a stranger's visit

Last night, my daughter found a bat in my house before going to bed. I captured it and released it out of my house.

I was sorry that I had not taken a movie of a bat circling in a room.

"Ikebana"

IMG_2665.JPG, originally uploaded by bikenglish.

A group of women at my work office have a self-learning class for "Ikebana"（生け花）, flower arrangement, every Thursday. It is a good way to enjoy every day life, I think.

I will continue to add photos of "Ikebana" to my "photostream".

"Shiroi-Kusuri"

Now, I can find songs named "Shiroi-Kusuri" in Youtube. A "Vocaloid" sings changed lyrics on a melody of "Aoi-usagi" that is Noriko Sakai's hit song. Of course, it tells her story about illegal drug.

I think this is the best one of several versions.

a scene in a train

I took this photo in a train this morning. If he sitted in the seat in right form, and right young man placed his bag on his knees, three person could sit in their seats.

"Nori-pi" beat out "politics"

Campaigning for Aug. 30 Lower House election officially started on Aug. 19. But, ordinary people (including me) are more interested in the "Nori-pi" issue than politics.

This is an ad of a Japanese popular weekly magazine named "Syuukan-Bunshun"（週刊文春） that I came across on Aug. 20. I thought that it is interesting that "Nori-pi" issues occupied more space than the prediction for seats of Lower House when I saw it. Japan is a very peaceful country, and I like this situation very much.

"Nori-pi" is a nickname of actress Noriko Sakai who was arrested on Aug.9 on suspicion of possessing illegal stimulants.

This time, I try to explain about "Manmosu-rari-pi" that you can find in upper-right place in this ad.

Noriko Sakai used to use her unique speaking style called "Nori-pi-go"（のりピー語） when she acted as a pop idol. In "Nori-pi-go", if you want to say that "I am very happy"（（わたしは）とてもうれしいです。）, it is translated into "(I am) Manmosu-ure-pi"（マンモスうれピー）.

Manmosu is "mammoth" that means "very". And "pi"（ピー） is placed for the last part of "ureshii"（うれしい）, "shii"（しい）.

"Rari" is a very slung word. We use this word to express a condition that people look very drunken because of some drug. It is used usually as a verb,"rari-ru"（ラリる）.

But, an adjective, "rari-sii" does not exist, so "Manmosu-rari-pi" is not right expression in "Nori-pi-go". But, the writer of a magazine used it as a kind of "word play".

P.S. I have another explanation about "Monmosu-rari-pi". An idol once called "Nori-pi" has become a suspect who is said to use illegal drug. So, now, "Nori-pi" become "Rari-pi".

a view from riding a bike

I have been considering a way to tell you about enjoyable riding on my home course. The answer, at this time is this movie.
Yesterday, I took this by operating a digital camera in my left hand while feeling a little bit risk. I will try this method for other good scenery.

"Seikatsu-syuukanbyou-yobou-kyoushitsu"

On July 31, I took part in a class named "Seikatsu-syuukanbyou-yobou-kyoushitsu"（生活習慣病予防教室）. It was held for employees that might suffer some kind of diseases like diabetes, high-blood pressure, brain strokes if they do not improve their activities in every day life. I am in good health and do not need to take part in it, but I did because of my interest.

The class was formed of four parts. The first and second programs were lectures by public health nurse（保健師） and dietitian（栄養士）. And third was a light exercise led by a sports trainer. In last program, we including the staffs ate "Heatlhy Bentou"（ヘルシー弁当）.

In Japan, the cost for health care has been increasing, so people between 40 to 74 ages should be tested in hospitals or other health care centers to prevent "Seikatsu-syuukan-byou". But, this program has just started, there are a lot of people who have not been tested.

"Onsen-ryokou"

Last Saturday and Sunday, I had a roadtrip with my family to an "onsen" in Kumamoto prefecture（熊本県）. The accommodation where we stayed locates in an area named "Ota-onsen"（小田温泉） near famous "Kurokawa-onsen"（黒川温泉）.

I took several photos in this trip. There are not interesting scenes in these photos, but you can see beautiful "green" in Japan in this season.

温泉旅行０９夏

Pelosi has already visited Hiroshima

In recent days, Recently, I often come across the query of whether Obama will visit Hiroshima find a question that the visit to Hiroshima by Obama will realize or not. This dispute can be seen in media in Japan many times after the President refereed in Plague about the responsibly of the USA that used the first atomic bomb.

By the way, I have learned that Nancy Pelosi has already visited Hiroshima last year when I read the article in Asahi several days ago. I had never known the fact by that time. As my excuse, most of people in Japan paid their attention to the sudden resignation of the former prime minister when Pelosi visited Hiroshima.

In this article, she said that "it was a very impressive tour. I would like to take my family members there next time." This visit is a private one, not an official? I am a little bit surprised at her this saying.

If she was really impressed with the exhibit at Hiroshima, she should say that "I strongly recommend the next president to visit Hiroshima."

Sotomayor

I have already learned about Sotomayor from a VOA's special English program. But, I could not understand the following sentence included in it completely. "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." It is not easy to understand this part because of "doubled negative expression", I think.

But, this time, I have found this article in Asahi newspaper and I confirmed that the meaning I got from it is correct. However, another question has left in my mind. Why did she use these expression? I think that she should say that "a person with a good experience would reach a good conclusion, regardless of his, or her race and sex".