My younger daughter is back in Japan for the first time in six years. The last time she came to Japan was in 2018, before the pandemic. She is here with an American friend, and they are traveling around Japan together. They spent the first few days in Tokyo, and now they are in Nagoya. After several days of rain, the sun has finally come out. I decided to take them into the mountains because I wanted to show them that Japan is more than just big cities. We visited Tsumago and Magome, two old post towns from the Edo period. The area is famous for chestnuts, and every time they saw chestnut sweets, they had to eat them.

I sometimes have to use a coin-operated parking lot when I park in the city. The older parking lots have special metal plates that rise up after you park. You can’t drive away unless you pay. When you leave, you put the money into the machine, and the metal plate goes down. The newer parking lots are different. They only use cameras. I parked in a newer parking lot the other day, and when I came out, the machine asked for my license plate number. I typed in the number, and to my surprise, the machine showed me photos of two cars. Why? Because the other car had the same license plate number as mine!

The Grand Sumo Tournament has just ended, and Takerufuji is the new champion, but who is he? He came out of nowhere! He wasn’t even in the Makunouchi, the top division, in the last tournament. He started this tournament as the lowest-ranking wrestler, but he kept on winning. He won 11 bouts in a row, tying Taiho’s old record. He lost two bouts and hurt his foot in the 14th bout, but he didn’t give up. He fought on Sunday in spite of the pain and won the tournament with a final score of 13-2. He became the first wrestler in 110 years to win his debut tournament. That is amazing!

School is out, and children are on their spring vacation. High school students in Aichi Prefecture had their last day of school on Tuesday, and younger students finished on Friday. I think most students are looking forward to the vacation. They can get up later than usual and play inside or hang out with their friends. The lucky ones get to go to theme parks such as Disneyland and USJ. Not everyone can take a break, however. Students who want to go on to a good high school or university will spend the vacation studying, and many parents will be busier than usual taking care of their children at home.