I wanted to go to the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament last year, but the tickets were sold out. This year, I got two tickets, one for me and one for my wife. Even though they were the cheapest tickets, we had a good view of the ring. You can’t watch the wrestlers close up like on TV, and there are no replays, but you can feel the excitement. Fans shout out the names of their favorite wrestlers and hold up towels with the wrestlers’ names. The woman next to us had five different towels! The crowd roars and claps loudly after an exciting bout, and there are some surprises. In one bout, two wrestlers fell off the ring and took the referee with them. Luckily, no one was hurt. 　　(129 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a week,

I’m in a park near my house now. Can you hear the sounds of summer? Yes, I’m talking about cicadas. When I came back from Spain, I really noticed this sound because I hadn’t heard it before I left. I think the sounds of cicadas are the sounds of summer. Even when it’s hot, these loud insects make it feel a little bit cooler, especially when you are in the shade. Do you like the sound of cicadas? I do, and I go to a park with my dog every morning, and I hear this. I’m happy to be here, but I wish it were a little cooler.    (108 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a week, go to “Support Jaremaga” below for more information. You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Spain is known for paella, a rice dish with seafood or meat, but it has many other kinds of food, too. You can order small plates of food called “tapas” at restaurants and bars, and if you really like something, you can order a bigger plate. We stayed near the coast, and there was lots of good seafood. We had sardines, octopus, mackerel, sea bass, and razor shell clams. One restaurant served us three different kinds of shrimp, and they were all delicious. At another restaurant, we saw something on the menu that really surprised us. No one eats this in the U.S. or in Japan, so we decided to try it. It was deep-fried sea anemone! It tasted like something between fish and seaweed. It’s popular in the south of Spain, but once was enough for us.   (138 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a

I went to Spain this summer with a Japanese couple, and we took Finnair, the airline of Finland. We didn’t want to fly through the Middle East because of the fighting between Iran and the U.S. We flew from Nagoya to Helsinki, changed planes, and flew on to Spain. The Finnair flight used to be much shorter, but since the Ukraine war started, the airline doesn’t fly over Russia. It flies farther north. A flight attendant came up to us during the flight and gave us a certificate. It said, “We certify that you have flown over the North Pole with us.” I didn’t actually see the North Pole, but it feels good to know that we went right over the top of the Earth.  (125 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a week, go to “Support Jaremaga”