Japan – ページ 5 – Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning

Medical Check Result says my Mother’s Heart doesn’t have any Problem.

This morning, I took my mother to a big hospital in order to hear the result of the echo test of her heart. She took the test last Thursday. We arrived at the hospital a little before 9 a.m. and had waited until 10:30. Since the doctor took thirty minutes for one patient last time, I had thought that the whole of morning hours would be gone today. But my mother’s turn came earlier than I expected. Anyway, what the doctor said was that her heart didn’t have any problem like heart valve disease. No need for medicine, no need for periodically seeing the doctor. It relieved me a lot.

After that, I paid money for her because at that time my mother went to the in-hospital shop to buy some bread. To my surprise, it costed only 160 JPY (approx. 1USD). The lower the charge is, the better for elderly people. But I worried that Japan’s medical system would collapse in the near future when I got older.

We got on a free bus at 10:45, and got off it in front of a railway station. There, I saw a driving wheel of steam locomotive (as in the photo). The board says that this wheel had run Two million kilometers (1,245,750mi) since 1923 until 1974.

Another way to remove Bitterness of Persimmons

A farmer does this thing one hundred, two hundred, or more. But I am not a farmer. And my persimmon trees are still young and small. They are not so productive yet. Today, I set six persimmons hung under the roof. Two behind are not today’s. Drying is another way to remove bitterness of persimmons. But weather in Niigata tends to be wet in this season, I am worrying about mold on the surface of them.

It’s rare that Good Weather continues two days in November.

Cherry trees have got their leaves red.

The mountain behind is actually beyond the sea. It is Ko-sado Mountain Ridge of Sadogashima (Sado Island)

The mountain has already appeared on my blog so often; Kitamata-dake of Iide Mountain

This type of Local train is used to connect to Fukushima Prefecture on the east side of Niigata Prefecture.

It’s a Sunny day in Autumn, and I still have some Persimmons

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.

I went to Kanto Region last Saturday by Local Trains

A ticket for high-speed railways “Shin-kansen” is expensive. Plus, Jo’etsu shinkansen runs through so many tunnels, you cannot enjoy the view from train window in mountainous area. So, I didn’t use a high-speed railway, but got on a local trains to go to Kanto Region on Saturday.

This is the town where LQ laoshi was born fifty-some years ago.

Needed to transfer to another train at Nagaoka.

View from the train window, it’s under dark clouds.

It’s still under dark clouds, because the train was still in Niigata Prefecture.

The train from Nagaoka brought me to “Minakami” in Gumma Prefecture.

Station Building of Minakami

The sky was bule in Gumma, it’s different from Niigata.

I’m back. My hometown in Rural Region is much better than Tokyo.

On the way back, the high-speed train “Shin-kansen” was so crowded with passengers. I had to be standing at the end section of a train car until the trains got to Takasaki where is a kind of mid-point between Tokyo and Niigata.