2018/11/07 Do you need a haircut?

Good morning. Do you need a haircut? Please stop by K’s Salon. We are open from eleven a.m. to nine p.m.

This spring, I finished a hairstylist program and started working at a hairdresser’s called K’s Salon. I don't give haircuts yet. Actually, they haven’t even let me wash anyone’s hair. I cleaned up the hair on the floor once. But most of the time, I hand out flyers in front of the train station.

Hey, Satoshi. Is that you?

It's a friend from my beauty school

You're working at K's Salon?

Yeah.

K’s Salon is run by a famous hairdresser called Kosuke-san. I’m proud to be working there, so I give my friend a flyer. But.

You must be crazy to work there.

What?

I hear that it takes at least five years until they let you give haircuts. Many people stop working at that salon in the first six months.

Are you sure?

Yeah. And that famous hairdresser, Kosuke. He probably doesn't even come to the salon, right? He is too busy working with actors and models.

Maybe my friend is right. It has been over a month since I started working, but I have never seen Kosuke-san at the salon.

You should quit.

What? No.

Do you want to cut and style hair or just hund out flyers?

I know, but.

I work at a salon, too. I already help with hair coloring.

Really? You're so lucky.

Yeah. If you want to work at my salon, I can talk to the owner.

To be honest, I am interested. I am so interested that I didn’t even notice that I dropped some flyers. If I stay at K’s Salon, I might hand out flyers forever. Maybe I should.

Hey. What are you doing? You dropped our flyers. Be careful, all right?

You are.

It's Kosuke-san.

I used to hand out flyers, too, but I never dropped them. I was very careful. Now can you help me pick them up?

Yes, of course.

I start to pick up the flyers with Kosuke-san.

Handing out flyers isn't fun, is it?

When I was a beginner, I felt that way, too. I just wanted to give haircuts. But now I’m glad I did it.

Really?

Yes. If you want to be a good hairdresser, you have to practice a lot. You need lots of customers to do that.

So handing out flyers is important.

Exactly. But don't worry. You won't be handing out flyers forever. Okay. I have to go now. Keep up the good work.

With that, Kosuke-san leaves.

Wow. Kosuke-san is such a nice guy.

He is. Isn't he?

Now I know that I don't want to quit. I want to keep working at K’s Salon.

2018/11/06 The fight between the monkey and the

A monkey was walking along on a mountain road.

Oh, I’m so hungry. Where can I find some food?

A monkey found a persimmon seed. It's only a seed, but I'll keep it. He started to walk again.

Then, the monkey saw a mother crab carrying a rice ball. The monkey thought, I’m going to get that rice ball.

The monkey said, Hello, Ms. Crab. I have something really nice. It's a persimmon seed. If you put this in the ground, it will grow and give you a lot of persimmons. I will give you this wonderful persimmon seed, and you can give me the small rice ball.

The mother crab said, But I have a lot of hungry children waiting for me at home. I have to hurry and give them the rice ball.

The monkey said, After you eat that rice ball, you will have nothing. But this persimmon seed is different. It’ll give you fruit every year.

The crab thougt about it for a moment. Then, she gave the monkey the riceball and took the persimmon seed.

When she got home, she planted the seed in the ground with her children. They gave the seed water and sang to it.

Persimmon seed, persimmon seed, grow quickly or we will cut you with our claws.

The seed heard the song. It didn’t want to be cut, so it started to grow quickly. It grew and grew, and soon it was a big tree with a lot of fruits. The mother crab and her children were really happy, but there was one problem. The crabs couldn’t climb up the tree. They were looking up at the persimmons when the monkey came down the road.

I'll pick the fruit for you.

So while the mother crab and her children waited below, the monkey went up in the tree. Some persimmons were ready. They were orange and sweet. Some other persimmons were not ready yet. They were still green. The monkey took the sweet persimmons and ate them all. Under the tree, the crabs got very angry. Then, the monkey threw the green persimmons at the crabs. The mother crab was hit by the hard fruit and was hurt. The children were very sad and went to some friends for help. Their friends, a mortar, a bee and a chestnut decided to go to the monkey’s house. The monkey wasn’t in his house. So they waited for him. The mortar climed up on the roof. The bee waited under the lid of the water pot. And the chestnut waited in the fireplace.

Then the monkey came home.

It's cold. The monkey put his hands near the fireplace to warm them. When.. the chestnut exploded out and hit the monkey in the face. Ouch. Oh, Oh.

The monkey hurried to the water pot to cool his face and took off the lid when the bee jumped out and stung the monkey. Ouch. Oh, Oh.

The monkey hurried outside when the mortar jumped off the roof. He jumped on the monkey.

I’m sorry. I'll never be bad again, the monkey said.

Then, the monkey was always good. Well, almost always.

2018/11/05 A&B @ Kisoji Tsumago-juku

Look, Akito. Can you see that sign? We're almost there.

That was really far.

It was only eight kilometers.

Only eight kilometers? That’s long. And we even climbed an 800 meter mountain.

Well, it was good exercise. And a lot of people outside of Japan know about this hiking course.

Really? Why?

One reasen is because you get a wooden card when you complete the walk. It's made out of hinoki, or Japanese cypress.

So that’s why you wanted to do this hike.

Uh-huh.

I’m Akito, and I am a street performer. Ben is my performing partner. Today, we were going to hitchhike to Nagoya, but Ben suddenly said he wanted to come to Kiso. It is an area in the mountains near the border of Gifu and Nagano prefectures.

We made it. Akito, this is Tsumago-juku.

Tsumago-juku? I've never heard of it.

Are you really Japanese? This is a very famous place.

Really? Why is it so famous?

Well, look at this street.

I look at the street. It looks like a movie set from an old samurai movie.

It almost feels like we will see a samurai here, doesn't it?

You're right.

I read that this place used to be a busy post station.

Post station? Ah, you mean a rest area on an old walking route.

Walking route?

During the Edo period, there were several walking routes that connected Edo and Kyoto. The route here is called Nakasendo. Along the routes, post stations were made so that people could rest. The post stations aren’t used anymore because cars and trains are faster then walking.

Then, why is Tsumago-juku still here?

Good question. Let me ask.

I talk to a person walking by. She tells me.

We wanted to protect our town. When you're in Tsumago-juku, it still feels like you're in the Edo period, right? We wanted to keep it that way. So we made three rules.

Could you tell us the rules?

Don't sell. Don't rent. Don't destroy.

Ah, I see. Those are simple but great rules.

Soon, it is night time. Many traditional lanterns are lit, and the town looks amazing.

So Akito, what should we do?

What do you mean?

Do you still want to go to Nagoya?

No, I think we should stay here tonight.

I think we should stay, too.

You wanted to stay here all along, right? In that case, we can leave for Nagoya first thing in the morning and do a show there.

Okay, okay… Hey. I smell something good.

Ah, that must be Goheimochi.

Goheimochi?

It's the specialty around here. it's a flat rice ball on a stick. You put a sauce made from sesame seeds, miso and walnuts on it. And then, you grill it. Ben. Where are you going?

I’m going to buy goheimochi, of course. I’m so hungry.

今週はお休みいたします

今週のエンジョイシンプルイングリッシュは再放送のようですので、お休みいたします。

よろしくお願いします。

2018/10/26 Run,Melos! E4

Melos pushed people walking along the road and run like a black wind. He ran across fields, jumped over streams and ran ten times faster than the sinking sun. Then Melos heard a group of travelers talking.

I am sure that man is already on the cross.

It made Melos run even faster.

His clothes were almost gone. He could not breathe. He coughed up blood more than once. Then, far away, Melos saw the castle tower. He was almost there. Just then, someone came up to him. Mr. Melos, I work for your friend, Selinuntius.

What is it?

You must stop running. It is impossible to save him now.

No. the sun is still in the sky.

But you must think of your own life.

My life is not important. I made a promise that I would come back.

Selinuntius said the same thing. After they took him to the killing ground, the king made fun of my Master. But he said, Melos will come.

That is why I have to run. He believes in me. I may be too late, but that is not important anymore. I am running to protect something much bigger.

Mr. Melos, I don't understand what you are talking about. But if you have to run, run. Just as the sun was about to sink, Melos reached the killing ground. He made it. But then, he saw soldiers tying Selinuntius to the cross. He gathered his last strength and ran through the crowd.

Wait, you must not kill him. I am back. I am here. Melos run up to Selinuntius and held onto his feet. The crowd cheered.

Selinuntius was freed. Melos said with tears in his eyes.

Hit me, Selinuntius. Just once, I had a bad dream. If you don't hit me, I won't have the right to be your friend.

Selinuntius understood everything. He hit Melos so hard that the sound echoed everywhere. Then, he smiled and said.

Now, it is your turn to hit me. I too had a time I could not believe in you. It was only once, but it was the first time in my life not to believe in you. you have to hit me, too.

Melos hit his friend’s cheek, and then they hugged each other.

Thank you, my friend.

The king was watching from behind the crowd. He came up and spoke to them.

You have taught me a lesson. Both of you have shown me people can trust each other. Could you be my friends?

The crowd cheered noisly. Then, a girl came up to Melos with a red cape. Melos didn’t understand, so Selinuntius said.

Melos, you are not wearing any clothes. This lovely girl doesn't want other people  to see your body.

The strong Melos’s face became red.