Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Respect-for-the-Aged Day

I took a bus yesterday. More than half of passengers are old people. I was surprised.
We have national holidays in this week. Yesterday is Respect-for-the-Aged Day. (敬老の日) We recognized yesterday there are a lot of old people in Japan.

There are some reasons that prolong our life. However I think that the biggest reason is medical treatment progress and we can live longer. In Japan 60 years old is very important age. When people get 60 years old, we celebrate the longevity as Kanreki. (還暦). But now 60 year old in Japan is very young and seventy or eighty years old is not unusual. These people are very powerful and have a lot of energy.

We need respect old people who work hard after the war and contribute to our modern society.

There is some cerebration year for longevity in Japan.
60 year old for Kanreki (還暦)
70 years old for Koki (古希)
77 years old for Kiju (喜寿) 
88 years old for Beiju (米寿)
90 years old for Sotsuju (卒寿)

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

New Prime Minister

New prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama 鳩山由紀夫 , will be most famous person in Japan now. His slogan for the installation is 友愛 (Yuuai). 友愛 means affection for friends.

I wonder he can change our society that has a lot of problems with 友愛. We hope our life become happier.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/16/japan.new.pm/index.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8258024.stm

*Trivia for his name*
Hato in his name means dove. Is he real dove ? I hope...