The National Baseball Hall of Fame is a special place. Every player in Major League Baseball dreams of going there. On Tuesday, they chose the players that will enter the Hall of Fame in 2025. Three players were chosen this year, but Ichiro was the favorite. He got almost 100% of the votes! He will join other great players like Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson in the Hall of Fame in July. It wasn’t a surprise choice. Ichiro is one of the greatest hitters of all time. During his career in Japan and America, he got more hits than any other baseball player in history. Congratulations, Ichiro! You really deserve to get in! (113 words) You can send me comments or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

In English, we have a name for animals and a different name for the meat. For example, we say cow for the animal, but we say beef for the meat. Sheep is the name of the animal, but the meat is called mutton. A pig is an animal, but the meat is called pork. How did this happen? The animal names are old English names, but the names of meat came later from French. Korean is similar. It has a word for live fish and a different word for the fish meat that we eat. Mulkogi is the word for live fish, and sengson is the word for fish meat. The first is an old Korean word, and the other came later from Chinese characters. (125 words) You can send me comments or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

When should you eat a banana? When it is a little green, when it is all yellow, or after it starts to get brown? That depends on the person. I heard about a couple who had a banana problem. The husband kept eating all the bananas. His wife never ate any. Finally, he asked her why she bought bananas if she didn’t like them. She said that he ate all the bananas before they were ripe. He liked bananas that were still a little green, but she wanted the bananas to get a little brown so that she was sure they were sweet. Now they understand each other, and he leaves some bananas to get ripe for his wife. (119 words) You can send me comments or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

The Common Test for University Admissions was held all over Japan on the weekend. I admire the test takers. When I worked at a university, I used to proctor the tests. I handed out and collected tests, and I spent many hours in the same classroom watching the test takers. The days were long and hard for me, but it was like a two-day marathon for many students. I watched them at their desks from morning until evening each day. Yesterday, I was reminded of the Common Test as I walked past the front gate of a university near my house. I saw a long line of students coming from the subway, and guards were standing outside the front gate. If you took the test, I hope that you got a good score and can go to the university of your choice. (142 words) You can send me comments or your own story

Ten years ago, I wrote about one of the oldest sweet shops in Japan. Ubagamochiya opened in Kusatsu on the south side of Lake Biwa more than 400 years ago. You can see the old store in Hiroshige’s “Kusatsu,” one of “The 53 Stations of the Tokaido.” They say that the “uba,” the wet-nurse for the grandson of one poor samurai family, started selling sweets so that she could raise the boy. Because of that, the sweet was named “ubagamochi.” Yesterday, I went to Kusatsu, and I found the main store. They are still making sweets the same way that they did 400 years ago! I bought a box of six and had one last night. These sweets are very small, but if you like soft rice cake covered with smooth sweet bean paste, you will like “ubagamochi”! (138 words) You can send me your comments or stories at jaremaga@gmail.com