KOTO from Japan to you

Enjoy the journey

【Learning】 Airport piano Station piano Street piano♪

There's a TV show in Japan focusing on pianos set in airports, stations, and on streets around the world.

My family love watching it.　

The scenery, the music,  and the stories the players tell us  ...it's wonderful.

My children and I enjoy playing piano and the the girls learn  pieces  they like quickly,

but I could never play without a music score.

 

As I was seeing people on TV playing and enjoying music,

 

I began to think what  fun it would be if I could do that when I come across a street piano somewhere.

 

Only few months have passed since I began thinking about it,  

 

and  now I have five pieces of music that I can play off by heart.  I can't believe it myself but I did it!

 

I haven't come across any street pianos anywhere yet,

 

but here's what I'm enjoying now: 

 

when talking on video calls with my parents

we pretend that it's an airport piano,

we do the interview things, too.

 

It's fun for both of us and I'm happy to see my parents smile and feel the bond, although we can't see each other as often as before because of the Corona virus restrictions.

 

Is it right to say in this case

"Where there's a will, there's a way" ?

 

Thank you for reading!

 

# piano

#newchallenge

#family

#stayhome

 

 

 

【Gardening Challenge】Day3 Gourds 瓢箪　ヒョウタン

Several years ago,

I tried to grow gourds(ヒョウタン　or 瓢箪, pronounced HYOTAN in Japanese)

 in my garden.

 

They are the ones that grow water bottle shaped or bowl shaped fruits.

 

I was planning to make some water bottles with those gourds.

I thought it  would be nice to use them, for fun.

 

It didn't work out well. My gourds were too small.

 

Gourds have been grown by mankind  from ancient times.

It goes back about ten thousand years.

It is known that gourds came to Japan about 9600 years ago, in the Jomon era.

 

The famous warrior TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi in the 16th century used this gourd design for his family crest .

 

As I'm writing this now, my desire to grow gourds are rising again.

Maybe I'll give it a try again next season.

 

Thank you for reading

 

#gardening

#gourds

#Japan

#英語日記

#langtwt

#千生りびょうたん

 

【Gardening Challenge】Day 2 Joyful giving is my reason for gardening

The first flowers

that I took care of by myself, apart from morning glories in my elementary school,

were  the sweet peas.

 

They were lovely.

 

I was growing them in my apartment.

The only window facing south was the small one in the  kitchen.

I set my pots of baby sweet peas by the window, and watched them grow.

 

When they began to bloom, I brought it to my father and mother in law as a small gift.

 

They loved it and put it in a vase and placed it by the TV shelf and  praised me for doing a good job.  

 

I was so happy that I remember this clearly after so many years....almost two decades.

 

At the heart of things, I think that growing flowers and giving them to my loved ones  is the motive for my gardening passion.

 

Thank you for reading

 Story by Nao♪

 

 

【Learning】The Summer Triangle (夏の大三角)　Altair(アルタイル), Vega(ベガ), and Deneb(デネブ),

This summer,

 

my teenage daughter was assigned a homework by her science teacher

and here's what she had to:

 

1. Choose  a  big park in the neighborhood  where you can have wide view of the sky 

2. Pick a place in the park where you can sit down and observe the stars

3. Go to that point  three times, around 7 o'clock,  9 o'clock, and 11 o'clock in the evening

and observe the sky and make a sketch note of the stars.

 

It would be a wonderful experience,

but  we live in the city part in Japan,

it is not the safest  place. 

 

So I decided to enjoy  star gazing with her.

 

It was early August ,  and the sky was clear that night.

Although I had also learned in school,  I have  never  looked up at the sky and observed.

 

We saw Altair(アルタイル), Vega(ベガ), and Deneb(デネブ), the Summer Triangle  in the east sky at about 7:30pm,  and they gradually moved up and up. It was a beautiful and dramatic sight.

 

I am so happy that I could share those beautiful moments with my daughter.

 

Thank you for reading♪

 

#summertriangle

#vega

#altair

#deneb

#family

#happy

#star

#英語日記

#langtwt

 

 

 

 

【Gardening Challenge】Day 1 Rose "Yakumotatsu" (八雲立つ)

 I  saw a pot of roses in a flower shop.

 

It was one of the  Japanese types,

 

and the picture on the pot showed that when it blooms

it will have beautiful pale, purplish blue petals. 

 

The name of this rose is

"Yakumotatsu" (八雲立つ) ,

 

which comes from a phrase used in ancient Japanese poems.

 

It makes the impression of clouds colored by early morning sunshine, godly and mysterious. 

 

I fell in love with this rose, so now it is settled in my garden. 

 

Actually I am not so good at growing plants.

I forget watering them time to time.

 

All my flowers in the garden have gone through tough times.

 

That means all of my flowers that  survived have grown their roots very  strong. 

 

But this rose I just have to raise with special care.

 

I am determined to fill my garden with beautiful roses.

 

I went to the library the next day and picked a couple of books for gardening beginners. 

 

Now let's begin!

 

Thank you for reading.

 

go to ↓↓↓

https://osamposampo393.hateblo.jp/entry/2021/08/01/144039