Ito Shunsuke

Mr. Holden, Simon and Mr. Taiwo Babajide, who are the assistant language teachers in Miyako, had been the part of the CM to advertise Miyako and won the prize at Furusato CM contest 2016!!          You can watch the CM at City of Miyako facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/city.miyako/videos/2186718498220992/     I have to say two things though.  For the first, it says "Pure beach land," but it's "Pure land beach" if you want the sign to say the beach instead of the country of the beaches.   For the second, if you want people from all over the world come to the beach, HOW COULD YOU MISS SPANISH LANGUAGE OUT FROM THE SIGN?     

   I have Japan. I have Taiwan.  Ugh. DOUBLE NATIONALITIES.       

               

       

Producer: Hisao Hashimoto Assistant Producer: Saaya Tazawa Navigator: Hisako Yamaguchi Member: Simon Holden Interpreter: Togo Sasaki, Ito Shunsuke   

It's getting colder day by day, so the water pipes at your places can get frozen. When that happens, you won't be able to get water until next spring or you would need to ask the people who defreeze the frozen pipes - which cost you. Please do not forget to do "mizunuki" in the cold night or the days you are going away for a long time like more than couple days. Thanks!!     Please see how to do "mizunuki" from their website:     http://www.pref.iwate.jp/kouchoukouhou/27900/31298/031347.html      

On November 22, 2016, the the big earthquake hit Fukushima prefecture.   The tsunami also came to the coast, but fortunately, it was much smaller than the one in Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.  I assumed it was very shocking for everybody.      For my SNS timeline, I posted how to find the places where you should not go when you need to evacuate.  This is what I post there and I would like to share this here as well.      "There are the signs like in the picture in and around Miyako.  They shows how high the tsunami reached in 3.11 (in 2011) You would find many of this especially at the places close to the coast. Please pay attention to these signs, so can have the idea where you should not go or how high the tsunami can reach. Thanks! (She is about 154 cm according to their blog: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/et-sinbk2/e/7a7535ee05e52ddf17454b752e84eec7 )"    I never forget what I learnt from Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011.        

On last Sunday, my car window got broken, then I brought my car to one car dealer/repair shop. They said they would order the parts for my car and told me to bring my car when they were ready.   On Monday, I brought my suits to one cleaning store.  I ordered express service, so I can pick them up next day, Tuesday.  (If I bring the suits the time they open, 10:00 am, I can pick them up around 5:00 pm same day for the express service. But I was little too busy for that in Monday morning.)   Tuesday morning, I got call from the car dealer/repair shop.  They said they were ready to fix my car.  So, I drove my car to their place and got their loaner.  On the same day around the noon, they called me said that they finished fixing my car.  I was like     That was the fastest repairing service I ever had.  The moment I got the loaner, I thought it would take at least couple days for them to fix it, but couple hours. I was surprised and told the repair shop guy        

After I paid for the gasoline at the gas station, I tried to close the car window, but it did not came up.  I asked the store attendance if there is anybody can fix it in their garage, but he said it would be too complicated for the garage staffs there.  So, I drove my car to one of the car dealers in town with the car window open. Literally, I froze my @$$.   The motor that operates the window's going up and down in the door was broken, according to them, so they have to order the parts to fix it.  It could not be fixed the same day.  Then, what I learnt in America came very useful; people use this great tool that can fix almost everything over there in America, which is:  

 

     

Ryukougo Taisho is one of the unique events of Japan. In the end of the year, they choose the buzzing words that everyone is using them in common during the year from TV shows, dramas, news, so on. (Sometime, it's not really used in common, but they pick those words anyway.) Last year, they chose some words from from politic, such as Abe Seiji wo Yurasanai (or "We won't tolerate Abe's politics") SEALDs, the "youth (well, there are some young folks but mostly old folks in their 60s and 70s) group" going against to Abe's politics) and so on. Ref: [Ryukougo Taisho 2015: Japan's Most Vogue Words of the Year] http://www.mtv81.com/features/specials/ryukougo-taisho-2015-japans-most-vogue-words-of-the-year/ This year, one of the words they choose is:     

   Assistant Producer: Fumihiko Hakoishi  Navigator: Hisako Yamaguchi  Member: Alex Ceballos, Patricia Pete, Lauren Stone Interpreter: Togo Sasaki, Ito Shunsuke       During the show, Togo san was trying to interpret the Japanese word "適当（てきとう, tekitou ）" in English. That's one of the challenging word to interpret because the word  tekitou has completely opposite meaning when it's written and spoken.     When tekitou is written, it means "proper" or "adequate." On the other hand, when it's spoken, it means "inaccurate," "unreliable," or "irresponsible." Togo san could have used some other words instead, but he did his best he could for interpreting it, and came up with "nice and rough."     So, I said  Then, Lauren and Patricia were like  *LOL*

Map:  https://goo.gl/maps/bn1NDeCZwEB2 I visited Zensho-ji temple in Miyako last weekend. The colored trees and the leaves there were just gorgeous. But why was I there? It's because I was capturing the portal in Zensho-ji Temple, of course. By playing Ingress, it has been to taking me to the new places in Miyako where I have never been to. It's a great game only for that reason.  

I had a guest in my office this morning. When he was about to leave the office, he used the shoehorn there. Suddenly, he screamed like I was surprised and looked at him. He was standing still there holding the broken shoehorn.   I thought the piece of the broken shoehorn got stuck into his foot.  But he was just shocked for that he broke it. Then, he was like I told him not to be worried since the shoehorn was very old, so it was about the time to get the new one.  Then, he got me the new one.  He really did not have to. Somehow, it became the black one. But thanks!