My Hero.

Besides my husband,Hideki Matsui is my hero.

He is a retired professional baseball outfielder and designated hitter in Japan and United States.

He played first ten years in his career for the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants,then played next seven seasons for the New York Yankees.

Everyone respected his professional approach,his presence in the field or clubhouse.

He never made excuses, a former teammate Derek Jeter said.

With his great effort, he won the World Series MVP in 2009.

On Dec. 27 2012, he officially announced his retirement.

Now,he is invited as a temporally batting coach in Yomiuri Giants.

No no,that's not good. 

I hope he stays in NY and then Yankees hire him as a Yankees's coach someday.

I stopped being Yomiuri Giants fan when Matsui left Giants.

I swore my husband I would be a Giants fan again if Matsui would be a manager of Giants.

He said "why dont't you come back now?" As if "Don't be stubborn,you already be the fan of them."

English Exam.

I took English Exam today.

It's just a couple days,after I got sad result and I wasn't 100% ready for today's exam,to be honest.

But when the exam was over,I was filled with felicity.

What came up with my mind was "gratitude."

I want to thank for being entitled that I receive education.

 

I tried my best,as always. I never gave up until it's over. The essay was disaster though.

The History Exam.

I failed. Again.

I've got a result of the History Exam  which I had taken last month.

I got 56 points and passing score was 60...

Two more answers..

I knew it though. Right after the exam was over I didn't think I would make it this year,too because those problems were harder than I thought. But when I checked answers sheet,I realized I got many correct answers! Then I thought my challenge for history exam would finally over!!

I'm so depressed. I'm so frustrated and regret because I knew a couple problems could be correct if I mulled over.

It discourages me who will take the next exam (English Grade 1) in couple of days.

Hmm..this is funny.

There was already fact "failed." 

I just didn't know the result and I was so optimistic until I've got the result.

But immediately after I realized I failed,I became so depressed like no desire for studying English exam. I was too shocked,almost fainted,eventhough I didn't think I would make it first 30min after the exam.

There's something you better not to know? At least I didn't wanna know it today.

I should start over again. The annual event will be continued..

I'm very happy to study History though.

Almost Paradise.

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When You were in Nasu...

There are many place you should visit.

Here's one of them. Seiji Fujishiro museum.

Seiji Fujishiro is a 90-years-old respectable enthusiastic  shadowgraph artist. His desire toward his work seems insatiable.

His museum has opened last spring in this town which is his first permanent museum in Japan.

I finally could visited the museum.

As I saw many beautiful,colorful his art in a dim lightning hall way,I noticed I was so calm.

I still can't believe this famos artist had decided to open his museum in this town but I cherish this museum and visit again and again to orient myself.

something makes you happy in winter.

is Kotatsu.

In Japan,not many houses have central heating system.

I dreamed to live the house with central heating system but gave up,finally.Then decided to buy Kotatsu heating.

A Kotatsu is a low wooden table frame covered by futon or heavy blanket,upon which a table top sits.Underneath is a heat source?the electric heater attatched to the frame.)

A futon or heavy blanket is draped over the frame under the table top.

People sit in the floor or cushion called "zabuton" with their legs under the table with the futon over the lower body.

In summer,the futon may be removed and Kotatsu can be used as a regular table.

During cold winter,family members gather around this table to enjoy dinner,watching TV,play games,having conversation,any way spending time together while keeping warm their bottom half under the table.

There's high table type of Kotatsu but I prefer low type because lower is better to keep warm air.

Coming of Age Day.

Coming of Age Day is a Japanese holiday to celebrate those who have reached the age of majority(20 years old.)

The holiday eas first established in 1948,to be held every year on January 15th. In 2000,as a result of Happy Monday System,Coming of Age Day was changed to the second Monday in January.

Many women celebrate this day by wearing long sleeved kimono.

Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Kouhaku(red and white) Uta Gassen literally means "Red and White song battle" is an annual music show on New Year's Eve broadcast on TV and radio. The show ends shortly before midnight.So we celebrate New Year right after this program.

The program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing team of red and white.

The red team is composed of female artists,white team is male artists.

At the end of the show,the audience and a panel of judges vote to select the winning team. This year,white(male artists) team won.

As a year end party,we held red-white song party by ourselve.It was second annual event.

It is not a Halloween costume party nor Karaoke party. We practiced secretly,bought favorite costume from amazon and hide it place family never find.

Then we just sing,sing,and sing. Laugh,laugh,and laugh.

Hatsumode.

"Hatsumode" is The first Shinto shrine visit of the New Year.

Some people visit Buddhist temple instead.

People pray for a long life and happiness for the year.

Since I worked on New Years day,I visited my favorite shrine "Futaara-san Jinnya" yesterday.

After praying,people buy "omamori"(good-luck charms of amulets.) They wear this charm all the time with them. 

The old "omamori" are returned to the shrine then they can be burned.

I bought this one. I put it in my purse so it always with me to bring me happiness this year.

On His Long Vacation.

It's so-called "fat bike" because its tires look fat. It looks heavy but it is very light to ride. The owner of this bike let my husband  ride it.

He visited us with this bike from Fukuoka pref.(southern Japan.) The distance is about 1000km! He is acrossing Japan.

He said he has purpose to visit here in Nasu. He chose bike instead of using any convenient public transpotation because he doesn't like to use electrocity!

When we open the cafe about 4 years ago,we hoped to have someone to take a break on their journey.

Finally,we have him.

Swiss Roll.

The Swiss Roll is on the menu.

I make different type of roll everyday.

These are post-it I put on the black bord as a Today's Roll.

On New Year's Eve,I counted those post-it. There were 157sheets. It means I made 157 type of swiss roll last year.

I took out all sheets. Then start to put new sheets one by one.

 

smile.

Everybody Loves Ekiden.

There are some popular new year's events in Japan. Many people back to their hometown to cereblate New Year with parents,and relatives. They favor to watch the sports event like this;Hakone Ekiden.(relay marathon by university students)

Hakone Ekiden is held on January 2nd and 3rd between Tokyo and Hakone(famos sightseeing place) 

This two-day race from Tokyo to Hakone and back is separated into give sections on each day.The distance is about 100km each day.

Each runner runs one section,alternates with the next runner at a station.Each team has ten runners and runs with team's sash which is handed over to the next runner.

If runner cannot get to a station within twenty monuts agter the top runner reached it,the next runner not allow to wait runnner to reach and have to start with substitute sash.

A Happy New Year!

A Happy New Year.

We have snow this morning.

The cafe is open.

We Love Yu.

His name is Yu Darvish from Japan.
Now,he is a pitcher for Texas Rangers.

He was a No.1 star player in Japan. Many people said he was going to play in MLB soon even while he was in junior high.

But he had denied those rumors and kept saying that he would quit playing baseball if he had to play in the USA because he loved Japan.

Few years later,he changed his mind. The situation around him was changed,I mean.
Since he was too good player,no player could win against Darvish. One of the player said to him "Let me win." He knew it was joke but he became sad. And got bored about those circumstances.

He feels like challenging.
And we have to let him go even we are sad.

I'm still not sure that's right choice to play in the U.S. because we see him struggling which we never seen.

Well,I hope he is right.

Our Imperial Family.

Ladies and Gentleman,they are our Emperor and Empress.
Isn't this just lovely?
The Emperor married Empress Michiko in 1959. She was the first commoner to marry into the Imperial family.
The Emperor and Empress have made and effort to bring the Imperial Family closer to Japanese people. After the Great Earthquake and Tunami disaster,they visited several prefectures which is very rare but Japanese people felt they were closer.

The Emperor is 79 years old this year.
He has underwent successful heart bypass surgery lately. I've heard that he had taken the surgery earlier than he planned first because he wanted to attend the ceremony of memorial event of the Tohoku Great Earthquake.

We noticed Michiko Empress was in Kimono that day. She usually put the dress on. According to the paper,she wore kimono because she prepared for the emergency in case the Emperor fell down. She said Japanese sandals are better than in high heels.

A Girl's Festival.

It's March 3rd,a Girl's festival in Japan.

Dolls dressed in beautiful kimono and representing the Emperor ,Empress,and their court are displayed to cerebrate the growth of the family's girls and express their hopes that girls will be beautiful and graceful as the doll.

I had displayed those dolls when I was very young but stopped doing this when I was high teen like as other family did. And I have no idea where those doll are now.

So I visited next door (antique shop) to take some pictures.

By the way,our next door is a treasure house. I'll report of them someday.