We are in the middle of Golden Week. April 29 was Showa Day. It was the first of four public holidays. May 3 is Constitution Day, May 4 is Greenery Day, and May 5 is Children’s Day. May 5 falls on Sunday this year, so the following Monday is also a public holiday. Some people only have a day off on the public holidays, but others have 10 days off in a row, from April 27 to May 6. I noticed that there was a difference when I took the subway during the rush hour yesterday. It was much less crowded than usual. People who are traveling around Japan, however, will have a different experience. There will be long traffic jams on the highways, and the trains will be full.　　（130 words）

I saw some beautiful cookies at Kankyo Day Nagoya last year. The baker had a stall and was selling cookies of many different colors and shapes. She was a baker, but she was also an artist. Each cookie was a different animal. Last year, I bought a green dinosaur as a birthday present for a friend’s son. This year, the baker made special cookies for the Festival of Life event at Fujimae Tidal Flat. There was a grey mudskipper and a pink crab. All her cookies were very cute, but only I bought the crab and a jellyfish. I had a taste, and the cookies were delicious, but I think they are too beautiful to eat. What should I do?  (120 words)

Today is World Penguin Day. April 25 was chosen as a day to celebrate penguins by a researcher who noticed that Adele penguins leave Antarctica and swim north for the winter at this time of year. All penguins live in the Southern Hemisphere, the southern half of the world, and it gets cold at this time of year because the seasons are the opposite of those in the Northern Hemisphere. The Adele penguin is one of 18 different kinds of penguins. Not all penguins live in Antarctica however. When I was in New Zealand, I saw yellow-eyed penguins and little penguins in the wild. Penguins also live in Australia, Argentina, South Africa, and on some of the islands in the seas around Antarctica.  (123 words)

The city of Milan, Milano in Italian, is trying to stop the sale of gelato after midnight. Gelato is the Italian word for ice cream, and Italians like to go out and eat it late at night. They often gather at places that sell gelato, and pizza, and other take-out food and drink, and they talk and make a lot of noise. The people who live in those areas are finding it difficult to sleep. The new law would close outdoor tables after midnight. The city hopes that this will help the local residents. This isn’t the first time that Milan has tried to stop the sale of gelato after midnight. One mayor tried to do it in 2013, but so many people were against the idea that he gave up. Will Milan be more successful this time? We will see. (141 words)

The Sakura-michi International Nature Run is an ultramarathon to honor Sato Ryoji. He was a bus driver who used to drive along the road from Nagoya to Kanazawa. He planted 2000 cherry trees along the road because he wanted to connect the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. People started an ultramarathon 30 years ago in his memory. The race was 250 kilometers and went from Nagoya to Kanazawa. The best runners finished in about 26 hours. Those people were superhuman! This year is different. Because the volunteers are getting old, the sponsors decided to make this the last race. They also shortened the course to 110 kilometers, from Nagoya to Gujo City in Gifu Prefecture. Last year’s best male and female runners won this year, too. 110 is a lot less than 250, but anyone who can run 110 is still superhuman to me. (146 words)