A Marathon Competition 2

We climbed Diamond Head. It was wonderful but we were more exhausted than we expected. Besides the next day was the marathon competition. We had to get up early in the morning so we didn’t get enough sleep. What with the fatigue, what with the lack of sleep, I couldn’t finish running within 5 hours. It was 5 hours and 20 minutes. It was her first time for my friend's first time to joining a 42 kilometer race. She didn’t have meet her target time but she must have been really tired so I felt sorry for her since I kind of forced her to do so. However, the Honolulu marathon itself was wonderful. Unlike competitions in Tokyo which is my area, we were able to see beautiful beaches and wonderful scenery! Besides the marathon competition motivated me to start learning English. Back then, I couldn’t speak English at all. In the competition, Hawaiian people gave chocolate and cookies to the runners. But I couldn’t say anything but “Thank you”. I was frustrated because I wanted to say more. That’s why I started learning English.
Though it was a bitter experience for me, I’m glad that I joined the race.

Notes:

We capitalize names of places (like Diamond Head) like names of people.

"to meet" is used often like "to meet your goal", "to meet your expectations", etc. Kind of like "to achieve".

Your English is good!

Google Wing drones approved for US home deliveries

I took a lesson with this article today.  <- I don't quite understand this sentence.

◾️Google Wing drones approved for US home deliveries
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48029396

I think drone delivery brings impacts on our lives.
We might get the a more efficient delivery system because the company doesn't need truck drivers.
No drivers means that the company doesn't need to pay salaries and or insurance for them.
Thinking about this as the customer, it is very good system, but unemployed people might be increased.
This might be a drawback.
It seems that the delivery industry is trying to a new ways to get the improve productivity.
For example: drone delivery and automated driving.
At the first glance, these technologies bring the only good things future only.
We can get the product more quickly and cheaply, in addition to no traffic accidents.
But I'm worried about the labor situation.
What if we cannot adjust to the change?

A note about 'and' and 'or'.

説明は難しいです。

"He didn't pay for lunch or dinner." = "He didn't pay for lunch." and "He didn't pay for dinner."
"He didn't pay for lunch and dinner." = "He didn't pay for both lunch and dinner."

If you use 'and' then maybe he paid for lunch, but did not pay for dinner. For example:

"He didn't pay for lunch and dinner. He only paid for lunch."

My Favorite Baseball Team

I have been a fan of a (if your town only has one baseball team, then use "the" instead of "a") local baseball team in my town for quite a while. For the first time in so long, I managed to get a ticket for a baseball game this year. The game will be held about the middle of this month and I'm so excited about it. Unfortunately, my favorite team isn't doing well this year. Previously, it has they have won a championship three years in a row. I was so happy with it them. However, I wasn't able to get any game tickets the whole year because the team was so popular with all generation (young and old alike/everyone) even outside of my town. I had to watch a games on TV all the time last year. That's why getting a ticket is super exciting happy for me. I felt like I drew lots. My favorite team has kept losing for the past few days, but I believe that it things will work out and make me I'll be happy when I go watch a the game at the stadium. Go for it!

Notes:

緑は必要ではありません。  I just think it helps smooth the transition from present to past.

「team」は集合名詞です。集合代名詞について、通常、アメリカ人は「it」を使い、イギリス人は「they」を使います。でも、「team」は特例です。アメリカ人とイギリス人は「they」を使います。なぜ？それは、名前のアメリカのスポーツチームは複数です。For example: the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Los Angeles Lakers. So even though Americans usually use "it" for collective pronouns (集合名詞), Americans use "they" with "team" because their teams almost always have plural names. I hope my explanation was clear, but if not feel free to ask for clarification.

”things will work out” is a useful phrase.

I am not sure what "all generation" is referring to. I guessed that maybe you meant "young and old alike" but I am not sure.

Good notebook entry! I hope your team does well!

Stupid politeness in Japanese retail stores

After some incidents about labor issues, Japanese society has tried to transform themselves into a more efficient and productive culture. However, it's easy to say easier said than done. ("easier said than done" = common phrase)

The government and companies try to reduce working hours by putting adding additional holidays and limiting working overtime prohibiting overwork. The reason is that it's easy to measure but it's really questionable for to me that this kind of reduction truly improve our productivity.

When you visit Japanese supermarkets or convenience stores, you can find a cashier never sitting down in front of customers. This is the typical of our bad culture. Try to behave politely to customers and do what you don't need to do. The worse thing is customers take it for granted and may feel uncomfortable if a cashier sits down. There are many ridiculous behaviours like this in Japanese unique business rules. And I think that's the real issue in Japanese culture, not overworking.

The culture of always dedicating to customers or bosses generates our high-quality service and products, however, now it also damages the life of employees.

Good notebook. Not being able to sit down is also a problem in the US, but apparently not in Europe. You can see people talking about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/7q93i4/cashiers_should_be_able_to_sit_down_while_working/

Fujiya Look A La Mode Chocolate

Fujiya Look A La Mode Chocolate are the milk square chocolate pieces with 4 different flavors in one yellow box, released in 1962. To be honest, this is not the best chocolate candy but because of its long history, it's well known and has been eaten across the generations in Japan. The current fillings are soft creams but they were used to be jams which were my mother's favorite.

Basically, I'm choosing a long-seller, well-known, longtime sellers products from my favorites on this page. If you have a chance to have a chat with Japanese people and run out of a topics to talk about, you can talk about snacks from this page, I'm sure he or she knows most of them♪

Thanks for the recommendations! I've heard food is a good topic to discuss with Japanese people, so it is useful to learn more about well known types over there.

The ultimate meal-time sake

I bought sake which was named Atagomatsu Sasara yesterday. It (received/was awarded) a silver ranking of from SAKE COMPETITION 2018 Junmai Ginjo division. The sake brewery is Niisawa Sake Brewery. The Niisawa Sake Brewery is in Kawasaki, Miyagi. Niisawa Sake Brewery's the chief brewer is the youngest the chief brewer in Japan.

In this sake brewery, the brand called Hakurakusei is well known in Japan. It is said that Hakurakusei is also famous for Americans who like sake. The taste is very fruity and has a rich aroma. I drank this sake with bonito sashimi. The taste of sashimi and the taste of sake were well-balanced and bring out each other's taste.

I don't sure that you can drink this sake in a big city like Tokyo or Osaka like a big city but if you find it you should try it. Please don't mistake that I recommend junmai ginjo not honjozo.

Good notebook entry, here are some notes:

"Niisawa sake brewery" sounds like any sake brewery in Niisawa, "Niisawa Sake Brewery" is the name of a specific sake brewery.

Ways you can say "Kawasaki-machi Miyagi"

        Kawasaki, Miyagi

Most people understand this format to mean "city, state". Even though a prefecture isn't exactly like a state like California, it is similar.

        the city of Kawasaki, Miyagi prefecture

If you want to be really explicit.

        Kawasaki, Miyagi prefecture        

If you want to be a little less explicit.