Child Abuse

The number of child abuse is increasing in Japan year by year.
According to the web article, the children who were born after unplanned pregnancies are prone to be involved in serious cases.
One of the reasons for child abuse comes from the shortage of consultants.
The mothers who caused incidents didn’t have relationships with others to converse their situation and they got frustrated by themselves.
In my opinion, we need to be more serious for making children.
It costs money, takes time, and is a hard work to raise children.
If we don’t have any room for money, time, and schedule, we should avoid thinking about making children.
It is important to the happiness of children not to increase the number of children.
I personally need to earn more money in less time to make a partner first and foremost.

https://japantoday.com/category/crime/japan-handled-record-130-000-child-abuse-cases-in-fy-2017

The Rest of Vacation

The summer vacation is almost over in Japan.
September 3rd is the beginning of the second term of our school.
The opening day would be different in each school.
I have four subsequent days off starting today, so yesterday was my last day on-duty for this vacation.
I am going to meet one of my seniors from the tennis team at my previous university this afternoon and eat lunch together.
My two-day trip will be this weekend.
Toyama Prefecture is the destination and my best friend who was also my teammate at the university lives there.
This is the best time to meet him and his family since last year.
I hope the weather will be fine because playing tennis is included in my itinerary.

Job Training

The students in our school are going to experience on-the-job trainings for two days in November.
There are several OJT options to attend such as libraries, a theme park, and restaurants.
Yesterday, I went to a nursery home which is included among the options and asked them to accept our students.
Although the nursery home and our school made an agreement to have the training via phone, it was nice to meet for the first time the staff in charge.
They were kind to welcome me and explained what will be the training for the students.
I hope the students can learn a lot from the experience.

New Job

My current job is on an annual contract basis and since it is ending this coming March, I am starting to look for a new one.
There is a vacancy in a private elementary school in Tokyo and I am planning to send my resume as soon as possible.
The job looks so tempting to me because I would be able to teach English and develop my own modules. 
Besides I won't be doing other tasks just like before.
Once my resume is accepted and reviewed I will go to Tokyo in the middle of September for an interview.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed but if not I have my other options. 
I have been looking for other job openings in other places.
Since I started job hunting I noticed that it is of utmost importance that you have to gather many bits of information about the jobs and companies you are interested in to make a good choice.

Nausicaä

I read a manga titled “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”, which has seven volumes.
Although it is just a manga, it took much time to read through.
The reason for this is that each sentence is lengthy compared to the standard manga.  
Some of the vocabularies were difficult to understand.
I was not able to understand all of them, but the main idea of the manga was retained in my mind after reading.
The message of the manga was that people who had to deal with miserable situations by themselves can still behave cheerfully and accordingly.
Nausicaä lost her siblings and started to observe her living environment.
As a result, she became a thoughtful person who cares about the lives of people and animals.
I want to be a warm-hearted person like her, who is equipped with different kinds of experiences and knowledge.

Concert

I went to see a concert performed by junior high school students.
It was held in Kochi Prefecture, which is about 100 km away from here.
More than 20 junior high schools, which won in each prefecture, joined this Shikoku Regional concert and the winners can proceed to the national competition.
I was overwhelmed by their performance because they played music splendidly.
The students looked different compared to when I usually see them at school.
The teachers who are in charge of the orchestra team will announce the results on Monday.
I found out that the students have hidden special skills that we don't notice when they are in the classroom.

Robots Teach English

AI robots will help elementary school students in Japan learn English starting next year.
The robots can check the pronunciation of the students equally without being swayed one’s intuition.
The education ministry will spend 250 million yen to deploy the robot instructors.
The deficit of the number of teachers who have sufficient knowledge about linguistics is a serious problem in Japan.
It is common that even English teachers cannot speak English fluently.
No students get interested in learning English if they need to attend classes of such teachers.
I am for using the latest technology at school in the aim of supporting the students’ learning.
However, English teachers need to improve their skills more to be a role model for students as an English speaker.

https://japantoday.com/category/tech/must-do-better-japan-eyes-ai-robots-in-class-to-boost-english

Typhoon

A powerful typhoon is approaching our area as of 9:30 p.m. on August 23rd.
It is getting windy and it started to rain.
We need to be alert at midnight.
Some events were canceled today to avoid any disasters or accidents that will be caused by the typhoon.
The orientation for our junior high school was suspended.
An evacuation alert is being issued in our area.
Public centers and schools are made available for evacuation of people whose houses or locations are in danger.
I hope no serious damage will be caused by the typhoon.

Les Miserables

I watched a movie Les Miserables on DVD last night.
My friend told me that she cried while watching it so her comment made me reach the movie.
The story was set in the period of French Revolution.
The young citizens in France fought for their freedom.
Besides the main stream of the story, the characters faced miserable sadness and sometimes came across happiness.
I cannot imagine that a lot of lives are lost for our freedom, but I learned that our ancestors created today’s peaceful society and we are blessed for their effort.
I will share my impressions about this movie with my friend at a later date.

Dinner

Last night, I took my new found female friend to a dinner.
It was our first time to hang out together.
I reserved a restaurant and bought a bouquet of flowers two days ago.
I was very nervous while waiting for her in front of the restaurant.
We met for the first time at a party which was held last week.
She is two years younger than I am.
We talked about our favorite books, musicians, and our jobs.
I cannot say that I was able to satisfy her with our conversation.
That is because I couldn’t say funny things that much.
I need to improve my conversation skills by absorbing more knowledge about several topics anything under the sun.
I hope I can meet her again at some restaurant.

New Term

The students in our school come to school today just to submit their homework although it is still in the middle of the summer vacation.
Therefore they can leave school soon in the morning.
The second term begins on September 3rd.
It has been almost one month since the summer vacation started.
I felt like this month seems very long because I had too much free time even during work.
I am looking forward to seeing how they look like after the long vacation.
Many students would seem to be reluctant for the beginning of the new term.
I will welcome them with warm greeting and smile.

Hometown

I went back to my hometown this weekend.

It has been three months since I went there last time.

I ate dinner cooked by my mother and played tennis with my previous tennis mates.

The landscape around our home has changed nothing, so I didn’t feel anything special.

I drove my car on the highway for both ways.

Utada Hikaru, who is a very famous Japanese singer, released a new album recently.

Her beautiful songs made me forget the long drive.

It takes only two hours from here to my hometown, though.

I am not sure when I go back there next time.

I will study English more in order to tell my parents a good news about my job.

After Work

After working at the junior high school yesterday, I went to a community center to precast my vote for the upcoming municipal election.
The voting date is a week later, but we can vote beforehand in case we cannot vote on the day.
There are two candidates for the governor of this prefecture.
The first candidate is a newcomer while the other one is the current governor.
After voting, I went to a café in a shopping mall near the community center.
I like to read books in a café with a cup of coffee because I can concentrate than doing it in my room or in a library.
Friday evening is my favorite day of the week because I can finally take time to detach myself from work.
I will use my time to read the book which my friend recommended me.

Blood Type

We Japanese tend to judge our personalities depending on our blood types.
I assume this culture is not so common in other countries.
There aren’t any scientific evidences to prove that each blood type has certain characteristics.
But there are a lot of books to introduce the differences of personalities which seem to derive from their blood type.
I am going to have dinner with a woman next week.
Her blood type is B and mine is A.
I borrowed a book from a library titled “instruction manual of blood type B women.”
These information cannot always be helpful for the date, but I will prepare for the day by reading the book.

Topics for Conversation

I attended a match making party yesterday.
This was my fifth time to attend it and I tried to speak in a louder voice so that she will hear me very well. 
I didn't want to be disappointed and be a failure again.
Luckily, I was able to get the attention of the two attendees.
I am going to have dinner with one of them next week.
I don't want to miss this once in a lifetime chance. 
As of now I'm searching for a beautiful fine dining restaurant.
Also, I will research about restaurants around here and get more information about her interests.
I am not good at making conversation to say the most, but I can be a good conversationalist if I have some bits of information about her.
For now I'm trying my best to get to know her more so as to prepare myself to that first date.

Livable Cities

An interesting data was published by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

It gave a global ranking of based on criteria that includes living standards, crime, transport infrastructure, access to education and healthcare, as well as political and economic stability.

Osaka and Tokyo were ranked in the top 10, the former being the 3rd and the latter being the 6th.

Vienna, the capital of Austria, was chosen as the best city, beating Melbourne which had been ranked as a top city for seven consecutive years.

I feel blessed to be able to live in a country which has such livable cities, because not all people in the world cannot receive this fulfilled life.

Although I don’t live in a big city in Japan, I often feel that I am happy after watching miserable news in foreign countries.

I would like to do something to contribute to others especially to people who live in foreign countries.

Experiences in Tokyo

I went to Tokyo from last Saturday to Monday to meet my friend from America.

He has been living in Japan temporarily since June.

We went to an owl café in Akihabara, ate lunch at a famous curry shop, went to a hot spring in Kabuki-cho, visitied the Peanuts Museum, and played with VR games.

The hotel where we stayed was convenient because it was located very close to the nearest station.

I pretended to be a foreigner by speaking English at some places and enjoyed how they reacted.

Unlike my hometown, there were countless of foreigners everywhere in Tokyo.

If we live in a place that requires to speak English more often, students will be encouraged to study English on their own.

I am not sure when I can meet him again, but I will keep in touch with him.

Karaoke

It was the last day to stay in Tokyo with my friend.
After eating breakfast at the hotel, we went to a karaoke place in Shinjuku.
A couple of years ago, he and I went to a karaoke place with some other friends.
While singing songs in a room today, I recalled the day when we hanged out together for the first time.
We sang some same songs which we sang on the day.
We went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage, and said goodbye at the Shinjuku station.
We departed to different directions after that.
We are not sure when we can meet next time.
If possible, I will go to America and travel around with his navigation.
Anyway, I enjoyed this short stay with him.

Owl Café

I am staying in Tokyo with my friend for these two days.
We went to an owl café yesterday in Akihabara.
We could pet the owls and take pictures with them leaving them on our arms.
Since they are night creatures, some of them looked sleepy.
The two staff members were very nice.
They kindly explained us how to play with the birds.
After the café, we went to Kabuki-cho.
After roaming around the crowded district, we went to a hot spring located in the heart of the area.
Both of us stayed in the facility for more than three hours in different bathtubs.
The hot spring relieved my tiredness.
I want to enjoy the staying by visiting many places.

Day 1 in Tokyo

I arrived at Narita Airport last night.
The departure time was 40 minutes behind the fixed schedule, so the train I took from Narita Airport was the last train of the day.
All passengers were in a hurry heading for the train station.
I got to the guest house after midnight.
It was comfortable than I expected.
The charge was cheaper than the other rooms around the place, so I didn't expected that I could sleep in a cozy place.
However I was able to take a good rest thanks to the good amenities.
I am waiting for my friend at a station.
We are going to Akihabara and Shinjuku today.
I want to enjoy this holiday with him.

Plans in Tokyo

I am going to Tokyo tonight and meet my friend from America tomorrow morning.

We are still making plans on what to do there.

Facebook Messenger and Google Docs are very convenient.

We can edit our plans real time while discussing the options.

We are going to Akihabara on Saturday and visit an owl café and karaoke place.

It’s been a while since I last saw him, so I am very excited for this four-day travel.

Hopefully, the typhoon which brought a lot of rain in Tokyo yesterday had passed already.

I will work until 4:30 p.m. today and go to the airport directly.

I read a web news yesterday that a flight in Mexico crashed just after taking off.

I strongly wish that no accidents will happen tonight.

4 Months

Four months have passed since I started to work for the current junior high school.

At first, I was not able to talk with the students naturally but I can now.

I get used to living alone; I prepare each meal, clean my room and do my laundry by myself.

As I work for the school, I am gradually realizing an ideal job for me.

First and foremost, running my own business is the most suitable working style for me.

I frequently feel quizzical of some traditions of the school, but I cannot change anything.

Also, there are some tasks besides English classes.

If I have some specific skills enough to run my own business, I can focus on the job without being worried about traditions.

I will use time after work to develop some skill which is useful for our society.

Tokyo

I am going to Tokyo this Friday to meet my friend from America.

I already booked a round trip flight and he reserved a hotel to stay.

I will arrive in Tokyo on Friday night and leave on Monday evening.

It takes about 90 minutes from this city to Narita Airport and another 90 minutes from Narita to the central part of Tokyo by train.

We are planning the places to go and the things we will do in Tokyo.

It must be very crowded at famous sightseeing spots because the Obon holiday season starts on Saturday.

I am looking for places where we can experience unusual things only in Tokyo.

15 Pairs

I participated in a match making party on Sunday night.

There were 15 men and 15 women on the floor.

First of all, each attendee wrote a self-introduction card to make it easy to talk with strangers.

Next, we talked with each participant; men changed their seats every time they finished talking with one woman for about 5 minutes.

And then, we wrote a card to the person whom we wanted to talk to again in the future.

The organizers collected the cards and distributed them.

Finally, we chose three persons whom we wanted to start dating with.

The persons whom we sent cards to and whom we chose as a partner were usually the same.

If both agreed to be a partner, we were recognized as a couple.

Otherwise, we were not able to get a partner.

In my case, I was not able to.

But at least, I enjoyed talking with many people for two hours.

Heatwave

I jogged this morning for about 30 minutes around my apartment.

In spite of the short time run, I sweat a lot and got very tired.

I understand many people in Japan were taken to the hospital because of heatstroke.

This heatwave affect the lives of mosquitoes as well.

The insects are vulnerable to high temperature, so we get less attacks from them this year.

A typhoon is approaching to Japan and it would cause damages in the middle of this week in Kanto regions according to a weather forecast.

I am going to Tokyo next Friday, so I hope the flight will not be canceled on the day.

Trip to Hiroshima

I went to Hiroshima prefecture to meet up with my friend and to do some workout with him at a gym.

After doing workout, we went to a restaurant and a café.

The traffic on the highway was not heavy contrary to my expectations.

He and I were students from the same university and we both graduated this April and started to work in different places.

His hobby is growing plants.

He even reads theses about plants in English.

In the café, he explained to me about aerial plants which don’t have roots and absorb water from their leaves.

The plants have resistance to heat and dry places.

I enjoyed working out and talking about plants with him.

We are planning to meet in October again.

Teachers

I work for a junior high school as an assistant English teacher.

I called a friend last night who works for a high school as a full time English teacher.

“How many percentage does teaching English occupy out of your whole job?” I asked.

He said “20%.”

The other 80% occupies paper works and some other tasks.

He also said “ideally, 80% of my work should be used for preparing classes, but I can’t.”

This is the biggest problem in Japanese school.

Teachers don’t have room to study for themselves and to prepare for classes.

I heard from some teachers that their English abilities were the highest when they graduated from the university.

Chinese

I was reading books at Starbucks last night.

I like the place because there are many kinds of people such as couples, business people, a group of friends, and single persons.

By the way, the first book I read was about sleep-learning.

It was written more than 50 years ago and the book introduced many experimental results to show that sleep-learning was effective for memorizing.

The reason why I chose this book was to master the Chinese language.

The second book I read was about the book of Chinese.

As a part of my past-time, I started to learn Chinese.

I see many people from China in our city and I want to talk with them using their language.

I will see if sleep-learning can help me memorize the pronunciations and grammar of the language.

Trip to Tokyo

I am going to Tokyo to meet up with my American friend during the Obon festival.

He will stay in Japan until the end of August.

It will be a good chance to meet him while he is in Japan.

I already booked the flights for round trip.

The airfare and hotel are more expensive compared to regular days.

But I don’t want to miss this chance to meet my friend.

I met him first time at the university, when I was still in my Master's degree.

He came to our university as an exchange student.

Even after he went back to America, we have kept in touch.

We are still planning on what to do in Tokyo, but being able to meet up with him is very exciting for me.

Seminar

I participated in a seminar yesterday held for the English teachers who work at public junior high school in our prefecture.

There were 250 teachers at the hall.

The seminar started at 9:30 a.m. and finished at 4:30 p.m., so the participants looked tired at the end.

In the morning, we heard a lecture about TOEIC.

The lecturer told us tips to get a better score in TOEIC, but I wonder if we have room to remember them during the actual test.

After lunch, we were divided into four groups and heard a lecture about TOEIC again.

An English native speaker explained about TOEIC questions and we tried to answer them.

Finally, we went back to the largest hall, where we heard the first lecture, and heard another lecture about English education.

I hope these information can help me do better at work.