"Tobata-gion-oo-yamagasa"

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Last week end, "Tobata-gion-oo-yamagasa"（戸畑祇園大山笠） was held in Tobata ward, city of Kitakyushu. I was invited to my former boss's home party to watch this event from his room in a high apartment. This party was held last year in the same way.

But, when several "chochin-yamagasa"（提灯山笠） had been built up and the most exciting time in this event had just started, the heavy rain came. All candle lights in "chochin" went out, we could not watch the great scene because of bad weather.

"Hanabi"=fireworks

On July 17, I worked as an extra staff for "Kuki-no-umi-hanabi-no-saiten"（くきのうみ花火の祭典）. I could watch the fireworks at very near point.

In this season, fireworks festivals are held in several places in Japan.

Issey Miyake

Issey Miyake is a well-known, Japanese designer. Recently, he has posted an article about his tragic experience on the atomic bomb explosion and has called for Obama's visiting in Hiroshima.

Recent news says that president Obama is seeking to create peaceful world without nuclear weapons. If he want to progress this difficult problem, America cannot help avoiding to face the fact, I think. It means that America is an only country that used atomic bombs as weapon and Japan is an only country where many people were killed by the first atomic bomb.

Visiting to Hiroshima by American president might have happen in near future.

"Ton-soku"

IMG_2402.JPG, originally uploaded by bikenglish.

Yesterday, I ate "ton-soku"（豚足） baked by charcoal fire at our family BBQ. "Ton" means pig, and "soku" means foot, so it is a foot of a pig.

like wearing gloves

IMG_2349.JPG, originally uploaded by bikenglish.

When I went last fishing, I wore covers on both arms to avoid sunburn. But I had no protection on my hands. So, my hands have looked like wearing gloves.

fishing

On July 9, I went fishing with two my friends. A friend has shared a small fishing boat with his friends. This time, he used this boat for our fishing.

The weather was cloudy, and wave and wind were a little bit strong. After about one hour from our start, we moved to the safer place because of strong wind and wave. At this point, I did not think that we could get any fishes.

But, "our fishing" just started about one hour later. Finally, we got more than 90 "Aji"（鯵） were about 20-cm-sized .

Return to the land, after come back to home, I processed several of them to eat as "sashimi"（刺身）(row fish) and "shio-yaki"(塩焼き)(baked fish) . And I gave the rest to my parents and my former boss. The day's dinner was very good because of our good results.

”teigaku-Gyuufu-kin”

IMG_2329.JPG, originally uploaded by bikenglish.

People in Japan often use a little bit changed name from the original name to attract other's attention. It is a kind of "word play"（言葉遊び）.

Last Sunday, I found this small sign in MacDonald's shop. This is a name of a meal coupon that is worth of ２0,000yen (but you can buy it in only 12,000yen.)

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications （総務省）has translated "Teigaku Kyufu-kin"（定額給付金） into "Supplementary Income Payments". It says that their objectives are to support the livelihoods of residents in Japan in order to alleviate peoples’ concerns during this recession and to contribute in stimulating local economies by issuing to residents throughout Japan.

In this case, a Kanji character "給(kyuu)" is replaced with another character "牛(gyuu)". "給"means "payment",　and "牛"means "cattle". MacDonald has several goods made from beef, so the stuff has used "牛" in this word.

apology

Several days ago, I found an article that Japanese ambassador to USA apologized on May thirtieth in person to the 73 surviving POWs of the Bataan Death March during the WWⅡ. But, a question remained in my mind after I read it. "Why do only Japan have to apologize to the victims during that war?". It doesn't mean to deny the importance of apology to the POWs.

Now, I have studied "what had happened in the 1930-1945 " from reading books that deal with them. On my now thought, if Japan have to apologize to the victims of all cruel incidents that Japan did during that war, the USA should apologize to a lot of civilians who were killed by two atomic bombs and many firebombs. Now, we have to examine all historical things that led to the WWⅡon a neutral position to create the peaceful world without threat of nuclear weapons, really I think.

By the way, the American ambassador to Japan has not been decided yet. I wonder what makes decision delayed. The Asahi newspaper said that John V. Roos is a possible candidate to that job. It said that the Obama administration nominated him because of his financial support to Obama's presidential campaign. He is a well-known lawyer, but does not have good knowledge about Japan, it said. Probably, he cannot speak Japanese.

At first, I had been disappointed that a person that do not have good experience on Japan can become an ambassador to Japan. But, later I understood this situation. It means that USA do not consider this position is very important because there are not any outstanding conflicts between two countries. It seems that USA does not think that Japan is a tough negotiator to it. I would like to hear a new American ambassador to Japan apologize in Japanese to the victims of atomic bombs in the future.