Turtleneck Sweaters

Spring is just around the corner, but in Morioka, it is still chilly. It was snowing yesterday...oh God. It is situated in latitude 40 degree north like New York, Paris and Rome. The lowest temperature is around -10, and the highest reach only 0 in the middle of winter.


In this season, for a person who has poor circulation like me, a turtle neck sweater is the savior.
I wear it from late September to April everyday.
I have white, red, black, brown, blue, pink and gray. Some colors I have more than one.
I like wool washable sweaters which are relatively thin. So I can put cardigan on when it is still cold.

What is your favorite winter outfit?
I wonder how long I got to wear sweaters this winter...

Cherry trees are blooming at southern part of Japan...

Space Travel

Koich Wakata, Japanese spaceman who is working now in space, updated his official blog on 20th and published today.
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/koichiwakata_blog/archive/2009/03/24

He in those pictures looked excited and doing his job.

I am solely "the arts" person, and I feel dizzy when I see numbers and symbols of science.

So space is like too far away...
But if, by any chance, I can go to space travel, I want to see the blue earth which floats in space...

Letter From First Love

"Hello, how have you been?... It's been already 16 years since we broke our relationship..."

How would you feel if you receive a letter from a first lover who was apart long time ago?


Do not worry too much.
It is not a real letter from your lover.
There is a website that creates you a letter from your first lover. It's been a while since the site started this service and its access has been increasing week by week.

http://letter.hanihoh.com/　(Japanese Only)

When you access to its homepage and answer several questions and it creates you a letter from the lover for a second.

It is programmed based on analysis and tendency of so many people, it is somehow a very "realistic letter"...

Yes, I tried. Some parts doesn't match, but some does.

It knows my personalities, tendency, and attitude towards love(lover).

"Are you still writing a poetry?" and "You used to say 'Guys damp girls so easily! You are not like them aren't you?' Though I said 'yes', I got a case of the jitters'"

Words and phrases are not exact but I used to say these.


" Please stop killing cockroaches by hand and be happy:)" says the last.
That made me laugh:)

Favorite Baseball Comic

Ever since I was a junior high school student, I have liked "Touch".

This is very famous baseball comic in Japan and popular in all ages.　This has comedy, romance and sports spirit.

Main characters are twin brothers and one girl, who are living next to each other since they are babies.

Touch (manga), http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Touch_(manga)&oldid=277845734 (last visited Mar. 18, 2009).

I am reading it now, I do not know how many times I have read it.

I realize that my perspective toward this story change. When I read it in junior high, I just read as a love story and that's it. I liked the drawing. When I read it in 20's, I was reading it as I recalled my memory in the past and considered it only as a fiction that was nothing to do with my life.

Then now, I can see a lot more than I did in the past; feeling of each character and sensitive relationship among characters. Brotherhood, friendship, love, dream...etc...

As my husband has a younger brother whose personality is very different from his, I see some common point in the character of twin brothers. I am trying to catch and understand how the elder figure is like.

I could see the heart of brothers and the girl. They like and treasure each other. Their caring hearts are beautiful. Basically, it is comedy, so not always love and romance. It has seriousness sometimes like a spice.

If you have time, give it a try.

Re-save data of VHS tape on DVD

This is kind of surprise that a software will be released on this April from e frontier, Inc. This software enables us to transfer VHS or 8mm video tape data on DVD or Blue-ray.
The software cost only 12,390 yen.
Several months ago, my father-in-low was talking about 8mm video tapes that he recorded years ago when his sons were young.
He has many tapes and wants to re-save them as digital data; however, he was said that it would cost 10,000 yen on every 10min.

10 minutes for 10,000 yen!
This is a little too much even important memory are in it. He told that he taped some animations like Ultra-Man series. Then it is not necessary. You can buy DVD...
But then, now this miracle software will be at stores and makes easy to transfer all data to DVD cheaper.

I also have some VHS tapes that I was thinking to throw away, bit I can save them:)
This software is so necessary for the electrical transformation.
My parents-in-low actually gave us a video camera that can save data on a compact disc (maybe mini-DVD) a month ago, and said, "Our parents also gave us a video camera when our second son was born. They must feel the time never come back. And we feel so, too."

Thank you, we do not have second one though...

Trip to Sendai

Blue and clear sky, warm temperature and sunny Sunday, yesterday was a just perfect to day for drive.

My husband took us to Sendai.

Sendai is 2.5-hour drive away (on superhighway) from Morioka.

It is a biggest city in Tohoku area(North East Japan).

He took us to Aoba castle where Masamune Date lived.

See Wikipedia, Aoba Castle, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoba_Castle (optional description here) (as of Mar. 16, 2009, 05:37 GMT).

I did not know a lot about its history, however, the view from a outlook point was very nice.

She was shrieking and squealing with laughter:D We enjoyed the sun and view.

After that, we wet to eat "Go Around Sushi". Sushi is one of my favorite food!

My daughter was happy to see sushi running on belt conveyor and eat seaweed roll

I liked nigiri of a big scallop, chihiro shrimp and sea bream.

We enjoyed this short one day trip:)

Highway Revolusion

Japanese superhighways cost a lot.
Unlike the U.S., it costs a lot of money to drive on superhighways in Japan. For instance, if you drive from Tokyo to Nagoya, it would cost around $80 plus gas fee.
Because of this, we cannot travel far by car.

A new superhighway system will start in Japan; it discounts the expressway toll and it would start from 28th of this month. This only charges 1,000 yen per a ordinal car with ETC(Electronic Toll Collection) as long as you drive on a superhighway.
This is definitely a good news for me whose hometown and relatives are miles away.

Although it limits only weekends and official holidays, it makes a big difference.

This is one of additional economic policies that the government have been working on. However, it is not an easy process to make all toll stations to activate according to the policy within a month. No wonder today's news say the system will be carried out step by step, and be done by the start of "Golden Week".

Originally I was planning to visit my hometown with my daughter by Shinkansen (a supreme express) in the end of April, but because of this new system, my husband might join us.

I feel my relatives and families are getting closer.

This will really change our weekends and vacations!
Now I need a better and comfortable car...

Just Cold? Watch out!

I have been sick for several days.

Since last Thursday I have had sore throat and stuffed nose.
I thought it was just a cold and could get better as time goes, so I did not take any medicine.

On Sunday night, I suddenly felt dizzy that I could not stand, or walk. I felt strange that something happened. I went to sleep, but I still felt dizzy even I was lying.
That was horrible...!
I was throwing up several times and felt so bad. The world was turning around...

"Oh my god, what is this, what is going on? Do I contract a serious illness or something?"

After a heavy vomit I somehow could fall asleep.

In the following morning, I woke up and still felt strange and slight of dizziness, therefore, I went to a hospital I usually go to and saw a doctor.

He said it was because of cold.

Since I have been sick and the dizziness started suddenly, a germ might have gotten into my ear and caused dizziness.

My dizziness surely got better gradually and I was able to eat light dinner.

Hum, cold... scary.
You should not make a light of a cold.

Wash hands and gargle, a way to go.

Time to go to bed

My daughter is a night owl.

She does not look sleepy until 10 o'clock.

I know it is because of us;( We are also night owls.

Last weekend I made up my mind to put her sleep earlier.

I have been watching her, so I know her tendency toward sleep. She needs almost an hour to fall asleep. Therefore, I started to take her to the bed room around 9:30.

We come home at 6:00.

Dinner at 7, and take a bath with her around 8 and enjoy bath-time (important!), put ointments to her sensitive skin and put pajamas on. All has to finish by 9:20.

It is not easy for me, an working mother, however, I have tried to shift my schedule ahead of time and to keep regular hours.

Last few days, she could follow me and go to bed and fall asleep at least 10:30 p.m..

Yes, it is still not early or healthy for 2 year old, but it is on the process to reach our goal of 10.

Since she has sensitive skin and sometimes wakes up in the middle of sleep, this is good place to start:)

Let us keep on trying!