I was going to write about seeing a young girl, leaning over on both of the passengers sitting beside her in her sleep inside a crowded train car, and that I wanted to slam her with a "Harisen".

I was going to, but then I was puzzled and wondered how I should express this "Harisen" in English. If I put it straight into English, I guess it would be "fan", though that might give you an image of me slamming a stranger with a beautiful traditional ornament which makes me look quite obscene. That doesn't project the exact idea of a "Harisen" or the situation it is used in Japan. If there's anyone who knows or could think up of a good expression, I'd be grateful if you let me know.

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Caterpillar

A day before yesterday, the members of the track and field national team for the Beijing Olympics were announced. Dai Tamesue the 400m hurdler, who has been worried that he might not be able to join the team because of his delay in training due to achillodynia, was included too. Good grief. After all, I had no idea what could happen.

Speaking of Tamesue, he has said half jokingly after test-running the tracks and performing what he calls himself "the worst in my career" in Beijing, "Who knows, maybe they might come up with a running suit like LZR Racer track and field version." Well, how about that? Why not wear LZR Racer for the Olympic race? Who knows, it might make you fast in air if it could make you fast in water.

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There was a report in a news program that I saw yesterday, that another Sentou (communal bath) was driven to go out of business influenced by the rising oil prices. What a disappointment, really. But I love Sentou. It is said that there are about 900 Sentou spread all over Japan at present however, there may be none left in the near future if it keeps going on like this. And I'll be damned if something like that happens.

Can't the government take some sort of a Sentou security step? Then again, I think Sentou is one of the few cultural heritage that carries on the Japanese traditional culture to today. If the government supports the growth of Anime as a culture unique to Japan, I wish they'd support Sentou at all costs too.

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Today's Tokyo became hot... it's like real summer. A while ago, they were saying on the radio that the temperature in Otemachi marked 30 degrees centigrade; as of noon today. So it should be hot. They also told the warnings of thunder showers for this afternoon, due to unsettled state of the atmosphere.

Weeell, has summer come already? According to the weekly forecast which I saw in the beginning of this week, rain showers were expected on Thursday or Friday and the rainy weather was thought to last a littler longer however, sunny marks were shown in a row until a week ahead when I checked it again this morning. Doesn't that mean the rainy season is ending? Though I'll have to confess that I haven't put away my electric carpet yet. Well, I've been busy, you know.

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The other day I overslept and was late for work. And I had a teriible weekend at that time. I felt deeply sorry for what I've done, so I've been coming to my office on time since then. Not to mention, I feel terrribly sorry to have caused my clients so much trouble and besides, Cow went furious about it.

I mended my ways and arrived at my office on time as usual. But the shutter at the entrance was still pulled down. I thought it was Cow's job to push them up every day...!! Could it be that...I called him up and as expected, he was still asleep. Heeey!!

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We've had three consecutive real hot days here in Tokyo since last friday, with yesterday's temperature rising as high as 33 degrees centigrade. Such weather should be called summer, no doubt. I've been putting it off till now, but this heat made me put away my electric carpet and pull out my electric fan instead. Phew, relief.

However, there's one thing that make me feel uneasy about. It's the cicadas. Usually when it gets this hot, cicadas start chirring here and there, sometimes turning into a noise too loud rather than a chorus. Though this year, I think haven't heard a chirrup yet. Is there something wrong? Is it supposed to be some kind of a sign before an earth shock? I'm a little worried.

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The G8 summit starts today in Tohyako, Hokkaido. And not only Tohyako where the meeting is supposed to take place, but even Tokyo is under heightened security to be wary about terrorism. The whole city is tension-filled with policemen standing on almost every street corner, every train station. Tourists from overseas may be surprised to see it.

This security precaution has been carried out in Tokyo, say from 2 weeks ago . Well, it's true that it would be too late after something has happened. Now, is it only me who might be thinking that we could have been able to prevent the Akihabara stabbing spree from occuring, if those policemen were on alert from a month before the summit?

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In the G8 summit which started yesterday, the aproach for environmental problems on a global basis are supposed to be discussed. Yes, many of you might already know that we are in a serious condition at present, and there are no more time left to waste.

When we were chatting over such things, Cow's old man suddenly came up with a stunning opinion. "If they say we have to reduce carbon dioxode emission, why don't they turn 'em all into dry ice? Then, I bet they'd have plenty of dry ice, plenty enough so that we don't have to worry about (global) warming any more. It might even get too cold, then, ha-ha." !! If this is technically viable, it could be an unexpectedly good idea. (And we can save the polar bears, too.)

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It was last autumn when I've decided to get rid of my Goza (straw mat or a rug typed Tatami) which I had been using for several summers. I'll get a new one next summer. By then, I'd probabaly have some income, I had thought. And since it's becomming pretty hot, I bought a new one that said "Igusa(rush) sheet" on its label.

Goza, these days, are surprisingly good. It's mildew-proof and antitick as well, and the sponge-like fibers of Igusa(rush) absorbs moisture 2 to 3 times more than cotton. By absorbing moisture that come from sweat, it reduces about 25 percent of the humidity and supports comfortable sleep in Japanese summer heat. Moreover, it controls the substances that cause sweaty smell more than 90 percent. And above all, the scent of Igusa is healing. It's definitely indispensable.

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Since when I've started working again last year, Washing Obaba's laundry has become my duty on my day offs. She can, and does go to the laundromat by herself sometimes, and because it's quite a task (her laundry usually come in a huge heap), recently I've been asking her to go to the laundromat herself about once in every three times.

The other day I went to Obaba's room to pick up her laundry, but they were already washed and hung. So you went to the laundromat yourself, I thought. I praised her for doing it on her own. Though after I've listened close to her story, I found out that she just jumped on when JoOusama washed her's...did you lie to me?!

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Because I dropped by the library on my way to work, I had to buy a ticket and take the train from the station near the library, different from the station that I usually use. As I went through the ticket gate with an examiner, he told me "You can also insert your pass with your ticket on it, and go through automatic ticket gates."

Whhaaatt, rreaaally?! I asked him several more times to make doubly sure. So I can, isn't that impressive? So as soon as I had the next chance, I tried it right away. And you know what happened? I got stuck and got icy cold stares from the people behind me! And please let me inform you that, that annoying litlle display of the gate showed a sign saying, "Please use the gate with examiners" just when I got blocked by the gate! Are you tryin' to mess around with me, or what?!

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I think it was about 3 days ago. The Windows XP-mounted computer that we were using in the office, suddenly became incapable of Internet connection. That means we're losing business. The lap-top with Vista didn't seem to have any trouble. Then why, oh why...

We've searched all over and at last, Cow found out that something must have gone wrong between the security soft installed in the former said computer, and the update transaction which we had already made a couple of days ago. There was also a notice put up on the security software maker's site, about specifical actions we should take against this problem. Well done, Cow. We installed the correcting program right away, and it was connected! Phew, relief.

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Thanks to Cow, our office computer recovered its access to the Internet. But my computer at home was left off the line for several days. So I decided to go to the software maker's site that cow has showed me, to download and install the correcting program.

However, somehow the download didn't start no matter how many times I clicked on the link. Whhyy?? All the other ones are able to download. Why not this one? Eventually, I spent about an hour searching all over, until I found a different route to get to the correcting program and managed to have it installed in my computer. After a couple of hours, I went back to the site just to see if things have changed. There was no problem...(-_-;) Why does it always happen to me?

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I wonder if you know about Hourai's Steamed Pork Buns. I've heard that it's famous for its good taste and nearly everyone knows about it in Osaka, though I haven't had a chance to share the enjoyment yet. I have been longing to taste it someday, when I happened to discover the other day, that they were sold in Seijou Ishii (imported food supermarket) located in Shibuya's underground shopping area. Only they were the ones you have to steam yourself.

Cow has told me that he wanted to try them too, so I thought I'd buy some. But just as I was checking the ingredients, I found out that there were some Shiitake mushroom used in it. Oh, geez. Cow doesn't like Shiitake mushrooms...

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I went shopping at Uniqlo. As I came home, opened the shopping bag to pull out what I had bought, I realized for the first time that it was overpacked in seemingly nonburnable vinyl? plastic? bags. When I pulled out what I had bought, it was packed in a transparent bag with a zipper just like zip-loc, and then packed inside a larger bag of the same kind, only this one had a plastic hook attached to it (probably for displaying the product)...It's like you find a bag inside a bag when you open it...

Do they know how much garbage they're making? And now, when ecology is becoming a major concern? I wish they'd make it cheaper then, if they have that much time and money to spend on the package.

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I was listening to the radio in spare time from my work, and I heard this well-known Japanese radio show host talking about billiards, saying that pool halls are places that makes him feel "Kimochi-ii(feel good in Japanese, though it also contains a nuance of REFRESHING)".

Well, I do think that the way people think or feel and their sense of value should be different between each person, but in general terms, were pool halls wide and open space that can be expressed as "Kimochi-ii"? As for me, I've always had an impression that it was kinda dark and gloomy, not being able to tell so even if it was bright outside, a closed space with cigarette smokes rising here and there. That's far from "Kimochi-ii"...

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The Japnese version of the poplar American TV program "CBS 60 Minutes" is broadcasted late every Wednesday. Yesterday, they were picking up "sleeping" as a theme. According to the report in the program, the ideal hours of sleep was said to be 7.5 to 8 hours per night.

My average hours of sleep is 4 to 5 hours, which is sleep deprivation, no doubt. And a chronic one. When there's lack of sleep, they said that it causes deterioration of memory, cognitive abilities and judgement. The experiment shown in the program, limiting sleeping hours to 4 hours a day for a week seemed to prove that. The girl who appeared as an examinee was answering extremely slow to Leslie Stahl's interview. So I must be in the same situation as that girl...

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Pitcher, Kouji Uehara has been called for the member of the national baseball team for the Olympics. Though it might not be a situation for him to go wild with joy, when he hasn't performed well in this season's pennant race.

Uehara, who farmed out not having any damage to his body, still hasn't regained his performance yet after he's been back in the first team on June 29th. Perhaps his steady character may be causing him harm in some way. It's a layman's view, but to me his pitching form seems cowered and stiffened from thinking or worrying about so many things. Since Uehara has been performing so well on the international stage, I hope that this Olympic games will trigger his resilience somehow.

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The end of Tsuyu(the rainy season) has been announced at last.

Well, it was about time they did. It's been so hot, you know. In the weather forecast I saw a couple of days ago, they said that they can't announce the end of Tsuyu yet, because the atmosphere was still unsettled. But with the daytime temperature rising to over 30 degrees centigrade, and having rainshowers in the afternoon, I think it wasn't only me who thought that it WAS already summer...Hey, get a grip, Japan Meteorological Agency.

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I had a tough day yesterday. It was so busy that I barely had breaks. Without having even an ounce of strength left to update this "Murmur", I managed to reach home and was about to satisfy my empty stomach and comfort myself with Sashimi(the fish part of Sushi), my favorite food. However, something was..strange. The Sashimi which was supposed to fill me with delight somehow tasted ...sweet? Where did this sweetness come from?...!!

Oh, man. The dark brown liquid that I'd poured into my small saucer to dip the Sashimi which I was granted that it was Shoyu(Soy sauce), turned out to be Mentsuyu(salty sweet Shoyu based sauce for noodles)...Damn you, JoOusama! The Sashimi filled me with disgust in stead of delight because of you.

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It's a consecutive holiday in a while. I've been quite busy these days and haven't been checking my e-mail, so I was briefing throught them when I found a mail from one of my friends. According to the e-mail, that friend of mine whose husband is from Nara prefecture, she buys Hourai pork buns whenever she goes to her husband's parent's house, because it tastes so good.

What?! So it's really good! It made me want to try it even more...Ahh, today was a day-off. Since I happened to have some occasion of going out, why don't I go and buy some? I'll taste it myself, and then I can always give some to Cow if it wasn't Shiitake mushroom flavor.

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I went and got a pack of Hourai's pork buns yesterday, and tried it for myself right away as I've said so. Hmm, it's not that bad, I mean, it's good all right, but it wasn't exceptionally good either...I became suspicious and went to check on their web site.

It was then I saw a note on their page saying, "551Hourai do not sell our pork buns as frozen food in supermarkets, or on the Internet such as Rakuten Market. Each and every one of our product has a 551HORAI brand mark on its package." The one I've bought only had a mark of Hourai in red print. It didn't have the brand mark of 551. Dammmnn...I wish I'd be able to taste the real ones someday, hopefully.

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About a week ago, a mail came from the ward informing the amount of payment for my health insurance for this year. But as I checked how much I had to pay, I noticed that it was nearly 4 times as much than last year, though my income hasn't changed that much...

How am I supposed to pay this, I thought, and called up the ward immediately to question them. As expected, they told me that I fall under the category of reducing measures however, they also told me that I had to declare my income in order to reduce my payment. So bothersome, though it always has. But if my health insurance expense will be reduced as long as I declare my income, I'd definitely do so, with pleasure.

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So, I've been to the ward office today to make my income declaration. And since they told me to bring my Inkan(personal seal) and tax withholding certificate, I did just as I was told. By the way, I wonder why these ward offices are always so incoveniently located...Holding a grudge against its bad location, I reached the office and went to the appropriate counter, which I had checked its place earlier on the phone. I was made to wait before I knew. Finally, when it was my turn, I told the person in charge that I wanted to make my income declaration. The office personnel handed me a form to fill out and said, "Have you brought your social insurance premium certificates today?"

No! Let me say that again, no I haven't!! I double-checked on the phone, but they never told me I'll need them!!

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It's that JoOusama's whim-wham again. It seems that she hasn't been cooking Obaba's meal again...They've had an absolutely same kind of trouble not a month ago, and they're fussing about it again? Well actually, I don't care if they make a fuss about something or not, I don't give a damn. But I just don't like to be complained from both sides, JoOusama and Obaba.

After all my hard work the last time, of going between them though unwillingly, and settling off the matter peacefully...with JoOusama staying out late tonight as if she was to say "Why should I care about my mother in law" when we're right in the middle of trouble..would you cut it out? Please?

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Caterpillar

There is a tradition in Japan, to eat Unagi(eels) on an Ushi day of Doyou. I'll leave the explanations for the next time, but anyway, it was the day before yesterday. I thought we were going to have Unagi for dinner at my home too, however, I was wrong. That night, my dinner was Katsuo(bonito) Sashimi.

We used to have Unagi for an Ushi day before. Since when did it stop? When I asked JoOusama, she answered "Because you people don't eat Unagi." What? I eat Unagi. Actually, I love it. Though there was approximately one person in the family who stopped eating it. Tono. And his reason is unbelievable - because Unagi is food with high cholesterol..really? I doubt it.. I wish he'd noticed that it also contains lots of DHA, which is effective inpreventing dementia.

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I came home exhausted yesterday. Wll, Saturdays are always pretty busy for me. I washed and cleaned my lunch box as usual, and dragged myself to the dining room where I found my sister, Hime, sitting at the table and eating..dinner. Why in the world is she here? What in the world is she here for?? With her kids, running around the table. And my seat somehow already engaged...

Hey, I am tired too. Will you please cut me some lack, guys...

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So JoOusama has the time and will to fix dinner for her beloved grandchildren or her adorable daughter, whereas she doesn't want to coo for Obaba. Well, the kids don't come for dinner every night but fixing Obaba's meal is an everyday task, so perhaps JoOusama has already got tired of it. After all, she usually acts from caprice and gets bored easily.

She likes to do whatever she wants to whenever she wants to, and wouldn't want to do something that has already become bothersome to her. So that's how she puts things. Well, that's how most of us do, but she doesn't seem to have any sense of responsibility nor sense of caring consideration.

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JoOusama who acts from caprice and gets bored so easily, started to say that she wanted to learn how to send e-mails. Actually, there is a desktop computer with Windows Me which has probably become a fossil already, sitting on her desk covered with dust. Guessing from her stories, she seems to want to join her volunteer friends who send e-mails to each other with pictures they have taken with their digital cameras attached to the mail.

Teaching something to JoOusama...that's much harder than trainig a dog to "sit" or "wait". She seems to be counting on me, but it gives me a chill just to imagine that.

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It was last Saturday. Because of the 27-hour TV, the Fuji TV didn't broadcast the usual programs. And maybe because of the 27-hour TV, other stations aired programs such as the final episode of a popular drama, a spectacular, a night game of Yomiuri Giants vs. Tokyo Yakult Swallows. Their intentions of trying to gain as much viewing rate as possible was obvious.

In such circumstance, what was aired on Tokyo TV was..a remote of the Sumidagawa Fireworks Display Festival. When you can see it live at Sumidagawa? In a prime-time slot? That's pretty cool. I like it. Hang in there Tokyo TV. You'll get a big chance someday.

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Random street assaults have been happening one after another in Japan for a while. The random stabbing at Arakawa-oki station, the indiscriminant stabbing at Akihabara in bright daylight, the stabbing in a bookstore at Hachiouji, and I've heard that there was another one at Hiratsuka station, just a couple of days ago.

I've always thought that TV or weekly magazines should be more responsible for their reports. Once something happens, they'd air the same kind of reports all day on most channels which goes on for days, while screaming headlines come into your eyes when you get on a train. In such circumstance, couldn't it be said that media is inducing crime? Or is it only me who think that people on the reporting side should have some more self-awareness and responsibility?

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Caterpillar