"Ume ni Mejiro"

Today's morning, I found a "Mejiro"（めじろ） on a branch of "Ume"（梅） tree in my house's yard. "Mejiro" is one of wild birds that are seen in this season.

"Kome-ko"

Now, there are several attempts to increase the consumption of rice in Japan. "Kome-ko"（米粉） is among these efforts.

"Kome-ko" has not been spread among ordinary people because they have not had enough knowledge of how to cook using "Kome-ko" and to mill rice for "Kome-ko"needs a special skill that a few companies have.

Once, I have eaten a bread from "Kome-ko". It has a unique taste, in Japanese "もちもちしている","もちっとしている". If you have a chance, I recommend you to try it.

a new epuipment appears

This equipment appears at a JR station in my town. At this time, this has not yet started its operation. If it starts, people can enter into this JR station by touching its panel with "SUGOCA"

card issued by JR Kyushu without a ticket. "SUGOCA" card is a pre-paid card that has held some amount of money in its IC chip. "SUGOCA" comes from a local expression in Kyushu province. "すごか（←すごい！）" means "Great!". In other same expressions, there are some words like "よか（←よい）","楽しか（←楽しい）","きつか（←きつい）".

P.S. I might have made a mistake because I could not find the relationship between Sugoca's name and Kyshu word when I saw a brochure about Sugoca. But, people in Japan often use local expressions to name something used in only their area.

"Nyuuyoku-zai"

I could not find out what these items were when I saw them in a convenience store named Lawson. Several minutes ago, I understood that they were many kind of "Nyuuyoku-zai"（入浴剤）s.

Japanese people love to use a bath with "Nyuuyoku-zai".

"Senchu-hassaku"

Several days ago, I drunk a "sake" named "Senchu-hassaku"（船中八策）. It taseted very good.

A sake maker named "Tukasa-botan"（司牡丹） in Kouchi prefecture（高知県） names its production "Senchu-hassaku". It is the name of "Sakamo Ryouma"（坂本竜馬）'s proposal that urged "Edogawa" administration（江戸幕府） to give up its power at the end of "Edo" era（江戸時代）. It is formed of eight articles and some people say that "Ryouma" made it when he sailed, so its name is "Senchu-hassaku". "Ryouma" was born in "Tosa"（土佐）, now where is Kouch prefecture.

"Ryoma" is one of the most favorite hero among most Japanese all time. NHK's "Taiga-dorama"（大河ドラマ） in 2010 has been decided "Ryouma-den"（竜馬伝） that tells his history by staring "Fukuyama Masaharu"（福山雅治）.

Snow fall

Today, we have a lot of snow. So, I have deciced not to go outdoor.

大雪

In mountain area

Yesterday, I made a short trip to Kujyu（久住） area in Oita prefecture（大分県） with good friends. This area is famous for good mountain view in Kyushu.

Our purpose included visiting our elder friend's log cabin and enjoying light activity in mountain area. All members have worked for a local government and the elder friend works as a section chief. (but, he is not a boss of this member.)

His log cabin was bigger and more excellent than I expected. We could have good time for our lunch and short rest because of this good building.

After lunch, we climbed a mountain named "Ryousi-dake mountain". It took about 1hour and 45 minutes for us to climb up and down. It was not very hard, but we could enjoy light activity in winter season, we thought.

On our way to home, we used an "onsen" named "Uke-no-kuchi onsen"（筌の口温泉） and ate "Udon"（うどん） for our dinner.

Kujyu

my son's bike

Last Monday, I borrowed a bike from my son to go to my home course. His is a mountain-bike, so I enjoyed riding at that time because I could go to rough roads where I cannot go with my road bike.

His bike is a low-end model of a bike maker in Taiwan named Giant, but it has good quality, I think.

TOEIC and "Hatsu-yuki"

Yesterday, I took part in TOEIC that was held at a university campus in Yahata-higashi ward, city of Kitakyushu. Now I have regretted that I should study more hard for it because of my unsuccessful result. I will receive the score in thirty days.

Very cold days have continued. I found "Hatsu-yuki"（初雪）this morning in an area of my yard where I have planted radishes.

blue light has come!

Some days ago, I watched a television program that said some kind of blue lights have good effect to calm human's offensive feeling and to degrease some kind of crimes. But, I did not think that it came in my town. Yesterday, I found it in bicycle parking area in front of a station that I use every day.

If it is true that this light has a such effect, we should equip them in many conflict area around the world including Gaza, I think.