OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

Yukata (summer kimono) was on sale at UNIQLO in AEON Kochi shopping mall this weekend, and they gave an unbelievable discount. They had a bunch of “yukata sets” each consisting of a yukata, an obi and two strings packed in a plastic bag. Each set cost around 2000 something yen, and the one I picked was even cheaper -- only 1000 yen! Impossible price! Usually one yukata alone costs several thousand yen or more than 1 man yen (apx. 86 USD). I had been wanting to buy yukata for years, but couldn’t afford it. Now the price tag with “￥1000” printed on told me that I HAD TO buy the set, even though I had no idea where I could go this summer dressed in that yukata.

After coming back from the mall, I had fun in my room putting on the yukata and trying a few different obi-tying. It was a good practice. If my niece wants to wear yukata this summer, I would be able to do a much better job putting it on her. So I guess the 1000 yen was not a total waste.

The other day, on my way home from work, I was trying to make up my mind about buying a box of high-polyphenol chocolate at a convenience store. Then the music they had on came into my consciousness, because I heard the sound of Sanshin, an Okinawan instrument. It reminded me of the guys who used to perform “street live (live concert in the street)” in the underground shopping area in Umeda, Osaka. They were really good and so many - sometimes over a hundred – people would come to enjoy their “street live” every week, and I was one of them.

As I recalled their performance, the music started sounding more and more like theirs. I knew they went to Tokyo several years ago to be a professional band, so it was quite possible that the song was their work. I hurried home (after buying the chocolate) and googled for any information about them, and yes, what I heard at Lawson was their latest song.

So many years have passed since I saw them last time in Osaka... It’s encouraging to know that some people do not give up on their dreams. For me it really is.

Went to see a Frisbee dog competition at Haruno sports park today.
My digital camera isn’t good enough to take good shots of fast-moving subjects. This was the best I could.






Did you see my jump?

I wish I were one of those dog owners…

The small office I work at in the daytime is located right next to an elementary school. There is a not-so-high concrete fence between the school’s playground and our office, and sometimes a ball kids play with jumps over the fence and falls into the small space between the fence and the office. My boss bought a sweep net a while ago and uses it (or let kids use it) to rescue the ball whenever we hear “Suimasen (Excuse me)” from outside the window.

Yesterday afternoon, we heard the “Suimaseeeeeen” again. Outside the window, two boys were watching us from the other side of the fence. My boss pretended to be a little mad, trying to teach them to be more careful not to let this happen over and over, and said, “See? This happened too many times before and I finally bought this sweep net!” The kids' eyes shone and they went “Wow!” Obviously, for them it was nothing but a cool game to play. : )

The kids tried to pick up the ball with the sweep net, but it wasn’t easy; there was not much space to move the net freely. I helped them by pushing the ball towards the net with a long bamboo ruler, and I knew that my boss and colleague were watching from behind, holding their breath and concentrating on every move of the ball. When the ball finally got in the net and kids successfully brought it up to the top of the fence, everyone was so happy and relieved! After the kids hurried back, leaving “Thank you!” behind, everyone in the office (means, boss, my colleague and me) felt something warm inside. So instead of going back to the calculations and paper work, we went for a tea break.