article, a or the? Suppose that I'm asked about what I do on weekends. My answer would be: - I like to go to THE theater to watch A movie. - I like to go to THE park to watch kids and dogs playing. - I like to play THE guitar. Are these THE/A choice correct or wrong? And why is so?

People writing songs that voices never share In your town, do someone play music on street? In my town, it is not difficult to find such a person. Today I came across an old man playing the violin. It was at our city hall. The city hall consists of a tall tower and a courtyard. The man was standing at a corner of the yard, playing a sad music. It took me a while to remember what the music was, but it was The Sound of Silence. Maybe because of the masonry buildings surrounding the yard or because of his violin skill, the sound echoed so sadly yet beautifully and gently. This might sound strange, but I felt I was healed by listening to the sad violin melody. I stood there until the music ended and left the city hall while the man was preparing the next song.

さんま Have you heard of さんま？ I'm not talking about fish (秋刀魚) but a famous Japanese comedian (明石家さんま). Although not all Japanese people like him, he is very popular in Japan across generations. He is very talkative, extremely positive, and funny (I think). One famous phrase by him is 生きてるだけでまるもうけ。I like this phrase. When I feel down, I say this phrase to myself to try to be positive, (and of course I want to do the same for anyone else in his/her difficult time). It is said that even he named his daughter by picking letters from the phrase (いまる). If you visit Japan and have a chance to turn on a TV, you may spot him. Now I cannot do it, living in a foreign country. But surprisingly the weather is nice today in my city. So I'm simply going out to see how the color of autumn leaves are.

三条院 心にも　あらでうき世に　ながらへば　恋しかるべき　夜半の月かな

古今和歌集 夕暮れは雲のはたてに物ぞ思ふ あまつそらなる人を恋ふとて

theft I heard some people had their wallets stolen today near my office. It may be just a coincidence, but I also got my shabby bike stolen today . My U-lock was opened and left on the ground. I may not have locked my bike properly, but I won't leave a bike outside my office building no matter how shabby it is...

Christmas holiday In many western countries, people stay with their family for Christmas holiday. Japan has a bit different custom. Especially for unmarried people, 24th or 25th of December is the special day for couples. They may exchange presents or have special dinner at upscale restaurants. I wonder when and how this strange and unique tradition started. According to Wikipedia, it seems that people had such a custom back in 1931! It was surprising since I thought it started after the world war II.

potluck party I went to a friend's potluck party last Saturday. I made tamari sushi (てまりすし、手鞠寿司). It's ball-shape sushi and very easy to make with plastic wrap. First, cooked rice (3 go[合], 180ml / go[合]) is mixed with the rice vinegar (0.2-0.25 US cups) to which sugar (60g) and salt (15g) are disolved beforehand. This should be done when the rice is still hot. While vinegar mixed rice is cooled down, I cut smoke salmon and ripe avocados to small pieces. Then a small piece of salmon, avocado, and a small amount of rice are piled up on plastic wrap. Finally you can press those things into a ball shape over the wrap. It's quite easy and (I think) tasty.

Watching a movie at a theater I like to watch a movie at a theater. A nice thing to live in the U.S. is that the price of a movie ticket is cheeper than in Japan. After going to a theater several times, I noticed one thing. Audience is much more active here. On one occation, an old lady sang a song along with the melody played in the movie. People sometimes talk to or encourage the movie characters. This may happen only in my neighborhood, but this never happened in Japan. I feel I see an aspect of the cultural differences between the two countries.