Japanese Empress is 75

Today is the birthday of the Empress Of Japan.
She’s 75 now.

Last year, I wrote a post about her 74th birthday (and a few other things). Click here to read it.

For her birthday statement this year, she mentioned her sympathy to all who have had hardship due to the poor economy and she also expressed her happiness about U.S. President Obama’s Nobel Prize and his wish for a nuclear-free world.

She always expressed her gratitude to everyone who offered the Royal couple congratulations on their Golden Anniversary (50 years) this year, and the Emperor’s 20th year on the throne.

The Empress Of Japan

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Also, beginning today, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in Japan were able to receive the 新型インフルエンザ (Swine Flu) inoculation.

Next week, young children and pregnant women will be able to receive theirs.

After that, people with chronic disease (such as asthma) will be in line to get the shot.

And finally other people.

The medicine that people in Japan will be receiving to protect themselves against this new flu is “made in Japan“…so it’s supposed to be safer.

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By the way, speaking of 新型インフルエンザ (Swine Flu), did you know that a company in Japan is selling a business suit that looks just like a normal suit businessmen wear to the office…but it’s being promoted as the first suit that “protects the wearer from the Swine Flu”?

Empress Of Japan’s Birthday

Yesterday was the 74th birthday of the Empress of Japan.

As the Emperor and Empress always do on their birthdays, she released a birthday statement.
She said that she’s pleased by the healthy growth of her four grandchildren (ages 2, 6, 13 and 16…the three oldest are girls—which was cause for concern about the future heir to the throne…until Prince Hisahito was born in 2006).

The Empress made special mention of six-year old Princess Aiko starting 小学校 (Elementary School) this year.

She also said she hopes the lives of the survivors of last summer’s big earthquake in 岩手県 (Iwate, Japan) are back to normal soon.

And she offered congratulations to the Japanese who earned Nobel Prizes this year…and well as to the Japanese Olympic athletes who won medals in this year’s Olympics.

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Also in the news, the last living survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic had to auction off her memorabilia so that she could pay her nursing home fees.

She was a newborn baby with her parents and older brother on the Titanic when it sunk. She and her mother and brother were rescued but her father died in the ship’s sinking.

She’s 96 years old now.

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On Sunday, we went to a 健康祭 (Health Festival).

Here’s a video I took at the festival of some older people doing a traditional Japanese dance:

At the park that the festival was at, there were many バラ (roses) in bloom.

There were many ducks in the park’s pond. They must get fed by people often, because they kept rushing over to people.

Here’s a couple videos of them:

This was a very friendly cat that we saw near the park:

I like cats (and dogs too). But probably not as much as this man we saw:

On the way home, we stopped at this 八百屋 (Produce Store):

Next to the 八百屋 (Produce Store) was a small general store.

That’s a Japanese broom next to the door.

And here’s a close-up of a drink 自動販売機 (vending machine)…it sells Coca-Cola® hot and cold tea and coffee, as well as other drinks:

A とんぼ (dragonfly):

On the way home, we stopped by Daiso (you can see another post of mine in which I wrote a bit about Daiso here).

Here’s a short video I took inside Daiso: