2 July 94 Interesting occurances: 1) drinking gold this morning 2) Japanese version of Jehovah's Witnesses (may really be Jehovah's Witnesses) 3) interesting program about watermelons (are of cucumber family) 4) looked at a bunch of family pictures last night -- including daughter's wedding 5) Thursday will have a type of Halloween 6) Lots of letters etc. from past hostees (book on Canada, announcement of marriage?) 7) Socialist prime minister elected 8) Dollar =still= dropping (dammit!) 9) Yesterday morning, tsuitashi kara [because its the first day of the month], offering of gohan & otya & okasii and ringo to ancestors [maybe ringo aren't cherries -- gohan = rice [uncooked i think], otya = tea, okasii = candy] -- otoosan did - usu. only Mrs. Terai does it I think - also light incense 10) Need to do things for newspaper 11) Watched Crayon Shin-tyan 12) Lady was asking for time on Tuesday, didn't notice I wasn't Nihonjin 13) Lots of hair thinning programs, hair dying commercials 14) No microwaves, really 15) No really religion -- shinto, Zen, etc. but more of a cultural identity that a religion it seems 16) Now watching a show about a kind of kabuki in which women also act --> 17) Interesting movement for official women's advancement -- some labor minister or such said companies should disregard whether people are men or women, but hire best get good pick since there are more applicants than jobs. Also recommended still hiring new employees but at lower starting salaries so the companies can afford it. 18) Old people - lots of them getting around 19) Things seen in my Sesame Street guide 20) Incorporation of English into Japanese, Japanese inability to speak English, American, Russian, Australian schoolkids learning Japanese & holding math classes in Japanese 21) Make list of what I want to get 22) Music - keep hearing "Unchained Melody", "To a Wild Rose" 23) handicapped mental & physical -- right now watching wheelchair race w/ sign language interpreter in the corner -- Idea for newspaper name: hakkoo da, (i)tte -- hakoo = publication, issue [then hakkoo in kanji]