2026.9.16

 It was a rainy day.

I decided to buy boxed lunch on my way to office when it was raining. There were variety of them.  This was the third time for me to buy there, and I was going to buy sweet and hot fried chicken version. However, unfortunately it was not ready yet. Therefore, I bought the stir-fried shredded beef with green pepper and bamboo. I asked the most sold one, and the staff said chicken with tomato stew. So maybe next time.

At lunch time I had a chance to have with a colleague.  We enjoyed talking about our cultural difference experiences in northern America and Japan.

I overworked till 21:15 and came home around 23:15.

There was a big earthquake in the midnight.

2026.9.10

It was cloudy and became rainy.

Usually, I buy lunch at a convenience store on my way to the office, but today I tried a lunch box sold at an Italian restaurant on my way to the office when it is raining. There are about 7 different dishes and costs yen 550 which is rather cheaper compared to other boxed lunch sold at other places. I chose grilled fish for the main dish. There was a fried chicken inside too. I am going to try others tomorrow.

There was a meeting in the afternoon, and it lasted for longer than I expected. I overworked till 20:30 and came home around 22:30.

On my way home I listened to the YouTube festival about writers.

While I was watching a TV program, I was surprised to see there are people who have had surgery to take out hand veins.

2026.2.10

It was fine in the morning but became cloudy in the afternoon and very cold.

At lunch time when I went to the dining room, it was closed. When I went there yesterday, it said it would be closed on Thursday and Friday.

Yesterday afternoon there was an email mentioning about the closing date from Tuesday, but I didn't realize about today.

I went to buy lunch.

There were lots of things at work.

On my way home I went to the electric retail shop where I bought the Ceiling light yesterday to give my old one.

I went grocery shopping.

2025.4.22

It was fine but windy.

I still have a running nose and cough.

Though I prepared green tea, I forgot bringing the water bottle.

When I can't decide the menu for lunch, I ask the recommendation.Today's recommendation was either Yellowtail or bamboo. I chose the latter, and it was delicious.Seasonal food is very good.

There were three zoom sessions at night. Two were lecture style business webinar. The last one was interactive meeting with those who have the same interest and hobby.

2025.2.6

It was fine but very cold.

I usuall eat lunch at Cafeteria.There are four or five main menus every day. It costs yen 700. We choose one main menu. We get rice, miso soup, side dish, pickles, salada, tea as much as we wish. If we are lucky we can get dessert. Today I could not get one unfortunately. 

I do not understand why they don't prepare the same amount dessert as main dish.

At night I had a zoom meeting of Peace Education which lasted longer than schedule.

I got an invitation of special exhibition of Ukiyoe at National Museum of Japanese History in Sakura, Chiba.

To my glad my 155th ebook became No.1 in the USA.

2024.6.5

It was fine.

Today is boshu (芒種), one of nijushisekki (二十四節気), 24 solar terms. The last one was shoman (小満) on May 21 and the next one is geshi (夏至) on June 21.

 

What do you eat for lunch?

When I go to office, I eat lunch at cafeteria which has 3 to 4 daily menues.

I usually choose something I do not cook at home.

Yesterday I chose tempura and today I chose marinated deep fried fish.

There was no dessert again.

My colleague gave me cookies instead.

There is an hour lunch time. I spend half an hour at cafeteria and another half at lounge to watch NHK's rebroadcast of the morning dramas.

There was a problem and I needed to solve it in the evening.

2024.3.11

It was fine.

It's been 13 years since the Great East Earthquake happened.

It is one of the days that most Japanese people cannot forget.

Many things had been changed since then.

I went out for lunch with three colleagues who started working there last year.

I asked today's pasta, and they answered cabbage peperoncine. So I ordered omu hayashi and rice. When my colleague's today's pasta arrived, there were many raw ham were on the top. I was shocked because raw ham is my favorite.

We had a good timd to have lunch, talk, and work around the garden.

2023.9.19

It was fine and hot.

Unfortunately cafeteria was closed today. I tried to go to the nearest restaurants, but they only accept the reservation in advance, and I could not try. 

After all I went to the convenience store, and bought salad and dressing, ham and egg donut, and choco cake which cost about the same price at the cafeteria. I realized there was dressing inside salada.

After work I went grocery shopping.

And I went to the Cafe to see someone.

To my glad my 98th ebook has been No.1 in the USA and Japan.

2023.5.23

I was a cold rainy day.

At lunch time my pleasure is to find the dessert on the table. We are not sure how they decide when they offer the dessert. To our lucky there were three left. 

After work I went shopping, but they did not have what I was supposed to buy.

There was a zoom seminar. After that I had another meeting.

I prepared the 80th ebook.

2023.5.12

It was fine.

Lunch at the dining hall on Friday seems to have desserts. There were four choices for me but other choices too.

I wonder why they do not prepare every day for every one.

It is first come, first served. So even if it is a dessert day, there is a possibility of sold out.

Somd dishes have more than two different sweets, others have only half.

Today's case I chose Eclair and cookie, and my colleague chose half of cheese cake.

There are some same side dishes such as rice, tea, salad and Namul of bean sprout, and slightly different choices of Miso soup and pickles. There are many choices of dressings. 

I thought it is better to have any desserts  for every day for everyone than unbalanced dishes sometimes for early comers only.

As a main dish I chose saba (Mackerel) with miso today.

2022.6.3

It was fine, but rained heavily in the afternoon.

I could not get up early and got on a later train and could not buy lunch before going to the office. So I went to post office and buy lunch at lunch time. It was around 13:30, and rhe leftover lunch was sold at the half price.

In the eveng I took an hour off and attended the monthly meeting which happens in the first part of the month.

After the meeting four of us went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant.

2021.10.4

It was fine.

My boss invited me and my colleague to lunch.

We were going to an open air restaurant. 

On our way something attracted my eyes. It was beer barrels wrapped by celebration papers. We noticed it was a newly opened sushi restaurant.

There were tables outside, and we decided to try that restaurant.

They say it opened on October 1 when there came the typhoon No.16, and it was featured on TV program.

When I saw the menu of Hokkai bowl, I thought the ingredients were salmon roe, sea urchin, and scallop, all of them are my favorite. And my boss and my colleague ordered their recommendation which was really picturesque.

When mine arrived, I found there are no sea urchin but salmon.  I got shocked. Their recommendation looked better.

So I'd better try their recommendation next time.

2021.4.21

It was fine.

I went out for lunch with my colleague who will leave the office this month. We happened to have worked at GRIPS too.

Since today's lucky food is tendon (天丼), a rice bowl with tempura. We went to eat it.  

I presented her my book "Florida Report 2006-2008" and talked about my life in the USA.  

To my surprise she studied at Spokane where is next to Pullman where I studied at Washington State University in 1996. 

It is a small world, isn't it?

2020.1.16

It was fine.

At lunch time I was going out for shopping as usual. I happened to see two colleagues from the different office in the elevator and I was invited to join for lunch. So we went to a Curry Restaurant. Its name is Mandala. Jimbocho is famous for curry shops, but this is the first time for me to have curry there.  I chose a lunch set of two curry bowls, shrimp curry and chiken masala curry.

It is rare to talk or have lunch with staff from different offices. So it was a nice occasion to know each other.

Since last fall I have attracted to mandala art. Today I happened to wear the Aztec calendar pendant which also looked like Mandala.

In the evening I had a meeting. So I came home late.

There was utakaihajime (歌会始), beginning of poem making meeting, at the Imperial Palace. This is the last event of the New Year celebration. Theme of this year was "hope."

What hope do you have for the year 2020?

2019.12.6

It was cloudy and rather cold. They say it might be snow tomorrow.

I went out for lunch at a Chinese restaurnt with a colleague who used to work at the same place as I did from 2016 to 2018.

She also lives faraway from office and it takes more than 2 hours each. 

I got the result.of skin check which I applied for the other day. It said my skin was minus 5 years of the real age.

2019.3.26

It was slightly raining in the morning, but became cloudy and I did not have to use an umbrella.

There was a commencement.

I went out for lunch with my colleague. We went to a Kyoto style Tempura restaurant. At night it is rather expensive but for lunch it is reasonable.
On my way to lunch yesterday, I happened to hear about the restaurant and decided to go.
Tempura is one of well-known Japanese dishes which are delucious when they are hot. Eating tempura at the counter is very luxurious. They served fast and we finished eating earlier. This was the fourth farewell lunch. She gave me a present wishing my new start.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2019.3.25

It was fine.

Cherry blossoms started blooming. This weekend must be a good time for viewing them.

There is only one week left at the office, and there are still many things to do.

I went out for lunch at the Midtown with my boss. There is a restaurant I have been interested in where she has been and recommended before.  We shared salad and pasta but they were still volumy.

2019.3.20

It was fine and warm. Spring has come.

Cherry blossoms at our institution are about to bloom. Next week when there is a commencement, students will enjoy taking photos with beautiful flowers.

Today was the last day of the program I have been in charge.

I went out for lunch with a colleague who happened to have worked at the center I have worked for 4 years. We had not worked together there but we have some mutual colleagues. We went to a Japanese-style restaurant nearby where I have been interested in visiting. We ordered the most popular menue. For me it was the first time to go there. But my colleague has been there several times and she recommended me the menu. However it seemed different from the one she ate before. She treated me.

There has been something wrong with my PC and it took so long to do anything. There are so many things to do within this month and I overworked and missed the last train.

2018.2.1

A new month has started. February is nigatsu (２月), the second month or kisaragi (如月).

I visited two shirines as usual before going to work, one near house, the other near office as a routine of the first day of the month which is called otsuitachimairi (お朔日参り).

It was fine & cloudy in the morning but started raining around noon. It is very cold, and it is said to be snow again tonight.

I am glad it was not raining last night to see the beautiful super blue blood moon.

At lunch time I went out with my colleague. We went to the pasta restaurant which is very close from the office. It is very popular and I tried to book before but they said they would not accept booking at lunch time. Therefore I have wanted to go there since that time. They have a unique system. They offer yen 300 discount to those who work around the restaurant if you show the company ID.  After checking out they offer either soft ice cream or cup of drinks. You could choose different kind of pasta, ingredients, toppings or dressing, ingredients, toppings of salad.
I wanted to order the sea urchin taste pasta which looked the most expensive, but there was no discount.
After all I chose the seafood tomato sause pasta set. Set menu includes a drink and bread. There were many different kinds of drinks both hot and cold and it is rather difficult to choose just one.
When the waiter brought my friend's dish first, he brought the big pepper grinder. It was about 1 meter long. So I asked him to take a picture.
When he brought my dish, he offered us apron which was very nice of him.
After checking out, I wanted to get soft ice cream, but the cup was too small and it looked very difficult to put soft ice cream there, moreover it was cold rain outside, I decided to get a cup of peach tea today.
It was a nice experience.

They say today is one of the best days of this year to start something. Are there anything you started today?

2017.6.23

It was fine and hot.

I went out for lunch with my colleague whose birthday is the same as mine.
At first we were going to try one coin lunch according to the foreign student's recommendation list.
However when we got there, it was full and it seemed there were only men. So we decided to go to the other place.
I thought of a restaurant nearby and we went there.
When I went there last month with other colleagues, the lunch course was yen 1000 plus tax, and it was very nice. Therefore I took my colleague.
However there was not a course of yen 1000 but 1600 plus tax.
So I asked the owner and he said he raised from this month.
We were very lucky last time.
We ordered what went want to eat and enjoyed eating and talking.

I wished to go to see a movie tonight but coud not.