Renovation and Danshari We are planning to renovate our place. Today a person in charge and carpenters came to visit us for a preliminary inspection. They were checking the structure of the wall, floor, ceiling, windows, electric facilities. Accordingly, we should try hard on reducing and discarding things before the renovation starts. Danshari is not at all easy for me. Danshari means not buying unnecessary things, and throwing away things you don't need. I know I should just throw away unnecessary things, but I still have difficulties to decide what to keep and what to discard. Anyway, this renovation gives us good opportunities and urge us to get started.

Learning on MOOC Have you taken courses on MOOCs? MOOC is Massive Open Online Course. I have taken some of the courses on some platforms like FutureLearn, edX and Coursera. My favorite platform is FutureLearn because it has varieties of courses on Shakespeare. It is fantastic to hear lectures by internationally well-known researchers at famous universities all over the world by just opening my PC, sitting comfortably at home. And they are all free! Although it is not at all easy to understand the lectures thoroughly for me, they give me much enjoyment. Getting new knowledge is always just fun!

Today's Journal 19/02/12 When I was writing some posts on Facebook, I got a message from a Canadian gentleman. He told me that he saw a Japanese movie at the Film Festival in Victoria. The film is "Asako 1 & 2". I checked a Japanese official site and found its Japanese title is "netemosametemo" in which Masahiro Higashide plays a dual role. Looks interesting. Then we talked online for a while. He said that they had heavy snow in Victoria, which is quite unusual.

Today's Journal I went to an ophthalmologist clinic as a regular checkup. Today I had visual field test. The score was 90 out of 100, which is a bit under average according to the doctor. I have a slight glaucoma, so I have to put eye drops everyday.

looking for richard Today I watched a DVD, "looking for richard" directed by Al Pacino. This is the second or third time for me to watch this film. I have been reading "King Richard the Third" in the original language with a reading group for more than a year and we will have finished reading it by next month. So this time I enjoyed this film much more than previous time. The interviews by Al Pacino, asking people on the street about Shakespeare are interesting. So I talked about this film and Shakespeare with today's online teacher. It was so intriguing.

The Movies I Saw This Month This month I saw three movies. One is “Lovers on Borders 「ポルトの恋人　時の記憶」”. The three actors play two roles in different two world; the world in Portugal in 18th century and the world in Japan in 21st century. They take different roles in those two different worlds, but the story goes somewhat in a similar way. In both worlds a couple in love are forced to be separated and a man lost his life. A woman gets revenge on the person for the lover, but the way she takes to achieve her aim is rather sad and cruel. The actors are Ana Moreira, Emoto Tasuku and Nakano Yuta. Their performances are outstanding. There was an after talk by the Director of the film, Atsushi Funahashi. I had met him several years before and was glad to see him again. The other movies were “A Star is Born” and “Victoria and Abdul” I enjoyed all of those films. I saw “A Star is Born” in 1976 version and, to be honest, I prefer this former version.

Today's Journal 0130 Since I have a slight backache today, I stayed home all day. It is not so bad, just to take care. I wrote some posts to SNS and on my blogs. My daughter and my grandson came to have dinner with us. My grandson fell and got hurt at school yesterday. Luckily, it was not too bad to our great relief. It seems that some kids were acting playfully and bumped into him. I had a chat with an online teacher. I showed some pictures of our performance to him. I need to improve my English to explain better in English.

Today's Journal Today I spoke and listened to English a lot. First, I talked with a gentleman on skype in the early afternoon. I met this gentleman while I was staying in Victoria, Canada a few years ago. We performed “Twelfth Night” at International Fringe Festival then. I met him at a club and have kept in touch through Facebook. He saw my post in Facebook, saying I restarted taking online lessons, and offered me to talk. I was so glad to know he has been recovering from sickness and getting better. After talking with him, I went out to watch a movie “Victoria and Abdule”. I adore Judy Dench. She is so cute and charming! http://www.victoria-abdul.jp/ Coming home, had a chat with online teacher. Happy and lucky to find another favorite teacher to talk with. She is a Serbian and she speaks very good English because she lived in the States for 23years. She seemed interested in theatre, so I shared my experience in Edinburgh, even shared some of the pictures I had posted in my blog. Hope to talk with her again.

I'm back again! Again, I've not come here over a year, I'm afraid. For this while I expearience a lot to share with you. Last summer I went to Edinburgh in Scotland and performed at the International Theatre Fringe, which was of course, very exciting. Anyway, I want to improve my English, so I'll come here more often from now. Today I attended the Reading Club of Shakespeare. We have been reading “King Richard the Third” for over a year and come to the end of the play. Today we read Act 5 Scene 3. Though it’s so hard to prepare for the meeting, it is quite instructive and also enjoyable to discuss what we read at the meeting. The language in Shakespeare’s plays is difficult but so beautiful. I realize that Shakespeare’s works are to be heard, not to be read. When we read his words aloud, we know how beautiful and powerful they are.