Basketball Club Reunion 2012

I went to my mother high school last Saturday to take part in the annual basketball club reunion.

Although the reunion was held in the middle of holidays, many alumni gathered in the gym to enjoy playing basketball and talking with friends.


As always, I went there with Maru, who was contemporary with me.




To my surprise, the floor of the gym was really beautiful.


Under the new rules revised in 2010 and applied in the following year, three point line is 50cm further than before and the form of the restricted area changed from trapezoid to rectangle.


Also, no-charge semi-circle was added.


Mr. Goto, who's the coach of the present club, said that it had taken about 3 million yen to repair the floor!!





Anyway, I had a good day there with my friends.


I have to say thank you to the organizers.


I hope more friends will be there next year. (^o^)

Oita Returns

Oita Trinita beat JEF United Chiba 1-0 in the J-League promotion playoff final to return to the first division.

Substitute Takenori Hayashi struck a dramatic chip shot in the 86 minutes.



Congratulations!! ＼(^o^)／

A Toilet Paper Tower

What a magnificent tower!!


Of course, it's much taller than I.


The tower almost touches the ceiling of the room.





At the moment I entered the washroom in Eigonoie yesterday, such a tall tower grabbed my attention before doing my business.


I'm not sure who made this constructure.


An immutable fact is that Ms. Araki ordered more than 30 packs of toilet paper by mistake several months ago.





Use many rolls of the toilet paper before the next probable earthquake makes the tower roll off!!

Tatsuya - A Wonder Boy of Urawa Reds

The club announced that Urawa Reds will not extend a contract with Tatsuya Tanaka for the next season.

Tatsuya Tanaka, 29, is what we call a Wonder Boy.


Since he joined Urawa in 2001, his play, especially his aggressive dribble, has fascinated many supporters.


In 2003, Tatyuya won both J. League Cup NVP and its New Hero Award.


In 2005, however, he was seriously hurt when the opponent defender tackled him.


He must have been annoyed with himself due to his perpetual injuries since then.





His leaving may be inevitable because he could play for only 106 minutes in total this season in spite of his highly paid.


Anew generation power like Haraguchi has been rising, so that may be one of facrors Tatsuya has been ignored.




Yesterday, I visited a small retrospective exhibition called "The History of URAWA REDS" in Parco.

Seeing panels, uniforms and flags, I lamented a loss of a past superstar who was the real player of the Golden Age.




I really want Reds to win the Emperor's Cup for Tatsuya as his last best memory.

11.11

Many people in Japan enjoy eating Pocky or Pretz on November 11, when was designated as "Pocky & Pretz Day" in 1999.


Pocky and Pretz are Japanese snack made by Ezaki Glico.


The stick-shaped snack has a similar texture to pretzels.


I also enjoyed eating Pretz today.

And November 11th is special for another way.


Today is my colleague Rikiya's birthday!!



We held a birthday party for him last week.

Anyway, the cake was quite delicious!!

Happy Birthday!! (^o^)

Interview Project 2012

As one of Eigonie's annual events, we took 24 junior high school students to the Kokyogaien National Gardens at Tokyo Imperial Palace on October 28th, and on November 4th for 34 elementary school sudents.


Sudents had prepared some questions and intervewed foreigners walking around the garden.




Although it was rainy on October 28th, many foreigners stopped to listen to their questions.

Some elementary school students not only asked questions but also explained Japanese something.



One boy explained how to make a paper crane.

He showed the process step by step, and gave the finished product as a gift.



One girl explained Hyakunin Isshu and her favorite poetry.

She made some cards of Hyakunin Isshu and gave one of them as a souvenir.



It seems quite difficult for us to do such things.





I'm sure this event will be a precious experience for students and will help them improve their English skills and motivation.



Having Got much tired after that, I'm satisfied with their smiles. (^o^)

Reds Can Make Legend

I got these special coke yesterday!!


To celebrate the club's 20th anniversary, Coca Cola collaborated with Urawa Reds to design the special cover of coke can.


Masahiro Fukuda, Robson Ponte, Tatsuya Tanaka, Nobuhisa Yamada.


On the cover, we can see these players who had or have contributed to the club the most in its history.


I'm sure they are legends.





I really hope that Reds will regain the crown again and to exult all together some day.


To make my hope come true, we need a new legendary striker.

A letter from Italy

Two months ago, one of my high school students went on a homestay visit to Sardinia, the island of Italy.


Wondering how he'd been doing there, I got a letter from him today.

The postcard shows some wonderful landscapes of the capital city Cagliari.


I'm sure he is so unique and that his character would match Italian culture.




He will stay there until next June.


I'm looking forward to seeing him again. (^o^)