Because my granddaughter volunteered at the Asian Games, she got four free tickets for wheelchair basketball. She couldn’t go, so she gave them to us. I went with my wife and another couple on Friday morning. It was the first time that any of us had watched wheelchair basketball. It was as exciting as regular basketball. The players can’t use their legs, but they can move really fast in their wheelchairs. We watched the Cambodian women’s team play the Chinese women’s team. Regular basketball players and wheelchair basketball players have one thing in common: the taller you are, the easier it is to get rebounds and to shoot baskets. The Chinese team had more tall players, and they were faster and more aggressive. They won the game easily.     (128 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a week, go

I went on an environmental exchange program to southern Korea with seven children and two adults over the weekend. The Japanese children met Korean children, and we did outdoor activities together: birdwatching, catching fish and insects in a marsh, and harvesting rice. I enjoyed watching the children interact. The boys looked everywhere for insects, and the Japanese boys were excited when they found a grasshopper that doesn’t live in Japan. A Korean junior high school student took some great pictures of flying birds and shared them with us. A Japanese girl used her smartphone as a camera and took funny pictures of the other children. I laughed when a Japanese boy used his new Korean words to make a strange sentence, “Hwajangshil mashissoyo!” which means “The toilet is delicious!”   (129 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a week,

The Asian Games ended last Sunday. They were exciting for people of all nationalities. Some British friends of mine were happy because they could watch cricket live. India got the gold medal, Pakistan the silver medal, and Sri Lanka the bronze medal. My granddaughter, who is on the horseback riding team at university, volunteered for the equestrian events. She said that Saudi Arabia was the winner of the event she saw. That’s not surprising. Arabs have some of the best horses and riders in the world. Even a small country like Nepal won medals in kabaddi and karate. China, Japan, and South Korea were the big winners of these games, but every country had its hero.   (116 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” at jaremaga.online for more information. You can send me

One of my favorite Japanese sweets is “bontan ame.” It is a soft chewy candy from Kagoshima. Each piece is covered with starch paper that you can eat. The name comes from a citrus fruit called “bontan” in Japanese and “pomelo” in English. I had fresh pomelo in Shikoku, and it was very good. Unfortunately, they don’t sell this fruit in Nagoya. I don’t think the candy tastes much like the fresh fruit, but I like a nice fruity flavor. I also like the retro-looking package. This product goes back to 1925, and they haven’t changed the design of the box for at least 50 years. It still has the kanji name written on the side from right to left.   (122 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