I still remember a quiz from my first-year Japanese course at university. There was one word that I didn’t know. I knew that it came from another language because it was written in “katakana.” I spent a long time trying to figure out what it was. The first syllable was “ta,” the next one was “o,” and the last one was “ru.” I said “ta-o-ru” over and over again in my head, but I couldn’t guess the meaning. After five minutes, I finally figured out that it was “towel.” Many loanwords come from English, so they should be easy to remember for a native English speaker like me, but they aren’t. They often sound very different from the original words. Here are two examples: “mi-ne-ra-ru” versus “mineral” and “ho-to-do-gu” versus “hot dog.”  (132 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Japan has something that is perfect for hot, sweaty days. It is a towel that you put around your neck. It’s called “tenugui” in Japanese. The history of the towel goes back more than 1000 years to the Heian period. It used to be made of hemp or silk, but during the Edo period, people started using cotton. They also standardized the size to 35 by 95 centimeters. I use “tenugui” almost every day in summer. I like the towel because it is light and comfortable. I wipe sweat off my forehead with it, and it keeps the sun off the back of my neck so that I don’t get a sunburn. (112 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

The World Humanoid Robot Games were held in Beijing over the weekend. There were 280 teams from 16 countries. We already use many kinds of robots now, but most of them don’t look like people. These robots did. They had a head, two arms and two legs, so they are called humanoid robots. I watched some news clips of these robots doing different sports. They danced. They walked and ran races. They did martial arts floor exercises. I liked the kickboxing robots. They looked like real fighters! Humanoid robots can do individual sports, but they have a hard time playing together in team sports. When they played soccer, they bumped into each other and kept falling down.    (117 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Jen Pawol made history on August 9 as the first woman to umpire in a regular MLB season game. Pawol’s family was always watching baseball at home, and she fell in love with the sport as a child. Girls couldn’t play baseball in those days, so she played softball instead. After graduating from university, she worked as an art teacher and played on a local team, but that wasn’t enough for her. She decided to become an umpire in the minor leagues 10 years ago. She worked her way up, and finally, a week ago, she umpired in a doubleheader between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves. In a TV interview after the games, she said that her dream came true.   (122 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com