2018/11/21 Hide-and-seek

Are you ready?

No, not yet.

Hurry up. What's taking you so long?

Hey, don't look. Close your eyes and count to ten.

Okay, okay. I will. One, two, three, four.

I’m at the park with my dad. We are playing hide-and-seek. My dad is really good at hiding, so I always have trouble finding him.

Okay, I’m ready.

Great. I’m going to find you.

Dad was hiding under a bench before, so maybe he's behind that big tree this time.

Dad? I know you're there. Come out.

Shhhh.

Suddenly, I see an old man holding a large camera.

Oh, I’m sorry. I was looking for my dad.

That’s okay. Are you playing hide-and-seek?

Yes.

I’m playing hide-and-seek too.

You are? Who are you hiding from?

Actually, I’m not hiding. I’m looking for my friend.

But you look like you're hiding. If you're looking for your friend, you have to walk around and search everywhere.

Well, you don't always have to move around to find your friend. If you wait, sometimes your friend comes to you.

I don't understand.

You see, hide-and-seek is a waiting game. The person who can wait the longest is the winner.

A waiting game?

The person who hides waits without making a sound but it's impossible to be quiet forever.

Ah, I see. So you are waiting for your friend to make a sound.

Exactly. When I hear a sound, I know where my friend is. I always win this way.

Really?

Uh-huh. Try it. Close your eyes and listen carefully to the sounds around you.

Okay.

I try not to breathe. Everything is very quiet. And then…

There you are. I found you.

What was that?

It's a sandpiper. Sandpipers usually live by the water, so it's very rare to see one in the city.

A soundpiper? What does it look like?

The man shows me the screen on his camera. I see a small bird with a long beak.

You were playing hide-and-seek with a bird?

That’s right. Birds are really good at hiding.

So playing hide-and-seek with them must be fun.

It is. Okay, I have to go now. Good luck finding your father.

Thank you. good bye.

The man waited and found the bird. If I wait a little longer, maybe I can find Dad.

Achoo.

I quickly look up.

Hey. Is that you, Dad? I found you. You're in the tree.

Oh, no. You found me. I thought I had found a great hiding spot.

I win.

Thanks to the nice man, I found my dad and won this game of hide-and-seek.

2018/11/20 The magical listening hood

Once upon a time in a small village, there lived a hardworking young man. Every day he worked in the fields from early in the morning until late in the evening.

One evening, the young man was walking home, and he saw som children throwing rocks at a baby fox. Stop that. Don't hurt little animals.

The children ran away, and the man said to the little fox, are you okay? Don't let children catch you again. The baby fox happily returned to the mountains.

The following evening, the young man was walking home. Suddenly, a fox and her baby jumped out from behind the tree. The mother fox put a darty hood at the young man’s feet and said, Thank you for saving my baby yesterday. This is a present for you. If you wear this hood, you will understand what animals are saying. Then, the mother fox and her baby went away.

The young man didn’t understand what the fox said, but he picked up the hood and put it on. Suddenly, he heard voices above him.

The rice in that field is ready now.

Really? Then, I’m going there tomorrow for breakfast.

Be careful of that old woman. She's dangerous.

The young man looked up and saw two birds in a tree. He could understand them. He took off the hood and looked at it. This is magic. Then, he saw two crows in a tree. He put on the hood and listened to them.

I haven’t seen you for a long time. Anything new in your village?

Oh, yes. the village leader’s daughter is sick. I heard that when they fixed the roof of their house,there was a snake inside. Now he can't get out.

Really? So the daughter is sick because of the snake?

That’s right. If they save the snake, then the daughter will get well at once. But people don't understand what animals are saying, so they don't know why she is sick.

The young man was so surprised. He hurried to the village leader’s house. The young man told the village leader, I can help your sick daughter. The village leader was very worried about his daughter. So he let the young man climbed up onto the roof and make a hole in it. The young man found the snake. It was very weak.

You poor thing. You are going to be all right.

He gave the snake some water and put it in the garden.

Suddenly, the daughter sat up in bed. I feel much better, she said.

The village leader was so happy. He said to the young man, Young man, thank you for helping my daughter. You saved her life. I want you to keep protecting her. Won't you please marry my daughter and become my son?

In this way, the young man married the village leader’s daughter the two of them lived happily ever after.

2018/11/19 A&B @ Kurobe Dam

This is called a trolley bus? It's comfortable.

Yeah. It's called a bus, and it looks like one, too. But it runs on electricity. In Japan, you can ride on a trolley bus only in this place.

Really? We're luckey, then. So how long will it take until we arrive?

Well, this ride is ten minutes. Then, we take a ropeway for seven minutes, and then a cable car for five minutes.

Okay. So Ben, where exactly are we going?

To Kurobe Dam, of course.

I’m Akito. Ben and I are a street performance duo. Today, it seems we are headed to Kurobe Dam in Toyama Prefecture. I want to go to large cities to perform, but Ben wants to go to places with fewer people.

There will be many tourists at Kurobe Dam, so we’ll be able to earn lots of money.

You think so? People go to Kurobe to see the dam not street perfomers.

Oh, come on. Our performance is just as interesting as the dam.

I’m noto sure if Ben is right, but I guess we can try.

I think we can walk to the dam from here.

Okay. I wonder why they made a doma so far up in the mountains.

Mountains are good for dams. You see, dams create more electricity when large amounts of water fall from a high place to a low place.

Ah, I see. So how much electricity can this dam create?

Well, it says here that Kurobe Dam can create electricity for more than 300 thousand families.

Wow. This dam is really hardworking. Hey, Ben, it says that the dam can release ten tons of water each second. That’s a lot of water.

It really is. Speaking of water, I think I can here the sound of it. Let's go.

We walk a little further, and we can see the dam. It is really big. And there's lots and lots of water coming out of it.

Ah, it's almost like Niagara Falls.

It is. And it's so high.

Yeah. It's 186 meters high.

And look at all those people.

Didn’t I tell you? many tourists come here. okay. Let's do it.

Do what? Hey, Ben, what are you doing?

Ben takes out his juggling balls from his bag and starts to juggle.

Hello, everyone. I’m Ben, and this is Akito. Togethere, we are A and B. You can enjoy some fine entertainment and the amazing view.

Ben. We can't perform here. people want to see the dam.

What? People want to see us?

Akito. Don't just stand thre. Come and join me.

Okay.

I start juggling next to Ben. When we're finished, Ben raps, and I dance. For some reason, perfoming feels a lot more fun that it did before.

2018/11/16 The nose / Episode two

When Naigu heard about this new way to make his long nose shorter, he wanted to try it as soon as possible. But he acted like he didn’t care. Instead, he started saying, I know it is hard for you to hold my nose every time I eat. It must be so difficult.

Naigu would also say, I am so sorry you have to take care of me and my nose.

Naigu was waiting for the young monks to make him try the treatment. The young monks knew this was Naigu’s plan, so they asked him again and again to let them try it. Finally, Naigu said yes.

The new way was quite simple. They had to boil the nose, and then step on it.

A young monk brought very hot water in a bucket. It was so hot that Naigu’s face might get burned from the heat. So they made a hole in a wooden tray and put it on top of the bucket. Naigu put his nose through the hole and dipped it into the very hot water.  

Luckly, his nose didn’t feel any pain. After a while, a young monk said, I think it has boiled enough.

Naigu smiled secretly to himself when he heard this. No one would think they were boiling a nose. His nose didn’t hurt from the hot water, but it was very itchy. It was like a flea had bit him.

Then, the young monk started to step on the boiled nose. He used both of his feet. Naigu was lying down on the floor on his side. He watched the young monk’s feet move up and down. The young monk asked, sir, does it hurt? The doctor said I had to step on it very hard.

Naigu wanted to shake his head and say no. But it is difficult to shake your head when someone is stepping on your nose. So he said, No, it does not hurt. That was the truth. It didn’t hurt at all. Actually, it felt good because his nose was very itchey. The young monk continued to step on Naigu’s nose.

Then, small bumps appeared on Naigu’s nose. The young monk said, Yes. The doctor said to take out those bumps.

Naigu kept his mouth closed. He knew the young monk was doing everything to make his nose shorter for him. But still, it did not feel good to have his nose treated like a piece of meat. So Naigu acted like he was having an operation and watched the young monk take out the bumps.

The young monk then said, The doctor said we have to boil the nose again.

Naigu looked unhappy but agreed. They dipped the nose into the very hot water again and boiled it for a while. Then, when they took out the nose.

2018/11/15 Morocco

Hello. I am a country with nine world heritage sites. I am the Kingdom of Morocco. Do you know where I am? I am at the northwestern part of the African continent. I am a little bigger than Japan. My people are made up of about 65 percent Arabs and 30 percent Berbers. The population is around 35 million, and I am an Islamic country.

My capital city is called Rabat. Did you think it was Casablanca? Wrong. Casablanca is more famous, and it is the largest city in Morocco, but it is not my capital.

Let me tell you about a festival near a place called Imilchil. Imilchil is a small Berber town in the middle of my country. It is high up in the Atlas mountains.

Every September, there is a big festival for three days. Can you guess what kind of festival it is? It is a marriage festival. Berbers used to be nomads, so they didn’t live in the same place all the time. They moved a lot with their animals. But every year, many Berbers tribes come together near Imilchil, so their young people can find someone special. The women wear their beautiful traditional dresses, and men bring all their valuable things including their animals.

When a women chooses a man, she will say a special phrase.

You have caught my liver.

In many countries, people talk about their hearts when they are in love. You see, in Morocco, people think that the liver is the key to a healthy body, and health is very important. It is said that more than 30000 people come to this marriage festival.

The festival has a long history. A legend says that a long time ago, a woman and a man were in love. But their tribes were enemies, and they had to break up. It made the two very sad. They cried until two lakes were made. In the end, they through themselves into the lakes and kill themselves.

Then, an important man heard of this sad story and decided to hold a festival. At the festival, people from different tribes could meet with each other and get married. We still have the festival today.

The marriage festival is not just for women and men to meet. It is one big market. People can buy and sell many different things there. If you have a chance to visit my country, I hope you will enjoy my culture.