I processed four persimmons for getting rid of bitterness using strong alcohol.
I went to the town next to my village by a local train. I took this photo through train window.
It’s a Sunny day in Autumn, and I still have some Persimmons
タグ: English
Snow on Iide Mountains under the Clear Sky Today
Today, the weather was fine, and the sky was clear.
I could take a photo of Iide Mountains with some snow on top of it.
By the way, I went to a supermarket and bought foods a little.
My Eyes can see Snow on the Mountain. But it is not clear on Photo
Goldenrod
Japanese pampas grass
Ducks on the water
A Shrine in a Village
Persimmons on a tree
When I was a kid a half century ago, this was a timber bridge. Its width was so narrow that only a small vehicle could cross.
I could see snow on Mountain Iide(飯豊山地) with my eyes, but it was not clear on a photo. I have processed the above photo much.
Since I’ve been in my house all day, I have nothing to write today.
Some students have sent me emails in these two days. I would like to thank them; I am very happy to read their messages. And the next thing I got to do is to write replies. Yesterday I wrote my reply to one student. Actually, I should have written to five students today, but as of 8 p.m., I have done none yet. I am sorry to say but, give me a little bit of time to reply to you guys.
And the followings are a little about me. My elbow of right hand is still aching so that I can’t play my bass. My elbow started aching in July and now it’s the end of October. It had been getting better very slowly, but one week ago, I just tried playing my bass with very light touches of my fingers. I played 15minutes only, but this was very bad for my elbow. I feel that my curing process went back more than one month. Now I think I should not play bass in the rest of this year. I practice piano every day at 4 p.m., but I play only with my left hand.
Another thing about me is that I will go to Tokyo this weekend. I asked one of my students in Tokyo if he would be able to drink with me in the night or not, but he said he couldn’t because he needed to work for a part time job in that day. I thought I was going to stay longer in Tokyo in order to adjust to his schedule, but I gave up this idea, because I cannot leave my old mother in the house more than one-night. I need to go home soon. I think this raises a problem that I cannot travel to far from my home in Niigata, though I wanted to travel to many places in Japan.
Two Chinese Restaurants have gone out of Business
I went to the old downtown area of Niigata today. I got an influenza vaccination on my shoulder in a small clinic there. Since it’s the “old” downtown, anything there is going down. I think the reason of declining comes from multiple factors; Japan’s aging society, spreading of commercial districts from city center to surrounding area due to motorization, the long economic downturn of Japan aka “lost thirty years”, and so on.
There used to be three Chinese restaurants in that district. I mean that “Chinese Restaurant” is of serving Chinese food cooked by Chinese people. Having visited there today, I got to know that two of three such restaurants had been closed and taken place by another shops. One of the three, only “鵬龍” survives.
After the flu shot, I took my lunch in “鵬龍”. 広東麺 was hot, so it took a time for me to eat. And then I got on a bus to JR Niigata Station. I just wanted to go home soon. Getting off a local train, I bought a small flower bundle in my village in order to offer to the altar of my deceased father.
Walking on a River Bank in the Afternoon
Vehicles and Motorcycles are Prohibited on this Road
Goldenrods from North America are encroaching on Japan’s vegetation.
Gozu Mountains
Mountain Sugana
A Shrine by the River Bank
Ginkgo tree in the shrine is still green, but it will turn to be yellow soon
Today, in my Garden
Chinese cabbages are growing bigger and faster that I thought
Leaf Lettuces are not growing well.
Radishes are still thin. I want them to be thicker.
It will probably be the only fig that I can get in this fall. Many figs fell down during drought in summer.
Black Persimmons. It is a rare species.
A Flower of Rose “Papa Meilland” was eaten by insects. So, its shape is bad.
A small Blue Berry Tree has got its Leaves Red.
That’s all for today.
The First Harvest of Red-core Radish; I made it pickled in vinegar.
I need to take my mother to a big hospital tomorrow morning. The hospital is located in very inconvenient place. It is too far to walk from the railway station. I don’t know why that location was selected at the time of planning. But they may say, it is next to the interchange of an expressway, so it would help a lot in the case of emergency of a patient in local area behind. But you know, an interchange of an expressway would never be constructed in the center of a city.
Anything on the ground in Niigata is planned, designed, and constructed with precondition that everyone in the society moves by a car. People without car would never be given a consideration at all. I have a driver’s license, but don’t have a car because I don’t like driving. I am not going to blame anyone who drives a car, but I myself feel uncomfortable to drive a car on the road, especially with a concept that an individual person’s car runs and occupies a certain area of public road. One concern is safety, and the other issue for me is that a public road often becomes a battle ground where each individual person’s interests crush, even though physical crush happens not so often (it should be). I know my driving technique is poor and is likely to make other people angry with me.
Anyway, I hope that the retest of tomorrow will not result in a major health problem of my mother.
In a few days, I can eat sweet persimmon (if successful to remove bitterness)
Dates on the tape show when I put the persimmons into plastic bags; Oct.14, 17, and 20. I think I will be able to eat one a day from Wednesday.
Now almost three months have passed since I retired my job and came back Japan. Probably I spend these days with a little bit of lazy life style. It’s like; wake up in the morning at 6, then cook breakfast, eat it at 7, read English book with a dictionary until 9:30, then usually I work in the garden to care vegetables and fruits trees through the morning hours.
Today, rather than to work in my garden, I went to a supermarket before noon, because rainfall was coming according to weather forecast. I took my lunch with a watching video sharing site (the famous one). And then I have been watching a DVD of Japanese teaching training course from 2 to 4. But I was sleeping most of the time. I started practicing a piano at 4, cooking a supper at 5, eat the supper at 6:20, and now I am writing this.
Perhaps I will not be able to teach Japanese again. I am still trying to study teaching skills for the next time I teach Japanese language for foreign people. But I may give up the career as a Japanese teacher. I am not sure for this matter.
Today, I visited Town of Niigata, Northern city of JAPAN
So, the task was to take an ID photo of my mother. The photo is needed for applying an issue of the National ID card. We visited a photograph studio in Niigata today. It was like shown in the photo above, but after several shots, the lady at the studio told my mother to make an angle toward slightly to right, and to make a little smile. I was wondering because such shot was not suitable for ID photo, but I understood why that lady took a such shots. She said that “smiling photo” was free of charge. I really thanked her. She knew and I knew that smiling photo would be used in the future.
When we got out of the studio, my mother went to a department store by herself, and I went to see Shinano River.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 