2016.7.31

The last day of July.

It has been strange weather. At first it was fine, but beame rain, and became fine again, and rained again, and fine again.  Depends on the place it seemed there were rainbows.
Though the rainy season was over, it looked like we are still in the rainy season.

I went to Kamioooka to have lunch with an 11th JOI coordinator. She is from Yokosuka and was dispatched to Virginia. We have met at the reunion in Febrary this year.
And this was the second time for us to meet. We enjoyed having lunch, chatting our JOI experiences, and sharing our dream project. JOI (Japan Outreach Initiative) Program is really a life changing program. We appreciate we could participate in this program and are looking forward to the next reunion in October.

After that I went to see the exhibition of Ado Mizumori (水森亜土). I liked her pictures when I was young.

Then I looked for a diffuser here and there and bought the
Glass aroma diffuser at last by the card points.
In June I bought many essential oils but I only used it once when I took a bath.
Now I have the diffuser, I can use it any time with different oil for different purpose.  It  changes the colors and very beauriful and relaxing. I am really glad to get it.
I was not the person to enjoy the aromatherapy. But from today I enjoy it for sure.

Here are some pictures of the color changing of the diffuser.

2016.7.30

It was fine and hot.

Today is doyo no ushi no hi (土用の丑の日), the day of ox during the hottest period of summer. On this day we eat eel, so I ate it for lunch.

In the morning I went grocery shopping.

In the afternoon I attended a seminar from 1 pm to 4pm at Takanawa.

In the evening I went to see friends from the seminar I attended on July 1. I thought we would meet just four of us, but there were more people there and I was surprised. But after all I had a good time there from 5 pm to 9:30 pm.

2016.7.29

It was fine and hot.

Yesterday there was a declearation of the end of rainy season. And summer has come suddenly with strong heat and sunshine.

I took an hour off to attend a big conference.
Good thing about flex time system is I could take only one hour off even I left the office at 2 pm because our core time is from 10 am to 3 pm. 

There were 10 speakers from America, Brazil, Russia, England, and Japan. The interpreter must be very tired.
It started at 3 pm and ended around 8：20 pm or so.
Some of them talked too technical for general listeners to understand.

It was a good experience.

2016.7.28

It was cloudy.

There was once a month luncheon with co-workers of the same department. There I happened to know the newcomer who started working this month graduated from the college I worked until this March and we have a mutual acquaintance. Her desk is next to me. She has worked at the mobile phone company for the past three years. I asked the question about the cost of mobile phone, and she recommended me to visit the shop.
So after work I visited the mobile phone shop near tve station and asked why the fee of last month was almost double of the month before. The reason was movie I watched from the links of emails during my commuting time.
So I decided not to watch movies from the internet links outside.
They offer free drinks and free charging. That is very helpful for travelers.
I changed a plan little bit.
I hope I can save money for that.

2016.7.27

It was cloudy.

It is almost the end of July. Usually it is summer, but it is still in the rainy season this year. In Kansai and Tokai area the rainy season has been already over.
We will have a short summer this year.

We can take three days off for summer vacation between July and September.
I am looking for the dream trip by World Ventures.
There are many places I want to travel in the world, but it is rather difficult to find a good tour while working.
I wish to travel anywhere anytime whenever I want to.

2016.7.26

It was cloudy.

After work I went to Fuji Film Square. There are new exhibitions. Some photos were very impressive. I like the pictures of stars around the Polaris, natural creations of snow or ice, lightenings, Mount Fuji with the moon or sun, dews, landscapes of mountains with river or colored leaves, and so one.
In additions to the regular stamo card, there was a questionnaire machine. I replied and got a small gift.

2016.7.25

I took a day off.

It was cloudy, and slightly  rained in Kyoto. 

First I went to Bishamondo (毘沙門堂). I have been there twice or more but there are something new to learn every time. Today I could observe how to make jyokoban (常香盤), incense clock. That is an incense for 24 hours set on the box of ashes.

After that we went to Yasakajinja (八坂神社).  There are three famous festivals in Kyoto and one of them is Gion matsuri (祇園祭) which lasts for a month from July 1 to 31. And it is a festival of Yasaka shrine.  When we arrived  there, many people were sitting on the bench and waiting for Kyogen (狂言) play. It was going to start in 10 minutes or so, therefore we decided to see the performance. To my surprise the first main actor was a foreigner. Since this is a traditional Japanese performing arts, it must be hard for him to master. 

After that we went to have lunch at Issen yoshoku (壹銭洋食), where looks like an old Japanese nostalgic place.

http://www.issen-yosyoku.co.jp/menu/index.html

They only deal one dish" okonomiyaki(お古乃美焼). " We shared the table with a Fench couple. To explain the ingredient I used the dictionary, and it said devil's tongue. Can you imagine what it is?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac

Then we went back to Kyoto station and had drinks at the hotel lounge.  It is rather expensive, but we can relax and stay longer.

My friends left earlier, and I looked around souvenior places.  I tasted many different kinds of pickles and sweets.

Every time I go to Kyoto or Osaka, I make it a rule to buy Kaki no ha zushi(柿の葉寿司) for dinner. And I did it.

I am glad to have a nice trip to Kyoto this time.

2016.7.24

It was fine.

I came to Kansai.

First I went to Osaka to see two friends. One is a friend from Expo'92, the other is a friend from the Golden Life Program two years ago.
I met them at the charity event for supporting Kumamoto. Entrance fee was yen 500 but we got lunch box of about  yen 1000. We listened to some songs and watched Indian dance.
I am glad to see the AGE measuring booth and I got the good result.

We went to the station and tried to find a tea room, but it was rather difficult. However we could get the space at a nice tea room. I was impressed by the chocolate slicing technology.
Then I went to Chokenji(長建寺) in Kyoto and attended the fire festival. It was so powerful.
After that we went out for dinner near the temple. I tried Japanese sake because Fushimi is very famous for sake.

Now I am staying at a hotel near the Kyoto station. I am going to take a public bath. 

It was a nice day.

2016.7.23

It was cloudy and fine.

I went to the beauty salon to have my hair cut. According to my friends' advice I had my hair cut about 10 cm long and tried to change the image.

Since I will see them tomorrow in Kyoto, my hairdresser and I are looking forward to hear their comments.

Here attached two pictures. Which do you prefer?

After that I visited a mobile phone company and the used to be Citibank to ask questions, but I could not get the answer from the former because I could not present the proper ID card.

In the afternoon, I went to Tokyo to attend the seminar for the travel bloggers.
I wish I could be a world travel photo writer to share the world beauty someday!

2016.7.22

It was another rainy day but I did not have to use the umbrella in the evening.

Today is taisho (大暑), one of the nijyushisekki (二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. The last one was shosho (小暑) on July 7 and the next one is risshu (立秋) on August 7.
Taisho literally means big hot. And it is the hottest period in a year. But it was rather cool at night tonight.

Today I have a good news.
I passed the examination for the instructor of Color Beauty Studies.
It is a birthday science. 
There are three groups: Sun, Moon, and Earth.
There are 12 colors and everyone has two colors, one is pure color, the other is active color. Pure color shows one's real characteristic which only you or your close person know and active color shows your appearance which you show others. They are like strategy and tactics.
Each color has adjective. They  are Original Turquoise, Love Yellow Green, Friendly Orange, Speedy Red Orange, Smart Yellow, Perfect Indigo, Balance Blue Green, Communication Blue, Dream Magenta, Passion Red, Human Green and Fantasy Purple.
Besides these colors, there are 10 rails of life styles such as my pace, my way, peace, roman, humanity, reality, wild, elite, unique, and logic.
Since this color beauty studies is statistics, it is different from fortune telling. People from each color have a certain tendency. That is what this color beauty studies tells us.
If you want to know your colors and tendency, please let me know your birthdate.

2016.7.21

It was a rainy day.

After work I stopped at the Fuji Film Square.  Unfortunately it was the time of changing the exhibitions, and I could only see one fourth or so. There were some beautiful pictures of Mt. Fuji with the moon.  When it is  shining on the top of Mt. Fuji, we call it Pearl Fuji. When the sun is shining on the top of Mt. Fuji, it is called Diamond Fuji.
I want to take both pictures someday.

2016.7.20

It was fine and hot.

Last night there was an announcement of 155th Akutagawa Awards and Naoki Awards.

They say it is the last day of the first semester at schools, and students are now in summer vacation.

After work I went to see the opening party of the photo exhibition "my life 4" in Shinjuku.  This exhibition is held once in two years and I went to see my friend's pictures of Tanzania. This is the second or third time for me to attend JPS 7's exhibition. There were some nice pictures and I could talk with photographers. I happened to see one of the friends from the Golden Life Program last year. She said she has thought of me these days because her daughter is now in Florida.  We were going to have dinner, but after all we attended the second party.
We enjoyed eating and chatting.

2016.7.19

It was cloudy and fine and hot.

Since I was in the office all day long, I did not notice it rained in the afternoon.

The rainy season of the southern part of Japan has already been over, but here it rained again, and we will be in the rainy season for a while.

During lunch time there was a rather big earthquake. It did not last long.

2016.7.18

It was fine and very hot.

Today, the third Monday of July is a national holiday called umi no hi (海の日), Marine Day.

There were two visitors in the morning. And I went to see a friend at the nearest sushi bar for lunch.  It's been a year since I went there last. There I happened to see my student after a long  time.
There were many people waiting. Waiting time of table seat was about 35 minutes and of the counter was 5 minutes. So we chose the counter seat.
It is a conveyer belt type sushi bar and we can not only pick up the dishes from the conveyer belt but also we can order through the monitor. If you order, they will be served by waitress or by shinkansen type carrier. When they arrive by the latter, you need to press the monitor button to make the carrier back. One dish usually costs for yen 108 or yen 198.
Usually they serve two sushi on a dish. So we shared to eat as many sushi as pissible. We enjoyed eating and chatting.

2016.7.17

It was cloudy and humid.

This was the middle of three day weekend.

I went to Kimono style Miya to have my new kimono style pictures taken. I have two new summer kimono and was going to change them one after another. But my plan was changed.
After having my formal kimono (homongi: 訪問着) pictures taken I went out for lunch with my model friend to the Japanese restaurant on the 68th floor of the Landmark Tower in Yokohama.
The view from there was very nice and the special July lunch was delicious.

After that we went to the Japanese Tea Room on the 65th floor where I have wanted to visit for a few years. There are three tea rooms, one is a regular size room, the other is a small room called koma (小間) , and another is for sitting on the chair style called ryureiseki (立礼席).
First we had three Japanese sweets and tea at the regular room and then we had tea at the sitting style room too.
They say in winter you can see the Mt. Fuji from that room.
It cost yen 1500.
I recommend you to enjoy Japanese tea ceremony there.

After that we went back to Kimono style Miya again and I changed to another one called tsumugi (紬), and have my pictures taken.

After that I went to another kimono shop, and happened to see the painting process for half collar (haneri: 半襟) and making raden (螺鈿) process for obi (帯), sash. It was a rare chance.

It was a nice day.

2016.7.16

It was cloudy.

I went to attend the instructor's seminar of color beauty studies from10 am to 4:30 pm or so. There were 4 participants including me, and two were new for me.

Everyone has different experiences and human relations, therefore it was interesting to hear their own life history.

Only I took the exam after the class.  I hope I would pass it this time.

Since Monday is a national holiday,  we have three day weekend. 

2016.7.15

It was cloudy and slightly raining in the morning.
It seemed to have rained heavily in the day time.

I had lunch with an ex-colleague after a while.

The photo exhibition of 30000 people started at the three venues in Roppongi. I walked through and looked at the half of one of them on my way to the office, and another half of the other two on my way back to the station from office.
There are still lots of them. It will last until next Wednesday, so that I will go there again next week.  There were 10 selected pictures by 10 cerebrities such as photographers, actors and actresses including their own picture.
I wondered how they chose the 10 pictures out of 30000 pictures so I asked the receptionist, but she did not know exactly about the selection process. Only she knew was there were about 45000 pictures applied for this event this year.

I myself like to take pictures, and admire photographers who share their beautiful pictures. Through those pictures I feel like visiting the places I have never been.
Someday I want to publish a photobook of my favorite places.

Since next Monday is a national holiday, I have a three day weekend.

TGIF

2016.7.14

It was cloudy in the morning, and started raining heavily with thunder in the afternoon. It stopped raining at night, but has just started raining heavily again.

It seems there will be a big photo exhibition in Roppongi from tomorrow.
There are three venues and two of them are on my way to the office, so I am very looking forward to seeing them maybe tomorrow after work.

2016.7.13

It was a rainy day.

We got together at thre Roppogi Hills in the morning and after seeing the Tokyo models of 1/1000 scales we went up to the top and saw the city view. Unfortunately it was raining, so  we could not see the nice view.
Since there was Expo of Studio Ghibli, there were so many visitors in spite of weekday.

We had volumy lunch.

We walked along Omotesando and Takeshita street and went to Ueno and visited the zoo. It's been long time since I went there last, maybe more than a quarter century ago. It is very famous for Panda. And fortunately we could see two of them. Some animals have already been back to their rooms.

We walked Ameyoko street too.

I walked 14723 steps.

It was a long day.