Hydrangea あじさい

Many beautiful , pink, blue, white or violet hydrangeas あじさい (ajisai) blooms in Japan. It is typical flower of our rainy season.

1Q84

Rainy season (梅雨 tsuyu) begins in Japan. A lot of hydrangeas (紫陽花 ajisai) bloom around my home now.

This, 1Q84, is a title of a Japanese new novel by Haruki Murakami. Now it is best seller and one million copies has been sold about for two weeks in Japan.
Haruki Murakami is very famous and popular novelists and has a lot fans in my country and well-known to foreign people. We are proud of his talent. Kafka on the Shore 海辺のカフカ, Norwegian Wood ノルウェーの森 etc. You might see his translated books in bookstore.

He received Jerusalem Prize this February and he made a speech at awarding ceremony. I found his speech in English on web site.
http://www.47news.jp/47topics/e/93880.php

“Between a high, solid wall and an egg that breaks against it, I will always stand on the side of the egg.” 　

This is impressive phrase for me.

2010 World Cup

Japanese soccer team won Uzbekistan yesterday and qualified for 2010 World Cup.
It is good news for us.

Soccer becomes popular in Japan and soccer player is one of occupations that Japanese boys want to be. (I think baseball is No.1, sports.)
Japanese team was weak about 2 decades ago. Japanese league (J league) set up in 1993. A lot of famous foreign soccer players who retired from Brazil, England or German joined the teams in J League. Zico or Gary Lineker, Pierre Littbarski are some of them. First participation of our team is in 1998 France World Cup.
Next World Cup was held in Japan and Korea. We enthused about all of games.

Some pro Japanese soccer players play at Europe now. The skill of Japanese soccer players is certainly improved. A midfielder, Shunsuke Nakamura who is called "Fantasista" is the most famous in Japan.

I like to watch soccer games in TV. And World Cup is special like Olimpic Game. I look forward to watch good games of Japanese team in 2010.

初鰹 Hatsugatsuo

We say that it is good for health to eat foods in season. We call these foods in season "Shun" 旬 no tabemono (food). "Shun" is especially important for Japanese life and we use this word for each season.

Katsuo (Bonito) is "Shun no tabemono" now. We call it "Hatsugatsuo" 初鰹. We normally eat it as one kind of sashimi. We call it Katsuo no Tataki. Katsuo no Tataki is raw, however, only surface of a piece of Katsuo is grilled. The relish of Katsuo is grated garlic. I like sashimi and Hatsugatsuo is so delicious.

There is a famous Haiku of Katuo.

目に青葉　山ほととぎす　初鰹

(Meni aoba Yama hototogisu Hatsugatsuo)

It expresses early summer in Japan.
We can see a lot of green leaves (青葉) outside, Lesser Cuckoo (ほととぎす) chirps in mountains and Bonito is in season (初鰹）.

What is "Shun" of early summer in your countries ?

Smile

"Smile" is a title of TV drama series is on air now. It is a story to overcome difficulties by smile.

When I meet someone, at first I see the look of him or her. When he or she smiles to me and says hello, I feel so good and smile. Smile is very important to communicate.

I think smile is a good remedy for everyone to feel comfortable and be happy.

This is a theme song of the drama. It is new song of Ringo Shiina "椎名林檎" who is female Japanese singer. She is popular in Japan. I love this new song.

Ariamaru Tomi ”ありあまる富 ”　by Ringo Shiina

In Hospital

My acquaintance was operated on for cancer about one week ago. I went to the hospital to see him yesterday. He was fine. He said his nurses recommended him to walk next day of abdominal operation. I was surprised at this fact. Next day of the operation ? And he said he would leave the hospital this week.

I have thought a person who was operated should lead an inactive life for a few days. Medical technique or treatment is improving now. If you can find cancer earlier, you will recover from it by updated treatment.
Also I was surprise that the system in the hospital goes digital. He put the band on his arm with bar cord. It is probably for preventing medical mistakes. The patients name label at sickroom is digital.

I like to see documentaries for some excellent doctors. A Japanese doctor of brain surgery, Dr. Takanori Fukushima, is one of them. I have seen his documentary in TV several times. He is said he has god hands. He has performed many difficult operations and has cured a lot of patients. I admired his dexterous technique.

Being healthy is most important. My parents sometimes say that we can do everything if we are healthy. I want to live happily taking care of my body.

Golden Week and 五月晴れ Sunny Day In May

It is calm and sunny today. Today's weather in Tokyo is like early summer. Sky is blue and clear green leaves are very beautiful. We call good weather in May like today "五月晴れ" (Satsuki bare). Satsuki is name of May for the lunar calendar. May is a month before rainy season (梅雨). I think that May in Japan is most comfortable month.

Golden week, long holidays, begins in Japan. We were looking forward to this week. A lot of people go to a trip. Traffic jam in highways, people in international airports or stations are topics in golden week. Probably you might see some Japanese people in your country in this week. Although swine flu spreads in the world in these days, many people who put on medical mask leaved Japan.
Golden week is a special holiday for Japanese people.
　

Name of 12 months for the lunar calendar

January 睦月(Mutsuki) February 如月(Kisaragi) March 弥生 (Yayoi)
April 卯月(Uzuki) May 五月 or 皐月(Satsuki) June 水無月(Minazuki)
July 文月(Fumizuki) August 葉月(Hazuki) September 長月(Nagatuki)
October 神無月(Kaminazuki) November 霜月(Shimotuki)
December 師走(Shiwasu)

* We seldom use these names in daily life now.