My Favorite Sports

I agree Sumo wrestling is the Japanese national sport. Sumo is a Japanese unique sport that has lots of history and many ancient traditions. Many Japanese people love this sport.
I also agree that baseball is the second national sport of Japan.
However I don’t play baseball. I’ve never played it before. I just played softball when I was a student. Girls usually play softball rather than baseball in Japan.

I sometimes enjoy watching professional baseball games on TV. My favorite professional baseball team is the Chunichi Dragons. I used to like Ochiai very much. I also liked Iwase and Masa Yamamoto. But I don’t really know about the current team members well. 
                                                   
I went to ballparks to cheer for the Dragons several times when I was younger. But lately I rarely go to ballparks. I watch the games only on TV.

I don’t play soccer, either. I only played soccer in my P.E class when I was a student. 
The J league, the Japanese professional soccer league was formed in 1993 and supported by the enthusiastic soccer fans. Unfortunately I’m not very interested in soccer. So I don’t have any specific team to support, but if I had to choose one, it must be FC Gifu because it’s our local team.

　　　　　　　　　　

I’ve never been to soccer stadiums to cheer for soccer games. I hope to go see a soccer game of FC Gifu some day.
Come to think of it, I didn’t know that Japan and Korea co-hosted the first World Cup tournament ever to be held in Asia in 2002. Actually, that was a historic event.
I was excited to watch the games at the World Cup tournament.

 

I used to play tennis a little when I was young. Basically, I don’t watch international tennis tournaments on TV, but I like Kei Nishigori, so I watch his games in a digested version on TV news.

I’ve never played golf. You need a lot of money to play golf. So I don’t play golf.

I went skiing in my young days. Skiing is so much fun. I liked skiing very much at that time. But since I got married, I rarely have had the chances to go skiing.

I’ve never tried snowboarding. I didn’t know snowboarding originated in the United States. I’m better at skiing than snowboarding.

 

In summer time, I enjoy hiking. I go hiking in the 350-500 meters high mountains with my husband.

I don’t like swimming so much. I can’t swim crawl or butterfly or backstroke. I only swim breaststroke. I swam 50 meters at best in breaststroke when I was young.
When I was a little child, I went swimming in the river. When I was in school, we swam in the school swimming pool. We went to school swimming pool everyday during the summer vacation. After I grew up, I sometimes go swimming in the civic swimming pool.

I’m not a big fan of Sumo. So usually I’m just interested in the results of the Sumo tournaments. 
Of all the Sumo wrestlers on the active list, I like Hakuho. I also cheer for Kisenosato because he is the first native Japanese Yokozuna in the last 14 years.

 

In winter time, I sometimes watch marathon and ekiden races on TV.
My favorite marathon runner is Naoko Takahashi. She was born and raised in Gifu and she is a graduate from Kenritsu Gifu Shogyo high school, which my sister also graduated from. That’s why I cheer for her. She won the gold medal in Sydney Olympics in 2000. Naoko is the first woman who got the gold medal in women’s marathon in Japan. She also broke the barrier of 2:20:00 for the first time. She is not an active runner now, but I respect her positive way to live.

　　　　　　　　　　　

As for me, I like short distance race. Honestly, I hate running long distance. 
In my school days, we had marathon races every winter. I don’t remember well how long we had to run then, I guess it was around 2-3 kilometers. I really hated the P.E classes in winter.

 

I’ve never dreamed to be a professional player nor an athlete when I was a child.
Professional players are out of my league that time.  

I belonged to a sport club at my junior high school. I belonged to the table tennis club. 
When I joined the club tentatively, table tennis looked so much fun. So I decided to register the club officially. We had the club activities 4 times a week. At first, the first graders were not allowed to play matches using the table tennis table. They were assigned to pick up the missed balls or just practice swing the racket. But once they became the second graders, they could play table tennis matches using the tables to their heart’s content. I enjoyed my club activities very much.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

 

Other than those sports above, I’m interested in Yoga these days, I don’t know if Yoga is a kind of sports or not, though. As you know Yoga is very popular among women who are eager to keep fit. I applied for the Yoga class provided by our city starting next month. I can’t wait for the first lesson.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　

My School Year

My School Year

New School Year

In Japan a new school year starts in April. I thought April is the best time to start a new school year. I always got excited when a new school year started in my school days.
I was also full of expectations for the new school year when a new school year started.

An entrance ceremony for the new first graders was held on April 8th at my school. All the students attended the entrance ceremony and welcomed the new students at my school.
The parents of the new first graders accompanied their children at the ceremony. The parents took the pictures of their children after the ceremony.
Today many parents use digital cameras or digital video cameras or smartphones to take those pictures, but there weren’t any digital cameras when I was a child. Parents took those pictures with their film cameras.

                         

School Year

A Japanese school year was divided into three terms; the first term, the second term, and the third term. This system was called a trimester system.

The first term usually started on April 8th and it ended on July 20th in my school. The second term usually started on September 1st and ended on December 25th. The third term usually started on January 8th and ended on March 25th.

The summer vacation usually started on July 21st and it ended on August 31st. The winter vacation usually started on December 25th and it ended on January 7th in the next year. The spring vacation usually started on March 26th and it ended on April 7th.

Opening Ceremony of the First Term

The opening ceremony of the first term was usually held on April 8th. During the ceremony, new class teachers and new class arrangements are announced. It was sad for me to part with the old classmates from the year before. It was exciting for me to have a new teacher and new classmates. The first day of a new school year was always exciting to me.

Physical Checkup

We had physical checkup in April. A school doctor came to school with a nurse. The doctor listened to our heart with a stethoscope and checked any irregularities. Then the doctor looked into our mouth, pressing our tongue with a long thin tool. The doctor also examined our eyes and nose.

A school dentist came to school with a dental assistant. The dentist checked our teeth. When the dentist found any cavities, he advised us to see the dentist. An X-ray bus came to our school, but not all the students took their X-ray picture. I think only the students whose tuberculin test was positive had to take the examination.
We were called into the bus one by one. An X-ray technologist asks us to stand in front of the X-ray machine. Then the technologist asked us to breathe in deeply and then stop breathing. While we stop breathing, the technologist took the picture of our lungs.
I was scared when I saw the X-ray machine for the first time. I’m not scared with the X-ray machine any more. The X-ray examination was not painful at all.

Physical Measurement

Our physical measurements were taken at another time in the first term. Our height, weight, chest and sitting height are measured. Our vision and hearing were also measured.
For the eyesight test, we stood three meters from the eye chart. We covered one of the eyes with a ladle-like thing. The chart had the three columns of circles. The circles in the top row were almost dots.

Physical Fitness Tests

We had physical fitness tests in the first term. Our physical fitness was tested with various exercises such as sit-ups, forward stretch, simple jumping, standing long jump, 20 meter shuttle run, 50 meter dash, and softball throw.
We also took a grip test. To take a grip test, we used the instrument called the hand dynamometer.
We had to leave our classrooms whenever we had these check-ups, measurements and tests. It was fun.

Home Visit by Teacher

In May, our class teachers came to visit our homes. I got very nervous when my class teacher visited my home. I was very anxious about what my teacher told my mom about me.
My teacher visited my home on weekdays. My father was not at home, so my mom greeted the teacher.

School Excursion

I looked forward to the school excursion very much.
We went to a park, or some scenic sights for first graders to fifth graders for the school excursion. My mother made a picnic lunch for me when I went on the school excursion.

School Trip
The sixth graders at our school went on a school trip to some famous historic sights.
We went to Kyoto and Nara and visited many famous old temples and shrines when we were sixth graders. The sixth graders went on a two-days, one-night trip at my school.
We went on a school trip by chartered buses.
Our greatest pleasure during the school trip was pillow fights among friends in the room of the inn.

   

School Visit by Parents

On one of weekdays or, sometimes, Sundays, our parents visited our school to observe how we were doing in class. The school visit by parents was usually on weekdays, but it was sometimes on Sundays or holidays. When it was held on Sundays or holidays, many fathers came to see our class activities.
Our class teacher was more nervous than we were on the school visit day. I tried to behave well on the school visit day. The teachers never scolded us on the school visit day. I thought all of us became good students on the school visit day.
Parents observed only one class. Our parents didn’t go back home soon after the class. They attended the PTA meeting after observing the class.

Summer Camping

We went camping toward the end of the first term. I don’t remember well about where and how many days we went.
We stayed in the camping house. I liked staying in the camping house.
We cooked our meals. We cooked curry rice.
We made a campfire at night. I think our teachers prepared the firewood in advance. Firewood was piled up in the center of the camp field. Someone lit the fire. When the wood started to burn vigorously, we cheered loudly. We sat around the campfire, and sang many songs. Then, we danced folk dances.

General Cleaning

We had the general cleaning toward the end of the first semester. It usually took more than two hours. We cleaned every part of the school buildings, and schoolyards. We also weeded the gardens and schoolyards. We dusted every corner of our classrooms. We had to clean the windowpanes of our classroom.

Closing Ceremony of the First Term

We had a closing ceremony of the first term in the gym. The principal said what we achieved in the first term and gave us advice on how we spend the summer vacation in his speech. The principal told us the same story every year. The principal advised us to spend the days regularly. The principal also advised us not sleep late. The principal advised us not to stay up late. The principal advised us not to watch too much TV. The principal advised us to keep a diary. The principal advised us to study regularly. The principal advised us not to eat too much. The principal advised us not to drink too many soft drinks. The principal advised us to help our mothers with housework. The principal advised us many other Dos and Don’ts.
We listened very carefully to the principal’s advice. But once the summer vacation started, we forgot everything.

Report Card

I felt very anxious when I received the report card.
Our teacher called the students one by one to the teacher’s desk and handed the report card. I was most concerned about the marks in each subject. When I received my report card, I was so anxious to look at the report card that I couldn’t wait till I went back to my desk. I opened my report card on the way back to my desk. I looked at the card secretly so that my classmates couldn’t have a look at it. I could know what kind of reports my classmates got by the look on their face. When they got many high marks, they couldn’t stop smiling. When they got many low marks, they were disappointed.
My parents were looking forward to looking at my report card. Of course my parents were concerned about my report card, but not a very great deal. When they knew I had been doing very well, they were happy. When they knew I hadn’t been doing very well, I guess they were not very happy. But I wasn’t scolded when I got low marks. They just gave me a slightly disappointed face. My father and mother didn’t get angry even when I got low marks in one subject.
I thought my school life would have been much happier if there had not been such a thing as a report card.

Summer Vacation Project

When the summer vacation was going to start, I was anxious how much homework the teacher would give me during the summer vacation. I didn’t want much homework. Our teachers always gave us a lot of homework during the summer vacation. I thought our teachers also didn’t want much homework when he or she was a student. The most important homework during the summer vacation was the summer vacation project.
But I can’t remember what I did as the summer vacation project when I was a sixth grader.

Summer Vacation Ends

We were given a drill book called “Natsu-no-Tomo” on top of the summer vacation project as homework during the summer vacation. We were expected to do one or two pages every day during the vacation.
There were some students in my class who did all the drills and also the project in a few days right after the summer vacation started. Those students spent the rest of the vacation without worry about the drill book and the project.
Most of the students forgot about the drill book and the project once the summer vacation started. And they remembered the drill book and the unfinished project toward the end of the vacation and panicked.
They had to stay in their room all day and stay up late every night to finish the homework. I was the type of student who didn’t the homework regularly every day so I had to panic when the vacation was going to be over.
September 1st was the first day of the second term for my school.
I always felt sad when the long summer vacation was over.

The Second Term Starts

We had the opening ceremony of the second term in the gym.
I talked with my friends about how I spent the summer vacation before and after the opening ceremony.

Field Day

The field day was the most important and also enjoyable event in the second term. We started to rehearse for the field day soon after the second term started, not only in PE class but also in other class hours.
The field day was held on Sundays or national holidays so that our parents could come to observe the events or even to join us in some of the events.
The most popular event of the field day was a basket shooting contest (tamaire) for the first graders, a cavalry-battle (kibasen) for the fifth and sixth graders and a relay race from the first to the sixth graders.

                                 

Field trip

We went on a field trip in the second term.
I went to the Meiji Village when I was a sixth grader. The Meiji Village was an outdoor museum. The museum looked like a small town in the Meiji era. Historic buildings, which were built in Meiji era, had been gathered from all over Japan to this special museum. Houses, a church, a theater, a bank, a schoolhouse, part of a hotel, a post office and many other buildings had been restored to look as they did over one hundred years ago.

Winter Vacation

The last day of the second semester was December 26th in our school district.
The report card of the second term was very important for many of us. They got much otoshidama, if they report cards were good. They didn’t get much otoshidama, if their report card was bad.
The winter vacation was not so long as the summer vacation. It was only two weeks long. The winter vacation started on December 27th. The winter vacation ended on January 7th the next year.
Our teacher didn’t give us lots of homework for the winter vacation. Our teacher assigned a New Year calligraphy.
The best thing during the winter vacation was that we didn’t have to get up early to be in time for school. I didn’t get up early even during the winter vacation. I slept late in a warm futon every day during the winter vacation. My mother didn’t like that.
I made a New Year resolution on the first day of the year every year.

Graduation Ceremony

The graduation ceremony was the most impressive event in my elementary school life. The graduation ceremony was always conducted in a very salmon manner at my school.
The principal opened the ceremony with an address to the graduating sixth graders. The principal praised them, mentioning how well they have done at school and thanked the parents who were attending the ceremony for what they had done for their children throughout the six years. On the day of graduation, the principal never criticized or blamed the students.
I thought the graduating students were heroines or heroes of the graduation ceremony.

Some guests gave a brief congratulating speech after the principal’s address. The principal handed the certificates to each graduating student one by one. The head teacher called the graduating student’s names one by one.
The student called stood up, and answered “Hai” in a loud voice. Then the student proceeded to the stage in front where the principal waited across the podium. The student went up stairs and stood in front of the podium. The principal took up one of the certificates and read out the student’s name and the text in the certificate. Only for the first student was the full text read. After receiving the certificate, the student turned back, went down the stairs, returned to his or her seat, and sat down. The certificate award ceremony took a long time, because this lasted till the last student went back to his or her seat.
There wasn’t a heating system in the gym. It was very cold in the gym. Sometimes the students and also the teachers, the guest and the parents shivered with cold.

After the certificate award ceremony, in some schools, the representative of the fifth graders gives a farewell speech to the graduating sixth graders. Then the representative of the sixth graders makes a replying speech. He or she thanks the teachers, parents, and all other people who had helped them through the six years of elementary school life in the speech.
At my school, all the first to fifth graders spoke one sentence after another to make a total speech as a farewell speech, and so did all the sixth graders as a replying speech. I think it was more impressive for both the graduating students and the remaining students.

The sixth graders sang songs in a chorus after the speeches. The most popular song at the graduation ceremony was “Auld Lang Syne”, “Hotaru no Hikari” in Japanese. We sang the national anthem at the graduation ceremony. We also sang the school anthem song. Many of the sixth graders, especially girls, started to sob while they were singing those songs.
The sounds of sniffling were heard here and there.
I thought this was one of the most impressive moments for the graduating students in their elementary school life.

                            

Good-bye to the Teacher and Classmates

After the ceremony, the sixth graders went back to the classroom and got the last report card in elementary school life.
Most of the sixth graders in my class advanced to the same junior high school and got together again.
I think my elementary school life was blessed with good class teachers and good classmates.
I think I did well both in academic activities and other activities.

My School Life

My School Life

School Building

    I attended Miwa Minami Elementary School in my sixth grade. I don’t know how old it was at that time.The schoolhouses were not so old.

   There was only one school building. The building had only one floor. The principal’s office was faced the playground. The faculty room was next to the principal’s office and also faced the playground so that teachers can watch us playing on the playground. I think the nurse’s office was at the right side of the entrance hall.                             

  I don’t really remember where my classroom was.There were two classes for each grade. There were special classrooms such as a science lab, a homemaking room, a music room, and an art room, and there was a walkway which connects the schoolhouse and accompanying facilities such as school kitchen. We could go from one building to other buildings without using umbrellas when it was raining.

 There was a gym to the west of the school building, and to the north of the building there was a backyard. In the backyard, there was a flowerbed and some flower pods.

Going to school

  The school started at 8:30 a.m. It took about thirty minutes or more for me to get to school. We were not allowed to go to school alone. We had to go to school in a group. We met at one place and went to school in a group. We met at around 7:30 every morning, so I tried to leave home at around 7:25 a.m. I seldom overslept, but when I overslept, I didn’t have time to eat breakfast.

 We walked to school in single file. One of the sixth graders was the leader of the group. He or she walked at the front of the line. Another sixth grader walked at the end of the line.  We always took the same route. The parents didn’t have to stand at the streets corners or at crosswalks at that time.  When we crossed the street, we had to raise our hand.

Before Class

 We usually arrived at school at around 8:00 a.m. When we got there too early, the school gate was still closed. We had to wait till the teacher on duty opened the gate. We had ten or fifteen minutes before the first period started. I usually stayed in the classroom until the morning meeting began. When it was raining, I always stayed in the classroom and read crallroom library books or chatted with my friends.

On the playground

   There were not so many kinds of play equipments on the playground.

There was a sandbox, a slide, a jungle gym, a seesaw, monkey bars, three horizontal bars, and three swings on the playground.

 I liked playing with those equipments. I could jump over the tire obstacle course very well. I liked making castles or other things in the sandbox.  I liked jumping rope both in a group and by myself. I was also good at jumping rope. I liked playing dodge ball. Most students of my class enjoyed playing dodge ball every day.

We didn’t have any unicycles at school at that time, but some students enjoyed walking on stilts (Takeuma in Japanese). The playground was always full of cheerful voices.

Classes

 We had five or six classes every day. On Mondays, we had always five classes.  There were classes on Saturdays also. But on Saturdays, we had only four classes in the morning. It was good to have one and a half off every weekend.

 Each grade had two classes at our school. I don’t remember which class I belonged to in my first grade. I neither remember which class I belonged to in my sixth grade.There was a class reshuffle every year or every second year.

                                

                 My first grade class photo taken after the entrance ceremony

Class Teacher

  Our class teacher in my sixth grade was Mr. Kato.  He was not very young.  I think he was in his early forties. He was not very strict. When the class got noisy, he didn’t get angry.  I was not afraid of my teacher.

  I forgot how much homework my teacher gave us, but I think we didn’t have to do too much homework as it is nowadays. I never stayed up till midnight to do the homework.  I felt sleepy during the class the next day when I stayed up late reading comics the night before. I think I did well in my sixth grade. I liked my class teacher in my sixth grade. I think other students also liked him.

                                         

Principal

  I don’t remember the name of our principal in my sixth grade.  I don’t remember his age either, but he was the oldest of all the teachers.  I forgot when he became the principal of our school.  When he gave a speech in the morning assembly, he never used a microphone.  The speech by the principal was mostly long and boring. But he always wore a broad smile.  When I met him in the corridor or in the hall, he always smiled at me, though he didn’t talk to me very often.  I didn’t know that we were allowed to visit his office at any time. So I’ve never visited the principal’s office. I don’t know if the principal always welcomed the students and served snacks, tea, or coffee.  I liked my principal.

School Subjects

  I don’t remember precisely how many Japanese language classes we had in a week. Maybe four or five. I think we had four or five math classes in a week, too.  We had three science classes and three social studies classes or so in a week.  We had two home economic classes, three PE classes, two art classes, two music classes, two moral education classes in a week. There weren’t comprehensive classes at that time. We didn’t learn English nor computer science in elementary school at that time.

                                   

Day’s Schedule

 We had four classes in the morning.  There was a break after each class. The break after the first period was five minutes. We didn’t have time to go out to the playground during the break. We had a longer recess after the second period. It was twenty minutes long. We went out to the playground during the recess.

  We stayed in the classroom when it was raining. There were not many things to do in the classroom when we couldn’t go out. Even when we had to stay in the classroom, I was not bored, because I liked reading.  In wintertime, when it snowed, we were very excited and went out to play snowball fight  or make a snowman.

                                                   

School Lunch

  After fourth period, we had lunch. We had to wash our hands before lunch.  Some of the boys often forgot to bring their handkerchiefs to school.  They asked the girls to lend them handkerchiefs. The girls disliked lending their handkerchiefs to the boys because they get their handkerchiefs dirty. But honestly, I sometimes forgot to bring a handkerchief to school and had to borrow handkerchiefs from my classmates. I often forgot to bring various things to school and got warnings from my teacher.

  The students on duty served the school lunch. The students on lunch duty served the rest of the class at lunchtime. They had to wear a face mask so that they wouldn’t contaminate the food. They distributed lunch on the tray to each student. It was fun eating lunch together.  I liked school lunch. When the foods I didn’t like were served, I wanted to leave them. Our teacher didn’t allow us to leave the unwanted foods. In that case, I gulped them down without chewing them.

Unlike nowadays, we didn’t brush our teeth after lunch. So, we didn’t have our own toothbrushes at school. The recess after lunch was thirty minutes or so, I think.

                                            

Lunch Recess

  The lunch recess was the best time in the school day.  I went out to the playground during the lunch recess. Some students went to the gym during the lunch recess. We usually played ball games like dodge ball. I also liked playing with play equipments and jumping rope.  Our teacher didn’t come out to the playground to play with the students.  Most teachers stayed in the faculty room. I think teachers should come out and play with the students when they can.

Cleaning Time

  We had cleaning time after the long recess. I didn’t like cleaning time very much. But I’ve never wished there were no cleaning time at school time. It’s quite natural for the students to clean whatever they use. I was surprised when I knew that the students didn’t do any cleaning at school in the United States.

  In cleaning time, we were divided into groups. Each group was assigned to clean various parts of the building and ground. I didn’t like cleaning the lavatories. We had to use old fashioned brooms and dusters at school. We had to wipe the halls, corridors and stairs with mops or floor clothes. We had to be silent during the cleaning time. There were some students who were chatting all the time and never did the cleaning job.

Afternoon Classes

  I felt tired and sleepy in the fifth period. I liked PE class, art class, or music class better than the other classes in the afternoon.  We had a short class meeting after the sixth period. It was about fifteen minutes long. We talked about our activities of the day. If there were any problems in our school life, we discussed how to solve them.

Club Activities

  I don’t really remember on what days we had club activities. We had club activities during the sixth period, I think.

  We chose our club at the beginning of the first term in April and again at the beginning of the second term in September. The club activities were more interesting than the classroom activities.

  Our school had both cultural and sports clubs. The cultural clubs were chorus, handicrafts, science, art, karuta, and so on. The sports clubs were track-and-field, baseball, table tennis, and so on. (I don’t remember very well.)  I chose karuta club in my sixth grade.

                                               

School is over

 I always felt very happy when the sixth period was over. I said good-bye to my teacher and classmates when I started to my home. The school satchel on my shoulders felt lighter on my way back than on my way to school. We didn’t have to go home in a group. Some students prefer to go back home alone. Some students liked going back home by twos and threes with their good friends. I went back home with some of my friends or occasionally by myself.

Conclusion

  I enjoyed my school life very much.  I think good teachers, good classmates are very important to enjoy school life.

My House

             

I live in a house in the countryside.
My house is not new. It’s 25 years old. But we renovated our house two years ago.
It has two floors. It has a kitchen, a living room, four bedrooms, and two small back rooms. I have my own room.
My house doesn’t have a dining room, but it has a dining area in the living room.
My house doesn't have a central heating system, but some rooms has an air conditioner-heater. Until a few years ago, I often used kerosene heaters in wintertime . But I don’t use them now. I use air-conditioner-heater to warm the rooms and a kotatsu to warm myself in wintertime. I also use small electric heaters to warm myself quickly.
In summertime, I use an electric fan to cool myself.

The bathroom has a shower.
There is a bathroom scale in our bathroom. I sometimes weigh myself on it. My weight is confidential. I don’t know if my husband weighs himself or not. I guess he sometimes does.

There are two toilets in my house.
Both of them are Western style flush toilets.
My husband and I use each own toilet respectively. So I don’t have to wait for my turn to use the toilet. When my children were living with us, I had to wait a long time for my turn holding it.

There is a refrigerator in the kitchen.
It is always full of food, because I like my refrigerator full at anytime.

There are a sofa, a low table, a corner-board, a TV set, two bookshelves, a wooden shelf for the telephone and the printer, and an electronic organ, and a dining set in the living room. There are some framed pictures on the wall of the living room. They are mostly pictures of flowers.

There is a 40 inch LCD-TV set in the living room. That is the only TV set in my house that can receive the Digital Broadcasting. My husband and I watch TV in the living room. I watch TV with my husband in the evening and on weekends. My husband and I often gather and chat in the living room watching TV.

I have my own room but I don’t spend a lot of time in my room. I’m in my room only when I sleep. There are a bed, a small bookcase, a metal-shelf, a desk and chair, a low table, and a hanger rack pole in my room. There is a closet in the wall. I sleep in my room, but I don’t study there. I sleep in a bed.

My house has a tatami room.
There is an alcove in the tatami room.
A scroll with Chinese style landscape painting is hanging from the ceiling on the wall of the alcove.
There is a fancy flower vase on the floor of the alcove, but there isn’t always flower arrangement. I arrange flowers only when we have guests to our house.

                                                 

                      kakejiku (a scroll with Chinese style landscape painting)

　　　　　　　　　　　　

My husband has his own room, too.
My husband and I don’t sleep in the same room now.
My husband sleeps on a futon.

My house has a garden.
There are some tall trees, shrubs, and some herbs such as lavender, mints, dokudami, and some potted plants in the garden. The trees are oak trees, a fragrant olive, a dogwood, camellia, Japanese box trees, and so on. The oak trees and the dogwood are tall. The fragrant olive tree is pretty big. The other trees are short.
There aren’t many flowerpots in the garden. I’m not good at taking care of flowers. So, I try not to have many flowers which require careful watering.
My house doesn’t have a backyard. There is only a narrow space behind the house.
There isn’t a flowerbed in my garden. There is a small vegetable bed in the corner of the garden. I take care of the garden.

                                     

                                  my vegetable garden

I dry the wash in the room facing the south on the second floor. When I dry the wash, I hang my wash on the drying rack. 

There is a balcony on the second floor. I hang my bedding over the balcony railings to air out. When I air the bedding, I give a good beating with a stick.

My house has a carport in the front.
My family have two cars and a motorbike. My husband has a sedan and I have a small car. My husband enjoys riding the motorbike on weekends.

I have pets.
I have two cats.
One is three years old and the other is two and a half years old. The former one was an abandoned cat. It came from Nagoya. It’s a black cat. And the latter is a tabby cat. It strayed into my garden. The black cat’s name is Nerino and the tabby cat’s name is Chibita.
I named the black cat after the black bird’s name in a children’s picture book. The tabby cat was very small and looked fragile, so I named it Chibi at first. Now it has grown up, but is still small.

             

                 This is Nerino                         This is Chibita

My cats are both male. They are neutered. My cats sleep anywhere they like in the house. In wintertime, they sleep in my bed or in my husband’s futon. My cats poop in the litter box. My cats sometimes scratch at the door or the furniture. I provide my cats with scratch boards. Both I and my husband take care of them.

I hope my cats live long. I think my cats are members of the family.

My Profile

                                                       

My name is Kazuyo Kameo.

I was born in the year of Pig according to the Chinese zodiac. My birthday is September 1st, so my birthstone is sapphire. According to the Western zodiac, my sign is Virgo. 

   My blood type is AB. A person with my blood type is supposed to be cool controlled, rational, and sociable. That may be partially correct but I don't think I’m a very social person.

                              

My vision is 20/200. I’ve been wearing contact lenses since I was a high school student. I wear contact lenses in the daytime and wear glasses in the evening.

I don't have good teeth. I have a cavity and I go to a dentist every week to have my tooth treated. Fortunately I'm not suffering from gum disease.

I brush my teeth three times in a day. I also use dental floss to remove food and dental plaque from between teeth. I visit my dentist regularly for a teeth cleaning and checkup.

I take some medicine regularly. I take the medicine for reflux esophagitis.

I like taking a walk in spring and fall. But it's too hot outsideI lately. I don't go for a walk very often these days. I took a walk only once or twice last month.

When I take a walk, I usually walk for 30 or 40 minutes. I usually take a walk alone. I walk in the neighborhood. I walk the same route almost every time.

When I'm taking a walk, I listen to music or some English podcasts.

I'd like to go for a walk more often when it gets cooler.

             

There is a TV set in the living room of my house. I don't have my own TV set in my room.

There are two TV sets in my house, but one of them is old and can’t receive the Digital Television Broadcasting. So, I watch TV in the living room.

My favorite TV programs are NHK TV shows, “Seikatsu Syo-hyakka”, “Da-win GA Kita”, and a music show “Utakon”.

I don't have a Blue-ray recorder/player. I only have an old DVD recorder/player. I rarely record TV programs with the recorder. When I record my favorite TV programs on DVD, I make only disk labels.

I seldom play sports. I can swim a little. I can swim the breaststroke. I can swim 50 meters at most. I don’t go swimming lately.

I can ski a little. I often went skiing with my co-workers when I was young, but I'm not very good at skiing. 

I can't snowboard. I like skiing better than snowboarding.

I could skate a little when I was young. I'm not good at skating, but I like watching figure skating competition on TV. My favorite figure skater is Yuzuru Hanyu.

                  

I don't watch the grand Sumo Tournament on TV very often. I liked Chiyonofuji very much when he was on the active list, but he passed away this year.

                      

　　　　Chiyonofuji was one of the greatest Yokoduna. He was called Wolf.

I like watching gymnastics on TV, especially the Olympic games. My favorite spectator sports are baseball and volleyball. I’ve been in Nagoya Dome twice. Watching baseball games in the big dome is so much fun.

          

I like reading books. I like reading novels, detective stories, and books on self-development. I often borrow books from a public library. I often stay up late reading books. I read Kindle books and some other e-books. I read them on my tablet and smartphone. I want to write a book and publish it someday.

                            

　　　　　　　　 I'm working on translating this book "Dotty Dimple At Home" by Sophie May.

I like listening to music. My favorite music genre is J-pops, Japanese folk songs, rock music, and Classical music. I don't have a good stereo system. I have a lot of CDs but I don’t play them very often recently. I rarely rent CDs at CD rental shops.

I listen to music on my smartphone. I sometimes download MP3 music from the websites. I didn't know I can download music only from YouTube.

I sometimes listen to music while I'm doing my work, but I don't listen to music in bed before going to sleep. I often listen to music while I'm driving. My car audio system is radio and CD player.

I can play some musical instruments, but I can't play them very well.

I sometimes play the guitar and the ocarina. I've never learned to play those musical instruments. I can't play them without music sheets.

                                 

I sometimes go to movie theaters to see movies. I like seeing adventure movies, action movies, love comedies, and Disney movies. I don't watch movies on DVDs very often.

I watch DVDs on TV screen. 

I cook two meals for my family on weekdays and three meals on weekends. I usually fix toast and milk, and some fruits for breakfast. I usually cook light meals for lunch, such as noodles, stir-fried rice, and spaghetti. My favorite recipes for dinner are Chinese dishes.

I do laundry every day. I dry my wash in a room facing the south on the second floor

When I dry my wash, I hang them on the drying rack. I iron my husband’s shirts three times in a week.

I don't mend the damaged clothes. I just throw them away.

I clean my house every day. When I clean the rooms, I don't always try to remove fluff and dust under the furniture. I clean the toilet once in a week. I clean the bathroom every day. 

I don't clean out my refrigerators very often, because my refrigerator is always full.