December 31, 1997
It's the last day of 1997.
As is usual, newspapers have selected 10 most important national stories.
The Japan Times listed the followings.
1. Financial crisis: A rash of bankruptcies among financial institutions.
2. Kobe slaying: A teenager convicted of slaying an 11-year-old boy.
3. New defense guidelines:
4. Government streamlining: Reorganization of the national government.
5.' Sokaiya' scandal: Big brokerages and a bank paying off a Sokaiya.
6. Brain death: A law authorizing organ transplants passed.
7. Elder care: Plans for a mandatory insurance system drawn up.
8. Nuclear error: Japan's worst-ever nuclear accident occured.
9. Oil spil: A Russian tanker spilling thousands of tons of oil.
10. Expats in North Korea: Japanese women in North Korea allowed to
return to their homeland for a brief visit.
January 1st, 1998
I had some problem editing the file where I wrote my diary before December 28, 1997. So, I made another file where I start may diary from December 31, 1997.
As usual in every year, I watched the National Broadcasting Company's (NHK) music program broadcasted on the New Year's Eve in which a male team of popular singers competed with a female team. (Look at this.) The male team won the competition. The program started just after the Second World War ended which encouraged Japanese people who had forced to endure destitution. In a sense, the program ended its role.
January 2nd, 1998
Many kinds of books on 'Articles (the, a, an, non-article) are available at bookstores. They tell us about something about: 'the' should be used before nouns which were mentioned before, or non-article should be used before some bridges, and so forth. These rules can be learned by heart if you read such books over and over again; however, I feel that there is some barrier that prevent us, non-Engilish natives from truely understanding the use of articles and those secrets are not mentioned in the books. It is underestandable that natives use articles like they breathe in and out. There was a Japanese who started his work on 'articles' in his college year and continued it up until he died at the age of 75 in 1992, without completing his life work of the article rule book. He collected many examples of the use of 'articles' and wrote a handbook, but no rule mentioned. He wanted to establish rules, though. I wonder if anyone of you happens to know books which tell 'the secret'.
January 3rd, 1998
When I was visiting The University of Texas at Austin to do some research as a research associate, my friend took me to a barbecue restaurant. You could go to the restaurant with a tie, but once you enter the restaurant, they'll cut the tie with a pair of scissors. I saw many pieces of ties hanging on the wall. Funny?
This means that when you eat, your tie never get stained.
January 4, 1998
Nothing new today. I'm editing at COM CITY, a computer store.
January 6, 1998
Had a meeting in Tokyo. Left Hiroshima for Tokyo very early in the morning and arrived at Haneda Airport at 9:00 a.m. The meeting ended before noon. As I had a free time in the afternoon, I went to Akihabara Electric town where I bought a ECC366-series 32MB-memory for my computer.
Back to Hiroshima at 8:40 p.m.
January 7, 1998
This is the first day in my office this year. As I mentioned in my diary on Jan. 2nd, 1998, I plan to provide interesting topics on 'articles' from time to time. I need to organize them where to start first. One way is to introduce you to the article books I read.
January 8, 1998
The man I mentioned on January 2, 1998 is Mr. Yoshiaki Kanaguchi. The book is "A Handbook of English Article Usage (in Janapese)" published by The Taishukan publishing Co., Ltd. in 1970.
One example listed on p. 187 in the book:
(1) He shivered with cold. (寒さで)
(2) He is shivering with the cold. (寒くて) ?
January 9, 1998
Another example on p.210:
(1) I'm sensitive to heat. (暑さには）
(2) I'm sensitive to the heat. （この暑さ）
（相手も感じている？）
Have you visited the Babcock Home Page? How about the English writing? Must be revised?
I try to provide information everyday.
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