＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
1. “Radio calisthenics,” a regular summer vacation event
Speaking of “Radio Calisthenics,” when I was in elementary school, I used to look forward to gathering in the schoolyard early in the morning during summer vacation to do the exercises together and then getting our “stamps” stamped on them.
Did you know that those radio calisthenics are called “the ultimate health regimen”? Kazumasa Oda also practiced radio calisthenics with his band members to maintain his physical fitness during his national tour.
Kazumasa Oda is a former leader of Off Course and currently a solo singer-songwriter. He is 77 years old this year and is a member of the baby boomer generation.” I love his heartwarming and soothing singing voice and beautiful melodies. He is also well known for his commercials for Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance.
His tour “ENCORE!!” which began in May 2018 attracted 400,000 people in 48 shows at 21 venues, and concluded with a concert at Yokohama Arena on October 31st, excluding the Osaka show which was postponed due to the earthquake.
It is surprising to hear that what supported this long tour and three-hour stage performance that lasted more than six months was the radio exercises that he and his band members continued to do. He had always been an avid gymnast and a person who worked on his abdominal muscles and core strength…
2. Radio calisthenics is the ultimate health method
This year marks the 97th anniversary of the start of radio calisthenics. By the way, the radio calisthenics we used to do when we were in elementary school or junior high school seemed to be “lazy calisthenics” that only imitated the shape of the exercises.
However, if you do not use recoil but use slow movements like tai chi, properly stretching your body where it should be stretched and bending it to the limit where it should be bent, you will sweat quite a bit. This is said to have many beneficial effects, such as “relieving stiffness in the shoulders and neck by promoting blood circulation,” “improving flexibility,” “improving metabolism (weight loss),” “improving constipation,” “relieving sensitivity to cold,” “improving immunity (less susceptibility to illness),” and “preventing distortion of the spine and lumbar vertebrae. This is why it is called “the ultimate health regimen.
If you do radio calisthenics properly, it’s a good amount of exercise. I’d like to go back to basics and try radio calisthenics again.
I would love to teach this radio exercise to Kenji Sawada, who became a hot topic for his “last-minute cancellation.” Also, Kazumasa Oda, who is one year older than me, is working so hard on his singing stage career…
