The beginning of May is the time to plant rice. Most fields were dry during the winter, but now they are wet. These wet fields are called paddies. Farmers drive tractors through the paddies so that the mud becomes soft. Then, they take small rice plants, which are called seedlings, and put them into rows. These days, most farmers put the seedlings on their tractors, and the tractors do the planting, but people used to do it by hand. I went into the countryside near Nagoya yesterday, and I saw a man planting in the old way. He was wearing boots and standing in the paddy. He took one seedling at a time and put it into the mud. It was beautiful to watch, but it looks like backbreaking work!   (130 words)

When I was growing up in the U.S., convenience stores didn’t stay open all night. 7-Eleven, for example, got its name because it was open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Then 7-Elevens started opening all night. You could go there any time and buy almost anything. These days, it’s difficult for convenience stores in Japan to find workers, so some stores have started to close late at night. Last Saturday, when I went to a convenience store at the edge of a city, I saw a sign on the door. It said that the store opens at 5 a.m., and closes at 12 midnight. Maybe this 7-Eleven should change its name. Instead of 7-Eleven, how about calling it 5-Twelve?   (120 words)

In January, I wrote about Inoue Naoya. His nickname is “Monster,” and he was given the “Fighter of the Year” award at the beginning of 2024. The day before yesterday, he had a boxing match to defend his title against Luis Nery of Mexico at the Tokyo Dome. This was the first boxing match at the Tokyo Dome in 34 years, and the Dome was full! There were 43,000 fans in the stadium, and they were very excited. It was an exciting match. Nery knocked down Inoue in the first round, but Inoue came back and fought harder. His punches were so fast that Nery couldn’t defend himself. He was knocked down three times, and Inoue won with a TKO in the sixth round.    (123 words)

May 5 was Children’s Day. How did you celebrate it? My children are both grown up, and my granddaughter is already a high school student, so we usually don’t do anything special on Children’s Day. This year, we did eat “kashiwamochi.” There are many different kinds of sweets in Japan, so why did they choose to eat “kashiwamochi” on Children’s Day? I looked it up and found that the leaves of the “Kashiwa,” or the Japanese emperor oak tree in English, are a little special. They don’t fall until the new leaves start to come out. People want to be like the Japanese emperor oak tree because they want their children to be born and grow up before they die. Then they can pass their things and their knowledge on to their children. Just be careful when you eat “Kashiwamochi. Don’t eat the leaf around it.（148 words）

It’s been a month since I stopped sending out Jaremaga as an email magazine. I am uploading the stories to the new Jaremaga website every day, but some readers have asked me to keep on sending out the emails. Several teachers decided to create a group called the Jaremaga Support Group, and they are working with a company called Miitus so that I can continue to send out the email magazine. Please read the message in Japanese from the support group below. I have to pay to send out messages, so I will not be able to do this for free. If you would like to support Jaremaga and get an email sent to you every morning, please go to the Miitus website at https://miitus.jp/t/Jaremaga/login/box/?logout and sign up. If you have any questions, you can contact me at jaremaga@gmail.com じゃれマガが配信されなくなり１ヶ月が過ぎました。 不便を感じませんか。以前のようにメルマガ配信ができるようにじゃれマガを応援する会（ジャレ会）を立ち上げました。これまで約20年間、無料で配信し続けてくださったジャレル先生へのご恩返しとして、月100円の年度1,200円でのクレジット払いでの運用としています。（５月登録開始、６月から配信開始10ヶ月分（年度1,000円）となります） ご賛同いただけます方は下のURLから会員登録をお願いいたします。 https://miitus.jp/t/Jaremaga/login/box/?logout 「はじめての方は下記をご確認ください」の下にあります赤の「新規入会登録」をクリックして登録ができます。 あと数年、じゃれマガをご一緒に応援していきましょう。 熊本大学大学院教育学研究科　准教授　岡﨑伸一