2018/11/28 Just ten minutes

I’m not feeling well, so I’m going to see the doctor before work. I’m very sorry about this. Bye.

Are you okay? Why don't you take the day off?

I can't. I have an important meeting this afternoon.

Do you have a fever?

No. But I might get one later. I guess I have a cold. The doctor will give me some medicine.

Are you sure you're okay? Hey. What are you doing?

It's garbage day today, so I’m collecting the garbage.

You should stay in bed.

But the garbage truck will come at eight.

Don't worry about it. I'll take out the garbage today.

Really? Thanks.

But I wonder why you got sick.

Maybe because the air is so dry.

Dry?

Look at my face. My skin is really dry.

Ah, you're right.

My lips are so dry that they hurt every time I smile. I wish I could keep a warm moist towel on my face all day.

Oh, you poor thing. You know, I have an idea. You can use one of my moisturizing face masks.

A face mask? Aren’t face masks for women?

I hear that men use them, too.

What for?

To keep their skin healthy.

It's okay. I don't need to use one.

I'd be embarrassed if someone saw me.

No one is going to see you.

I’m the only one here. And in just ten minutes, you will feel much better.

My skin is not the problem. This cough is.

Honey, you can go to the doctor and get medicine for your cough. Let me take care of your skin. Okay, I’m going to put the mask on your face.

You're really going to do this?

Of course. Be quiet. Push your hair off your face. Now don't move.

It's cold.

It’ll get better right away.

Oh.

How is it?

It feels good.

Good. Now go and relax for ten minutes.

Ten minutes. Okay.

This face mask isn't so bad. I can understand why men use them, too. It smells good. Like roses. Or is this lavender? Hey, I think I stopped coughing. Maybe I won't need to go to the doctor.

Oh, no. I fell asleep. What time is it?

It's a little past eight.

Past eight? The garbage.

Garbage? Oops. I gorgot about it.

What? Maybe I can catch the truck.

Wait. You can't go outside like that.

Hey. Wait. Can you take these bags, too?

Sure. What's that?

What do you mean?

You have something on your face.

Oh, my mask. Can you take this, too?  It has been ten minutes, so I can take it off now.

2018/11/27 The straw millionaire

Once upon a time, there lived a poor young man. Both his mother and father died, and so he was alone. I think I will go and start a new life. There was nothing in the house but some straw. It is only straw, but I have to take it with me. It is all I have.

The young man started walking along a road at the bottom of a mountain. Then, he saw a man making charcoal.

The man said, Could I buy that straw? I need some straw to tie up my charcoal.

The young man said, Sure, but you don't have to pay me. You can have my straw.

Then, the man said, No, no. I can't have it for free. Please take some charcoal.

Okay, thank you very much.

So the younga man took some charcoal and walked away.

After a while, he saw a blacksmith making swords.

The blacksmith said, Hey, Is that charcoal?

Yes, it is.

Could I buy it? I’m making a sword, It's almost finished now, but I need a little more charcoal to keep my fire going.

The young man gave the charcoal to the blacksmith and said, Sure, you can have it for free.

The blacksmith was happy and said, Thank you. If you don't want any money, you can have a sword. Take any one you like.

Thank you very much. I'll have this one.

The young man took a short sword and started walking again.

After a while, he met a samurai on a horse. The samurai saw the young man’s sword. Hey, you. Your short sword looks very fine. Will you sell it to me? I have a main sword but not a short sword. How much do you want for it?

You can have it. A blacksmith gave me this sword for free. First, I had some straw. I gave it to a man, and he gave me charcoal. I gave the charcoal to the blacksmith, and he gave me this sword. So you don't have to pay me.

The samurai was quite impressed and said, Most people try to get a lot of money, but you are different. You are giving me something for free. You are a good man. I am going to fight in a big battle soon. Please become my son and take care of my family.

The samurai wrote a letter and gave it to the young man.

Take this letter and show it to my family. They will understand.

The young man took the letter to the samurai’s house. It was a big house. The samurai’s family said, We are happy you are joining our family.

The youn man became part of the family and took care of them. After a while, the samurai died in the battle. The young man continued to take care of his family. In this way, the poor young boy with some straw became a master of a big house.

2018/11/26 A&B @ Sado kinzan

Ben, don't move. The taraibune is shaking. Excuse me. Please take us back to shore.

Already? But you just go on. Why don't you try paddling the boat?

No. That’s okay.

I want to try it.

Don't stand up so suddenly, Ben. We are all going to fall in the water.

Don't worry. This washtub-boat doesn't turn over easily.

I’m Ben. Today, Akito and I are at Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture. Right now, we are taking a ride on the famous taraibune. Later, we are going to see the Sado Kinzan Gold Mine.

I hear there's a large piece of gold worth 60 million yen somewhere on this island.

60 million yen? Wow.

After hearing this, Akito and I rush to the gold mine.

That’s Doyu-no-Wareto rock. It's the symbol of Sado Kinzan.

It looks like someone cut out the middle.

Yeah. It became like that because they took too much gold from the top part.

Ah, I see. Akito, it says there are two mining tunnels.

You're right. One was made by hand during the Edo period.

What about the other tunnel?

It was made during the Meiji period.

Inside, you can see the actual machines that people used to dig for gold.

We go into the Edo period tunnel. It is cold. There aredolls placed inside, so we can see how people worked. In the Meiji period tunnel, we can see how the gold was carriedout of the mountain.

I heard that this gold mine was used for 388 years. Seventy-eight tons of gold was found.

At one time, aroud one hundred thousand people from around the country lived here.

It was a Japanese gold rush.

That’s right. This mine was used until 1989. That’s only about 30 years ago.

That’s unbelievable. So where can we find that large piece of gold the woman spoke about?

You know, I think she was just joking.

Oh, really? I wanted tu find it.

Next, we go to a nearby museum. I was a little sad about the piece of gold, but.

Hey, Ben. Look.

I look over and see a large bar of gold. It is inside a clear case with a hole in the middle.

You can try to take it out through that hole.

Leave it to me.

I try and try, but the bar of gold is very heavy, and the hole is too small for my large hand. I can pick it up, but I can't bring it through the hole.

I give up. This is too difficult.

Ben, this is just for fun. Let's go get some ice cream instead. It's very special.

We leave the bar of gold and go to the museum store to buy ice cream.

This ice cream has gold flakes on it.

Ben, I’m glad you finally got your gold.

2018/11/23 The nose / Episode three

Naigu looked into a mirror. His long nose was shorter. Before, it came down to his chin. But now it was above his lips. No one would laugh at him anymore. Naigu smiled happily at the face in the mirror. The face smiled back.

But Naigu wasn’t completely happy. He was now afraid that it would get long again. So Naigu kept touching his nose all the time. He touched it when he was praying, when he was eating, and whenever he had time. But his nose stayed short. He became so happy. His long nose was finally short. Naigu felt like he was free from his problems.

After a few days, however, Naigu found a big surprised. When Naigu went outside, people now looked at him more than before. They looked at him with funny faces. When they talked with Naigu, they only looked at his short nose. Even the young monk who had dropped Naigu’s nose into the rice porridge bowl looked down to hide his smile. But the young monk couldn't hide it very well, and Naigu heard him laughing. Other monks listened while Naigu talked, but they too would start to laugh after Naigu left. This happened not only once, but many times.

At first, Naigu thought it was because his face had changed. His nose was shorter, so it must look strange to them. But something was different. The way they laughed at him was different from when his nose was long. During his daily prayers, Naigu thought, I don't understand. They didn’t laugh at me like that before.

Naigu looked at a picture of a Buddhist statue and thought long and hard. He thought back four or five days earlier when his nose was still long. Now he was like a poor person who used to be rich. He was sad looking back to the good old days. Naigu didn’t understand at all. Why were people laughing at him more now? Unfortunatly, Naigu didn’t have the wisdom to understand.

People often have opposite feelings inside. If they see someone in trouble, they feel sorry for that person. But at the same time, if that peoron succeeds in getting out of the trouble and becomes happy, they feel unsatisfied. If we say it in an exaggerated way, people might want that person to become sad and in trouble again. And if that feeling gets bigger, they start to feel that person is their enemy. People are hard to understand sometimes. Naigu had felt this without understanding it. He had thought people would be happy because he was happy. But they weren’t.

2018/11/22 Colombia

Hola! Hey there. A quick quiz. Do you know the name of this island? It takes two hours by boat to get there from the coast of Colombia. In the past, fishermen used to take breaks on this coral isdland, but no one lived there. Now it is the most crowded island in the world. Tick-tock, tick-tock.

The answer is Santa Cruz del Islote.

Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am the Republic of Colombia, and I am the contry connecting Central America nad South America. I am named named after Christopher Columbus, you know. About 49 million people live here, and most speaks Spanish. I am about three times larger than Japan.

My capital city is Bogota, and it's the second largest city in South America. It is also one of the highest capitals in the world. It's at 2640 Meters. By the way, Tokyo is only 40 meters above the sea.

Did you know Bagota is also know as the Athens of South America? There are many universities and libraries there, and many important cultural events are held in Bagota.

Anyway, back to Santa Cruz del Islote. The island is very small. It's about the size of a baseball field. There are about 1200 people living there, so it's about four times more crowded than Manhattan. Can you imagine? But people love living on their island.

Most people on the island are related to each other. More than half of the people are children under 18 years old. There are about 100 houses, and most families have 10 to 20 family members, so the houses are crowded inside, too. But they live peaceful lives by helping each other.

They clean each other’s houses and look after each other’s babies. If a fight starts, people stop the fight with the words, We are family, you know.

Oh, and people don't lock their homes. The houses are used like roads by people to get around the island. Interesting, right?

Also, there are only a few hours of electricity each day, with no gas or running water. So people use rainwater or wait for the Colombian Navy to bring fresh water to them.

There is one school, but there are no police. Students play soccor on the small open space in the main street of the island. It may sound inconvenient to you, but people are happy. Do you know why? That’s right. We are family, you know.

This island is only a small part of Colombia. There are many things to see, do and eat in my country. I hope to see you someday.