2020.4.30

It was fine. 

The last day of April.

It was quite different from April I have experienced before.

I have stayed at home almost every day.

I have had much time to listen to zoom seminars and learned a lot and changed some customs.

2020.4.29

It was fine.

Today is a national holiday called Showa no hi (昭和の日), Day of Showa. It was used to be Emperor's birthday while Emperor Showa's reign until 1988. After that it became Midori no hi (みどりの日), Greenery Day. Since 2007 it has become Showa no hi (昭和の日).

Today is the start of the Golden Week. However this year is quite different from usual because of COVID-19.  We are requested to stay home. 

I stayed at home.

I picked fuki (ふき) butterbur from my garden and cooked in the morning.

In the afternoon I wrote the draft of my 12th ebook "Things Japanese in December."

 

2020.4.28

It was fine.

Sunset was so beautiful.

I got an email from the office. They say our teleworking will be extended until June 12. 

I think I should cancel my commuting ticket.

Today I got a delivery which I ordered yesterday. Usually when we receive the goods, we sign or press the seal. However because of COVID-19 they say they stopped getting signs to prevent infection..

In Japan seals are still more popular than signature. So when we oen an account at the banks, we usually need the seal which is called inkan (印鑑). At the city office, if you need any certification, we need inkan too.

2020.4.27

It was cloudy.

I stayed and worked at home. The fourth week of teleworking has begun.

At night I attended three Facebook Lives. One of them is 4Ｃ reading meeting Volume 3 by Mr. Toshitaka Mochizuki. 4 C means Change, Challenge, Chance, and Choroi. Choroi is a Japanese word meaning simple or easy to do. He has about 30000 books. He used to teach photo reading. He said that you don't need to read all the books from the beginning to the end, and that you should read as if you are the writer of the book, and that one wonderful book change your life. He recommended to listen to the Youtube video by the double speed and return to the normal speed. Reading fast is understanding fast. To differenciate necessary and unnecessary is important. You can enjoy "off" because of "on." 

Time is more important.Reading unnecessary books because you spent yen1500 is wasting your time.

Output is important. If you read for 20 minutes, find three important points and write about them for 40 minutes.

Not fast reading but fast doing is more important.

Read great men's essence of lives, and you can live your life multiply.

If you want to write books, read four to ten books of the same genre and compare the same and different parts. Same parts are golden rules. Different part is the originality.

These are what I learned today for free of charge.

Next one will be from 22:00 JST on May 3.

If you have time, why don't you attend?

2020.4.26

It was fine and windy. There was an earthquake in the morning.

I attended a webinar from 10 am. It lasted for more than 3 hours and a half for free of charge. There were full of information.

After that I watched another Facebook lives which I missed yesterday.

In the evening I went grocery shopping. There were some changes here and there. I was surprised to see some new stores recently opened. I did not notice at all.

At night I watched  TV dramas.

2020.4.25

It was fine.

I stayed home all day long.

I watched many Facebook lives and Zoom seminars. Many peole have many talents and share them for free of charge. How generous they are!

I did audio transcript of the seminar too.

Today I was surprised to read an article of the newspaper. It said 107 years old woman from Andalucia, Spain who was suffered from the Spanish cold about 100 years ago has got Coronavirus and recovered. She has survived two pandemic. Her name is Mrs. Ana Delbaje.

Amazing, isn''t it?

2020.4.24

It was fine.

I stayed and worked at home. It's been three weeks.

I felt bad about the commuting ticket which I bought for six months. I only used for three days. 

Even if I cancel it now, it seems I have to pay for a month and handling charge.

Since I am not sure how long my teleworking situation will last and I can't decide.

Tonight I watched a Facebook live which was very informative.

2020.4.23

It was fine.

When I went out to dump garbage in the morning, I happened to see a neighbor after a long time and chatted a little bit. When I go to the office, I leave home around 7am, but now I am teleworking, so I went to the garbage station around 8:30 am and I saw her.

She said she had a story to tell and would like to make it as manga, cartoon to be known to many people. 

I happen to know somebody that is a cartoonist so maybe I can introduce someday if she wished.

The say an actress named Kumiko Okae died of Coronavirus this moring at the age of 63. She was under the treatment after breast cancer surgery.

Too young to finish the life, isn't she?

Today is a new moon. It is a good time to start something.

Tonight I watched some Facebook lives which were very informative to keep healthy.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2020.4.22

It was fine.

I stayed at home and worked at home.

At night I was going to see a TV drama, but I happened to switch to a different channel and it was very interesting and I watched it instead.

It dealt with true stories.

Reality is more interesting than stories, isn't it?

2020.4.21

It was fine and cloudy. It was supposed to be warm but not so much.

I stayed at home snd worked at home.

In the evening there were three zoom sessions. One of them was related to detox and fortune. I have not been interested in detox, but after having hard about the amount of food additive we take in a year, I felt the necessity of detox. There are two ways to detox. One of them is to reduce the amount of eating, the other is fasting. Since  I like eating it seems difficult.

2020.4.20

It was a cold rainy day.

I stayed at  home and worked at home.

The way of support by the Government is changing and controversial. First two masks per family, second yen 300,000 to the family in need, and now yen 100,000 for everyone. To make everyone happy is very difficult.

I watched a TV drama at night. They say the next one won't be broadcast next week because of coronavirus. I am not sure why. Because they previewed the next story.

2020.4.19

It was fine today after a heavy rain yesterday. Mt. Fuji looked so beautiful covered with snow.

Today is kokuu (穀雨), one of nijushisekki(二十四節気), the 24 soler terms. The last one was seimei (清明) on April 4, and the next one is rikka (立夏) on May 5.

穀雨(kokuu) literally means cereales rain. It is rain to help grains to grow.

Today I had a chance to enjoy Afternoon Tea at the 26th floor of the hotel in Shinagawa. Usually there are three restaurants but because of the Coronavirus, only one of them was open. It was a spacy place with about 27.5 meters high ceiling. There were 10 small sweets and dishes. I could taste six different tea. Sweets were either strawberry or cherry related taste. I really like Afternoon Tea.

2020.4.18

It was a strange weather day. Starting from thunderstorm, it was heavy rain in the morning  but became fine in the afternoon. There were earhquakes too.

I stayed at home all day long.

I watched Facebook Lives and attended some zoom seminars.

In the afternoon I watched a Japanese movie "Toki wo kakeru shojo (時をかける少女:Time Travel Girl)" on TV. It was a rather old movie.Its director Nobuhiko Obayashi passed away recently. RIP

2020.4.17

It was cloudy.

Since it was a payday I went to ATMs before started working. 

There was a zoom meeting in the morning and an online seminar in the afternoon.

After working I started audio transcription of the seminar I took last week, but to my shock, I realized that it was not my part. I need to do it again from the beginning.

At night I happened to see the TV program about the bars in San Sebstian in Spain where I have been to twice. They say there are 17 Michelin guide listed restaurants there. I feel like visiting there again.

2020.4.15

It was fine and warm.

As a ritual of the 15th, I went to the nearby shrine in the morning.

Besides that I stayed at home and worked at home. I had a zoom meeting and many documents checking and making.

At night I watched some Facebook lives and TV programs.

2020.4.14

It was fine but very cold in the morning, and warm in the afternoon.

I had two zoom meetings, and lots of paperworks including translation.

In the evening I felt dull and had a slight fever. Maybe I've got a cold because it was too cold yesterday.

So I go to bed now.

2020.4.13

It was a very cold rainy day. But after lunch it stopped raining and became cloudy for a short time. 

To our lucky a serviceman of checking the Setpic tank came while it was cloudy. It was stipulated by law to check it once a year. It cost yen 5500. They said it was raised yen 500 from April.

I stayed at home and worked at home. In the morning I had a zoom meeting, and most of other time I was writing emails or making documents.

At night I watched a drama which started today and Facebook Live.

2020.4.12

There was a rather big earthquake after midnight when I went to bed.

It was fine and cloudy in the morning and afternoon, and became rain in the evening.

I went to Miurakaigan to do errand and grocery shopping in the morning.

In the afternoon I attended a zoom meeting from 2 pm. It was supposed to last for two hours but actually lasted for three hours. I learned a lot.

I watched a movie Cinderella on TV. I have seen it before, but have forgotten the first part. Each time the part impressive seems different.

I think the readiness is different, so there is something to learn everytime.

2020.4.11

It was fine in the daytime, but became heavy rain at night.

I attended two zoom sessions. One in the morning for 30 minutes  the other was supposed to be for 5 hours, but lasted for about 7 hours.

We all enjoyed the extended part.

At night I watched a movie on TV. I want to go to see movies at theaters.

2020.4.10

It was fine.

I stayed at home and worked at home.

I attended two zoom sessions to learn zoom in the morning and afternoon. I learned a new skill of audio transcrption. In the evening I tried that technic but it seemed it did not correspond to Japanese.

In the night I joined one more zoom session. It was too long to concentrate.

First week of teleworking is over. I think it was very productive to save more than 22 hours of commuting which is equivalent to about one day.

2020.4.9

It was fine.

I stayed at home and worked at home.

There was a zoom meeting. I did many paper works.

Five days free promotion period from April 4 was over. I  mentioned about my publication at Facebook about 5 times, and sent individual messages . However some people missed the opprtunity. I got some replies.

This time it became No.1 in three sections in Japan and The Netherlands.It ranked in the USA  UK, France, Grmany, Span, Italy, and Brazil. Thank you for downloading. I hope you enjoy.                                        

2020.4.8

It was fine.

I stayed at home and worked at home.

I attended two Zoom sessions and learned many things and did many paperworks. It was so productive. 

I heard many events and festivals including world famous festivals such as Yamagasa in Fukuoka, Danjiri in Osaka, and Nebuta in Aomori will be canceled this year.

I hope the situation become normal and we can enjoy our daily lives soon.

2020.4.7

It was fine.

I stayed at home and worked at home.

Today's main task was translation. Yes, it is possible to translate the documents at home.

The  Emergency Declaration was published today.

It is applied to 7 prefectures:.Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka.

We are requested to stay at home basically.

2020.4.6

It was fine.

I started teleworking today. When I start and finish working, I send emails to the office.  I had two Zoom meetings. Since we use dropbox to share the documents, I didn't feel any inconvenience today.

Merits were I could save 4 hours and a half commuting time and I could receive the registered mail.

It seems from tomorrow the Emergency declaration will be made.

Today's good news was my 11th ebook was ranked as No.1 in the 3 sections in the Netherlands.

Thank you so much!

2020.4.5

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

I went to the beauty salon to have my hair cut and perm in the morning and grocery shopping in the afternoon.

From tomorrow I will start telework.

To my glad my 11th ebook was ranked as No. 1 in three categories in Japan and in the Netherlands.

Thank you so much!!

2020.4.4

It was fine.

I stayed at home all day long.

I watched a Japanese movie "8年越しの花嫁(hachinengosh no hanayome) A bride after 8 years" at home tonight.  It is a love story based on a true story.

There were many CM about current movies inbetween.  There were some movies I have wanted to see these days but we are asked to stay at home on weekends and at night weekdays, and many movie theaters were closed on weekends. So I missed some movies. Hiw disappointing!

I hope we can go out freely soon.

2020.4.3

It was fine.

My office started to admit teleworking.

If admitted, I wii save four hours and a hour each every day for commuting.

I found an interesting article on newspaper.  It was the result of questionnaire about what profession the first year students of prinary schools want to be in the future. Boys ' No. 1  is a professional sport player. There were rugby players for the first time too because of the influence of Worl Cup last year. Girls' No. 1 was to work at a cake shop or bakery.

Both of these have not been changed for 22 years since 1999.

Interesting thing is for boys was to be TV ・animation character for No.5 and Youtuber for No.10.

2020.4.2

It was fine and beautiful. Since it was a bit windy petals of cherry blossoms were dancing.

Because of the spread of Coronavirus, working style has been changing. We often use zoom and dropbox these days.

In the near future we may be able to do telework.

Wimbledon Tennis Tournament was canceled this year.  French open tennis was postponed to September.

2020.4.1

A new month has started. April is shigatsu (４月、四月) in Japanese. Its lunar calendar name is uzuki(卯月). April is a starting month for business and school in Japan.

Because of the widespread of coronavirus, the start of the new academic year delays until after the golden week for many institutions.

Many events I was supposed to attend in April were canceled. Seminars will be held by online instead.

We are asked to be tolerant and flexible.

Today my 11th ebook was published. I hope this will be useful to make people understand Japanese people and culture.

I hope you enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086LLFW6C