The Nagoya Festival is next Saturday and Sunday, but we had our neighborhood festival last Sunday. I went to help in the morning, and it was a lot of fun. We blocked off part of the street for children to play. It was a good chance to meet and talk to my neighbors. My neighborhood is changing. The old houses are disappearing, and new apartment buildings are going up. Although I miss the old houses, I’m happy to see more children in the neighborhood. After everyone arrived, some adults and the children went around the neighborhood carrying a portable shrine and chanting “Wa-shoi, wa-shoi” We stopped at the local shrine to pray. There, they gave us refreshments. The children got snacks, and the adults got tea or sake to drink.  (130 words)

Congratulations to Nihon Hidankyo for winning this year’s Nobel Peace Prize! The group, called “The Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organization” in English, has been working for years for peace. The members of Nihon Hidankyo have all suffered because of nuclear weapons, and they are trying to teach people around the world how dangerous these weapons are. They want countries that don’t have nuclear weapons to promise never to make them. They want the countries that have nuclear weapons to promise never to use them. They hope that there will be a world without nuclear weapons one day. Some countries have started talking about using nuclear weapons recently, so this Nobel Peace Prize comes just at the right time.    (121 words)

When I was standing at a corner near a train station yesterday, I noticed a smell. It was a strong, unpleasant smell. I looked around, and I saw a ginkgo tree. Other people were looking at the ground. They noticed the smell, too. There were little yellow ginkgo fruits all over the sidewalk around the tree. People used to collect these smelly ginkgo fruits to make ginkgo nuts, but it’s hard work. These days, the ginkgo fruits stay on the ground. Should we get rid of gingko trees? I don’t think so. The smell will go away soon, and the trees will turn a beautiful yellow.    (106 words)

Have you ever been on a treasure hunt? This is a game where you go looking for something hidden. One of the most common treasure hunts in English-speaking countries is the Easter egg hunt. Adults hide chocolate or painted eggs around the garden, and children have fun looking for them. There are also treasure hunts for adults. One of the longest treasure hunts ever ended recently. A French writer made an owl out of gold and silver, and he buried it in 1993. He wrote a book about it with 11 puzzles. People had to solve all the puzzles to find the owl. Over the years, about 200,000 people went looking for it, but no one found it until October 3 this year. Now, there is one very happy treasure hunter, and there are 200,000 very disappointed treasure hunters. (139 words)

The regular 2024 baseball season is over for the Central League. I’m a fan of the Chunichi Dragons, and they played their last game on Sunday. It was also the last game for their manager, Tatsunami Kazuyoshi. I couldn’t go to the game, but many Chunichi fans went there to cheer on their team and say goodbye to Tatsunami. It was an important game for the Dragons. If the team won, they would be in fifth place. Unfortunately, they lost and were last in their league for the third year in a row. Next year, they will have a new manager and new players, and fans like me will continue to cheer them on. We are looking forward to a new beginning.  (122 words)