He passed away quietly at my parents' home yesterday morning. He went as if he had been waiting for the snow to melt. Rest in peace.

Posted by Kiyo at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui did it! A power hitter as he is, I didn't expect him to hit his first home run in the Majors so soon, because I had the impression that he's a "slow starter." He gave me a great day yesterday.

Posted by Kiyo at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Snow shoveling is the least thing I want to do in April.

Well, Paburo and M seem to like sayings in Japanese. Though I'm not so particular about the stuff, I'll write about them every once in a while. (By the way, M, I haven't been able to open your site for the past couple of days. Is anything wrong with your server?)

One of the few sayings that I keep in mind is:

"Keizoku wa chikara nari."

"Keizoku" is continuity, and "chikara" power. By keeping doing something with perseverance, you will be able to get somewhere. I think the idea is definitely needed in language learning, and that's what I expect my students to do. But before saying that, it seems like I have to try to keep this blog going. Yeah, I know I've been lazy about blogging recently.

I have no idea where this saying is from. Do you have anything similar in your language?

Posted by Kiyo at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (11) | TrackBacks (2)

It's been a week since my last post. A week passes pretty fast in real life, but when it comes to blogging, I feel as if I hadn't blogged for months. I almost forgot how to blog.

It's not that I've been sleeping, but that I've been, for one thing, busy preparing for the new school year that begins in April. In Japan, April is the month of making a fresh start! ...uh, well, I know that's a poor excuse. You could blog however busy you might be, if you will. The thing is, I've been hooked on watching high-school baseball on TV instead of thinking of April Fool's jokes.

National high school baseball tournaments are held in spring and summer every year. Every game of the finals is broadcast on TV. Some people hate the uniformity in high school baseball, but I love to watch the games. The players play with all their might, and their earnestness comes across as I watch them play. In fact, professional baseball players look so sloppy as compared to high school kids. And also, you have fun rooting for your local schools. Hokkaido teams are generally weak, for good or bad. Which is why I can enjoy so much watching their games with the hope of winning, though the two teams from Hokkaido lost no time leaving the tournament as scheduled this time as well.

The tournament's over yesterday. So, well, let's get down to business.

Posted by Kiyo at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)