In Japan, they say that the heat only lasts until the autumnal equinox (around September 23) and the cold only lasts until the spring equinox (around March 20). The days have been a little cooler since the autumnal equinox this year, and the nights have been much more pleasant. In fact, I slept with the windows open on Monday night, and I woke up in the middle of the night feeling cold! It was a wonderful feeling, but I have to be careful. This is the time of year when it’s easy to catch a cold. Tomorrow, however, the temperatures are going up again in many parts of Japan. When is the summer really going to end? (117 words)

When I was living in the U.S. with my wife, we spent a lot of time with my parents. My wife used to call my father a walking dictionary. Whenever she had a question, he seemed to know the answer. I think the best definition of a “walking dictionary” in Japanese is either “ikijibiki” or “monoshiri.” I wonder how much longer people like my father will be around. These days, if you don’t know something, you can just take out your smartphone and look it up on the Internet. You don’t need to remember everything. However, I prefer walking dictionaries to smartphones, and I hope that there will always be walking dictionaries around! (113 words)

What does 50-50 usually mean? We often talk about a 50-50 chance that something will happen. That means that it might happen, but it might not. Now Ohtani Shohei has given 50-50 a new meaning. When people say 50-50 about Ohtani, they mean 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. Ohtani is the first baseball player ever to get 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. In the last week, he has been hitting and stealing in every game. As of yesterday, Ohtani’s record was 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases. I think he has a 50-50 chance of reaching 60-60.   (105 words)

September 17 this year was the day of Otsukimi, the Moon-Viewing Festival. On this day, many people in Japan prepare dumplings for the moon. And in some parts of Japan, we had a special custom called “Tsukimi-dorobo.” When I was a child, we could take and eat the dumplings and other food that were offered for Otsukimi. Normally, taking other people’s things is bad, but on this special day, it was allowed. Families thought the moon ate the dumplings if they were taken. It meant the family would be happy. In this way, Otsukimi is a little like Halloween because children can get sweets, but there is a big difference. We didn’t do anything bad even if we couldn’t get any sweets.　　　(122 words)

On September 7 and 8, I took part in an environmental study tour. We went a small town in the mountains near Tokushima City called Kamikatsu. It is known for its zero-waste program. It is trying to recycle 100% of its waste. It recycles 80% now, which is much better than the national Japanese average of 20%. We wanted to know how they did it, so we visited the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center. The center staff showed how the town practices the 3Rs: reduce, reuse, and recycle. They separate waste into 45 different categories, and they teach people ways to make less waste. People can also leave things that they no longer need at the center for other people to use. Finally, the town recycles most waste. They still can’t recycle everything, but Kamikatsu shows that we can do better than we are doing now. (145 words)

“Shogun” was a 1100-page book when it came out in the 1970s, but it was so interesting that I couldn’t put it down. James Clavell, the writer, got his story from Japanese history, but he didn’t want to write a pure history book. He wanted to write fiction, so he changed the name of the shogun from Tokugawa to Toranaga. Even though 70% of “Shogun” is in Japanese with English subtitles, people in the U.S. love it. “Shogun” won 18 awards at the Emmys last Sunday. Sanada Hiroyuki won the award for best actor as Lord Toranaga, and Sawai Anna won the award for best actress. It’s a 10-episode series. I’ve seen the first six episodes, and I am really looking forward to the last four episodes.  (127 words)