Her Challenge

Figure Skating for women in Vancouver Olympic game is No.1 topic now. The most popular skater in Japan, Mao Asada is an idol for us and almost Japanese people cheer her. Her performance was excellent yesterday. She jumped triple axel and it is first time at olympic. We could see her performance many times at news or TV program.

I saw her especial TV program last week. I was touched her interview. The music of free skating this year is "The Bell" by Rachmaninof and the tune is very heavy and solemn. Her performance or music has been always lovely and cute. Her character and impression are pure and cute, too.

Two musics were selected this time, "The Bell " and another classic. Another music matched her character. However, she decided "The Bell", heavy one. She said in her interview. If she would skate with another classic, her performance wouldn't change. It is useless for her to skate with similar tune. "The Bell" is her challenge.

Certainly I thought the music was mismatched when I heard first time. However, I admired her decision. I thought she was just an athlete. I hope she gets gold medal. But I'd like to see her challenge and best performance.

Almost Japanese people will cheer her tomorrow. "Mao chan Ganbare!!"

Taiyaki たいやき

There are a lot of Japanese cakes (wagashi 和菓子). Taiyaki たいやき is one of hot cakes and shape is a fish that is called Tai 鯛 (bream). The mold is made in the shape of fish. Taiyaki is sold at the special stand,"taiyaki-ya" 鯛焼き屋. It is one of food of cold season, however, we can eat all the year around. Bean paste is put in the body of taiyaki. Taste is simple but it is so delicious. Tai, bream is thought as a lucky fish in Japan. It is eaten as congratulatory food. Japanese "Medetai" めでたい means happy or auspicious. "Tai" of Medetai rhymes with "Tai" as fish.

There is a song of Taiyaki. The song is "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun" . It was a song in TV program for children in 1975. And it became big hit in the year.

I ate Taiyaki today. Taiyaki is well-known cake in Japan. I recommend you to eat it when you visit Japan.

Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun

Winter Olympic in Vancouver

I saw opening ceremony of Winter Olympic in Vancouver at TV yesterday. I have been to Vancouver twice. It has beautiful nature and is lovely city. Vancouver is one of my favorite city. I was looking forward to this Olympic. There is time lag between Japan and Canada. If we want to see at live at morning, we can see at midnight in Japan. We can't sleep well...

Every people cheer the athletes of own countries. We always hope Japanese athletes get medals. There is a idea of getting medal is important for almost Japanese people. On the other hand, there is another idea that it is enough to see good games as if they couldn't get medals. I think getting medals is better for the athletes. I want to see good performance for all of athletes.

Our hope, Aiko Uemura of mogul skier might get medal today. She is very popular in Japan.

I especially like figure skate. Nobunari Oda ,Daisuke Takahashi, Miki Ando and Mao Asada are expected to get medal in Japan.

We like a Japanese word of encouragement or cheering, "Ganbare !" がんばれ or "Ganbatte !" がんばって.This means "Cheer up" or "Good luck". We usually say it in daily life. And we sometimes use "Ganbare Nippon (Japan)" at Olympic games.

So I want to say, "がんばれ　日本"