Mrs.Monologue　

このたび、引越しをいたしました。お引越し先はこちらです。

This site has been closed and moved to the new blog.　Enter!

If the worldwide internet and broadcasting system would not have been developed so much today, we could not have been informed so much of what had happened in the world. I was depressed with the news of the earthquake that hit a historic city, Yogyakarta on Java, Indonesia. More than 5000 number of people have lost their lives when a big earthquake hit in and around the old city. Earthquake again.
How could we be free from the fear of loosing lives? It’s not a tragedy far away from my home beyond my daily life. I may face the same panic today or tomorrow, some time very soon. Whenever I got the news of natural disaster, I feel we are just helpless before the great nature.
Yet, one thing that made me impressed is that in some small village, there was nobody missing though a certain number of villagers were under flattened houses just after the jolting was over. Since they had a very close interrelationship through their community life, they instantly knew who were missing and they dug by hands to help the missing villagers out under the collapsed houses.　Can it be possible in my neighborhood, I wonder. This is some how, something which is lacking in our urban towns and cities. This story has rung a bell to let us know what we should do then and there in the neighborhood.
Hope people in this area will get enough medical supports and daily necessities without any delay.

Time is passing yet for those who lost their beloved ones in the train crash on the 25th of April last year, “time has just stood still since then.” This comment from one bereaved families of the victims is so disastrous. The one who lost his 21-year-old daughter in the crash placed the bunch of flowers near the crash site. The color of the flowers he chose were all pink. He explained the reason as it is that when he saw her body, she had dressed in her pink coat. They were shut one another all of a sudden without any notice and mercy and most of all unexpectedly. Only a grief is left.
Yesterday they marked the one year memorial day. We’ve learned that this meant nothing for them They have been suffering all these days since the tragedy and the company has not yet specified the exact cause of the accident.　I don’t find any right words to say to those bereaved families and the injured.

It's again! I've been away from my blog for weeks and weeks!
Let me pick up some of the things I've been through.
1. I got a new laptop from Dell.
2. I went to a cardealer for a trial run at Toyota and Mazda. Just for a trial, I should say. The reason is as follows:
3. My son finally got his own car from Subaru.
4. Getting ready for a workshop for volunteer interpreters.

That's all for now.
Let me tell you more in detail. I'll come back.

Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. As you already know, St.Valentine's Day in Japan is a bit different from what it is primarily overseas.
It is the day only a woman can confess her love to a man with a gift of chocolate. Why it should be “with chocolate”? One of the Japanese chocolate manufacturing companies promoted this campaign back in 1958. Since then, this day in Japan has been getting popular year after year among every woman. A young woman may send a box of chocolate to her “special boyfriend” or “true sweetheart” to confess her love.
Nowadays this is getting more popular and common among their families as well. I will hand out a box of chocolate to my husband and my son respectively and they are happy and kind enough to share a gift together with the rest of the family members.
The “Chocolate Sale” for St.Valentine’s day is getting more fashionable and fancier every year at every place from the department stores, shopping malls to convenience stores and all. It’s really fun to see all those diversities of chocolate gifts at the stores. And it is so tempting for me to get some of these in the name of “St. Valentine’s Day”.
I’ve got two from Godiva for my husband and my son. I can’t resist getting two different kinds of KitKat from a convenience store. St. Valentine’s Day is no more only for lovers but for family members.

One of the welcoming things for parents about having their children studying away from home in different cities is that you may have many a chance to feel familiar with local histories and cultures besides visiting your son and daughter to see how they’re doing.
That day my daughter in Kyoto was off from school after a series of term exams. Why not make the advantage of this day? I snapped my fingers. I hit on an idea that I should go to Kyoto. I got the non-reserved seat for Nozomi to Kyoto and jumped in the train. It is just a thirty-minute-ride from Nagoya. Then I took the subway and the taxi and gosh it didn’t take that long before I got to my daughter’s apartment house.
I went into the entrance of the building and pushed the buttons for her room number. She was supposed to answer the door phone and open the entrance door to the hall. But there was a long silence. I tried once more and waited for the answer. No answer. Gee, she must be sleeping. How could she possibly do this to me! I took out my cellular phone and called her once, twice and after several times, finally I got her. Oh dear, a sleeping beauty? No, just a sleepy college girl! She must have been in bed till noon if anyone didn’t wake her up.
Anyway I’ll have to complete what I have planed for today. I made her ready for eating out for lunch at one of the old Japanese restaurants called "Hyotei" where they serve very traditional but casual Japanese dish called “Shouka-bentou”. It’s the dish served in a square-shaped lacquer ware which are partitioned into small parts. The chef dishes up varieties of vegetables, fish, or shrimp or meat cooked in many ways and in beautiful ways to symbolize the Japanese season of the year into a reasonable size of a lacquered lunch box. We were seated in the Japanese style of room with tatami mats where we have a beautiful view of a Japanese garden with moss through the windows. It is such a gorgeous way to enjoy a day apart from hectic routines of life.

These few days my husband has brought some booklets of new models of cars with him when he comes home.
Finally we’ve decided to get a new car after a long ride of a “Hi-Ace” wagon of TOYOTA for more than 17 years! 17years! You may think “No kidding”, but we’ve been really satisfied with this wagon.
When our two children were small, the car has turned into a living room, play room, kitchen, bedroom and boy, sometimes bathroom out of either one’s urgent necessity.
Now as both of our children have grown up and they are now away from home for each school, we really don’t need to drive such a large wagon. It’s time for me to drive a smaller one instead. It’s one of the good ways to cut the household expenses, too. Well, I feel happy about getting a new car but on the other hand, I’m sure I will miss my”17 year-old Hi-Ace wagon”.
Even now, I love to park a car at a huge shopping center parking area where I move to a rear seat and I have a cup of coffee for a break, to talk someone over a cell phone, or just to speak out English sentences with a CD player on.
I feel as if I were sitting on a couch in my own living room. The wagon is big enough that I’ve never felt claustrophobic. I wonder which car I will be fascinated with at a car dealer.

As usual and as I've written about it, I was taking a path along the undergrand shopping arcade toward the entrance to the Takashimaya department stores. I've been always enjoying walking in this arcade to see what flowers in dozens of vases they have hanged on the walls along the arcade. There. See, isn't it neat to see so many vases of fresh flowers arranged along the walls. I walked near to the flowers and find a small stkicer on the wall next to the flowers. What it is ? It said " Don't take away flowers." Gosh, Some people pick up one of these fresh flowers out of the vase and take it to----- where?-----home? or to his girlfriend just next to him? What so ever, it'a a shame that those flower-picking-people never believe they are doing something wrong. It might be just a joke or just a game. Our society is not consist of any jokes nor games, they should know. Shame on them.

A friend of mine sent me a parcel before Christmas. When I opened it, I found the book titled "The Eyes". The author is her husband.
Great! He's finally made it. This is his first published book in his over forty-year-long life. He should have been keeping his desire to write stories presumably ever since he was in college---gee, I don't know his major. Isn't it something great that he has been always keeping his dream in mind while making his happy family, getting his own house in the state of Washington, bringing up his two daughters. Now he and his wife enjoy spending time together on mountaineering, taking pictures and gardening. I admire you both. Keep working on one's dream-----that will surely make one's life something special-----very sepcial for anyone else but oneself. So here is the book of 500 pages written in English. I wonder when I'll be able to write him back my impression on his story. I haven't even started yet. I was too much overjoyed with the arrival of the book to read it!

I've been repeating "I'm back again" whenever I've shown up here for the last several months. Has it been that long since I wrote here last? Time flies. Maybe, nope, honestly I was quite busy. Let’s see what has happened since my last post:
1. There have been some changes around my job circumstances. I was quite exhausted and needed lots of patience before I've finally gotten used to them.
2. I had bunches of pictures in my hard disk to sort out after the trip to Shanghai.
Whenever I sit at the computer desk, I've opened my picture folders speaking to myself this was the top item to be done. And----- I never finished since then.
3. During the last month of the year 2005, as usual I’ve been frequently obsessed with a threat that you should get prepared for the arrival of the New Year in time ; cleaning the house inside and outside, going shopping for Christmas and the New Year, cooking the Osechi(traditional food prepared for the first three days of the new year). The last month of the year is always hectic.
So I am here again hoping that I’ll be back in a few days.