Kyu Furukawa Garden

 

There are several famous gardens existing in the city of Tokyo. They do not look like the middle of the metropolitan Tokyo when you enter. You may feel as if you experience a time slip.

 

  "Kyu Furukawa Graden" is so unique that the place consists of  a British Garden and a Japanese Garden in one area. A giant family concern or zaibatsu called Furukawa used to own this place.

 After the WWII, GHQ dissolved zaibatsu and the ownership of this garden moved to the government. Tokyo lend the garden to show to the public.

It's worth visting to "Kyu Furukawa Garden" near JR Komagome Station in Tokyo.

Ozenuma (Oze Tarn)

This photo captured one of the most beautiful site in Japan called Ozenuma. The place is located in the Oze National Park and legally entitled to protect its nature and wetland with the Ramsar Convention.

Gentiana triflora var. japonica

Ozenuma is located 1665m high from sea level so that only alpine plants exist. If you are a careful traveler from a city, you are amazed and smoothed by rare plants beside wooden roads. The nature is precious enough to protect.

 I am one who grew up in Tokyo and love countrysides and the nature. A place like Oze eases my feelings and energize my soul! Why don't you find places you are able to be proud of in your province or country!

Japanese Second Division Football Game

 

I went to watch a Japanese Second Division's football game on Sunday. The Spa Kusatsu(16th in the season) played against Mito Holｌyhock(15th) in the home stadium in Gunma Prefecture. 3356 people gathered from Gunma and Ibaragi Prefecture.

Result: The Spa Kusatsu(Purple&Yellow Uniforms) 0-0 Mito Hollyhock(White Uniforms)

Although two Mito Hollyhock's players went away from the field due to Red Cards, The Spa could not find a way to score. The result disappointed Supporters who screamed for The Spa Kusatsu. I found the team struggled with strategic problems.

That was a very local football game that almost all people may not pay attention to. However, this level of a match is very important for the Japanese national football team to grow stronger. The more people get involved to a football, the stronger the national team can be.

Green Soy Beans

Green Soy Bean is one of the most famous traditional food in Japan. People usually eat them while drinking beer. They are immature soy beans. The harvest time is set before soy beans turn brown.

Before you boil green soy beans, you mix them with salts. Then, you put them into boiled water and leave them for about 4 to 6 minutes. After you put them into sieve, you sprinkle salts over!

You push a peel to squeeze green soy beans out. Don't eat peels! Green soy beans taste somewhat sweet with salts. They are so nutritious to contain the nutrition of vegetables and beans. If you have a chance to eat them, why don't you try it!

I sometimes enjoy the old style of Japan

Although I grew up one of the biggest metropolitan in the world called Tokyo, I sometimes visit at a small village where my father grew up and my relatives live. When you go to the west from the center of Tokyo, you encounter a mountain region in Yamanashi prefecture.

I love to visit at the Japanese Shrine in the middle of mountains because the air and water are very clean and fresh so that I feel as if I was reborn. The Japanese Shintoism has many gods all over such as trees, rocks, rivers, and mountains. Everything around is a part of gods.

 If you get tired of daily matters and city life, I suggest you to go to such a place. We all are a part of the nature even though we are civilized to conquer the danger of the nature. We can never become stronger than the nature.

That is because we live within the nature.

I'm just writing something

In Tokyo, it's a cloudy day.

Setting up a new PC as I want is more troublesome than I thought. I bought a Windows7 PC to replace an old xp PC.  Where can I find that software? In these few days, I struggle to searching CDs all over my house.

Windows7 becomes 64bit so that some software can be installed and some not. It depends on whether software is compatible to 64 bit and simply structured as 32bit or not.

Even though it takes a lot of efforts to set up, my satisfaction skyrockets as I touch. It's  good to have something new that gives me much motivation!

Again

It's been a long time not to write. I started reading USA Today subscribed by Kindle 2 I bought several months ago. Expressions of English on news papers are much easier than magazines such as Time, Newsweek, and so on. The proper level of difficulty allows me to enjoy studying a foreign language.

No one should jump over several steps at once. It's better to go step by step in order to reach wherever you want to go. The most important thing is to continue to do something you want to achieve day by day.

Japanese need to change the sense of values

This morning, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama announced to step down suddenly. Four prime ministers resigned within one year in straight. No leader has existed in Japan. They were just windbreakers. The Upper House election is coming in July. The people of Japan recognize that the resignation was taken place in purpose for the preparation of the election.

Since the Japanese economy came to the peak in the early 90's, the sense of values changed dramatically. "Money" and "Power" is the most valuable thing in life. As the economy declines, good images including fake ones and looks comes to the top five of values.

What is there inside of them? There are more important thing such as practical abilities, common senses, sincerity, long-term visions, and so on. I feel that many people believe short-sighted values and profits in Japan now. The people need to change their way to find values again.

I want the people not to deceived by appearances or money in sight any more.

Kusatsu Hot Spring Photos

There are the pictures of Kusatsu Hot Spring.

This area is called "Yubatake" that means "hot spring farmland" in a direct transration.

Yubatake is the symbol of Kusatsu Hot Spring for tourists. And people enjoy themselves around the so-called hot spring farmland.

Kusatsu Hot Spring

I yesterday went to one of the most famous hot spiring in Japan. Kusatsu is located in the north-west of Guman Prefecture to which it takes about 4 hours to drive from Tokyo. The characteristics of the hot spring is a acid hot water measured ph2. The hot spring peels off bad substances on the surface of shins and revive skins themselves just by taking a bath. As you can imagine, I was refreshed and relaxed after all.

The fame or reputation of a place brings people to the area. Although it was not a vacation season, a lot of people were walking on streets in Kusatsu. Of course, Kusatsu has a long history in which a lot of famous novelists and politicians were attracted. However, people in Kusatsu, I assume, have not let success go to their heads. They must have made a great deal of efforts to make it more attractive to people as a tourist spot.

Far East

South Korea accuses North Korea of attacking vessel in official report.

Since I live in Japan, it is not a story far from my daily life. Nobody in Far East is happy about how North Korea behaves in recent years. In order to endure the political power of Kim Jong-il by himself, how many people need to suffer from real loss and fears even inside his country. There should be smarter solutions if he can sacrifice a little bit of his power or has mercy on his people.

Power struggles in Far East get more intense since 1953. Every country in this region claim to territorial water louder than ever. Japan is not exceptional and also has to hold more diplomatic dialogs and negotiations with South Korea and China before things get worse. I hope in the next decade that arms and forces become the way to solve any problems around the area.

I've been too lazy to write...

I've completely ignored to write since the beginning of this year. I didn't make a commitment to write everyday, but I was supposed to do once a while. The purpose of writing articles is to practice English. A long time ago, I went to the University in the United States and studied English Literature. I have not touched with that filed since then. It is almost like a artifact in my life. I now try to excavate forgotten field that was covered with layered soils. Anyway, I wrote something today. I made the first step move forward.

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year!

I haven't written it for a long time. My excuse is that I was too busy to do so. In fact, I was just lazy. Year 2010 has started with a good weather in Tokyo. I went to a shrine to pray for the new year next day.

I think that Year 2010 would be the year of wind-of-change in the world. I believe that we are moving toward somewhere we haven't walked in. I also believe to become the year of a break-through personally.

I wish you have a great year!