Coji-Coji's Xmas Story

Merry Christmas!! ＼(≧∪≦)／


Have you guys got a present from your precious one?


Or have you eaten a Christmas cake with your family?




If you had had nothing enjoyable at this Christmas yet, please read the following Coji-Coji's Christmas story.

 

 

The gift of love

 

The gift of peace

 

The gift of happiness

 

May all these and more be yours at Christmas

Santa Clauses Coming to Town

It's an old-fashioned idea that Santas ride a sleigh pulled by a teem of reindeers.


The recent Santas ride a bike in this busy world.

Are they going to gather somewhere to plan for the very day of Christmas? (^o^)

For 600 Million Yen

Here are lottery tickets my family got!!

The first winner will be paid 600 million yen.




This is the final day when you can buy tickets.


Go to the ticket counter for your dream!! (^^)

LDP Gets Back

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito alliance won 325 seats in the Lower House — a supermajority that would allow it to override Upper House vetoes — as it reclaims power after three years in the opposition.


LDP's sweeping victory in the Dec. 16 Lower House election made both long-serving heavyweights and political newcomers ousted from the Diet.


The following photo shows how depressed the prime minister Yoshihiko Noda felt last Sunday.

Anyway it was really hard for us to choose the best one from the 12 parties.


Media reported that the opposition LDP won a landslide victory, but I think people just did not want to poll for DPJ.




Japan is now moving in the right direction.




I fear the future of this country rather than hope.




The lightest polls and the most invalid vote in Japan's election history this time must reflect the social condition and the bottom of our heart.

ONE PIECE FILM Z

"ONE PIECE FILM Z" has been released since this morning.


This is the 12th One Piece movie.


It is the second time for the author Eiichiro Oda to supervise the film series.


Of course I went to see the movie this morning.


Actually my purpose is to get One Piece vol. 1000, which is presented to the first 2 million visitors.

Contents inside are like these.

The film itself did not excite me so much, but Avril Lavigne's covers of Nickelback's hit single "How You Remind Me" was perfect for the closing credit.

Coji-Coji Pouch

Coji-Coji!! Doades!!

Jiro, Pero, Gellan!!

And Moore!!



I couldn't resist the impulse to buy this pouch.



The following picture is the original design.

It's just like Sakura Momoko to draw such a picture.

Japan's Top Buzzword 2012

A too wild guy Sugi-chan was crowned with glory at last!!


His signature phrase "Wild daro? (=I'm wild, right?)" has been selected Japan's top buzzword of the year.

Sugi-chan, 39, is known for his tough-guy parodies.


As he broken his back while filming a stunt for a TV show last September, it had been said that his life as a comedian would be temporary.
※ Read about his injury → That's Too Wild



He said, "I'll be back." while he was in hospital.


And he kept his word!!




Anyway, he must be wild!! ＼(^o^)／

J-League Final 2012

Urawa Red Diamonds secured the place in the AFC Champions League next year by beating Nagoya Grampus 2-0 to finish third on the final day of the J-League season.


Yosuke Kashiwagi headed home in the first half and Tomoaki Makino scored a stunning direct free kick from the 30-meter point in the 59th minute.

After the game, two players leaving the team made a short speech in the closing ceremony.


A message from Tatsuya Tanaka, who is one of the most popular icons in the team history, touched every supporter's heart.

Boys made a huge silhouette of him as a token of our gratitude and forever love.


A captain Keita Suzuki said, "He is a legend."

In other remarkable games, Gamba Osaka was relegated to the J-League 2nd division after losing 2-1 Jubilo Iwata.


Vissel Kobe was beaten 1-0 by newly-crowned champions Sanfrecce Hiroshima.


Albirex Niigata, starting the day at the second-bottom place, got out of relegation zone by beating Supporo 4-1.


Therefore, Gamba Osaka, Vissel Kobe and Consadole Sapporo will play in the 2nd division, and Ventfole Kofu, Shonan Bellmare and Oita Trinita were promoted to 1st division next season.

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^)

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!!


Elementary school students in my class practiced the phrase "Trick or treat! Give me something nice to eat!", and of course I gave them something nice.


Seeing my students' smiles made me cheerful.




After the class, I was surprised to find this on my desk.

I got this from Adam, who was a teacher of Eigonoie several years ago.


Now he opens his own English school independently at the east side of Urawa.
→Can Do Kids English School




And one of my high school students gave me a Milky as a Halloween gift.



Thank you so much!!  How kind they are!! (^o^)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Haloween comes tomorrow.


These days many Japanese poeple enjoy Halloween in their own way.


Although I've never participated in any Halloween parties or events, I make a point of watching Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS at Halloween.


The film was first released in the U.S. 19 years ago, and it came to Japan in the following year.

This is a stop motion musical fantasy film.


A stop motion is a kind of animation technique to make a phisically manipulated object appear to move on its own.


Thanks to the long-term effort making the film, we can feel something warm from what each puppet seems to be alive.

When you go to Disneyland, you'll see lots of characters in the Haunted Mansion attraction called "Haunted Mansion Holiday." ("Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare" in Tokyo)

Have you see this film before?


If you haven't, I'd say it's time you've begun!!

We All Are Malala

This is one of the bravest face in the world.

Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl, was targeted and shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Swat on October 9th.


Happily she survived, and now she seems to make steady progress and be in a stable condition at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, UK.


What pulled the trigger at Malala Yousafzai was that she had advocated the right of girl's education and had spoken out against Taliban, while the militants have blown up hundreds of schools and kidnapped and shot education activists.




Now Malala is an icon of courage and hope.


Her single voice has been spreading and inspiring tens of thousands of rallies in the world.

There's no doubt that nobody has the right to attack a schoolgirl just because of political and religious differences.