2017.12.30

It was fine.

I stayed home to wait for three deliveries which I asked. One came in time, the other came later. It seemed there was something wrong so I called and they delivered soon after that.
If I was ready I hoped to leave home earlier to visit a shrine before going to a year-end party. There were too many things to do so.

There was annual year-end party for my high school classmates in Yokohama. Since I have been a snowbird for the past two years, it's been three years for me to attend.
There are 13 people out of 45 classmates.
We enjoyed singing at the second party.

2017.12.29

It was fine and cold.

Today is the first day of 11 days winter vacation.

I went to Shinkiba to attend SRC convention and party.
I met my friend there and we were surprised at the announcement.

At party I saw the pole dance for the first time in live.
It was amazing!!

2017.12.28

It was fine and cold. It was the first day in this winter that my windshield was frozen.
Mt.Fuji looked beautiful, so was the blue sky.

Today is the last working day of this year. But before that some people have already started their own vacation. Official winter vacation is from December 29 to January 3rd.  But I take two days off on Jan. 4 and 5, so I have 11days off.

Tonight I left the office earlier and went to Minato Mirai to attend the dinner cruise of Royal Wing. The night view was beautiful. It was about two hours cruise with Chinese dinner.
There were three couples cerebrating their birthday.

After that I went to the Marine Tower because I had invitation tickets. I thought the expire date was the end of this year but it may be the end of the year of next year. It was constructed in 1961 and about 106 meters high. I enjoyed the night view from the 30th floor and 29th floor.

2017.12.27

It was fine and cold.

Mt.Fuji looked beautiful.  Sky was also very beautiful.

The official winter holiday of my office is from Dec. 29 to Jan. 3 but many people started having their own vacation.

There was a rather big earthquake tonight though it did not last long.

They say they have heavy snow in the northern area. At lunch time news I saw it was snowing in Nagoya too.

How I miss Florida in winter!

2017.12.26

It was fine and beautiful.

I checked the calendar of this year and found I took a long vacation last year around this time. From Christmas to the Coming of the Aged Day.

One of my dreams for the past 10 years was to be a snow-bird and I tried to be so as much as possible.

But this year I still work until the last official working day, so it may be difficult to be so this winter.

I have been to somewhere every weekend in December, and I have not done anything I should do at this time of the year.

I feel bad about it.

2017.12.25

Merry Christmas!!

It was fine and beautiful.

Last year and the year before last I was in Delray Beach, Florida for Christmas and the New Year. But this year I am still working.

At lunch time I went to an Italian restaurant expecting the special Christmas menu. But unfortunately they did not have.

After work I went to see the Christmas illumination at Midtown. Since today is the last day there were many people.
They were very beautiful.
I saw the crescent moon and the Tokyo tower too.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2017.12.24

Merry Christmas!

How is your Christmas Eve?

I went out for Christmas Dinner with my high school best friend at her sister's French restaurant.

While we were eating, my old colleague from junior high school came, which was a surprise.

2017.12.23

It was fine and beautiful.

Today is Emperor's 84th birthday but since it is Saturday there is no additional day off.

I had a very busy fruitful day.

First I went to Yokohama to get massage which is once a month body maintenance time for me.

Then I went to Kimono-style Miya to leave the baggage and went to Yoyogi to attend a seminar. I applied to attend my friend, but she canceled due to an unexpected event. But I met some friends and made a new friend too, so I am glad to have joined.

After the semiar I came back to Kimono-style Miya to have hair done and dressed the Komono.
Today's kimono is Oborozome Tsujigahana homongi (おぼろ染め辻ケ花訪問着), the formal kimono and very expensive. Obi
is Fukuro obi of Min tsuzuri with embroidery (民綴に刺繍の袋帯) which is also very expensive.
I did not choose them. The CEO of Miya chose them for me. Therefore the taste is a bit different from other kimonos. However I think it is important to try what is recommended because the new world will be open.

Then I went to Ropongi to have a special Christmas Dinner with a handsome model friend.

When I got to Roppongi. there was a long line waiting for Christmas illumination and I was so surprised.

This is the 4th time for me to go to the restaurant at the 45th floor of the Ritz Carlton Hotel Tokyo.

We found many something in common and enjoyed eating delicious Tempura dinner and talking.

Since dinner started late and lasted longer so that I missed the last train and had to use JR and taxi.

It was a nice day.

2017.12.22

It was fine and beautiful.

Today is Toji (冬至), one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. Toji literally means winter reach. It is winter solstice. It is the day when the day time is the shortest. On this day we eat pumpkin and take a yuzu bath not to get cold.
On my way back home I went to buy yuzu (柚子) and pumkin dish.I felt I am really Japanese.

There was a year-end party of our department at lunch time today. I wished to do it at dinner time, but there are some staffs with small children and it is hard for them to attend at night. Therefore we decided to hold the party at the lunch time so that everyone can attend. We ordered the hors d'oeuvres and some pizzas. One of our staffs who is a man made cheese cake which was the most delicious dish of today.
We enjoyed one hour lunch time by eating, drinking, and talking.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2017.12.21

It was fine and beautiful but very cold. Mt. Fuji looked beautiful.
Day by day it is becoming harder to get out of the comfortable warm bed.
I miss Florida weather.

2017.12.20

It was fine and beautiful but I could not see the Mt.Fuji this morning.

There were two visitors today at the office for the year-end greeting.

It's already 20th of December. There are only 10 days left. There are still too many things to do.

The Ueno zoo has started to show the baby Panda Shan Shan which was born in June since yesterday. They only show two hours and a half per day util the end of January next year. Only 400 groups per day are allowed to see. They say 1419 people of 468 groups out of 18,300 group applications were able to watch yesterday. Jan. 2 seemed to have the most applications for now.

2017.12.19

It was fine and cold.

I went to Ochanomizu to attend one day seminar about Work, Life, and Money.
So I did not go to office today.
There were 21 participants. 9 were women. We were about the same generation. The lecturer was 60 years old woman.
First we looked back our life and wrote what we have done in our life and could be proud of.
Next we thought what we were expected at work, family and society.
Then we thought about how much money we would need to live up to the average life expectancy.
We were divided into 5 groups, and did some group works.
It was interesting to know other people's experiences.

After that I went to Magome to attend the year-end party of ISD studies. There were about 10 people. Since we have something in common, it was very interesting.
ISD means Institute of Self Discovery.  People are divided into three groups, Moon, Earth, Sun by their own birthdate. Each group has four animal symbols.
Today Moon group was the biggest. There are 12 animals in this study, but there were only three or four of them today.
We enjoyed eating home-made dishes and many sweets from different places and talking.

2017.12.18

It was fine but cold. The coldest morning.
It is becoming harder to get out of the bed in the morning day by day.

There are only two weeks left this year but I don't feel so.

Today is the new moon. It is a good timing to wish.  what do you wish?

2017.12.17

It was fine and beautiful.

I went to the Kimono-Style Miya to have hair set and got dressed. They had some events there and I could take some pictures with foreign male models. We met about a half year ago at another Kimono event. They remembered me which was nice.

Then I headed for Omotesando to attend a wedding party of young couple. I have many connections with them and met some friends and acquaintances there.  Time passed so quickly.
It was a nice party.

2017.12.16

It was fine with clouds.

I was waiting for two redeliverly goods in the morning. I could receive the  one from England which was the Christmas present from a friend whom I met at the trip to Grand circle in the USA about 20 years ago.

In the afternoon I went to Shinjuku to attend a lecture by the CEO whom I respect very much.

After the lecture I measured my AGE. I was 10 years younger than my true age. There was TV shooting and I was interviewed. So I may be appeared on TV someday.

2017.12.14

It was fine and very cold.

Last night after midnight I saw some shooting stars. Did you?

Whenever I see the shooting stars, I remember to have been to the middle of nowhere in the central Florida.

2017.12.13

It was fine and very beautiful.
Sky is blue and Mt. Fuji is white with snow.
Just before entering the office I saw the beautiful crescent moon.

They say tonight we can see the Gemni meteor shower. I think we can see beautiful stars too.

At lunch time I took two hours off to have lunch at a fancy restaurant with my friend. It was an invited lunch by TASAKI which is a famous jewelry company. They have a special exhibition at the Ritz Carlton Hotel where is very close from my office.
Lunch was very delicious for mouth and beautiful for eyes.

Jewelries were also very beautiful and gorgeous. When we were looking at Emerald, I asked my friend about her birth stone. She said "Emerald." I was very curious and asked her the date, she said "9th."  We were so surprised because our birthday is May 8 and 9, just one day difference. We felt very close and promised to celebrate birthdays together next year.

It was a nice day.

2017.12.12

It was fine but very cold.

I had two meetings. One in the morning, the other in the afternoon. Besides these I had chances of small talks with colleagues and chat with some friends. I felt everyone has something to worry about, wishes to be financially free, and tries to find how to live one's life fully.

There was an announcement of Kanji (漢字) of the year. It is Kita (北), which means north. They say it is because of North Korea and the heavy rain in the northern Kyushu (九州).

In Japan four directions are said as "Tozai nanboku(東西南北)" East, West, South, North. Which order do you say?

2017.12.11

It was fine but very windy.

I took a compensation holiday for Dec. 9.

Since I came home after midnight, I decided not to use the alarm and sleep as long as I wish.

I read all the newspaper for the past ten days, cleared some kimono which I used last weeekend, and went to the bank to renew the bank note.

It was a nice holiday.

2017.12.10

It was cloudy and cool in Hanoi.

We started before 8 am and visited four places and had lunch at AEON mall. It is a very big shopping complex. I was impressed by the free cellphone charger.

At the airport I used all the VND money I exchanged on Dec. 6.

I left my watch and HELO at the security check because I usually do not take them  off. To my lucky they were kept at the security check.

This 5 days business trip went well.

I came back after 4 hours flight. I watched a movie titled "What's happened on Monday? " which is a story about seven sisters under one child per family policy.

I missed the last train this time too.

2017.12.9

We started at 6 am to go to Hai Phong to have a meeting at 8:30 am. I feel they are early birds in spite of weekend. Meeting lasted longer than expected and we had two unexpected site visits too.

We were supposed to be at 11 am at the next destination but we arrived about two hours later and started eating lunch around 1:30 pm on the boat at Ha Long Bay, the UNESCO's world heritage.
After an hour or so we landed and visited the cave which was very huge.
The landscape was very nice.

It took about four hours or so to come back to Hanoi and had mushroom pot.

We came back to the hotel later than 10 pm.  It was a long day.

2018.12.8

It was slightly raining in the morning, but I did not use an umbrella.

I started early to prepare for the meeting which lasted for all day long. There were about 60 participants with 5 speakers.

After that I wished to go to see the Water Puppet, but since we went out for dinner, I could not go to see it.

That means I'd better come back here again.

2017.12.7

It was slightly raining.

After breakfast I walked and walked. Therefore the step counter showed neary 20000 steps.

Then I prepared many things for tomorrow.

At night there was a welcome dinner.

2017.12.6

It was fine.
I saw the beautiful Mt. Fuji covered with snow this morning.
To my surprise I saw some cherry blossoms in bloom which are usually full in bloom in February in my residential area.

Today I go to Hanoi on a business trip in the afternoon. I took a half day off to do something in the morning. First I went to post office to get the registered mail which has been delivered twice but I could not receive. Second I went to the beauty shop to have my hair cut. Third I went to the National Art Center Tokyo to see the 4th exhibition of Nitten (日展). There were so many art works in three floors. Japanse pictures, articrafts, sculptures, western pictures, and calligraphy. I wished to take more time.

Then I went to the office to check emails and pick up PC, necessary documents and some goods. They are very heavy so I used the lift at the Oedo line. Every day I use escalator feeling so deep. Today I knew it has 7th floor deep.
To my lucky I got the special express train from Daimon, and it stopped only one station or so before arriving at the airport.

The flight from Tokyo to Hanoi was supposed to take 5  hours and 10 minutes but it took 6 hours, arriving at 10:30 pm in Japan Time. There is two-hour difference between Japan and Vietnam. So it was 8:30 pm here.
I watched a movie "The Founder" which is about MacDonald.

This is the second time for me to come to Hanoi. It was also a business trip.

2017.12.5

It was fine and very beautiful. I saw the big Super moon above Mt. Fuji this morning.

My invitation ticket to the museum expires next Sunday. I will go abroad for the business trip from tomorrow. So I was going to visit today at lunch time and ate lunch in a hurry but unfortunately it was closed today.

There was a big news about Shogi (将棋) world. The professional shogi player Mr. Habu Yoshiharu(羽生善治) gained the greatest title "Eisei nanakan (永世七冠)" meaning forever seven crowns.He is the first player who gained all seven titles.
Congratulations!!

2017.12.4

It was strange weather again. Rained, became fine, and rained again.  Somebody saw the rainbow.
I was wondering if I should wear kimono or not, and decided to wear.

In Kanazawa people say since the weather at this time of the year is changeable, "Bento wasuretemo kasa wasureruna (弁当忘れても傘忘れるな)" meaning even if you forget bringing your lunch, never forget brining an umbrella."

I got up early and took onsen (温泉) hot spring. We call this asaburo (朝風呂), morning bath. Then I had a big breakfast again.
After that they have set up my hair and got dressed.
Today's kimono is "Saganishiki(佐賀錦)" and obi is nenkin(撚金). Since we go outside, I wore wana (輪奈) coat.

We left Kagaya around 10 am and headed for Kanazawa. We ate lunch at Omicho ichiba (近江町市場), the famous market there. I ate Kobako gani (香箱がに), female snow crab with eggs. They are in season and I have wanted to eat it by all means  this time so I am very glad to eat it.

Then we went to Kaga yuzen (加賀友禅) factory. It is a very famous design kimono in Ishikawa prefecture.

Now I am on the Shinkansen bound for Tokyo.

It was a nice trip.

2017.12.3

It was a strange weather again. First it was fine, but rained and became fine. It was not so cold.

We ate rich breakfast, simple lunch and nice dinner.

There was the Kimono Fashion Festival in Kaga at Noto Engekido (能登演劇堂), performing art center. It started at 1 pm and ended at 4:30 pm or so. First part is kimono fashion show which consisted of 12 scenes, second part was Yoshida brother's Tsugaru shamisen (津軽三味線) performance.

I wore Oshima swatou (大島スワトウ) embroidery at the Scene 1 and Kinsai yuzen (金彩友禅) at Scene 9. Both were blue and beautiful.

2017.12.2

It was slightly raining, but became fine, then rained again, and became fine again.

I came to Wakura onsen (和倉温泉) by express train and to the venue of rehearsal by bus.
This is the fourth kimono fashion show, so I met many model friends today and have become some new friends too.

At night we came to Kagaya (加賀屋) which is said to be the best Japanese style hotel.This is the second time for me stay here. It is like a museum.
I enjoyed delicious foods and onsen (温泉), hot spring.

2017.12.1

A new month has started.
December is jyunigatsu (十二月) or shiwasu (師走) in Japanese.

I can't believe there is only one month left in 2017.

In the morning I visited two shrines, one near my house, the other near my office as a custom of the first day of the month which is called "Otsuitachi mairi (お朔日詣り)."

After work I went to Tokyo station to get on the Hokuriku shinkansen. My destination tonight is Kanazawa. I took 19:24 train arriving at Kanazawa at 21:55.
To my surprise it was full.

I ate seafood sushi for dinner.

It is slightly raining here in Kanazawa.

2017.11.30

The last day of November. There is only one month left this year. Unbelievable, isn't it?

It was cloudy and cold today.

Today I received the Te Mana Lip set which was only sold in a limited time and won't be sold for the next six months.

I received other autoship goods which were Oolong ginger tea, lemon ginger powder and a bottle of drink. I am looking forward to tasting them.

2017.11.29

It was very fine and beautiful.

We call this warm day in early winter "koharu biyori (小春日和)" which literally means small spring weather. In English it is Indian summer.
We use spring, they use summer for the same phenomenon. Isn't it interesting?

2017.11.28

It was cloudy.

Today I got two mochu hagaki(喪中はがき), mourning notification card. One is from high school friend whose mother passed away at the age of 88, the other is from ex-colleague whose mother passed away at the age of 75.  Both were under the name of couples. So when it says mother, it means husband's mother. And if it says mother-in-law, it is wife's mother. My high school friend's card printed mother but added "in-law."  So I am not sure which mother passed away. If it is mother of husband, their surname should be the same, but if it is wife's side, surnames should be different, therefore it should be written by full name.

Both cards used different expression to pass away. The former used "eimin(永眠)," to sleep forever, the latter used "kiten(帰天)," to retutn to the heaven.

What kind of expressions do you have for paasing away?

2017.11.27

It was fine.

There was once in a year physical examination. Items are electrocardiogram, eye sight, blood pressure, blood, height, weight, hearing, X-ray, stomach exam with barium, and physician's exam.
Barium became weaker than before and it was not so hard to swallow.
There were slight changes, but not so bad.

It took about one hour and a half.

I hope everything is fine with me.

2017.11.26

It was fine and windy.

I stayed home all day long.

I prepared three kimono sets (kimono, obi, obiage, and obijime) for the next weekend.
I sent them to the hotel in Kanagawa.
I am glad to do so because it is very heavy to walk around with.

Thank you for the delivery system.

2017.11.25

It was fine.

I went to the Kimono-style Miya to get dressed, hair-done, and to have pictures taken.

Then I went to Daikanyama to attend luncheon with ex-colleagues. There were eight adults with three children. It's been three months or so since I met three of them, but nearly five years to see one of them. I was late because of many reasons but enjoyed the reunion. Daikanyama is a fashonable town and we enjoyed walking around.

Then I went to Shinjuku to buy something.

I was supposed to go to the Natiomal Art Center Tokyo but I gave up and went to Ebisu to have dinner with a good friend. We started around 6 pm and it lasted later than 11 pm. It is a very fancy restaurant and very expensive but worth trying once in a life time. They gave us the souvenir too.

Their maitre d'hotel service is said to be No.1 in the world. Unfortunately I could not see the person who became a world champion because he has already left there.
We ate too much and I missed the last train. So I had to use taxi on my way back.
　
We enjoyed dinner and learned many things. It was a good experience.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2017.11.24

It was fine but cold.

It's Black Friday. Did you buy something?

We had the 20th anniversary event at our institution. We were required to wear the dark suits.  I was in charge of guiding and ushering the guests near the reception. I had been standing for more than 5 hours, and to my worse I had to stand in the train for more than one hour on my way back home.

TGIF

2017.11.23

It is a national hoiday called kinro kansha no hi (勤労感謝の日), Labour Thanksgiving Day.
This year it falls on the same day of Thanksgiving of the United States. I miss Turkey Dinner.

It was heavily raining this morning but became fine in the afternoon and rained again in the evening.

In the afternoon I went to a study meeting to improve presymptomatic disease, the life style not to be beaten by cancer.

It started at 13:30.  There were three parts, First: greeting by city mayor, Second: special session by Mr. Shonosuke Okura and Mr.Hiroyuki Watanabe, Third: lecture "Life Style not to Be Beaten by Cancer" by Dr.Yoshinori Nagumo. There was a  hula dance show too.
It was a very informative useful lecture.

I was very surprised to hear that special session was not practiced before.

After the event I bought a book written by Dr. Nagumo and he autographed the book. I read it at night. The contents were almost the same as lecture.
All men on the stage were 62 years old but they looked far much younger than they are.

I met a friend later and went shopping.

It was a nice holiday.

Thank you.

2017.11.22

It was fine in the morning but became rain in the evening. From the morning it was cold.
Today is shosetsu (小雪), one of nijyushisekki(二十四節気), the 24 solar terms. It literally means small snow. It is the time to start snowing from rain.

Today I asked the dealer to have my car inspected. It was a regular routine of every six months. They found my tires and the filter of air conditioning were in bad condition, so I asked them to replace.

After work I went to the China Town in Yokohama. There are so many Chinese restaurants there. I think it is the biggest China Town in Japan.
I wonder how people decide which one to go. Every place looks delicious.
In my case I checked "Groupon" which is a coupon site. Since I wanted to eat Shanghai crabs, I checked "Shanghai crab." I called one restaurant in Tokyo, but they were full because tomorrow is our national holiday. There were some restaurants in China Town which offered the full course Shanghai crabs dinner. I called the one, but they did not answer. So I called the next one. They said without Groupon Coupon we would serve you as the same price. So I did not buy the coupon but just reserved.
There were 11 dishes with a glass of drink. Shanghai crabs were rather small and there were few meat. Texture of kanimiso (かにみそ) was different from Japanese crabs and rather sticky. It was interesting to know about the hair of the big claw.

2017.11.21

It was fine and cold. Mt. Fuji looked very beautiful with snow. Air is clear, sky is blue, there was no cloud. Red leaves of cherry trees were becoming less and less these days but looked very beautiful and I took pictures.

Today I booked the hotel in Hanoi for the next business trip next month. I have known I go there when and how long, however we could not decide the venue for the meeting and I could not book the room. Cheaper rooms are sold fast and more expensive rooms are left. I wish I have booked earlier when they still have reasonable rooms.
The earlier your decision is, the cheaper you pay.

From next time I will book the accommodation  where they do not charge for cancellation to secure the good place.

2017.11.20

It was cloudy and very cold, the coldest morning of this winter.

From today Limited Time Offer sales of Te Mana Lip care products started. Since I could not pre-order early this month, I called at lunch time and fortunately got  one set.
I am looking forward to receiving them near future.

2017.11.19

It was cloudy and cold.

I went to Shinjuku to attend a trial financial seminar. It started at 13:00 and lasted till 16:30 or so. There were two parts and I learned many things, got a book and a special gift after the game. I happened to see someone I knew by face there.

Then I went to buy a portable battery. But I found the sign says they trade in the old one by yen 500. Since I did not bring the old one, I postponed buying today.

2017.11.18

It was cloudy and slightly rained.

First I went to Shibuya to attend a seminar by Robert Allen, the New York best seller author. It was supposed to be held from 9:30 to 12:00, but it lasted longer. Unfortunately I had another appointment and could not listen till the end.

Next I went to Shimbashi to attend the joint talk event of Mr. and Mrs. Koya Yamakawa who are very famous translators of spiritual books such as "Out on a Limb" by Shirley MaCraine and "The Secret" by Rhonda Bryne and so on and Mr. Koichi Hagiwara who used to be a UNIDO official, and was my teacher about 13 years ago.
It started at 13:00 and lasted for three hours followed by Singing Ring meditation time and tea party.
I asked them for their autograph and taking pictures.
I enjoyed the talk show and getting to know new people.

After that I went to Meguro to visit Otori shrine to see Tori no ichi (酉の市), the Cock Fair with a new friend.
Then another one from the event joined and had dinner.

Today is the day of the new month and ichiryumanbaibi (一粒万倍日) which is a good day to start something.

It was a nice day.

2017.11.17

It was fine.

TGIF

After work I went to Fuji Film Square where has a new exhibition of Ansel Adams.
Since they are ready for the calendar next year, I got it in exchange for a stamp card of 24 visits.

Then I went to a kimono shop where was having Tori no ichi (酉の市) festival. There was a draw and I got a special prize of Ibaraki specialities.
Then I tried the very expensive kimono called Tonaka (十中) which uses very fine threads.

They say tonight is the time for the Meteor shower. I hope to see some shooting stars.

2017.11.16

It was fine and beautiful.

Today is the opening of Beaujolais Nouveau.  For wine lovers this might be exciting to taste the new wine of the year.
For me I prefer Japanese sake or cocktails.
What is your favorite drink?

After work I went to a travel agency to book the trip to Kanazawa for early next month.
It is strange but to book train and hotel together is far much cheaper than to book separately. If you book the former way, your hotel fee is nothing. Unbelievable, isn't it?

2017.11.15

It was cloudy but the sun was shining.

In the morning I went to two shrines, one is near home, the other near the office.
It is my ritual to visit there on the first day and the 15th day of the month.

November 15 is shichigosan (七五三) when families of children at the age of three and five for boys and three and seven for girls visit shrines to pray for their healthy growth.
Boys and girls are usually dressed up with kimono. There are special candies for this day which is called chitoseame (千歳飴), meaning 1000 years candy.

2017.11.14

It was cloudy today.

I sent some birthday messages today. Some are from messengers, others are from emails. We can read the history of dialogues from messengers and I noticed that it was the day of the Super moon last year today.

There were some snail mails I have to deal with. One of them was to report "My  Number" to the Bank. There were two ways to do:  one is by smartphone the other is by post. I chose the former. First you need to install the application, but it was very easy, fast, convenient, and economical.

2017.11.13

It was fine but started raining in the evening.

At lunch time I called at a customer service and learned two things. One is from cellphones there is a possibility of not to be able to call free dial starting 0120. The other is there are some credit cards which automatically lead to revolving payments if it is used abroad.

Today I booked a hotel for a business trip from Internet site. After that I found other website had cheaper price. So I sent an email for price adjustment to customer service. I do not know what will happen yet.

2017.11.12

It was fine and beautiful but rather cool.

I went to Kimono-style Miya to get hair-done and dressed in the morning.
Then I went to Takeshiba to attend the Diamond Rally 2017 to which I was invited by my Lymphatic massage instructor. After all it was the award ceremony of one year accomplishments of the company members.
Those who accomplished their goal were dressed beautifully and celebrated on the stage by being given a status pin, a commemorative gift, and so many bouquets.
I wondered how they bring back them home and how much money the flower shop at the venue made just one day today.

After that there was a reception party.
I happened to see an acquaintance there.

It was a very long day.

2017.11.11

It was fine and rather warm this morning.

I went to Kanda to attend a seminar in the afternoon.

Then I went to Shinjuku to have dinner with  4 old tennis friends at a Taiwanese restaurant. We started around 5:30 pm and ordered many different dishes. The contents of the talk are tennis ranking,  injury & gossip of tennis players, health, overwork, business trip and so on. It is interesting to hear about the world I do not know.
I left there around  7 pm and headed for the next destination, Hinodecho.

I went there to get massage. It is my once a month health maintenance activity.

2017.11.10

It was fine.

After work I went to Shibuya to attend the trial seminar of the 9 Steps to Success.
It started at 6 pm till later than 9 pm.

It was a pity that we were not allowed to exchange our information such as Facebook or Line. I understand their intention to avoid troubles, but based upon each other's responsibility becoming friends is a good thing.

Since I left a charger behind at home today, I had been worrying about losing battery and could not use the smartphone as usual. It was very inconvenient.

2017.11.9

It was fine and beautiful.

I took a compensation holiday of Nov. 3.

I went to Kimono-style Miya to have hair done, make-up, and got dressed. Today's kimono is Sahari(佐波理), one of the most beautiful & gorgeous kimono that I have.

Then I went to Shimbashi to attend Beauty Activity Symposium. I attended Inner Beauty Collection. There were 11 models who have tried many different ways of beauty-related activities for the past three months. We took our before and after pictures and compare the results. We needed to make one - minute speech in front of the audience who had a chance to vote.
I have got the lymphatic massage for the past three months.

At the recess someone talked to me and said "You are changed a lot so I voted to You!"
I was very glad to hear that because I see myself in the mirror every day,  and I did not feel so much change by myself.

For lunch I enjoyed the delicious Japanese cuisine.

I enjoyed talking with beautiful models and was surprised to hear their experiences.

It was a nice holiday.

2017.11.8

It was raining in the morning but stopped raining later.

After work I stopped at the Fuji Film Square. There were two new exhibitions.

At Shinagawa station I bought the commuting pass for the next 6 months which will be expired on my birthday next year.
So today is my half birthday.

2017.11.7

Today is ritto (立冬), the first day of winter in the luner calender. It is one of nijyushisekki (二十四節気), 24 solar terms. The last one was soko (霜降),frost falling on October 23, and the next one is shosetsu (小雪), little snow on November 22.

Today it was rather warm.

When I got off the Roppongi station this morning, there were many policemen because of the US President's Japan visit.

At lunch time I met my friend from Kobe and ate at the healthy Japanese food restaurant. This was the second time for me to go there. I chose daily special which includes deep-fried
oyster & salmon.
If you show the coupon, you can get free soft drink which cost yen 350. Last time I could not order carrot juice, so this time I ordered it without hesitation.
There was only one hour break, but we enjoyed the reunion.

In the evening I attended the meeting at Kanda. There were some people I have not met for a while, but because of my Facebook posts, they feel they often meet me.
We feel connected by Facebook. Isn't it nice?

2017.11.6

It was fine.

These days there is something wrong with my battery charger for the smart phone. I tried to charge but it did not.
Usually I check emails and write blogs on my way home. However there was no battery today and I could not do anything but sleep on the train.

Today is the day that crab fishing in Hokuriku area is open.

I hope to eat delicious crabs.

2017.11.5

I came back from Thailand early this morning. I saw the beautiful sunrise.
The best part of taking the night flight is this.

First I went to the office to leave the baggage.

Then I went to the 6th lymphatic massage.
This is the last session.
I do not know how much I have been changed. But there is one thing I changed. I have practiced to adjust physics since the first time.

2017.11.4

It was fine.

After checking out, we headed for Nakhorn Pathom and visited many places.

One of them was Phra Pathom Chedi, which is known as the tallest tower. There we dedicated the flower, inscents, leaf-shaped decoration, and put the gold foil leaf to the statues.
There were silver and gold bells which are thought to bring fortune. So I bought two of them which cost  baht 20 each and hung.
There were bigger bells which cost baht 100, 200, 300 to put at the upper place of the tower.

We visited the water market where sells fresh fruits and vegetables.

We dropped at the cafe called
the three little pigs. I ordered their specialities. One of them was Shibuya toast. I wonder why they chose the name.

We had big lunch and dinner again and came to the airport.

It was a long but a fruitful day.

2017.11.3

It is a national holiday called bunka no hi (文化の日), Culture Day in Japan.

I am in Bangkok. Today is full moon. There is a special festival called Loy Krathong, "Floating Lantern" which is held in the fullmoon night of the twelfth month in the lunar calendar.
People make baskets of flowers and fruits and light a candle and inscents, then make a wish and let it float on the river.
Since I knew about it the day before yesterday, I have wanted to see and experience.

Today we had a big event followed by the reception.  Since the festival lasts until late at night, I went out to experience.

I am glad to see the beautiful sunset, fullmoon, and the special festival.

2017.11.2

It was fine.

This is the second day in Bangkok.

From the morng I ate a lot.
I do not like the spicy foods.
One of my favorite Thai foods is Mango and sticky rice with coconut milk. When I saw this for the first time, I felt weird because forJapanese rice is staple food.
Once I ate it I loved it.
Today I could eat both for lunch and dinner.
They were tasty.
I recommend you to try it when you come to Thailand.
Thai people use spoon and fork to eat.

2017.11.1

A new month has started. November is jyuichigatsu (11月) 11th month or Shimotsuki(霜月), frost month in Japanese.

Hello from Bangkok!

It's been four years and a half since I came here last. At that time after coming back from Hawaii, I came via Hong Kong. Since I got sick, I could not take the planned flight. I had stayed in Thailand for a few weeks and visited many places including Cambodia.

This time I came here as a business trip.

I left home around 6:30 am and visited the nearby shrine for the first day visit and took 7:01 train arriving at the Haneda Airport around 8:30 am. It was rather crowded.
Weather was fine and I saw the beautiful Mt.Fuji.
It took about 6 hours to Bangkok. I thought we arrived earlier than schedule, but there were so many people at the immigration. So I arrived at the scheduled time.

I exchanged $100 to Baht 3133. They gave me a ball point pen.

It was cloudy here but hot like 29 degrees centigrade..

Someone came to pick me up and took to the hotel. At the hotel TV drama was shooting. They say it is a popular drama and appear next year.

We had a meeting and went out for dinner.

I wished to get the Thai massage but it was too late.

2017.10.31

It was fine and very cold.

It is the end of October. There are only two months left this year. How fast!
It seemed we had another record for long rainy days in October. There were only a few days we had good weather.

Happy Halloween!

Trick or treat?

I have not seen anybody wearing any costume yet. Have you? Did you disguise yourself?

On TV news there seems so many people enjoying special costume in Shibuya.

It seems there were some parades at the last weekend.

2017.10.30

It was fine after passing the typhoon No.22.
But it became windy and cold in the evening.
They say kogarashi ichigo (木枯らし1号), the first winter cold wind blew in Tokyo and Kinki area.
It will be the coldest morning tomorrow.

After work I met my friend from university after a long time. We only had less than one hour but were glad to see each other.

2017.10.29

It was another rainy day because of the typhoon No.22.

I went to learn Reiki Advance Day 2 from 10 am to 6:30 pm. It was fun and I learned many tips to perform better Reiki. Before leaving I bought a pyramid box which I had been interested in for a long time.
I will put my wishes in the box and look forward to seeing the future.

2017.10.28

It was a rainy day again.

I went to learn REIKI Advance to Shinagawa. It is a two days program.
There were 24 participants.I have met some of them before but not all.
It was very interesting.

They say there are just 1000 days before the Tokyo Olympic 2050 today.

2017.10.27

It was fine.

TGIF

The fourth Friday of the month is called "Premium Friday." We are encouraged to finish work earlier than usual to enjoy eating, drinking, spending money, and having fun.

But at the end of month is usually busy time in a month. Therefore we guess it is very difficult to leave the office earlier than usual.

I myself overworked for the preparation of business trips next week.

2017.10.26

It became fine after long rainy days. I saw Mt.Fuji covered with snow this morning.
At night I saw the beautiful crescent moon.

There was a draft meeting for the baseball players. Seven teams  picked up the same player. His dream is to play in the Major League someday. Good luck!

2017.10.25

It was another rainy day.

After work I went to Alice in a labyrinth in Ginza to have dinner with my ex-coworker.  It's been two months since we had dinner there last. At that time we got a dessert coupon which expires today.  Therefore we went there, and enjoyed eating and chatting.

2017.10.24

It was fine.

How much do you pay attention to the emails sent as CC or BCC?
Today I had a group meeting. I thought every movement was understood by emails I sent the members as CC, but it seems they did not realize the situation. I was a bit surprised about it.

2017.10.23

The typhoon No.21 passed and many trees were fallen on my way to the station. My train delayed about one hour.

I talked with my old friend from university through Facebook.
About a few years ago there was the first big reunion after graduation. We did not have a chance to talk each other at that time, but we became Facebook friends.
Maybe this was the first time to talk each other.
We promised to see each other near future.

It is very intetesting, isn't it?

2017.10.22

It was a rainy day.

I went to vote for the general election in the morning.

Then I headed for Roppongi to visit the National Art Center, Tokyo to see the exhibition of Sunshower.
This is the Exhibition of Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN.
There are two venues: The National Art Center, Tokyo and Mori Art Museum.
I went to the latter the other day. The former is located very close to my office but I could not find the time to visit for the past three months. Tomorrow is the last day of exhibition so I decided to visit.
There were two works I liked very much.

After that I went to Ueno okachi machi to see somebody to ask questions.

Then I went to Kanda to attend a seminar where I met some travel friends.

It was a busy day.

2017.10.21

It was another rainy day.

I went to Shinjuku and had lunch with my old friend at Tahitian Noni Cafe. It's been a long time since we met each other last.
After that we attended the lecture of Mr. Makoto Ohki, CEO of Morinda for two hours. We measures our AGE. Then we had a company tour. To our lucky, we happened to see Mr. Ohki during the tour and chatted. I like his friendly personality very much.

At night my lymphatic massager and I went to Yokosuka to have dinner. We enjoyed eating and talking.

2017.10.20

It was a cold rainy day again, 10 days consecutive in Tokyo.

At lunch time I had a boxed lunch which is called obento (お弁当). There were six parts in a box, and two were filled with seasonal rice, one was kurigohan (栗ご飯), rice with chestnuts, the other is matsutake gohan (松茸ご飯), rice with matsutake mushroom. Gohan means boiled rice. I feel autumn when I eat these rice.

I left the office earlier than usual to go to see the 100th Anniversary Asakusa Opera, "Ah, Yume no machi Asakusa! (ああ、夢の街浅草!)," meaning "Ah, Asakusa, dream town!" in which my friend sang some songs.
They say Asakusa was very popular for a variety of performing arts about 100 years ago.
It started 6:30 pm and lasted until 8 pm or so with 15 minutes break and cost yen 3,500.
The most impressive thing was money-throwing system called "nagesen (投げ銭) " or "ohineri (おひねり): tip wrapped in paper." They prepare some piece of wrapping paper and a rubber band to wrap some changes at the reception. I tried it for the first time from the distance.
I met two mutual friends there.

Trains were delayed due to some accidents and influence of coming typhoon.

2017.10.19

It was a cold rainy day again. It was a record-making coldest morning in October.

After work I visited the Fuji Film Square. They have the exhibitions of "The Photographic Cooperative that Influenced the World: Origins of the Founding of Magnum Photos."  There were three parts: Part I The photographic origins of four of the founding members. Part Ii World War Two, Part III The founding of Magnum Photos and later developments. Works of the photographic origins of ten were exhibited. They are Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson,David Seymour, George Rodger, Eve Arnold, Werner Bischof, Inge Morath,  Dennis Stock, Elliott Erwitt, and Marc Riboud.

If you have time, I recommend you to visit there.

2017.10.18

It became fine after 6 days. However it is cold in the morning and evening.

Today I supported the lecture given by a woman who used to work as an official servant but founded three companies while getting married, giving births, and raised two daughters.
It was not only interesting but also useful for my own program study.

2017.10.17

It was a cold day.

After work I went to attend a free seminar of Mr. Cayden Chang about Warren Buffett's investment Strategy in Shinjuku. It lasted until later than 10 pm.
They gave a book of Mr. Tetsuya Inamura which was released in June and cost yen 1400 to each participant which was a unexpected surprise.

Unfortunately I missed the last regular train from Shinagawa by a few minutes. So I decided to take WING No.11 train for the first time. It cost yen 300 but it is a reserved seat train of nonstop until Kamioooka and connects to the last train to my station at Keikyu Kurihama, terminal of the WING car. So I do not have to spend for the taxi.
Some passengers enjoy drinking in the car, others are sleeing or using smartphone or PC.

2017.10.16

It was a cold rainy day. In spite of the good weather early last week, it has been getting colder these days.

Today I went out for lunch with four people.

At night I went out for dinner at Shiodome with four people. I met three of them for the first time. We enjoyed talking and eating. I was surprised at the size of Oyster from Hokkaido. The price was also surprising. It was tasty at that time.
But I had a stomachache on my way back home.....

2017.10.15

It was a rainy day.

As my routine of the 15th, I visited the shrine before taking the train.

I went to Takeshiba to get the 5th lymphatic massage.

On my way there when I changed the train, I left my umbrella behind the train.
I asked the staff at the station, no report has not come yet and I was asked to call 30 minutes later. Fortunately my umbrella was brought to the lost & found of Shinagawa station. So I could pick it up later.

After the massage I went to the travel agency to consult about the trip in December.

Then I went to Ginza to see the rakugo, traditional story-telling at Akita Dining Namahage.  There were three speakers, and the first was a Swedish. I admire these foreigners who perform Japanese traditional culture.

2017.10.14

It was a cold rainy day.

I got up once to watch NHK's morning drama and was surprised at the rapid story development. This week I was out of the office three days and Monday was a holiday, so I missed the lunch time dramas. They were also developed rapidly.

In the afternoon I went to the fourth lymphatic massage at Takeshiba. It took about 2 hours and a half.

After that I went to a kimono shop. I was surprised to hear that the director's birthday was the same as mine. What a coincidence!

2017.10.13

It was a cold rainy day.

I had three meetings and lots of things to do in between, and overworked till 9:40 pm.

When I got to Kanazawabunko, there was an accident on the way and all the trains stopped there for one hour or so. Therefore I had to go to Zushi and change to JR train and went to Kurihama, and changed to Keihinkyuko again. So I came home 1:30 am or so.

There was something wrong with the charger and I could not use the smartphone.

2017.10.12

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

I walked around the hotel before checking out.

We had a meeting in Nikko city in the morning.

At lunch we went to a soba, buckwheat noodle, restaurant where our driver booked for us.I ordered the recommended set menu.
They offered us a cup of coffee after the meal because we booked for lunch. Since I do not drink coffee, I asked the waitress to give it to our driver. He was very glad, so was I.

In the afternoon we visited Tochigi city. To our surprise the city hall was located on the upper floors of the department store.

There were many old-fashioned warehouses along the river. If it was fine, we could have walked there but it looked like going to rain we gave up and headed for the station.
To our surprise again there was no souvenir shops there but a convenience store.

We took Tobu express train up to Kitasenju. I changed to Hibiya Line there directly and adjusted the fare at Roppongi.
Since I had heavy documents, I dropped at the office to leave them.

Today is Columbus Day.  25 years ago this day Expo '92 in Seville, Spain was over. It was such a life-changing event for me that I thank everyone I met there.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2017.10.11

It was cloudy but foggy in the morning.

I left home earlier than usual and went to Tokyo via Shinagawa. So crowded there. Then I took Shinkansen to Utsunomiya. This is the first time for me to go there. In the morning I had a meeting.

At lunch I ate half menu set of ramen and gyoza (餃子), which is a speciality there.

In the afternoon it started to rain unfortunately.

We visited the Nikko Toshogu (日光東照宮) shrine first. There were so many tourists there.
Then we went to the Kegon Falls. Because of fog, we could not see the whole waterfalls.

After checked in the hotel, we went out for dinner. It was very hard to find the restaurant because most of them were already closed. We ate Yuba (湯葉) dishes which are the local speciality.

At night I took onsen (温泉) hot spring with an open air bath.

2017.10.10

It was very fine and warm like summer.

53 years ago of this day was the opening of the Tokyo Olympic. They say it was fine as today.

There are some days in a year which we can expect the good weather. October 10 is one of them. Statistically November 3 tends to be a sunny day too.  We call these days hare no tokuibi (晴れの特異日).

It seems to be fine and hot next two days.

2017.10.9

It was fine.

Today is a national holiday called Taiiku no hi (体育の日), Health-Sports Day. This used to be on October 10 commemorating the Tokyo Olympic in 1964. But since 2000 it has become the second Monday of October for Happy Monday System.

This is the last day of three day weekend.

I stayed home to receive the re-delivered goods in the morning.
Then I went to Kimono-Style Miya to participate in the event of bodyguard. I wore light yellow green Oshima tsumugi (大島紬) which is a tradtional Japanese articraft of 1300 years of history in Amamioshima (奄美大島) in Kagashima  (鹿児島) prefecture. Yellow green is my color of this year.

Two bodygurads escorted me. It was a very special experience.  When I heard about this event, I was not interested in it  at all, but I am glad to have attended.

In the evening I came to Roppongi and had dinner at Hinokizaka restaurant of the Ritz-Carlton,Tokyo. The view was very beautiful, and the meal was delicious as always.

Thank you very much.

2017.10.8

It was fine.

I went to Shinagawa to attend Reiki 3 seminar for review. This was the third time for me to attend this seminar. There were about 24  participants and they were divided into 3 groups.  Our group was consisted of three first learners, five repeaters,  one teacher and one sub-teacher.
There is something to learn each time.

When I came back home, it seemed to have happened something at the neighborhood and some policemen and patrol cars were there to investgate the site. So surprising.

2017.10.7

It was rainy and cold in the morning but became fine in the evening.

First I went to Shinjuku to attend Morinda's monthly meeting. They have a special campaign this month. If you have interested in, this is the best time to join.

Next I went to Roppongi to visit the Mori Art Museum at the 53rd floor of Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. They have the Exhibition Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN, SUNSHOWER Contemporary Art from Southeast Asia 1980s to Now. There are works by over 80 artists representing every ASEAN nation in the largest exhibition ever of its kind. They are held simultaneously at two museums: the National Art Center,Tokyo and Mori Art Museum. To my lucky I got the invitation tickets. I hope to visit NACT by October 23.

The view from the 53rd floor is very nice.  Since there are restaurants there, I hope to visit there for afternoon tea someday.

Then I went to the beauty salon in Sugita to have my hair cut and perm.

I got three delivery goods but could not receive so that I decided to get them at the sales office for the first time.

2017.10.6

It was cloudy in the morning but started raining in the afternoon. It has been getting very cool these days. Fall has come.

It is the full moon today but we may not be able to watch it.

In the morning I saw Mr. Shinjiro Koizumi (小泉進次郎) , a  member of the House of Representative at the station.

From tomorrow we have three day weekend.

2017.10.5

It was cloudy and rather cool.

After work I went to Ochanomizu (御茶ノ水) to attend a monthly meeting of the club I joined in June.

There was an announcement of Nobel Prize in Literature. An English writer Mr. Kazuo Ishiguro whose parents are Japanese became a winner. Congratulations!!

2017.10.4

It was cloudy and cool.

In the morning before going to the office.
I went to see the Arc Nova 2017. The color was quite different from the one I saw last night.

Today it is jyugoya (十五夜) or chushu no meigetsu (中秋の名月) hervest moon, which means the night or moon of August 15 by the luner calendar.
We expect the full moon on this day but this year it does not fall on the same day. Full moon is two days later on October 6th.
It is the day for viewing the moon. We decorate susuki (すすき), Japanese pampus and dumpling. I did not decorate them but enjoyed viewing the beautiful moon at night.

Today I got sweets gift from Nakataya (中田屋) in Kanazawa (金沢). Last month when there was a campaign of foods and articraft of Kaga, Noto, and Kanazawa, I applied for the gift. I have totally forgotten about it but am so glad to receive two different kinds of delicious sweets set.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2017.10.3

It was rainy in the morning but became fine.

Do you know Arc Nova 2017?

There has been a big movable concert hall in Roppongi since September 19 until tomorrow.
I have wanted to see it so that I visited there after work.
They were filming the music TV program and only invited people could enter today. They say it will be broadcast on Saturday November 11 & 18.

2017.10.2

was cloudy in the morning, but became rain in the evening.

October 1st is the time to change the uniform which is called koromogae (衣替え). So I saw some students wearing jackets.

It is also the start of the second half of the fiscal year which is called shimo hanki (下半期).

Many new TV Programs start this week. At lunch time I enjoy two of them. They started today.

Yesterday at the one day seminar we exercised in the first part. So I feel muscle pains here and there.

2017.10.1

A new month has started. October is jyugatsu (十月) and kannazuki (神無月) which means the month without gods because all of the gods get togethet in Izumo(出雲).  There October is kamiarizuki (神在月).

It was a fine beautiful Sunday.

I went to the nearby shrine first and headed for Tokyo to attend Mr. James Skinner's secret seminar, Koko now.  I have known him for several years by recorded seminar and a book but have never attended the real seminar. Through the joint talk live with Ms. Natsuko Yokota I connected with him by Facebook and LINE and knew about this monthly meeting.

It started at 9 am and finished around 8:30 pm.  They required us to wear elegant costumes during the seminar but they said they had exercise in the morning session.  So we needed to change.

There was a special guest's lectures too. I had no idear who he and his wife were but it seemed they are very famous in the certain world.

The first comers were invited to the stage and to tell their names and what James Skinner is for them.

There were many new things I learned today.

The venue was very closed to the Tokyo tower which looked very nice.

2017.9.30

The last day of September.  Three fourths of 2017 was over.

I have met many people including world famous best-seller writers for the past 9 months.

I invested myself to learn from many mentors, traveled inside and outside of Japan, bought many things, and ate a lot.

I think so far so good.

There are many plans waiting for me for the next three months which I am looking forward.

Today I went grocery shopping in the morning, and went to massage in the afternoon. The massager said my body was stiff and tired again.

There I found my LINE account was hijacked. I changed the password and reported  to LINE. Somebody sent the fraud mails from my accounts. My friends noticed there was something different from my language tone and informed of me. I was embarrassed a lot. Thanks to the rapid customer service action, the new account was deleted.

After massage I went to the Kimono-Style Miya to attend a special event. First my hair was set, makeup, then I was dressed. Today they tied the sash called  obi (帯) and  belt called obijime (帯締め) very decorative way.

Then I rid on Rickshaw, a man-powered cart called "Jinrikisha(人力車)" and headed for the famous Japanese restaurant "Nadaman(なだ万)"at the Intercontinental Hotel.
The weather was just fine with fresh sea breeze. The view was very nice. I ate delicious course dinner of grilled vegetable and meat.

In spite of the terrible LINE experience, I had a good day.

Thank you.

2017.9.29

It was fine and very beautiful.

I took a half day off to attend SRC Convention held at the Hibiya park. It started at 2 pm and ended around 7 pm with about one hour break.

There is a library at the Hibiya park, and there is Pronto, a coffee shop where you can charge your smartphone, tablet, and PC for free of charge. What a relief I felt!

It was an interesting experience.

Have a nice weekend!

2017.9.28

It was heavily raining early in the morning. When I was still in bed, there was a warning of heavy rain. Some of my friends were worried about me because my area was on the morning news having 87mm rain per hour by 5:40 am which was the heaviest record in history. The national road was flooded and closed.
Fortunately I could go to the station but my train delayed for an hour.
When I got to Roppongi, it was not raining.
But when I left, it was raining again.

After work I went to Ueno to attend an Opportunity Meeting. It may be a great chance to creat the wealth. Who knows?

2017.9.27

It was cloudy.

At office I usually have lunch watching TV at the Women's Rest Room where has some tatami mats with a table and a table with chairs and TV.

I was so surprised to hear the news of Saudi Arabian women's driver's license today at lunch time. I did not know that they were not allowed to drive until now. I was shocked to know such a discrimination still exists in this 21st century.

It is often said our common sense /standard is not universal. And I know we are very blessed compared to other countries.
I have been to many countries and have many foreign friends.

But I realized there are still so many things to know and should be changed.

2017.9.26

It was fine and warm.

I could practice the radio gymnastics in the morning after a while.

There were three meetings at the office. Two of them were regular and one of them was irregular.
First one is a weekly team meeting to consult everything we need to.
Second one is biweekly office meeting to report and share one's working progress and consult the common problem.
Third one was suddenly setup to meet someone from outside by chance.

I feel it is very important to meet to understand each other. Even using Japanese language we get different meaning from what we express in emails.

2017.9.25

It was fine.

It's been about 100 days since the baby panda of the Ueno Park was born. Finally she got the name.  It is Shan Shan (香香). The Chinese character shan (香) means fregrance.
They say there were 322,581 applications for choosing the name from the public.
She looks so cute.
I hope her healthy growth.

She will be shown to the public around December.

2017.9.24

It was very fine.

I checked out the hotel before 9 am and visited Osu Kannon Temple (大須観音) first.
Then I visited Banshoji (万松寺) Temple which is deeply related with Oda Nobunaga (織田信長), one of the most famous civil war time heroes. They have a mechanical clock. Therefore I waited there until 10 am. There were two scenes.

After that I went to Atsuta Jingu (熱田神宮), where is one of the most famous shrines in Japan. It seems today is a good day that there were many celebrations such as wedding, Omiyamairi (お宮参り) first visit after birth, and early Shichigosan (七五三) which is usually celebrated on November 15.

There is a very famous restaurant for Hitsumabushi (ひつまぶし) eel dish near Atsutajingu called Horaiken(蓬来軒). Their waiting time was two hours.
Therefore I came back to Yabacho (矢場町) hoping to eat Misokatsu (味噌カツ) at Yabaton.  However there was a long waiting line there too.
So I decided to try another Nagoya dish, Ankake spaghetti (あんかけスパゲッティ).

From 1pm to 6 pm I attended a specal seminar "Brain Talk."  There were about 32 participants. I met some Reiki friends. After the lecture we had a pair work and group works. It was a rare chance seminar, which is only held when the lecturer is available at the weekend. So I came to Nagoya this time all the way. It was interesting.

Before getting on Shinkansen going back to Tokyo, I bought Misokatsudaon (みそカツ丼) box meal for dinner.

It was a nice weekend.

2017.9.23

It is a national holiday called Shubun no hi (秋分の日), Autumn Equinox Day. Since it is Saturday, it is just the same weekend as usual.

I came to Nagoya to attend a rare seminar "Brain Talk" which is held only when the lecturer has time and the venue is available. Tomorrow is that special day in Nagoya.

Since there is a trial meeting of Reiki today at the same place, I decided to attend as a supporter for the first time.

I invited my relative to join. She seemed enjoyed.

After that we and my cousin had dinner at the Alice in the silver screen.
We enjoyed the reunion.

2017.9.22

It was fine in the morning, but became rain in the afternoon as the weather forecast said.

After work I went to the Kagurazaka Pulse Gallery to see my friend's art exhibition.
He is Mr. Hirono Nakamura, dragon artist. We met each other at the Expo 92 in Seville, Spain for the first time. It's been 25 years!! At that time I was working at the Japan pavilion, and he was a traveler just after finishing his first job. Our birthday happens to be the same day, May 8, and we became friends.

When I became sick in Florida in 2008, he was also sick.

Last year we happened to see each other again at the seminar of Mr. Ken Honda.

This is his second exhibition. There were many beautiful pictures of dragons.
He was selling postcards and a leaflet. I bought the latter and asked him the autograph. He drew the picture of dragon with his signature which was very nice.
It cost yen 1500 but there was a coupon for tea or coffee which cost yen 500.
I happened to see his brother and his wife there.

Since I had another appointment, I only had a half an hour or so, but I am glad to visit there.

If you have time, I recommend you to visit there next Sunday when he and his friend have a joint performance.

After that I went to a seminar at Shinjuku which lasted until 10 pm.

For the last two days I took the last train.Tonight I could get on the one before last.

Thank you.  Thank you. Thank you.

2017.9.21

It was fine.

After work I went to Shinjuku to attend  Mr. Cayden Chang's Investment Strategy Seminar.

This was the second time for me to attend his lecture.

It started after 7 pm  and lasted for more than three hours without break.

Unfortunately I could not stay until the last because of the time of my last train.

Fortunately I could manage to catch it tonight too.

2017.9.20

It was fine.

After work I went out for dinner at Alice in magical land in Shinjuku with my colleague.
This is the second time for me to visit there.
When I went there for the first time, they gave me a stamp rally card, dessert coupon, and tea bag.
The atomosphere was unique and I became intetested in visiting all the five Alice Fantasy restaurants in Tokyo.
Stamp rally was valid until the end of August, and each time they offered the free drink. By visiting three different restaurants, they sent me an original dish the other day.
Since the dessert coupon was valid until today, I decided to go there again to see what kind of dessert it is.
It was a big parfait with topped by many cakes and ice cream and cost yen 1380.
If you upload the picture at Instagram, they offer a glass of drink.
Through internet I could book for the 8 dishes course at the half price.
So we feel lucky and enjoyed dinner.

2017.9.19

It was fine.

Since a new staff joined to our office, we had a welcome luncheon at a German restaurant in the Roppongi Hills.
I chose the limited daily menu which
cost yen 1000. It included salad, chicken eith cream sauce, rice, dessert, and tea.
The pictures of the wall were impressive.
They use the beer glass for iced coffee too.  Iced coffee looked like black beer. There is a mark of 300ml or so on the glass, and we talked about the characteristic of German people. We think they are very precise. What do you think?
.

2017.9.18

It was fine and beautiful after the typhoon No.18.

Today is a nstuonsl holiday called Keiro no hi (敬老の日), Respect for the Aged Day.

According to the
newspaper, there are 67824 people who are over 100 years old in Japan which is 2132 more than last year.   87.9 % of them  are women.
The oldest woman is 117 years old and the oldest man is 112 years old.
When they started the research on 1963, there were only 153 people who are over 100 years old and in 1998  it became more than 10000, and in 2012 they exceeded 50000.
The average lifespan of Japanese womppen is 87.14  and of
men is 80.98 years old.  
There are more than 2 million who are over 90 years old.
There are 11.9% who are more than 65 years old that occupy among all the working people.

Today is the last day of the three-day weekend.
What did you do?

I went to the Lymphatic massage in the morning and the water-related service persons came to clean water  tubes.

2017.9.17

It was a rainy day because of the typhoon No.18.

In the morning I went to the Kimono-Style Miya to have hair done, makeup, dressed up and my pictures taken.

Then I went to Roppongi to have lunch with my Lymphatic massage teacher at the 45th floor of the Ritz- Carlton Hotel. We enjoyed the course lunch. We happened to see a very famous Japanese photographer near our table.

After lunch I went to Namahage yose (なまはげ寄席), the Vaudeville Theater in Ginza with my ex-colleague. There were three performers.

Then I went back to the Kimono-Style  Miya to pick up the carry case.

In spite of rain I had a nice day.

2017.9.16

It was a rainy day.

In the morning I got a call and my morning schedule was postponed in the afternoon.
So I went to see a Japanese movie titled Sandome no satsujin(三度目の殺人), The Third Killing.

Then I headed for Roppongi to the next appointment. It was a free  facial massage for 30 minutes. Last year I happened to buy cosmetics, and I got some points. It is valid until the end of September, so I decided to use them.
I had a good experience.

There were some new exhibitions and a galleray talk at the Fuji Film Square.

After that I went to Takeshiba to get lymphatic massage. This was the second time.

Then I visited a kimono shop where I met a Japanese traditional dance performer.

2017.9.15

It was fine.

Since it is the 15th, I went to the nearby shrine before taking the train.

I took a half day off to visit the annual Minarukanetaisai (巳成金大祭) of Ueno Bentendo Temple(上野弁天堂). I arrived about one hour later than my schedule. When I arrived, there were two long lines already. One for visiting the statue of Benzaiten(弁才天) which is exhibited only once in a year, the other for buying the special gold coin and purse.  It took more than one hour to enter the temple. I needed to go to the office by 1 pm, so I had to give up buying the gold coin this year. Instead I got the red stamp called written Goshuin (御朱印) and a protection coin charm. Next year I 'd better book in August.
I saw the beautiful sun with a big circle while waiting.

Before going to the office I visited two shrines near the office.

At office I had two meetings.

I left the office earlier than usual to attend an opening event of Samurai Royal Community. It lasted for more than three hours. I enjoyed the event very much.

2017.9.14

It was fine.

There was a commencement today. Students from about 50 countries graduated. Congratulations!!
I helped the registration for family members and friends. They dressed up and looked very beautiful with their national costume.
There were some babies and children who looked after their parents. Families are nice, aren't they?

Most of the students were from Asian and African countries where I have not been to yet.

Since I am in charge of other program, I have a rare chance to talk with regular students.

Sometimes I feel I am wasting a big chance to get to know people and countries I have not known yet.

Maybe I should just start greeting.

2017.9.13

It was fine.

According to the Facebook posts, it seems the sky at the sunset was pink and very beautiful.
Usually I am inside the building once I enter in the morning, and I don't know what is going on outside.
I'd better take breaks and check outside sometimes.

2017.9.12

It was a rainy day but I did not use the umbrella. It seems there appeared rainbows here and there. When I got to the parking area, there were many leaves and it looked rained heavily this area.

Recently I booked the airline tickets from the official website of Thai Airways for the business trip.  I wanted to book for three persons, but due to the security protection of the credit card, I could not buy for one of them. Therefore I asked the person to book by himself and he bought through ANA. In spite of the code share flights, the price was far much expensive than TG. I wonder why this happens. The sevice will be the same.

I understand there are price differences among travel agencies.  But I do not understand why there are differences between TG and ANA for the same flights.

2017.9.11

It was fine.

I could not get up early, and missed the regular train. Therefore  I needed to change for three times before getting to Daimon where I change to Oedo line.
I should have taken 10 minutes earlier or later train not to change up to Daimon. Because I got to the office later than the 10 minutes later train which I got on the other day.

It's been 16 years since the 9/11 occurred.

This year the Hurricane Irma hit Florida where I used to live.
I hope everyone is fine.

2017.9.10

It was fine.

This was the first Sunday that I do not have any appointments and relaxed an went grocery shopping since I came back from the USA.

I slept long and bought many things today. I have filled up my car too.

At home I washed and dried futon.

It was a nice Sunday.

2017.9.9

It was fine.

I wore kimono and went to attend a luncheon at Kamioooka. There held at a French restaurant and I was at a table of three.  It was very interesting to hear the stories they have experienced.  Meal was good and deicious.

After that we went to Kaga, Noto & Kanazawa (加賀、能登、金沢) fair held at the department store. There were many sweets and articrafts. By answering questionaire I got a sweet and I bought some instant soup and sweets.

After coming back home the maintenance serviceman was waiting.

At night I went to see a friend and had dinner.

There was a festival at the shrine near my house and visited there on my way back.

The moon was so beautiful  tonight.

2017.9.8

It was fine.

After work I went out for dinner with a colleague in Ikebukuro. We chose one of the Alice Fantasy Restaurants. There are five of them inTokyo and I have been to four of them since July.
Today's place is Kojo no kuni no Alice (古城の国のアリス), Alice in an old castle.
Each restaurant has a different theme and different interiors and some original menus.
We chose the Halloween special course dinner. Decorations were very cute with Halloween goods. I ordered original cocktails.
I enjoyed talking with her and getting to  know her and eating and drinking as usual.

I feel good to have visited all five Alice restaurants in Tokyo.

2017.9.7

It was a rainy day.

After work I went to Suidobashi to attend a monthly meeting to get information and to solve questions. After all what I learned was I should call and ask the support desk regarding technical matters.

There was a group meeting after that which I was not informed of. It lasted for more than one hour and I missed a webinar which I wanted to join.

I felt relieved to get on the last train.

2017.9.6

It was a rainy day.

After work I visited the Fuji Film Square after two week or so. There were some beautiful pictures which I hope to take someday by myself.
This is the 57th contest.

Today is the fullmoon, but we cannot see itk- now unfortunately.

2017.9.5

It was cloudy in the morning but became fine when I got to the office.

I could not get up early again and took 30 minutes later train than usual.
To my lucky our office operates on flextime system. The core time is from 10 am to 3 pm and we need to work for 7 hours and 45 minutes with one hour lunch time break per day. We can adjust total working time within a month. Furthermore we can take offs hourly.

2017.9.4

It was slightly raining and cool this morning.

In the morning after waking once I fell asleep again and got up later than usual.
So I did not have time to eat breakfast.

At office in the afternoon I attended English training of Five tips for effective email writing. It was three hours session but very interesting and I learned a lot and enjoyed.
There were five golden rules when you write effective emails. One of them was KISS. Can you guess what it means? It means Keep It Short and Simple.
Others were to be consistent, not to send empty emails, to reply as soon as possible, and to be polite.

2017.9.3

It was fine.

I went to Kimono-style Miya to have hairdo, makeup, got dressed, and my pictures taken in the morning.

Then I went to Shinjuku to attend a seminar in the afternoon There were three speakers. There was a Chinese-Japanese interpreter.  At first they did not provide the interpreter for the latter patt, but since two thirds of the audience were Japanese, they decided to have the interpreter.
It seems they were very famous but I did not know at all.

In the evening I attended the talk dinner party at an Italian restaurant in Omote sando.  There were about 30 people who love traveling. I enjoyed eating, listening to the expereiences of travel bloggers and sharing information.

It was a busy fruitful day

2017.9.2

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

I went to Shinjuku to attend Morinda's monthly meeting. After that I measured the TruAge. To my surprise I became about 10 years younger than last time. I tried to think the reasons. The one I am sure is the increased volume of Original Tahitian Noni Juice. I usually drink a glass of Maxidoid in the morning. However I bought two cases of Original Tahitian Noni Juice in July for special campaign offering two bottles of Tahitian Noni Juice for each two cases shopping. So for the past a week or so I have drunk a glass of Tahitian Noni Juice for not only in the morning but also at night. The more I drink, the better result I get. So I am looking forward to measuring next time in October.

Then I went to Kani doraku (かに道楽), my favorite crab restaurant to have late lunch with a friend whom I got to know about a month ago. We enjoyed eating and drinking for more than three hours.

After that I went to Kawasaki to see a Japanese movie "Kimi no suizo wo tabetai (君の膵臓を食べたい)," meaning "I want to eat your pancreas." The title is so strange but when I saw the preview serveral months ago, I felt like seeing it, and finally I could make it. It was a touching movie of high school girl who was sick of pancreas but died unexpectedly.
We should not postpone what we want to do because we don't know when we die.

It was a fruitful day.

2017.9.1

It was a cool rainy day.

A new month has begun. September is kugatsu (九月,９月), the ninth month. Its another name is nagatsuki (長月), long month.

In the mornning I went to two shrines, one near my house, the other near the office as tsuitachi mairi (朔日参り), the first day visit to thank the passed month.

After work I went to Shinjuku to have dinner with ex-colleagues at another Alice's Fantasy restautrant. It is Alice in a fantasy book. This is the fourth Alice's restaurant. Foods were almost the same. There were many people and some people were celebrating birthdays.

Since today is the first day, it is good to start something. This month I started using Morinda's Te Mana new cosmetic series. I am looking forward to my future.

2017.8.31

It was a rainy day and rather cold at night.

The end of August. That means two thirds of 2017 have already finished.
How fast time flies!
How was it?
Mine was good to have traveled around USA, Europe, and USA again for private, Nagano, Hokkaido and Tohoku for business trips, and to Kyushu by invitation trip and so on. I attended many seminars to learn many things and became a Reiki teacher. I met many old friends by 25th anniversary events of Expo '92 and have made some new friends.

One of the colleagues left the office today. Since I could not attend her welcome luncheon nor farewell luncheon, we will have dinner tomorrow.

I have had delicious foods here and there.

I hope the rest of one third will be good too.

2017.8.30

It was fiine and hot in the morning but it rained heavily in the afternoon.
When I left the office in the evening, it was slightly raining but not so bad in  Tokyo.
However according to the news, it seemed to have really heavily rained in the Kanto area.

They say the prices of vegetables would be increasing because of lack of sunshine.

At night I talked with my friend after a long time over the phone and asked all the questions, which was good.

2017.8.29

It was fine, hot and humid.

I left the office a little bit earlier than usual to go to get Llymphatic massage at Takeshiba. Since this is the first time for me to see the massager, she was waiting for me at the Hamamatsucho station where is connected to Daimon station where I always transfer.

First I signed the paper, then washed my face.
After that I have many before-massage-pictures taken to compare after-massage-pictures.

First she moved my left legs and compared to my right legs. To my interesting just a few minutes movements changed the length of my legs. Then she moved my right legs to be equal.

Next she massaged around left collarbone, shoulder, neck, and cheek for a while and took pictures.
Then she massaged around right collarbone, shoulder, neck, and cheek for a while and took pictures.

Then I layed on the special mat for a while to rest.

My right shoulder was stiffer than left shoulder.

I am not sure how I changed, but when left side of the face was done,  my left faceline seemed to be sharper than right side.

This is a course of 6 times practices by November. I am very looking forward to changing my body better.

After that we went out for dinner at the Cjhinese restaurant on the top floor where has a nice view of the Rainbow bridge.

We enjoyed talking about many things.

I am looking forward to the next time.

2017.8.28

In the morning when I got to the station, I found I did not bring the commuter ticket  because I used the different bag yesterday. I went back home to get it. In addition I decided to wear a cardigan which was good because it was very cold in the trains.

These days I used Helo to check my physical condition and have been worried about my blood pressure data. They were rather higher than usual.  Therefore I went to the health control room at work and measured by the regular blood pressure machine. The data was normal as I have known and felt relieved.
I talked with a nurse and she explained about the possibility of the reasons. I felt relieved.

2017.8.27

It was cloudy in the morning but became fine and hot.

In the morning I went to Kimono-style Miya to get hair set and dressed. Today's kimono is Kyokinsai (京金彩) homongi (訪問着), formal wear.
One of the reasons was to listen to the kodan (講談), Japanese traditional story telling in Tokyo. My Reiki teacher was supposed to present around 2 pm. So I arrived there before 2 pm. However when I got there, he was at the entrance taking pictures with friends. I did not understand what was going on. To my shock, programs went smoothly and his turn came earlier than sch, and he said he has just finished. I was so discouraged.
Most of his pupils seemed to have left after his presentation, but I enjoyed listening to some people's presentations.
This is the first experience for me to hear  the live kodan, so I did not know about it at all, and the differences between rakugo (落語) and kodan(講談).
There were many stories, some are old, others are new. Some were stereo-typed, others were original.
I enjoyed the true stories based on their experiences.

I had another appointment at night, so I could not listen to the last person, but I was there for more than four hours.

Then I moved to a restaurant at the Ritz Carlton Hotel,Tokyo in Roppongi. It is located on the 45th floor and the night view was so nice. In addition we could see the fireworks at the Jingu baseball stadium (神宮球場: jingu kyujo).
The course dinner was very beautiful to see and very delicious to eat.
I had a very nice dinner.
I am looking forward to seeing Mt.Fuji from the restaurant next time st daytime.

2017.8.26

It was fine and hot.

I went to Shimbashi to attend a study meeting of WGN in the afternoon. I have  started using Helo since last month but there were many things I wanted to know how to handle and every question was answered today. So I am glad to have attended today.

After that I went to Omotesando to visit the gallery opening for my friend's 20th anniversary exhibition which started at 3 pm.  Since the study meeting lasted until 3 pm, I arrived at the venue around 3:30 pm and she was just making a speech. There were many people there. I could talk with her and take some pictures. Her pictures are very beautiful and they are used for healing.

Then I went to Shinjuku to attend a seminar about creating the wealth. I expected to see Mr. Robert Allen but he did not come this time. It lasted longer than schedule.

Finally I attended the web seminar on Kirei Design on my way back in a train.

It was a busy day.

2017.8.25

It was fine and hot.

I had a chance to attend an English summer program of 1200 History of Walking 1200 km 88 Temples in Shikoku. It's been already more than two years since I visited those 88 temples called Shikoku hachijyuhakkasho (四国八十八ヶ所). It was one of the "once in a life" experiences. This program reminded me of my wonderful experiences.

After work I went out for dinner with my ex-colleague in Ginza. The name of the restaurant is Meikyu no kuni no Alice (迷宮の国のアリス) , Alice in a labyrinth.
This was the third time for me to visit the  Alice restaurant. Every place has a different concept and everywhere was picuresque. Not only I got a free drink, but also an original Alice picture plate which will be sent later to my house.  They say this campaign is so popular that they are producing additional plates and that it will take time to ship.
In addition I uploaded the Alice fair drink by Instagram, therfore I got free chocolate herve tea.
We enjoyed eating & talking and decided to visit other restautant near future.

It was a nice premium Friday.

2017.8.24

It was fine and still very hot. However the daytime seems becoming shorter.

There were many things to do at office and I could finish many things which is nice.

I got a call from unknown number after my lunch time. I listened to the voice message on my way back. In Japan it is prohibited to call inside the train, therefore I called after coming home. She was not available and after a while I got a reply call saying that she was on her way back and call me later again. After all we could talk very late and decide the date to meet each other. I heard very interesting story and am now very looking forward to seeing her next week.
I knew her from someone I met at the dinner invited early this month.
I happened to sit next to her and we have many things in common and  enjoyed talking very much.

Life is wonderful if you accept the chances appeared to you, isn't it?

2017.8.23

It was fine and very hot around 33 degrees centigrade.

Last night I could not sleep maybe because of jet lag. Therefore I decided to get up and go to work early to come home earlier to receive the re-delivered suitcase and other goods.
I am glad to receive them finally. The goods were LTO of Te Mana cosmetics from Morinda which looked very gorgeous.

There was the final game of high school baseball game. I knew about it from last night's news. For both high school it would be the first time to be the top of all the teams in Japan.  Last night I saw the news about the hitter Nakamura (中村) of Koryo (広陵) high school from Hiroshima  prefecture who made the great record of 6 hoomeruns after 32 years of Kiyohara (清原) of PL school made.
Today Hanasaki Tokuharu (花咲徳栄) high school from Saitama prefecture won by 14 to 4 at the 99th meeting.
Congratulations!!

2018.8 .22

It was fine.

It was the total solar eclipse in the USA after 99 years.
I was very lucky to have been able to watch the live show by Mr.James Skinner from Oregon in the early morning (1 am to 2:25 am).

When I was in the USA last week I heard people were so excited about it, and they issued the special stamps.
Fortunately I bought them. They are changed the color by temperature. It is so cool.

Today it is the new moon when we can wish.

Nature is wonderful, isn't it?

2017.8.21

It was fine.

To my lucky my next seat was vacant.
There were snack & drink service, dinner, water, pizza & ice cream, and breakfast during the flight from Minneapolis to Haneda which took more than 11 hours.

I watched about four movies.

After arriving at Haneda. I went to the monthly massage. My body was so stiff, especially on my left head.

Then I went to a kimono shop.

It was a nice summer vacation.

2017.8.20

I got up early and came to the airport by taxi which cost $40 including the tips.
At airport I ate breakfast.

I leave here at 8:15 am and arrive at Haneda 13:45 tomorrow. It is 16 hours and a half.
When I bought the tickets I knew I have time in New York but I thought it would be the direct flight to Japan.
But it was not.

First I flew to Mineapolis which took about three hours.
There was one hour time difference there.

I left there at 11:20 am.

Now I am onboard.
I will arrive at Haneda after 11 hours and 20 minutes or so.