Old tires

In the United Sates, a yound man and his friends died in a car accident.
The police said that they weren't drunk, but a tire of their car was too old.
His father couldn't believe it, because he knwe that their tire was still good.
However, he didn't knew that the tire looked still new, the inside of the tire was old.
Tire can cause traffic accident when it is old, and those who are older than 6 years are pretty dangerous.
When his father bought the tire at an auto shop, it was already 4 years old.
The shop can still sell those tire because the tire don't have expire date.
So when the young man and his friends was driving a car, the tire was actually 9 years old.
We should be really careful when we buy tires.

A Baby was born without eyes

A baby girl was born without eyes.
According to the doctor who treats her says that the cause is not known as yet.
The baby girl has to take many surgeries in order to treat her eyes.
She is very healthy except not having her eyes.
Her mother is taking care of her very well, and her grandmother loves her also.
They both say that they are going to treat her the same way as normal kids.
I've heard before about people who are blind. Most of those people became blind in the childhood or in the adulthood.
Therefore, being born without eyes is pretty rare.
I wonder if she wants to look at her mother or grandmother and see how they look.

Sugar Addiction 2

I was reading the article from ABC news, and they said that
the sugar addiction can be caused by depression and anxiety.
That can be true for me, because when I have stress, or have a lot of tests and writing reports, or before presentations I feel like taking sweet snacks.
In order to cut the sugar intake, soybeans and yogurt and some other healthy food were introduced in the article.
As for artificial sugar, many people use them instead of natural sugar
However, according to the article, it's much safer to cut the sugar intake instead of using those artificial sugars.

Sugar Addiction 1

I was wondering the sugar can be addicted, because I love sweet snacks.
I love cakes, candy bars and chocolate. I was wondering if there is a reason why I can't live without it. And, now I found out! Sugar can be addicted.
Sugar addiction is very scary. It can cause cancer, diabetes, heart attack and so on.
Sugar itself is not a poison, but if you take it too much, it can cause serious ill.
Basically, amount of sugar you can take is about 20 grams a day.
However, many sweet products contain a lot of sugar, and it is above 20 grams.
According to ABC news, sugar addiction can be divided into some patterns.
One is that people feel tired because of work and take energy drinks, which has a lot of sugar in it.
Second is pressure of stress. People feel stressed out and eat sweet stuff.
There are also some other patterns, but I couldn't understand them much.

A body was found in landing gear

In an airplane of Delta Airlines, a dead body was found.
The airplane left NewYork and landed Narita airport.
A mechanic in the airport found a dead body in landing gear compartment,
while doing the maintenance.
The dead body was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans, and can't be identified who it is as yet.
Maybe he couldn't get out from the compartment while doing something?
If he was not dead while he was in the compartment, he must have died during the flight.
If so, that's terrible because the air gets very cold and there are not enough oxygen.
I wonder why he was in there.

In sickness, love lasts longer

There is a good article in the CNN Health, that in sickness, love endures.
In the article, a woman is ill and has hard time to walk. Her husband takes care of her well.
According to him, love can be developed not only the affection but also through commitment.
They have a lot of hard time together, so in the good times, they both feel happier.
I think that if a husband is busy to take care of his wife, he won't have time to cheat.
So the article can be true.
Also, if a spouse become ill and can't live by himself, some people can't be divorced. Maybe they are more likely to help their spouse, I think.

Toyota Recall

One of the biggest automakers in the world, Toyota, has made a statement last week.
They talked about their popular car, Prius and SAI that those cars should be repaired( maybe improved?)
In the United States, Japan and maybe around the world, customers who drive those cars had fears of the breaks. They felt the breaks not working a moment.
Unike typical cars, Prius and SAI have computer inside that controls break systems.
The computer is improved now, according to Toyota.
Toyota is well known for the advanced technology of making cars, and also many people think their cars are safe.
Maybe they should do more monitoring and make sure that the customers feel safe when they ride Toyota cars.

KIRIN & SUNTORY merger

There was a big news last year and people were surprised that one of the biggest drink makers KIRIN and SUNTORY are considering a merger.
If the two companies became one, that can be a biggest drink makers in the world.
However, the dream didn't came true.
The two companies couldn't make a compromise of its share ratio.
Also, their point of view about how the companies should be was different.
From the consumer's point of view, I don't want them to merger.
They both make good beer, and both of they are popular in Japan.
However, if they merger, their own distinct style of making drinks can be changed.
So they should not merger if doesn't merit both of them.

Diet shakes

It seems like that there is a trend of losing weight.
A couple of years ago, Billy's boot camp and core rhythm became very popular.
This year, it seems like, diet shakes are catching a trend.
DHC and ORBIS, and some of the big online companies are advertising diet shakes.
Diet shakes can reduce calories you take if you replace a meal to a diet shake.
Diet shakes have only about 150 kcal each, so if you replace a food and drink a diet shake,
you can cut huge amount od calories a day.
There are disadvantages of diet shake, though.
I tried some of the diet shakes before, but they are sweet and don't feel like eating food.
So I felt hungry and eventually ate some food.
Also, diet shakes are little expensive. It costs about 300 yen each.

Battle of Okinawa

In the past, a big war between Japan and the U.S was held in Okinawa.
When I was little, I asked my grandmother about the Battle of Okinawa, and her experiences.
My grandmother was about 21 years old then, which is pretty much like our age.
She was in Ishigaki island and lived close to her friends' houses.
When she heard that the Americans coming to their island, she and her friends hide in the forests. While they were in the forest, one of her friend was shot on her shoulder, and died.
The biggest enemy was not only the bombs, but also mosquitoes. Malaria was widely spread to people who live in forests. Many of them died because of it. My grandmother couldn't sleep much and had to take care of her friends who suffered from Malaria.

the number of suicide increases

The number of people who committed suicide increased this year. It's about 32,750, which means that 504 more people killed themselves.
The number is 9 times as much as people who died of traffic accidents.
Some reasons why the number increased are mental depressions and the recession.
The number of people who don't have job increased, and it causes problems both mentally and physically.
Of course Okinawa is one of the prefectures that has a biggest suicide rates.
We have many suicide spot in Okinawa..
One time when I was in elementary school, an old man put gasoline on his body, burned himself and died in the school. That was shocking.
I hope the economy gets better soon, and more people can get jobs.

Dinasour feather

According to Nature, sinosauropteryx( one kind of dinasour) feather was just discovered.
The discovery of dinasour's feather is the first time in the history it seems.
We are likely to believe that dinasours are green or gray colored,
but it is said that the sinosauroteryx was covered with reddish and orange colored feather. The scientists say that the feather is bird-like. However, we can't say that all dinasours have feathers like this. Some dinasours are thought to had no feather and only skins. But it's interesting that the dinasour has a color like that, be cause my image of dinasour is scary and bloody, so the color like orange is far from scary. Rather it looks cute.

making a school with plastic bottles

An elementary school in Guatemala has made a school with 6000 plastic bottles.
Students cooperated together and helped build their school. They took part in making the walls and collecting pet bottles.
But, plastic bottles are too weak to use for building..don't you think?
Therefore they came up with an idea that they first make a fence filled with plastic bottles first.
Then, they covered the fence with three layers of cement. They say that, by doing so, they could make stronger walls, and the strength is almst equal to the normal one.
The school with pet bottles looked nice, and you can't tell it'sfrom the outside lookthat it used plastic bottles for its building.
I think the idea is interesting, but still it can be dangerous because pet bottles are weak and easily to get old.

okinawa 4

This time I'm going to talk about the oceans is Okinawa.
Although the oceans in Okinawa are beautiful, the number of coral reefs have decreased recently.
It is said that many many years ago, the main island in Okinawa was not bigger than it is now.
The island used to be surrounded by a huge coral reefs.
Only the northern part of the island was a big hill, and other parts of Okinawa ( middle and south ) were in the Ocean and had coral reefs.
Then, the sea level changed and those coral reefs became grounds, which means that middle and south part of Okinawa is made of dead coral reefs and mud in the bottom of the ocean.
So I think that in the old times, the ocean in Okinawa could have been soooo beautiful.
Nowadays, we face global warming, and the number of coral reefs has decreased, even in Kerama islands, which are well known for its beauty of coral reefs.

Okinawa 3

I liked the old Shiraho district, where I can see my grandmother's friends in old, traditional houses.
However, only two of them are alive now. Also, the district is not like past anymore.
There are new houses, and the traditional Okinawan houses were torn down.
People from mainland Japan have moved to the district, and what is sad is that people don't talk with their neighbors anymore.
The beach I used to swim has also changed. There used to be a lot of coral reefs, but now it's almost gone.
I liked the island in the past, but now it has changed so much that I can hardly see anything beautiful in the past.
My grandmother visited the island last year, and she said " It seems like everythings have changed." she looked sad.
I think the urbanization is not always good, because it lacks of unique traditions.
I've seen an article that says that big cities looks the same. I think it happens to small cities also.

Okinawa2

This time I will talk about my father's home island.
He is from Ishigaki island.
His parents ( my grand parents ) are also born and lived in Ishigaki island.
My grandfather was lived in Taiwan for a while, because Taiwan used to be a Japanese territory.
My grandfather's father was a teacher in Taiwan, taught at a Japanese school..
So we have a family grave in Ishigaki island, and we have to go to Ishigaki once in a while to maintain the grave.
One time, my parents were cutting grass around the grave, there were a big Habu. Luckily I was playing in the sugarcane field so I didn't see it. They gave the Habu to a local factory and they made a Habu-shu ( alcohol bottle with a habu inside ).
My grandparents lived in Shiraho district and I often been there and swimed in Shiraho beach when I was an elementary school student.
-continue to the next blog,,-

Okinawa 1

I was thinking about topics which I can write about easily, and found that I can write many things about travel spots in Okinawa.
This time I will going to talk about Shuri Castle.
When I was an elementary school student, I visited the Shuri Castle for the first time.
I was a hot summer day, and some of the building( the main castle especially ) didn't have air conditioners.. I've been there 4-5 times since then, but the main castle doesn't have the air conditioners because they have to maintain the building. The Urushi ( red paints ) that covers the buildings has to be in a humid environments, they say.
I've showed it around to my Danish friend 2 years ago, and she liked it.
Also, when she and I answered the quastionare, we got beautiful pencils and book marks.
It was very nice.

Foreigners work at nursing homes

Despite the recession, some companies or institutions want to increase the number of hiring.
The nursing homes that takes care of elders especially look for people who want to work there.
However, the field is not popular among young people, because the job requires physical work and the payment is not good enough..
Also, the population of Japan is said to be slowly decreasing.
Therefore the Japanese government allowed more foreiners to work in Japan.
Because of it, the number of foreigners who work at such fields increased by 30%, most of them are women from Philippines, China, and South Korea.
It's good for the field to hire them, beause I think the more people work in the filed, the more care they can give to the elders.

Cleaning

Some people like cleaning, but I don't like it at all.
I just don't feel like cleaning,,,
I keep a dog at home, so her hair is flying in the air and it covers the floor when the season changes.
It is stressful to look dirty floors and tables or shelves that have many stuff.
So I think what is important is not to put many things on the floor, and force myself to clean the room once in a while. Also it might be better to sell or put away stuff that haven't been used for a long time.
I'd like to know how people clean their house or if they are cleaning regularly.
Maybe I shuld force myself to clean for only 5 minutes, everyday.

Hip Hopper Monk in Tokyo

In Tokyo, there is a Monk Bar. In a Buddhist temple near the bar,
monks sing hip hop and attract people singing and dancing.
They say that the traditional or old way of teaching Buddhism does not work for people in Japan today.
Besides, many temples are shutting down because there are not many people who want to take care of those.
Also, Buddhism is becoming less popular in Japan, because it is hard for the ordinary people to understand what it means.
They came up with an idea that singing hip hop music to teach the Buddhism will attract young people. They sing hip hop in the temple, and make cocktails.
Their idea worked well, and the number of young people who visit the temple doubled.

cutting sugar intake

The numbers of people who are fat is increasing in many developed countries( and developing countries) today.
In the United states, almost half of people are overweight. In Japan, there still are fat people.
Even people know they are overweight, it's hard for them to change their diet(
or their lifestyles) quickly.
I'm also trying to lose weight, but it's hard for me to exercise regularly, or change my diet.
I love to drink coffee with sugar, love to eat cakes, snacks, and chocolate bars.
However, I found an article from TIME magazine that you can easily cut sugar intake by
stop drinking soda. A soda has about 8 teaspoons of sugar in it.
Maybe I should stop drinking coffee with sugar?

Babies cry in native language

Infants cry in their mother tongue..
It is hard to believe, but according to the latest research, babies in their mom's womb
listens how their parents speak. They pick up their parents accents, and after they are born,
they cry with rising and falling pitch.
They examined 60 babies, half French and the other half German.
French babies start to cry with low pitch and then high pitch. German babies cry opposite way.
The pitch patterns reflect the intonations of their parents' language.
The research concluded that, even before birth, babies learn languages.
So it's better to talk to baby as much as possible so that they can be advanced language speaker!

The Haiti Earthquake

On Jan. 12, a big earthquake hit Haiti, about 50,000 people were killed so far.
The Magnitude was about 7, and the news I saw yesterday said that it was bigger than
the Hanshin earthquake happened in Japan in the past.
Earthquakes often happen in Japan, so the building technology is very advanced here.
However, Haiti is known as one of the poorest countries in the world,
and they didn't have enough money to make buildings strong enough to stand the earthquake, even the government office was destroyed.
Haiti is surrounded by the beautiful nature, but the nature sometimes attacks humans.
I'm very sorry for people in Haiti.