The report of the meeting on 28/12/2022

6 members attended the meeting.

●What’s new?

A: He mailed New Year’s cards for 2023 today. However, he decided to end sending the cards from next year. Because these days more and more people communicate on the Internet such as SNS and online talk, paper communication has been declining. Furthermore, from the perspective on SDGs, digital communication is effective to reduce paper and fuel for transportation. He noted his decision message on the cards to let people know his decision without impoliteness

B: She got 5th coronavirus vaccination for Omicron. She went to the vaccination center with wearing the half-sleeve cloth for preparation. And when she wore off her coat and cardigan, she immediately showed her upper arm as a spot for the shot. The nurse was so impressed with her quick action and said, “You are perfect! Great preparation!”
Luckly, she got only a little pain on her arm as the side effect.

C: He introduced us “Big-Mac index” as an economical term. Big-Mac is made by the same recipe and has same quality in all McDonald’s in the world. So, comparing the price of Big-Mac in each country shows the level of cost of living there. For example, it’s ¥925 in Switzerland, ¥864 in Norway, ¥720 in Canada and ¥380 in Japan.
It shows their economical situations.

D: He got a driver’s license and is practicing driving on the road with his light car. His mother kindly advises him on how to drive well with sitting on his next seat. He sometimes parks his car on the supermarket for practice. He feels moving a car backward for parking is difficult. By his graduation, he is scheduled to drive to Yamanashi. So he wants to improve his driving skills more.

E: She sometimes has online English lessons. These days, she writes a report of STIE meetings and asks teachers to check and correct it to enhance her skills. Now she set a goal for next year that is focusing on writing practice. She always makes a use of online lesson effectively.

F: She presented “Gabuccho” fishing game to 3 years-old girl who is her husband’s niece’s daughter. The girl got excited and enjoyed playing the toy and now F bought the same toy and is enjoying playing it with her husband.

Today’s topic

Q: Have you already set your goal for next year?
A: He strongly hopes that fight against Coronavirus will be ceased next year and we can enjoy traveling all over Japan freely. He is planning some trips by car and looking forward to carrying them out. So ideal situation for trips is desirable.

Q:What is an English word or a phrase to express this year for you?
B: The English word she chose is “send-off”. It means an occasion when people meet to say goodbye to someone who is leaving. This year, she spent days to take care of her father and his house. Lastly, she saw her father off to heaven. “Send-off” symbolizes the last valuable time for their communication.

Q: Did you have something you achieved?
C: His morning routine is attending radio exercise at the park, which starts at around 7:12 and 60-70 people gather there. He has attended the event for about 10 years. This year, he achieved perfect attendance to all the events. In winter, it’s so hard to get up early to attend it. But he made it. This event is also a pleasant time for people to talk and exchange information.

Q: How are you going to spend new year’s days?
D: He is going to visit Osaki Hachiman shrine in Sendai with his friends on Jan. 1. The shrine is well-known for Donto Festival which makes a big fire in the yard and visitors throw charms and new year’s ornaments they bought last year. He will enjoy the visit and try to be careful to avoid infection in the crowd.

Q: What is the happiest thing this year for you?
E: Her son became a first grader in an elementary school this year. It means change of his life style. At first, she worried about if he could adapt himself to new environment, but he successfully got along with his school life and enjoys it. She tries to talk with him about school life and keep good communication with him. Now he brings 100% smiles to her family.
Furthermore, all her family members have kept their fits. Nothing is better than being healthy. This situation is the happiest thing for her family.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 24/12/2022

   Here is a report of the session held on Saturday, December 24. We had two groups consisting of three and four members each.

   Each member shared their recent news and events. Mr. A talked about the YouTube channel he uses for a background podcast. Ms. B told us her nightmare story during her nap. Ms. C had a family Christmas party serving her son’s favorite dishes. As for me, there was a major snowstorm over the Christmas weekend attacking North America, including my location.

   On to the next “Today’s Topic,” I prepared to Agree or Disagree questions for each member to express their opinion. Mr. A discussed developing countries and whether they can fight climate change. Some countries have no way to contribute as the infrastructure is not built well, and their current daily living cannot sustain themselves. Ms. B disagreed with vegetarian meals against meat inclusion meals. Eating a balanced diet is necessary to fulfill our nutritional needs. Ms. C agreed that people are too reliant on the internet. The amount of information was limited when we were younger, but the internet provides information without the limit.

   Thank you so much for coming and sharing your news and opinion. See you at the next meeting!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 21/12/2022

Today, we started to talk what is new first.
As people insisted on their freedom strongly, leader of China decided to release a regulation about zero corona measure. In China, infected people are increasing. It affects the price of Kanpoyaku. The price is five times compared to usual. People in China can continue to work if there are infected people. However, Syunsetsu will come soon. We concern about pandemic in China.

It has been cold since this month. What electric furniture do you use?
For example, oil fan heater, electric blanket, air conditioner and so on. I use oil fan heater. It can warm my room soon. But sometimes I need to pour oil into container and ventilate air.
When it comes to money, oil fan heater is the cheapest of others maybe though it depends on price of oil.

Lastly, we talked about next year’s day.
It was interesting that what each member want to do is different.
Some wants to experience something instead of spend money on things. We recommended sightseeing spots and Shinkansen, because her family loves Shinkansen and train. Other dreams to buy a lottery. I will visit shrine on next year’s day and hope I can keep health good.
(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 17/12/2022

We had five members plus Chair for the session.


A) First we each talked about ‘what’s new’. This is a short briefing on their remarks:

1) She was surprised the electricity bill for this month was \2,000 higher than the previous month. In order to hold down the expenditure towards the severely cold season, she is planning to buy an electricity blanket and try not to use air conditioner too long. Other members gave her various suggestions and proposals.

2) Around this time towards the end of the year, his work got busier. He is looking forward to a series of holidays which starts on 27 this month and planning to enjoy reading books and get relaxed during the holidays.

3) They had a snowstorm in Ottawa and the snow has piled up 30-40cm, she said. That made it impossible for her son to use school bus. As for herself, she is now waiting for the result of the exams after the schooling for the pre-master. She explained it’s not easy in Canada to get a good job without a certain academic background. She hopes to start working in a few months as an accountant.

4) The niece of her husband has a three-year old boy, she said. She is going to give him a ‘fishing-toy’ as a Christmas present. Although it is a toy for a small child, playing it fascinated her husband. He asked her to buy it to him, too. As it requires him some concentration and skills to fully enjoy the toy, she thinks it might help to prevent him from suffering from cognitive impairment.

5) She had a get-together recently with her friends whose children go to the same kindergarten her son does. She has had it once every two months. Once a chatting starts, it never ends for 5 hours, she said. The topics ranged from complaining about teachers to daily matters.


B) The topic for today’s session was ‘stress affects T-cells, making people aging faster.’ Members chose one from among 10 questions related to the topic and talked about what they thought. This is a short briefing on their remarks:

1) In order to deal with the stress, she tries not to stay with it as much as possible. And on weekends she puts all her energy into cooking. It has made her possible to make a change in mentality.

2) He knows doing exercise will help ease the stress but he prefers taking a sauna to doing exercises. It suits him better as a stress relief, he said.

3) She realizes she is easily affected by the stress. Sometimes it brings her problematic symptoms in her blood vessels, including capillary ones. Therefore she agrees that discrimination, trauma and stress affect the immune system.

4) She said having something delicious could work for relieving her stress but that it’s a short term relief. She knows she has to tackle the problem that causes the stress head on if she wants a long term relief, she said.

5) She said until her son became 4 years old, raising him mainly by herself was really stressful, She often went into arguments with her husband because of it. But now she can afford to do her own business. That makes her feel happy, she said.


(Ogu-ma)

The report of the meeting on 14/12/2022

Seven members participated in tonight's session and split into 2 groups.

She talked about online English study. Her teacher was Japanese who had stayed in the USA.
He introduced the new EV car named SAKURA which was developed as a product in cooperation with Nissan and Mitubishi
She exercised 2 versions of 20 minutes and 10 minutes courses through the You-Chub on the website.
He said that a lot of the bookstore is decreasing in 10 years. A small bookstore has been pressed by a big one recently.

And we talked about today’s topic.
Which side are you on? Why? Why not?
3. Judgment by the referee or by video (AI) in sports games.
4. Analog clock (watch), or digital.
5. The defense budget, or measure budget for the declining birth rate.
8. A detached house. or a condominium.
( Ue )

The report of the meeting on 10/12/2022

There were 8 attendees on Dec 10th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about police securities that distributes flyers of “Ore-ore” scam, efforts to reduce garbages in the area of Tokushima Prefecture, World Cup football in Qatar, and getting reward points for “My Number Card”. Regarding reward points for “My Number Card”, a lot of card companies are competing with each other for their services, and so it seems that use of “My Number Card” service is becoming more and more popular.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic” about “December events”. There are stories of increase in foreign tourists under weak Japanese Yen, Japanese custom of eating toshikoshi soba at the end of the year, Japanese team’s good games of World Cup football in Qatar, and recent beautiful illumination spots. Regarding World Cup football in Qatar this time, there were a lot of good games ,and so I wanted to continue enjoying them.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 7/12/2022

There were six participants at the session on December 7th. We started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.


•Have you ever been to a concert?

•Studying English
(The methods you have tried, your favorite way of learning, etc...)

•Questions for STIE members

•Has your hometown changed much since you were a child?


We talked about The Online Concert of Ryuichi Sakamoto, the mobile app “Duolingo”, STIE, the changes of one’s hometown, and guitars.

I’ve never experienced an online concert, however, since I like the song “Merry Christmas, Mr.Lawrence”, her speech caught my attention.

Although there are hundreds of mobile apps to study English out there, I personally don’t use none of them. But I found the app that she mentioned very beneficial to keep on studying in a fun way, and it prompted me to try it.

One shared how his hometown has Changed and the difficulty to keep in touch with distant relatives. I’ve been there, too, therefore I totally relate to him.

There are members in our group that play musical instruments which is awesome! I don’t have a musical bone in me, so I’ve always admired those people. The member shared his experience of going to live concerts, and how wonderful it was to actually feel the vibe!

We also talked about the benefits of joining in the STIE sessions. All the members consider that STIE plays a significant role in studying English and also enrich overall knowledge.

We hold each other accountable to make this group even better and create a fun place to practice English. I’m always grateful for that. Thank you all very much.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 3/12/2022

There were 6 members gathered at the session.

What’s new
In China, the number of infected people is about 40 thousand. People who are against government policy called zero-corona stood up to protest the government's policy. They are against not only zero-corona policy but also the one-party system by Xi Jinping.

Her friend’s niece just passed the entrance test of Qatar Airways. She is now working for Qatar Airways as a flight attendant and is very beautiful. It is very difficult to pass the test.

The bottles of whisky made by Takara Syuzou in 1958 were on sale. The price was 4.62 million yen. All of them were sold in a moment, the newspaper reported. The price was so high because of aging. He wonders who bought them.

She went out to go to the bank and shopping. The shopping mall was already in the mood of the Christmass and the New Year. There were many goods regarding the Christmass and the New Year. And she found a handkerchief with a pattern of rabbit on it. Rabbit is a symbol of next year. She thought it was cute.

The Christmas season is coming. She is considering what to buy as a Christmas present for her son. She thinks about toy trains because he likes trains very much. She is going to choose carefully, thinking about what is best for him.

Today’s topic
We had a list of questions and statements. We picked one to talk about freely. They were a series of questions such as asking about where you live, something you might see in your everyday life, the well known proverbs, and so on.
One shared her experience from her early career at the workplace. Other members chose to talk about saving electricity, proverbs, the good of joining STIE, and the best part about living in her city.

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 30/11/2022

There were eight attendees at the session on Wednesday, November 30. With over seven, we split into two groups, and started with making short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-remote-controlled drones on the water used as restaurants, sightseeing rafts, etc.,
-expensive gas bills for central heating, which made her decide to use electric heaters in each room,
-how beautiful the autumn-colored leaves are in the rain,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
“Okinawa Is Japan’s Happiest Place for a Second Year”

According to the article, Japan’s happiest prefecture is Okinawa. Kagoshima and Miyazaki, the warmer southern areas, are the second and the third happiest prefectures.
On the other hand, citizens in the prefectures closer to Tokyo feel less happy.

We exchanged views on
•What do you imagine are the happiest countries in the world? Why?
•What do you make of the fact that the least happy areas in Japan were close to the capital city?
•Have you traveled around Okinawa Prefecture? If so, what parts do you like best? If not, would you like to?

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 26/11/2022

There were 7 participants in the meeting.
We discussed
“Lost Teddy Bear Returned to Girl After One Year”
(Ari)

The report of the meeting on 23/11/2022

There were 5 participants in tonight's meeting.

Mr.U said that the current world population is 8 billion and the World population will reach 20 billion in 2006. Developing countries such as India and Pakistan continue to have growing populations. On the other hand, Japan faces a severe problem of population decline.

Ms.Y said as it rained all day today, she did exercise at home.
She can do radio calisthenics No. 1 and 2 without piano accompaniment. Also, she also practiced badminton.

Ms.S went to a local pottery market.
She is also interested in cooking with Tengusa which is a type of agar made from dried seaweed.

Ms.N had a problem with her jaw joint.
Recently every night she sleeps with some kind of medical mouthpiece in her mouth.
Thanks to that, she can get a sound sleep.

My. U said that transfer is one of the working cultures unique to Japan.
Japanese workers accept the transfer as a matter of course.
Overseas workers may not take this for granted because they will consider the transfer unwillingness and choose to change jobs.

Ms. Y said that LINE's paid stamps are one of the things that annoy her.
That is why she mainly uses free stamps because advertisements may be associated with the use of paid stamps.

Ms. N said she often watches YouTube videos related to English education.
Those videos have a comment section for viewers.
But she feels sad when she sees heartless negative comments and swearing comments on such videos.

(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 19/11/2022

There were 8 members today.

●What’s new?

A: World cup football
Football world cup will be held next week. He is looking forward to it, because he likes football. The first opponent of the Japanese team is Germany and the game will be next Wednesday. He thinks?Japan has a chance to win. He plans to watch the game on TV in real time.

B: Cutting the branches in the park
When he took a walk, some workers were cutting off the branches of the trees in the park. One worker with rope for safety brings a?chainsaw?with him, and climbs a tree. He looks like a rock climber. B thought he was a professional because he cut the branches without a crane.

C: Free IQ test
She did some house chores. After that she found a free IQ test on the internet. She was interested, and she answered 22 questions. However, the website said that you had to pay for the Email which tells the results at the end of the test. She didn’t pay and it may be a scam.

●Today's topics: Samsung Plans 100% Clean Energy Use by 2050
We talked about the following questions.

•What are your thoughts on Samsung's plans to use 100% clean energy by 2050?
•Do you think fossil fuels will be phased out completely within your lifetime?
•What do you imagine are the greenest countries in the world?
•Do you have any comments about American midterm elections?
•Do you have any plans to go out to see autumn leaves?
•Do you use the Hometown donation program this year? Or Will you?

(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 16/11/2022

6 members attended the meeting.

•What’s new?

A: Recently his best friend passed away suddenly. His friend lived near A’s house and they were going around together. He was 10 years older than A and A felt he was like his elder brother. A loved him. A’s friend loved nature and they often enjoyed viewing mountains and autumn leaves together. His death is making A feel so sad. Other members got in sympathy with his sadness and hope time will heal his sorrow.

B: One of her husband’s hobbies is growing vegetables and fruits in their farm. In this season, he is harvesting Japanese taros($BN$0r(B) . The clay soil of the farm is suitable for growing taros. He is confident of the quality of the taros. They enjoy the taste of home-grown taros. Farming is pleasant for him. She introduced the difference of meaning between “hobby” in English and “hobby” in Japanese. “Hobby” in English means non-professional creative activities such as sports, gardening, photos, painting or music,,etc which need skills and knowledge. It’s different from just having pastime such as walking and listening to music.

C: He introduced the civic center building in his area called “Minna no Mori” in Gifu city. It’s a public multi-purpose building for use of free rooms, library and holding events for local citizens. It takes about 10 minutes from his house and he sometimes goes there to borrow books in the library on 2^nd floor of the building. He showed us the photos of the building. That is a huge and modern style building. Inside a library, wooden material is used and some gorgeous big shades are hung from the ceiling for lighting. He is so lucky living near such a great facility!

D: Her 7 years-old son finally succeeded in riding on a bike. He has practiced riding a bike at the park for several months with his father’s coaching. At first, he practiced the bike with training wheels to learn the sense of balance and after practicing, at last he became able to ride on the bike without training wheels! He looked super excited and so proud of his success. Congratulations!

E: The other day, Kyoto city officials copied and pasted some illustrations from free illustration website to make city flayers and update the city website. However, the company providing the free illustration materials accused Kyoto city of using the illustrations without permission. The officials missed checking the condition that the free illustrations on the site are limited for personal use not business use. Finally, Kyoto city paid 617,000 yen to the company as a fine. If you use this kind of free web materials with business use, please check the condition about use and pay attention not to violate the rule.

Today’s questions

Q: What is one of your memories about your family members?
A: When he was a lower elementary school child, his elder brother was an active boy and had a lot of friends. A liked his brother and he would follow him wherever his brother went. One day, when his brother tried to go out and A followed him as always, his brother turned back and said, “You don’t come with me.” and slapped him. A got really shocked and lost words, just gazing at him. It was a sad memory in his childhood and he thinks it might have influenced his character. After growing up, he didn’t ask his brother why he said those words.

Q: What is one of your memories about your father?
B: Her past father loved DIY. He repaired a lot of things in his house. One of his memorable works is the kitchen cupboard. He utilized a used refrigerator to make a cupboard. It is a user-friendly and elaborate cupboard looking like a cockpit in the airplane. It’s so cool and a great heritage!

Q: Do you like taking photos? How do you appreciate your photos? Do you enjoy watching your photos with others?
C: He loves taking photos. He started the hobby 25 years ago. He sometimes enjoys seeing the photos and showing them others. Today, digital camera is a mainstream, but he still uses a film camera. Film cameras require development and printing which process is troublesome. These days, he has neglected to put the photos in albums. So there are a stack of photos he has to organize. That’s a difficult task for him. He thinks he should tackle the hard work before he forgets when and where those photos are taken.

Q: What is your nostalgic food making you remember your memories?
D: Her nostalgic food is ohagi that her mother made, who passed away 10 years ago. Her mother’s ohagi was much more delicious than ohagi sold in any other shops. She was a master of making ohagi. She used to make tons of ohagi for equinox day($B$*H`4_(B) and handed them to neighbors. They were looking forward to having her splendid hand-made ohagi on equinox days. In the future, she might try her hand-made ohagi remembering her mum’s taste.

Q: Considering the current rise in prices, do you do something to save living expenses?
E: His wife is making effort to do clever shopping. She checks advertisement flyer of supermarkets and goes shopping in the time service hour to get goods by discounted prices. She charges some money in the electronic money card for payment to get service points on a specific day once a month, which point rate is 5%. It means if she charges 30,000yen in the card, she can get 1,500 points. What effective ways for saving!
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 12/11/2022

   The Saturday meeting on November 12 was held with nine members participating. To increase the chances to speak, we made two groups with five and four members in each group.
   “What’s new?” was the icebreaking topic to initiate the meeting. Mr. A talked about having difficulty receiving his packages delivered at the door when he was not home. Mrs. B visited the pottery event, where she enjoyed looking around. Ms. C is spontaneously learning English words on the app. Mrs. D talked to her conversation exchange friend by committing not to use Japanese words mixed up when they were talking in English.
   Moving on to “Today’s topic,” our discussion for the day was Australian Wild Cockatoos Breaking into a Garbage Bin. Mr. A recalled the summer that a flying beetle landed on him. Mrs. B remembers her budgie named Pico-chan she owned during her childhood. Ms. C cannot forget her memory that a deer in Nara Park kicked her when she was small. Mrs. D has seen wild emus, kangaroos, and crocodiles during her stay in Australia.
   Thanks for sharing your story. I will see you at the next meeting!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 9/11/2022

We talked about Maina points first. Some members have already received Maina points with each card. For example, Suica, Paypay, Waon. But I have not done yet. From what I’ve heard, We can apply through internet and Maina points will be transferred by the next day. I guess I should apply with something I use everyday because 20,000 points will be given and we should use them. I was going to apply with suica too, but the due is next February. I will do that by this year.
We also talked about public transportation cards. I use Suica almost all days, but those who live in western Japan have Icoca. Icoca is promoted by the character of platypus. On the other hand, The character of Suica is penguin. I did some research on platypus and found that although it is a mammal, it seems to have the genes of a bird. Both animals feature birds and can swim in the water. They cannot fly, but may be chosen as characters because they can move quickly and are cute. Both cards seem to be named based on dialects or accents. In Sendai, people use Icsca which is useful for subway. Anyway, I was relieved to hear that Suica and Icoca seem to be widely used in Japan. I have a plan to trip on Kansai area soon. However, there are some places in the countryside where we can’t use IC cards, so I still plan to carry cash when I travel.

That’s all.
(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 5/11/2022

Ten members attended, dividing into two groups.

This is a brief report of Group A.


As usual, each of us made a short speech in the former half of the session and talked about today’s topic in the latter. Today’s topic was ‘English language only bars open in Tokyo and Osaka.’


$B!c(B Short speech $B!d(B

$B-!(BHe talked about IT-related certification exam he took. He said he was able to answer most of the questions well and was confident of success.

$B-"(BShe changed her cellphone to a smartphone. She said she was struggling with setting up some apps. It seemed to take some time before she would be able to make full use of it, she said.

$B-#(BShe talked about ‘Ghibli-Park’ scheduled to be soon open on the site where ‘Aichi International Fair’ was once held. She said she did hope to visit it because she was a great fan of Hayao Miyazaki’s works.

$B-$(BShe talked about hiking to Mt. Takao. She climbed it enjoying autumn leaves on the way to the top. There were many people near the top which is about 600 meters above sea level, and she could get a view of the cities of Tokyo from there.

$B-%(BHe talked about the training of his body trunk. This is the way he does it: Lying face up. Lifting both the legs and the head about 10cm above the floor, while the bottom and the waist being the only parts that touch the floor. Maintaining the posture for a minute.

He said he did it as part of a treatment for his high blood pressure.


$B!c(B Today’s topic $B!d(B

(Each one picked one of the questions relating to the topic and talked about it. Then we discussed it.)


$B-!(BHe said he now joins a program on the web, in which he practices speaking in English every day with people from various countries in the world. Through the conversations with them he can learn different cultures, including English spoken in each place. Now, he is interested in learning the history of the Middle East by talking with people in the region.

$B-"(BShe talked about how to make better use of our session, STIE.

After she expressed her gratitude and appreciation for what she’d been able to learn from other members, she made a significant proposal. She proposed we should make a new part where we can make sure of the usages of important words. She said, ‘It is because enhancing vocabulary ability is the key to improving our skills.’

How will we be able to reflect her proposal in our session?

$B-#(BShe said she thought highly of Kohno Taro’s ability of English. She referred to a video in which he was expressing his opinions in English. ‘He was a great speaker of English,’ she said in admiration. Other members agreed to her views although one of them said, ‘It’s true he speaks good English. But I think it’s because he was born into a family with an ideal environment and could study at George Town University in the US.’

$B-$(BShe said she had once enjoyed talking with people in English at the same sort of a bar described in the article. She said there were three native speakers as the staff in the bar and she could enjoy talking with people there in an atmosphere of no tight restrictions.


We had a pretty good conversation because the theme of the topic coincided with the one members always had in mind.

(Ogu-ma)

The report of the meeting on 2/11/2022

Seven members got together tonight and split into 2 groups.

What’s new?
- She graduated from a cellphone and got a new smartphone.
- He talked about 5 story wooden building that has some advantages.
- She learned English with the teacher, especially about grammar and pronunciation today
- He said about the cormorant fishing without a rope on locally.

Today’s topic.
$B!c(B Electrification. $B!d(B
6. Which is essential gas and electricity in your case?
Two housewives said that gas and electricity are essential bases of life and make good use of gas and electricity well.
5. Have you been using LED lights now in your home?
In his home, half of all is by LED light and the effect is very well.
7 What kind of goods are to be the next electrified one you want?
His idea is a sleep introduction bed that is pleased by people who are concern about how to get deep sleep.
( Ue )

The report of the meeting on 29/10/2022

There were 10 attendees on Oct 29th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of school drama play of son, recent school refusal, next vaccination of COVID-19 , recent drinking parties, and halloween costumes. Recently, it seems that we can easily buy Halloween costumes on Amazon online shopping, and I thought that it was an era where we can enjoy Halloween activities conveniently.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “ October and autumn events ”. There are stories of recent rise in prices of vegetables and other goods, cutting trees and leaves in autumn, climbing mountains to see autumn leaves, and son’s challenge of bicycle riding. I don’t own an electric clipper of trees or a lawn mower for cutting trees and leaves, but I found these machines very useful. And summer is hot to cut trees and leaves, so I thought it would be good timing to cut trees and leaves in autumn.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 26/10/2022

There were six participants at the session on October 26th.We started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Do you plan to take advantage of the national travel assistance program($BA49q(B $BN99T;Y1g(B)?

•What is your favorite fall food or activity?

•If time weren’t an issue, would you rather travel by ship or by plane?

We talked about Tokyo National Museum, peanuts, the trips to Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto, the pros and cons of taking air planes and ships.

I’m not knowledgeable about arts whatsoever, however it was valuable to hear that the artworks and national treasures that are exhibited in a museum in Tokyo. It must be worth a visit.

One shared how she enjoyed eating peanuts which was quite interesting to me, because I hardly ever get a chance to get fresh peanuts where I live, therefore I have no choice but to eat orthodox peanuts.

There is a participant who lives in Kyoto, and recommended us to visit must-visit spots there. I haven’t been to Kyoto for ages, I hope to visit there in the near future.

Lastly, we talked about a high-end luxury cruise ship. Some of us were concerned about the seasickness, but we found out that it doesn’t bother us.
Apparently, a massive cruise ship doesn’t rock roughly, and sails smoothly. I’d love to try it if given a opportunity.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 22/10/2022

There were 8 members at the session.
We made 2 groups.

What’s new
He shared about the local government’s trial. According to the column from the newspaper, the local government put trash boxes for used diapers in the shopping center. Families with little babies can enjoy shopping more comfortably.

The number of infected people tends to decrease, so she went out to attend the circle activities. She chatted with circle members and had a good time. Before participating in the activity, she stopped by an electronics store and enjoyed shopping.

Her son got sick. He has a cough and hives all over his body. She took him to the doctor. He has to take some medicines. She is worried about him and hopes he will recover soon.

Today’s topic
There was a list of questions at the session. We picked one from them to answer. Those questions were chosen.
•What is a little pleasure in your everyday life?
•Will housekeeping robots be a reality within a few decades? Would you like to have one?
•Please share your memorable travel story with us.
•Have you ever been embarrassed?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 19/10/2022

There were six attendees at the session on Wednesday, October 19. We first made short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-a mystery, thriller, and suspense film "Silent Parade" from the original by Higashino Keigo,
-the 2022 United States elections held on November 8, going with some issues such as immigration, economy, guns, ban on abortion, etc.,
-the timing when insects chirr in autumn, which is related to the low temperature, not only in the evening but also in the daytime,
-the depreciation of the yen that badly influences the price of the new iPad or the travel fees overseas,
-the field trip which was postponed with rain until the next week, and which enabled her unwell son to join,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Student Happiness Linked to Internet Use, Sleep"

Compared to Showa’s analog era, this is a digital era. Students have been familiar with the internet since they were little children. No wonder they spend much time on the internet. Communicating with others online is fun, which is understandable. So if they are happy, it may be OK.
However, it should not be an excuse for less sleep and skipping class. Although the internet is helpful and fun, we should keep a well-balanced use of time for our good health and life, which would lead us to a happy life.

And, I heard if you often struggle to get enough sleep, taking a bath 1 or 2 hours before you go to bed would be effective for good sleep. Why don’t you try it?

About the question "If you were to enroll in university tomorrow, what would you choose to study?", a member’s answer was "geography". Because of climate anomaly, there are intensive rain storms, floods, tornados, etc. in many parts of the world. Geography may help us get geographical information about those areas.

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 15/10/2022

There were 10 participants in tonight’s meeting.

Mrs. A went to see the autumn leaves. In the past, there were many Japanese visitors, but this year there were none. This year’s autumn leaves were especially beautiful in red. It was already very cold and he took the ropeway to the top and it was -18 degrees and it was very cold.

Mrs.B spent five hours at a drink bar at a family restaurant with her mother friends in kindergarten, and it was a lot of fun. She was relieved of stress and she felt very refreshed.

Mr. C talked about an article about young people not interested in owning a car. When Mr. C was young, there was an atmosphere in which all young people wanted to own a car.

Mrs.D went for a health checkup once a year. She seemed a little sick when the blood was drawn. She expects the results in two weeks, but she doesn’t think there will be any problems.

Mr. E likes to eat persimmons. He loves both fresh and dried persimmons. Dried persimmons are made from astringent persimmons, and there is a reason why they have astringency. It seems that the astringency protects them from animals so that animals cannot eat them until the seeds are fully grown.

We discussed that
“First Chinese-made high-speed train cars arrive in Indonesia.”

(Ari)

The report of the meeting on 12/10/2022

There were six participants in tonight’s meeting.

Ms. A has been playing badminton for the first time in a while, and her wrist muscles hurt today. She started walking as a daily routine.

Mr.B went to the National Art Museum in Tokyo a week ago.
The painting depicting men on a small boat floating on the sea by Sanzo Wada left the biggest impression on him.

Mr. C said that the cabinet approval rating has dropped to 35%.
He believes that the reasons for this are growing prices, forcing a national funeral, and the response to the former Unification Church.

Ms.D is busy marinating the fish called "Sanma".
She hopes to eventually marinate about 100 "Sanma"
She is grateful that the price of "Sanma" has fallen slightly compared to summer.

Ms.E went to a nearby ramen shop by herself because her husband was working.
There were many customers at the ramen shop.
Although she was the only woman who ate ramen by herself, she enjoyed eating very delicious "tonkotsu" ramen and she felt happy.

Ms. A once sent a message to the wrong person and then she felt embarrassed.
Especially because she sent the message to the expert on the subject when it should be sent to someone who has no knowledge of the subject.

Would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into your own future or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself?
Mr.B prefers seeing 10 minutes into the future of anyone but himself.

Because he wants to know what his friends think of him during his 10 minutes and he wants to build good relationships by doing so

Mr. C thinks that aliens exist.
We should assume that intelligent life forms exist somewhere in the universe, just as humans exist on Earth.
Also, he believes that aliens are hostile to mankind.


Would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into your own future or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself?

Ms. D prefers seeing 10 minutes into her own future.
She’s going to a place where she can gamble in 10 minutes.
Then she puts all her fortune on the winner in the meantime
In an instant she could be a millionaire!

The most valuable quote Ms.E got from the book is "Shoot for the Moon: Even If You Miss You Will Land Among the Stars"

Using this quote as mental and spiritual sustenance, she continues her English studies.
It’s also a quote that applies to all aspects of life.

(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 8/10/2022

There were 8 members today.


●What’s new?

A: the weather recently and new barger of Mosbarger
It has been cold and it has been cloudy or rainy days recently. Today is cloudy and very humid.
Mosbarger offers a new local menu, whose name is Misobuta barger. He was interested in it, because there was an advertisement. He tried it and likes it.

B: Ukrine War
Putin declared to annex the four Ukrainian regions. Most people cannot accept that declaration. Many soldiers were killed in the War, many people lost their familiar land because of the War. He learned how the history is made; how the War broke out, how a country was invaded by another country.


●Today’s topic: Take Note of This Nobel Prize-Winning Writing Advice

•What are the most useful writing tips you’ve ever been given?
A: When he was in elementary school, he had to write about books, events, etc. His teacher displayed all the students’ writing on the wall. He wrote about the school, because that event is related to many people. He thinks it’s important that the readers can feel sympathy.

•Have you read anything by Mario Vargas Llosa, Kazuo Ishiguro, or Toni Morrison? If so, did you enjoy it?
B: He read two books by Kazuo Ishiguro two years before Ishiguro got the Nobel Prize. That was the first time he knew the author. He tried those books in English, but he cannot understand the contents. After that, he watched the film of the book. He enjoyed it, but cannot be touched. This is because he isn’t familiar with British culture.

•Do you know anyone who makes a living as a writer? What kind of writing do they do?
C: Her aquatnace publishes an English book and lives as a writer. She hasn’t met him for a couple years because of COVID-19. He is very good at English. He prefers to read aloud English sentences to learn English. He influenced her a lot in a good way. She also prefers to read aloud to learn English.

(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 5/10/2022

5 members attended the meeting.

•What’s new?

A: The baseball player of Yakuruto Swallows, Munetaka Murakami hit his 56^th homerun, breaking the seasonal record of Sadaharu Wang’s 55. That’s a great achievement. Furthermore, he made it on the final game in this season. It’s a miracle. However, he couldn’t hit a homerun for many days after achieving 55^th. Member A assumes that excessive desire was preventing him from achieving his job. He must have been struggling from mental pressure. Fortunately, Murakami overcame the difficulty and achieved it. Personally, member A is a fan for Hanshin Tigers, but he can’t get his eyes off Murakami now.

B: This week is Nobel prize award week. The laureates from six fields are announced every day. In the past, 31 Japanese people were awarded, including 4 people who lost Japanese nationality. It’s the most in Asian countries. However, in economics field, no Japanese were awarded so far. Member B thinks that one of the reasons is economics is considered to belong to humanities field in Japan. For example, faculty of economics belongs to humanities field not science field in Japanese universities. On the other hand, the latest economics study in the world includes a lot of math and science elements in global perspective. It would be better for Japan to change the perspective on economics for the future.

C: In the current comfortable season, she enjoys walking. When she was walking and talking to her friend using smartphone, she heard her friend’s episode. One day her friend went out with holding luggage by her both hands. She lost balance, fell down and hit her cheek. Fortunately, she didn’t get seriously hurt. But her son was worried and asked her to be careful not to hold something by both hands. A few days later, when her son was talking with smartphone while walking, he fell down and broke his wrist. Even younger people might have accidents when they are doing two things at the same. We should be very careful or should avoid doing two things simultaneously.

D: In order to increase vocabulary, she set a goal of reading a vocabulary book within this year. The book has 14 chapters and contains a large volume of words from various fields such as politics and psychology. Now she feels it would be impossible to finish the book thinking there are a few months left this year and need another year. It is challenging work but she feels it rewarding to boost her skills to next level. Other members introduced their own ways to add more vocabulary such as reading articles members provided or reading novels attracting our interest.


Today’s topic : ’The dry cleaning and laundry industry is a dying industry’

Q: What do you think about the idea, “Uber of dry cleaning” in this article?
A: If dry cleaning shops pick up the customers’ laundry and deliver cleaned clothes to each customer by using delivery service, it would be beneficial for the customers because they can save time to go to the shop. However, shop owners should pay the delivery cost and have to raise the cleaning price. It would be negative for customers. So he thinks this idea would not be feasible.

Q: How often do you use dry cleaning service? And do you think the same situation is occurring in Japan?
    Are there any other reasons making dry cleaning business declined?
B: He doesn’t use dry cleaning service now after retirement. He thinks that the number of people using dry cleaning service has decreased sharply for the following reasons. 1.Because of Covid19, remote work style spread. 2.Under emergency state, people avoided going out. 3. By the influence of economic recession, people cut back laundry service cost. 4 Washable clothes are increased. 5. Fashion trend is becoming casual. As a result, dry cleaning is becoming ancient business.

Q: How often do you use dry cleaning service? And do you think the same situation is occurring in Japan?
C: She seldom uses dry cleaning service these days. But when she has a chance to wear formal dress, she uses the service. In the past, she used to use the dry cleaning service more such as school uniform in off-season. Still now people need to use the service for cleaning not only formal dress, but also blanket, overcoat and down jacket. However, washing machine quality is getting high and people can wash more kinds of clothes than before. That means dry cleaning service demand is getting shrunk.

Q: How often do you use dry cleaning service? And do you think the same situation is occurring in Japan?
D: She hardly ever uses dry cleaning service because she rarely wears formal dress except special opportunities such as school graduation and entrance ceremony or wedding. Her husband also doesn’t wear suits. Moreover, her washing machine has a special function that can wash delicate clothe which need dry cleaning. So, she can save dry cleaning cost. But she doesn’t feel the customers for dry cleaning service are decreasing around her area.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 1/10/2022

   Our first meeting in October was on Saturday, October 01, with ten members participating. To make a large group smaller, we separated into two groups to give us opportunities to speak a lot.

   As usual, starting with an icebreaker, the topics brought from members were about their life and the recent news that caught their eye. Ms. A talked about the price increase, which pushed her to add the new grocery store to her list to explore food at an affordable price. Mr. B also mentioned the high inflation that affected his favorite coffee beans. He ended up reducing the amount of coffee he drinks in the mornings. Mr. C brought up the recent news about the meanings of Japanese words changing over time. Ms. D enjoyed shopping at Costco with her family. Costco is a retail wholesaler having a store in the warehouse where customers can see their inventory products piled up on the shelves.

   Next, moving on to “today’s topic,” I prepared for some controversial questions. Everyone had a turn to discuss their thoughts. Mr. B picked a teacher’s physical punishment for students. He gave ideas that physical punishment can lead to critical injury and also bring secondary issues such as bullying by students who saw the physical punishment. Ms. A picked early English education at elementary school. It is a communicative way to enjoy learning English, but children may feel challenged once they start learning grammar. Mr. C disagreed with the question asking if people tend to offend easily nowadays. When Japanese people speak to others, they may use respectful expressions by using Keigo. By using Keigo, the Japanese language can optimize you to look polite. Ms. D picked the same question giving examples of social media. There is so much insulting and negative feedback posted on social media. It is wise to step away from social media as it can harm you.

Thanks so much for coming and sharing your thoughts. Have a good day!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 28/9/2022

We discussed the current situation in Russia and education. Recently, especially young people, have begun to escape from Russia. President Putin has justified his actions, but people are fleeing Russia in this way. In fact, there are reports that Putin is pressured by the Russian bureaucracy to continue the war. Some break their own arms to avoid being invited as soldiers. This is very surprising. It means that they are proceeding the war first, not the people.

We then discussed education. Recently there was news that English speaking tests will be introduced in high school exams. However, there was an opinion that this would create a gap between those who can speak and those who cannot. This means that the difference may not be in English ability, but in communication skills. In addition, it would take overwhelming manpower and cost. I doubt that it is necessary.
Another problem in education is the shortage of teachers. It is true that not many people want to become teachers. However, some have suggested that it is not right to have a shortage of teachers under a declining birthrate. If there is such a shortage of teachers, the state of school education and the state of schools may be questioned in the near future.

That’s all.
(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 24/9/2022

We had nine members for today’s session, so we divide into two groups. This is the report of the group A session.

As usual we talked about first ‘What’s new’, second ‘Today’s topic’. Today’s topic was about the problems relating to ‘pessimist’ and ‘optimist.’


A. What’s new?

1. She talked about rabies a doctor described in the twitter.

According to the doctor, she said, a patient who had been running a soba noodle shop was bitten by a cat and his hand became swollen. The doctor diagnosed it was a case caused by rabies. Unluckily, he passed away from the disease 10 days later.

Hearing her story, we made sure we have to be careful when we come across a wild cat.

2. She talked about her mental condition influenced by the season, autumn. She revealed she tends to become melancholic when the autumn comes around. Other members said they could accept her feelings.

3. He talked about a book he liked. He said there was a famous Japanese anime made on the basis of the story. We hoped we would have a chance to read the book.

4. She talked about walking in the morning. Having sent off her child at the stop for the school bus, she recently started to go for a walk at a fast pace. Twenty-minutes-walk is a good exercise for her and can feel refreshed after walking, she said.

5. He talked about the late former PM Abe’s state funeral scheduled in a few days. According to a paper, he said, the youth are not against it although many people in the middle or older generations say they can’t admit it. This including a political aspect, most members seemed to refrain from telling their opinions.


B. About ‘Topic’

We mainly talked about how people are affected by their personality if they are pessimists or optimists.

1. She said pessimistic persons should not always be regarded as negative. They could often be active in paying much attention to as many things as possible around them because they tend to worry about what those things would affect us. Other members thought her views are really reasonable.

2. She said people would sometimes become optimistic and at other times pessimistic. That’s the life.

Her views were persuasive.

3. He talked about his uncle who had passed when he was a kid. He loved alcohol and smoking and somehow he always felt familiar with him. He talked about him remembering an occasion he was taken to a sake bar.

Someone said he must have been an attractive person although it might be difficult to say he was an optimist.

4. She said she herself might be an optimist because she believed time could solve problems.

5. He said, the narrower the range of one’s activities becomes as their age advances, the easier it becomes to feel satisfied with the result of anything whatever it is. So one can become an optimist as they age.

(Ogu-ma)

The report of the meeting on 21/9/2022

As we got together 8 members tonight, divided into two groups.
We talked about "What’s new?" as usual.
Cultivating the soil makes carbon dioxide, visiting the grave in the equinoctial week, and Vaccinating for schoolchildren.

And moved to today’s "Topic".
Choose one below and talk about it.
1. What was the best thing about your childhood?
2. Do you like to splurge on things or do you prefer to stay frugal?
3. Do you enjoy spending time on your own?
4. In your opinion, what is the worst job in the world?
5. Where will we get our energy when we run out of oil?
6. Who do you think has the most power in the family? Why?
7. How do you think western families and eastern families differ?
8. What do you think is the most important thing to make a happy family?
9. What are some strange foreign customs that you have heard of?
10. Are there any customs in your country that visitors might find strange?
11. How do you imagine the UK after Elizabeth the second?
12. Everything you want to talk about is Ok.

I have been thinking that how should I make the contents about every time "Topic" recently.
Hobbies, current events, human interest stories $B!J;0LL5-;v!K(B, political or economic, culture, foreigners, extracted from the Web pages, media, daily life, and so on.
As the generation of STIE members is different, It’s not easy that I find common subjects and news beyond the generation.
But I have though that making a good "Topic" will caused studying English progress.
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 17/9/2022

There were 10 attendees on Aug 6th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of driving license, an English circle at an old private house cafe, replacement of table, COVID-19 positive case of husband’s friend, class closures due to COVID-19 at children’s school, and changing house layout from a Japanese-style room to a Western-style room. COVID-19 is spreading at school, and I hoped that the situation that students could not go to school due to class closures caused by COVID-19 would be over as soon as possible.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “ September events ”. There are stories of Natori Summer Festival in Yuriage Town, autumn sports activity by playing badminton, testing of COVID-19, trip to Yoro Valley, and autumn allergy. I wanted to enjoy a lot of autumn events this year.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 14/9/2022

There were four participants at the session on September 14th. We started off with short speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Please tell us about the kind of news that you are into.

•What is the benefit of speaking English for you?

We talked about the new generation such as Generation Y, Z and their traits. Obviously, characters differ from person to person, however there might be stereotypes that describe certain generations, and I found it really interesting.

One shared the benefit of speaking English, and I totally agreed with her thoughts. We could gain a wealth of information and knowledge, therefore I think it’s extremely worth it. However, the downside is that it’s time-consuming and possibly pricey.

Lastly, we talked about new types of COVID vaccines. The number of infected people has increased in Japan. I hope this new vaccines will work better, and prevent the severity of coronavirus.

There were only four participants at the session. Nevertheless, everyone talked actively, and we had a really good conversation.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 10/9/2022

There were 7 members in total at the session.

What’s new
He got vaccinated yesterday. He has been suffering from fever and dizziness due to strong side effects.

She was considering upgrading her computer’s OS because the current OS will be out of support in three years. The upgrade took twelve hours and was completed successfully.

Her computer had been very slow recently and broke down all of sudden. She brought it to the shop to fix and found it almost dead. So she bought a new one. She struggles with setting up because it’s complicated for her.

She has been quite busy recently. She took her son to camp with her friends on weekends. She tried her new tent and played with kayaks and paddle boards. Her son went far away by himself in a kayak.

When he walks the small path to his house, he sees abandoned cats. They follow him, calling meow and which sounds like they are asking something to eat. He feels so sorry but there is nothing he can do. He is afraid of walking that path.

She is obsessed with a YouTube channel. Her video is about life in the US. The topics cover international marriage, cultural gap and child education. She likes her way of making the videos.

Today’s topic
Today’s topic was about fear and reverence from the article of nippon.com.
We skipped the reading part and talked about the question from the list. Those questions below were chosen.
•What scares you?
•What do you think about the article?
•Please share a horror story with us
•Do you like horror movies, books, and etc?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 7/9/2022

There were seven attendees at the session on Wednesday, September 7. So we split into 2 groups.
We first made short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-her purchase of a new computer with high spec because of the breakdown of her former 6-year computer,
-an article about wild animals such as bears, boars, etc. that lost their habitats and became harmful to people by eating crops, vegetables and so on in the farm lands,
-her plan to upgrade her PC to windows 11,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Japanese Company Trials Self-Driving Vending Machines"

It’s about a very convenient self-driving vending machine that is still in the stage of a trial. It drives along the planned route
at the speed of 15 km/h at most and stops at five places for a certain period.

We discussed
1. What are your thoughts on Kyocera Communication Systems’ self-driving vending machine?
3. Do you find it surprising that Japan has over 2.7 million vending machines?
4. What are the most unusual vending machines you’ve seen or heard of?

The price of an ordinary vending machine seems to be about 700,000 yen, and it stores about 250 cans of drinks. Some have power
generators or security cameras. They are amazingly evolving.

These days, there are a variety of vending machines selling not only drinks and snacks but also food such as ramen, eggs, fruits, etc.
I wonder if we can use this self-driving vending machine as a mobile shop for the elderly who are hard to go to the supermarket far away.

Anyway, we expect this new initiative of Kyocera Communication Systems.

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 3/9/2022

9 members attended and we talked in 2 groups.

•What’s new?

A: In Ukraine, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants were attacked and occupied by Russia. 4 of them were lost electricity and the rest of 2 are still in operation. So far, IAEA can’t survey them. The purpose of this attack is giving a damage to Ukraine and Europe by losing electricity.
The situation is in danger and a deadlock.

B: He is wondering if he should buy a bike for commuting and going to shop. There are 3 concerns. 1. Worrying about a traffic accident such as being dragged by a car on a narrow road. 2. When he returns to his hometown, he may be annoyed how to dispose the bike. 3. He is a minimalist and adding a gadget is not fitting his policy. Now he is under consideration and thinking about some trials

C: Her husband is growing rice. This year, heavy rain caused damage to farmers sporadically in her area. Some farmers can’t harvest crops because once rice plants with seeds fell over by heavy rain, it’s impossible to harvest them. Some farmers have to spend 200,000-500,000 yen to repair their tractors because of getting jammed by the wet plants. Luckly, her husband’s rice field is safe and he can harvest rice crops and they can enjoy delicious rice as always.

D: These days, she feels she is procrastinating what she should do such as organizing a lot of her son’s pictures and Danshari-cleaning out unnecessary things. Other members suggested digital storage in USB and cloud space such as google photo which lead to easy management.

E: Her uncle is now hospitalized but his family can’t visit to meet him because of Coronavirus prevention. So she had their family photo enlarged into A3 size at the photo shop and presented them to paste it in his room in the hospital so that uncle can see family members” faces in the photo. They said he must feel secured and encouraged by the photo. She believes the power of photos for remembering our memories and energizing people.

Today’s topic :
Q: Are you keeping track of your household accounts? How does it help you?
A: When she does the shopping, she pays by a credit card. So she uses the monthly statement sent by the credit card company as a household accounts book. It shows the details of all her shopping items in the month. She doesn’t have to enter the shopping data to accounts book and can check her expenses exactly.

Q: Are you keeping track of your household accounts? How does it help you?
B: He doesn’t keep track of his household accounts. He manages his family finance and can grasp whole flow and situation about the family finance without a household accounts book.

Q: Please share your quick cooking recipes to save time?
C: When she doesn’t come up with any recipes for making a meal, she makes soup dishes. It’s a simple recipe to put vegetables, beans and meat or fish into a pan and simmer them with water and seasoning. There are a variety of seasoning, such as bonito bros & soy source, curry flavor,,,etc. You can change the seasoning as you like and enjoy the different tastes. It’s also very healthy dishes.

Q Do you have some ways to save money, electricity, water, gas, call charge or anything else?
D: She always tries to be frugal for household spending. Her husband is excellent on finance and he mainly manages family budget. Based on his monthly budget plan, she spends money. Her husband is a trustworthy financial manager.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 31/8/2022

There were 5 participants tonight.

Mr. A said, "In the summer of 37 years ago, a Japan Airlines plane crashed into a mountain in Gunma Prefecture. Only four of the 524 passengers survived the accident. Every year around this time, bereaved families climb the mountain to console victims’ souls."

Ms. B said, "As I get older, I feel the days pass by faster.
When I was a child, every day was full of energy and the speed of time was slower. Now, time passes by so quickly."

Ms. C said, "Since the covid crisis, I’ve been learning video production through using English for the purpose of connecting with people online. Someday, I want to upload the video I made to YouTube."

Ms. D said he teaches Japanese to Americans who have just arrived in Japan. Teaching Japanese to foreigners with no background in Japanese is very difficult, but it is a rewarding job."

Mr. E said, "Since February of this year, I have alternated between hope and despair about the situation in Ukraine. Initially, the Russian army had the upper hand, but with the support of Western countries, the Ukrainian army is regaining momentum recently."

Mr.A introduced an interesting joke. It is a conversation between a terminally ill patient and his doctor.

Ms. B introduced an app for health promotion. It’s an app that requires her to record every meal she eats. She can get expert advice through the app.

Mr. C talked about a fish that is a specialty of an island in Mie Prefecture. The fish is challenging to cook, but the taste is delicious.
Ms. D talked about the IPad mini. One of the default apps, Siri, is pretty excellent.
She uses it to check the accuracy of her English pronunciation.

(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 27/8/2022

There were 9 members today.

●What’s new?
A: Covid-19
The number of Covid-19 patients is growing in Japan.In his workplace, also some colleagues got infected. He doesn’t know how many people are infected in total in his office, but he guesses there are a lot of patients, because he heard that more infected people in other departments. This is because he has been a little bit busy with an extra job recently.

B: Book written by Ito Shiori
He read a book called “Black box” written by Ito Shiori. She is a journalist, and a victim of sexual assult. One day, she talked with a famous journalist who advised her, because she wants a job as a journalist. They had a drink and she was sexually assaulted. After a while, she talked to her friends about the accident and decided to bring the case to court.

C: Landline phone
She is in his father’s house. She took over the landline phone, because there are many sales calls through that phone. What is more, she has a smartphone, so she doesn’t need it. So she called NTT and cancelled the phone contract. NTT said that they will remove the phone line someday. So she will ask NTT when they come to remove it.

D: English lesson
Since last month, she had taken English lessons in Cambly. After that she had a reces. Today, she restarted the lesson, because Cambly gave a 50% campaign. She already had 2 lessons and both her teachers were very nice. She is glad that she already has favorite teachers. She entered into a one year contract, so she wants to enjoy the lessons.

●Today’s topics: Human Height May Have Reached Its Peak
We talked about the following questions;

•What do you make of the idea that human heights may have reached their peak?
•Who are the tallest people you know?
•What do you think would be the ideal height to be?
•Have you been to the Netherlands? If so, did you notice people’s height? If not, would you like to?

(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 24/8/2022

Today we talked with six members.

The first topic was digitization. The differences between foreign countries and Japan became clear: A said that in Japan, it is difficult to create a company, but in the U.S., it is relatively easy. In the U.S., he said, it is possible to start a company easily. This may be one of the reasons for the high rate of entrepreneurship in the United States. I was also surprised when B said that there is only one banker in a store in his country. In Japan there is still more than one banker. C said that Japanese banks are trying to reduce the number of bankers in Japan. I wonder if it will become the norm in Japan to have only one banker like in other countries.

We also talked about pets and English Channels.
Some people like dogs and cats as pets, while others have cockatiels. There are several points to consider in deciding whether or not to have a pet. One is life span, and the other is whether you feel you can communicate with it.
Many people were watching the English Channel. Some channels are commonly known, and people who are learning English may be watching some English channels. However, each channel has its own features, some have a comedic feel and others are for people who want to learn English well.
That’s why, That depends on what your goal is.

This is all.
(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 20/8/2022

Here is the report for Saturday, August 20th. A total of ten members participated in the two groups, with five members in each group.
As usual, starting with the What’s New topic was the icebreaker of the session. Some talked about the recent news article about the decreasing number of koalas in Australia. The mountain fire has burned eucalyptus forests which koalas can only survive on the diet of the leaves. The fire is also the cause of the loss of Koala habitat. Others talked about their recent activity, such as walking home from the dentist taking up to 80 minutes. We also discussed the difference between dental bridges and partial dentures. One member is into making homemade yogurt without using a cooker or stove to keep the temperature, but with the natural way to put it in a warm water bath. Another member ate out at the positive review restaurant. However, she was disappointed as everything was under her expectations. The bottom line was that we should not trust online reviews.
In Today’s Topic, I asked each member to pick a question and answer freely. One member talked about practicing the piano for his fun to spend time. Another member gave English learning as her hobby. In the question about setting up goals, one member’s current mission was to keep her vacant second home safe by installing surveillance cameras. A parent member who has a growing child talked about the difficulty of parents teaching their children.
We had fun talking during the session. Thank you very much for coming!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 17/8/2022

We got together 5 members and a trial tonight.
Topic.
Which do you prefer ****** ?

3. Which do you prefer, living in a house or in a condominium?
Condominium. 1 House. 5.
Aging people tend to prefer a detached house.

2. Which do you prefer, being single or being married?
Being married. 6
All members prefer being married.
They are satisfied with the present situation.

1. Which do you prefer, living with two or three generations?
Three generations. 2 Two generations. 2
Four generations. 1 One generation. 1

7. Which do you want to be female or a male in the next world?
The same sex. 4 The opposite sex. 2

6. Which do you want to avoid the blackout or cut off the water?
Blackout. 4, water outage. 2.
We can get support by water wagon, but in case of a blackout, we just wait for the recovery.
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 13/8/2022

Ten members attended and we divided into two groups.
The session started as usual with speaking ‘What’s new’.
These were the points of each short speech: 1) He was surprised to learn that a bottle of carbonated water didn’t freeze in the freezer of the fridge. 2) In order to deal with frequent sweat because of the humid weather, she kept a towel around her neck. But it caused a skin trouble. 3) A bulbul couple laid three eggs in the tree of his garden. Two of the young birds succeeded in flying out from the nest after a month, but one of them failed and fell down on the ground. Parent birds took care of it and it could finally fly away. He observed the whole process. 4) She started going to a gym established by the town because she wanted to keep herself in good shape. Reducing her weight was also one of her objectives. 5) He enjoyed ‘Time lapse images’ of ships sailing on a water way on TV and found there are traffic rules on the water, too, and learned that sailing right-hand side is a globally common rule.

We then talked about ‘Today’s topic’ —the benefit of reading every day.
On the premise that reading something has various good effects on our mind and psychology, we had a talk. In the discussion, we found that most members were getting information from the news items on the website and so it was unnecessary for some of them to subscribe a newspaper.
It’s true that getting new information through the website is easier than spreading a newspaper and getting it. It seems to be one of the lifestyles for people in this time and era.
But one of the members insisted that reading newspapers should make it easy to expand vocabulary you could use in everyday life because you could read it more deliberately than the news on the website. He also suggested that reading few books could negatively affect one’s own child.
(Ogu-ma)

The report of the meeting on 10/8/2022

There were six participants at the session on August 10th. We started off with short speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Studying English
(The methods you have tried, your favorite way of learning, etc...)

•Please tell us about the kind of news that you are into.

•Questions for STIE members

•Do you have any plans for Obon($B$*K_(B)?

We talked about The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ), English education for kids, home security, fireworks festival, and Gozan no Okuribi.

In short speech, one shared his visit of Nebuta festival in Aomori. According to him, there were less spectators in comparison with the past events. However He had a wonderful time, and his story made me want to visit there someday. The floats must have been spectacular, it would be worth a visit.

Since I’m a parent myself, I personally got into the topic that is English education for kids. It seems like very difficult to teach kids more than one language at the same time. Although it is tough and challenging, it’s definitely worth it.

In today’s topic, there wasn’t a lot of time and I couldn’t give everyone enough time to talk. Nevertheless, every participant was actively involved in the conversation. It turned out to be a really good session.Thank you very much.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 6/8/2022

There were 8 attendees on Aug 6th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “Whats new”. There were several news about stories of lycopene contained in tomatoes used for Neapolitan spaghetti, the linear rain belt in the Tohoku region and the renovation of the house such as the cupboard. As for linear rain belt ,there have been many torrential rains recently, and they are very dangerous, so I wanted to be especially careful during heavy rain.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “ international languages”. There are stories of applications such as Google translate and Podcast, English as a Dominant Language, English pronunciation in various countries, and learning languages except English. With the progress of information technology applications in the future, I think it will become more and more convenient for ordinary people to easily carry around smartphone translation applications.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 3/8/2022

There were six attendees at the session on Wednesday, August 3. So we did not have to split. We first made short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-his 25-minute-walk to the work place to keep fit,
-the Uighur Autonomous Region which uses their own local standard time for comvenience, because China uses a single standard time of Beijing in spite of their broad land,
-her husband’s visit to the home doctor for Helicobacter pylori test, and strict rules for COVID-19 related tests of each clinic,
-the world gender gap especially in Japan which is said to be a kind of male dominate country,
-her enjoyable lunch meeting with mom-friends in a chane restaurant for about five hours,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Letter-Writing Program Helps People Find Love in Miyazaki"

It’s about the Koibumi letter-writing matchmaking program started by Miyazaki city in 2020. It’s similar to classical "omiai" arranged matchmaking. Through exchanging letters, some couples could have chances to date.
We discussed
1. What are your thoughts on Miyazaki Koibumi?
9. Who would you say are the most compatible couples you know?

These days, there are some convenient apps for us to communicate with others. And also we can use matchmaking apps to find partners. However, exchanging letters is a little different from using smartpfone apps. Letters seem to have a wonderful power for writers to show themselves heart to heart.
The elderly feel nostalgia for exchanging letters in the good old days.
I hope the youth to experience that miracle.

About Question 9, a member said that a couple of Prince Charles and Princess Camilla may be the most compatible. Princess Camilla seems to be a good supporter for Prince Charles and have a better personality than we imagined before.

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 30/7/2022

There were 9 attendees on Jul 30th May. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of amulet toy bear, purchase of real estate by foreigners, advantages of buying second-hand goods, swimming training, and stories of home maintenance. I sometimes buy second-hand books on Mercari, and I think it’s very convenient recently that the second-hand market is organized through internet.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “this summer events”. There are stories of going to the dentist, stories of a friend who got COVID-19, stories of houseworks, barbecue events with a charcoal grill, and stories of mountain views. This summer, I wanted to enjoy summer events while being careful about COVID-19.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 27/7/2022

There were six participants in tonight’s session.

Ms. S said the first domestic covid drug made by Shionogi was not approved. Now that the number of infected people exceeds 200,000, it is desirable that drugs made in Japan realize as soon as possible.

Ms. M said the English language spoken by native speakers varies from country to country. Canadians call it "write a test," while Americans call it "take a test."
Canadian" running shoes" are called "sneakers" in the United States.

Mr.U said it had become a social problem that minors are making a lot of losses in Internet games. They spend much money without their parents knowing, which becomes what their credit card charges.

Ms.Y has done all the funeral-related miscellaneous things for her father. She wants to take a leisurely domestic trip after he 7th wave of Covid 19.

Ms.N went to a restaurant with her family and tasted her pork cutlet.

Ms. S’s the clumsiest thing she has done so far is what happened on his morning commute. She dropped one of her shoes under the platform as she got off the crowded train. In the public place, she had to spend some time afterward in a bare foot.

Ms. M thinks that one should not judge by appearance. The young woman who lives next door always wears cheap clothes and is sloppy about her appearance. But she turned out to be the most prestigious college graduate, and she was an elite.

Mr.U thinks it’s the hardest thing to realize a non-discriminatory society. Especially in Japan, gender discrimination remains.
In this regard, Japan ranks low among the countries in the world.
He thinks education is the only way to eradicate discrimination.

Ms.Y finds one of the Facebook function annoying. She received a message from many people congratulating her on her birthday.
She had to send a thank-you message to each one. While she felt happy when she got messages, she was annoyed by the time it took to write a reply.

Ms.N’s the worst thing she has eaten out of politeness is a Vietnamese dish made by her friend. To make matters worse, she couldn’t eat everything because her husband had piled up the food on her plate. She came down to setting aside secretly.

(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 23/7/2022

9 members attended and we talked in 2 groups.

● What’s new?

A: Today is “Doyo-no Ushino-hi”, “the Midsummer Day of the Ox” expressed by the zodiac sign. On this day, as tradition, many people have Kabayaki eels aiming at preventing summer fatigue. It is said that 4 kinds of food starting “U” sound coming from the first letter of “Ushi”
are good luck foods for this season such as Unagi(eel), Umeboshi(pickled plum), Udon(Japanese noodle), Uri(cucumber).

B: The life of eels is a long journey. They travel from the river to the sea. When they arrive near the equator, they lay eggs. Then young eels called Shirasu return to Japan and go up the river. Their lifespan is about 10 years. He experienced cooking live eels. Even though he tried to cut eels with the formal way, unexpectedly it was hard because eels were actively moving.

C: His physical condition changed a lot when he became in his 70’s. During sleeping at night, he wakes up a few times and once he wakes up, it takes much time to sleep again. Like this, his sleep quality is becoming worse and he got to doze off in the daytime. As measures, he does exercise and takes supplements. He feels a little embarrassed to this situation. Other members have similar problems and say taking a nap is a good way to keep our health.

D: These days, she feels guilty for not exercising. She thinks she will start exercise such as walking after it gets cooler. She tried home exercise watching YouTube videos and TV, but it couldn’t continue.
Some members recommended radio exercise and making some routine of exercise.

Today’s topic : The Eiffel Tower

Q: Do you have any towers in your area? What is it like?
A: In Kyoto, Kyoto tower is very famous. It’s a white and candle-shape tower located in front of Kyoto station. We can view the whole Kyoto city from the observatory. As a historical landmark tower, 5-story pagoda in Toji temple is around 55 meters high and the highest wooden tower in Japan. The tower was burned 4 times in the past and the current tower is 5th generation.

Q: What are the reasons we have towers?
B: Some towers deliver signals for broadcasting. As another big reason is that people want to see views from high places and enjoy the scenic beauty. And a tower is the best place to fulfill our wishes with safety.

Q: Do you like to climb mountains? What mountains have you climbed?
D: When she lived in a share house, she and her foreign room-mate decided to climb Mt.Fuji. The room-mate was so eager to climb Mt.Fuji and they signed up the Mt.Fuji tour. But, unfortunately the tour was cancelled by the bad weather and her room-mate felt so sorry. Next chance came and she tried Mt.Fuji tour with other friends about 10 years ago. She successfully climbed up Mt.Fuji. The view on the top was so beautiful but environment on the mountain was so cold even in summer and she couldn’t sleep well and felt so tired.

Q What tower have you ever gone up:?
E: When she went up Tokyo tower many years ago, she can’t remember what the tower was like, but she remembers wired memory of watching wax doll museum in the tower. Several years ago, she went to Tokyo Sky Tree tower. That is a broadcasting and observatory tower with 634M height. It’s the highest tower in Japan. She doesn’t like high places but tried it. It was not so scary, but there is one scary place. If you stand there, you can see the view under your foot through transparent glass. It was so thrilling.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 20/7/2022

There are 7 members today.

What’s new?
A-san talked about 1st anniversary of her relative’s death. I was interested in system of a funeral. I haven’t experienced a funeral, so I asked A-san a question. As A-san said, Funeral company prepared everything of funeral. However if you don’t have a parishioner($BCI2H(B), you have to find a monk and take him to funeral by yourself. Under corona virus, funeral is seldom held, so monks may be in need. Considered about pandemic, she held the funeral with only relatives. She enjoyed talking over lunch with her relatives. I thought that a funeral is a place to say goodbye to the dead and also a place for people to make connections. It is more important to make connections in modern world.

Topic
We mainly talked about English. It was interesting that everyone differed in which abilities we were good at. B-san is good at listening. On the other hand, I am good at reading but not good at listening. Of course, it is best to improve all English ability. The ability to be developed depends on why you study English. In order to interact with foreigner, we have to improve Speaking and Listening in particular.

Some members have traveled around the world. As A-san worked at a trading company, she was given a opportunity to go abroad. For example, Thailand, Taiwan and Hongkong. These countries are suppliers of her company. She e-mailed with people of these countries in English through work. She said that she was happy to communicate with them in English. It was motivational to work.

Moreover, in addition to STIE, there are members who have the habit of speaking in English with someone. B-san has a friend living in foreign country. She talked with her friend using Skype. B-san’s friend said that it is difficult to pronounce katakana English($B%+%?%+%J1Q8l(B). Katakana English and English are completely different from each other, as both have different meanings and different pronunciations. I thought it was a good relationship to teach each other different languages. On the other hand, A-san and B-san takes online lessons. They has partners to talk in English. If I have a teacher to point out exact English, my English will be improved. To have a partner to talk in English is valuable. That’s all.

(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 16/7/2022

There were 11 members today.

●What’s new?

A: Decide the place to live in
From last December, he tried some trial houses in some cities. Each local government offers these trial houses. It costs around 1,000 yen per day, including furniture, internet connection and water and electric fee. He changed trial houses 4 times. Finally he decided on the place to live. He chose that place, because it’s near his work place.

B: Days in her father’s house
She stays in her father’s house to take care of his house and garden. This morning, she cut the glass without chemicals for 2 hours. So she felt very tired so she took a nap around 3 p.m. She planed 30 minutes nap, but when she got awake, she found it was already 5 p.m.

C: Watch
He wears his watch which has a rubber band, one part of it was broken. He looked for the part. Finally, he found all parts of the band almost broken, so he bought the band in an online shop. He went to the home center, but he only found an expensive one. Now he is waiting for the band.

D: Manga
One of her hobbies is reading manga, so she went to the local library to borrow some manga. These manga are written in English, but she wants to read them in Japanese to understand the world of the story. But better than nothing, so she borrowed some manga. There are notes in Manga written in English that annoys her.

E: Open school
This is the first open school for her and her son. She went to school and saw his class. In the class, he interacts with his friend and looks happy. She feels her son is not good at facing new situations, so she was concerned, but she felt relieved, because his teacher said he did great in class.


●Today’s topics: Study: Strong Connection to Family Helps Children Succeed

We talked about the following questions;
•What are your thoughts on the findings of this study?
•In your opinion, what’s the hardest thing about raising kids?
•Which of your friends or family do you think has the best parenting style?


(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 13/7/2022

Seven members got together tonight and split into 2 groups.
"What’s new"
$B"~(B Just 8 years ago, Mt. ONTAKE erupted and several dozen climbers died..
$B"~(B Her parent’s house was attacked by termites, recently.
$B"~(B She attended her son’s class observation.
$B"~(B Summer high school baseball tournament game in local started.

"Today’s topic."
Are these necessary or not necessary? Series 2.
1. Nuclear power plant.
$B"~(B Japan is a country of an earthquake. not necessary.
2. Different surnames.
$B"~(B She doesn’t like her former family name. not necessary.
3. Grave (tomb).
$B"~(B The nuclear family is not able to take care of it forever. not necessary.
4. Bankbook.
5. PTA (Parent-Teacher Association)
6. The House of Councilors.
7. 2000 yen bill.
$B"~(B That is one of the Japanese cultures, we don’t like even numbers, especially 2,4. not necessary.
8. Script of the alphabet.
9. Northern 4 islands.
10. War.
Thank you.
( Ue )

The report of the meeting on 9/7/2022

 The Saturday, July 9th session covered “What’s New?” and "Today’s Topic" topics by ten members participating. Based on the rule, the meeting was split into two groups for every member to have a chance to participate.
In the “What’s New?” part, everyone spoke up by sharing their recent news. A-san recalled his haircut experiences in Germany. B-san made her homemade juice and jam with Japanese plums. C-san introduced his Thermos insulated tumbler, which is best for drinking beer. D-san brought up the former prime minister, Mr. Abe’s sad news.
 Moving on to Today’s Topic, each member made our speech regarding Summer. A-san talked about the festival in his area. Buying at the food stand and watching fireworks displays are the summer tradition in Japan. B-san recalled her memory of her childhood at the radio calisthenics. After the exercise, kids joined and enjoyed story time. C-san prefers swimming in the pool to the sea. On the beach, sun exposure will be more than in the swimming pool. There would be an increased chance of a suntan or a burn. D-san shared her outdoor BBQ party with her family friends. This BBQ experience using coals built her confidence to join another BBQ party.
 Thank you so much for coming and sharing your story. Will see you soon.
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 6/7/2022

There were eight participants at the session on July 6th. We divided us into two groups, and started off with short speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Questions for STIE members

•Please tell us about trips you have taken.
(The places you have been to, the places you want to go to, etc...)

•Do you have any fovorite seasonal foods that you like in summer?

•How do you save your money?

We talked about computers, travel stories, chestnuts, methods of saving money.

Unfortunately I’m not knowledgeable about computers whatsoever, I couldn’t give a valuable advice to the speaker that has trouble with her computer. luckily there were people who know their way around computers.

One shared his first trip in Fiji. He told us that he mingled with locals, and ate fresh fish with coconuts! That sounds really tasty.

One talked about the chestnuts that were grown in her garden. It sounded like she enjoys eating chestnuts, and her story made me crave for chestnuts!

Lastly one shared his hacks how to save money. He’s an expert on money, therefore I found it very worthwhile. I should put them into practice.

We had a really good conversation, I enjoyed every single topics. Hope everyone enjoyed as much as I did.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 2/7/2022

There were 8 members and 1 trial participant at the session.
We made 2 groups.

What’s new
The government started the 2nd my number point campaign. But she has registered for the 1st campaign and has also got some procedures that satisfy the criteria of the 2nd campaign done already. She is considering whether she should apply for it.

Because of KDDI’s system trouble, she still can’t make a phone call. She is waiting for it to be fixed. Her sister has trouble with her air conditioner, so she bought a new one. But because of Russian aggression against Ukraine, deliveries of components have been delayed. She has to wait till the middle of August.

He takes care of 2 cats called abyssinian. One of them had diarrhea and was in a bad condition for a long time. It looked very pity for him to lose his hair because of various health issues. Lately, the condition is getting better and he looks cheerful.

She started taking English lessons. They offered a 50% discount last month, so she decided to try and will consider whether she subscribes. Teachers are nice and helpful. It is convenient for her to be able to take a lesson when she has time.

About trying brazilian wax to remove nostrils’ hair. It was painful but worked. Putting some solid pieces of wax in a microwave melt them to use. It was very easy.

Today’s topic was about an article on Tokyo’s power supply and demand due to the early end of the rainy season.
We talked about those questions.
•Do you use air conditioning units? What is an appropriate way to use air conditioning units?
•Please talk about anything regarding the article.
•How do you deal with summer fatigue?
•What do you do to avoid the heat?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 29/6/2022

There were seven attendees at the session on Wednesday, June 29. So we split into two groups.
We first made short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-her daily 40 minute-jogging and special drinks of "plum syrup juice with ice cubes" and "banana smoothie with blueberry, Yogurt, honey, milk, protein, and so on",
-a controversial movie "Plan 75" about an aged society in which one-third of the total population are 65 years old or older and the eldery over 75 can choose dignity death, which won the Palme d’Or in the 75th annual Cannes Film Festival,
-preparation for her physical condition to attend the badminton circle after long absence,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Where Are the World’s Rainiest Cities?"

It’s about the rainy season. Whether good or bad, it seems to end this rainy season earlier according to the weather forecast.
The article says there are some cities whose annual rainfall is at almost 12 meters, or which is affected by wet weather 258 days of the year, and so on. Most are close to the equator. It sounds tough for me to live there, because the laundry is hard to dry.

We discussed
6. When was the last time bad weather ruined your plans?
8. Which of the towns or cities you’ve been to had the best weather?

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 25/6/2022

There were 7 members in total at the session.
We made 2 groups.

What’s new
He bought 3 books and read 2 of them. He found the book written by Ishihara Shintaro paticurary interesting. That was his last work and was published after his and his wife’s death. The book mentions every detail about his life including his childhood, his family, relationships with women, etc. He reveals his true nature as it is in that book.

Her husband got a drink for her from a famous coffee shop. The straw attached to it was made from paper. Although it managed to hold out for an hour or so, she had to hurry because it was fragile and was starting to bleed. Since plastic straws were no longer sold, she had not seen straws, partly because she rarely buys commercial drinks.

It was the anniversary of the founding of her son’s school last wednesday, so school was closed. She went shopping with her family. During the day, her son was excited the whole time, spending good time watching the bullet train through the car window on the way, shopping and eating ice cream. Huge store was like an amusement park.

About the short video of NASA’s recent release. They released human space exploration objectives and proposed a 30 days manned mission to Mars to take place sometime in the next 20 years. They set the goal to create the blueprint for sustain human presence and exploration throughout the solar system and will develop this blueprint and practice it on the moon with the goal of demonstrating it on Mars.

Today’s topic
The topic was about an essay written about a Japanese Canadian who came to California about 100 years ago and settled in Port Dover in Canada.
We talked about those questions below.
•The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the return of administrative authority to Okinawa Prefecture from the US. Do you have any thoughts on it?
•Please talk about anything regarding the article.
•Do you like watching or growing trees and flowers?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 22/6/2022

There were six participants in tonight’s session.

Mr. A said the number of taxi drivers in Kyoto has dropped dramatically during the pandemic.
Whether the decrease is temporary or not, it is necessary carefully monitor the number’s transition.

Ms.B enjoys interacting with her former colleague, an old lady.
As the lady has difficulty meeting her in person because she lives five hours away by car, she often talks to the lady on the phone.

Ms.C talked about a picture book she was impressed with recently.
It’s a story about "a cat that died a million times".

Ms.D is thinking about the fire insurance for the house she has taken over.She thinks insurance with no refund payment is better and wants to sign up as soon as possible as the insurance cost will increase from October.

Mr.E went camping with two friends last week.
The tent for 6 people was so big as to be very difficult to put it up.
They enjoyed making a bonfire and went to see the nearby big fall.

Mr.F talked about gourmet information sites.
Though such sites provide helpful information to both users and restaurants, how to establish fairness and objective evaluation is a future issue.

Mr. A thinks the most respected person is John F Kennedy, whose most outstanding achievement was avoiding the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The ridiculous rule for Ms.B is the group assignment she’s working on now.
She is wondering if she should follow the rules set by her professor.

Ms.D prefers "to go to jail for a year" over "to shorten her life by a year" because she thinks it should be a valuable experience for her, even if she spends her time in prison.

Ms.C’s favorite app is TikTok, which she enjoys watching short movies.

Mr.E will never forget the scenery of Akiu Otaki in Miyagi prefecture that he saw after the camp. The appearance of clean water flowing down is like a painting. It’s the most beautiful landscape.
(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 18/6/2022

8 members attended and we talked in 2 groups.

●What’s new?

A: She got a third vaccine(Phyzer) for Covid19 yesterday. Fortunately, she got light side effect such as pain on her arm. First and second were Moderna vaccines and they also brought light side effects. But on second shot, she got a little fever. For fourth shot, she has not yet received the information.

B: Now she is in Hiroshima to go through some procedures at banks. And yesterday, she was busy on taking care of her past father’s garden such as trimming the branches of trees and weeding grasses. That was a hard job and she was annoyed with mosquitoes.

C: She bought 30 grms cranberry powder by Amazon, interested in the health effectiveness introduced in the article of the last session. It was too expensive to take it everyday, but she just wanted to try it. It tastes good with sweet and sour taste.

Today’s topic : School, children, education

Q: What subject did you like and not like when you were a student?
A: When she was a high school student, she didn’t like English. The English teacher offensively gave students strict words when they made mistakes. Her favorite subjects were Japanese and physics. When she was a university student, she studied abroad in 4 months. That motivated her to study English actively and now she likes English.

Q: Could you share us your first love memory? When? Who?
B: When she became 1st grade student of a junior high school student, she fell in love with one year older boy student who was a member of the table tennis club. She was also the table tennis club member, but she didn’t have a chance to talk with him because she moved to Hiroshima 6 months later. Afterward, her ex-classmate sent her the school trip photo including the boy. She cherished the photo as her first love memory. But when she got married, she threw it away because she felt sorry for her husband.

Q: Did you join a club activity? What did you do after school?
D: When she was a junior high school student, she joined a basketball club. At that time, basketball was a popular sport. But the club coach instructed students so strictly. He sometimes hit students. She liked the members but didn’t like the coach. When she was a high school student, she joined a soft tennis club. The coach was kind and not strict and members enjoyed practicing and sometimes got together. She spent much fun time.

Q: All school lunch should be free for children. Do you agree or disagree?
C: She agrees that all school lunch should be free for children. Because education is very important for children which leads better society. Diet is essential for children to grow healthy. It is said that now one in 7 children is in a poor family in Japan. On the other hand, lunch fee is getting higher. Some parents have difficulty to pay the fee. If lunch fee is free, every child feels secure to have lunch. Furthermore, teachers won’t be bothered with managing lunch fee.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 15/6/2022

Since there were 8 participants, we divided them into two groups.
1.What’s new

#Traphic rule
A person accidentally ignored the signal and went to the intersection.
Another person shared an alcohol driving experience which sometimes occurs in a country.
In Japan, an elderly’s person’s car accident is one of the problems.
Government imposes the examination on the elderly on whether the person can drive well or not.
But especially in rural areas, it is hard if residents cannot drive because they may not go shopping due to poor public transportation.
As an alternative, it can be recommended to use an electric bicycle or food delivery service.

#daily routine
Walking or jogging is good for health and because we can communicate with people and see the animals such as dogs, cats, and snakes.
Morning person or night person?
If the person can concentrate on the work or enhance the ability in the morning, the person is a morning person.
One person wakes up at 3 am like a monk in a temple.

#windows or mac book?
Although the majority prefer to use windows, the minority use the mac book.
Because editing for video is better.
The collaboration between iPhone and MacBook is good.
But the mac is expensive.

2. Today’s topic
# What are (dis)advantages of reading books online?
The advantage is the reader can read the book anywhere.

# Do you watch television? How often do you watch television?
Although the entertainment contents become diverse, watching TV is still top among those.
One says “I often watch TV”

#.What country would you like to visit?
Hawaii!
But it is not time now as the Yen is weak.

Thank you for reading.
(Ken)

The report of the meeting on 11/6/2022

There were 8 attendees today.


●What’s new?
A: The regulation of E-commerce
He found the news about the rules of E-commerce written last month. According to the article, in the UK, the organization CMA considered changing the guidelines of online sellers. There are many misleading and bait advertising online. Due to such commercials, many people pay more money to bad products, and it puts honest producers in a harder situation. He thinks it’s a good rule, and the Japanese government should implement such a rule.

B: Her peer of the group assignment
She had worked on her group assignments until yesterday. She worked with her peer on another assignment before. At that time, her partner could not take part in the assignment. So she had to read three books and answer questions instead of her, because students are banned from googling to do assignments. This time, she also has to do her peer’s part of the assignment as well as hers. Next assignment, she will ask her professor to make a pair with another student.

C: Rainy season
She is annoyed by the rainy season of the year, because she cannot hang out the laundry in the veranda. Now it is already the rainy season in her area. For the last 4 days, she has had to hang the laundry in rooms, because there are no dryers in her house. She washes the clothes everyday and misses the sunny days. The rainy season lasts for around one month in Japan. She hopes the rainy season finishes as soon as possible.


●Today’s topic: A Cup of Cranberries a Day Could Improve Memory
•Has your memory gotten better or worse as you’ve gotten older?
A: He feels his memory doesn’t get better, and maybe worse. He is not good at remembering from his youth, especially people’s names, English words or so on. So he doesn’t feel his memory get worse even if he gets older. However, in general, older people have worse memory.

B: In the study, continuing to study something keeps our memory good. However, according to her experience, it depends on what we remember. When we remember something we are interested in or we are good at, it is easier to remember.

•Do you have any favorite Japanese sweets? What is it?
C: She prefers cake, cookies and chocolate. Almost every after lunch, she has such sweat she bought in the supermarket for the treat of the choir. She likes Japanese sweets, but she likes cake, cookies and chocolate much more.
(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 8/6/2022

We have 8 members and 1 trial member today.


What’s new?

A-san talked about the pickled plums she had purchased. A-san said that pickled plums need to be lined and exposed to the sun and take more than a month to make. They are not fully ripe yet, so they need to be pickled in salt to be ripen. Many of the members liked the pickled plums, one of the members even ate red shiso($B@V$7$=(B).


B-san talked about GO TO travel and the prefectural discount. GO TO travel took place two years ago and it will resume again. Unlike last time, vaccine certificates must be submitted. However, due to the pandemic, its schedule has been pushed back. The prefectural discount is up to 7,000 yen, and it is valid outside of the prefecture as well. Members agree with these campaigns. They have the potential to improve the Japanese economy. We have to show proof of vaccination


Today’s topic was mainly about accepting foreigners and wearing masks. The foreigner acceptance was agreed in terms of improving Japan’s economy. Besides, only a limited number of foreigners can come to Japan, and package tourists can come to Japan. However, that’s not safe enough. Some foreigners do not want to wear masks. It is getting easier to travel, but we as well as foreigners will need to wear masks for a while. We need to follow the minimum rules to avoid infection.
(Shinya)

The report of the meeting on 4/6/2022

Here is the meeting report for Saturday, June 04, 2022. The session consisted of three and four members each in the two groups.

Group A had four members starting with the "What’s new?" topic, sharing recent events and news. We talked about the weather, clothing stores, coming home after a while staying in her hometown, house cleaning with dead plant disposition, child’s school sports event, and the complete restoration from the thunderstorm in the Canadian region.

In the "Today’s Topic" in the next half of the session, we discussed a convenience store chain, FamilyMart, launching a medication pick-up service in the Tokyo area. Most of us like the conventional medication pick-up at our preferred pharmacy located within walking distance after a hospital/clinic visit. However, FamilyMat’s new system may have better access for those who do not have pharmacies in their area. While looking for the convenience of the service, we are also concerned about who will deal with prescribed medicines - will convenience store clerks be registered/licensed technicians...? The new system involves more medical/logistics channels than the conventional pharmacy service, which can cause confusion and mistakes.

I also asked about the members’ shopping preferences in convenience or grocery stores. Homemaker members tend to choose grocery stores more often because of the price. Convenience stores are "convenient" for working people to grab lunch and drink. Pre-cooked food we call "retort food" and frozen food sold for one person at convenience stores are a good portion for people living alone to eat up everything without leftovers for the next day.
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 1/6/2022

7 members got together tonight. We were divided into two groups.

A-san: He attended a mandatory project in Osaka Prefecture.
He talked about senior smart life, especially about drugs and tablets.

B-san: She held a memorial service on the forty-ninth day after her father’s death in Hiroshima where her father had lived for a long time. It took 8 months since her father was in the hospital till this memorial service. Her task as a daughter was finished except for a part.
$B$*Hh$lMM$G$7$?!#(B

C-san: She watched a movie with her husband the title was "The Shawshank Redemption". That is a human drama in the prison.
One of the main actors was Morgan Freeman.

D-san: He talked about indiscriminate shooting incidents in the USA. This incident seems like an everyday occurrence in the USA.
Who is to be the first penguin for to make a law on gun control?
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 28/5/2022

There were 12 attendees on May 28th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of a person with cataracts, watching the planet at night, Drama “Servant of the People” of President of Ukraine Zelenskyy ,accepting overseas travelers, making plum wine and plum jam, going to a super public bath, and buying trekking shoes. Drama “Servant of the People” of Zelenskyy is being distributed on Netflix, so I wanted to watch it.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “May events”. There are stories of Keisei Rose Garden, Inheritance tax, the recent war between Ukraine and Russia, Kouichi Hamada’s war photography, events of Mother’s Day and Children’s Day. Rose Garden is still in full bloom until early June, so I wanted to go Rose Garden immediately.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 25/5/2022

There were eight participants at the session on May 25th. We divided us into two groups, and started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Studying English
(The methods you have tried, your favorite way of learning, etc...)

•What was the best and worst experience in a foreign country?

•If there is one thing that you could change about Japan, what would it be?

In my group, we talked about English study groups, travel experiences, JR and the former Japan National Railways.

One introduced the club called “Toastmasters ” which is an organization where you can practice public speaking. I’ve never heard of it, I got really curious about it.

It is always fun to talk about trips, therefore it was really interesting to hear one’s experience in Malaysia and Spain which I’ve never been to. What surprised me most was that she enjoys traveling by herself. It definitely indicates that she’s very independent, adventurous and brave.

Lastly one pointed out that the issue of Japan Railway Company (JR). I’m not knowledgeable about the former Japan National Railways whatsoever. Hence, it was worthwhile to hear his view on that.

We had a really good conversation, I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 21/5/2022

There were 8 members in total at the meeting.
We made 2 groups.

What’s new
He organized a residential association consisting of 11 groups. He and members discuss many kinds of things. One of the activities of the association is to clean up the park, which is tough work for them to mow 600 square meters of park, but also provides an opportunity for residents to get to know each other.

She visited a provincial park with her son. The water in the river there was still very cold, but many people were visiting and having fun. Mosquito bite in Canada are very stubborn, lasting about 2 weeks.

She went to a hot spring with her husband. He likes a sauna. After that, she found another public bath with reasonable prices that has a restroom for taking a nap and comic book corner, and provides cozy indoor clothes. She is looking forward to visiting.

The news says that Rakuten mobile announced that it will abolish the “0 yen plan” and start charging customers a monthly fee. He thinks this is unfair to users.

Today’s topic
The topic was an article about examples of once great inventions that soon became out of date.
We picked a question regarding the article and answered it. The question below was chosen.
•Can you think of any other examples of once great inventions that soon became out of date and were replaced by something else?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 18/5/2022

There were six attendees at the session on Wednesday, May 18.
We first made short speeches as usual.
They were roughly about:
-using water-bags instead of sandbags to prevent toilet drainage water from flowing back during heavy rain,
-whether or not for small children to wear face masks all the time especially during the coming hot seasons,
-Finland and Sweden who are changing their political stanses to become NATO members,
-growing vegetables and flowers in the garden to show her son the process of growing up,
-a CNN article about a large underground shelter in Helsinki, Finland,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"More People Using ’Dr. Google’ for Health Advice"

It seems when medical students search for medical questions with Google Search, they jokingly say, "Let’s ask Dr. Google."
Not only medical students but many ordinary people search on "Google" to get information on medical problems, injuries, and more.
Although "Dr. Google" should not replace a visit to your real doctor, the internet can help you find more information after you get a diagnosis.

We discussed
2. Do you often look for medical advice online? Why? Why not?
3. Have you ever used a symptom-checking app or website?
7. Do you take any vitamins or supplements? Why? Why not?
9. Have you ever broken a bone? If so, please share your story.

Take care. See you soon.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 14/5/2022

●What’s new?

A: Summer camping season in Canada starts from June. There are various kinds of camping programs for children. Her child was looking forward to going diabetes camping program, but it’s “first-come, first served” reservation and this year, they missed the chance. Now, she is looking for other camps. We learned from her that 1-2 /100,000persons in Asians and 1/300 persons in Caucasians are suffering from diabetes-type1 and tackling the treatment.

B: He showed “Buy nothing” project in the U.S. which has started in 2013. It’s a “give and take” system where you can give away something you don’t need and get something others don’t need for free. Registered members live close each other and upload unnecessary goods on the local community website and get them. This system contributes to environmentally friendly recycling and making a good communication with local people.

C: She started to teach Japanese language online to a Vietnamese 3 years ago. He studied hard while working as part time worker in Japan and grew his communication skills through Japanese lessons. He was aiming at having a job in Japan. But because of Coronavirus pandemic, his job hunting has not gone well. But recently he has successfully got a job of IT company and is going to work in Nagoya next week. She is very happy his goal has come true.

D: She read the article about e-sports. She learned e-sport is not just a online game but there are some positive characteristics.
1.Ageless, 2.Genderless, 3. Mustleless, 4. Arealess, 5.Contactless. These points contribute to creating diverse communication and energizing our society. Further, e-sports market boosts up economy.
However, it’s still important to practice physical sports.

Today’s topic
“Coffee, tea and nagging at Japan’s anti-procrastination café”
and 12 questions.
Q: What do you think about this café?
B: He respects the café’s owner’s efforts to help writers achieve their goals. It’s understandable to put pressure on writers for their goal, but if he were the customer and felt someone standing behind him, he would feel uneasy and couldn’t concentrate on his work.

Q: What is your favorite housework? Cooking, cleaning, washing,gardening,etc.
C: She likes cleaning because she feels comfortable after cleaning. But she sometimes can’t throw away something she doesn’t use now even though she understands if she throws it away she will be refreshed. Maybe those things have precious memories for her.

Q: What is discouraging housework for you?
D: She likes daily shopping at the supermarket and the drug stores. But she doesn’t like storing what she bought. For example, lettuce should be unwrapped, washed and rewrapped with new plastic bag. Meat should be unwrapped, divided in small portions and repacked, then put in the freezer.
These meticulous handlings annoy her.

Q: Are you a procrastinator or not?
A: She thinks she is a procrastinator. She sometimes struggles to meet the deadline for her assignment submittance. One day, her prof. gave her one day extension to the deadline of an assignment and she submitted the assignment on the new deadline. But the Prof. forgot giving the mark on her report card. She was embarrassed, but finally she passed the course.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 11/5/2022

A total of 7 people participated in the meeting tonight.
We were divided into two groups, Group A and Group B.

Group A had 3 participants.

First, Mr. U commented on the last speech of the Russian president, Putin, the other day. It was a speech on Russia’s most important Victory Day. Putin labeled Ukrainian soldiers as neo-Nazis and is desperate to justify the war. Plus, he assumes the Western nations as the forces that support them.

Ms. S talked about generation Z, a generation born somewhere in the mid-1990s and late 2000s. For generation Z, Videos tend to be viewed at double speed to save time. In the case of the suspense movie distributed online, they first watch the film’s ending and then watch the film from the beginning to the end. It’s vital for them to watch the movie more analytically.

Mr.H talked about Elon Musk’s tweets. He is the richest man globally, and his tweets are often controversial.

Mr. U talked about the possibility of the existence of aliens. Aliens have been portrayed in many movies so far.
American spacecraft is now traveling in space to investigate the existence of aliens.

Ms. S answered, "What if you could become a ghost and own someone’s soul?"
She replied that she wanted to become a leader in Russia instead of Putin and stop the war soon.


How would you prove that you were from the future if you were brought into the 400 years past with no clothes and anything else?
Mr. H replied that he would tell people about the history that happened in the Edo period. He pretends to be a prophet and tries to convey historical events as accurately as possible, such as establishing a change of attendance system, the occurrence, and consequences of the Shimabara Rebellion, who will become a shogun, etc. At first, he might be thought of as a crazy creature, but Gradually people will begin to believe that he is a human being from 2022.
(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 7/5/2022

There were 9 members today.

●What’s new?
A: Hot Spring: Nekoma
He went to the hot spring near his house, Nekoma-Onsen with his family. He was totally relaxed with having delicious dishes. The building next to the lake and the weather was good, so the scenery was great. It is lucky for him that the weather was sunny. Besides, every year it is cloudy or rainy.

B: Japanese tourist industry
According to yesterday’s news, the government announced that inbound tourists should be increased from next June. Now Japan prohibits foreign tourists from coming in. Additionally, all foreign arrivals have to take the PCR test. After June, the restriction will be eased. It’s a good opportunity for the tourist industry to recover. He also thinks there will not be as many Chinese tourists as before the pandemic because of Zero Covid treatment.

C: Bad news for her
She visited Japan in April 2017. At that time, her son was very interested in Japanese Anime. So she subscribed to a video stream for him with her husband ’s credit card. Recently, she found that the subscription had not ended. She was so shocked. That means she has thrown away some money for almost 5 years. She plans to pay for her husband, but she is afraid to calculate the amount of subscription money.

D: birth a boy
Her childhood friend gave birth to a baby. Although she hasn’t been keeping in touch with her friend for 6 to 7 years. her friend texted her and she knew that. Her friend had difficulty in having babies, but finally she had a baby and gave birth. Her friend stays at her parents’ house now. She will meet them next week. She’s now thinking about the present for the baby.


●Today’s Topic: Shein, Fast Fashion, and What It Really Costs

•What do you usually do with the clothes you no longer plan on wearing?
C: She usually recycles things which are no longer needed. In Canada, there is a great recycling system. She just makes a reservation on the website, and the truck comes to her house and picks up things.

•How often do you shop for new clothes? Do you ever buy them online?
D: She rarely buys clothes for herself, because she always buys for her son. After she became a mother, the priority is kids. She also doesn’t think she needs fancy clothes. Sometimes, she buys clothes a year ahead.

•Have you ever returned something that you purchased online?
A: Yes, he returned protection seals for his smartphone once before. He bought it through Amazon. But the protection seal was not good enough to protect his phone. So he requested a refund and got back the money.

B: He also has the experience to return something a few times. He also uses Amazon. Amazon is a huge ECS, so sometimes there are bad productions. He thinks Amazon has a better refund system than other ECS.
(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 4/5/2022

Today, as we had eight participants, we divided two groups.
1. What’s new
Shared individual recent news.
# Curry meal: curry rice, curry udon curry soba and keema curry.
We are not familiar with the curry soba, but this have kind of citizenship is some area.
It may look awful, but hope the taste is terrific.
Even the curry udon, currently got the popularity, however at first time people thought it as strange food.
# Gym
It is good opportunity to start something new, how is going to gym? Especially public one.
Compare to the private one, the public one is cheap and recently the quality of the contents is good, which they offer variety of courses such as Yoga, zumba.
To continue is important, lets involve your friends or familly and try it.

#Mamushi bite
Spring comes, snake including Mamushi bite occur, please be careful.

2. Today’s topic
Today is the day of greenery day and other memorial day :International firefighter day,botanical garden day, lemon soda day, motor boat day, day of emerald, business card day and birthday of Audrey Hepbum.
We discussed related to today.
# Emerald or other staff
People get old, they tend to avoid to wear the emerald or other luxury.
Some intentionally don’t wear marriage ring as is unconfutable or appeal to that I am a single?

#Botanical garden
Our recommendation is Izu shaboten koen!

Thank you for reading. See you.
(Ken)

The report of the meeting on 30/4/2022

The Saturday meeting was held on April 30, 2022 with the participation of nine members splitting into two groups.

As an ice breaker, we updated ourselves with the recent event and news. One talked about shopping for an audio device at one of the biggest app marketplaces in Japan. Another topic was the difficulty of picking clothes due to the weather changing the temperature going up and down, the 3D footage of baseball using 80 TV cameras operating together, and a weird experience in cooking with a canned bean sprout.

In “Today’s Topic,” we discussed our thoughts based on the news article about the school teacher who spent too much money to fill water in the swimming pool. His intention was for COVID prevention, but we thought washing hands is always the best. He could talk to his co-workers to avoid this issue happening. During the pandemic, offering no swimming classes are also a good idea. Parents might want schools to run swimming classes, but anyone can get COVID nowadays. Self-awareness can be the key to protecting ourselves from COVID.
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 27/4/2022

We got together 6 members tonight.
What’s new?
A san : Her husband backed home with a lot of bamboo shoots. She boiled them using a pressure cooker with wakame seafood, She shared some of them with her neighbors.
B san : He worried about the missing sight-seeing boat in Hokkai-do.
Some of the passengers passed away and missing.
The president of the company held the first interview, but almost people involved complained about his behavior.
C san : He has had dry eye for 15 years due to his lachrymal something wrong. Recently, he got the good news that Osaka University succeed to make treatment for the dry eye using IPS cells.
D san : She talked about the leaves of the evergreen tree.
She wondered if even a leaf of the evergreen will change color or not.
E san : He lives in Sakai city in Osaka prefecture.
The population is 800 thousand and the second biggest city in Osaka. And Sakai is also a merchant city.
The Nintoku Empire’s tumulus is a representable famous place and well-known as well.

After that, we talk about tonight’s topic.
Please pick one topic and talk about it
1. Did you have any memorable teachers when you were a student?
2. The first day of this month was the day permitted to tell a lie. In the past, what kinds of lies have you been told?
3. Have you been putting in your artificial teeth? How many?
4. Do you like a Japanese castle?
Which castle is the best for you?
5. Have you experienced playing gamble at the casino?
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 23/4/2022

There were 9 attendees on April 23th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of how to use Japanese “ZenZen” word, the Inheritance procedures like Heritage division agreements, weather forecast and the change in neighborhood from a pachinko parlor to a supermarket, and “Buddhist Saint Kuya” exhibition at the Museum. Regarding the Japanese “ZenZen” word, I found it difficult to use Japanese languages because it is used differently depending on the generation and the times.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “April events”. There are stories of recent situation of COVID-19, third vaccination of COVID-19 outside the place of residence, and the war between Ukraine and Russia. The war between Ukraine and Russia has the great influence on the world in terms of politics and economies, and I hope that it will be resolved as soon as possible.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 20/4/2022

There were seven participants, including a person on trial at the session on April 20th. We started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•What comes to mind when you think of spring?

•What do you like, or not like? (Foods, Seasons, Movies etc...)

•Please tell us about trips you have taken.
(The places you have been to, the places you want to go to, etc...)

•Studying English
(The methods you have tried, your favorite way of learning, etc...)

•Please tell us about the kind of news that you are into.

We talked about pollen allergy, “Aburasoba”, living funerals, methods of English study, and Russia’s military attack on Ukraine.

Since I have hay fever, I really relate to what it is like to have allergies. One shared her experience of nasal wash which I’ve never done before. Although it seems a little scary, I’m interested in trying it.

We had a really good conversation and I enjoyed every topic that all participants covered.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 16/4/2022

There were 6 members at the session.

What’s new
He enjoyed visiting the Okutama area and went to a limestone cave. He enjoyed seasonal foods as well. There were a lot of people visiting there and having fun . There are some nice places to visit to see nature in Tokyo within a few hours of driving from the central area. Especially in the Okutama area.

She decided to subscribe to TIME magazine. Because it offered a discount campaign. However after she paid the subscription fee, she could no longer log in to its website. She spent a lot of time fixing the problem and asked customer service too. In spite of her effort, the problem has not been fixed yet.

He shared the news that a Japanese comedian started a cram school. There are some comedians who get low wages even though they are very well educated. And he thought there are some people who want to go to a cram school but can not because it is financially difficult for them. So he hires some well educated comedians as a teacher, then offers people the opportunity to go to a cram school at a low cost.

Her father passed away. She has had a lot of things she has to do and there are still things that need to be done. She visited her father every day after his treatment was stopped. She is a bit lonely now.

Her son started going to elementary school this week. She got up early in the morning to bring him to school.

About Netflix drama series. There are some good Japanese dramas on Netflix. They hire a team of well-known actors and make good dramas.

Today’s topic
The topic was about an incident that happened on the Oscars telecast between Will Smith and Chris Rock.
We picked a question about it and answered. Those questions below were chosen.
•What do you think about this news?
•What would you do if you were Will?
•Which man do you support if you have to choose one?
•What do you think of what Chris said?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 13/4/2022

●What’s New?

A: Bakery
The bakery near his house, which is famous around there, supplies frozen OK bread as well as fresh and hot bread. The freshness of the breads is usually important because they easily go bad and the taste gets bad. But the taste of the bread which can be frozen in that shop lasts around 2 weeks. It is a good countermeasure for food loss.

B: Bamboo shoots
Her husband went to the park which has a large bamboo grove, and got bamboo shoots yesterday. It is one of the events in Spring. The bamboo shoots taste soft and sweet even if they have sprouted to some degree. She and her husband like Wakatakeni for the dish of bamboo shoots, and shared it with neighbors.

C: Professional baseball
Rouki Sasaki achieved the perfect game vs. Oryx’s. The perfect game means no runners. It is for the first time in 28 years and he is the 16th player who achieved a perfect game. He is only 20 years old and was a professional baseball player two years ago. He is expected by many audiences as well as the Lotte team.

●Today’s Topic:Online Bullying

•Why do you think people act more cruelly online than they do in person?
A: There are many reasons. One of the reasons is that online communication is almost only letters. It expresses the theory rather than the emotion. So it makes arguments from the small difference of other’s opinions easier. But in person, we can smile and nod when listening to others. That doesn’t mean we agree, but it helps communicate well.

•In your opinion, what’s the worst thing about social media?
B: We can directly tell the truth. For example, Ukrainian people tweet and post on facebook the actual situation of Ukraine. However, when someone lies on SNS, some people believe it. So it’s important to consider whether it’s correct or wrong information.

•Do you find it surprising that 59% of US teenagers have been bullied online?
C: It’s difficult to count the people who are bullied and bully. In many cases, bullying people don’t think they bully someone. So the number of bullied people is larger than that of bullying people. The letters online are sharper than the conversation, and never disappears forever.

•Have you thought about deleting any of your social media accounts?
D: She has had a mixi account for ten years. Mixi is similar to facebook, and there are many groups you can join. When she participated in the English club in the mixi, she was a heavy user. But for 2 years, due to COVID-19, there were no meetings anymore. So she no longer doesn’t use mixi.

(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 9/4/2022

•What’s new?

A: He looks healthy, but these days he has been suffering a few diseases. He regularly goes to see a family doctor to take medicines and succeeds in keeping stable condition. He recommends that taking a medical check once a year, having a family doctor and keeping a medical notebook are effective to keep good health.

B: Her Internet connection was not good. It was often cut off. It seemed that the construction of server (Rakuten Hikari) was down. After she tried to solve the problem, it was successfully recovered.

C: Her pet bird had been struggling to lay an egg for a long time. The avian vet didn’t give good advice, so she collected information about birds’ delivery through Internet. Then she helped her bird lay her egg out by pushing the bird’s tummy. Finally the bird successfully laid her egg and the bird was safe. She felt relieved.

D: He sometimes enjoys drinks and food in Starbucks. He likes the atmosphere of the shop and the taste of drinks and food which are better than Doutor Coffee’s. The other day he ordered ham egg and caramel macchiato. He wanted to enjoy both of them at the same time, but the shop was crowded with many customers and ham egg was served late and it got cold.

E: One month ago, when he finished eating an avocado, he put the seed into a container with water. He enjoys monitoring its change. Now he can see crack on the bottom of the seed and small roots start to grow from it. He is kindly taking care of the seed, especially caring for temperature. He hopes it will continue to grow smoothly.

Today’s topic
“Use of ’Study Drugs’ Common in UK Universities” & 10 questions

Q: How do you prepare for future natural disasters?
A: Recently two times of earthquakes registered 3 hit his area. He well prepares for emergency measures against natural disasters. 1.Sleeping bags (for summer and winter) 2. Double door (with key) 3.Pairs of sneakers 4.Strong rope for 2nd floor 5.Whisle for asking for help 6.Big size plastic bottle to carry water. He follows the proverb, “Providing is preventing.”

Q: When you want to remove sleepiness or concentrate on something, do you have something to drink or eat?
B: She often has coffee when she wants to avoid sleepiness. She enjoys making coffee with using a coffee mill at home. While working in the office,
She sometimes goes up and down the stairs in her office building during break time. Her office is on the fourth floor, so it’s good exercise to refresh herself. Some workers walk around within the ground of the company.

Q: Why do you think the students use the study drugs to get high academic performance? Even though they may have risks.
C: When she was studying a nursing course, especially during a test season, she had to spend much more time to read many books and huge material. So she often stayed up all night which deprived her of sleep time and made her exhausted. Therefore she supposes that some U.K. students use study drugs to enhance their concentration and study much in a short time competently. It’s saving time. Furthermore, she told students in medical fields may tend to use these drugs because they treat people’s life.

Q: When you want to remove sleepiness or concentrate on something, do you have something to drink or eat?
D: When he wants to concentrate on studying, he often has energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster Energy. They are helpful to keep him awake, but if he drinks them too much or has them in a row, he will get headache. So he drinks them 2 times a week.

Q: Have you heard about the same cases in Japan?
E: It has been reported on TV that some famous persons were arrested because of illegal drug use in Japan. But he has not heard someone uses study drugs or something like that around him. In Japan, the use of these drugs is rare cases. Even smoking is strictly banned in high schools.
But the U.S. and European countries are probably common in use of study drugs.
In Canada, marijuana or cannabis is legal to use and sold in shops for recreation.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 6/4/2022

There were 4 participants tonight.

In the first session, as always, we talked about personal topics

Mr. A talked about the Ukraine crisis.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is currently underway. In the aftermath, neighboring countries are scared of the upcoming crisis. One of them is Georgia, located in the south of Russia.
This country was once part of the Soviet Union and became independent in 1991,

Ms. B talked about the efficacy of rinsing the nose.
She ordered a drug for rinse online.
This treatment will remove pollen, germs, house dust, etc., in your nose, and we can keep your nose clean.

Mr. C talked about genderless uniforms.
As Lgbtq’s understanding of people grows, the rules for school uniforms have gradually changed.
In addition to the traditional uniforms, new uniform styles that incorporate blazers and slacks are increasing.

Ms. D finally got my number card.
The reason is that she wants to get the benefits given by getting the number card.

Mr. A was addicted to roller skating when he was young.
The rollers he had at that time weren’t made of rubber.
The roller was made of metal or wooden. That’s why there was a lot of noise when sliding on the street.

Ms. B’s oldest friend is a 70-year-old woman.

She met her about 20 years ago in a city in Kansai.
Coincidentally, Ms. B and her friend now live in the same city.

The place where Mr. D wants to go after the pandemic is over is Hokkaido.
She can’t forget the taste of the sushi that she had previously eaten in Sapporo. Next time she wants to go to the zoo first.

(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 2/4/2022

●What’s new?

A: Cherry blossom
He visited Koganei park to see cherry blossoms with his wife after lunch. There were many people, and he thought they didn’t care about Covid-19. Blossoms already started to fall down. He enjoyed flowers.

B: Cherry blossom There are cherry trees which are blooming in the street to go to the shopping area. She always feels in the dream under the full-blooming cherry trees. But after the blooming time, she feels sad. So she wants to enjoy the flowers.

C: Volunteer in Nihonmatsu city That city is near the nuclear power plants in Fukushima prefecture, which took 2 hours by bus from his house. He carried out soil for 1day to help local farmers. The sales of their products are not good due to the rumor of radiation. He thinks accurate information is important.

●Today’s topic: US Senate Votes to Make Daylight Saving Time Permanent

2. Do you think Japan should use daylight saving time?
A: He thinks Japan also should use Daylight Saving Time. Japan is one of the developed countries, other European countries introduced Daylight Saving Time, so Japan also uses it.

B: She doesn’t agree, because when people from many countries gather, it’s very troublesome.
If they want to use sunlight more effectively, they should change the schedule.

5.What’s your favorite season? What do you like about it?
C: He likes Autumn most. There are not so many bugs, but many delicious fruits. He recommends going to Naruko city in Autumn. That city is very famous for its hot spring and autumn leaves. He wants to go there.

7. Do you find that the weather affects your mood? In what ways?
D: The weather influences her some extent. She needs to wash clothings, she prefers sunny days. But also chill time is good on rainy days. She can adopt the weather.
(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 30/3/2022

1. What’s new

# Cherry-blossom viewing. (Hanami)
It is the time to enjoy to view the cherry blossom.
Broadcast in only Japan? deliver the information of predicting the time for blooming of the cherry-blossom.
Please enjoy the viewing cherry-blossom with infection control.

# Nasal saline irrigation
How is enjoy the cherry-blossom viewing with nasal saline irrigation?
This is one of the control ways to prevent COVID-19.
It has been proved the effectiveness, however, please be careful swallowing it down the wrong pipe.
While the effectiveness of the vaccination may be controversial, the irrigation can be new standard for the control.

# Deaflympics
This is kind of Olympic for the deafly people as deafly people don’t have the right to join Paralympics.
The next Deaflympics may be held in Japan. Hope it will be in the spotlight.


2. Today’s topic
# Electric car
Electric cars are replacing gasoline-powered cars since the people have interested in the environment more and more.
It has pros and cons, especially the latter is the charge, which maens take time more to spread of the electric car.

# If you became Prime minister of Japan or the president of the country, what would do or be your top three priorities?
Think for the future: to be friendly environment and education for the all.
Considering current Ukraine crisis, education is crucial for the peace.

That’s all. Thank you
(Ken)

The report of the meeting on 26/3/2022

Seven members met on the evening of Saturday, March 26, 2022, on Skype. The meeting started on time, splitting into two groups to ease more chances to talk during the session.

The first thing to start with was sharing the story in real-life or the recent news from the world. Our interests were:
1. The third vaccine for covid-19 can be reserved in a different city from where a coupon was issued.
2. YouTube streams an astonishing slow-motion video of a water balloon popping shot by a high-speed camera.
3. A transition of moving into a retirement home(a senior home).
4. Dress code of a mask mandate came to end both indoors and outdoors in Canada.

Moving on to "Today’s Topic", we covered what is happening in Russia related to the invasion of Ukraine. The Russian society criticizes and unfairly treats Russian citizens who spoke out opposing the Russian propaganda. The propaganda model might happen in Japan if we happen in the same situation, it could be all up to the top of the country though. Here is what we think we can do to support Ukraine:
1. impose economic sanctions.
2. stop business transactions with Russia.
3. accept Ukrainian refugees or evacuees to Japan
4. distribute Japan’s well-known publications, say, Manga, letting the Russian people know about the reality of the invasion of Ukraine.
So far, our life in Japan has not been affected much by the war. Gas will get the most impact, but gas energy in Japan relies on the middle east countries.

Thank you very much for coming and sharing your thoughts. See you in the next session!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 23/3/2022

Five members got together tonight.

$B!c(B What’s new? $B!d(B
A-san talked that today is a middle day in 7 days of Vernal Equinox week called $BH`4_$NCfF|(B in Japanese.
Japanese family visits their grave for praying ancestor.

B-san said about the Taiga drama of this year named " The 13 Lords of the Shogun $B3yAREB$N(B13$B?M(B" in NHK broadcast.
She felt that the Yoshitune is performed unique In the drama.

C-san added that The Kamakura era started in 1192 we have learned, but according to t the Web sights, it was in 1185.
Which is correct?

D-san talked she visited a ramen shop and ate a pork pig bones ramen her favorite, but the price went up 100 yen already.

E-san talked that the relationship between Japan and Russia crack split at last due to the invasion by Russia.
The conclusion of a peace treaty and the problem of the Northern Territories will be finished or not?
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 19/3/2022

There were 9 attendees on March 19th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of British royal family, fruits like Jonah Gold apple, earthquake of this week, Plum blossom viewing, and school graduation ceremony. In the past, we sang classic song “Aogeba Totoshi” at graduation ceremony. But children these days seem to sing different songs like “Garnet” of Hanako Oku or “Tegami-Haikei Jugono-Kimie” of Angela Aki.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “March events”. There are stories of the war between Ukraine and Russia, Plans for Golden Week holidays, Traveling, and After-school care. The war between Ukraine and Russia is reported daily in the news, but I hope it will end soon indeed.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 16/3/2022

There were five participants at the session on March 16th. We started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.
•Please tell us about trips you have taken.
(The places you have been to, the places you want to go to, etc...)

•Have you bought anything online recently?

•What was your first job, and what did it teach you?

•Please tell us about the kind of news that you are into.

We talked about trips in Okinawa, pressure cooker, one’s first job at post office, and the new policy for pensioners.

It’s always fun to hear travel stories.I’ve been to Okinawa before, but I haven’t visited the tourist spot called “Ryuuguujou($BN05\>k!K(B” that one mentioned. The picture of the building looks like a castle from Urashimatarou$B!J1:EgB@O:!K(B.

One shared the first job at post office during New year. According to him the operations back then was not automated, therefore everything was carried out by hand.That sounds really demanding to sort many New Year’s cards. The key takeaway he got from working there was “Money doesn’t grow on trees”.

We had a really good conversation, and I learned a lot from them. I hope everyone enjoyed the session as much as I did.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 12/3/2022

There were 8 members in total at the session. So we made 2 groups.

What’s new
She talked about “poikastu”. She has got a new credit card and needed to transfer its points from the old one to the new one. To transfer points, she had to visit an ATM which she can hardly find near her current home. Although it took a long time to get there on foot, she finally succeeded in making the points available.

She visited a park nearby to watch cherry blossoms “Kawazu-zakura” with her husband. There were many people watching cherry blossoms there. It is too bad that we cannot have a “Hanami” party because of the pandemic, her husband said.

Reccentry, the Ministry decided to provide a hundred thousand yen to the student who is in trouble. He has got it because he faces difficulty finding a part time job under the spreading of the coronavirus. He is thankful for that and has not decided what to spend it on yet. He does not want to waste it.

About some news from TV. The news reporter was reporting live in the US from the spot where the accidents frequently happen. As soon as he started to report, the real accident happened behind him. The car that hit the other one ran away quickly. but it left its number on the camera. So based on that information the investigation is now ongoing, news says.

Today’s topic
Please pick up one word to talk about freely. Anything related to the word is acceptable.
We picked one word from a 24 word list to talk about.
Those words were chosen.
•Animal
•Food
•Shopping

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 9/3/2022

There were three attendees at the session on Wednesday, March 9.
At first, only two members, including a chairperson, gathered. So we enjoyed chatting freely for a while. And short speeches as usual.
They were about as follows:
-her third vaccination for coronavirus, and her junior high school classmate who had surgery for cholecystitis,
-preparing for her son’s elementary school entrance, such as the purchase of a school bag, and also preparing her mind to get up early next month,
-her credit card that is about to expire, and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Could ‘Ikigai’ Help You Find Happiness?"

"Ikigai" is a Japanese concept that means "motivating force", "reason for being" or "purpose of life." According to the article, there seems to be a difference between Europeans and Japanese. It is similar to happiness, but it is what allows you to look forward to the future even if you’re unhappy right now. It is a much more nuanced concept.
However, it depends on the person, I guess.

After reading the article, we discussed:
• Happiness is a direction, not a place. ? Sydney J. Harris. What do you make of this statement?
• What life advice would you give to your younger self?

We should enjoy the process to the goal. We can also apply it to learning English.
We have something regrettable such as "We should have done something good more for our parents back then."
Although we tend to regret what we did in the past, we cannot change the past, because we live now. However, what we do now creates the future.
Therefore, let’s cherish every single day.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 5/3/2022

We had 7 participants in the meeting and divided into 2 groups.

•What’s new?

A: She introduced the topic about plum flower made by clone technology. At Kitano-tenmangu shrine in Kyoto, plum blossoms are blooming. Some of them are cloned plum trees grown from the tissue extracted from the shrine’s old tree. It’s a great technology to save precious species in the future.

B: She wants to break her habit of procrastination. She sometimes puts off tackling her assignments and finds there left small time before the deadline. She has tried to start preparation for her task earlier, but it’s not easy to change the habit. So, she asked other members for advice.

C: Now, spring is approaching. In the garden of her past parents’ house, buds of Fuki (Fukinoto) were sprouting and her sister picked them and gave her to make Fuki-miso. Soon she made fuki-miso. Its flavor and bitterness made her feel spring and remember her parents who loved home-made fuki-miso. She shared it with her sister and offered her parents’ Buddhist alter.

D: He introduced the article about nuclear weapons. Some Japanese politicians propose that Japan should have its own nuclear weapons as a deterrent. In Japan, we have 3 non-nuclear principles and article 9. So having nuclear weapons is prohibited. They insisted that considering relationship with neighboring countries, we should discuss this issue as one of options about defense.

E: In spring, she suffers from hay fever. For about 20 years, she has been annoyed with it. It causes some symptoms such as tearing eyes. But thanks to effective medicine, she can reduce them. In this season, she hopes to enjoy flower viewing and walking in warm days without any concerns about it.

•Today’s article : Elon Musk provided Ukraine with Starlink internet service. And 10 questions.

Q: Can Internet media contribute to stopping the war?
B: She told that Internet technology is an effective way to attack back to Russia without physical fighting. For example, International hacker group,“Anonymous” is making cyber attacks to Russia and working well.
They have abililties to attack even Russian’s nuclear weapon programs.
Now, IT technicians in the world are getting busy to prepare for the future cyber attacks.

C: She also agrees Internet media is effective. Especially, SNS connects people around the world and exchange real information which Putin wants to hide. That makes cooperation of people and nations who want to stop the war and leads effective support and help to Ukraine. Russian people may be motivated to stop Putin by the voices.

Q: What ways are effective to support or help Ukraine without using arms?
D: He told economical and financial sanction to Russia is effective. It damages Russian economy and finances and now the value of Russian currency, ruble is getting down which leads high inflation. That will damage Putin administration. Now, Russian gov. announced the support rating for Putin is 70% of Russian citizens. But the rating will be decreased by the sanction even though it takes time.

E: She thinks accepting Ukrainian refugees is a good support for the country. The other day, Japanese gov. announced they will prepare for accepting them. That’s a good decision. She discussed ways to stop the war with her husband and now feel what an evil man Putin is. Regarding refugees coming to Japan, it may be difficult for some of them to adapt Japanese life because of language and cultural difference. So, it’s better to arrange some options to move to other countries when they request.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 2/3/2022

There were 4 participants in the meeting tonight.

As always, the participants talked about the topics they were interested in.

Mr. A went to his favorite local conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

He didn’t eat that much.
However, he was surprised to be charged 2500 yen just after seeing the bill.

As prices of various things have risen Recently, The price of sushi is no exception.

Ms. B has lived in Hiroshima for about five months to take care of his hospitalized family.
Although She cooks food just for herself, It is not economical to prepare meals only for her.
So she started buying food at convenience stores.

Convenience stores have a wide selection of products for singles because nowadays more and more people are buying meals for one person.

Mr. C talked about the legal changes in adult age from this April.
Adult age is reduced from 20 to 18.
Those who reach the age of 18 will be able to sign a smartphone contract without the consent of their parents.
They also are supposed to get the right to vote.

Mr. A’s favorite app is the household account book app
He manages the expenses and transportation expenses used by Amazon by the app.

Ms.B’s favorite app is her Kalimba app.
This app can produce the sound of kalimba, a type of folk instrument.
She enjoys playing nursery rhymes with this app.

What Mr. C considers the most unreasonable rule is the veto in the United Nations.
The veto power given to the victorious nations of World War II has nullified the work of the United Nations. He thinks the world should promptly abolish this right.
(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 26/2/2022

●What’s New?

A: Ukraine
Russia invades Ukraine. So she feels so sorry about that, because she has memories about the Ukraine family around 20 years ago. The Ukrainian president was an actor and a commentator, and 44 years old. She feels he is so brave that he might be killed by Russia.

B: Beijing Olympic
Ayumu Hirano won the gold medal. He did the very difficult $B$o$6(B. But the judge didn’t understand how difficult it was. Miho Takagi is also a wonderful skater. She won five medals. He got the energy from watching such a great play.

C: School bag, Randoseru
She bought the school bag for her son. She waits because she wants a discount. She got a 30% discount. Her son picked a blue one. Although she wanted him to choose black one, the blue one is such a good color that she was satisfied with it.

D: Wearing mask
In America, Centers for disease control and prevention announced the new policy of countermeasure of COVID-19. According to the policy, they divided each community into 3 levels based on the situation. I was surprised that people in America don’t think wearing a mask is important.

●Today’s Topic: Survey: 95% of Young People Worry About Climate Change

•Do you find it surprising that 95% of young people worry about climate change? D: She doesn’t think it is not surprising . In her childhood, when she heard the highest temperature of a day was 31 or 32 degrees, she felt it was very hot. But, nowadays that temperature is normal.

•What were your hobbies and interests when you were 16 years old?
A: She already forgot how she spended. After school, she did club activities. During summer and winter break, she did a part time job to kill time.
Her son’s summer break is long, but she doesn’t know how he kills the time.

•Do you have a plan on March 14th, White Day? Do you have any special memories about White Day? B: He bought the presents for white Day. He checked chocolate shops and other sweatshops. He always presents flowers for his wife on his marriage day.
(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 23/2/2022

As we had seven members today, divided into two groups and shared individual stories/opinions by each group.
1. Short speech

•bereaved sued a university hospital because the body didn’t return to the bereaved after the donation of the body in Hyogo prefecture.
Although the deceased donated the body for medical study/research, the body had left for six years in Hyogo prefecture.
We hope the truth will become to light at the trial.

•Ukraina crisis
Russia pushed into Ukraine; the tension has been built up.
Western countries applied the sanction to Russia while Russia added the sanction to European countries for prohibiting the export of natural gas.
Japan is in a difficult situation, however also Japan itself added the original economic sanction to Russia.
No one hopes the war except for the dictators.

•Ex professional baseball player saved a life
In Okinawa, ex-professional baseball player Kiyohara saved a human’s life.
He and his friend witnessed the car accident by chance and coped with the victims for the care.
This is good news it doesn’t matter he is a criminal


2. Today’s topic
Today, February 23 is the day of wrapping cloth($BIwO$I_(B), Mt.Fuji, licensed tax accountant, pregnant woman, trying to conceive($BG%3h(B), night view of factory, Emperors birthday (holiday), Miyuki NAKAJIMA’s birthday
We gave each opinion for the question relating to today.
•There are unique taxes in the world: traffic jam tax, sugar tax, dog tax, chips tax, porn tax, and so on. What do you think of those tax systems? If you were the lawmaker, what kind of tax would you introduce?
We should add
spam mail tax
telemarketing call tax
If we would add these taxes, not only we can get alternative revenue for the tax, but also the troublesome due to the fucking the mail and calls may be reduced.
Although we are not familiar with the unique tax: sugar tax, traffic jam tax, etc, we have a unique tax, of which name is ancient capital tax.
The tax is applied to temples or shrines in Kyoto. The visitors have to pay the tax when visiting those spots.


That’s all. Thanks
(Ken)

The report of the meeting on 19/2/2022

The meeting was on Saturday, February 19 with participating eight members that night.

As an ice breaker of the meeting, we brought up our recent events or news to start the conversation. First, we talked about the Consumer Price Index of some countries. Somehow, Japan ranked lower while other countries such as the U.S., Canada, and South Korea were in the higher place. Giving food as an example, we discussed how much prices went up during the pandemic. Also, we discussed the consumption tax in Japan and Canada. Next, another member shared two TV dramas: Turkish historical TV drama series about Osman, and “Kamakura dono no 13 nin”, the current Japanese historical(Taiga) TV drama series. Many famous actors are in the Kamakura... drama. The comedy-like story also sounds interesting. In my turn, I gave the news, truck convoy protest, currently happening in my city and it has been already a few weeks since started. Truckers and their supporters were fighting against the mandatory Covid vaccines. However, now their purpose has changed to protest to the government about the strict restriction of lockdown.

"Today’s Topic" of the day was “Narita Airport: Passenger Numbers at All-Time Low, But Freight at Record High”. We talked about after covid, for example, if travelers will come back post-pandemic, where do you want to travel, and experiences to shop online from a foreign website. I do not know if our life after the pandemic will be the same as before, but I do hope our life gets back to normal as soon as possible.

Thank you very much for coming! See you at the next meeting!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 16/2/2022

Five members got together tonight.
$B!c(B What’s new? $B!d(B
A: She asked us how to save many images on a PC.
The other member said there are some kinds of ways for saving images. Unlimited in the "cloud", CD or DVD, and USB memory. They have both good and bad points.
B: She tries how to make a pickle using vegetables pickled in rice bran paste. She is into it recently.
C: He has researched a snake and its venom.
His story sounds interesting to us always.
D: He said that the drone is started to be used for delivery.
That is very useful to deliver to the underpopulated area.
E: He said that there are new babies who don’t have nationality due to their mother didn’t register the child’s birth within 300 days after divorce.
Because the baby’s father is a previous husband by current civil law. The civil law will amend near day.

$B!c(B Today’s topic $B!d(B
What is you concerned most about the current situation of the world?
1. Ukraine crisis.
2. The problem of Taiwan.
3. Developing nuclear, and World War 3.
4. Coronavirus.
5. De-carbon society and global warming.
6. North Korea has missiles with a nuclear warhead.
7. Foods shortage.
8. Racial discrimination.
9. The polarization between rich and poor.
10. Before everything, •Painful cavity tooth (the others).
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 12/2/2022

There were 9 attendees on January 8th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of COVID-19, Japanese Nukadoko-pickles, coin exchange fees, camping outside, YouTube of street piano, and lower back pain etc. I like pickles, and if I can easily cook Japanese Nukadoko-pickles, I would like to try it in the future.
Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “Febrary events”. There are stories of the Beijing Olympics. There are many members who like figure skating. Yuzuru Hanyu jumped Quad Axel, and new face Yuma Kagiyama and Shoma Uno won medals. Some of members like snowboard halfpipe. Ayumu Hirano won gold medal this time, and won medals for the third time after the Sochi Olympics and the Pyeongchang Olympics. Although he is 23 years old now, I thought he was amazing.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 9/2/2022

There were six participants at the session on February 9th. We started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

•Please tell us about the kind of news that you are into.

•Please tell us about trips you have taken.
(The places you have been to, the places you want to go to, etc...)

•Please ask if you have any questions for STIE members.

•Studying English
(The methods you have tried, your favorite way of learning, etc...)

•If someone asked you what the best thing about your country is, what would you say?

We talked about DIY, the benefits of taking a bath, A.I, Salted rice bran, Shirakawago$B!VGr@n6?!W(B, NHK Radio English Conversation, and the best part of Japan.

I didn’t know the fact that the way I take a bath is at high risk. That made me reconsider my way. I was able to obtain many useful information through talking with all the participants.

We discussed a variety of topics, and the conversation became lively. I had a really good time. Thank you all.
(Naoko)

The report of the meeting on 5/2/2022

What’s new
She found a leakage from the drain pipe due to old age at her father’s house, so she asked for repairs. To check the exact location of the water leakage, the old drain catch basins were replaced with new ones. They all were repaired now. But there are still other problems that need to be repaired.

He has changed the service provider of the cell phone and bought a new cell phone. He got a cell phone at a very low price by tying it to a home network contract. The service has been very good recently. The plan provides unlimited data communication at a reasonable price.

He was asked by his co-worker for advice on a problem. The problem was very difficult to solve. She looked pale and stressed. So he gave her the best advice he could.

About taking an online seminar on learning English. The instructor introduced his approach to language learning in an easy way by categorizing the process of language learning. It may help him to clarify the problem of learning English.

Today’s topic
We first read an article from BBC Future about honey bees and chose our favorite ones from the list of questions and answered them.
Those questions below were chosen.
•Do you think honey is a superfood?Why/Why not
•What do you think makes honey superfood?
•What do you taste honey with?
•What do you know about bees and honey?
•What are the uses of honey other than eating it?
•What would happen if bees went extinct?
•Have you ever had beekeeping experience?

Thank you for sharing.
(Toru)

The report of the meeting on 2/2/2022

There were five attendees at the session on Wednesday, February 2.
We first made short speeches as usual.
They were about as follows:
-Japanese radish cooking provided by a radish farmer,
-SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals),
-becoming of a Costco member to buy fuel reasonably,
-caring about house maintenance costs,
and so on.

Then, we moved to today’s topic:
"Taking College Courses After 50 May Slow Cognitive Decline"
According to the article, studying a college course at 50 or over could slow cognitive decline.
After reading the article, we discussed :
• There is no end to education.
• Do most people in your country go to college after finishing high school?
• In your opinion, what are the best ways to slow down the aging process? Why do you think so?
• Do you know anyone who returned to college later in life?

I hope everyone enjoyed the English conversation, although my time allocation adjustment was poor.
See you next time.
(Yuki)

The report of the meeting on 29/1/2022

We had 8 participants in the meeting and divided into 2 groups.

●What’s new?

A: Recently he got low back pain. It was a hard condition and he went to the clinic. After taking an x-ray photograph, space between each part of his backbone has been getting narrow. Then he got injection to reduce pain and got better. The doctor said he needs muscle training to protect his backbone. He quickly bought a new chair to alleviate the pain. It works well.

B: There are 3 drain catch basins($BGS?eKq(B) in her father’s house ground.
2 of them have slit-like holes and the concrete wall is damaged. So she asked a plumber to repair it. After his work, however, she found a new small hole leaking a little water. Next Friday the plumber will come again and examine the trouble and talk about how to solve the problem.

C: Her friend’s sister living in Shizuoka got Coronavirus infection. Her husband also got infected. They had fever and stayed home over 10 days with oral medicine for Coronavirus. Fortunately, they recovered and their daughter in her 20’s stays safe. She said it was so stressful days to act not to infect their daughter inside the house.

●Today’s topic
“France Bans Plastic Packaging for Fruits and Vegetables” & 12 questions

Q: When you shop, do you pay by cash, card or smartphone? Do you have merits or demerits from it?
A: He uses a prepaid card, credit card and smartphone app for payment.
He and some members use “eddy” because it has Rakuten point and they make the most of the merit.

Q: Under the pandemic situation, did you find something new or positive?
B: During long stay home period, she found exciting female YouTubers. They are 60’s generation and living alone. “Mico’s Life” and “60$BBe33$C$W$A(B $BL$K4?M!"%"%-;R(B” . Their videos show cooking scene and their daily thoughts and ideas are put on the bottom part of the video by subtitle. Each person has each life. She enjoys their videos and feels a sympathy.
(I checked it and feel excited.)

Q: What would you want to do first after the pandemic?
D: First, she wants to chat with her friends in person at a café. Online chatting is an effective way, but talking in person has a different power. Moreover, she wants to go to hot spring with her family. She likes hot springs and Japanese style hotel ($BN94[(B). Before pandemic, her family used to go to hot springs in Gunma such as Ikaho and Kusatsu.
Other members enjoy Yunoyama hot spring in Suzuka and Atami hot spring.
(Susan)

The report of the meeting on 26/1/2022

There were four participants in the meeting tonight.

Ms. A wants to buy a new smartphone.
She has been using the smartphone for two years, and she would like to choose a suitable Android model.
Besides, she wants to change to a mobile company that is affordable and reliable, with the same mobile number.

Mr. B talked about the Omicron strain.
Omicron strains infections are now in the middle of the sixth wave in Japan but have peaked out with some countries, such as South Africa and the United Kingdom.
In South Africa, beds for the severely ill were not full, even during an explosion of infections.
This is a reassuring sign for us, but no one yet knows what will happen in Japan, with a large elderly population.

About 20 years ago, Ms. A had lunch at a restaurant with her friends after taking an English conversation lesson.
The main dish on the menu was delicious, but there was a problem with the garnished salad.
There was a piece of plastic bag in it.
She told the waitress about it and the owner of the restaurant served coffee to everyone for free.
Since then, Ms. A has been paying close attention to the eat-out salad.

What product or service is way more expensive than it needs to be?
Mr. B says it’s New Year’s dishes.
Many Osechi dishes are exorbitantly expensive.
Half of the department store’s annual sales are supposed to depend on Osechi dishes.
He thinks wasting money is not only the luxurious and very elaborate dishes but also the container boxes made of wood and lacquered.

If you were hired to show tourists what life is really like where you live, what would you show them / have them do?
Mr. C wants to guide the streets of Kawagoe to foreign tourists.
It is a historical place where the old townscape remains.
Kawagoe is one of the 69 post towns on the Nakasendo, one of five former highways.
(Libran)

The report of the meeting on 22/1/2022

There were 7 attendees today, so we were divided into 2 groups.

●What’s new?

A: Child Vaccination
Next March, The vaccination for children will start. 8 million children can get vaccinations in Japan.
This news is important for parents who have their children. Some specialists say children should get vaccinations even if there are possible side effects, the others are against that idea.

B: New PC and iPad
He wants to buy a new PC or iPad, and checks the information about them. He went to an Apple Store in Shinjuku. He wants to use an Apple Pencil. iPads and iPhones are more famous, so there is a lot of information on the Internet. That helps him to be good at using new Apple devices.

C: Drinking habits
She often has a headache once a week and has to take medicine, maybe because of caffeine. She used to drink a cup of coffee every day. Since last week, she has been drinking Kinako milk instead of coffee. She loves coffee and maybe is addicted to caffeine, so it’s not easy for her. But the headache is getting better so far, so she tries to continue the drinking habit.

●Today’s Topic: China’s longest underwater highway tunnel opens

•Do you do Setsubun, throwing or eating beans every year?
A: Since his childhood, he has thrown beans every year with his family. He also eats his year and one beans. Near his city, there is a famous temple for the Setsubun ceremony and 800 steps to the temple. The ceremony is repeated 4 times, and it takes 30 minutes one time.

•Have you ever driven in Aqua-Line?
B: He has the experience of driving in the Aqua-Line from Tokyo to Chiba. It was a very beautiful and good highway. He dropped by the Parking Area, Umi-Hotaru. The Highway’s longest is 15 km and it costs around 3000 yen. At that time, sometimes the road was crowded.

•Do you have a car?
C: She is also a paper driver. Her husband is a driver’s license teacher. Sometimes he teaches her to drive, but his advice is too much for her, and it annoys her. What is more, Her family car is big for her. That is why it’s difficult to drive.
(Nao)

The report of the meeting on 19/1/2022

Six members participated today and shared individual stories/opinions.

1. Short speech
1. North Korea situation
Missile launch: the North launched ballistic missiles into the sea on Monday, which fourth weapons launch this month already. It is definitely they become isolated in the International society, what is their intention? To require something to the society? Or ...
We just hope the abduction victims return to Japan as soon as possible as their families don’t have time.

2. study English
Watching English movies/dramas on Netflix is good to study English.
With subtitle or without subtitle, both are good depending on the situation.
Oh the other hand, it is difficult to remember English words for adults as we don’t have a good memory.
Continuing study is important but difficult

3. Hatukka shogatsu
It is the last day of the New Year. It is said that we should put back the Oshogatsu things before the day. However, unfortunately, this kind of traditional custom have been faded recently.

4. travel abroad
Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, we cannot travel abroad easily unlike before, but we can experience as if we were abroad by the meeting.
According to one member, a travel company gives the presentation which aims to boost travel interest so that people can travel abroad after the COVID situation. they share the abroad picture/movie,which give experience as if we were abroad

2. Today’s topic
January 19 is the day of air purifier/air cleaner, fire extinguisher, hot pot dish(Nabe), Karaoke. and oral hygiene. We discuss the related question
1. fire extinguisher?
Considering this dry season, we have to be careful of fire, so we should check it regularly : check how to use it as well as confirm the expiration date

2. Keeping healthy teeth is crucial to keep our health. Japan’s government wants to circulate the 8020 Undo: 80 years person has 20 teeth. Teeth health link to our health.

3. Nabe dish is like life, especially Yami nabe, which contains a variety of things, not only the food.
In other words, sometimes we have to try (eat) anything even if we know it is difficult in our life.

That’s all thank you and see you.
(Ken)

The report of the meeting on 15/1/2022

Here is the report for the session held on Saturday, January 15, 2022. We had six members to participate on that day.

As an icebreaker, each member brought the recent events/news to share in the session. For the news article about subsidized projects on the data center to the local area, we discussed assuming where to be located bearing the best result. Others shared their recent interests, including Maezawa’s fascinating videos on his journey into the space, time-saving cooking using a microwave(recipes available on YouTube), bird watching, and friend talks on the Line app.

Today’s topic for the day was food preferences and fast-food restaurants. We only had a half-hour left before the session ended, so we directly jumped into questions skipping the article to read aloud. The questions covered the frequency of going to fast-food restaurants, eating at home rather than in the restaurants, redeeming mobile coupons/accumulating points, skipping out breakfast/easy breakfast ideas on busy mornings.

Thanks so much for coming and giving active discussions. I will see you in the next session!
(Masako)

The report of the meeting on 12/1/2022

Five members got together tonight.

What’s new?
She introduced Harumi Kurihara who is a cooking researcher.
He visited a Myanmar cuisine restaurant in Ikebukuro.
He said that in Japan, consumer prices are rising now, the inflation has been starting.
She introduced me an easy Chinese fried rice cooking.
He said about spreading the Omicron virus.
Even if we infected it, how to keep the no symptom or mild condition, that is important most from now on.

Today’s topics.
Q6) What is your resolution or aspiration for this year?
She wants to upload to U-tube the short video she is dancing.
He wants to do a driving journey to Hokkaido and Kyusyu area after the omicronvirus.
She wishes to play some musical instruments.
Piano, Ocarina, Flute, the other?
Q1) What’s kind of Kanji do you wish as "Kotoshi no Kanji" in 2022?
He wish the "Kotoshi no Kanji" of 2022 is "$B9,(B".
He hope the "Kotoshi no Kanji" of 2022 is "$BK>(B".
And he introduced bellow,
These are the top 10 of 2022’s "Kotoshi no Kanji" from the questionnaire by the Local News Paper.
$B3Z!"7r!"9,!"L@!"2:!"0B!">P!"N9!"F0!"(Band $B4u!#(B
Everyone expect the after coronavirus world.
(Ue)

The report of the meeting on 8/1/2022

There were 7 attendees on January 8th. Therefore, we made 2 group.

First, we started the session with “What’s new”. There were several news about stories of business trip to Tokyo, watching old Mobile Suit Gundam animation,singing lessons, and seeing off to the airport. I watched a lot of old animations in the past. Mobile Suit Gundam Series is one of memorable animations for me. There are a lot of high level animations in Japan , so I wanted to watch them again when I have free time.

Then, we moved to “today’s topic about “January events”. There are stories of the recent snowfall in Tokyo areas, the ancient Egyptian mummy exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum, first visit of the year to shrines, and New Year sporting events. I like sports and I can get energies from sports , and so I want to enjoy excellent plays of many athletes.
(Hiroshi)

The report of the meeting on 5/1/2022

There were seven participants at the session on January 5th. We divided us into two groups, and started off with 3-minute speech, and moved on to Today’s topics.

We talked about the situation regarding coronavirus in Japan and Canada. One told that there were over 600 coronavirus cases in Okinawa, and it took me by surprise. Apparently Omicron is now the dominant of Coronavirus in many countries, therefore we need to have a finger on the pulse of current situation.

We also talked about “Confidential birth” which is featured in the news in Japan. It’s a very controversial topic, however it might be good time to consider whether or not Japan legalize the system in order to save women and babies.

We had a really good conversation, I enjoyed every single topics. I hope everyone had a good time as much as I did.
(Naoko)


The link to the report of 2021
The link to the report of 2019-2020
The link to the report of 2018
The link to the report of 2017
The link to the report of 2016
The link to the report of 2015