Feel a storm in the French Open

No. 3 seeded Venus Williams was ousted from the French Open. She was defeated by Agnes Szavay with a 6-0, 6-4 defeat in the third round on Friday. I feel the tournament will get confused.

Ana Ivanovic defeated Iveta Benesova 6-0, 6-2. Maria Sharapova won a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against Yaroslava Shvedova. They advanced in the fourth round. Gook luck, Ana and Maria.

What is on my mind now

There are really a lot of information in the world now.

I like to read books. So I always tend to collect information about know-how when I want to do something. I consider myself to lack of ability to get things done. I think I need strong desires. If I have them, I would get things done more better.

It is important to believe in myself. I believe in myself. I will do my best.

I change layout

I changed layout of this blog. It was the second time. I wanted to do it for a long time. I did it at last. It was easier than I thought.

I'll write stories more!

Go downtown after so long

I went downtown after a long time. I watched a movie and went to a large bookstore. I found some books which I sought. It was lucky.

Business is bad. But the town is the same as before. I have to live in a step-by-step fashion.

Sharapova advances second round of French Open

Maria Sharapova won a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory against Anastasiya Yakimova on Monday at the first round of the French Open.

According to the report, Sharapova's tennis is not yet back to her lofty standards. She will meet eleventh seed Nadia Petrova today. This game will be tough. I believe that Sharapova will win the match.

Dilbert is funny

"Dilbert" is my favourite cartoon. I had read it in The Japan Times before. Now I have read the cartoon on the Internet since it disappeared in The Japan Times.

I read today's "Dilbert" now. I laugh loudly before I know it.

This is "Dilbert" home page. Don't miss it!

By the way, I can laugh when I read "Dilbert." I feel like my English is improving.

California falls into financial collapse?

I was shocked by California's budget crisis. California is the $1.8 trillion economy. How much is the impact on the world economy?

I hate paying more tax. But the financial collapse of autonomous bodies is a serious problem.

I hope the government and autonomous bodies are small and smart government.

French Open begins with Ana's victory

Ana Ivanovic won the first round of the French Open today. She defeated Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (7-3), 6-3. I confirmed her victory in the French Open home page. I worry about her condition. I hope she will do her best at the time.

Maria Sharapova also comes back to the court after injury. It is great. I expect Ivanovic and Sharapova will meet at the semifinal. I'm looking forward to see the match.

Meanwhile I take notice of Roger Federer on the men's side. I expect he will beat Rafael Nadal on the clay court at the final.

Former S. Korean President commits suicide

South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun committed suicide this morning. He jumped to death while hiking in the mountains behind his rural home in southern part of the country. He left a suicide note for his family before going to death.

According to the media, Roh had been worrying about his corruption probe and it seemed to cause his suicide.

When I heard the news, I thought a lot of S. Korean Presidents ended in unhappy. Why does it happen? If I were S. Korean, I never want to be President.

Nesting is a current trend in Japan

Here's an interesting story in today's paper.

A kind of people have been increasing recently in Japan. They chose to forgo travel or even a night out to save money. To economize, they shop online, watch DVDs and eat in. According to the report, market researchers named this trend "sugomori," or nesting. Unlike "staycations" in the United States, Japanese "nesting" is all about staying inside.

According to the report, they want to economize. And they also want to heal themselves. Because of the recession, people feel more stressed out and exhausted.

I think this trend is caused by the economic downturn and the development of IT. My lifestyle is also similar to nesting. The trend seems to be increasing. I think there is a business chance.

Mask disappears in Japan

I was told to wear a mask during work on Tuesday. So I went to drugstores. But mask was sold out. It was also unknown when it will come in.

The media reported mask was out of stock. That was true. The Japanese seem to like mask.

It makes little sense that uninfected person wears a mask. It is foolish.

NTT, Softbank unveil new cellphone

NTT DoCoMo Inc. said Tuesday it plans to sell a cell phone that uses Google Inc.'s Android software to compete with Apple Inc.'s iPhone offered by rival Softbank Corp. Meanwhile Softbank Mobile Corp. unveiled its new summer phone lineup, including a solar model and a handset designed by Giorgio Armani.

I want to buy a new laptop and a new smartphone now. But new products will come out one after another. It is difficult when I buy new one. That's a problem.

New York cheesecake is on the menu

I have a good thing today.

I went to my favorite cafe this afternoon. The menu of cake changed.

I like cheesecake and New York cheesecake is my favorite.

There was rare cheesecake. Now New York cheesecake is on the menu.

I had it immediately. It tasted very good. Fortunately the price of cake was down to 280 yen from 380 yen.

I'm likely to eat too many pieces of cheesecake.

We need more clean energy

Australia plans to build the world's largest solar power station with an output of 1,000 megawatts in a 1.4 billion Australian-dollar ($1 billion) investment, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Sunday.

It is very important to develop eco-friendly energy. We should make more efforts to secure clean energy.

First domestic swine flu case

Schools were shut down Saturday in three Kobe wards and in the nearby city Ashiya after a local high school student was confirmed to be the first domestic case of H1N1 swine flu.

According to the news, the student has no record of overseas travel. It seems that quarantine was meaningless.

I have to take care of myself anyway.

Summer is coming

It got hot these days. It seems summer comes.

The passage of time is so speedy. I have to do things to do now.

Segawa becomes a really pro player

Salaried worker-turned professional shogi player Shoji Segawa 4-dan is promoted to C2 class from free class today.

Segawa became a professional shogi player after passing exceptional professional examination in November 2005. He fulfilled the requirement condition with today's victory.

It is a great achievement. And he paves the way to Meijin.

I think he became a really professional shogi player. He gave a hope and a dream to shogi fans. That's wonderful.

Internet cafe

I went to a nearby Internet cafe on Monday. It was the first time to go there. There were more magazines than I expected. PC in the cafe worked comfortably, too. I want to go there again.

Shogi Meijin title match

The title match of Shogi Meijin championship is being held between Yoshiharu Habu meijin and Masataka Goda 9-dan now.

It is the biggest event in the shogi world. But I have little interest in the match this year.

Shogi is my proud hobby. There is, however, some troubles in the shogi world. They are things what disappoint shogi fans. That's why I'm not able to watch the game with keen interest. Someday, I want to write my opinion about it.

I hope Habu and Goda will do their best anyway.

He lost huge amounts of money

The Osaka District Court on Monday sentenced pop music star and producer Tetsuya Komuro to a suspended three-year prison term for swindling an investor out of 500 million yen in 2006 by attempting to sell copyrights for songs he no longer owned.

He had earned huge amounts of money. But he lost it. It is a surprising thing to me. If I were him I would spend money effectively.

Ozawa resigned DPJ president

Ichiro Ozawa resigned Democratic Party of Japan president.

It was a really surprising news. His press conference was broadcast by all TV stations except NHK educational channel this evening.

The political donation scandal caused his resignation. I think it was prosecutorial misconduct.

What will the upcoming general election be?

Mother's day

Today is Mother's day.

I usually do nothing to my mother on the day. But I've not been a good son for years. So I presented a piece of cake to my mother. She seemed very happy to eat it.

To make living is important

Joblessness and poverty are a more potent source of tension between Muslims and wider European and U.S. society than religious differences, says one of the first major studies of Muslim integration since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

If you have enough to live on, you can be gentle to other people, even a stranger. I think it is very important to make enough money to live on.

I have fine health and a job. I'll work more hard. Thank God.

I want to try Kindle

Amazon's Kindle DX was unveiled on Wednesday.

It has a bigger-than-ever screen and a PDF reader. It seems to be easier to read.

I think paper book will never vanish in the world. But e-book is really convenient if it is easy to read. My reading life will change soon, I suppose.

Golden Week holidays finished

The Golden Week holidays were end. I am going to work from tonight. It is going to be busy.

I have concentrated on reading and writing in English recently. In addition, I have to do other things now.

Today is a newspaper holiday. The Japan Times I have subscribed is no appearance. So I bought International Herald Tribune this afternoon. Because International Herald Tribune is evening daily in Japan and it comes out even newspaper holiday. I enjoyed reading it.

Japanese sleep least, spend free time TV or radio

The average Japanese person sleeps about eight hours every night in a survey of 18 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The French sleeps almost nine hours, the most among 18 countries. The Korean sleeps as well as Japanese, the least in the survey.

According to the report, the Japanese scrimping on sleep and burdened with long commutes and working hours, still manage to spend close to two hours a day eating and drinking, placing them third behind French and New Zealanders. The Japanese like to spend what remains of their scarce free time watching television or listening to the radio. This takes up 47 percent of leisure time in Japan.

In addition to them, Japanese people spend a lot of free time playing games with game machines (ex. Nintendo DS, Wii) and reading comics, I suppose.

I'm not saying that that is bad, but it is something dreary.

Italian Prime Minister's wife seeking divorce

I resolved the matter of my blog identified as a spam blog. I'll post a story as usual.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's second wife, former actress Veronica Lario confirmed she was seeking a divorce because of her husband's flirtations.

I read the story in The Japan Times. I think his wife Veronica Lario is very beautiful. Berlusconi is something unhappy with her, isn't it? I can just say one thing. Berlusconi has a lot of energy.

My blog is a spam blog?!

What's wrong?

I can't save a story in this blog. I can't post a story, too.

I am in trouble. My blog seems to be identified as a potential spam blog.

My blog is a spam blog?! Ha, what a surprise! Please do things properly, Google. According to an e-mail from Google, they use an automated classifier to find spam. The e-mail said automatic spam detection is inherently fuzzy, and occasionally a blog like mine is flagged incorrectly.

But this is a good experience, isn't it? There are a lot of things happen in the world.

There are people prepared for the swine flu outbreak

Major supermarkets have noted a sharp increase in gargling solution and mask sales according to reports. Consumers are also starting to store instant noodles, mineral water and other provisions in case an outbreak spurs the government to ask people to stay at home.

The swine flu virus seems to be less deadly than normal flu according to a story in yesterday's newspaper. I think so because the swine flu have been serious only in Mexico until now. I don't worry about it.

Japan's automobile sales fell to lowest monthly level

Japanese domestic sales of new motor vehicles dropped 28.6 percent in April from a year earlier to 166,365 units, the lowest monthly level on record as auto demand continues to plunge, an industry body said Friday.

I have taken my car for almost eleven years. I have never been in trouble. If you drive automobile normally, it hardly goes wrong. I don't think I need to buy a new car once several years. Sorry, Toyota.

Chrysler files for bankruptcy

US President Barack Obama said the nation's third-largest automaker, Chrysler, will file for bankruptcy on Thursday.

I had been listening Bloomberg radio on the Internet last night. Then I knew the news. And I watched Obama's statement on Bloomberg live streaming. The advancement of information society is really amazing.

There are so many information now. I think it is important to select right information.

By the way, Japan's Prime Minister seems to remark on his policy to people directly less than US President. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I hope Japanese politics will change it.