I went to a festival at the Nagoya Biodiversity Center last Saturday. It was a sunny day, and the place was full of young families with their children. Some environmental groups had living creatures on display. Others had displays of stuffed animals like racoon dogs, Japanese badgers, and weasels. The most surprising thing I saw was a live Asian giant hornet. It was on a piece of banana eating. The volunteer picked it up and showed it to me. “Isn’t it dangerous? Doesn’t it sting?” I asked. He told me that it was a male, and males don’t sting. The females are the dangerous ones. A boy held out his hand, and the volunteer put the hornet on the hand. The boy looked a little scared but happy. But it isn’t easy to tell a male from a female. Stay away from giant hornets in the wild!   (147 words) You can send me

The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating NHK Trophy 2025 took place over the weekend in Osaka Prefecture, and Japanese skaters took the gold medal in both the men’s and the women’s singles. I missed the men’s singles, but I was able to watch the women’s singles live on Saturday evening. Although Aoki Yuna only came in sixth, I thought she gave one of the best performances. She had a wonderful smile, and every move was smooth and beautiful. I was also very impressed with the Belgian skater, Loena Hendrickx. Because of her free performance, she moved up from fourth place and got the bronze medal. Her good friend Sakamoto Kaori was the last skater. Her performance was perfect! She won the NHK Trophy gold medal for the second time in a row.   (133 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Do you like jigsaw puzzles? I used to do them when I was sick and had to stay home from school. I was pretty good because I always looked for pieces with the same colors. My wife still does jigsaw puzzles. I remember a 2000-piece jigsaw puzzle of Neuschwanstein Castle, a beautiful castle in southern Germany. It took her a long time to finish it, but it looked so nice that we framed it and hung it on the wall. The other day, a friend of hers gave us a new jigsaw puzzle. It is completely white! The name is perfect. It’s called “Pure White Hell” because it’s so difficult! I don’t want to do it, and neither does my wife. We are planning to give it away. If you want it, please let me know.    (144 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

In western countries, it’s easy to find an address. All you need is the name of the city, the name of the street, and the number. If the address of the house is 70 State Street, you just need to find State Street. The numbers are in order, so it’s easy to follow them to the house. In Japan, most streets don’t have names. You have to look at a map of the town or of the city ward. When you find the smaller “cho,” you have to look for the even smaller “chome.” Then, you have to find the number of the house. It’s much easier with map apps now, but I remember getting lost in Tokyo many years ago. I was looking for a friend’s apartment, and someone in the neighborhood tried to help me. It took us 45 minutes to find the number even though the apartment was only 100

The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series for the second time in a row. They did it last year in five games, but it was more difficult this year because the teams were evenly matched. That’s why it was such an exciting series! The Blue Jays won the first game. The Dodgers came back and won the second game. They won the third game too, but it took 18 innings! The Blue Jays came back and won the next two games. Toronto only needed one more game to win the series, but the Dodgers didn’t give up. They won sixth game. Then, on Saturday, they won the last game in extra innings. Ohtani Shohei did a great job as a two-way player, but the MVP went to Yamamoto Yoshinobu for his fantastic pitching.   (135 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com