2014.6.30

The last day of June, that means the half of 2014 has passed.  How was your first half?
I have had many experiences during these 6 months. The biggest change was to have started the new job and commuting for five hours per day for five days a week.
Second was I have attended many seminars and got to know many new things and people.

There was a big reunion of high school and met old friends after so many years.

There were chances to visit shrines and temples.

 

2014.6.29

It was cloudy, and partially fine.  But in Tokyo it rained heavily with thunder and lightening.

I went to beauty shop to have my hair cut.  They sent me a birthday card offering head spa in May, and I got some discount, therefore I felt very lucky today.

After that I went to bookstore to buy a book.  Then I had lunch at Korean restaurant. I chose cold noodle with mini Bibimbap.  Interesting thing was the waitress cut noodle with scissors in front of me.  It was tasty.

Then I went to a seminar in Yokohama with friend in the afternoon.

After coming back, I went to grocery shopping.  There I happened to see my friend from tea ceremony lesson.  When I got home, I had a voice message from my tea master about special lesson next month.  What a coincidence!

 

2014.6.28

It was cloudy and rainy.

The last Saturday in June.  I stayed at home all day long.  There was a visitor in the morning.
I was supposed to go to the car dealer to have my car fixed for the recall problem, but postponed it until next weekend. 
I feel it's been long time since I stayed at home on Saturday last time.  I cooked dinner after a long time too.
 

2014.6.27

It was cloudy.

I was going to see a movie after work.  But after all I overworked and left the office later than usual and could not go to see a movie.  Somebody invited me to the seminar tonight but I am glad to have refuse it today.

TGIF

2014.6.26

It was cloudy and rather hot.
The rainy season in Okinawa is over.  But not here.

Today 6.26 is roten buro no hi (露天風呂の日), day of open-air bath.  It comes from the pronunciation of 6 for ro, 26 for furo (buro).  Japanese people like to take a bath at night to relax.  In hot spring they enjoy open-air bath too.
I like Japanese-style bath very much.  And this is one of the things I miss a lot when I stay abroad for a long time.  So the first thing I want to do after coming back from a long trip is to take a bath.


 

2014.6.25

It was cloudy in the morning.

There was a world cup soccer game of Japan vs Columbia.  Unfortunately Japan lost the game.

I took a half day off to go to see a doctor for my father.
Then I went to Kimono-Style Miya to see the kimono for fashion show in October 2015 in Kyoto and in spring 2016 in Paris.   I am very looking forward to attending those events.
Then I went to the office.  When I got to Ikebukuro, it started raining heavily with thunder.  They say it hailed again somewhere. 

 

2014.6.24

It was cloudy in the morning, but rained heavily with thunder and lightening in the afternoon.  It stopped raining when I left the office.  So I was lucky not to use an umbrella.
They say in Mitaka, Tokyo, it hailed and piled like snow.  Unbelievable scene at this time of the year.

2014 Wimbledon Championships started.  Mr. Kei Nishikori, the 10th seed, won the first game straight.  Unfortunately Ms. Kimiko Date-Krumm lost the first game.

2014.6.23

It was cloudy but rained heavily in the afternoon for a short time.
In Tochigi they say they had heavy rain tonight.  These days weather is unstable and strange. 
I was glad we had a rather good weather this weekend in this rainy season when we went to Suwa.

I watched some World Cup soccer games on TV news.  They edit good scenes such as shooting goals, so it was fun to see it.

2014.6.22

It was rainy but it stopped later.

Today we visited two shrines and ate hoto (ほうとう) which is the local food of  Yamanashi (山梨) for lunch.
Then we went to Lake Kawaguchi (河口湖：kawaguchiko) which is one of the five lakes around Mt. Fuji.

We could come back at the station around 7 PM.

After coming home, I went grocery shopping.

2014.6.21

It was cloudy.

Today is geshi (夏至), one of nijyushisekki(二十四節季), the 24 solar terms.  It is the day when the daytime is the longest.

I came to Suwa, Nagano with my friends and visited three shrines.  Gods of two shrines are couples. There was a summer festival at the third shrine and we could see the special dance dedicated to gods.

We visited the sake brewery too.

The Japanese style hotel is very nice, especially dinner and hotspring.
I hope you have a chance to enjoy them too.

2014.6.20

It was cloudy but very hot.

I took an earlier train than usual in the  morning to leave earlier in the evening.

In the morning Japan time during most people's commuting hour there was a World Cup game of Japan and Greece.
Some people went to the office or sports bar earlier to watch the game on TV, others were trying to watch it on their way to work by smartphone or something. I just watched the last five minutes or so on the train. The result was a tie of zero vs. zero.
Many fan were disappointed because they wanted the Samurai Japan to win.

After work I went to attend the lecture by Mr. Ken Honda and bought the latest book to get his autograph.
There I met an aquaintance whom I got to know at his last event.

2014.6.19

It was cloudy and sometimes fine.

Today at lunch time I went to dental check which was held inside the university.  After checking they instructed how to brush teeth and not to have shiseki (歯石), tartar.  Shiseki literally means tooth stone.　I am glad that I have sound teeth.  Bad tooth or cavity is called mushiba (虫歯), which literally means insect tooth.
I think there are more people who care about teeth in the United States than in Japan and there are more people who straighten their teeth in the United States.  Therefore generally speaking they have straight set of teeth.  In Japan even they have yaeba (八重歯), double tooth, not all the people try to pull them out.  Yaeba literally means eight piled tooth.
Dentist is haisha (歯医者) in Japanese.
 

2014.6.18

It was cloudy and rainy sometimes.

I went to Omotesando to attend a followup seminar.  It's been about three months since we met first and the last.  There were two instructors and  5 participants and 1 attended by SKYPE.  Some have been active, others have not for the passed three months.  Situation of each person seemed to have changed a lot during these period.
At lunch time we were invited to the restaurant where only limited people must have known its existence. 

After the seminar, I went to an exhibition of illustrators at the nearby gallery.  One of them is a friend from high school.  Then I walked to Shibuya.  At Hikarie I knew there is an exhibition of photographs.  Therefore I went to see it too. 

From Shinagawa I could ride on the Keikyu Happy Yellow Train again.
 

2016.6.17

It was cloudy but very hot.

Since the World Cup began, some people might have felt the lack of sleep. 
There is about 12 hours time difference between Japan and Brazil, so for us the Japanese first match from 10 AM to 12 PM on Sunday was good time to see on TV.
However other games were played in their day time which is our after midnight time, so it is rather difficult to see all the games.  Live games are so exciting that recorded one is not so attractive.  I am not a big fan but when they shoot at goal I feel good even if it is not Japanese team game.

2014.6.16

It was fine and very hot.

I usually use earphone to listen to the news or something on my way to office especially during the train ride.  However today I forgot bringing it, therefore I could not listen.  At lunch time I watch TV by my smart phone using earphone too.  There was nobody today at the lounge, so I could watch TV without using it.

Today I remitted some money through ATM.  Before I could remit money without paying the handling charge between the same banks, but today I needed to pay.  I did not understand why.  But it seems something has been changed since April 1 when the consumption tax was raised.  Now using Internet banking seems the most economical way to remit.

2014.6.15

It was fine and very hot today.

There was the first match for Samurai Japan at 10 AM today . Usually I do not see the game, but watche it for two hours. The first half was good, but in the second half they lost two points and lost to Republic of Cote d'Ivoire by 2:1. Since it is Sunday, I believe many people must have watched the game on TV.  It was raining in Brazil.

The third Sunday of June is Father's Day in Japan.  Is this the same custom in your country?
I went shopping, to the banks, to the gas station and so on.  I could find a nice house wear suit, so I gave them and rice bowl and a card too.

2014.6.14

It was very fine and hot today.

I went to Kamioooka to see a movie "Noah" first.  I wanted to buy a cover of tablet PC, but unfortunately they were not selling at the nearest shop from the theater and they said I should buy from the online market.  Then I went to Sakuragicho to visit Kimono-style Miya to get my pictures of Kimono model.  Then I went to Kannai to attend a monthly meeting.  There was a chance to declare my goal in front of attendance.  It is very good to make a clear vision for the future.  After the meeting I walked to the shrine.  On my way there I happened to see the big pottery market.  So I bought rice bowls.  Then I went to see another movie in Yokohama.  Since I mistook a starting time, the one I was going to see was already started, therefore I watched a Japanese newly released movie titled "Haru wo sewotte (春を背負って)."  It is a mountain movie. 
Then I went to buy something for my father at the department store because tomorrow is Father's Day. But I could not find anything special, so the rice bowl and a card will be presents if I cannot find something tomorrow.  
At the department store there was an exhibition of the 23 years history of world famous skater, Ms. Mao Asada (浅田真央). There were many people there. I enjoyed seeing her costumes and medals.
It was an eventful Saturday.

 

2014.6.13

It was very fine and Mt. Fuji looked so beautiful in the blue sky in the morning.  But it rained heavily with thunder in the afternoon.  At night it became fine and I could see the beautiful full moon.

The FIFA World Cup has started.  The first game was between Brazil and Croatia.  And the main referee was a Japanese.  I only saw it by sports news, but it seems there is a dispute about his judgement.

2014.6.12

It rained.  But in the night when I came back I could see the beautiful moon and some stars.

The FIFA World Cup will start soon.  I wonder if every construction of the venue was finished or not.
When we went to Spain in March 1992 for Expo 92, some pavilions were still under construction however most of them were in time when it opened on April 20.  However when I worked at Expo 2005, the Andean Amazonian Pavilion was not opened until 50 days later than the grand opening.
Compared to those Expo, World Cup lasts only for a month or so, I am wondering.

2014.6.11

It's been raining. 
They say within just a week since the rainy season started, the amount of rain reached to those of whole amount of the regular year.  Today we had heavy rain in the afternoon.  There happened landslide disasters last week.  The typhoon No. 6 occurred in Okinawa today. 
On the calendar today is nyubai (入梅), literally enter plum, but means the start of the rainy season.  We also say tsuyu iri (梅雨入り), entering rainy season.

2014.6.10

It was fine and very hot.

June 10 is known as toki no kinenbi (時の記念日), Anniversary of Time.

Today I took a day off to take my father to the hospital in Yokosuka to take MRI.  It happens twice a year.  Besides this there is something wrong with him these days, he went to one more department and took ultrasound diagnosis, urine exam, blood exam, and chest X-ray.  It took nearly 3 hours in total.  Today he took only examinations, and we need to go there to hear the result later.

After that we went out for lunch at my favorite restaurant and we enjoyed eating crab course dinner.  There were many different dishes and all were so delicious.

After that we went to cellphone shop to cancel his cellphone.  We went to the one where we bought it about 5 years ago, but there they only sell and we could not cancel.  So we needed to go to other cellphone shop.  It was very inconvenient.  But we were glad to cancel finally.

 

2014.6.9

It was cloudy, slightly rained, and the sun shined for a short time, that is a strange weather.

These days there were some emails I could not receive.  The biggest reason was I changed the smart phone and I became unable to use one of the email addresses.
Another reason was I have got so many spam mails before, therefore I set up not to receive emails if there is a link.
I have been wondering why they do not write me back, but actually they did.  So  I am glad to confirm them.

2014.6.8

It was rainy in the morning but became fine in the afternoon.

I went to grocery shopping in the morning.
Then I went to Yoga lesson in the afternoon.  It's been more than one month since I went there last time. After one hour yoga lesson, I went to the training room.  The system of entering or exiting and measuring weight and other things has been changed during one month.  I happened to see some of yoga friends.
In the evening I went out for dinner with my friends, and we enjoyed eating and talking.

2014.6.7

It's been raining.

I went to Shinjuku to attend a monthly meeting. It started at 11AM and I left home to be in time.  But because of heavy rain, trains were delayed, and I was late.

At lunch I met my classmate from the  vocational school we attended from 2004 to 2005.

Then I went to Ikebukuro to see a movie "Leonie (レオニー") directed by Ms.  Hisako Matsui (松井久子) and attended  her talk and Q&A session.  I have been interested in her first movie "Yukie (ユキエ)" and the second movie "Oriume (折り梅)" for a long time, but  never  had a chance to see them.  So I am glad to see the movie today.
Surprisingly Mrs. Akie Abe (安倍昭恵), wife of the prime minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三) was there.

After that I was going to see my friend, but the trains were still running slow, therefore I gave up.

In the evening I went to massage after a long time.

I was busy but had a good day.

2014.6.6

It's been raining.

I went to Gakushuin Women's College to attend an International Symposium about women's higher education.  Panelists were professors of Japanese Women's Colleges  and those from Saudi Arabia.
I was impressed by the speech delivered by the Saudi Cultural Attache in Tokyo. His Japanese was wonderful. He studied in Japan when he was young.
It is very nice for students studying abroad will return as a member of the Embassy to work for both countries.
Now I am working at a university in Tokyo to help students from foreign countries. I am looking forward to their future activities.

After that I went to Shinjuku to see a movie Mandela Long  Walk to Freedom.

2014.6.5

It was cloudy in the morning and rain in the afternoon.  It was rather cool.
They say the rainy season has begun in Kanto area.  Rainy season is tsuyu (梅雨) in Japanese.  
 

2014.6.4

It was another hot day.

A week from June 4th is known as ha no eisei shukan (歯の衛生週間), Dental Hygiene Week.  When I was a primary and junior high school student, there was a dental check on this day.

The rainy season has started in the southern part of Japan.  And it rained heavily in Kyushu (九州) and Shikoku (四国) today.  They say this is the heaviest rain record in June and many people evacuated in Miyazaki (宮崎).　It is estimated that there will be heavy rain in Kanto (関東) area tomorrow too.  In Hokkaido (北海道), where is the northernmost island, it was the hottest today.　We are having very strange weather these days.

I finished reading a best seller book about accounting today.  The book has been printed for 49 times.  I have not had any interests in accounting, but it was interesting after studying at the business school.

2014.6.3

It was another very hot day.

I took the earlier train, which I used to commute, to go to banks in Shinjuku. 
In Japan the office hour of the banks is usually from 9 AM to 3 PM.  You can use the ATM from 8:45 AM to 6 PM in most places, and longer time depends on banks.  My working time is from10 AM to 6 PM, so after work it is too late to use the ATM.  Therefore I decided to drop at Shinjuku to visit some banks before working.  There are many banks in Shinjuku, so are there in Ikebukuro.  However since I use two local banks there are few branch offices in Tokyo.  But there are their branches in Shinjuku.
Shinjuku is a very convenient place in that point.

2014.6.2

It was another very hot day.

 

For commuting I use Keihinkyuko （京浜急行） line. Its train is usually red and white, and sometimes blue.  But this morning I happened to ride on the yellow one.  Since there is only one that has started running since May 1, it is called ゛Keikyu Yellow Happy Train. ゛ Even just to see that train is said to be lucky and the schedule is not fixed, so to ride on it is luckier.  I feel lucky to be able to ride.

 

At night the crescent moon was very beautiful.

2014.6.1

A new month has started.  June is rokugatsu (六月), its old name is minazuki (水無月), literally means water without month.  However June is known as the month of rain called tsuyu (梅雨) which literally means plum rain.

It was fine and very very hot like summer today.  It went up to more than thirty degrees centigrade which is manatsubi (真夏日), mid-summer day in many places, in some other places it went up to even 35 degrees centigrade which is moshobi (猛暑日), heat wave day.

First day is a good day to start something.  I started using the new PC, printer, and provider from today.