Tonde Saitama by Makiko

Have you ever seen the movie "Tonde Saitama"? I rarely go to the movies, but I had an opportunity last February. Last Autumn, I and my family invited one home stay student from Argentina to our home. She stayed in Saitama for about six months and on that day the Farewell Party was held in Urawa for her and her trainee. I suddenly thought that I wanted to invite her to a movie after the party. There were two reasons: One was that there was a movie nearby. The other was that the movie "Tonde Saitama" was really "in" at that time. She is from Argentina and she usually speaks Spanish. But, she can also speak Japanese as she is a teach at a Japanese language school in Buenos Aires. This visit to Japan was to study Japanese. She already knew a lot of city names in Saitama so she understood the story and enjoyed it. She laughed at hte same time as we did. Even after she returned ot her country we keep in touch with each other via "LINE".

Puzzler Answers

I'll be back to my full schedule this week for The first time in about six weeks. Ready? GO! Puzzler Answers: CLICK HERE.

以下はスーパースクラブルパズルです。よく見ると、4つの空白のタイルが見つかります。 空白のタイルとは、何も書かれていないタイルのことです。それら空白のタイルは、ある単語の一部です。空白のタイルに、どの文字があてはまるかを考えてください。おわかりですか？答えは、ページを下にスクロールして下さい。GOOD LUCK。

Below is a Super Scrabble Puzzle. If you search carefully you will find four blank tiles on it. BLANK means that nothing is written on it. But, they are part of the word. Try to determine what letter the BLANK tiles are. After you have your guess you can scroll down the page to find the answers. As always, GOOD LUCK.

PASTA/PRINT                 JESTER                 STIFF             CREATOR 

Puzzler Hints

I hope to get out ot Tokyo today, but it's up to the weather. 
Puzzler Hints: CLICK HERE.

May Home Project

今月のHome Projectは、「 UP」　です。

UP UP UP!

Get up, wake up , pick up, look up, mix up, get up, close up, back up, clean up, break up, blow up, dress up, hard up, call up, fix up, give up, hang up, hard up, zip up, lock up, pull up, rise up, turn up, warm up.......level up your skills and use these in conversations and in your stories this month.

今月は、これらの、up,  ～up,などの単語を使って会話をしたり、話の中に取り入れて文章を作ってみましょう！　Good luck!

Puzzler

It's May 11th, my vacation time is up, and it's time for a new Puzzler. PUZZLER:CLICK HERE.

May Home Project

今月のHome Projectは、「 UP」　です。

UP UP UP!

Get up, wake up , pick up, look up, mix up, get up, close up, back up, clean up, break up, blow up, dress up, hard up, call up, fix up, give up, hang up, hard up, zip up, lock up, pull up, rise up, turn up, warm up.......level up your skills and use these in conversations and in your stories this month.

今月は、これらの、up,  ～up,などの単語を使って会話をしたり、話の中に取り入れて文章を作ってみましょう！　Good luck!

Spring has come by Atsushi

Spring has come to my home.
Last October a son some was born to my daughter and her husband, who live in Yokohama. The son's name is Riku.
Riku is our first grandson so we are all very much delighted.
I retired from work after 45 years last March. I was supposed to live leisurely from April. However my guess was quite wrong.
At he beginning of April, my daughetr had to be hospitalized suddenly. So my wife and I had to take care of Riku at our home.
My daughter came to our house with her husband at the end of March.
We give milk to Riku, bathed him and changed his diapers.
We got tired but we were happy to see his smile.
We were tied up but this hectic time has come to an end.
These happy times will be remembered and are irreplaceable memories.
This cherry blossom season ends along with warm sunlight. Spring has come.

Tonde Saitama

Did you see this movie? It is hilarious. That means that it is very, very funny. Of course, that is my opinion. I heard about it from some students and I decided that I must see it. Why? Because it is about a conflict between Saitama and Tokyo. Not a war; it is a battle. Chiba and Kanagawa and Gunma prefectures are also involved (included). And, because I live in Saitama I know many of the places that they spoke about in the story. And, the Japanese humor was cool. Of course, I did not understand everything that was said and discussed, so I had to see it twice! The first time was at Movix Cinemas in Shintoshin. It started at 9AM. There were maybe 15 people there to watch the movie. So, there were no big laughter or uproars when the jokes were made or the scene was funny. After the first time I talked with family and students about it and realized that I had to see it again. I went to Kounosu theater on a Thursday morning. This time maybe 10 people were there. I learned more. But, to tell the truth I didn't know that the main character, Momomi, was a boy! I need to level up my Japanese.

Water Bus Tokyo

I took a ride on one of the water buses in Tokyo a couple of weeks ago. It was not my first time. The last time tat I did it was some 25 years ago with my family. This time I went alone. It is part of my "Experience/explore" Tokyo adventure. The first departure time is at 9:50AM. But, I was too late to ride that one. Why? Because there was a 30 minute train delay that Sunday morning. However I did make (ride) the very next one which was at 10AM. So, no worries. I rode the HOTALUNA. It cost \1,700. It takes about 70 minutes with a stop at HINODE. The ride was pretty cool. The weather was good; cloudy then sunny, cool then warm. So, I was inside the ship and then up to the upper deck outside. There were many people but not a full house (not 100% capacity) so it was easy to get a seat anywhere and at anytime. More than half the guests were non-Japanese. I was watching the buildings and bridges that we passed along the way. Rainbow Bridge was impressive. And we finally docked at Odaiba around 11AM. The ride was fun, but I will probably never do it again. Twice is enough.