We took a ski trip to Nagano last weekend. We visited Kaida Kogen ski resort near Mt.Ontake and Sirakaba ski resort near Mt.Tateshina. There was a lot of snow at the top of Mountain, however it has already melted at the base. Some ski slop…

The Japanese Yen has become weaker compared to the U.S. and Australian Dollars. I don't know why. Anyway, that leads to more exports, but it costs to more for important goods. I think it's sustainable at an exchange rate of one dollar to 1…

The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom in the western Japan. Today, they bloomed in Otsu, Shiga prefecture. Finally, spring has come to Japan. I have mixed feelings about this. The cherry blossoms are very beautiful and they are symbol …

Last Friday was the 11th of March and it was the sad anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake. It has been eleven years since that disaster. Many people died and many people are still missing, we don’t know what happened to them. Tho…

We took a ski trip to Gifu prefecture last weekend. On Saturday, it was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the groomed ski slopes at the Funayama resort. We stayed at a Japanese style hotel with natural hot springs called the Hirayu Onsen and …

On 24th February, Russia invaded Ukraine. I feel terrible, because many people have died there and also the war will affect the Japanese econmy. The war makes us unhappy. Stop the war immediately! Nobody benefits from fighting.

The Winter Olympic games in Beijing have just finished. They took place without a live audience, so we just watched them on TV. Japan won three gold, six silver and nine bronze medals. I respect the Japanese Olympians, because I believe th…

We enjoyed a three day holiday last weekend. We visited Niigata prefecture and stayed there three nights and enjoyed skiing at five resorts, eating the local food, enjoying Japanese sake and relaxing in the natural hot springs. Everywhere …

We had a record snowfall last weekend in the northern part of Japan. In Sapporo and Otaru, all the JR trains and many bus lines are still shut down due to the heavy snow. The snowplows came and cleared the snow from the roads, but the snow…

Baseball is back in Japan. Yesterday was the first day of spring training for Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Five baseball teams will start practice in Miyazaki prefecture and other seven teams will train in Okinawa prefecture for abo…

We took a ski trip to Nagano last weekend and there was a lot of snow. The powerful cold winds from Russia came to Japan last Thursday and finally we had heavy snow fall. Some places had over 80 cm of fresh snow in one night. Of course, we…

The Omicron variant is spreading not only all over the world but also in Japan. The Japanese government has reported more than twenty thousand people infected with the COVID-19 every day in the last few days. I thought we were getting back…

We took a ski trip to Nagano during our New year vacation with my friends’ families. Six of us like to ski. My friend’s son is 7 years old and loves winter sports. He likes playing in the snow, sledding and skiing. We felt happy, because h…

Happy New Year 2022. I hope we will have a great year and the coronavirus goes away.