March is the end of the year for students and many workers all over Japan. Students graduate, and public school teachers have to move to other schools before April. I know that some government workers have to move to other offices at the end of March, and I think it happens at large companies, too. I didn’t think it happened to newscasters, but I was wrong. Last Friday, I was watching the local NHK evening news. At the end of the program, the two newscasters said that they were leaving the show. One of them is moving to radio, and the other is changing to the morning news. The two new newscasters have something in common. They have the same last name: Yamada.  (123 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Spring is a wonderful season, but it has some bad points, too. One of them in the yellow dust that comes from Mongolia. The wind lifts the dust high up into the air from the desert and carries it east. The TV weather map shows a big cloud of dust moving toward Japan from China. The meteorologist, the person who reports the weather, says that it is bad for our health. We should stay inside as much as possible and wear a mask when we go outside. We should dry our clothes inside rather than outside so that they don’t get dust on them. I haven’t seen any dust, but I can see that the air isn’t clear. Although it’s sunny, the sky isn’t blue. Late in the afternoon, the dust turns the sun orange.  (135 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

If you live in Japan, you know that the price of rice is very high now. In fact, it is twice as expensive as it was last year. I bought a 5-kilogram bag of rice on Monday, and it cost 4,280 yen! I don’t know how families with growing children can buy enough rice to feed everyone. In the U.S., eggs are very expensive now. They are sold by the dozen, and 12 eggs are about $6. That means that each egg costs 50 cents, or 75 yen! In Japan, eggs have gotten more expensive too, but they still only cost 30 yen each. You can see the difference at McDonald’s. If you want to buy an Egg McMuffin in the U.S., it costs about $5.50. It only costs 330 yen, or $1.80, in Japan.    (134 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

We have a year-long program for children at Fujimae Tidal Flat. They come for nature walks on the tidal flat in all four seasons, and they learn about fish, crabs, and birds through their experiences. March 20 was the last day of their program, but it was also a new beginning for them. They became junior tidal flat rangers, and they will come back to help us with our events from April. We had a party to celebrate this special day. Everyone came to the environmental center at 10 a.m. with their families. We began by cutting wood for the fires and then made “mochi” and fried noodles outside. The older children organized outdoor games after lunch. We ended with a ceremony to give certificates to our 14 new junior rangers!  (131 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Ohtani Shohei was back in Japan for the beginning of the Major League Baseball season last week. So were Yamamoto Yoshinobu, Sasaki Roki, Imanaka Shota, and Suzuki Seiya. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs have five of the best Japanese baseball players on their teams, and everyone in Japan was looking forward to seeing them play. The starting pitchers for the first game were Yamamoto for the Dodgers and Imanaka for the Cubs. That game was watched by 25 million people in Japan, a new record for a MLB game. The Dodgers won that game 4-1. Sasaki started for the Dodgers in the second game and struck out Suzuki. Then, when Ohtani came up to bat in the fifth inning, it was Sho-time! He hit his first home run of the season, and the Dodgers went on to win the second game, too.  (145 words) You can send me a comment