weekly journal

Udon and soba are traditional Japanese food. Which do you like better ? I love both!! I eat soba when I am heatstroke. And when I feel sick or when I catch a cold , I eat udon that I can easily take nutrition. By the way , do you know which digest better ? Udon is said to be good for digestion from old days. It is a gentle intestine food that can be eaten even for a recovery meal of gastroenteritis and for baby food. Meanwhile , soba is also a grain called buckwheat flour , which is said to be a good food for digestion if it is soft and boiled. But the easiness of digestion will be different in the proportion of buckwheat flour and the way of boiling. Generally , udon is said to be better for digestion. The reason is that most of the ingredients are carbohydrates. The ingredients of soba is similar to udon , but soba make our stomachs full than udon. The reason is that dietary fiber contained in soba. It absorbs moisture and swells , so it takes time to move f...

    The number of people who write New Year 's cards is decreasing. According to data released by Japan Post on January 1 , 2017 , New Year's cards on New Year's day are about 1.6 billion pieces. It decreased about 6% since last year.     New Year cards account for about 30% of postcards handled each year. So , if the number of cards issued keeps decreasing , the impact on the business is very big. Therefore , in order to stop the New Year 's cards decrease , the popular idol group "Arashi" was appointed to Japan Post's CM for the second consecutive year. However , unfortunately the effect seems subtle.    There are several reasons why people who write New Year 's cards have decreased. What is conceivable is the spread of sns and the management of privacy become strict. But I think that the spread of sns and the management of privacy becoming strict are big reasons. Some of my friends say that they want to send but they don't know t...

Akira Kurosawa            Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He was regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, he directed 30 films in a career spanning 57 years. He won a prize at the big three international film festivals.          In post-WWII, at a time when Japan was being occupied by the United States, Kurosawa chose to look toward and embrace certain Western ideologies of filmmaking. He used Shakespeare and American pulp novels as source material, and embraced Hollywood narrative styles and filmmaking techniques. Combining these elements with his own training in the Japanese studio system, Kurosawa was one of the early purveyors of a truly international style, a refined alchemy of filmmaking. It was embraced by both West and East. contemporary Japanese filmmakers such as Ozu and Mizoguchi tended to focus on strictly Japanese elements with a...

Have you already received immunization of influenza ? It seems to be less vaccine this year. In the hospital where I often go, the vaccine was not enough, so I waited for additional vaccine to arrive. Some of my friends say that receiving influenza vaccination is meaningless. What do you think? Well today I would like to write about the effect of influenza vaccination?  It is said that the probability that a person receiving vaccination can prevent influenza is 60 to 70%. There are many people who think that it means that if 100 people are vaccinated 60 to 70 people do not take influenza. But actually, this is not right.  Let’s assume that 50 people will be infected if they are not vaccinated. But we reduced the number of influenza to 20 people by vaccination. So, we think that the preventive effect is 60%.  In other words, if you receive vaccination, 60% of those who do not receive it can be prevented. There are various opinions to whether this num...

These days my hands are terribly bad. My skin of fingers peels off. This happens to me every year and I am in trouble. Does anyone else have the same trouble as I do? In autumn and winter, moisture of the skin tends to evaporate because of the decrease in temperature and humidity. So, the skin dries. Normally, the moisturizing component called 'ceramide' becomes a barrier and protects the skin from external  stimulus. However, when the skin is dry, it will be less protected. Furthermore, as the external stimulus are added, hands become rough. We can prevent rough hands by doing the following things. First, try not use strong soaps and detergents. Second, wipe your hands with a towel after washing your hands. Third, apply moisturizing cream frequently. There are many other ways to protect your hands, but first of all, I think that it is good to be follow these things.

            Gap between safety and security The are many ways to measure 'good security'. But because measuring it is simple and easy to understand, measuring 'the number of murder' is used as an international comparison. Using this method, I would like to measure security in Japan. Today, the goodness of security in japan is world top class, but it wasn’t so long ago. Just after the WW2, the public security was very bad, and in 1955 there were more than 2,000 murder cases. However, as the economic grew, the public security has improved. During the high economic growth period, the number of murder cases continued to decline. The number has halved in the past 10 years, and in 2013 the number of murder cases became less than one person per day. Then, in 2016, the number decreased to 289 people. This was the first time to be less than 300 people. The lowest level in the history of Japan. Although Japan has a lo...

It has been getting cold little by little recently. The trees at the ginnnann street have also turned red. We can feel the arrival of autumn. By the way did you know that there are many countries in the world that have four seasons besides Japan ? However , I think there are no any citizens living by feeling the four seasons as much as Japanese. It may be unusual for us to incorporate the four seasons into our lives. But , I think we can boast this sense to the world. I don't really like getting cold , but I would like to enjoy each season while feeling the change of the season.