2013.3.31

It was cloudy and slightly rained but became fine.
I went to once a week grocery shopping with Father.  March end is the end of the fiscal year.  Therefore the supermarket had a special big offer.  They gave 20 times points as usual, which was like 10% off.
In the evening I had an appointment but my cold was not good enough and we canceled.
For the past 4 years I have worked with students and youths of mainly ASEAN countries.  Therefore I hope to visit their countries too.

2013.3.30

It was rather cold again.

I went to Yokohama (横浜) to be a kimono model. First make up, second hair set, third dressing kimono, then photo shooting. I chose the light blue colored kimono with beautiful roses design at the first sight. Other accessories such as collar and belts were selected by the specialist.

I like wearing kimono, but they are usually very expensive, therefore I have not bought them for a long time.

I was not going to buy anything, but I just wanted to try on and applied for being a kimono model by the recommendation of my friend.  Then today was the photo taking day.  I felt good to have dressed the beautiful kimono.  After the photo session I had a chance to see the company president and he offered the special service and I decided to buy the one he recommended me.  He has a big vision to let kimono culture known to the world and will have a kimono fashion show at the Grand Central Station in New York at noon, Friday, April 19, 2013.  I wished to be a part of that fashion show but it was too late when I got to know about the company.  In every 4 years like Olympic games they will have international kimono fashion show.  And the next one will be in France.  I hope to join.

In the evening I went to Shinjuku (新宿) to see tennis friends.  Six of us got together at the Italian restaurant.

2013.3.29

Today was the last day when I work for the current company.  As I know we will drink tonight, I walked to the station.  The cherry blossoms were so beautiful and  they looked like a tunnel.
At lunch time we had a luncheon.  There are about 15 people who will leave the office  together.  We got a certificate,  a message card and a bouquet.
After work my close colleagues and I went to Spanish restaurant and enjoyed the last dinner.
I am glad to have met them and worked together for 4 years.

2013.3.28

I took a compensate holiday to attend stockholder's once a year general meeting so-called kabunushisokai (株主総会) in Shinjuku.  It seems there were more than 1000 stockholders gathered.  This was the 2nd time for me to attend.  This is a recreation company and the meeting was held at the movie theater which is one of the biggest theaters (1288 seats) in Japan.  Good thing is they give the participants a box of sweets, two free movie tickets and a free drink every year.  With the register card you can watch a movie today.
Last year there were many questions and answers and suggestions.  So were this year.   Good thing was last year's proposal was granted from this year in many points.
In the night I attended the wake (tsuya: 通夜) of my friend's father.  He is a high school classmate.  At the venue I met about 5 old friends from the same high school.   Whenever I attend the wake or funeral, I feel it is a present from the deceased.  Because we usually can't get together.

2013.3.27

It was a rather cold rainy day.  I took a compensate holiday. 
I went to see a doctor to take CT scan to see something wrong with my right chest which I have a pain for a long time.  It's been 5 years since I took it last time though the part is different.  I took X-ray too.  It cost more than yen 5,000.-

2013.3.26

I took a day off to take Father to hospital for the regular check up.   Since I got a cold, I also asked the doctor to see me.   I have slight fever, sore throat, terrible cough, headache, running nose and so on, so he gave me 6 different medicines.  I usually hate to take medicines, but there are many plans ahead, I decided to take them.  I hope to be better.  At the hospital I happened to see one of the high school classmates.
Then we went to dentist too.  He is also my high school classmate.   There I happened to see another friend from the same high school.  Interesting, isn't it?

2013.3.25

It was rather cool today, and started raining slightly.
I went out for lunch with a colleague whom I worked with 3 projects.  I have wanted to have lunch with her for a long time after those projects but both of us were busy and did not meet.   This morning when I asked her, she had an appointment, but suddenly her counterpart declined because of other sudden schedule change, then we could go together.  I am glad to have a chance like this. 
There was another good thing.  Somebody sent me souvenirs to deliver to my colleagues.  I have not been able to see one of them, but today she happened to be at the office and I could give her the souvenir at last.
There is only one day left when I go to the office.  I could see some colleagues whom I have not seen for a long time today.

2013.3.24

Today was senshuraku (千秋楽), the last day of the grand sumo tournament in Osaka.  This tournament is called haru basho (春場所), spring tournament or Osaka basho (大阪場所), Osaka tournament.
Yokozuna Hakuho (横綱白鵬) became a champion by complete victory.  This was the 9th time for him to win all the games which is the most in history, and 24 times to be a champion.  Congratulations!

2013.3.23

It was fine. Cherry blossoms are full in bloom.  This is the best weekend to view them. 
Father and I went to Mother's grave.  Today is the last day of the equinoctial week, in Japanese higan ake (彼岸明け).  We usually visit on Equinox day (shunbun no hi: 春分の日) because it is a national holiday, but this time I had to work on that day, and we went there today.  Not only cherry blossoms but also other flowers were in bloom, and spring is in full swing. It's about 2 weeks earlier than usual.
I still have a cold and slept most of afternoon.

2013.3.22

When I got up, I had a slight fever.  Before going to the office, I went to hospital, however it was so crowded and I gave up.  Since I had taken off in the morning, I walked around Shinjuku.  It's been 4 years since I started working at the office in Shinjuku,  however every day I just go and come back between the station and the office, therefore I don't know much about Shinjuku itself.
It was very fine and I visited the central park to see cherry blossoms.  They were full in bloom.  I happened to find two waterfalls.  Can you believe there are two waterfalls in Shinjuku?
After working in the afternoon, I went to Ochanomizu to attend the small party with some colleagues and others.  It's been nearly 9 or 10 months since I saw some of them last.  We enjoyed eating Korean barbecue and chatting.

2012.3.21

I took a transferred holiday today.  I do not have fever, but I feel dull and slept long time.

Today I got a booklet from Florida.  It is a corpus of 15 years' collaboration between the Morikami Museum  and Donna Klein Jewish Academy (DKJA).  I have worked at the education department of the Morikami Museum from 2006 to 2008 as a JOI (Japan Outreach Coordinator) and I went to teach at DKJA for several months for kindergartners and 4th graders.  I think it was a really good program.

2013.3.20

It is a national holiday called shunbun no hi (春分の日), the Vernal Equinox Day.
My day started around 5 AM, and sent off the delegation and had a meeting later.  This is the last program I am in charge.  I am glad that it went well.
Later I went to Yokohama to have massage.  I could relax.  After 5 days I came home. It was raining when I got home.

2013.3.19

It was very hot like summer today. Cherry blossoms started blooming here and there.
We went to Asakusa where is very famous and popular touristic places in Tokyo.
From there we could see the Tokyo Sky Tree.

2013.3.18

it was a warm, windy and rainy day like a spring storm.
Some trains were delayed becaus of the wind.
I took a half day plus some hours off to visit a temple with friends. I walked and walked on the way to go and ran and ran on the way back. We were lucky to be guided and listen to the background stories.

2013.3.17

It's been just four years since I started working at the office in Shinjuku. It takes about five hours for me to commute every day. I have two colleagues who started working on the same day.
One became a mother and left the office last year.
The other got married and is still working and so will be.
My private big news was to have published a book last year.
Four years passed very fast, but I am glad to have many nice colleagues and met many people.

2013.3.16

It was a warm nice day.  There was the announcement of blooming the cherry blossoms "somei yoshino(ソメイヨシノ)" in Tokyo.  It was about 15 days earlier than last year and 10 days earlier than usual. This is the fastest record as 2002 since the start of the observation in 1953.
I went to once a week grocery shopping in the morning.

There were two big news regarding transportation in Japan.  One is the new connection of the Tokyu Toyoko Line (from Yokohama to Shibuya) and the Tokyo Metro Fukutoshin Line (from Shibuya to Wako).  From Yokohama to Saitama there are direct lines from today.  Shibuya is a very big station where about 2.15 million people use every day. It is changing.
The other is the change of the new time table of JR,  and the start of Hayabusa Shinkansen's fastest run at 320 km/h.

2013.3.15

It was fine and beautiful.
I took a half day off to have a meeting in the morning.
After working in the afternoon I went to a restaurant to book the party, but unfortunately it was closed and seemed going to move somewhere.

2013.3.14

It was cold again.  In this time, the weather is changeable.  There is a phrase around this time "san kan shi on (三寒四温)"　which literally means three cold four warm, it is a cycle of three cold days and four warm days. In the morning it was raining, but it stopped raining when I got to Shinjuku.
I went out for lunch with a colleague at our favorite coffee shop.  They have a stamp card which I completed last time therefore I got a free cake today.
March 14 is known as "White Day" in Japan.  It is a day for boys and men to give sweets to girls and women in return for the chocolate they got on St. Valentine's Day.

2013.3.13

It is very windy like typhoon today.  In the evening it started raining too.
I went out for lunch with 4 colleagues at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  There are 5 lunch menus there, therefore 5 people are ideal to go there together to share everything.  It cost yen 910 each for 5 dishes with rice, soup, pickles, and tea.  We usually finish eating everything, but we couldn't and asked for the doggy bag.

2013.3.12

It was rather warm.
I stayed at the hotel in Tokyo last night where I stayed about the same time last year.  Next week I will stay there again.
Without seeing just one day, the green leaves of cherry tree were increased.

2013.3.11

March 11. It's been two years since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami occurred.
How have you spent the last two years？
The number of dead is thought as 15,881 and of missing 2,668. If you count the related death too, the number reaches 20,852 people.
There were memorial services here and there.
There are still 315,000 people living in the temporary houses so-called kasetsu jutaku (仮設住宅).
I hope the early recovery of the affected areas and peoples' happiness.

2013.3.10

It was windy today.
In the afternoon I went to Sakuragicho (桜木町), Yokohama (横浜) to see my old friend.  She happened to be in Yokohama to attend the dance contest.  Both us were English teachers at the junior high schools after graduating from university and met at the English seminar for the first time.  Our hobby is traveling and we happened to see each other in Spain when I went there for the first time.  Both of us like to wear kimono and we have learned tea ceremony too.
We went to see kimono together.  Kimono is very expensive.  So I did not have any intention to buy it today, but after trying many kimono,  I decided to buy. 
After that we went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed eating and chatting.

2013.3.9

It was warm like spring or early summer.
I went to once a week grocery shopping in the morning.
In the afternoon I went to Yokohama for 3 reasons.  One of the reasons was to buy birthday presents for my friends.  I bought what were ordered, so I hope she would like them.  I should have bought another for my friend abroad, but I could not.  Maybe tomorrow or the day after tomorrow....
The other reason was to go to the beauty salon to have my hair cut.  It was the first time for me to go there.  I was introduced that place by a friend.  It is in Sugita (杉田), Yokohama.  I have never dropped off at that station, so it was interesting to know the new town.  I was wondering if I should have my hair permed or not, but after consulting I decided to do so-called "Digital permanent" which means shape memory permanent wave.  Instruments used were quite different from what I knew so I took a picture.  I also tried head spa for the first time.  After 20% discount it cost about yen 13,000.

2013.3.8

It was rather warm like May.  Spring is nearing.  In the morning I saw beautiful cherry blossoms with some leaves, but in the night they had more greens.
I went to travel agency to book flights for the next months after work.  I had two destinations but it was difficult to book both places at once in my budget and decided to book only one for now.  The person in charge was very kind to answer my requests.

March 8 is International Women's Day.  I was asked to write something for this day from my friend in Australia in January, but I could not.  I knew there is something we need to do for the women in need in the world.  First we need to know the reality such as what they really want.  Because from our standard it may look they need something like more education or something, but if they only know their own world, they may be happy in their world.  We cannot press our sense of value.
However before that we need to make our lives.  Without extra time and money it is difficult to do something for other people.  Even in Japan, there are still many people suffering from the Great East Earthquakes and Tsunami two years ago.   I hope to be rich enough to do something for others too......

2013.3.7

It was rather warm, spring is nearing.
I was very busy for the meeting and preparation for the next & the last program.  I had luncheon with 6 colleagues who will work together for the next program. 

2013.3.6

I work at Shinjuku (新宿) where is the biggest city in Tokyo (東京).  On my way back to the station tonight, the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Governmental Office was lighted up for three colors from my side.  I was wondering what it was.  I asked my colleagues, and she said "Yesterday many people were taking pictures."  And we realized it was the color of Olympics.  In 2010 Tokyo would like to be the host of Olympic and Paralympic and now IOC members are in Japan to have hearing.　If it realizes, it would be the second time for Tokyo to be the host after 1964.

2013.3.5

In the morning I saw the beautiful plum tree and cherry trees full in bloom.  Even if we have cold days every day, spring is coming for sure.
Today is keichitsu (啓蟄), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節季) the 24 solar terms.  The last one was usui (雨水) on February 18 and the next one will be shumbun (春分) on March 20.  Keichitsu is the day on which an insect's hibernation ends.  So on calendar too the spring is coming.

2013.3.4

It was cold.
I had a meeting in the morning to prepare for the next program.  Next Monday three programs start together.  We are getting busier.

2013.3.3

March 3 is known as "hina matsuri (ひな祭り)", the doll's festival or girl's festival.   The families with daughters usually decorate the dolls called "hina ningyo (雛人形)" before the festival and cook special dishes to celebrate girl's healthy growth.
It was not fine but cloudy today.
There were Miura International Marathon Race here and Biwako Mainichi Marathon today.

2013.3.2

It was cold.
I went to once a week grocery shopping which I could not go last week.  I was surprised to see the convenience store in front of the supermarket was closed.
In the afternoon I went to see two movies.  One is "Silver Linings Playbook (世界にひとつのプレイブック : sekai ni hitotsu no purei bukku)" and the other is a Japanese one titled "Su chan, Mai chan, Sawako san (すーちゃん、まいちゃん、さわ子さん). " The former is the Oscar winning movie.  Its Japanese title is quite different from the original.  The latter is the story of three single 30s women.

2013.3.1

A new month has started.  March is sangatsu (三月), the old name is yayoi (弥生) in Japanese.  March is the last month of school year and fiscal year in Japan. 
It was rather warm and rained in the afternoon today. 
There was a graduation ceremony (卒業式: sotsugyo shiki) of high schools here and there. 
I went out for lunch with 6 colleagues and enjoyed eating and chatting.

2013.2.28

How fast time flies!  It's already the end of February.  One sixths of the year has gone.  What did you do?
I have met two old friends from elementary school after so many years this month in the different occasion but at the same restaurant.  I went to concert with my high school friends. I visited ex-colleague's house.
I had 10 days invitation program in charge in the last 10 days of the month and went to Ibaraki (茨城県：ibaraki ken).
So I was rather busy for both private and public and had good times to see many people.
March is the last month for the Japanese fiscal year.  Therefore I will be busy next month too.