It was fine and hot.
I could see the beautiful Mt. Fuji from home and office in the morning.
Today is the last day of September which means three fourth of 2015 has been passed.
I have traveled around many places during the first half year. The third quarter was not good because of my sickness and my father's passing.
How about your life?
It was fine and hot.
Today I helped some students for different reasons. One of them was to register the new address to the post office to forward mails. Last week another student had brought the postcard to ask forwarding to open account at the post office. So I knew it would be possible to register through Internet by that postcard. And today we tried it for the first time.
First you need to register the email address, then they send you the link where you can register. There you need to register the phone number, then you need to call from that telephone and input the designated numbers and finally it will be registered. The mails will be forwarded from October 2 for a year.
He will move to the suburb of Tokyo tomorrow. I was surprised to hear the rent. It was far much cheaper than I thought because I thought the rent in Tokyo must be very expensive so that I should better commuting to save money.
It was fine and rather warm.
At night I could see the beautiful super moon though there were clouds. I tried to take pictures but it was diffucult.
Today is taian (大安), lucky day. There were two announcements of big couple's wedding.
A new NHK's morning drama "Asa ga kita (あさが来た)" has begun. Asa is morning. So its meaning is the morning has come. Since the main character's name is also Asa (あさ) .
So it also means Asa has come.
It is a story of a woman who established the first college.
It was cloudy and partially fine.
I am glad it did not rain.
We had the 49th day memorial service (四十九日: shijyukunichi) of my father. It has not been 49 days yet, but it is acceptable to held the ceremony beforehand but not afterwards.
My father's younger brother and his wife from Hiroshima and my mother's cousin from Aichi joined us.
The ceremony started around 1pm followed by placing an urn in a tomb (納骨: nokotsu) and ended around 2pm. When we were in front of the tomb, the sun appeared so I felt we were lucky so was my father.
49th day is the day when the soul of the dead person leaves the earth to heaven.
By now he must have met my mother there after 13 years and 4 months and 16 days.
After the service we went to a Japanese restaurant and ate a delicious tuna course dinner. Actually I was surprised to see the different dishes and impressed by the variety of Japanese cooking ways. There were too much and I could not eat all so brought leftover to home.
In addtition to that we brought back flowers so there are many flowers at home now.
The next milestone is 100th day.
We usually have one year memorial service next year and the third year memorial service the year after next for the dead person.
So we will get together again at that time.
It is a rainy day and rather cool.
There is a saying "Atsusa samusa mo higan made (暑さ寒さも彼岸まで)."
It means the heat or coldness lasts until equinox week. It is really true.
Tomorrow we have a 49th day service and put my father's bones and ashes into the grave so that I hope it will be fine.
It is a rainy day and rather cool.
There is a saying "Atsusa samusa mo higan made (暑さ寒さも彼岸まで)."
It means the heat or coldness lasts until equinox week. It is really true.
Tomorrow we have a 49th day service and put my father's bones and ashes into the grave so that I hope it will be fine.
It was cloudy but started raining in the afternoon.
After work I went out for dinner with a friend from high school who happened to come back to Japan for holiday.
It's been a while since we met last.
We ate at an Oyster bar. There were many different oysters from different place and cooked different way.
In Japan Hiroshima and Miyagi are very famous for the Oyster places. However when I asked them, they recommended the one from Hokkaido and we ate the raw oyster which was really delicious. We ate steamed, fried, and baked one in a can. But I like the raw oyster the best.
Oyster is kaki (牡蛎) in Japanese.
It was fine and hot.
Today is a national holiday called shubun no hi (秋分の日), Autumn equinox day.
And today is the last day of the silver week.
Since I had to work, for me it was not a holiday.
Tonight I went out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Shinjuku with my tennis friends though I have not played tennis for a long time. There were eight of us. We ordered many dishes. Good thing about Chinese foods is we can share. So the more people, the more food we can taste.
It was fine and hot.
Today is a national holiday.
But our school was not a holiday.
At lunch time we had a welcome party for the new faculty and the returned one.
It is a good chance to talk with staff from different offices and faculty. There were three tables and about 10 people each. We draw the lottery number and the table is decided.
There were sushi, sandwiches, salad, fried foods, and snacks. It was interesting to see the difference of leftovers by tables.
It was fine.
Today is a national holiday called keiro no hi (敬老の日), Respect for the Aged Day. It used to be on September 15. But since 2003, it has fallen on the third Monday of September because of happy Monday system.
According to national statistics, as of September 15, there are 33,840,000 people (14,620,000 male, 19.210, 000 female) who are over 65 years old which occupy 26.7% of all the population. Among them there are 10,020,000 people who are over 80 years old which occupy 7.9% of all the population. This is the first time to have more than 10 million of them.
Japan is really an aging country.
Since our school is not a holiday I went to work. Trains were not crowded and it arrived earlier than usual in the morning and in the evening too.
As the new semester began today my working time has returned to regular time, that is from 10 am to 6 pm. When I left the office tonight, it was already dark.
I feel the approach of autumn.
It was fine.
My cousin and her husband living in Gifu visited me on their way to see their newly born grandson in Tsukuba in the morning. We visited my mother's grave yard. Since today is the first day of the fall equinox week, there were many people visiting their ancester's graveyard.
We ate lunch at a sushi restaurant.
After they left, I went to fill up my car. There I was recommended to change the tires and I did.
Then I went to grocery shopping. I bought chestnuts which was delicious. There are many delicious foods in autumn.
It was fine today.
I went to Yokohama to attend a meeting with my friend.
There were so many people at the Kannai station because there was a baseball game. Outside the stadium there was a long line waiting for buying foods such as curry and rice, fried noodles, barbecue and so on. After the meeting on our way back they were selling at the half price.
After eating lunch we visited the souvenir shop of Kanagawa prefecture near the Yokohama port and I bought some foods.
At the meeting I learned many interesting things about water.
After the meeting I went to a department store to buy presents. While waiting for their wrapping, I happened to see my friend from high school.
I had another meeting of local representative at night for two hours.
It was a rainy day but the sun appeared in the evening.
Today was the last day of leaving one hour earlier than regular working time during summer vacation. So I went to Yokohama to see a Japanese movie "Unfair the End" on my way home. It had an unexpected twist at the end.
It was a rainy day and rather cool.
There was a medical check for the newly enrolled students. I accompanied them to the venue.
For Japanese people urine examination is one of the very common medical check tests. But according to our international students they said they have never taken that examination. So I was so surprised to hear that.
Our common events are not always others' common events.
To know different culture is very interesting for me.
It was cloudy and started raining in the evening.
There was orientation for newly enrolled graduate school students first, then another orientation with all current students.
After that I had a campus tour for new students. There are 12 of them coming from Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America. In the evening we had a welcome party for them.
I hope they will have fruitful study experiences and nice lives in Japan.
It was cloudy. In the morning and evening it is getting cooler.
September 15 used to be a national holiday called keiro no hi (敬老の日), Respect for the Aged Day. But it is now on the third Monday of September, so we will have a long weekend called Silver Week next week.
It was cloudy.
These days my battery of the smartphone doesn't last long. I tried the portable battery but it was not charged well. I don't know why.
Smartphone makes our lives easier but without electricity it is no use. I used to remember the important phone numbers but these days smartphone records everything and I cannot remember the phone numbers. So if battery finishes, I can't call.
It was a rainy day, but stopped raining in the afternoon.
I stayed home all day long and relaxed.
Every five year we conduct a National census. And this is the year. From this year we could answer through Internet. It was very easy.
It was fine and hot.
There was a big earthquake at 5:49 this morning and lasted for a few minutes. These days there are many natural disasters happening in Japan. Maybe not only in Japan though.
I went to Yokohama to attend a monthly meeting in the morning.
On my way there when I changed the train, I happened to see my Yoga friend whom I have not seen more than a year or so.
The first session of the meeting was from 11:00 am to 12:15 pm and the second session was from 14:00 to 15:30. I ate lunch at an Italian restaurant with 7 friends. The potion of spaghetti seemed more than double of other restaurants. We became full.
After the meeting I went to Kimono Style Miya to choose accessories of kimono such as obijime (帯締め) or obiage (帯揚げ), decorations for the sash. I will wear them for the Kimono fashion show at Toji temple in Kyoto where is one of the world heritage sites of UNESCO next month.
I met a kimono teacher there and enjoyed talking.
It was very fine and hot finally after rainy days in the southern Kanto area.
But it rained heavily in the northern Kanto area and Tohoku area and it caused terrible damage again. There are many people evacuating and 23 people are missing now.
It was another rainy day, but stopped raining in the afternoon and the sun was shining in the evening.
This morning my train delayed about an hour. But I could come home as usual.
In the northern Kanto area such as Tochigi and Ibaraki, the heavy rain, which happened once in 50 years, caused flood and made big damages here and there. Many people evacuated.
I regret about clearing my father's clothings recently because I could have donated the to those who evacuated this time.
It is a rainy day. It rained heavily, stopped, and rained again. Sometimes the sun came out shining while raining. We call this sun shower " kitsune no yomeiri (狐の嫁入り)," fox bride's wedding. Depends on the place there was a rainbow.
The typhoon No. 18 hit the central Japan this morning and left to north. But we still have heavy rain.
Because of this heavy rain my train was delayed for half an hour in the morning. And on my way back trains stopped at Kanazawabunko (金沢文庫), because they could not run between Kanazawabunko and Misakuguchi (三崎口).
There were many people waiting for the train going furthur to the south at the platform.
After all I had to wait there for more than an hour, and came home nearly 10 pm. It took about five hours which is double of usual.
It is another rainy day.
Today is hakuro (白露), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. The last one was shosho (処暑) on August 23, and the next one is shubun (秋分) on September 23.
Hakuro literally means white dew. It is the time white dew is made because air becomes cool.
Tonight there were two deliveries, one was monthly ordered goods, the other was the sweets for my dead father from my friend. There was a letter inside to cheer me up.
I appreciate her kindness.
It was a rainy day. But to my lucky I have not used the umbrella yet.
It is cloudy and dark, and may rain soon again.
I bring the folding unbrella (折り畳み傘: oritatamigasa) with me every day in case of the sudden rain.
In summer I use the one for both rain and sunshine. We call this seiu kenyo (晴雨兼用).
And I keep a spare umbrella at the locker of my office. We call this okigasa (置き傘).
There is a saying "sonae areba urei nashi (備えあれば憂いなし)" which means "Providing is preventing."
It was cloudy in the morning and started raining in the evening.
There were two visitors today. One was from the funeral company and he brought my father's Buddhist memorial tablet called ihai (位牌) which will be put at butsudan (仏壇), household Buddhist alter. My father's Buddhist name and the date of death are inscribed on the front and his secular names on the back.
Since there was a call from the graveyard service company yesterday that the carving the names and the date of death on the grave stone is fiinished, I went to see it.
It was fine in the morning.
It is a good day for the local shrine festival. I was supposed to go to help to make rice balls for the parade people at six in the morning. But since my father passed away, I am not allowed to join this festival.
So I decided to attend a monthly meeting in Shinjuku. It lasted for a little bit longer than schedule and I gave up watching a Japanese movie released today.
The other day I noticed the clock in my room delayed so I changed the battery. It seemed working. But it delayed again. So I went to buy a new one. Fortunately I had a coupon and some points of the store, I got it without paying.
The weather was very strange today again. It was cloudy but the sun was shining in the morning. In the afternoon it rained heavily with thunder and lightening but it didn't last long.
After work I went to see a movie TED 2 at Kawasaki because I have a free ticket. There used to be a theater I could use the free tickets in Shinjuku before and I used to go there but it closed. There are two theaters I can use the tickets in Kanagawa now. One is in Kawasaki and the other is in Yokohama.
Since both of them are on my way home I do not need the transportation fee, but because they are not terminals it is hard to sit from the begining.
I was lucky to sit from Yokohama today.
The movie was interesting.
TGIF
It was fine and hot in the morning but it started raining in the evening.
And it is raining heavily now.
Yesterday there was a note of delivery while I was out. I called the redelivery but it was too late to do last night. Usually other companies offer the delivery until 9 pm but that company won't until such late. However the goods were pears. So the person in charge delivered the box on his way home after work tonight. How kind he is!
It rained heavily with thunder and lightening in the morning but stopped raining and became fine and hot in the afternoon.
Because of the heavy rain I started wearing a new pair of rain shoes.
After work on my way home I dropped at Yokosukachuo to go to some banks.
I was surprised to see a tall building near the station. I think I go there once a month but I have not noticed it before.
