice have been very simple*. But the other day, I found that his homework for the day got very advanced (photo 1)! Do you recognize that the page contains many Kanji? Have you heard a native (almost) 3rd grader reading aloud his Japanese textbook? If not, please watch the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWw5KPuhPWg

I don't know how I read aloud when I was a 3rd grader. I have only several photographs when I was in elementary school!

Since then, technologies have been advanced greatly. Somehow I envy my son because he'll be able to watch the video when he become adult and want to know how he read as a child.

* See, for example, my entries:
http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1473758/Foreign-Tongue
http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1479609/%2528%25E5%259B%259E%25E6%2596%2587%2529-Japanese-Palindromes%253A-Can-You-Tell-Me-English-Versions-or-Challenge-Me-with-Your-Solicit-Conund


Posted at Sat Mar 16 08:52:32 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/286399561271693812872349899879894457956 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/286399561271693812872349899879894457956 Shiro Sat Mar 16 08:52:32 UTC 2013



I was staying in Taiwan this week. On Wednesday as usual, I went to Tainan to meet my customers. After the meetings, I got on a bullet train, or HSR(High Speed Railway), at the Tainan Station around 7:15p.m. When I got off the train at the Hsinchu Station at 8:25p.m., I found much more people than usual on the platform and I felt an unusual atmosphere there.

Everywhere around the station was covered by full of lights; very bright even when it should have been a late evening. I looked around, and found many lanterns below, laser beams upwards, and huge amount people around the station!

I heard that there was a lantern festival in Hsinchu this year and that was it! When I went back to my hotel, I checked it on the Internet to know more details *4).

Photo 1. A View of The Taiwan Lantern Festival 2013 Around HSR Hsinchu Station
Photo 2: Lanterns based on a Folklore; There are lots of similar objects at the site.
Photo 3: The HSR Hsinchu Station
*4) http://2013taiwanlantern.net/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41:the-information-of-2013-taiwan-lantern-festival-in-hsinchu-county-in-both-chinese-english-can-be-found-on-hsinchu-county-government-website-starting-from-oct-01-2012&catid=1:2012-08-29-02-41-09&Itemid=99


Posted at Fri Mar 08 12:45:55 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/39978209180426261967161114202575025266 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/39978209180426261967161114202575025266 Shiro Fri Mar 08 12:45:55 UTC 2013

Since 1992, I've been to the Happo-one Ski Area once a year except for twice. Around 1992, skiing was a kind of boom in Japan and many co-workers and their friends joined our skiing tour to Happo-one. I still remember that as many as 35 people joined the tour once! Year by year, however, participants were decreasing--some people left when they got married, many women gave up when they got their child. In recent years, four or five people typically gathered and finally there were only three people including me this year!

When the number of participants started decreasing, I was kind of sad and scared, worried that I had to give up the tour some day when there was only me.

However, my mind has been changing since we stayed at country inn Yamakoshi (photo 1) in 2009. Since then, Yamakoshi has been our regular inn for the Happoone skiing tour.

Yamakoshi is not a luxurious Japanese-style hotel but rather an inexpensive and simple inn. It costs only 8,025Yen for one night with a dinner and a breakfast. But what interested me most was its guests. At least when we stayed at the inn, there were always only two or three parties and they all were kind of old skiers like a husband and a wife of mid-thirties, a pair of men looking like sixties. Especially, when I found single skiers who looked fifties, sixties, and seventies, my eyes were glued to them. When I saw those old skiers, I was really relieved to know that I didn't have to give up skiing even when I got old. I didn't need to hesitate that I was an old skier. If I couldn't find my companions, it was quite alright, I could go skiing alone.

I feel that my mind state is changing recently. I used to only ski and enjoy nature. Now I care more about people. When I look college students playing with their friends in the snow, for example, I cherish my memory of various skiing tours I joined when I was a college student. When I look at skiers in their sixties, I wonder whether I can ski energetically as they do and until how old I can ski. When I was thirty years old, I thought that I was very adult. But now thirty years old is definitely very young for me. When I become 60 years old, how I'll deem present myself as a 49-year-old skier. At ski areas, I do sort of time travelling recently!

Well, anyway, I have to be a skier till I die, at least when I become 80 years old! I'll turn just 50 this month.

Photo 1: Country Inn Yamakoshi ( http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~yamakosi/ )



Posted at Sat Mar 02 13:28:37 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/30159361269620894386467547744309293472 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/30159361269620894386467547744309293472 Shiro Sat Mar 02 13:28:37 UTC 2013



I wake up. It's 5:30 a.m. of a Thursday. I'm full time off today. I take a quick breakfast, get ready, and leave home by car for my destination—a ski area, a paradise for me!

I drive my car along an urban road "Loop 8 (環状８号線)" of Tokyo (see photo 1). It's very less trafficky today, thanks to an early morning of a weekday, and soon get on the Kanetsu Highway at the Nerima Interchange. Just two hours later—three hours from my home—I arrive at the Naeba Ski Resort.

It's very cold, -8 degrees centigrade, and snowing now. I buy a lift ticket and head to the top of the mountain (photo 2). Wow, it looks like a powder snow. Several people skied or snowboarded there already. I have to go in there now!

I find that it has already passed six hours since then. I played with snow, appreciating the nature, and enjoyed skiing. Well, it's never too late to have a moment of a happy childhood.


Photo 1: A Scene Near Youga on Loop 8
Photo 2: The Lift To The Top
Photo 3: View of The Top of The Ski Resort


Posted at Sun Feb 24 11:29:46 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/167431506025601593023141923424952098404 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/167431506025601593023141923424952098404 Shiro Sun Feb 24 11:29:46 UTC 2013
Ha, Ha, They Are All Frozen Foods!

Sometime ago, my wife went to Hayama in the Miura Peninsula to attend a one-night and two-day training—a Thursday and a Friday--conducted by her company. Usually, my wife prepares a boxed lunch for my elder son on a school day. Before her training, I proposed my son that he could buy a lunch himself somewhere or eat at a cafeteria of his school on the Friday. But he asked me to prepare his lunch instead of my wife.

Take a look at the photo. They were all frozen foods except for the ready-made "tamago-yaki." Anyway, what I did were only buying them, unpacking them, microwaving or frying them, and packing them into his lunch box. But still on the Friday morning, I was very busy doing many stuffs alone— making the boxed lunch, helping my younger son to prepare for his elementary school, doing laundry, and cooking some part of Friday evening meal before I went to work! Usually, I share only part of these.

Whenever I'm in this kind of situation, I can't help being awed by single mothers and fathers in the world.

Posted at Sun Feb 17 07:54:02 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/66706661537193330561625966026940884478 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/66706661537193330561625966026940884478 Shiro Sun Feb 17 07:54:02 UTC 2013


Yesterday we arrived at our "ryokan"--Japanese style hotel--in Kusatsu Onsen (spa) to spend the three-day weekend.

This is one of our annual events in winter, which we've been having over ten years. This year, we welcomed our new members--the husband of my sister in law and their seven-month baby.

Usually today--on the second day--we go skiing in Kusatsu Ski Area, but we don't do it this year because one of my sons and my wife have to go back home today.

Instead we walked out around our ryokan in the morning. I'll get in hot spring a couple of times this afternoon.

Photo 1: "Yubatake"; "Yu-no-hana" fields
Photo 2: A view from "yubatake"
Photo 3: "Ashi-yu"; A spot where you can bathe yourself only by foot

Posted at Sun Feb 10 05:23:45 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/14087421913785541770766943547218856382 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/14087421913785541770766943547218856382 Shiro Sun Feb 10 05:23:45 UTC 2013


I ordered a caramel macchiato grande. It's 8:57 p.m. on Thursday, January 31st. I'm resting at the Starbucks of Kamisato service area on Kanetsu high way. I'm heading for Happoone Ski Area, where I'll stay for three nights and three days for skiing with two friends of mine.

Posted at Thu Jan 31 16:30:25 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/175441488778727651377368827676531615307 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/175441488778727651377368827676531615307 Shiro Thu Jan 31 16:30:25 UTC 2013


I got my ultimate mobile reading tool, an iPad mini, at last. I got it for Christmas present for myself!

Because it's small(134.7mm x 200mm x 7.2mm) and light(308g), I can easily bring it with me. It's equipped with not only an English-English dictionary but also an English-Japanese dictionary (see photo 1). Yet, now on amazon.co.jp, kindle books in Japanese are available. With Kindle for iPad, we can use a built-in Japanese-Japanese dictionary (see photo 2).

I read about 350,000 words in 2011, which is 6,667 words a week. In 2012, it was increased to 12,669 words per week and I read 660,000 words in total that year. My target this year is 32,142 words a week (see photo 3).


Posted at Sat Jan 26 13:43:40 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/134190091307250363453529471530167428683 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/134190091307250363453529471530167428683 Shiro Sat Jan 26 13:43:40 UTC 2013

My parents live in a farm-area of a country side and they have their home shrine like the one shown in Fig. 1a); Having a home shrine is common among houses in a county side in Japan. Such a home shrine has a talisman or a few talismans in it as shown in Fig. 1b). Usually, they change the talisman around the new year day and they dedicate the old one to nearby shrine.

During this new year break, I had been visiting my parents with my family. One evening, my father said to me that he needed a ride to "Ichino-miya"—the most important provincial shrine-- to offer their old talismans. The next morning, however, when I saw a thick package covered by newspaper—he said that old talismans were in it, I was surprised and asked him how many they were. He replied that there should have been over 100 talismans! I didn't show any further interest, we just went to the "Ichino-miya" together and dedicated those talismans.

One day after I came back to my house from my parents' house, however, I was thinking of the event further. Usually, a talisman is dedicated every year for the new one. But my parents—their ancestors as well—had got only new talismans without returning the old ones for many years. Actually over hundred talisman meant that the oldest one was 100 years old or maybe older. I then remembered that my grandfather had told me that the house had been over 170 years old about 20 years before. I really regretted our dedicating; I should have checked the face of over-100-year-old talisman at least!


Posted at Sat Jan 19 11:43:37 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/157098973125367437930071959075100550731 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/157098973125367437930071959075100550731 Shiro Sat Jan 19 11:43:37 UTC 2013


In Japan, many family do the year-end house cleaning--very major cleaning once a year. Some family change "shoji"-paper of "shoji" (paper screen) then. However, my family—rational people who can skip unnecessary cleaning, aka lazy people—have not changed "shoji"-paper of our Japanese-style room for years. Because they became dirty finally and less-light-transmittable, our Japanese-style room was a kind of dark even during daytime. At last, we changed the papers at the end of last year.

See the photo 1. It shows how to change paper of a shoji.
Fig. 1a) Spray water on paper of a shoji.
Fig. 1b) Wait about five minutes so that starch of the shoji is dissolved. Now you can "peel" paper of shoji easily.
Fig. 1c) Tape a new sheet of paper to the shoji-frame.
Fig. 1d) Put starch on the frame of shoji.
Fig. 1e)Place the paper on the shoji. Be careful not to make wrinkles.
Fig. 1f)When the paper gets dry, cut the redundant part of the paper.

See photo 2. It's the renewed shoji.


Posted at Fri Jan 11 13:58:57 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/14543675344436161550192210346522812207 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/14543675344436161550192210346522812207 Shiro Fri Jan 11 13:58:57 UTC 2013


Look at photo 1. It's my watch, see the lower part, which shows it's 19 °C here.

I acquired my apartment and moved into at the end of 1997. It's been 15 years since then. Some parts were aged deteriorated, especially some electric appliances and facilities related faucets were broken recently. The hot-water boiler and circulating system were among them. Floor paneling heating and air-heating except for my sons' room were all using the circulating system.

Now we're living in a cold house: what we have is an electric heater that is the only tool to warm up our living room (photo 2). It's a Hitachi and 1250W heater. Although it's very cold in the morning today, it has been gradually heated up, and finally it's 19 °C here now.

Just before the end of the year, on December 28th, we'll get a new hot-water boiler and circulating system. The good news is that we'll get warm and comfortable life again, but the bad news is that it costs several hundred thousand yen.


Posted at Mon Dec 24 11:23:41 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/126069945266352424084802546966995289401 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/126069945266352424084802546966995289401 Shiro Mon Dec 24 11:23:41 UTC 2012

"Look, dad. I made this!" My son holds out his wish list for Santa Claus (photo 1). I'm surprised by the list, which is a pretty comprehensive and calculated one for a 2nd grader. All the ten items are packs of trading cards "Yu-gi-oh," which he's totally into these days. When I look at the right hand side, there are a red feather of Red Feather campaign and several "Yu-gi-oh" cards attached. "They are my present for Santa Claus. I'm wondering if he likes them," my son says perkily.

"Dad, do you know that he's a Japanese?" In surprise, I ask him why he thinks so. He proudly continues, "well, last year he left his message for me, which was written in Japanese! And there must be many Santa Clauses, otherwise, all children can't get presents in one night!"

He seems growing up day by day. It'll be soon for him to find that his Santa Claus is his grandfather.


Posted at Sat Dec 15 07:11:53 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/239050138965100317579123762424919861678 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/239050138965100317579123762424919861678 Shiro Sat Dec 15 07:11:53 UTC 2012
I'm heading for Narita Airport by express train. Outside, the wind is pretty cold today. I look at the view from the warm train window. The field is in the orange evening dusk and the sky is the icy blue of the wintry sky, from which I feel the approaching end of year 2012.

I'll take an evening flight and will arrive in Taiwan at about 10p.m. It'll be my last visit to Taiwan this year.

Posted at Sun Dec 09 08:48:11 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/55531672125147099491215786661827815854 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/55531672125147099491215786661827815854 Shiro Sun Dec 09 08:48:11 UTC 2012 In "The Gift of Magi" by O. Henri, Jim and Della were a husband and a wife, who were young and poor. In fact, their apartment cost $8 per week but the husband earned only $20 per week. One day before Christmas Day, Jim thought that he wanted to buy Della a present. Although he didn't have money in the morning, he gave a present to Della in the evening. She opened the present box and found a set of combs that she had worshiped for a long time in a Broadway window. But she eventually knew that he had sold his precious gold watch--that had been inherited from his father and his grandfather—to get the combs! She hugged him, kissed him, and in this kind of situation, if she had been Japanese, she may as well have said: "Baka-ne" to him, but in a soft voice with tears.

"Baka-ne" means literally that "you are a fool." But in the above case, the phrase can mean her feeling that he shouldn't have done that and it was too much for her, her great appreciation for him, and her deep love to him.

Several days ago, I read an entry of a Lang-8'er, Vermilion-san's*. Although it was a humorous and nice story itself, comments and discussions between John Boy and Pinoko given to the entry were quite interesting.

We often think that we can learn all meanings of a word in a dictionary. But some words or phrases, in real life, like "old fart" can't be learned in a dictionary easily. When I'm thinking in Japanese, it's just a common sense or I just feel it. But in English, I realized it for the first time.

* http://lang-8.com/125710/journals/1796640/I%2527m-an-Old-Fart%2521



Posted at Sat Dec 01 08:58:43 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1804666 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1804666 Shiro Sat Dec 01 08:58:43 UTC 2012



I was in a gate of Frankfurt Airport and waiting for the connecting flight to Munich with my co-workers, when I heard my boss speaking to me. He said, "Will you check at the counter if our gate has been changed?" Promptly, I looked around, found a nearby electronic time table, and checked it. But I couldn't find any sign of our gate change. I told him so. He replied, however, "Would you go ask for the latest information at the counter? I feel that our gate has been changed. " So I went to the counter reluctantly and asked if our gate had been changed. The personnel of Lufthansa replied politely that there was no gate change. I told it to my boss but he still insisted, "No, it shouldn't be so. Now I'll check it for myself."

He walked to the counter and asked to the man just, "What is real gate?"

The airline man felt his strained atmosphere, understood what he meant, and started making a call immediately. After a minute, he answered to my boss, "Sir, your gate has been changed and your new gate is..."

This happened over 10 years ago, but I still remember it vividly.

He always used simple and easy words but right ones for the occasion and easily got to the point. In my opinion, I'd dare to say that my English was probably more fluent than his. In terms of communication skills, however, his English was full of spirit and much more convincing than mine.

Photos 1 and 2: Frankfurt Airport
Photo 3: Frankfurt Airport Tunnel


Posted at Sat Nov 24 07:22:01 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1793447 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1793447 Shiro Sat Nov 24 07:22:01 UTC 2012



Last Friday was a beautiful day in Tokyo area. The sky was clear and very blue without any clouds. I took a day off and was heading for Yanaka*1) by train. When I got off a JR train at Nishinippori station, I started a walk in a little chilly and crisp air of autumn, referencing a guidebook titled "Tokyo Adventures" by Tae Moriyama *2).

Yanaka is a town of undulating hills and valleys near Nippori, and a thriving temple town due to a historical reason. The guidebook reads that many temples—today about 70—were relocated after the Great Fire of 1657, and they survived the Battle of Ueno (1868), the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923), and the air-raids of WW II. And Yanaka is one of the best places in Tokyo to see rows of old wooden houses and old temples, offering glimpses of how the city used to look in the early days.

I walked the streets and alleys around the Yanaka plateau for two hours, visiting old temples, traditional-looking shops, and wooden houses. I enjoyed a quiet and relaxing holiday in Yanaka—"another world" where modern lives and old remains coexist in harmony.

Photo 1: Yanaka's Great Buddha in Tenno-ji founded in 1274
Photo 2: Gamo-ke, or Gamo residence, is a carefully restored house, which is an example of "dashigeta-zukuri" architecture that was built in around the 40th year of the Meiji era (1906). Compare it with a typical modern Japanese house on the left.
Photo 3: Senbei Shop "Kikumi Senbei": Senbei is a rice cracker. Kitami Senbei was established in 1875.

*1) Yanaka, Taito-ku, Tokyo:
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Yanaka,+Taito,+Tokyo,+Japan&hl=en&sll=35.726291,139.767165&sspn=0.008144,0.012177&oq=yanaka&hnear=Yanaka,+Taito,+Tokyo,+Japan&t=m&z=15

*2) http://www.amazon.co.jp/Tokyo-Adventures-Glimpses-City-Bygone/dp/4079758421/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Comment after Post (entire route this time):
https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?saddr=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BDNishinippori-eki&daddr=%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E8%8D%92%E5%B7%9D%E5%8C%BA%E8%A5%BF%E6%97%A5%E6%9A%AE%E9%87%8C%EF%BC%93%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%94+%E8%AB%8F%E6%96%B9%E7%A5%9E%E7%A4%BE+to:%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E5%8F%B0%E6%9D%B1%E5%8C%BA%E8%B0%B7%E4%B8%AD%EF%BC%97%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%94%E2%88%92%EF%BC%98+%E5%A4%A9%E7%8E%8B%E5%AF%BA+to:%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E5%8F%B0%E6%9D%B1%E5%8C%BA%E8%B0%B7%E4%B8%AD%EF%BC%97%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%91%EF%BC%97+%E8%B0%B7%E4%B8%AD%E5%AD%A6%E6%A0%A1+to:%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E6%96%87%E4%BA%AC%E5%8C%BA%E5%8D%83%E9%A7%84%E6%9C%A8%EF%BC%93%E4%B8%81%E7%9B%AE%EF%BC%93%EF%BC%97+%E8%8F%8A%E8%A6%8B%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%E3%81%B9%E3%81%84%E7%B7%8F%E6%9C%AC%E5%BA%97+to:%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E9%83%BD%E5%8D%83%E9%A7%84%E6%9C%A8%E9%A7%85&hl=ja&ie=UTF8&sll=35.724627,139.764148&sspn=0.002036,0.003026&geocode=Fac6IQIdA6xUCClz3K2g0I0YYDF0rdwR460Gow%3BFbM1IQIdH61UCCF6qg91YsHuvCkPwQ7G0I0YYDF6qg91YsHuvA%3BFQUlIQId5L1UCCFGo8CAumeDJynx8fSQ1I0YYDFGo8CAumeDJw%3BFWIgIQIddLNUCCmDMPOR1I0YYDHPR2enNDOAFg%3BFeAdIQId_aBUCCEV9EwkZfrZgikzUaNC0o0YYDEV9EwkZfrZgg%3BFe0gIQIdK55UCCnTNvAP0o0YYDG9AZ_VJriryg&oq=%E5%8D%83%E9%A7%84%E6%9C%A8&brcurrent=3,0x60188dd126681ed5:0x54c3b27c817833b1,0&dirflg=w&mra=ls&t=m&z=16

Posted at Sun Nov 18 07:28:27 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1785550 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1785550 Shiro Sun Nov 18 07:28:27 UTC 2012 I was relaxing and enjoying a calm and silent night alone, sitting cross-legged on the roof of my rent-a-car. Above my head, high up in the starry sky, the moon was nearly full. I was watching the moon over Miller—an American beer--and a frankfurter that I bought at a supermarket called "Smith" near Flagstaff during daytime.

At the night in August of 1992, I was in a glade of Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, U.S.A. It was my first day in Grand Canyon. Sometime before evening of the day, I stopped by Grand Canyon Visitor Center* to ask if there was still an available camping site. A young woman—pretty and quick--at the center replied to me like, "sorry, but there are no vacancy because it's the high season in the year." I totally lost myself and couldn't response immediately, then she helped me, saying, "ah, although there are no vacancy in the Grand Canyon National Park, if you go along street 'what-I-don't-remember-exactly,' you'll hit upon a National Forest. You can camp there."

After I thanked her, I went there as advised. The glade was edged by not very tall trees, which were mostly 30 to 50 feet high. The grand was red and dry, hard, and covered by weeds. I parked my rent-a-car there and started my feast at dusk.

Although 20 years has passed since then, I still remember the glade impressively.

Note * https://maps.google.co.jp/maps?q=Grand+Canyon+Visitor+Center,+South+Entrance+Road,+Grand+Canyon+Village,+AZ,+United+States&hl=ja&ie=UTF8&ll=35.964669,-112.769165&spn=4.156511,5.707397&sll=34.216345,-115.070801&sspn=16.953142,24.389648&oq=grand+canyon+&brcurrent=3,0x0:0x0,1&hnear=Grand+Canyon+Visitor+Center,+S+Entrance+Rd,+Grand+Canyon+Village,+Coconino,+Arizona+86023+%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AB%E5%90%88%E8%A1%86%E5%9B%BD&t=m&z=8


Posted at Fri Nov 09 14:43:07 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1772109 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1772109 Shiro Fri Nov 09 14:43:07 UTC 2012


I don't remember exactly but I visited Taiwan around 1994 for the first time. Since then, I have come to Taiwan probably over 50 times! Unfortunately, I visited and stayed only business related areas: my customers' companies, hotels, and restaurants!

For the first time, however, I'm spending a weekend in Taiwan and have time for pleasure. Today, I went to Taipei with my coworkers, which was my first visit to Taipei.

Tomorrow morning, I'll move to another hotel and have to start preparation for the meetings with my customers. I'm thinking of what I should do tonight!

Photos 1 and 2: Walking along a street near Taipei 101, Taiwan
Photo 3: Taipei 101


Posted at Sat Nov 03 08:51:59 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1761679 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1761679 Shiro Sat Nov 03 08:51:59 UTC 2012


One day, a long time ago, I was talking about random stuff with my German customer. I touched upon my blunder that had happened one evening when I was a new employee.

During the evening, I attended a welcome office party and had a pleasant chats with many colleagues. I had a lot of drinks without really noticing it over the conversations and delicious dishes. When the party was over, I found myself drunk pretty heavily. I could get on a train at my station, Kawaski, as usual and got a seat fortunately, and unfortunately fell asleep without knowing it. When I woke up and found that my train was stopping at a station, I felt that I had been sleeping for quite a long time and ran out of the train immediately. I was in Hiratsuka station that was 35km from my original destination, Yokohama station: I should have got off 40 minutes before! Hiratsuka and Yokohama belong to different cities and there are another few cities in between (see photo 1).

When I told this story to the German—who worked at a company in Munich and lived around Rosenheim—if I remember correctly, he said, "well, I also slept on a train once, and when I woke up, I was in Salzburg!" I wasn't sure if the story was true or just a joke, but Salzburg is in a DIFFERENT COUNTRY, Austria!

Now I checked the Google map and found that it would take about one hour by train from Munich to Rosenheim, and another hour from Rosenheim to Salzburg. Maybe it was a true story, it could happen, I think. I have a friend who made a round-trip between Kawasaki station—an end of JR Nambu line—and Tachikawa station—the other end while he was so exhausted with his work and was asleep on the train. The round trip would take two hours.

Photo 1: Japan: JR (Japan Railway) Tokaido line (the part between Yokohama and Hiratsuka is highlighted.)
Photo 2: Border between Germany and Austria: Railway between Munich and Salzburg


Posted at Sun Oct 28 07:01:06 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1751690 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1751690 Shiro Sun Oct 28 07:01:06 UTC 2012


An entry by my Lang-8 friend reminded me of a story my old friend told me long time ago ( http://lang-8.com/80820/journals/1735411/That%2527s-OK%252C-If-You-Have-Sense%2521 ).

The "incident" happened when he was a high school student. One night, he was enjoying a pornographic magazine in "futons"—Japanese style bedding (see photo 1)—in his room. He borrowed it from his friend that day, which was very provocative to a high school boy. When he finished it, he put it beneath his futons so that his family didn't find it if they happened to enter his room.

Next morning he woke up and found that it was a very clear and sunny day. He went to school as usual.

When he came back home and entered his room, he stood rooted at his door; to his surprise, his futons were neatly folded and piled at the center of his room and what he saw on the top of folded futons was the pornographic magazine!

We, Japanese, often dry futons outside when it's sunny (see photos 2 and 3). He guessed that his mother dried his futons that day. To his family, a bad thing was that he was embarrassed a lot. But good thing was that his mother and possibly his father, too, knew that their son grew up as a healthy young man.


Posted at Sat Oct 20 08:03:44 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1738116 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1738116 Shiro Sat Oct 20 08:03:44 UTC 2012



Do you have your favorite colors?

I like lemon yellow , and its vicinity colors in a color wheel: light yellow-green and orange (photo 1). I like these colors just as colors.

But I have another favorite color, aquamarine, which is something else for me. The color gives me the images like transparent, calm, and largeness that encompasses everything; the images may be connected to the image of the sea. As a whole, the color evokes to me the images of intelligent, tolerant, benevolent, relaxing, consistent yet evolving, and strong-willed human.

Especially, the images are associated with a maternally-derived nature, and for a long time, I'd been thinking that it was the image of my dream woman. But recently, I realized that it was the ideal model of myself.


Posted at Sun Oct 07 07:39:59 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1715404 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1715404 Shiro Sun Oct 07 07:39:59 UTC 2012



I'm looking up at the air supply openings, yeah, that irritating opening, you know (photo 1). Every time the conditioned air is blown out of the opening, I have a runny nose... achoo! I'm visiting Taiwan for monthly meetings with my customers and I'm in my hotel right now.

I have several pollen and house dust allergies. In the case of "sugi" pollen allergy, which I suffer from in spring, I don't suffer from it luckily in Taiwan because "sugi" trees don't inhabit in Taiwan but only in Japan. In autumn, however, the situation seems different; I suffer from the ragweed allergy and my running nose never stop in Taiwan as well as in Japan!

I guess that the ragweed pollens or equivalents in Taiwan are released from that opening when the conditioned air is flowed out. Well, let me switch off the air conditioner although it's still hot here in Taiwan without it. See, now it's getting much better!

I take pills for the allergy, which work quite well for me. Unfortunately, however, they are almost running out now: I have only two with me, each of which lasts effectively for about 12 hours. Although I shouldn't have run out them until the allergy season is over, my doctor was off for some reason last Saturday when I visited her. So I have to survive anyhow without the pill today because I have only two-hour meeting with my nearby customer and it won't be so difficult without the pill during the short time . But I'll definitely have to use one tomorrow when I'll go to Tainan to visit my customer and then I'll travel and stay outside the hotel—being exposed to the pollens—for nearly 10 hours! And I'll use the last pill when I go back to Japan.

Photo 1: My Hotel Room
Photo 2: HSR(High Speed Railway) Hsinchu (新竹) Station: I'll take a Taiwan bullet train to go to Tainan.
Photo 3: A View from HSR Hsinchu Station's Platform


Posted at Sat Sep 29 06:48:09 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1701927 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1701927 Shiro Sat Sep 29 06:48:09 UTC 2012

The last Friday afternoon in August, I took a half-day off and went back home to pick up my younger son. We were to go watching a movie together to enjoy the last day of his summer vacation.

I unlocked and opened the entrance door of my apartment and called to my son, "I'm home!" but I got no expected response from him. He should have been home, yet I saw a pair of his shoes in the entrance. I felt strange and searched him all around the house but I couldn't find him.

"Where on earth has he gone?" I murmured to myself in my Japanese room when I heard a clicking sound of a door. In one motion, I turned to the sound and found the opened "fusuma" door of my Japanese room. His eyes, but with an ultraman's mask, edged around the "fusuma" door.

P.S. This story is fiction. Several decades ago, I learned the meaning of "edge" as a noun, but the other day I was reading a book and found the usage of "edge" as a verb for the first time in my life! It was a very pleasant surprise like I found a new attractive feature of my well-known friend.



Posted at Sat Sep 22 12:04:27 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1690400 http://lang-8.com/shiro/journals/1690400 Shiro Sat Sep 22 12:04:27 UTC 2012