月: 2018年12月

The Nobel Prize in Medicine winner for 2018 is Dr. Tasuku Honjo and Dr. James Allison for cancer research.

This is a wonderful thing for Japan, of course. It is great when someone from your country wins the Nobel Prize. But what is more important is that Dr. Tasuku Honjo is part of a research that will save millions and millions and millions of human lives.

The research that Dr. Honjo has done is to learn how to help the body fight cancer.

Cancer is the number one killer of humans in countries like Japan, Canada, and many European countries. Dr. Honjo has learned techniques that can make the body fight cancer and make cancer disappear. It is very exciting news, but what is more exciting is that he has saved millions and millions of lives in the future.

I hope that he will be seen as a national hero one day. This is very exciting and a great gift for the world.

I liked Dr. Honjo’s speech on television. He is a real gentleman and a great example for us today.

Dr. Honjo is a good example for us about how hard work can make a big change.

When we are students it is very difficult to understand the question, “Why is my study important?” The reason is that we do not know the reason…. yet. When Dr. Honjo was younger he probably did not know how important his research will be, but he studied hard anyway. He did not know that one day he would save millions and millions of human lives, but he worked hard anyway.

We do not know what will happen in the future. We do not know if good things come, or bad things come. But we do know that good things do not happen so often by accident. Good things can happen more often with good hard and long work and study.

If you study hard here at Otemae will you one day save millions of human lives? I don’t know, and you don’t know. But we know that if you study hard, and work hard, maybe you can do something good for other people in the future.

Maybe you will be an artist that will heal other people through music. Maybe you will be a great sports person and support other sports people. Maybe you will be a great computer programmer, or an artist, or a lawyer, or a business person, or a local shop owner. Maybe you will be good at your job and be a good helper for another person.

The good that comes from these cases all have the same root. The root is hard work and hard study.

Thank you to Dr. Honjo and Dr. Allison. Our world is better because of you. The future is better because of you. Now, you and I must try our best to make our world better. What can I do? What can you do? What can we do together?

I think that everyone here knows about Santa Claus. He is the big man wearing a red jacket. He has a big white beard, a red hat, and he says, “Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!”. Maybe you have seen him somewhere, like on television or in a shopping center.

But before there was Santa Claus there was a different kind of Santa Claus. The original Santa was not Santa Claus, but it was Sinterklaas, and he is the real Santa.

Santa Claus is big and fat. Sinterklaas is tall and not fat. Santa Claus says, “Ho ho ho”. Sinterklaas does not do that. Santa is always smiling and laughing, but Sinterklaas is more serious.

Santa comes to your house and leaves a present and then goes to the next house. Sinterklaas comes to your house too. And if you are nice you get some small cookies, or a chocolate letter for your name. So, if your name is Manami, you can get a big chocolate M. That is really nice.

But if you are not good, you will have trouble with Sinterklaas. If you did something bad this year Sinterklaas will know. He has a big red book and in that book he has the names of all the children in the world. If your name is on the bad side of the book, Sinterklaas may hit you with some tree branch. If you are very bad he will take you to Spain and make you work there.

Both Santa and Sinterklaas are important cultural characters in Europe and in North America. They are symbols for kindness and generosity. This season is a season to eat and drink and enjoy your home and your family. But it is also a time to remember other people, to share with the poor, and to help other people in our society.

Christmas time is coming soon and it is an important time for many people in the world. In Canada and in Europe, Christmas is a time for family to meet and to share a good time together. Christmas is like the Japanese Oshogatsu, when people can enjoy and celebrate a family time. But Christmas, like Oshogatsu can be a hard time for people who do not have money, or who have trouble in the family. It’s important for us to think about this too.

What can we do for people who are alone at this time of year? Do you know someone, or have a friend who might be lonely at this time? What can we do to be good for them, to help them, and support them?

Santa Claus and Sinterklaas are not real people, but they both come from an original character in history, and that is Saint Nicholas. Saint Nicholas was a real person, and he lived from the year 270 to 343 in the Greek city of Myra. There are many stories about Saint Nicholas. The stories are that he saved young girls from trouble, and saving three children who were attacked by a dangerous man. The most important thing about Saint Nicholas is that he always gave everything he could to poor people. He was known as the helper of people, and they loved him for that.

Saint Nicholas, Sinterklaas, and Santa Claus are seasonal reminders for us to be kind to other humans, to be good, and to share our time and money with people who need it. These are all good things. Some things about these three men may be true, and some may be just a story. But it is a beautiful story, and a story we should keep and tell again and again.