Ito Shunsuke

One of my distant relatives was passed away last Friday, and I attended to the funeral on last Sunday. I had to dig up my rei-fuku, the formal suits from my closet. Rei-fuku, you can wear it for weddings and funerals in Japan. However, mo-fuku, the one kind of rei-fuku, you can wear only for funerals. I wear rei-fuku for both weddings and funerals because neither weddings nor funerals happen so often. Because of that, I could not remember where I left my rei-fuku after I wore it for the last wedding or funeral. So, I had to find it where I left first. Yes, that's me. After I found it, I had to take it to the cleaning store; that was my last Saturday morning. At one of the cleaning stores in Miyako, if you bring your clothes by 10 am, they can get the cleaning done by 4 pm in the same day.  So, I asked them that speeding cleaning for my rei-fuku. 　 For myself:  After weddings or funerals, take the rei-fuku to the cleaning store ASAP instead of putting it away to ...

 　 Back in my school days, students had to go swimming even for the cold days for the PE classes.  Of course their lips were turning purple/blue shaking.  I thought that's normal and that's how it should be.  And students nowadays still go swimming in the cold days with their lips purple/blue shaking. But now, years after graduating my school, and by seeing those students, I think       

Producer: Hisao Hashimoto Assistant Producer: Fumihiko Hakoishi Navigator: Eri Ito Members: Ben Pedersen, Victor Kochaphum, Francis Yuen, Adam Ramli, Yonae Rolle Interpreter: Togo Sasaki, Ito Shunsuke 　　 　 Thank you very much staffs as always for your excellent works, and members to come join to the 100th MICR radio show!! There were the very first DJ, Victor and also another DJ, Francis after their longest absence ever from the show.  It was so nice to have them back again. There were also Adam chan, Ben chan and Yonae chan as the members, who make any topics very funny ones somehow. *LOL* It was not only the 100th MICR show, but also was the 2 years anniversary for the Miyako Harbor Radio Station.  Somewhat, those two things were mixed up during the show, and some of the members thought it was 100th anniversary.  That made it sounded like the radio show had started in 1915, and made my great grandfather was the very first interpreter there. Actually, NOPE...

I needed 2 ID photos. So, I went to one of the photo booth to take my pictures. The photo booth machine have the different sizes in one sheet and the one sheet costs 800 yen.   The size I needed was the biggest one on the top left on the image above.  However, they have one big one and two of the middle size ones together, but I did not need the middle size ones.  That means I have to take my picture twice in order to get the 2 biggest ones.   I was like       It's ridiculous to pay 1,600 yen for the 2 ID photos, I thought. So, this is what I did.   I went back to my office, and took my selfie with my smartphone.   I saved it as draft on gmail, so I can open it in PC as well.  Then, I download my selfie picture and edited on pixlr , the free online photo editor, to adjust the size of the photo.  After I re-size the photo, I saved it on my USB drive, so I can take it to one of the convenience sto...

Like the American comedian, Atsugiri Jason , I sometime get curious for some kanji, the Chinese characters used as part of Japanese language.   I was thinking about this kanji,  "内," the reading of this kanji is "uchi" or "nai" and the meaning is "inside." So, the opposite kanji, "outside" should look like this          But the actual kanji for "outside" is this    I mean..    

When I was driving with driving navigator application for the smart phone, it said "go straight" on the way to go to one of the clients. But I saw the sign     that says not to enter.  And on the radio, this guy was singing        one of his song whose name is "GO STRAIGHT." So, I screamed out loud     "AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!" Then, I took the detour.   Of course, my friend. I was not nuts enough to go through the construction site.   

Many restaurant in Morioka offer you "all you can eat;" there are the curry restaurants that offer all you can eat rice and/or nan breads, stake houses that offer all you can eat soups and/or salads, and Italian pasta restaurants that offer all you can eat pizzas!! Though, at some of those restaurants, you have to ask the waiter/waitress there to bring the refills (okawari.) It should be like you can just go and grab whatever you eat instead of asking them to bring because it's little embarrassing to ask them especially after you ask some refills already. Maybe that's how they save the foods to be taken so much. I was at one of tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet) restaurant for last weekend in Morioka, and that's where I felt little embarrassed to ask them after my 7th bowl of the rice and 8th bowl of the miso soup and 5th serve for the cabbage to the waitress.   Girl, I was just after 18 hours of the daily fasting.  I deserved them.  *LOL*

Producer: Hisao Hashimoto Assistant Producer: Yuri Kimura Navigator: Eri Ito Members: Ben Pedersen, Elisabeth Kaseda, Yonae Rolle Interpreter: Ito Shunsuke Thank you very much for the radio staffs and everybody who were in the last show. And welcome back to Miyako, members.  There had been only Japanese members for the two shows before the last show, so I assume the listeners were missing you too.   Ben chan and Lisa chan's traveling story was very interesting, especially the super spicy curry soup in Hokkaido. Because they said the curry soup was really spicy, I assume that it would be really spicy to let it out next day too, but Ben chan said that was not a problem. *LOL*   There was not enough time for Ben chan and Lisa chan nor Yonae chan's story about her burned left hand, so hopefully the next time.   O, talking about the next MICR show, it will be the 100th MICR show the next one, so I hope to have the old members and new members as many as ...

When you are heading to Yamada, Kamaishi or even further south from Miyako, why don't you take the "Miyako Kukunochi Drive?"   " According to the Japanese mythology, Nihon Shinwa, Kukunochi is one of the gods who were born between the goddess Izanami and the god izanagi, and she is the god of trees. Also between the goddess Kukunochi and god Shinatsuhiko, they had the god of the mountain, O'yamatsumi, and the goddess of the field Kayanohime.   Ref (Kukunochi: Wikipedia) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%AF%E3%82%AF%E3%83%8E%E3%83%81  " The road is going through many greens, so I believe Kukunochi is somewhere around there; that's how I named the road "Miyako Kukunochi Drive." Yes, I have just named it couple minutes ago before I post this blog article, so I am the only one who calls the road "Miyako Kukunochi Drive." If there is anybody else who calls the road it, it freaks me out. Anyway, this is how it looks like.  ...

I was about to get back to my work, then the English teacher company called me again said "hey, Ito.  You have time?  We got the English teacher who need to go to the hospital."  I was like      I thought they were joking.   But neither they were joking nor I was in the movie.  So, this time, I was taking the male English teacher to the hospital.  He got black toe nail and other finger nails were turning into black color too, but he did not remember he hit anything with his toe or his shoes had been too tight.   The doctor was examining his toes, however, he could not find what had caused his toe nails turned into black color.    So, the doctor took the nail file and started filing English teacher's toe nail.   Guess what?  The color just came off!!    He did not have to take any medicine, but he had to pay for the examining  That cost him about 2,500 yen.   ...

After she got her burned hand treated, she and I went to the pharmacy to get the medicine by prescription. She got like 10 painkiller pills and one ointment tube for her hand. It cost her 420 yen. And on the way I was driving her back to her apartment, she and I stopped at McDonald's to get her lunch. She ordered chicken sandwich combo. It cost her 450 yen. She and I were like    

When the doctor and the nurse were examining her hand, they were treating her hand very roughly.  She seemed in pain, but I could not tell them to treat her hand gently because they are doctor and nurses.  They were supposed to know how to handle. So, I just told her to breathe. "Hey, you are going to be OK, just breathe properly. Breathe.. Hee-hee-hoooo.  Hee-hee-hooo." Then, she asked me "Wait, isn't that maternity breathing?" I was like      

When she and I got to the clinic, I helped her to carry her pot that she was sticking her hand in. Well, imagine that. "An Asian guy is holding a pot that has water in it walking and the Bahama girl is walking next to him sticking her left hand in the pod that the Asian guy is holding."       

When the English teacher, who got her left hand burned, and I were walking to my car, she brought a pot that had some water in it on her right hand, so she can put her left hand in the pot to cool her hand down. That was clever of her.    On the way to get to the hospital, I took the Joanji-temple road.   It's a very bumpy road and the water in her pot was splashing, but that was the shortcut to get to the hospital.  I was rushing myself because I really felt that I needed to take her ASAP to the doctor.       At the hospital, there were many patients waiting because it was the next day of obon holidays. Because she seemed like she had to wait for couple hours to get examined, the hospital staff asked me if I would like to take her to another clinic in town instead of waiting there.  So, I said yes. The hospital staff was kind enough to call the clinic to make an appointment for her. That was so nice of them.     W...

When I was at work, the company that is hiring English teachers from abroad called me. The staff there said one of the English teachers got burned by pouring something very hot from top on her head. They asked me if I could go support her.  It sounded very serious. I thought they could have called an ambulance instead of me.  But I said them that I am heading there right that moment When I got her place, I rang the door bell, but she did not answer.  Then, I tried to open the door, but it was locked.  Shortly, she opened the door.  I asked her if her head is OK.  Yet, she seemed OK; she just showed her hand and said that her left hand got burned while she was cooking.   When I see her left hand, I was like     It did totally brew her positive mind off. Because while she was waiting for me to arrive there, she was like   I should have said her "It seems not too bad.  You can get better soon" or something, ...

After I saw the traffic light had changed, I started driving my car. Then, I stepped on the brake immediately because it was the red light. I was thinking what kind of magic had just happened. But, it seems like I was stopping at the green light (by thinking something else,) and started driving at the red light. There was no car behind me, so that's how I did not get honked even I was staying in front of the green light.  

It was obon in Japan last weekend. For the first day of obon, people go to the Buddhism temple where they have their families' grave stones. In front of the temple building, they have the big candle stands that have many lit candles.  The flames on the candles are the souls of their ancestors. People go to there with the chouchin, the Japanese lanterns, that have the candles inside; they lit the candles in chochin with the flames from the temple and bring them back to their home. That is supposed to mean they take their ancestors back homes.   For the second day of obon, people clean the grave stones and around there for the ancestors, so they can go back to the clean place. Also, since people have their ancestors at their homes, people pay visit each other's ancestors with obon gifts.  So, it's one of the biggest "gift exchanging week" in Japan because before obon, usually people do exchange ochu-gen, mid-year gifts too.   As for me, I had delivered 10 oc...

Because one of the PC I have has Windows XP as the OS whose supported had finished while ago, so I installed Linux. Though it seems not too difficult to use, I am struggling to find out what's what in there. Since I could not find how to turn it off, in the end, I UNPLUGGED the power cable. HA.

I just created this image.               Because when I saw this image,  I thought "hey, it's only vertical flipping; I can do that too." So, I took the Jodoga-Hama beach picture from this page to create the similar image.  http://kaumo.jp/topic/23261     I cut the Jodoga-Hama beach horizontally at where I want make the reflection in the bottom of it. Also, I made the lower half bigger by cutting little bit off from the upper part to emphasize the reflection just like the image above. (I have just noticed what this person who created the image on above was "stretching" the reflection part longer vertically, not cutting a bit.  O, well.)           Then, I got the keyboard girl from this site.  http://www.istockphoto.com/video/silhouette-of-a-girlplaying-keyboard-7325225    I place her front middle part of the image to make it looks like she ...

For the last radio show, I was talking about the energy drink in Japan and US. I have been feeling like Japanese energy drink, such as Red Bull, has less caffeine than the one in US. However, I was wrong. Surprisingly, both have the same amount of caffeine, 80 mg per 8.4 fl oz (250 mL.) And even more surprisingly, 80 mg per 8.4 fl oz (250 mL.) is the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee. Ref:  http://energydrink-us.redbull.com/caffeine-amount-red-bull In addition Japanese Red Bull and the US one contain different ingredients. [INGREDIENTS] [Ingredients amount US Red Bull] [Ingredients amount Japanese Red Bull] (per 250 mL)   Taurine, 1,000 mg, 0 mg Choline; 50 mg, 0 mg Inositol; 50 mg, 0 mg Ricin; 50 mg, 0 mg Arginine;  0 mg, 300 mg Vitamin B2; 0 mg, 0.225 mg Vitamin B3; 20 mg, 7.5 mg Vitamin B5; 5 mg, 5 mg Vitamin B6; 3 mg, 5 mg Vitamin B12; 4 mg, 5 mg Ref: http://pippono-trendnews.net/post-1989/ The reason why the Japanese Red Bull ...

When I visited one of my friends who works for the farm, she gave me some kuwa-no-mi, the mulberries picked from the mulberry tree there. You can see the mulberry jam at the grocery store or supermarket, but not so many mulberries fruits themselves.   In Japan, they say "the taste of mulberry is the taste of the first love." Often, sweet & sour taste is described as the taste of the first love in Japan. I think it's because the first love usually does not go well as they expected because of their lack of experiences.  So, they tend to make some mistakes.  By remembering those mistakes, they feel little sad, sometime it even makes them cry.  When you cry, you feel some stimulation on your throat.  And that stimulation is the similar stimulation when you have something sour.  So, that's why people say "the taste of mulberry is the taste of the first love (sweet & sour,)" I think.   My first love was when I was in the kindergarten,...

      I got this Ice Coffee Bag that I can extract the cold coffee by water, not hot water.  This is for the person like me who thinks it is ridiculous to extract coffee by hot water and cool it down by ice water to make iced coffee. The only disadvantage of this is it takes at least 4 hours to extract coffee.   Well, I guess it's OK with me.  I just need to put it in the refrigerator the day before.     When I was about to make this, I see something strange on the instruction.   There are 3 steps to make the iced coffee.   It says:         1. Put the (coffee) bag in (the jar.)  (バッグを入れる）             2. Pour water (room temperature water.)  Keep it in the refrigerator for 4 hours.  *If you use very cold water, it may take longer to extract.                3....

Assistant Producer: Saaya Tazawa Navigator: Eri Ito Guest: Togo Sasaki  Member: Ito Shunsuke Thank you very much for your support, radio staffs and members yesterday.  It was awesome show even though there was no foreigner because of their summer vacation.  So Togo san was a guest, and I was there just as myself, not as an interpreter.    I thought it was a good time to introduce Togo san properly to the listeners since they may not know about Togo san well even though he has been doing the interpreter for the show about couple months. Then, the show was like "Togo san Special."     Togo san talked about his experience in Germany, where he went school for a year.   I did not know he could speak German.  He said couple phrases in German and it sounded very fluent.  While he was talking about Germany, he mentioned that German curry sausage is so famous internationally, but Eri san and I were like "Nope, ...

I just don't get along with the appliances.  Whenever I use AC, I feel bit sick.  It's because it gets too cold for me even though I know how to adjust the temperature on AC.    So, I am using a fan instead of AC.  However, it's not enough because of the very high temperature these days in Japan.   Then, I put a wet tenugui (手ぬぐい, the Japanese hand towel) around my neck with the fan.   That helps me a lot to cool myself down by taking the heat away.  Usually, I am just by myself in the office, so I do not have to cool whole office space down, but me.      In this afternoon, one of my classmate back in the high school stopped by.   When she stepped in the hot office, she asked me if I don't feel too hot in the office (nothing kinky *LOL*)  So, I explained how the combination of the fan and wet tenugui helping me.    She said "Oh, you are an old person."   I was almost said "Well, you were...

At my parents' house, they get eggs and milks delivered weekly. Yet, since they don't use those that much, I get leftovers. I have been making the puddings with them, but I am getting tired of cooking them.   It's because somewhat I feel it is ridiculous to make puddings heated to cook and cool them down to eat.  I feel the same way for making iced coffee that I have to extract coffee with hot water and cool it down to make iced coffee.   It's like I have to go top on the mountain then have to come down to get to the ocean. If you know what I mean. I guess I am just impatient.     So, because of that, I have been eating either warm puddings or even hot puddings. Of course, the taste is not that great.         I looked for what I can do with eggs and milks besides the puddings. Then, I found something easier to make - eggnog. I just need 1 tbs of sugar besides 1 egg and 200 mL of milk.   The tip is mixing them by using mil...

1. Have your mp3 player (white one on the picture) connected to the FM transmitter (black one on the picture) )to transmit the sounds from the mp3 player to FM radio waves. 2. Have your mp3 player on the radio mode, then tune it to the 82.6 MHz, Miyako Harbor Radio,  3. Set the FM transmitter to the 89.9 MHz,              

As one Japanese TV program had said, I placed the wet towel in front of the fan to cool down the room temperature for this very hot day.  There is also the Japanese  website  explaining how it works too. According to them, when the wind from the fan go through the towel, it take some heat of room by evaporating the water in the towel. And when the towel gets dry, it suck water from the bucket from the bottom.  So, as long as there is water in the bucket, it keeps cooling down. I thought it was a good idea to save the electricity for the AC. When I tried it, I could see the towel formed the little dorm shape by the wind from the fan; but that was pretty much all about it.  I did not feel any cool air was coming out from there.  It could be because either the towel was too wet or too thick for this. It did increase the humidity of the room though. Well..