The Summer Koshien has started. I think everyone in Japan is rooting for the team in their own prefecture, and I am no different. I am rooting for Toyohashi Chuo High School from Aichi. It is their first time at the National High School Baseball Tournament. I was really looking forward to seeing their pitcher-catcher battery. These boys have been playing together since elementary school, and they are good! They played the West Tokyo team, Nihon Daigaku DaiSan, yesterday. It was an exciting game! Toyohashi got behind in the third inning, but the team came back and tied the game 2-2 in the sixth inning. I thought they were going to win until the other team got a home run. Toyohashi played well, but they lost 2-3. You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

I still remember the first time I ate edamame. It was my second night in Japan, and a co-worker took me to his local bar. The woman behind the counter gave me some green beans. I put one in my mouth and started chewing. I chewed on it for a long time, but I couldn’t swallow it. The woman suddenly started laughing. She realized that I hadn’t taken the beans out of the pod. We didn’t have edamame in those days in the U.S., so I didn’t know how to eat them. Now, I love edamame. They taste great when you boil and salt them. They are in season now, and yesterday, my daughter gave me some fresh ones. We had them in the afternoon. What a great summer snack!    (130 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

This is the time of year to see swallows in large groups. They nest together for a month or two before they go south in late August and early September. I went to see them at a park in Nagoya last Monday. When I got there at 6:30 p.m., there were only a few birds in the sky, but as the sun went down, more birds kept coming. I stood next to the pond and watched. At one point, I could see thousands of birds in the air. They flew around for a long time, and then they came down and landed on the reeds in the pond. Some even landed on the same reed, which bent down under their weight. You could hear them twittering as they got ready for a good night’s sleep.  (135 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

I have great memories from my trip to Uganda six years ago. A Ugandan friend took a small group on a 10-day tour of his country. Before we went sightseeing, we visited a school in a poor part of Kampala, the capital city. He and his group have charity events in Nagoya every year to collect money for the school, and the school uses the money for desks, chairs, and buildings. The last event was a week ago. My friend gave us updates on the school first, and then we had traditional Ugandan food for lunch. The Ugandan woman who made the food is a very good cook, and her chicken stew was wonderful! Even though she worked hard all morning, she had a beautiful smile for everyone and looked great in her brightly colored Ugandan clothes.    (137 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Yamashita Miyu turned 24 on Saturday, and on Sunday, she won the Women’s British Open. What a great birthday present to herself! She is not a powerful hitter, but she is very accurate. After she took the lead on Friday, she kept ahead of the other players until the end. It was also a good tournament for two other Japanese players. Katsu Minami tied for second, and Takeda Rio tied for fourth. Yamashita is only the second Japanese to win the Women’s British Open. I still remember the first Japanese winner, Shibuno Hinako, because of her nickname, “Smiling Cinderella.” I wonder if Yamashita will get a nickname, too. (108 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com