Coffee Break

◎ Dear friend

Although the cherry blossom season has passed, I am sending you a photo I took on my way to work the other day.

The location is just south of Syukugawa-station on the Hankyu Kobe Line, As you know Syukugawa has long been famous for its cherry blossoms. I like the Japanese atmosphere here, with the cherry blossoms and the big pine trees.

The cherry blossom season is good, but I also recommend early summer when the green leaves appear.

Classes for the spring semester have started at the university and the place is crowded with many new students.

From now on, I will be busy answering surveys from the Ministry of Education (MONKA-shou) and various other administrative bodies.Really, we are getting a lot of surveys. I hope this can be utilised in the national education policy.

　　　----------Masayuki Kishimoto, Ohtemae Univ, Nishinomiya,. Japan--------

◎Thank you, as always, for your homepage for April with the report about the Cherry Blossom Season. We are well here in Armidale, NSW , Australia, however the colder Autumn Season has arrived.

My wife, Michiko went to Japan recently to meet her sister and her family in Osaka. It was the end of the Cherry Blossom Season.

Unfortunately, her flight to KIX (Kansai International Airport), arrived (due to smetechinical pron=blems in Sydney) at 2amin the morning. She, and some fellow passengers had great trouble getting to Osalka by taxi ......however she arrived safely at her sister's house at 4 am in the morning.

She enjoyed the 3 weeks that she spent in Osaka, Kyoto and Nara at the end of the Cherry Blossom Season. Se was much surprised at the crowds of foreign visitors that she saw everywhere ......

It reminded me of my first travels to Japan in January 1965, just after the Tokyo Olympics and then our second visit in 1969 -70 when the Osaka Expo was held. And this year there is another one in Osaka !!.It will be Brisbane;s turn to host the Olympic Games in 2032.

Please keep well and enjoy the beautiful seasons in Kita-Kobe, Our thoughts and those of your Coffee Club friends are with you both always ......

-----------------Claus & Michiko JEHNE, Armidale, NSW. Australia.--------------

◎Thank you for the update of April Home Page. The cherry blossoms are gorgeous, especially the wild cherry in your garden, which is greatly appreciated by the carp.

I am sending you photos of snow scenes of only a few days ago from my window which I thought you may find interesting, as they are a complete contrast to your nice warm cherry blossom weather. Although our symbol of spring Geese and ducks arrived at 52°north at the end of March, April here has been a mixture of winter, spring, summer. Tomorrow we are expecting snow again and today is just like summer, high 25° C. The weather here is definitely not boring.

I enjoyed 2012 Graduation ceremony on the March Home Page. I remember very well my own graduation day from Fukiai High School. It was 1960! You were a only 31 or 32 years young teacher! Indeed time flies.

Looking forward to May Home Page

---------- Haruyo Konishi Hazelton, Alberta, Canada -----------

◎Thank you for a wonderful and informative January 2025 home page.

You write: "However, the year 2025 has started and we are very worried and anxious because of the continuous conflicts all over the world, in this Year of the Snake …….”
Although one should not wish it,maybe the snake could BITE SOME of our world leaders, to make them sense and to co-operate with one another, to promote peace and well-being among all of our contries in the world.

-----------------Claus & Michiko JEHNE, Armidale, NSW. Australia.--------------

◎Thank you indeed for your December Home Page.

As always it is full of interesting pictures and the news that you ,despite your age, are well and enjoying life and the beautiful nature near where you live.

We too are still enjoying our life in the town of Armidale and the natural environment around out town and beyond.

You may remember that my academic interest related to FOOD and Nutrition, however another interest also had concerned WOOD in particular Eucalyptus (GUM TREES) WOOD for outdoor structures and buildings in JAPAN by the Ecowood Co. located in Shizuoka City over the past 40 years (Please view the video attached.).

Wishing you, your family and Coffee Break friends GOOD HEALTH

and contentment for the year ahead 令和七年　(昭和 100年)

-----------------Claus & Michiko JEHNE, Armidale, NSW. Australia.--------------

◎Hope you are as fit as fiddle in this gentle autumn.

We all respect your ever-lasting momentum to stay young and communicative competence with people of the world. Tamai Ken-san and I play tennis twice a week together with advanced level-players. He is 70 and I am 75. Time is a thief and we cannot believe our eyes, however we appreciate our serendipity at Fukiai High School under the supervision of our famous Principal, Mr. Takeuchi.

Last month, 18 students I was in charge of as their home-room teacher at Fukiai High School (from 1974-1977) got together and had a lunch party in Kobe. They came from all over Japan. They are just 9 years younger than me. In those days I was 26 years old and they were just sweet 17. It was just 48 years ago, and the remains of their high school faces and voices swiftly came back to me and my photographic memories of recognizing their full names and individual faces impressed them all. My long-term memories are still working, albeit my short-term memories are terrible and hopeless.

Time passed so quickly, and it was really like a wink. Before we knew it, everyone went back to his or her high school days. It was exhilaratingly fun to know that my two former female students who were late for the party asked everyone, looking at me from a l

ittle distance, "Who is that guy? Was he one of our classmates? What was his name?" ... There was a brief silence for a little while. Then, our class representative told them with a mysterious grin, "This man was a transfer student from the UK. Don't you remember? Look at his British hat? " He presumably told a white lie, and everyone enjoyed this dramatic irony in the class reunion. Everyone felt "Time is a thief, however it is a great writer, too." We sang "Graduation Photograph" together.

An autumn afternoon with lovely smiles and laughter brightly colored each matured face with treasured reminiscence and gentleness in their high school days.

-------------------Koji Nakamura,Kobe, Japan-----------------------------------------

◎Thank you for the October update. I enjoyed the photos of the early fall in Japan. I especially like the photos of pure white heron and higanbana. They are really beautiful.

Our morning temperature is very chilly (the lowest -4C last week) , but usually in the afternoon it warms up to 15-20 c. I go for a one hour walk almost everyday and enjoy the wide open prairie and a big sky above it. I also enjoy walking through the residential area and look into their garden. Right now most of the houses are displaying Halloween decorations. Instead Japanese Halloween focuses their creative energy on their costumes , ours is still quite a traditional children's fun festival- “trick or treating” by children with scary costumes and garden ornaments of pumpkins and ghosts (or anything spooky ).

The best season is ahead of you. Enjoy!!

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　　　　　--------- Haruyo Konishi Hazelton, Alberta,Canada -----------

◎　I loved reading about Bon Tradition again. We think of you both often. Wonderful memories of you, both in Kobe and greater Seattle.

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--------Donald Lorentz and Family.　Poulsbo, Washington, USA--------------

◎ Thank you f　or yet another Homepage, always full of interesting reports.

Concerning the news from Paris today, I am very pleased to see that Japan is leading the Gold Medal Count, ahead of China and followed by Australia.

A wonderful achievement, even if the Games still have some more days before they end

‘With our best wishes to you, your dear wife and all members of your Home Page Club

your Home Page Club.

-----------------Claus & Michiko JEHNE, Armidale, NSW. Australia.--------------

◎Thank you for the July update.

II really like the photo of the rice field by Rumiko san. I think the beauty is the simplicity of the green .

We are having hotter than normal summer - 35℃ high , but very comfortable as the night temperature goes down to 10℃ and humidity is only 20 %. Unfortunately this hot dry condition is called “fire weather”. Two days ago a huge fire demolished the most popular Rocky Mountain resort town Jasper. My home is about 400 km from Jasper, but I could smell strong smoke and my veranda was covered by ash like light snow.

Despite the news of 700 wildfires and the tornado forecast ( I live right in the tornado alley.) , I am enjoying a peaceful retirement life. My happiness these days is the heavenly view of canola fields from my window. (Canola is the main crop of this area) . I can see thousands of acres of the lemon yellow fields stretched to the horizon, dotted with light brown deer.

-------------------- Haruyo Konishi Hazelton, Alberta, Canada -----------

◎ I loved your new home page especially the flying carp and your own carp in the Garden pool.It is winter here now and cold and frosty in the mornings but nlce And sunny in the afternoon,I now have two gardeners to help me one comes for Two hours and the other just for one hour so my garden is looking much tidier.I Do a little bit and today I am going to a new nursery to buy a rhododendron called Kings cream to celebrate K ings Birthday Weekend .Keep well much love fromJocelyn Christchurch New Zealand ,

--------------------Jocelyn Fifield, Christchurch, New Jealand--------