English Diary 2026

☆

March 12

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. This morning my listening training was relatively easy, so I was able to finish two passages in it. That was encouraging. 

I still have a long way to go, but if I keep moving forward and rotating through review again and again, I hope to move on to the next Eiken Grade 1 listening book. Perseverance is indispensable when mastering a foreign language. 

I once jogged about 15,000 kilometers over five years in Aizuwakamatsu. I still jog every morning for about thirty minutes. It sharpens my mind, helps me stay youthful, and gives me excellent mental well-being. 

Regular exercise has a salutary effect on both the body and the mind. 

This book's chapter 4 contains the Part 3 speech passages of the Eiken Grade 1 listening test. Since they are speeches, the language feels slightly easier because it resembles conversation. 

The previous section used somewhat more formal wording. For me, Part 2 is still the most formidable part.

At the beginning of February, I listened to the same sentences for several days. It feels nostalgic now.

I watched the media coverage of evacuees on this year’s March 11, and I only saw two stories about evacuees demolishing their homes. I’m sure there must be many other kinds of stories, though.

I'm interested in Theoria of English Grammar and Thinking Grammar. Though I've been working through Practice Royal English Grammar for two years page by page, and once if I finish it, they will probably be very appealing. 

Only a handful of people succeed while they are still young. That is why, if you rush, your efforts often end up spinning your wheels. 

Yet if you do nothing, you will spend much of your time in idleness. The real question is how you will construe that idleness later in life. 

By the time you no longer even have the leisure to ponder it, that is when the start quietly arrives. ("The beginning comes almost unnoticed" is alternative. )

I am already middle aged, and I do not feel the need for a multitude of friends. I already have many, and some of them remain my friends even if we do not meet for years.

No matter how much money I might have, I doubt I would ever drive a luxury car. I do like cars, but I rarely drive anyway. Most of the time I am either at home studying English, or on an airplane going somewhere.

After all, paying ten million yen just to drive a car is simply too expensive. There are countless other ways the money could be used.

Even when the materials and the structure are the same, something is labeled “luxury” simply because it is rare. Yet people may be so captivated by the intricate design and the limited numbers that they forget the fact that the structure and materials are essentially the same.

Take the latest A**i models, for instance. They look almost futuristic, and I have scarcely seen anything like them in Japan. But if I were to ride in one, nothing much would change, I would simply be reading a book as usual.

Of course, even if one passes the Eiken Grade 1 exam, there still remains an interminable road before reaching a truly native speaker level.

Nevertheless, once you pass it, you are generally regarded as one of the top level English speakers in Japan. That endorsement matters. It is necessary.

Perseverance conquers all things. 

At this point in my life, I see only two possibilities: either to drift along with English indefinitely, or to persevere with a drastic and sustained effort.

Sometimes it happens. There are moments when I can read with the speed of skimming while still understanding the text precisely.

The acceleration has only started slightly, so I’m still in the middle stage of this careful examination. When the real acceleration comes, that will be the final stage.

First of all, learners of English need to study proper English. After that, they can loosen or adapt their expressions as necessary. If they rely only on informal or broken forms from the beginning, their progress will eventually reach a plateau.

Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.

March 11

Yesterday what a small earthquake happened reminded us today's memories in those days. I felt things happened sincerely, praying for the world. 

This morning’s listening training finished one full round of the Part 2 questions on an Eiken book by Obunsha, and I moved on to the Part 3 section. 

These are the kinds of passages where a bank clerk or a salesperson gives an explanatory speech. 

The difficult parts were the opening of the speech, words like “allow,” and function words such as “there” or “at” at the beginning of sentences. 

In other words, that was basically all. 

"Virtuoso." 

The word appears in my vocabulary book, and it reminded me of the film Green Book. 

This morning I played the movie again and enjoyed its atmosphere. Don Shirley’s piano performance is magnificent. 

My admiration for Italy has never faded since the days when I studied Rome. 

Although I only studied Latin and Italian at a beginner’s level, my passion for languages never disappears. 

Thinking of this, I devote myself to English again this morning. 

I tell myself that unless I become truly proficient in English within this year, I should not yet allow myself to pursue other languages.

The bank is closed for lunch right now, so I’m waiting while listening to some English. Something happened in my life around 2023, so I wasn't able to work on it during that period. Even so, I would read about the life of Aristotle in English, simply as a way to relax my mind.

Perhaps everyone in this world is simply walking their own path. In the empty parking lot of a bank, I listen to English. At one of the two convenience stores in this town, the only ones that are busy every day, some men wearing what looked like baseball uniforms, perhaps on holiday, were slurping cup noodles inside their cars.

March 11. At that time, we believed we would never be able to return. From that perspective, this memorial day called "3/11" is simply a future fifteen years ahead of those days. 

What has become of Japan? Perhaps things have improved a little. Let us believe so. 

After all, anything that is truly right takes a great deal of time.

So that one day, in the next world, we may tell those who passed away what happened afterward.

Praying in the disaster-stricken region on the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake… 

I happened to be cooking just now, so perhaps my mother briefly dropped by from heaven and said, "Not bad." They say that when you finally wish to show filial devotion, your parents are already gone.

Today's close reading passage was quite challenging. Well, basically, both TIME articles and past exam questions tend to be formidable.

After all, for example, it is difficult to read smoothly a sentence like: "Veblen saw such displays as the manifestation of an innate desire that prompt us to outdo those with whom we are in the habit of classifying ourselves."

All things are difficult before they are easy. 

"About five years ago, while we were driving through Fukushima in my Toyota, Toshihiko Yahagi told me about Pierrot le Fou. Influenced by that moment, I of course came to own his novels as well as works like the Nikkatsu noir series and AGAIN." Posted on July 8, 2020

My French is still stuck at the beginner level, almost embarrassingly so. Even now, the only things I can say are 'Why is it so hot?' and 'There is a cat at the doorway.' When I once demonstrated these lines to a handsome French poet at Oma between the sun and the sea, we ended up drinking heavily while he went on at length about how gold had supposedly been brought by extraterrestrials.

Fifteen years on, even the memory of the disaster has become fodder for the attention economy. Time reveals all things. 

This is a piece written by Chie Ito, an editor of our magazine, Weltgeist Fukushima. Chie kindly wrote a recommendation for a book that I edited as editor-in-chief. Since the book is filled with the writings of many different people, I feel especially happy about it. 

https://ameblo.jp/komugidaisuki/entry-12658252698.html

I happened to find my own name listed near that of Shuichi Kito Prof. if Tokyo University and Seisa University, once Rockefeller. It is probably related to a trip I took to Okinawa long ago. Glad to see that. 

On rereading it, I found the style remarkably lucid and easy to read. It has depth without any affectation, true journalism. I, Kuniyoshi Yoshida, also appear briefly in the latter part; in a way, I was something like a Mutsuemon-like figure standing there.

The word 'Mutsuemon' is actually a term I coined myself. By it I mean a person who watches over and protects the region of Mutsu.

Title: 2016 — In a Place That Will Be Forgotten, They Had Already Been Forgotten (Part I) Written by: Eri Oka

https://thisismytradingreport.blogspot.com/2016/02/blog-post.html

I love the sound of the piano. Its resonance evokes a sense of elegance and serenity.

My mischievous virtuoso cat is dashing around the house, stirring everything up. It is delightful. I am watching "Green Book" while enjoying the lively commotion.

Sometimes in the evening, my cat suddenly dashes onto my diary that I have left open and crumples the pages. I can’t help but find the moment irresistibly amusing.

I think university students probably do not have as much time to read books as people imagine.

I sometimes feel that having fewer followers on social media is actually cooler.

Every single day, like the taiyaki in the song 'Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun,' I’m being grilled on the Eiken exam. But once I’ve been grilled enough, I’ll turn out delicious.

March 10

Cleaning the stove makes me feel good. Cleanliness is truly a kind of virtue. It even makes me want to keep my language clean as well. I reduce unnecessary things and feel grateful for the present moment.

I truly love soba. It is light, refreshing, and free from any sense of attachment. It is wonderful. I would like to do work that feels like this.

Personally, I feel that reading aloud and shadowing do not, by themselves, make one suddenly proficient in English. They are not indispensable; 

they are simply nice to have. Since there are many other things that deserve priority, I have not been doing them recently. I simply do not have the time.

In reality, study methods do not seem to be entirely free. Depending on a person’s situation, there are often methods that are much more suitable or appropriate.

March 9

When English sentences become more advanced, the American pronunciation known as the alveolar flap /ɾ/ can be particularly difficult to catch. Even in simple phrases like "look at," the intonation of American speakers sometimes makes it unexpectedly hard to hear. Still, it seems that the meaning can often be inferred from the context.

First things first.

In language learning, there is often a stage called a plateau. For a long time, progress feels slow and almost invisible. However, during this period the brain is accumulating patterns of vocabulary, syntax, and meaning.

Eventually these elements begin to connect with each other. When that happens, comprehension suddenly becomes easier. Sentences that once seemed complicated can be processed much more quickly, and unfamiliar words can often be inferred from context.

This sudden improvement is not magic but the result of accumulated exposure and repeated practice.

At first it was extremely tough. I studied for hours every day as if smoke of wisdom were rising from my head while I struggled to understand the texts.

No pain, no gain.

From today, I will reduce the number of English compositions I post on X. Instead, I will record everything on Google Blogger and post only representative pieces or summaries on X. 

If there are too many posts, people cannot read them all, and it becomes meaningless. I have already posted a large number of compositions, so I think people understand that I am seriously studying English.

If it is difficult to read my posts on Google Blogger without Japanese translations, please feel free to use an online translation tool. Thank you very much for reading.

I skimmed through Good Housekeeping. In order to understand the shape of happiness in postwar American households, magazines like this—similar to those published by Condé Nast—are indispensable sources. Most of the products featured in it are things that Japanese people also own, but more than half of the dishes are not commonly prepared in Japan. Compared with TIME or The Economist, the amount of text is extremely small. 

I signed a contract with Rakuten Mobile and got a router. The device itself cost only one yen, which is incredibly cheap. Now I have unlimited internet access, but since I have already learned how to prevent myself from becoming addicted to the internet, I think it is safe for me to make this contract. This service also feels more reliable than Charge Wi-Fi, so I can use it with greater peace of mind. Besides, I would sometimes like to watch movies on a television screen.

A change is as good as a rest.

Today my work consisted of only one thing: replying to a simple email. It was an extremely easy job. As  you know. Of course, I will increase my workload in the future. 

Perhaps it is just my imagination, but when I look at X, it seems that English learners are the very people who most strongly desire to share information in Japanese. 

It almost makes me wonder whether, for many people, English exists mainly as something to be learned and taught through Japanese.

This resembles the structural contrast between translation dependent learning and immersion based learning. 

In other words, Japanese students who study at places like Oxford University are rarely seen on social media. 

Or it is somewhat similar to studying abroad but spending the entire period mainly with other Japanese students. 

Nevertheless, both approaches probably have their own advantages and disadvantages.

When gasoline prices surge, logistics and manufacturing costs rise, which in turn drives up the overall cost of goods. It is something we should be careful about. Forewarned is forearmed.

In fact, fertilizer prices for rice farming had already doubled long ago, so the recent surge in rice prices almost came too late. Rice farmers have already been declining in number.

One of the strengths of the Eiken Grade 1 reading section is that it presents long passages, questions, and answer choices, all of which are highly abstract, so it really forces you to think deeply.

I read English grammar books because they are interesting. It’s fascinating to learn the range of expressions and how the language works. Of course, extensive reading also helps you learn grammar.

But I’ve already gone through two thick grammar books once, so now I just review them by reading only two to four pages a day. If I have more time in the future, I’d like to read many other grammar books as well.

I have done some of what is often called "comprehensible extensive input," so I understand its effectiveness quite well. I believe there is a substantial difference between learners who have engaged in it and those who have not. 

For people who have never tried this approach and are currently hitting a wall in their English studies, I think it could be extremely beneficial.

In other words, people whose lives are rooted in English spend long periods of time learning the language even without deliberately setting aside time to study it.

March 8

I have finished all my morning activities—cleaning, eating, studying, and exercising—so now I’m going to drive to the store to buy some food. Since I try to live entirely in English in every aspect of my daily life, it almost feels like studying abroad while staying at home. 

em dash, parenthetical interruption

Silence is sometimes the best answer.

https://x.com/AlysaUpdates/status/2030403211627004349?s=20

I'm starting to feel drowsy, so I'll take a brief nap to restore my energy.

I think Alysa Liu is wonderful. She strikes me as a truly admirable American.

People sometimes claim on X that Americans are overly assertive or disliked because their country is a superpower. Yet such sweeping generalizations are misleading.

In reality, there are countless Americans who are humble, kind, and diligent. That is the America I have come to know.

I have devoted an enormous amount of time to learning English, and I have accomplished most of the things that probably 95% of ordinary learners would have given up on. 

Yet the gap between native speakers and me is still immense, and I feel a sense of frustration almost every day. I will remember this feeling. One day, I will achieve a dramatic breakthrough in my English ability.

I hope for a peaceful world. I still believe there is hope for reaching it. There are many decent and good people. In many ways, things have become far better than they were in the past. Yet human beings still make mistakes. Perhaps that is simply what it means to be human.

Of course, I have already experienced many leaps in my English ability. I will surely experience many more in the future. Each one arrives after a plateau that I have struggled through. In that sense, it is very much like life itself.

Hemingway copied newspaper articles, Churchill transcribed great prose, and Samuel Johnson read dictionaries.

All the world's a stage.

Since I cannot compete with geniuses, the only path left for me is to keep training in English and physical exercise like a gritty marathon runner. I will pursue it endlessly.

However, when I was a child, I consistently achieved excellent grades in English and ranked roughly between first and tenth in my entire grade. 

In my school, students with the same high scores shared the same rank, so several people could have the same position. 

Of course, there were times when my rank dropped to around twentieth as well. When all five subjects were counted together, my overall rank was around that level or less. 

There were also two occasions when I fell into a slump because I played video games too much and suffered from lack of sleep. At those times my English tutor looked at me rather coldly, which made me feel quite uneasy.

Although I hardly studied at all in high school, I still managed to graduate. In my late twenties, when I casually took the Eiken tests, I passed both Pre-2 and Grade 2 on my first attempt. 

Aside from that, I did almost no formal study, but at the age of thirty I read through the entire book Royal English Grammar and translated Mark Twain’s “What Is Man?” completely into Japanese.

In addition, I spent many years engaged in writing, studying folklore, attending Professor Akasaka’s lectures for about four years, editing and publishing a magazine, and conducting fieldwork.

But to be honest, I only studied right before the tests. Most of the time I was just playing around and having fun. But we had English composition tests every week. 

Moreover, the cram school was so strict that if we did not get a perfect score, we were not even allowed to remain seated, and we could even be expelled. Because of that, we, the first group of students, took the tests very seriously. 

Our performance gained a good reputation, and I remember seeing many younger students enrolling in the school afterward.

Right now I have finished the Pass Tan Eiken Grade 1 book, and I am studying the Eiken Japan Times EX Grade 1 vocabulary book, since it is more specialized for the exam.

However, I have not actually studied the example sentences in the Pass Tan Grade 1 book or in my IELTS vocabulary book yet. On the other hand, I still repeatedly study the example sentences from the Pre 2, Grade 2, and Pre-1 books.

Right now I am studying the example sentences in the Eiken EX Grade 1 vocabulary book. 

After I finish repeatedly reviewing the example sentences from the Grade 2 and Pre 1 books, I will also study the example sentences in the Pass Tan Grade 1 book and in my IELTS vocabulary book.

My daily life is almost like spending all my time at a batting center, constantly practicing. From now on I will also be studying example sentences, so that is exciting. I am really looking forward to it.

With every turn at bat, it feels as if gold coins are raining down on me. Thank you. (laughs)

Of course, in principle I would recommend studying example sentences from the beginning. 

However, my life has not always been smooth sailing. During stormy periods, whether late at night or early in the morning, I made sure to study at least vocabulary.

It was almost like clinging to a piece of wood from a shipwreck.

Today I practiced writing English compositions of about 900 words, roughly 4,000 characters. The English I think in is still quite simple, but next year I would like to start challenging more advanced expressions little by little.

I remember that when it was the day to go to cram school once a week, I had no time at all to play with my friends.

I rode my bicycle alone for three kilometers. While everyone else was playing, I was alone. However, there were two classmates in the cram school who were in the same situation as I was, and their overall grades were better than mine. 

It feels nostalgic now. I seem to remember that the cram school had something like a fireplace, but I also recall going with the teacher to a gas station to fill kerosene for a kerosene fan heater.

Before I knew it, I had become a private tutor and soon the head of a cram school. 

One reason was that there were very few suitable job opportunities for me in the countryside. 

In that sense, it could be said that the environment shaped me, but it was my own decision to start attending the English cram school.

However, I had a close friend at the time, and his parent invited me to join. His parent was a doctor. I had already grown tired of calligraphy and the abacus, so I was excited about the path I had chosen for myself.

If I had not studied English, there is a good chance that I would have gone to a technical high school and later joined Tokyo Electric Power Company or another company related to electricity. Alternatively, I might have ended up working only in the real estate industry.

If I had taken an ordinary job that did not involve studying from morning to night, I probably would have wasted my life playing around and died long ago. Since hardship in study is what keeps me alive, all I can do is laugh.

Adversity is the school of wisdom.

https://x.com/Fire_2025_/status/2030433737524269530?s=20

It is said that the average amount of savings in Tokyo exceeds 30 million yen. However, since this is not the median, it is highly likely that wealthy individuals are pushing the average upward. 

Moreover, Tokyo has the highest cost of living in Japan, so such savings might eventually disappear after some time.

Money talks, but wealth whispers.

My abilities have been continually stimulated by encounters with people I consider geniuses. 

There were many even before the earthquake, but especially after it, the number has been astonishing. I do not use that word lightly, however.

Tonight again, after getting out of the bath, I ate my favorite fruit. It was absolutely irresistible. I'm happy. 

Naturally, everyone has their own kind of happiness. And I am simply myself—that is all. Each of us climbs our own mountains or stands quietly by our own lakes, walking along our respective paths. Such is the way of life, my contemporaries. 

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself. 

(It means knowing how to live according to your own principles instead of being swayed by others.)

I used to communicate with friends from English-speaking countries all the time, but there was also a period when I had many friends in many different countries. 

We met online and were study partners. We kept in touch and talked with each other. 

It was before Facebook became popular, and I used to communicate with everyone in English all the time. It’s a nostalgic memory now.

Usually my posts get around twenty views, but the one about Haruka received about twelve thousand views. I was really surprised.

I would also like to read many books on English grammar and sentence interpretation, but I am simply too busy reading English itself. I hardly have any time to read Japanese slowly. I look forward to enjoying those books once things settle down a little.

At forty or fifty, you're still just a youngster.

When I was young, I was a minimalist, and now I have returned to that lifestyle again. For about twenty years, I have lived with a beard and long hair. 

March 7

"Japan's health ministry has announced formal approval for the domestic manufacture and sale of two products for the treatment of heart disease and Parkinson's disease using iPS cells. It means such treatments will be put to practical use for the first time in the world."

"One of the products subject to Friday's announcement is cardiomyocyte sheet ReHeart. It was developed by University of Osaka startup Cuorips to treat ischemic cardiomyopathy, a serious heart disease." 

NHK WORLD-JAPAN News

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260306_17/

The news about iPS cells is remarkable. They say it may help solve heart disease and Parkinson’s disease. I wonder if it'll benefit me when I become old. I look forward to that future. Of course, I dislike hospitals, so I intend to maintain an extremely healthy lifestyle (laugh).

Prevention is better than cure.

It seems to me that health is a priceless and colossal asset, one that surpasses even ten billion yen in value. 

"The greatest wealth is health." — Virgil

One problem remains: the fact that many species are disappearing.

Health is the greatest gift. 

Yesterday I jogged about twenty kilometers with ease, so this morning I was terribly sleepy. Although I tried to wake up early, I ended up getting up almost at my usual time. 

Nevertheless, I was able to start my activities earlier in the end, because, strictly speaking, I did wake up a little earlier. 

The transitional season from winter to spring always makes one drowsy. In spring, the dawn is especially beautiful.

I truly think that justice is always precarious. The very moment one becomes intoxicated with a sense of righteousness, it is probably just right to suspect that one may already be committing some grave error. Justice is something that must be constantly examined and pursued, for it is an enduring inquiry rather than a settled certainty.

It is important to carefully study and copy model answers for the Eiken Grade 1 essay section in order to learn the patterns of writing. I also try to memorize expressions that are difficult for me to use.

Sometimes it is wonderful to spend time at a café with a beautiful view, reading TIME in between conversations.

A passage that I could not understand yesterday became about 80 percent clear today, so I feel that my English ability is definitely improving day by day. I was also glad that I could understand all the questions that required distinguishing subtle nuances.

The claim that people are disliked simply because they belong to a certain nation is far too sweeping. A more accurate observation is that unpleasant individuals exist everywhere, even within one’s own country. To judge people solely by their attributes is shallow and intellectually negligent.

It is by no means true that one must rely on the latest textbooks to learn English. People in the past managed to become proficient without such materials, and even native children grow up mastering their language without them. One should not remain complacent simply by doing what everyone else does.

In the end, exposure is the most important factor. It is probably just as important as training itself. Each ability and each type of English requires a certain amount of exposure. People who have never read about space find it difficult to listen to or read about space.

The same is completely true even in one’s native language. Even in my native language, I often do not understand topics related to computer companies. I can barely follow discussions about cloud computing, but once it comes to cryptocurrency, things start to become unclear.

In other words, I have probably been using this exposure based method of extensive reading and listening since around 2022. That is one reason my English has improved recently, many times suddenly.

On top of that, I have added close reading and careful listening since 2023, maybe, as well as exam preparation since 2026. That is why I am so busy.

March 6

I have long been a person who goes to bed early and wakes up early. No matter how late I sleep, I usually get up around six at the latest. I believe this is one of the fundamentals of excellence.

Yet I sometimes wonder what people who cannot sleep well should do. Their self esteem must decline as well. It is truly a troubling matter.

"Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise." However, giving advice to people is difficult. When I was young, I drank alcohol and smoked constantly, and because of that I could never wake up early in the morning.

What distinguishes me from others is probably nothing more than the difference in resolve when one is placed in extreme circumstances. Even though I am an ordinary man, perhaps it simply means that I still stand, at least to some extent, in the harsh world of men.

Fortune favors the brave. However, courage is entirely different from recklessness or rashness. That distinction is the most important thing. Discretion is the better part of valor. 

People who are still developing are often rebellious. At times, it may be because they become aggressive in order to protect their wounded or fragile selves. Of course, this is not always the case. 

It can also be said that because they are too strict with themselves and tend toward perfectionism, everything easily collapses. Human beings are truly troublesome creatures.

Studying through some kind of correspondence program is admirable, but many people end up dropping out along the way. 

If you are unsure about your own determination, you might first borrow a book from the library that resembles the textbooks used in that program and see whether you can read it through to the end.

Distance learning involves working through a formidable stack of books, yet in reality it deals with nothing more than the very fundamentals.

I served as the head of my cram school for about fifteen years starting at the age of twenty. 

Since I grew up in an environment where even reference books were scarcely available, studying on one’s own was simply taken for granted during my childhood. For that reason, doing my studies independently has always seemed perfectly natural to me.

My mother helped me with my studies until about the fourth grade of elementary school. 

After that, however, she became busy with work, and my studying turned almost entirely into self study. 

Even then, I was made to work on commercially available correspondence style workbooks every day in addition to my regular school assignments.

However, I must confess something rather embarrassing. Once I tried a set of high level correspondence study materials, and suddenly everything in them seemed unfamiliar to me.

Feeling overwhelmed, I buried about thirty of the books in the backyard in the middle of the night. I still remember that incident even now. (laugh)

A friend from the media world invited me out for the first time in a very long while, but unfortunately I couldn’t go this time. 

Still, I definitely want to see them again someday. Friendship is not about whom you see every day, but about whom you remember every day. 

I never imagined that I would start reading the "Great Books of the World" series while studying English. I had kept those books in the library at my parents’ house because I wanted to read them someday. 

In fact, I originally wanted to read the "World History" series first, but for world history I am currently reading Kodansha’s English edition before moving on to the English version of Yamakawa’s World History.

They are the volumes on Locke and Hume. I decided to read them while talking with my friend Robin. I will also read the Bentham volume in the "Great Thinkers of the World" series. They are written in Japanese it's by far easier than in English. 

I was just reading the opening section of the Locke chapter in the "Great Books of the World" series and learned about the outline of his life. 

He was a member of the gentry belonging to the middle productive class and graduated from Oxford. 

He studied medicine extensively and was well versed in it, but before long he advanced into philosophy, particularly political philosophy, for which he later became renowned. 

I also remember having encountered his name in constitutional law textbooks. 

Concepts such as the social contract and the right of resistance were discussed in class alongside Hobbes.

It seems that he was able to use English, Classical Greek, and Latin. 

I can almost imagine what his childhood must have been like. 

I myself once studied a little Modern Greek and Latin, and reading about him makes me feel that I would like to try learning them again someday.

To achieve English ability comparable to that of John Locke or Winston Churchill, I feel that I would probably need to go through an English English dictionary about ten times with ease. 

However, when I read Eiken Grade 1 passages and TIME as well, even an entire day does not seem sufficient. After all, there are also listening practice, vocabulary study, example sentences, English composition, and grammar to work on.

Intellectual distillation is a wonderful phrase. I will remember it.

"Reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours." John Locke 

Locke famously argued that the human mind begins as a "white paper," gradually filled by experience and learning.

March 5

I skipped my listening routine two and three days ago, but since yesterday my morning listening training has resumed. Recently I moved my vocabulary study to another time of the day because I am already scoring around 90 percent on those tests.

Because balance is essential in learning English, I am now working on the areas I find most difficult. Listening comes first, and reading will come next. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. 

The world is full of lonely people afraid to make the first move. Courage is grace under pressure. 

I begin with the tasks that seem troublesome, consider them carefully, and complete them promptly. Well begun is half done.

In English, the word "usury" refers to moneylending at excessive interest. In Japanese, however, "yusuri" means a blackmailer, which somehow sounds similar.

Yet the Japanese verb "yusuru" also simply means "to shake" or "to rock," so it does not necessarily imply a Shylock like figure every time.

And speaking of Shylock, he is the moneylender in The Merchant of Venice, written by Shakespeare, whose name itself begins with the word "shake."

I think that although textbooks for English composition are convenient, learners often end up memorizing them mechanically. 

In that sense, they may not be very different from memorizing example sentences in vocabulary books. However, the great advantage of such textbooks is that they introduce sentences and expressions that frequently appear in English composition. 

For that reason, the Japan Times Eiken Pre-1 writing book suited me well. I looked at about two other books by a different famous author, but I felt that their examples lacked reproducibility, meaning they were not easily applicable in actual writing situations.

BTW, 

"And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate…Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake. I shake it off."　

Tailor Swift

Just shake it off. 

The following quotes are from X, pop crave

Alysa Liu to Teen Vogue on doing hard things:

“I love pushing myself. There's this thing called the aMCC in your brain, and it's where you say willpower resides. I love doing stuff that I really don't want to do, really hard things. I get a kick out of it, and that's where I'm happy.”

https://x.com/PopCrave/status/2029185018929557971?s=20

When I read English sentences from beginning to end, I can now read them fairly smoothly. However, there are still expressions whose meanings are not easy to grasp even when I read them fluently, and some phrases are easy to forget while reading.

Therefore, I feel that slow and careful reading allows me to understand the text deeply enough to answer questions about it. I believe that I should align my reading speed with the slowest points of comprehension and then gradually increase the speed little by little.

Today I answered all the questions correctly on the easier reading passages, but the more difficult ones took me quite a long time to understand at first sight. Eventually I managed to grasp them, and I realized that there are certain topics that I am not very good at.

These days I feel that spending time on what I am not good at is the royal road to improvement.

The reading passages in the Eiken Grade 1 exam are truly difficult. Sometimes even the questions themselves are challenging. There are certain expressions that I personally find hard to understand. 

Topics such as biology, the universe, and abstract discussions are particularly difficult for me. Of course, I am determined to grow accustomed to them from now on. My motivation is burning.

Some people say they read five hundred passages in order to pass the Eiken Grade 1 exam. Others manage with only a few years’ worth of past questions. The fact that some people need five hundred or even a thousand passages suggests that the rate of improvement differs from person to person.

It seems far more efficient to start with past exam questions or Obunsha’s reading problem collections, where you read a passage and then answer questions about it. I had mostly just been reading passages before, and now I clearly understand the drawbacks of that approach.

I still think that reading an English–English dictionary is effective. Understanding definitions is abstract work. What is not very helpful is simply reading things without connecting them to exam preparation. When it is linked to exam study, even ordinary reading becomes effective. In other words, should we always be preparing for an exam? (laughs)

A long time ago, I began extensive reading with low level graded readers such as the Ladder Series. Even those were quite difficult for me at first.

After that, I read Murakami Haruki’s "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle," entries in an English English dictionary, and probably about 300 university entrance exam passages. 

In addition to that, I read roughly 700 passages from Obunsha’s Eiken preparation books. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle had about six hundred pages printed in very small type.

I also read through the Mini Oxford English English Dictionary from beginning to end.

Because of that, there are times when I feel I can read the Eiken Grade 1 passages extremely quickly. However, when I try to solve them very carefully, they end up taking a lot of time. If I read them in the same way as I do during extensive reading, the content still does not sink in easily for me.

At the moment, I study directly for the exam, and I also read TIME, National Geographic, and an English English dictionary. And of course, because I like them, I read novels as well.

So I study English every single day. I feel that there is simply not enough time.

I believe that only by making ten times the effort of others can I finally become an ordinary person.

I hope that within the next hundred days I will be able to read through the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary as well.

Today I made a post of five thousand characters in a single day. It was counted in characters, not in words, though.

The content is mostly about everyday matters, but if I convert it into the format of Eiken essays, it would amount to roughly fifty of them.

March 4

Though sleet fell this morning and the chill of early spring lingered in the air, my heart is steadily drawing nearer to spring. So, sweet are the uses of adversity, As You Like It. 

Others are others, and I am myself. Only I can walk the path of my own life. There is no point in making comparisons. In the end, we are all bound for the next world anyway.

You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

If you want to learn English, I recommend posting on social media in English. It is very effective. You do not need to aim for perfection from the beginning. In fact, in English composition exams, perfection is almost nonexistent anyway. Practice makes perfect.

The reason English does not come to mind during English composition is simply that people do not usually write in English. There is no other explanation. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

Open University courses are good, but what is even better is ordinary books, junior high and high school textbooks, and qualification exam books. University texts are written on the assumption that readers already know those basics. Well begun is half done. 

Museums and art galleries are indicators of a nation's cultural strength, so they should not be recklessly commercialized. Rather than focusing on profitability, it might be better to incorporate them more actively into school trips and educational programs.

Today, on the highway, a truck came very close behind me, and I almost said "sugar" out loud. After that, I kept talking about how important safe driving is for a gentleman. 

The road after sleet can be dangerous because hydroplaning makes it slippery. I could not help feeling dissatisfied with how poorly that truck driver was driving. On a one lane highway, a chain of traffic like beads is simply too dangerous.

I even suspected that they might have been glancing at their smartphones while driving. Sometimes there are drivers who drift over the center line as well. If someone cannot drive properly, they should get out of the car. Better safe than sorry.

People in Fukushima Prefecture apparently drink more sparkling water than anyone else in Japan. I suppose I am one of the people contributing to that statistic. I’ve just finished a piece of work, so cheers with a glass of sparkling water. 

I happened to come across a foul mouthed doctor on X just now. I certainly wouldn’t want to be treated by someone like that. One never knows what such a person might do. Personally, I would rather be examined by a female doctor just in case. Manners maketh man. 

Recently, one of my American friends has been inviting me to visit Kyoto and also to come to the United States, so I have started thinking that I might travel to America someday.

Come to think of it, when I went shopping today, I was surprised to see 311 yen printed on the receipt. March 11 is already approaching.

I finished a ten kilometer jog and studying Eiken English, no problem. Slow and steady wins the race

Although I now have two bases, I still feel far more at ease in Iwaki. The other place is new, but the showerhead needs to be replaced. I dislike weak water pressure. East or west, home is best.

After a long jog, studying for the exam, taking a bath, and having dinner, I suddenly feel extremely sleepy now that things have settled down. What should I do? I think I’ll listen to the radio for fun.

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.

Walk your own path.

If you wait to buy until the chart falls, you lose the gains that could have accumulated during that time. Therefore, it may be wiser not to worry about timing the market at all.

It is truly admirable that so many people study English every day. Persistently working on a language that takes such a long time to master is not something modern people, constantly surrounded by smartphones, can easily do. Moreover, English is particularly difficult for Japanese learners.

I enjoy studying both grammar and vocabulary. By now, I have even come to like exam preparation itself. However, I am always somewhat dismayed by my own rate of progress. I still hope to keep making leaps and bounds for a long time to come.

In my view, Japanese people often love their own language so much that they have not yet firmly resolved to become truly international individuals who actively use English. We should seriously consider when we are actually going to start using English.

For modern Japanese people, who have rarely experienced inconvenience in their own language, using English often feels quite restrictive and uncomfortable. That is one reason many people are reluctant to use it. 

Yet precisely because of that distance, there is also a certain yearning for English, much like the feeling many people have toward classical Japanese or Chinese texts.

For example, many people learn Japanese in order to enjoy their favorite anime or manga in the original language. However, when it comes to English, most novels are already available in Japanese translation.

Because of this, many Japanese people do not really have a clear purpose beyond learning English itself.

March 3

I want to live like nagashi somen, drifting lightly along the current without resistance. Go with the flow. Still waters run deep. 

With a subtle, quiet empathy in my heart. All things flow and change. A prayer. All things must pass.

"Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."

"Custom is the great guide of human life."

"Truth springs from argument amongst friends."

After all, radio is great because it allows me to absorb a large number of English proper nouns all at once. Because I took a short break from listening for the past two days and let my ears rest, everything sounds clear to me now.

I sometimes think that marathon running is not inherently harmful simply because of the long distance, nor is it inevitably injury prone. It depends on somethings important.

No matter how much I talk, the core remains within me, carefully cultivated and quietly enshrined.

Someone from Aizu once said to Haruka Ayase after she lost a game of rock-paper-scissors, "People in Aizu are kind to those who lose." I suppose it is through losing that a person deepens the flavor of life.

March 2

I am doing clerical tasks today. As the saying goes, preparation accounts for eighty percent of the work, so once the arrangements are in place, the rest is relatively easy. 

Interestingly, I find the work itself easier than the clerical procedures surrounding it. In fact, I find working easier than studying. Work gives me a tangible sense of fulfillment, whereas studying is more cognitively demanding, even though it is equally important.

By the way, why has my path been so uneven and full of ups and downs? Perhaps it is simply a reminder that I am meant to enjoy it. My journey has never been linear.

Do not dread change, it is often the catalyst for growth. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. 

March 1

I was delighted to spend an enjoyable time with my American friend, whom I have known for fifteen years.

We were able to share memories related to Shakespeare. She apparently likes The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet. So do I; in addition, I am fond of Macbeth and Richard II as well. I can truly relate to her taste.

Owing to my recent intensive concentration training, I can understand native conversations far better than before.

Nevertheless, I keenly realize that without familiarity with idiomatic expressions peculiar to native speakers, my comprehension is still limited. Since she is experienced and capable of speaking slowly and teaching patiently, I feel genuinely supported.

https://x.com/Ger81opi46/status/2027942189528191033?s=20

February 28

 I have heard that the reading section of the Eiken Grade 1 exam is highly regarded for its quality, and I completely agree. It is remarkably adept at targeting the optimal level of difficulty. It can be extremely challenging if one is not accustomed to processing abstract English, and therefore I will continue to train myself rigorously. 

I feel almost ashamed to think that my abstract thinking in English is still weak, especially since I once studied logic, but it was in Japanese. It makes me want to read through my mini English English dictionary all at once again. 

My friend tells me that it's probably because I listened to English for more than five hours today. Still, I'm embarrassed by what feels like my lack of stamina. However, it may well be due to the fact that I didn't get enough sleep last night and got a little frustrated. 

I’ve gotten some sleep now, so I feel fine, but it’s already time to go to bed again. How fast a day passes. A single day feels like life itself.

I went for a walk earlier. It was cold. Still, there were many people out walking their dogs. The plum blossoms and cherry blossoms were there.

As another year passes, it feels painful, and I almost do not want to look at them. Yet they are beautiful, joyful, and heartbreaking at the same time. Nothing gold can stay.

You there, watching from the gaps in the shade of the trees, are very clever. Do come and speak to me. Today we exchanged greetings and even shook hands. It was someone else’s cat, though.

Even other people’s cats come to play in my garden, and every year the flowers bloom. It is a marvelous thing. I do not wish to become a selfish giant. Where there is love, there is life.

I am so happy. I finally understand how to type the hyphen, the en dash, and the em dash. Connection, range, and leap. Little strokes fell great oaks.

I was happy to meet Augustine again within the words. Let us meet again.

"You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you."

Great.

A friend shared these short reflections with me today. They made me pose for thought.

"We do not merely live in time; we are constituted by it. Memory does not preserve the past intact but reconstructs it in accordance with the needs of the present, thereby shaping our identity in ways we scarcely perceive."

"Power is rarely malevolent in its self-understanding; it tends instead to justify itself as necessity. The peril lies not in overt tyranny alone, but in the gradual normalization of what once would have been considered unacceptable."

"Intelligence is not merely the accumulation of information but the disciplined capacity to discern patterns, tolerate ambiguity, and suspend premature judgment in the face of incomplete evidence."

In just a few days, it has already become enormous. Each month will likely turn into a very long blog entry. Instead of updating the page monthly, I would prefer to organize it by year. Blogger is lightweight, so it should be fine even if it becomes very long.

Order is the shape upon which beauty depends. I prefer to be able to look back at my past posts easily whenever I want.

I quietly muttered to myself, "I can read a little poetry too," with a smile.

https://x.com/Cristoforou/status/2027549624832324003?s=20

This is the sentence to translate into Japanese. 

"Before she can tell him no, he should please read his paper, the man takes two corners of the blanket and flaps it over the mattress."

I was able to understand the question, yet I still found it challenging. It is truly formidable that high school students are expected to solve such a problem. 

Although I can comprehend the sentence, explaining it grammatically in a systematic way is genuinely difficult.

I don’t like something like grammar hell. I wish there were some way around it. For now, I’m studying Practical Royal English Grammar unit by unit, going over each section several times. 

Eventually, I want to return to Royal English Grammar again and go through it a few more times before moving on to another grammar book. The journey is long.

But the orange grammar book was useful.

https://x.com/Cristoforou/status/2027549624832324003?s=20

https://x.com/Nao_TESOL_CELTA/status/2027701431592227247?s=20

https://x.com/najapan/status/2023368790172434720?s=20

Japanese English grammarians are truly impressive. They must think about nothing but grammar all the time. I wonder what I think about. Nothing in particular, perhaps. I like meditation.

If I had to say, I often find myself thinking about minimalism, my cat, and Anglo American philosophers and novelists. I am not reading them at the moment, but I do hope to read them in the near future.

February 27

I was profoundly moved today when I realized that I could clearly comprehend English and American online radio programs, such as BBC Radio 4, which had eluded my full understanding for so long.

For 2 months, I've been practicing English composition on X, but moving all my posts to a blog is too labor intensive, so I have decided not to do it for now until X’s services become more advanced. From today, I suppose I have no choice but to transfer them manually to my blog.

I study for the exam every day. My listening ability has improved, yet it remains formidable. My reading has also improved, but it is still demanding. Rather, I have come to realize that both require essentially the same fundamental capacity at their core.

Although it should still be far from the cherry blossom season, the faint premonition of spring seems to be emerging, perhaps because of global warming. As always, time continues to accelerate.

I'm glad it is not raining today. It feels slightly cold against my skin, yet I can say it is not cold enough to be uncomfortable. The time to talk with my American friend is gradually drawing near.

I used my brain intensely. This is of paramount importance. It is always the case, but from time to time my concentration suddenly wanes. That, in its own way, also has a certain necessity.

For some reason, these few hours are always the most important part of my day. Perhaps because this is when I most feel like relaxing. That is precisely why I must aim for the goal of the day during this time and turn it into something concrete.

I deliberately tilt the balance between work and study as much as I can, and that is why I am able to do things that others cannot. There are risks involved, of course. But everyone has their own way of living, that is life.

I found it fascinating how different the words "arrest" and "arresting" are. They almost feel like completely separate words.

He literally never neglected even the smallest fundamentals. Even after team practice was over, Ichiro kept standing alone in the batter’s box for years. I want to be like that too.

I am also reading the mini Oxford Thesaurus, and I can already feel that it will be highly effective. It really helps expand the imagery and conceptual network behind each word.

I have started reading my mini Oxford English English dictionary again. I can understand it much better than when I read it from cover to cover before.

February 26

The video suggests that the internet and smartphones have greatly influenced people’s attention and reading habits.

The internet is useful because it provides immediate information, but on the other hand it makes it harder for us to think deeply and focus for long periods.

This video on Youtube by Jared Henderson

By the way, I failed to notice an email from an old classmate today, and my reply ended up being extremely late. I feel genuinely sorry about that. Lately, I have been somewhat secluded in a kind of "virtual overseas" world, hardly emerging into Japan at all.

I am beginning to see, little by little, what I truly want to do, and I feel a sense of relief. Now, after my bath, I will enjoy some buntan grapefruit.

I appreciate Locke and Hume, but what I truly want is to read Bentham in English.

He wrote books in English, and I own them. Since they are in English, I feel that I might be able to read them, yet his world is profoundly difficult. I once read the Japanese translation of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. At that time, I was also studying logic.

Wittgenstein was such a genius that, despite being a German speaker, he became a professor at Oxford University and even obtained British citizenship. He was highly regarded by Russell and deeply respected by Keynes.

At that time, I was not studying very seriously. Even so, I was learning a little Greek. Even now, I would like to study at least some Greek and Latin someday.

As for German, French, and Italian, I do not know when I will be able to resume them. I am now completely immersed in English, and I suppose this will continue until I finish reading Locke and Hume.

Alternatively, gatherings of people who are learning Japanese are also wonderful. I once participated in something like an international community in Tokyo. It feels nostalgic now.

That was right after the earthquake, and even at such a time, I was fundamentally someone who loved languages.

Abroad, people tend to form groups based on their nationality. Of course, a closed society is not desirable, but having a small community where people can support one another is probably a good thing.

Of course, I do not need many close friends, however, I would like to live with the mindset that anyone kind hearted whom I have met or interacted with in some way is, in a sense, an acquaintance of mine.

Even Japanese people who can speak just a little English are all comrades to me. When we go abroad, what truly matters is that we survive.

I run for several hours every day and continue learning all day long, if possible. I can sustain self study for years without relying on any formal institution. The only thing I lack is time. I still strive for further refinement and growth.

I am the stellar type, and it is all thanks to my surging, inexhaustible vitality. I am deeply grateful to my parents for that gift.

I almost never experience burnout. I keep advancing with relentless momentum. Now that my health is recovering, I feel even more powerful and alive. I am the stellar type.

Recently, I have begun to feel that the gap between intensive reading and extensive reading is narrowing. It is as if the distance between careful analysis and natural flow is shrinking.

Ideally, I would like to finish a thin magazine in a single day, such as Time or National Geographic. After completing my listening and reading training, I will continue striving so that I can also finish Time within the same day.

Important article, quotation:

‘We’re losing accessibility’: America says goodbye to the mass-market paperback

The so-called ‘pocket book’ sold in supermarkets is being phased out across the US, the latest sign of an ongoing shift in how people are choosing to read

David Smith in Washington

Tue 24 Feb 2026 10.03 GMT

Shelly Romero has early memories of going to her local supermarket and picking pulp fiction off the shelves. “We were very working class; my mom was working two jobs sometimes,” she recalls. “The appeal of books being cheaper and smaller and able to be carried around was definitely a thing.”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/feb/24/america-says-goodbye-paperback

Tokyo is expensive in part because it houses major corporations, wealthy elites, universities, and central government institutions.

As capital, power, and talent concentrate there, property prices and service costs inevitably rise. Consequently, even lower income residents must bear the elevated cost structure shaped by high earners.

Yet where people, wealth, and authority converge, opportunities likewise multiply. In that sense, the city’s high costs reflect not only inequality but also density of possibility.

It may simply be that the cost of living in Tokyo is disproportionately higher than in most other regions of the country, making economic comparisons misleading at first glance.

Therefore, even those who appear fulfilled and prosperous on the surface are not necessarily leading carefree lives.

However, one should also bear in mind that a large proportion of Japanese households do not possess substantial savings.

https://x.com/aaya_01/status/2026293648514846994

It seems that many people on X are eager to talk about the so called "low income countryside brother" whose economy appears to function quite smoothly.

One begins to wonder what kind of social status these commentators themselves occupy.

In reality, what looks like financial ease is often not about income level but about structural costs, ownership, and lifestyle design rather than mere salary figures.

I bought some Arab dates today. In English the brand is called "Date Crown." In Japanese, they are the fruit of the date palm (natsumeyashi). They are often referred to as the jewel of the Middle East and have been eaten for thousands of years.

Perhaps this is a reunion after ten thousand years, who knows (laugh). The importer is Idemitsu Shokai Co., Ltd., and the country of origin is the United Arab Emirates.

To me, the taste resembles prunes with a caramel like richness. They are truly delicious.

※Idemitsu (出光商会)

When I think of power, I am reminded of the Corleone family and Machiavelli. Yet they also teach us that power does not necessarily bring happiness. Today again, let us strive to make our lives beautiful.

I have finally started reading 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami in both Japanese and English. The Japanese edition was a gift from a close American friend of mine.

I own both the hardcover and paperback versions, while the English edition is a massive single volume of over a thousand pages, almost twice as long as The Wind Up Bird Chronicle.

For a long time, I was distracted by the internet and couldn’t bring myself to read it, and in a way I feel as if I am apologizing to the book, thinking, I’m sorry it took so long.

But now it feels like I have finally reunited with it. Of course, I also have TIME reading to do, so I can only proceed little by little each day, but that, too, feels meaningful.

From the perspective of native speakers in the UK or the US, here are still areas where my ability is even below that of a child. That is precisely why I want to work desperately hard. Of course, I’d be happy to be friends with native kids though (laugh).

I’m overwhelmed because I have too much to do every day, but I refuse to lose. I keep charging forward at full speed. I will break through my own limits. As Oda Nobunaga would say, live desperately.

People’s voices and speaking styles vary, of course, and there are still many parts I can’t catch instantly. So I want to keep training intensively

February 25

The colors of the blossoms have faded away, while I have passed my days in idle contemplation.

What if time is short? Even if time is short, I will sharpen myself.

Clarity arises when reaction subsides.

Discipline creates freedom. But freedom without restraint invites ruin.

The mature man has the composure of one who has found himself.

Life is nothing but successive impressions. Custom is the great guide of human life. But, reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions.

While we are postponing, life speeds by.

You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.

Life is short. We must do what we truly want to do.

I have always been more of a generalist, but I am excited to become a specialist by taking the English I was good at as a child and refining it to the highest level I can reach.

I also solved 25 vocabulary questions. I made only one mistake in each section. I have already finished fully understanding the content. Now, I’m going to skim another Eiken Grade 1 reading passage to train my rapid reading skills.

Today, I read a long passage from the Eiken Grade 1 reading section and answered four questions. The topic was about Fernand Braudel of the Annales School, so I found it intellectually stimulating.

The main keep has not even stirred yet. Then waste no time, climb the stone walls.

This is nothing, a mere trifle, child’s play, something to be accomplished before breakfast.

To say that I am not proficient in English, that is an issue even prior to scholarship. Let me give it everything I have.

It is genuinely true that it is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste much of it.

Seneca would urge us to live desperately, to seize those hours with intensity. Well then, I am a modern man equipped with the instruments of civilization. I cannot afford to lose to Seneca of ancient Rome, respecting him deeply.

The day is already drawing to a close. 

It passes in the blink of an eye, far too quickly. I sometimes feel that within the first six hours after the day begins, the score of that day is almost determined.

The day is already drawing to a close. 

It passes in the blink of an eye, far too quickly. I sometimes feel that within the first six hours after the day begins, the score of that day is almost determined.

It’s raining today. The air, which had begun to feel warmer, has turned slightly chilly again. I’m going to continue my listening practice now. Constant dripping wears away the stone.

"American History in Simple English" 

by Prof. James M. Vardaman

I woke up early this morning and listened through this book once. It was easy to follow and genuinely enjoyable.

February 24

If I write at least ten English posts of twenty words each every day on X, after three months it will amount to roughly one hundred Eiken Grade 1 essays, or about seven 3,000 word term papers, the kind native speakers write at university. It is unquestionably worth continuing.

Over the past few years, I have studied Obunsha’s Pass Tan series from Pre-2, Grade 2, Pre-1, Grade 1, and even the Grade 1 EX by Japan Times. Because of that, I now feel I can roughly tell which expressions belong to which level.

Incidentally, I went through a vocabulary book for IELTS, too, many times.

I find it fascinating that some expressions appearing in the Eiken Grade 2 vocabulary book actually exceed the Pre-1 level and even show up again in the Grade 1 vocabulary lists.

This old scholarly history book has no Japanese translation, but since it is published in Japan, it includes Japanese annotations, which are very helpful. For example, what is astonishing expansion?

Some people claim to go through a vocabulary book tens of thousands of times, but sometimes I wonder whether each round is simply too shallow. Repetition is important, of course, yet mechanical repetition alone does not guarantee true retention.

I don’t cover my vocabulary books with countless sticky notes. Sometimes I feel that can become a subtle form of procrastination. (laugh)

Perseverance is strength. To CEFR C1 level. I've gone through this vocabulary book about ten times.

Recently, I have memorized most of the entries, and they have become part of my passive vocabulary. My next goal is to refine them into active vocabulary that I can use freely and precisely. I will continue striving toward that end.

Learning is action. To be strong in the modern world, we must integrate everything, intellect, discipline, strategy, and execution. In my humble opinion.

Of course, Salinger’s novels are fascinating as well. I can clearly understand why readers said to him, "You are writing about me."

Of course, there may be many people who exaggerate, but fundamentally, traditional Japanese people might actually have an unexpected affinity with British culture.

It seems that British culture values understatement, and I was amused to find that it closely resembles my own way of expression.

I am able to pursue what I truly want to do, so even if I am busy, I refuse to call it "busy." Around the world, perhaps ten percent of people are constantly engaged beneath the surface. It is simply the natural state of those who strive.

Like a water bird, I want to remain graceful above the surface, even while paddling fiercely underneath. That, perhaps, is what opera is all about.

Every small piece of writing accumulates. Many a little makes a mickle. In other words, it feels like digging up gold coins, one after another, in a joyful way.

Every small piece of writing accumulates. Many a little makes a mickle. In other words, it feels like digging up gold coins, one after another, in a joyful way.

From the moment I wake up until I go to bed, I stay active all day. I do not use X for browsing; I use it to practice English composition. I do not use other social media either.

It has always been my principle, much like a movie actor, not to stick my nose into other people’s business.

Some of my English posts may contain rather stern words, but if anyone happens to read them, I sincerely hope they won’t take them personally.

There are three kinds of people in this world:

those who want to worry,

those who do not want to worry,

and those who have no choice but to worry.

Self restraint is power. Master yourself. You can make it. Through discipline comes from freedom. He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.

I am growing day by day because I devote myself to steady effort every single day. I am constantly studying, living between composure and passion.

February 23