One coffee shop is run by a middle-aged woman, and she seems to be very strict with customers. When someone starts studying or working on a laptop, she goes up to them and politely asks them not to do it. Reading a book seems to be fine, but the moment a customer starts using a pen or sticky notes, they are told to stop. The person who told me the story had this experience when she began studying for the TOEIC test. I went there once, but I think I just had a cup of coffee and left. If I had used the coffee shop as a portable office, I probably would have been told to stop. Whenever I drive by the place, there is hardly anyone there. Now I understand why.  (132 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5

Today is Earth Day. It started in 1970 in the U.S. after a terrible oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, but since then, it has become a global event. People around the world are working to make the environment better. Countries have made their own laws to keep the air and water clean, and they have signed agreements to stop global warming. However, the Earth needs everyone’s help. Each person can help by following the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. For example, try using fewer things and say no to plastic shopping bags. Drive less and take trains more. You will use less energy. Don’t buy things that you can only use once. Use the things that you have again and again. Finally, recycle your paper, cans, and bottles. Don’t throw away good things that you no longer need. Take them to a secondhand store.   (146 words) Jaremaga now comes out online

I saw Aonishiki on an advertisement for a sports drink. I was surprised at first because sumo wrestling is very traditional, but it is a sport, and sports drinks help players to do better The first modern sports drink was made in Florida in the 1960s. A university made a special drink for the players on the football team, and the team went on to win a big football game. That made the drink famous! They named it Gatorade because Florida has alligators (Gator), and the drink has a sweet citrus flavor like lemonade (ade). Since then, many other sports and energy drinks have come out, including Pocari Sweat, the sports drink that Aonishiki is advertising.  (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” below for more information. You can send me a

I was going home on Monday night, April 6, and there were more people than usual on the subway platform. Most of them were women. A friend told me that they were fans of the boy band Arashi. I looked again and saw that they had bags and goods with “Arashi” written on them. Arashi is splitting up after more than 25 years together. The group goes back to 1999 when their debut song came out. They performed together for 20 years and became the best-selling boy band in Asia. Then they took a break in 2020, but they are back together now for their last live tour. Their final concert will be at the Tokyo Dome on May 31. I’m sure that a lot of fans will miss them.   (130 words) Jaremaga now comes out online on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. To become a paid subscriber and read it 5 days a

My daughter and her family came over for dinner on Saturday night. After they left, my wife and I watched TV, and I drank some soju, Korean-style shochu. She emptied the bottle into my glass, but I couldn’t drink all of it, so I left the half-full glass on the table. While we were having lunch yesterday, she picked up what she thought was a glass of water and took a big gulp. Was she shocked! It wasn’t water. It was the leftover soju from Saturday night. This reminded me of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but in this case, I would change it to, “Don’t judge a drink by its color!”           (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” below for more information. You can send me a