君が笑ったから笑顔になれたんだ
喜びの歌を響かせて
僕らはずっと同じ夢を見て笑おうよ
素晴らしい明日へと向かって

[English Translation]

Your full smile pleased me so much
that I felt like singing a song that made the heart dance for joy.
So why don’t we keep smiles by sharing the same dream with each other
for our brilliant future?

This phrase is quoted from lyrics of a Japanese song 「マイライフ」 (My Life) sung by Yuzu (a Japanese popular music duo) and its English translation done by me. I think the phrase here conveys that a smile has such a wonderful power to please others. Like this, there are not a few things that can move or encourage people to step forward to their bright future.

Here, I’d like to focus on the word “move”, which means 「動かす」 in Japanese. As you know, the word “move” has different meanings, such as ‘to change from one place or position to another, or to make something do this’ (e.g. move the chairs into a circle), ‘to change from one opinion or way of thinking to another’ (e.g. I won’t be moved), and ‘to make someone feel strong emotions, especially of sadness or sympathy’ (e.g. move him to laughter). I think all of these meanings are also included in its Japanese counterpart 「動かす」. In this respect, a smile can have a mental influence on others to feel strong emotions like happiness, not physical influence to change from one place to anywhere else, right?:) The song My Life expresses this metaphorically.

The words “Influence” and 「動かす」 reminds me of one inspiring book introduced by one of my best friends. The book is entitled 『人を動かす』 (How to Win Friends and Influence Others) and it is categorized into self-enlightenment. The author Dale Carnegie wrote about what point we should always keep in mind toward a good relationship with others and he picked up the following six ways to make people like you:

1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a man’s Name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in the terms of the other man’s interest.
6. Make the other person feel important and do it sincerely.

I think all of the tips are so important and tend to be easily forgotten when we communicate with others. But, to avoid any serious conflicts with our conversational partners, we should always practice as many techniques as possible in our everyday life.

Of course, the above ways gave me an opportunity to reflect my attitude toward others in teaching English or giving some advice on studying, but the passage on the following URL was impressive enough for me to deeply rethink about how to behave as a teacher, a senior in a club activity, or a person. The story about a father and his son is quoted in the book by Carnegie (originally, however, written by W. Livingston Larned). It tells us from what viewpoint an instructor (or a parent) should observe his or her follower (or child) through avoiding scolding or emotionally shouting to give some kind advice:

「父は忘れる」
Father forgets
Japanese version 1
Japanese version 2
English version

Beyond my expectation, there are so many pieces of beautiful masterpiece, which made me so satisfied. After enjoying all the pictures at the exhibition for over an hour, I dropped by a souvenir shop to choose some post cards and a clear folder. Here are what I bought…








The soft colors and touch made me feel so comfortable and gave me plenty of energy to work harder from the very next day.

(P.S. I’ve forgot how to minimize the size of uploaded pictures… I’m afraid the pictures would be a bit too large, right? If you have a good idea, I’d like to get your help through either giving me a comment here or directly sending a message to me. Thanks in advance.)

The bride wore a beautiful long-sleeved red kimono, which complemented her beautiful skin perfectly. I was highly impressed with the harmonious combination of colors. Well, I should have taken some pictures of the color magic to share with you all :)

Also, the speeches given at the reception were thought-provoking, and reminded me of a famous metaphor “Life is a journey”. There are many forks in the paths in the life after marriage, and deep consideration is necessary before making a final decision.

Once the couple has made up their minds to take that step, however, they walk together to find another great experience… How the voyage continues differs from couple to couple, but such differences might enhance the exciting and enjoyable journey of life.

I hope my just-married friend will have a happy life with her husband.
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—--

Here, I’d like to share an interesting comment with you all.

Be very careful here. Usually, in the West we refer to the get-together after a wedding as a ‘wedding reception.’ The ‘wedding party’ is the people that play a role in the wedding ceremony: the bride, groom, their families, the pastor, etc.

The above is about the difference in meaning between party and reception when they are used with the word wedding. This comment was given by one of American lang-8 members. Perhaps, we can say both “welcome reception” and “welcome party” to describe a get-together at the very first day of the meeting, convention, or assembly. When the word wedding collocates with either party or reception, we need to be careful about which meaning it would convey.

Other than screening the drafts, I helped some of my university students write and provide their speeches or addresses. Though they are science majors with not so excellent competence in English, they made great efforts to make better English sentences. This attitude encouraged me a lot to show them how enjoyable speech presentation is or how many benefits they can get by successfully achieving their goals. The more they practiced, the better their English was. Though I was so afraid that they would make any mistakes or become confused during their presentations (like a parent who is so concerned about his or her children’s work in entrance examinations or recitals), the smiles or relief on their faces told me that they’ve got something new in their English life. I was so happy to see these symbols of achievement.

- [translation]

According to a Finnish scientific research team (Helsinki Brain Research Center), those who listen to their favorite music two hours a day can maintain their forward-looking attitude toward life. The center carried out research on stroke patients by dividing them into two groups: one who listened to music every day and one who didn’t listen to any at all. The result revealed that a group of people who listened to music every day tripled the degree of recovery.

- [end]

The above paragraph says that music has a great power to cure stroke and makes us more positive. What a wonderful tip on living music provides us with! Then, why don’t we take a short break now to listen to our favorite music?!

As one of the energetic music, I’ll introduce the following tune via youtube:

After the meeting there, I got on a taxi and had a small talk with the driver. I had thought that he would start our conversation by saying, “It’s a beautiful day. The sky is so clear.”... but …

“Hey, cosmoses are blooming here!”

Hearing his words, I looked out of the window. There saw several cosmoses on the roadside being dense with weeds. I realized the season is changing to autumn.

When he turned left at the corner, we could see boulevard trees stretching out more than one kilometer.

“You know, a lot of cicadas are in these trees, most of them are minmin cicadas (oncotympana maculaticollis). This street is bright with mercury lamps even at night, so higurashi cicadas (tanna japonensis) don’t appear at all.” Hmm, we have to say it’s still midsummer.

From these natural sceneries here, I can feel a sense of the season which isn’t able to be realized in urban areas.

He continued with a lively tone, “Hachioji is in the countryside of Tokyo and distant from downtown, but we’re proud of the amount of greenery and pollen!”

Wait a minute! “You said ‘the amount of pollen’, right? Does it mean Hachioji becomes full of pollen in the early spring?”, I asked with half laughing at his cheerful tone of voice.

“Yeah, that’s right.” He answered with smile. Oh, my gosh! I don’t want to get hay fever…

Soon ended the ten-minute drive and we arrived at the station. I thanked him and got off the taxi. I had a very good time with this heartwarming small talk :)

Today, I had a very good chance to see a beautiful rainbow in the twilight sky on my way home. I took some pictures in being caught in a traffic jam on the Metropolitan Expressway.
（帰り際、夕暮れ時の首都高速上で、幸運にも素敵な虹を見ることができました。）

A rainbow seen from the car

You may notice that the above picture has two rainbows. One is clear and the other is vague. However, this isn’t a “rare” phenomenon at all. Rather, two rainbows sometimes appear in a (plane) symmetrical way (The secondary rainbow is reverse in the order of colors from the main one). The wikipedia site will explain this phenomenon in detail. (Also, see the Japanese version of the wikipedia site.)
（上の写真でお気づきかと思いますが、２本の虹が同時に現れています。詳しくは Wikipedia をご覧いただきたいのですが、上にあるぼんやりとした虹の方を「副虹」と言いまして、主となる虹と色が反対に並んでいます。）

You know, rainbows are often regarded as a symbol of good luck or a lucky charm. So, I hope this fortunate encounter will bring happy events to my friends and me.
（幸運の象徴、あるいは、お守りにもされる虹。せっかく見れたのだから、このことで皆様＆私自身にハッピーなことがたくさんありますように願っています…。）

7/15 の夕刻、jugend さん＆ MST102 さんの企画による smart.fm 納涼船オフ会があったので、参加してきました。15 名の参加者が集まってお互いに再会を喜んだり（昨年夏の iKnow! オフ会以来という方が複数いらっしゃったので…）簡単な挨拶を交わしたりした後、目的地へ向かって歩くこと約 10 分。この時、夏の暑さの中にも心地いい風が渡り、少し涼しさを感じました。

Arriving at Takeshiba Pier (one of the ferry terminals in Tokyo Bay), we boarded the ship to go to the upper deck with tickets in our hand. The ship sailed at 19:15, ten minutes or a bit after sunset. Right after sailing, such a splendid view unfolded before my eyes! Almost all the passengers took pictures of it or appreciated its beauty. Here, I’ll post two pictures of this wonderful scenery called blue moment (According to wikipedia, it’s defined as “the blue early or late twilight with very few or no clouds. At that moment, we can see the view as if the sky was illuminated by cold blue light”):

竹芝桟橋に到着後、チケットを手にデッキの最上階へと上がって行きました。船の出航は、日没後 10 分少々経過した 19:15 でした。出港直後、とても素晴らしい眺めが目の前に…。乗船客のほとんどが、その写真を撮ったり美しい景色を愛でたりしていました。では、そのうちの 2 枚をアップしますね。（これは、まさに ブルーモーメント と言われる瞬間です。）

You’ll find the details of this off-meeting at some other friends who also joined on that day. I’ll show you another picture of an attraction inside the ship, which nobody has uploaded yet. The group in the picture is called “Yukata Dancers”. They danced sinuously but vigorously.

その後の詳しい様子は、参加された皆さんの日記に委ねるとして、私は船内のアトラクションの写真をさらに 1 枚アップします。ユニット名は「ゆかたダンサーズ」。その動き、しなやかではありましたが、なかなか激しかったですよ。

After the two-hour night cruise was over, we gathered (or could gather?!) again in front of the gate to exchange our business cards or online data via Poken. Though I couldn’t have a long chat with all the members on that day, I had a very good time seeing the above dance show with tunes with a quick tempo, eating and drinking, appreciating the beautiful night view of the Tokyo Bay, and having a short conversation.

2 時間のクルーズが終わり、それまで離ればなれだったメンバーも再度合流できまして、船外で名刺交換（＋ Poken によるデータ交換）会がありました。今回、参加された全ての方とじっくりお話しできたというわけではありませんでしたが、それでも、アップテンポの曲による「ゆかたダンサーズ」のショー、うっとりするような夜景、食事＆トークを存分に楽しませていただきました。

Well, I’m looking forward to seeing them all again in the near future. Why don’t we keep in touch with each other?! Also, I hope more of smart.fm members will be able to join the next off-meeting. Thanks for your great organization, jugend san & MST102 san!

また、近々皆さんにお目にかかれればと思っています。これからもどうぞよろしくお願いします。と同時に、今回おいでになられなかった方々とも、次回の交流会などでお目にかかりたいです。最後になりましたが、jugend さん ＆ MST102 さん、幹事お疲れ様でした。

（参加された方々のリストは、hkashino さんの日記 にて。）

P.S. オフ会参加の記念品もアップ…。

最近フォローさせていただいているフレンドさんのお二人が、ポジティブシンキングに関する日記をアップなさいました。そのうちのお一人は、英語学習におけるジレンマを題材にされていますが、文章を読ませていただくとその方の英語学習に対する高いモチベーションが手に取るように分かります。（その証拠に、その方のサイトは実りあるディスカッションで盛り上がっていますから…。）


These diaries remind me of the following Thomas Edison’s word, which tells us how to deal with having some difficulty in developing your own project (in other words, how to regard the failure you’re facing):

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” (Thomas Edison)

そうした日記を読みつつ思い出したのが、以下のエジソンの言葉です。これは、何かに取り組んでいてうまく行かなくなった時、その状況をどう捉えたらいいかを教えてくれるものです。

「失敗なんてしたことないさ。単に、上手く行かない方法を10,000通り発見しただけさ。」（トーマス・エジソン）


Of course, keeping your motivation high by positive thinking is one of the most important points to improve your skills in every field including English learning. But at the same time, you often feel some kind of difficulty in maintaining your positive attitude toward everything. In that case, this phrase would really help you a lot!

もちろん、ポジティブシンキングで常に高いモチベーションを維持することは、英語学習を含めてどんな分野でも、自分のスキルを伸ばす上で最も重要なことに挙げられるだと思います。ただ、その維持が難しいと思うこともしばしばですよね。そんな時、このフレーズがすごく役に立つと思うんです。


There’s no “failure” in this world. What we regarded as a big failure would bring us to another great success and give us a clear clue to broadening our perspective. (Edison also said, “Failure is the mother of success.”) So, don’t be afraid of any mistakes; why don’t we change them to a driving force for your future success!

（彼の考えによれば、）この世に「失敗」などはないんですよね。私たちが「大失敗」って思っていたことも、ひょっとすると別の面で「大成功」に導くものになりうるし、また視野を広げる大きな鍵を提供してくれているとも言えそうですね。（しかも、エジソンは「失敗は成功の母」とも言ってますものね。）結論は月並みになってしまうけど、失敗を恐れずにそれを将来の成功への「原動力」に変えていきましょう！

プロフィールにも書きましたが、通勤時や休日の自宅で英語のポッドキャストをよく聞いています。今、3つの番組を掛け持ちしていますが、中でも NBC Today show はお気に入りの番組の１つになっています。その軽快なトークや番組構成（お天気コーナーをスタジオ近くの広場でやる所など…）は、日本テレビの『ズームインSUPER』に似ていますね。

Well, I’ve just found a funny and fantastic YouTube video in that show. According to their explanation, the video is an online ad for Evian bottled water only on YouTube (= hasn’t been released on TV yet!). I’m sure most of you will be excited and amazed by their leaping over obstacles, doing backflips or every other move they are making. Enjoy these computer-animated acrobatic babies!

その番組で、たった今、ちょっと面白いYouTube映像を見つけましたよ。キャスターさんたちの説明によると、これはYouTube限定の「エビアン」のオンラインコマーシャルだそうです。ご覧になられると、そのアクロバティックな技の数々（障害物を飛び越えたりバック転をしたり…）に面白さと驚きを感じられることと思います。では、お楽しみ下さい

Before skating, they were synchronized swimming stars!
（10年ほど前のCMでは、シンクロナイズドスイマーだったようですよ）