Recently I noticed a new kind of work/study space here in Nagoya. It is called “self cafe” in Japanese. It is like a coffee shop, but no one works there. You buy a drink from a machine, and you can stay there as long as the place is open. They have Wi-Fi, and there are tables and chairs where you can sit and work or study. You can use the outlets to plug in your computer or recharge your mobile phone. I haven’t gone into the one in my neighborhood yet, but my granddaughter has. She said that it is a better place to study than a coffee shop because it is quiet. It seems to be popular. I walked by last night at 8 pm, and it was full.

On February 29, Ohtani Shohei announced on Instagram that he is married. Who is his wife? He hasn’t told anyone her name. He has only said that she is an ordinary Japanese woman. Isn’t it amazing that he can keep this a secret? He is one of the most famous baseball players in the world, and he is in the news every day. I’m sure that news reporters are doing their best to find out who his wife is, but Ohtani is very good at keeping a secret. Most people are happy for Ohtani. He has gotten messages of congratulations from other baseball players and from Kuriyama, Samurai Japan’s manager last year. However, some of his female fans have left comments on SNS like “My life is over!” They are unhappy because they can no longer dream of marrying him.

Tomorrow is February 29. You probably don’t know anyone who was born on this date because they are very rare. February 29 only comes once every four years. We call that year a leap year, and the people who are born on February 29 are called leapers. I read that there are only 5 million leapers in the world! You may think that leapers are unlucky because they only have a birthday once every four years, but that isn’t really true. In a regular non-leap year, they celebrate their birthday either on February 28 or March 1. In a leap year, however, leapers have a really big celebration for their true birthday!

When we use the word “beautiful” in English, we are usually talking about women, not men. Women usually wear brighter colors and makeup while men dress in less colorful clothes. However, it is different for many birds, especially ducks. Winter is the season when many different kinds of ducks come to Japan, and the male ducks are beautiful now. Some have green heads, and others have white necks and long tails. The females are usually just brown. The male mandarin duck (“oshidori”) is the most colorful of all the ducks. It has a red bill (mouth), an orange “beard,” and a white head with a purple and green crest on top. The sides are covered in purple, orange, and blue feathers with black and white stripes.