Last week, I went to Yokohama with a friend to visit a teacher. We were meeting him in the afternoon, so we spent the morning looking around the city. I am interested in Japanese history, and Yokohama was one of the first ports that was opened to other countries at the beginning of the Meiji era. We visited a small museum called the Yokohama Archives of History. They display many things from that time: old photos of people and places, maps, and newspapers. I was excited to find an exhibit about James Curtis Hepburn. He published a Japanese-English dictionary in 1886 that used a new way of writing Japanese. I use the Hepburn system every day to type in Japanese, and it has become the official way to write names in Japanese passports. I didn’t know that this kind of romanization began in Yokohama. (144 words) You can send me a comment or

Yamanishi Toshikazu broke the world record when he finished the men’s 20-kilometer race walk in Kobe last Saturday. His time was 1 hour, 16 minutes and 10 seconds. That means that he was walking 15.8 kilometers per hour! That is much faster than the average walking speed of 5 kph for a man of Yamanishi’s age. Race walking looks like running, but the walkers must always have one foot touching the ground, and they must keep the front leg straight. This is different from running. When you run, you bend both legs and your feet come off the ground. Try walking as fast as you can for one kilometer and measure your time. How fast can you walk? (118 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Last week, I got an email from a friend who plays music. He said that he was going to have a show on the 15th at a small live house. I was busy in the early evening, but I told him that I could get there in time to see the second set. When I got to the place last Saturday, they told me that someone else was playing. My friend’s performance wasn’t until March 15! I thought it was in February because the date and the day are the same in both months. I left feeling a little stupid. Then, I saw a couple of friends outside a nearby convenience store. They had made the same mistake, too! (119 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com