2018/08/24 Red candles and the mermaid E3

The greedy merchant from the south heard about the beautiful mermaid girl. He went to the old couple’s house one day and said,

Will you sell me your mermaid? I will pay you a lot of money.

Sell her? Don't say something so stupid.

She is a gift from the gods. We can't sell her. If we do, the gods will punish us.

The old couple refused, but the merchant came back many times.

Don't you know the that mermaids are bad luck? If you keep her, I’m sure something bad will happen.

The old couple started to believe the merchant’s story about bad luck. And they would get a lot of money. They agreed one. Their greed won. So they promised the merchant that they would sell him their mermaid.

The merchant happily said,

I will soon come back for the girl.

The mermaid girl was shocked to hear this. The shy and kind girl was afraid. She didn’t want to go so far away from home to a place where it was so hot. She cried and cried and said to the old couple, I won't will work harder. Please don't sell me and let make me go to a place I don't know.

The old couple’s hearts were as cold as stone. They would not listen to the mermaid girl at all. The girl went into her room and close the door.

She stayed inside and painted candles all day long.

One night when the moon was bright. The mermaid girl sat alone listening to the soung of the waves. She was scared and sad about her future. Then, from the waves, she thought she heard something calling to her. She went and looked out the window, but there was only the blue, blue sea with the monnlight shining brightly across the surface.

The mermaid girl sat down and started painting again. Just then, there were noises from outside. The merchant had come. He had come with a cart. On the cart, there was a square box with iron bars. The merchant had carried tigers, lions and pandas panthers in his box before. He thought of the mermaid as the same. She was an animal of the sea.

The mermaid did not know of this. If she did, she would have been very surprised. She was still paiting candles. Then, the old couples came into the room.

It's time. Go.

The mermaid girl didn’t have time to finish her pictures, so she painted the candles all in red. She left behind a fer few red candles as memories of her sadness.

That nisht night was calm and quiet. The old couple rocked locked the door and went to sleep. Then, around midnight, someone knocked on the door. The old couple heard it and wondered who it could be.

Who's there?

2018/08/23 Dominican Republic

Hi! I am the Dominican Republic, and my capital city is Santo Domingo. My population is about 11 million, and my official language is Spanish. I am about the size of Kyusyu and Kochi Prefecture put together.

Do you know where I am? There is a big Caribbean island between Cuba and Puerto Rico called Hispaniola Island. It's a really interesting island because there are two countries on it. The western side is Haiti. And I am on the eastern side of it. By the way, there is an island nearby that is called Dominica, but that is a different contry. We have similar names, but we are not the same country, so be careful.

Christpher Columbus came here in 1492. There was gold here, so he came back again. A lot of other people came here because of the gold, too. Hundreds of years later, we still produce gold.

When you think of my county, you may think of baseball. Baseball is very popular in my country, and children and adults play or watch the sport. You can watch them play baseball in towns while listening to merengue. Why did your eyes get so big right now? Oh, I see. You thought it was the sweets, meringue. I’m tolking about the music that started in my country.

Meringue is a fast type of music. The wave way men and women dance around in circles looked similar to mixing egg whites to make the meringue sweets. That is why the dance is named meringue.

Another interesting thing about me is you can see thousands of humpback whales, or zatokujira, every year during the winter. The best months are from January to March. The whales come to the northeastern part of my country to become couples and give birth to babies.

There is a special area that protects the whales and other creatures of the sea. The male whale sink sing and make big jumps in the deep sea near the protected area to find a partner. Then, the female whales give birth and take care of their babies in the gentle and warm waters. You can enjoy diving with the whales here. If you are interested, try looking up two places called Samana Bay and Silver Bank.

You aren’t interested in whales? No problem. There are many other things to see here. There are 55 caves known as the Pomier Caves. People drew pictures on the cave walls 2000 years ago. You can go inside five of the caves. Remember to bring a jacket because it's cold in the caves.

People and even whales dance in my county. I hope you will come here and enjoy dancing with us.

2018/08/22 On my birthday

Hey, you. What are you doing?

Oh, the copy machine is broken. I’m waiting for the secretary to fix it.

You should learn how to fix it.

Well, I won't be using a copy machine in the future. Someone will make copies for me.

Huh? Oh. You are Yamada-san. Your father is the president of Yamada Trading Company.

That’s right.

I see. You'll be the president someday, so you won't need to use the copy machine. I'll take care of this.

Thank you.

Argh. How long do I have to work here? That’s Dad’s company is an important criant cliant of this company. Dad should ask me to work at his company. And today is my birthday. I think I'll leave early so I can cerebrate with my girlfriend.

Hey, Yusuke. Wait.

Tomoki?

I saw you. Why was your boss making copies for you? It's your job.

He said he would do it for me.

You made him say that.

Tomoki and I joined the company around the same time. He is always telling me to work harder. He's too perfect.

Why don't you stop reminding people that your father is the president of a large company?

I never remind people. I just tell them.

If you tell your boss, it will be hard for him to tell you what to do. You're here to learn, right?

I don't need to learn anything at this company. I’m going to be the president of my own company anyway, so I don't have to work hard.

Well, no one wants a leader that doesn't work hard.

Oh, don't tell me what to do.

Hey, Tomoki. Happy Birthday.

Oh, thank you.

You're coming to dinner tonight, right?

Actually, I might have some extra work to do.

What? It's your birthday. How much work do you have? We can all help, so you can finish early. You always help us by doing extra work, so we want to help you.

Oh, uh, thank you.

Huh? This must be a joke. It's Tomoki’s birthday too?

Yusuke, do you want to come, too?

No. I have plans.

Happy Birthday, Tomoki.

Wow. What a surprise. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks to you, our last project is was a big success. You might become the president in the future.

Oh, you are just joking.

Huh? Everyone seems to like Tomoki. It's my birthday, too, but no one is wishing me a happy birthday.

Excuse me.

Dad? What are you doing here?

Oh, hello, son. I heard about a really good worker here, and I’m here to give him a job.

Oh, finally. I can work at your company?

Not you, son. Oh, there he is. You're Tomoki, right? May I speak with you?

2018/08/21 The click-clack mountain Part one

Once upon a time, there lived an old man and his wife. The old man grew vegetables in his field, but a bad raccoon dog would come into the field at night. The raccoon dog ate many of their vegetables. This happened almost every day night. The old man was very angry. He decided to set a trap.

One morning, the old man came out to the field. He found the raccoon dog caught in the trap.

The raccoon dog said to the old man, Please let me go. I promise I'll never, ever be bad again.

But the old man didn’t believe him. He tied up the raccoon dog with a long rope and took him home.

He told his wife, Let's have raccoon dog soup with mochi rice cakes tonight.

Then, the old man put a hook in the ceiling and threw the long rope over it. He pulled on the rope, and the raccoon dog was up in the air.

After the old man left to work in his vegetable field, the old woman started making mochi with a hammer and mortar.

The raccoon dog said in a weak voice, Kind lady, I promise never, ever to be bad again. Please let me go.

The old woman said, I’m sorry, but I can't.

She started making the mochi again. But it was difficult work for the old woman.

The raccoon dog had an idea.

He said in a kind voice, Kind lady, you must be getting tired. If you let me go, I'll help you make the mochi.

At first, the old woman said, Thank you, but I don't need any help.

But the raccoon dog kept saying he could help again and again.

He even said, I just want to help you. You can tie me up again when the mochi is finished.

Finally, the old woman let him go.

The raccoon dag said, Thank you. I'll help you make that mochi now.

He picked up the hammer and suddenly hit the old woman with it. The poor old woman fell down. She was dead. The raccoon dog ran back to the forest. When the old man came home and saw his wife, he cried and cried.

A few days later, a kind rabbit came to see the old man. The rabbit was a friend of the old man and his wife. When the rabbit learned the old woman was dead, he became very sad.

He said, Your wife was a good woman. I will stop that raccoon dog from ever hurting anyone again.

The following day, the rabbit went to the raccoon dog’s home and said, Mr. Raccoon Dog, it's such a fine day. Let's go to the mountains together and gather some firewood.

The rabbit smiled at the raccoon dag, and the raccoon dog smiled back. He didn’t know the rabbits plan.

2018/08/20 A&B @ Akiyoshido Cave

Akito, look. Sheep.

Sheep?

Yeah. There are hundreds, no, thousands of them.

Ben, look closely. They're not sheep. They're limestone rocls.

Huh?

I’m Akito. Today we’re in Mine City in Yamaguchi Prefecture. We are on our way to Akiyoshi-dai.

This is the largest karst area in Japan.

Karst? What's that?

It's an area of land that’s made of limestone.

Right. Limestone is made from the bones of animals living in the sea. This area used to be part of the sea.

The sea?

Uh-huh. A long time ago, the earth’s plates moved and pushed up this land. Then, the rain and wind shaped the limestone. It took many, many years.

You know a lot.

I came here on a school trip in elementary school.

Oh, that’s cool.

And under this area is one of Japan’s largest limestone caves.

A cave? I want to go.

I thought so. Let's go.

We go inside. Akiyoshido Cave is about ten kilometers long, and the first kilometer is open to the public.

The entrance looks like a scene from an adventure movie.

The inside is even better. This is called Aotenjo, or Blue Ceiling. There's a lot of space here, but the space becomes smaller and smaller.

Look at that. They look like large plates. I've never seen anything like that.

This is called Hyakumai-zara, or One Hundred Plates.

So nature created them?

Yes. I think I took hundreds of years.

That’s unbelievable.

Ben and I go further into the cave. We are both amazed by the beauty of nature.

What's this?

Ben. Don't talk so loudly. There are other tourists here, too.

Sorry. It's just so beautiful.

This is called Kogane-bashira, or Golden Pillar. It's the symbol of Akiyoshido Cave.

It's 15 meters high, and four meters wide.

How was it made?

Water came out of the ceiling of the cave and went down the walls. When that happened, the limestone in the water stayed here and built up.

I wonder how long it took to become this big.

I’m sure it took a really long time.

Oh, Look. The next limestone shape is called Jellyfish Climbing a Waterfall.

Wow. They do look like jellyfish. I really like these names they're funny.

You know, experts are still exploring this cave. People don't know what the whole cave is like yet.

Really?

Yeah. Experts are still discovering new areas.

That means there might be more interesting-looking limestone shapes.

That’s right. In the future, we will be able to see new ones with unique names.

Or maybe we can find new ones and give them names ourselves. I’m going to find one that looks like a hundsome man and call it.

Ben.