Kasugai Kizuna Marathon

I was invited to Kasugai Kizuna Marathon 2015 as a guest runner.

It’s a relay marathon running 1.2km circuit course in Kasugai Driving School. 105 teams and 659 runners entered in total.

Each member runs by turns for  2.5 hours. A team which runs the longest distance wins the race.

I belonged to Team Kizuna(Bond) and I was a captain.

Our team had another name “Team One-Tooth Geta.”

Actually some of our members including me ran in One-Tooth Geta, which surprised other runners.

Everyone there seemed to be having fun.

Some were serious fast runners, some slow fun-runners.

Some dressed up in various fancy costumes.

I would say it was kind of a running festival.


It was a bit too warm for most of us runners to run. But fortunately the weather had been good with no rain.

I felt as if 2.5 hours had passed as fast as a moment.

We really had a good time together.

Live Together Run Together

“I’d like to stay here with these folks.”

“I’d like to spend more time with them.”

Let’s make friends with such people as you feel that way all around the world.

And I want them to feel the same way too.

That kind of feeling may create PEACE!

How To Get Satisfaction

I heard a heat wave attack India.

50 degrees Celsius(122 degrees Fahrenheit) is the temperature which can kill people.

They say old-taxis don’t even have air conditioner in India.

On the contrary, there’s serious shortage of electric power in addition to poverty, people have to do without the air-conditioner and the electric fan which only some people can afford.

But in summer here in Japan, most of us know that we can keep our room cool only by pushing a button of a remote controller,

People complain about the summer heat but it’s still not higher than 40 degrees C(104 degrees F)

We’ll find in almost every corners convenience stores and vending machines. You can get cold drinks, popsicle or ice lolly if you have some changes wherever you are.

One day in the desert, I was running alone in a heat wave.

Although I had no cooler box, I was so thirsty I really wanted something chilly to drink.

Then I rolled my water bottle with wet towel and started waving fan(sense) by hand for cooling.

I waved it so very hard to get cold water for about 20 minutes.

I got smeared with sweat but I was so glad to taste as cold water as about 20 degrees C (66 degrees F)in my heated tent as hot as about 45 degrees C(114 degrees F).

I realized how our civilization had been born.

“How on earth does convenience create happiness?”

That’s the question that occurred to me then.

No matter how inconvenient it is, ingenuities created by us in our inconveniences keep us alive.

It's not bad living in basic life without conveniences.

We can get satisfied only with what we have.

Such ideas are hard to be born in our daily lives.

Now I’m not in India but I tried to imagine as if I had been there for a moment today.

Diamond Trail

It's been a long time since I last enjoyed trails...

Walked along the Diamond Trail 38km between NijoJinjaguchi and Kimitoge Pass with my pals.

Really tough and hard route including lots of ups and downs.

Might have been as hard as running a full marathon race.

One-Tooth Geta Festa in Osaka

Osaka Castle Park on sunny and beautiful Sunday May 17.

Most of participants(16 in total) had their own Geta but those who didn't have one tried on what they had borrowed.

They enjoyed walking in One-Tooth Geta and chatting to each other.

They had a big fun walking around Osaka Castle for about 2 hours and after the event they enjoyed picnic.

Everyone smiles when walking in One-Tooth Geta.

I'm sure this unstable and weird footwear is a tool which can create World Peace!

Similarity

What a big surprise!

The other day Hiro Ugaya (烏賀陽弘道) took a photo and today I found a photo of Toshiro Mifune, one of the most famous Japanese movie actors.

Take a look at these two photos and let me know what you think of them!

Chasing Your Dream

You cannot tell what your future will be like while you are chasing your dream.

Live for the moment, cherish and appreciate the present.

When you make your dream come true, why don’t you have another one?

If it doesn’t come true so soon, dream is what you got to keep dreaming until it comes true.

That is why a dream is something endless.

Maybe you don’t have to be captured by the word “dream.”

Dream is the way you are having fun with, I should say.

Dream is also the very moment you feel happiest to have been born to welcome the moment when you have made it come true.

One-Tooth Geta Festa in Kyoto

Today One-Tooth Geta Festa was held in Kyoto.

We enjoyed walking around old downtown of Gion, Kyoto City.

It's so nice for us One-Tooth Geta freaks to walk in old capital.

I'm sure we were so weird and outstanding to the eyes of the tourists from abroad.


One-Tooth Geta is a kind of global communication tool.

It's true because wherever you go if you wear this footwear,

everyone comes up to you and tries to have a conversation with you.

You may have to tell them about the history of One-Tooth Geta and how it works well on your health.

If possible, you can let them try on your One-Tooth Geta.

All those things will help create world peace.

It's also a mission of One-Tooth Geta Club.

One-Tooth Geta Club Facebook Page

Are You HAPPY?

“Are You HAPPY?”

Ask yourself this question any time.

And ask your family, brothers & sisters and your steady too.


First of all, you should be happy.

And anyone around you too.

If you’re not happy, why don’t you try to do your best to become happy?

Just think of yourself being happy without drawing something dark and negative near you.

And it will make you and anyone around you happy.

You don’t need any fears and worries.

You don’t have to have anything which makes you feel fears and worries.

It’s because they are all within your mind and they haven’t occurred to you yet.

But instead, have a dream and hope.

Think something you need to become what you want to.

Do whatever you like as much as you want.


Because that’s what’s the most important thing to you to make your days happy.

Keep smiling. Smile is the very best thing that makes you and anyone around you happy.

You don’t have to compare you with someone else.

All you have to do is to say that you yourself are happy.

A Gift To Nepal

We were cleaning up our rooms yesterday and decided to send our old clothes and shoes to Nepal.

Last night we packed them all and filled 2 cardboard boxes with them.

This is not just throwing away but recycle and this time especially for earthquake victims too.

I hope they will be happy with these recycled items.

We put into the box two PEACE RUN T-shirts that Piapi and I had used.

I wonder who on earth will get and wear these T-shirts.

Maybe when I visit Nepal some day, I may have a chance to meet someone who wear one of these T-shirts.

Such an idea excites me.

Chiaki Piapi Mori put some clothes made in Nepal that she once had bought at ethnic apparel shop in Japan.

Clothes made in Nepal and worn in Japan will come back to their home country.

Nepal quake is such a tragedy to local, but it will make bonds which connect people with people here and there.

We pray for all those affected by Nepal’s devastating earthquake.

May all people in Nepal be free from physical and mental suffering!