Monday Morning Star Count - Week 50

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 50 

April 10 - 16 

79, 77, 79, 81, 66, 54, 68

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

100+ Brown 

90-99 Red 

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow 

60-69 Green 

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

What do First Graders in Japan Want to Be?

The new school year in Japan began a few weeks ago and the Kuraray Company, which manufactures synthetic leather for school bags, has released its newest first grade survey. Four thousand children who just entered elementary school were asked what they want to do when they grow up. It is interesting to compare this year's dream jobs with those of twenty years ago.

(I love that # 9 on the 2022 Girls' list is worker at ice-cream shop!)

How do you think the answers of the the children's parents compare?

If you have children, what kind of job do/did you want for your children? What did you yourself want to be when you grew up? Did your ideas for your children or yourself change?

Record Numbers Apply to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

 

Astronauts in Japan no longer have to be rocket scientists. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) no longer requires prospective astronauts to have educational backgrounds and work experience in scientific-related fields. By dropping this requirement JAXA hopes to recruit more diverse crews. Other requirements that have been dropped are having to weigh within a certain range and be able to swim.

The current requirements include being capable of working on an international team and showing leadership, in addition to being able to think flexibly and take appropriate actions to survive in extreme situations. Applicants must have three or more years of work experience, be between 149.5 cm and 190.5 cm tall, have corrected eyesight of at least 1.0 for both eyes and have normal color vision and hearing.

The last time JAXA recruited new astronauts was in 2009, when it received 963 applications. The recruitment period that ended this month brought in a record 4,127 applications. Nearly half of the applicants, 1,850, were in their 30's, followed by 973 in their 40's, and 811 under age 30.  Sixty-nine applicants were 60 or older. The number of women applying came in at 919, which was 22.3 percent of the total. 

Next month, JAXA will test applicants' English skills and general knowledge.  Those who pass will go through three rounds of exams measuring their physical abilitites and presentation skills.  The agency will chose a few prospective astronauts from the candidates by the end of March 2023 at the earliest. 

Did you ever want to be an astronaut? What about now? It might be good to get away from all the chaos here on earth.

Friday Finish - Needlepoint Zipper Pouch

I stitched this little needlepoint pattern some time ago and finally finished it off into a zipper pouch. I'm not experienced with zippers, but I think it turned out okay.

I adapted this pattern from Colour Compliments for the needlepoint.

Plastic Reduction in Japan

This month a new law has gone into effect in Japan aimed at reducing plastic use. Twelve types of disposable items are targeted in order to protect the environment amid concern over marine pollution. Retail shops, hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that provide five or more tons of single-use items are affected by this new law.  These businesses are required to charge for plastic items or offer alternatives made from other materials. 

Family Mart convenience store chain has already banned forks and fork/spoons and is offering bamboo chopsticks instead. It estimates it will reduce 260 tons of plastic waste a year. 

The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo is changing to bamboo or wooden handle amenities such as toothbrushes, razors, and hairbrushes. Even though the cost for these items will be three times as expensive as the plastic items, the hotel expects to cut the use of plastic by more than 80 per cent. 

Japan already has a law requiring stores to charge for plastic bags, but I haven't seen any statistics on how much plastic is being saved by that. I think the new law is a good move and hope it will encourage people to choose to use their own reusable items rather than pay extra for the convenience of plastic items.

Work In Progress Wednesday

House Quilt Corners

Dorset Button making continues

My new project is a Boro inspired piece

Princesses Can Be Any Gender

August 2021 Princesses

The tourism board in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture has held yearly contests to choose single women known as princesses to serve as tourism ambassadors. It has just announced that it will no longer require the princesses to be single or to be women, saying the change comes out of "a consideration for the changing times". The title of the position will remain "Princess", but the recruitment is open to anyone over the age of 18 who lives, studies, or works in Nara Prefecture, excluding high schoolers. 

Previously the ambassadors were know as "Kashihara Campaign Lady", but this name was changed in 2009. This year the application deadline is May 6th. Three Princesses will be chosen to fulfill the role at events taking place about 30 days a year.

Monday Morning Star Count - Week 49

Year five of the temperature quilt 

Week 49  

April 3 - 9  

48, 48, 64, 71, 63, 68, 75

I am reporting the high temperature each day.  My Year Five temperature/color scheme remains the same as previous years: 

100+ Brown 

90-99 Red 

80-89 Orange 

70-79 Yellow 

60-69 Green 

50-59 Blue 

40-49 Purple 

30-39 Pink 

20-29 White 

You can see my finished Year One Quilt here.

Sumpu Castle Excavation

Yesterday was a bit of a rainy day, but not a downpour rainy day.  I visited Sumpu Castle Park and it was perfect because there were few people around. The excavation began several years ago, but because of the pandemic, I hadn't been back to check out what they were doing. 

Much of the signage and information is in English.

The blue area on this sign is the excavation area.

It is a pretty park, even on a rainy day at the end of the cherry blossom season.

There is a pathway to walk around the excavation area. The pathway can be closed off - I supposed to keep people out at night or something like that.

I don't want to go to any place that is crowded, so this was a great way to spend the morning.  I saw very few people and the park is quite large, so it was a very safe trip. The excavation area is interesting.