Today (2014 July 20th) is the forty-fifth anniversary of the first moon landing in 1969 by American astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin.
Click here to read a Huffington Post article about this anniversary and to see a video of the Apollo 11 rocket that carried the first men to the moon.
Have you heard the news about 古川聡さん (Satoshi Furukawa)?
He was born in Yokohama and graduated from the prestigious 「東京大学」 (University of Tokyo) with a medical degree in in 1989 (at the age of 25).
From 1989 until 1999, he worked as a 外科医 (surgeon) in various hospitals around Tokyo.
Then, in 1999 (at the age of 35), he was accepted by the Japanese Space Agency for astronaut training for the potential chance to work at the International Space Station.
Ten years ago, in 2001, Dr. Furukawa successfully completed his training and was certified as an 宇宙飛行士 (astronaut).
Dr. Satoshi Furukawa, surgeon / astronaut
Since becoming certified as an astronaut, Dr. Furukawa has spent the past ten years working for Japan’s Space Agency and he completed training at Russia’s cosmonaut training center and also at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas.
Well, two days ago (2011 June 7), at the age of 47, Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa finally saw his dream to work on the International Space Station come true.
Dr. Furukawa of Japan, Sergey Volkov of Russia, and Michael Fossum were onboard a Russian rocket that launched on June 7 from Russia and will dock at the International Space Station sometime today (2011 June 9).
The three astronauts (cosmonaut) are scheduled to work on the space station until sometime in 2011 November and then they’ll return home.
Patch for the current ISS mission of astronauts Furukawa, Fossum and Volkov
Four news stories that I saw on the TV news today:
① The Space Shuttle Discovery launched today for a 13-day mission. On board is the first astronaut that is also a Japanese mother…39 year old Naoko Yamazaki.
Naoko Yamazaki
She began her astronaut training in Japan ten years ago, but had to relocate to America in 2004 to continue her training. Her husband gave up his career in Japan when they moved to America so he could stay at home and raise their daughter.
② Yesterday afternoon in Saga, Japan, a group of young children were playing near a concrete barrier at the ocean’s edge, when suddenly a four-year old boy fell into the water.
Without hesitation, his ten-year old older brother jumped into the water to save him.
Both boys were unconscious when they were pulled from the water by rescue workers.
The younger boy recovered but his older brother who tried to save him died at the hospital.
③ In Chiba, Japan yesterday, some cruel person removed the antlers of an eight year old goat at a farm.
The goat was found bleeding profusely from his head wounds and was shaking violently.
The farmer took him to a veterinarian who bandaged the animal’s head. But the poor goat is still shaking and is now terrified of people.
④ But some people can be nice to animals.
A sixteen-year old high school girl in Yamaguchi, Japan found a dog that had been hit by a car and left bleeding in the street.
She took the dog to an animal shelter. The doctors at the shelter helped the dog, but they told the girl that if the dog’s owner doesn’t claim it within two weeks, it would have to be put to sleep.
The girl had her friends help her make fliers to find the dog’s owner and she sent photos of the dog to everyone she knew via email and had them forward the email because she didn’t want to see the dog she just helped save be put to death.
Her hard work paid off. The owner of the dog saw one of her fliers and recognized her dog, “Ai-chan”. The owner said she had been searching frantically since her dog went missing.
The dog was rescued by her owner just in time. She was collected from the shelter on March 13…one day before she was scheduled to be put to sleep.
The girl (second from left) that found the dog and her friends showing the fliers they made.
As I’ve mentioned before, I was born in 1969.
◆ 1969 was the year that Led Zeppelin released their debut album…
Led Zeppelin I
This album is forty years old now. The members of Led Zeppelin who are still alive, have become old…but this album is still excellent.
If you don’t own a copy, you should buy one.
◆ Also, on 1969 July 20, the first astronaut landed on the moon (I wrote a post about it…click here).
I wasn’t born until November 1969, but I’m sure that this was a momentous event for those that witnessed it.
◆ August 9th was the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan…
but it was also the 40th anniversary of the 1969 August 9 grisly murders of Sharon Tate and others by the notorious “Charles Manson Family” in California.
Charles Manson in custody.
The late sixties changed America in many ways and took away it’s “innocence”.
The Vietnam War, hippies, drugs, Woodstock…and the Charles Manson trial.
I heard that many Americans only began locking their house at night after the murders by the Manson Family. Even the judge in the trial began carrying a gun under his robe after Manson tried to stab him with a pencil in court. (The court officers intercepted him before he reached the judge and they escorted him out of the court room…as they did, Manson yelled to the judge: “In the name of Christian justice, someone should chop off your head!”)
Once Charles Manson showed up in court with an “X” carved into his forehead, and the next day his “Family” had matching “X”‘s in their foreheads. (Years later, Manson carved more into the “X” and turned it into a swastika).
Also, tomorrow, a member of the “Manson Family” who went to prison in 1975 for an assassination attempt on then-US President Richard Nixon will be released from prison.
Her name is Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, and she is the only member of the Manson Family who is still loyal to Charles Manson. And she’s getting out of prison tomorrow (2009 August 16) after serving 34 years of a life-sentence.
◆ Today is the 64th anniversary of VJ Day…
but today’s also the 40th anniversary of the first day of “Woodstock“, the three-day rock / folk music festival in New York that went from 1969 August 15th to 17th.
3-day ticket for Woodstock Festival, 1969 August 15-17
A three-day outdoor concert in the mud and rain with little food and water…I don’t think it sounds enjoyable. Maybe I’m just not the right generation to understand the appeal of Woodstock.
Forty years ago this summer America went through alot of changes.
As I mentioned in the previous post, today is my oldest daughter’s sixteenth birthday.
On the day she was born in 1993, the TV news here in Japan showed two Japanese twins who had become famous a year earlier because the both turned 100 years old.
The day my first baby was born these twins turned 101.
Their names were 「成田きん」 (Kin Narita) and 「蟹江ぎん」 (Gin Kanie). After they became famous all over Japan, they often did TV commercials in the early – mid ’90s.
As a term of affection, they were called 「キンさん、ギンさん」 (“Kin-san, Gin-san“).
「キンさん、ギンさん」 (“Kin-san, Gin-san“) were born on 1892 August 1 and lived to be 107 and 108 years old, respectively.
「キンさん、ギンさん」 ("Kin-san, Gin-san"). (Their names mean "Gold" and "Silver")
I knew since the day my oldest daughter was born that 「キンさん、ギンさん」 (“Kin-san, Gin-san“) shared a birthday with her.
But I found out today that the Japanese astronaut, 若田光一 (Koichi Wakata), who just came back to Earth from a mission with the Space Shuttle Endeavour also has the same birthday as my daughter.
He was born on 1963 August 1.
So he returned from his mission in space just in time to celebrate his birthday on Earth. The first thing he did was eat 寿司 (sushi).
Tokyo Five 
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