Today, the Bank of Japan is coming out with new bills. Do you know who’s on your money now? Well, that’s all changing. You will have to learn the faces of three new people. Shibusawa Eiichi, a great businessman from the Meiji period, will be on the 10,000 yen bill. Tsuda Umeko, a great educator who started a college for women, will be on the 5,000 yen bill. Finally, Kitasato Shibasaburo, a great medical researcher, will be on the 1,000 yen bill. The new 10,000 yen bill is unique because it uses 3D holograms. If you look at the small picture of Shibusawa on the left side of the bill, his face always seems to look at you no matter where you are.   (120 words)

There is a bakery near my house that always has a long line of people in front of it. Last week, for example, it was a sunny day, and there was a line of about 20 people. The next day, it rained, but there was still a long line in front of the shop. The line wasn’t moving, so I guess it took people about 30 minutes to get inside. I started to wonder why this place was so popular. My daughter said it was because the bread was chewy (or “mochimochi” in Japanese). They also have some unique kinds of rolls. You can dine in or order takeout. The bakery is like a café. It has good coffee to go with the bread. It sounds good, but I don’t like to wait in line for more than a few minutes. How about you? How long are you willing to wait for good

Are you a fan of a famous athlete, actor, or singer? I am a big fan of a tap dancer named Hideboh. A lot of people know him from the 2003 movie “Zatoichi” directed by Beat Takeshi. Takeshi plays a blind samurai in the Edo period, and there is a lot of sword fighting, but the movie ends with a festival. A drummer pounds out the rhythm, while Hideboh, playing a farmer, leads a large group of men and women in kimonos and wooden geta in an incredible tap dance number. On Saturday, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop by Hideboh. He is not only a great dancer but a great teacher, too. After the workshop, he did a talk show with my regular tap dance teacher. They shared memories and talked about all the celebrities that had studied tap dance under Hideboh, including, of course, Beat Takeshi.   (150 words)

Volleyball is an exciting sport to watch. At the net, two or three players jump up, but which one is going to hit the ball? You don’t know. The players on the other side try to block the ball. If the ball gets through, they have to keep it from hitting the ground. They make great defensive plays. The 1960s and 70s were the golden age of Japanese volleyball. The women’s team won gold medals at the 1964 and at the 1976 Olympics. The men’s team won a gold medal at the 1972 Olympics. The women’s team has played in almost all the Olympic games, but the men’s team has not done as well. Now, both teams look strong. They may get their first medals in a long time at the Paris Olympics.   (133 words)

People talk about Big Tech. These are the biggest IT companies in the world. First, there were the Big Five: Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft. Alphabet is the company that owns Google, and Meta is the company that owns Facebook. These are some of the most valuable companies in the world. Now people are talking about the Magnificent Seven. There are two newcomers, Tesla and NVIDIA.  Tesla is the electric car company, and NVIDIA is a company that makes software and hardware for AI. Everybody wants to use AI these days, so NVIDIA has been growing bigger and bigger. In fact, it became the world’s most valuable company in the middle of this month.     　　(115 words)