The news about COVID-19 (coronavirus) appears everywhere every day. It is a big worry. What we can do is to wash hands etc. and look after ourselves and each other. We hope swift recovery for those people infected. I will post a beautiful photo of sunrise (taken in New Zealand) for a bit of solace… […]

There are so many sushi shops in New Zealand. It seems that many people buy it for their lunch (see the photo below; I bought them at a nearby sushi shop some time ago). I do not think people make sushi at home. But that might change now – the above photo is from this […]

According to the lunar calendar, it is the first day of Spring in Japan today! It is still cold there though, the meteorological agency made a statement that the average temperature in Japan last month was quite warmer than usual (by 2.8 or 2.9 degrees in some areas). It is summer in New Zealand now […]

ちょっと遅[おそ]いですけど、今年初めてのポストなので。。。明[あ]けましておめでとうございます。今年もよろしくお願[ねが]いします。 Belated… Happy New Year! (as this is the first post this year) Please visit here this year again! Note: the above photo shows shimekazari (しめ飾[かざ]り). Each household/shop/company etc. put this type of ornament for the new year.

今日はクリスマスですね。みなさん、いろいろな楽しい予定がありますか。ニュージーランドは夏のクリスマスです。だから、お天気がいい時は庭でみんなでクリスマスのごちそうを食べたり、BBQをしたりします。今日のハミルトンの天気予報はまずまず。。。お庭で楽しく、あるいはビーチで楽しくクリスマスが過ごせますように。 日本でも多くの人がクリスマスを楽しみにしています。ですが、日本では祝日ではありません。学校はすでに冬休みになっているので、子どもたちは学校に行きません。でも、大人はいつも通り会社で働いているんですよ！ どこにいようとも、大切な人たちとステキな1日が送れますように。 It’s Christmas Day today! Do you have a lot of plans? We have a summery celebration in New Zealand for Christmas. When the weather is good, many people enjoy Christmas feast at theirs backyard, have a garden BBQ and so on. The weather forecast in Hamilton today does not look bad… I […]

アジサイのほかにもいろんな花が咲いています。例[たと]えば(= for example)、フクシア(= fuchsia)です。きれいですね。 I wrote about hydrangeas yesterday, but that’s not all! You can see beautiful fuchsia too!

December is officially the first of month of Summer in New Zealand. You can see beautiful hydrangeas all sorts of places now! ニュージーランドで、12月は夏[なつ]のはじまりです。今、いろいろなところで、アジサイがとてもきれいに咲[さ]いています!

It’s December! In Japanese, each month has a particular name and the name of December is shiwasu; 師走. The first character means ‘teachers’* and the second one means ‘running’; Japanese teachers sometimes exchange greetings  like ‘are you running around (= busy) as it’s shiwasu now!?’ in December. Yes, I am a teacher and I am […]

The above photo shows, needless to say, asparagus. The photo was taken at the Hamilton Farmers Market. Yes, it is the asparagus season right now!　言うまでもなく、上の写真[しゃしん](= photo)はアスパラガスの写真です。ハミルトン・ファーマーズ・マーケットで撮[と]りました。今、まさにアスパラガスが旬[しゅん](= season)です。 If you look at it very closely, you can see green ones and white ones. Until recently, we did not see white asparagus here (I might be wrong; […]