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◎As always, thank you very much for your June 2025 Homepage. We have enjoyed the beautiful Autumn seasons in Japan during a number of years ..... and hope to come once again to enjoy them .... Here we are heading towards a rather cold winter season ......
.◎We are all well, with no problems or negative issues. Doug and Sukanya are in Tokyo now but return to the Seattle area in a week Daughter Kristin, husband Kyle and granddaughter Annika are visiting friends and relatives in Sweden and Norway. Linda and I are taking care of the garden in Poulsbo. All the best to you and Rumi. ◎ I have been impressed with your fantastic photos and deep contents which are beautifully edited in your English home pages. You are a professional photographer and good writer as a man of versatile, supported by your graceful wife. I also enjoyed reading positive messages from your close friends all over the world which makes me very proud of you and your wife. You both are role models of our generation. I hear it has been very hot and humid in Kobe in this horrendous rainy season. My wife and I have been fortunate enough to enjoy the blessing of the gentle breeze in Malvern, the country of Worcestershire in June. I have stayed at a self-catering flat in the Victorian old house in Abbey Road to work on the sequel of my English novels published in London. My wife is also writing Victorian water cure in Malvern through the eyes of Edward Bulwer Lytton who established “copyright” as a journalist, dramatist and politician. Our books are in Malvern Library, albeit she has been more popular here as a Japanese researcher of Victorian Malvern water and intellectuals who came here for water cure, such as Charles Dikens, Darwin, and Nightingale. I was very encouraged when we found my novels (Dreams of Serendipity 2018, 2019 and The Journey to Serendipity 2021) in the Humanity Corner of BL (British Library ) in London last week. It has been exhilarating pleasure to know that my English novels are open for the public and some British citizens are reading them. It is quite funny to know that some of my English novels have been listed and viewed in the corner of foreign novelists in Kobe City Central Library and Tarumi Library, which made me smile. Due to global warming, even the UK has been warmer than usual, and it is said the four seasons are getting less distinctive here in the UK. We were invited to Knebworth Castle by Lord Henry Lytton again as he is very interested in my wife's book and her research on his great great grandfather. His garden is 28 acres, and he showed us all the rooms where Edward Bulwer Lytton used to study in the huge Knebworth House. We had a convivial conversation, and we found a trinkle in his gentle eyes whenever he talked about my wife’s research. His grandmother was a girl friend of Winston Churchill before WWII and his grandfather was president of Bank of England We respect you both and we are very proud of you as my professional mentor when I was young. Ken and I used to work under the surpassed supervision of Principal Takeuchi. Ken Tamai, Professor, Emeritus, Kobe University of Foreign Studies (Graduate School) are excellent tennis player and artist now. My wife and I appreciate his artistic talent such as water paintings, potteries, calligraphy and tea ceremony. We sometimes play tennis together, however, I have been defeated by him and it is fun to play tennis at the age of 75 and 71. Alas! Time is really a thief! Before we know it, we have already become 70s and you will be nearly 100 years, however, what makes us relieved is that time is also a great writer to witness what we used to be, what we are and what we will be. Thank you again for being Takeuchi-sensei. We can live on, keeping our head up and looking ahead with our shared and treasured memories with you from the 1970s and 1980s. Please take care and stay young as our eternal role model with your lovely wife. Attached are with Lord Henry Lytton in his garden, Kenworth Castle,
Multiple hydrangeas in my little garden in Kobe.
Here at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, spring and summer have come suddenly and at the same time, as soon as snow and ice disappeared in late April. I enjoy everyday watching farm machines sow canola and barley seeds. I am sending you the photos of my regular walking trail in May. The dandelion fields are breathtaking.. The neighborhood gardens are abundant with many flowers tulips, daffodils, apples.... but Lilacs are the most popular flowers here known for their large clusters of blooms.
◎ On my wall at home there is a Calendar ( Heisei 5 nen, Reiwa 7 nen, Heisei 37 nen and Showa 100 nen). that a good friend from Shizuoka sends to me every year. The calendar, each month, mention Health Topic.... this month it is "Kokoro no Kenkou". long life and achievements ......... your anniversary must also be soon, having been born in Showa ichi nen. Please stay healthy and enjoy every day. We and many other people all over the world are thinking of you ........ 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. ◎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. -----------------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 ----------- 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.-------------- 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. 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.
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!!   --------- 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. - ◎ 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 -----------
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At the beginng of June, we visited Sasayama, Tak's home town, to see the rural landscape of the season. Rice planting has almost finished and we saw the rice seedling swaying in breeze. We can see the scenery of the paddy field reflecting the sky and the montains only at this season.
During the rainy season we see a lot of snail in the walking trail which
we call.the sail trail.
At the beginning of June, we walked along the walking trail and found some
snails on the leaves of the grass of shrubbery.They were very cute and
Rumi put some of them on her palm .After Tak took
the photos she retuned them to the leaves
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