The 2024 Paris Olympics started at a bridge crossing the Seine. Blue, white, and red smoke shot up from the bridge like fireworks, the colors of the French flag. Usually, the Olympic athletes walk into the Olympic stadium carrying the flags of their countries, but this year was different. Each country had its own boat for a 6-kilometer boat ride down the Seine to the Eiffel Tower. The Greek team went first because Greece is where the games started. Although it rained, everyone looked very happy. The athletes stood up in their boats and waved to the crowds along the river. There were singers and dancers using Paris’ old buildings to celebrate its history. Celine Dion was the last performer at the Eiffel Tower, and she sang a great French love song with all her heart. What an opening show it was!   (142 words)

I went to the Isegahama stable yesterday morning to watch the wrestlers practice. This stable has some of the top sumo wrestlers. Most of the wrestlers were wearing black belts, but the higher-ranking wrestlers were wearing beige belts. When I think of sumo, I imagine very traditional training. I saw wrestlers attacking and defending in the ring, but I also saw some wrestlers weightlifting. The spectators stood behind a rope about 30 meters away, so we couldn’t see well, but I recognized Atamifuji right away. Then I used the zoom lens on my camera to take a picture of a tall wrestler sitting on the other side of the ring. It was Terunofuji! As I was leaving, I heard some music. It certainly wasn’t traditional. It was Japanese hip-hop! This sport may be old, but the wrestlers are modern young men.  (141 words)

Summer is here, and with summer come the world’s noisiest insects. You can hear cicadas everywhere you go in Nagoya these days. They come out after the rainy season, but where do they come from? Young cicadas go underground after they are born. They stay underground for a few years before they come out of holes under trees. These young cicadas are called nymphs. When they climb out of the holes, they climb up a nearby tree. Then, at night, they leave their outside shell and become adults. You can find the empty shells on the trees right now. The male cicadas are the noisy ones. They make noise to attract female cicadas.   (113 words )

There was big news from the U.S. yesterday. President Joe Biden said that he would not run for president again this year. This is very unusual. He became president for the first time three and a half years ago, and a first-time president usually runs again. Biden wanted to continue, and no one could really stop him. Why did he change his mind? Many supporters said that he couldn’t win because of his age. At first, he didn’t listen to them, but then he got COVID. Many important people asked him to leave for the good of the country. I think this helped to change his mind. Saying goodbye to the most important job in the U.S. isn’t easy!  (119 words)

It is easy to dislike summer in Nagoya. It’s too hot to go outside during the day, and some nights are too hot to sleep. If I don’t use air conditioning, I can’t work or even think. However, there is one thing that I love about summer in Japan: shaved ice. You can find it everywhere. Just look for a small square flag with a big red character for “ice” on it in front of a store. Shaved ice is one of the most refreshing things to eat on a hot day. Last year I bought my own shaved ice machine and started making it at home. The machine looks big and heavy, but it is small and light, and it works very well. There is nothing as delicious and as easy to make in summer as shaved ice!    (139 words)