2024.2.29

I was cloudy and cold.

After work I went grocery shopping.

I cooked dinner with new rice.

At night I held the 30th Bilingual Tea Party by Zoom and four friends joined.

I made the Nohana album.

2024.2.27

It was fine, but cold.

Mt. Fuji looked so beautiful covered with snow.

My 115th ebook has become No.1 in Japan.

I went to ATMs and supermarkets on my way home.

There are many supermarkets here and there. I went two of them today. I went to both of them after a long time.

First one was for business purpose but individuals are also welcome.

They sell everything very cheap with great amount.

I used to go to the other one on weekends.

But these days I go other places on my way home after work on weekdays.

To my surprise I could use T−points for payment.

At night I attended a zoom seminar.

2024.2.26

It was fine.

I stayed and worked at home.

Present campaign of the 115th ebook has started.

It is about the bus tour to Chichibu in Februry 2019 to see icicles.

I wanted to see them this year too but unfortunately the public opening season was over.

2024.2.25

It was a cold rainy day.

I got up early and wore kimono and went to Kimono Style Miya to have my hair set and dressed up.

I visited some shrines and temples and had lunch with friends.

At night I attended Miya's 11th Anniversary Party.  There were more than 100 ladies who wore beautiful Kimono.

We enjoyed watching the show and having delicious dinner.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

2024.2.24

It was fine, but very cold.

I stayed at home all day long.

I published the 115th ebook.

I watched a recorded movie at night. It was the one I missed when it was showing at the theater so I am glad to see it.

Today is the fullmoon.I saw the beautiful one.

2024.2.23

It was a cold rainy day.

Today is a national holiday called Tenno tanjobi, the Emperor's birthday.

He became 64 years old.

Happy Birthday!

I stayed at home all day long. I cleared the kimono and prepared for another one for next Sunday.

I prepared for the pictures of the next photobook. It is a book about the bus tour to Chichibu to visit icicles. 

I felt like going to somewhere during this three day weekend and wanted to visit the icicles. But unfortunately the festival season has just finished. So I decided to publish the book about icicles.

I went there on February 10, 2019. I remembered the month but could not remember the year.

First I checked the 10 years diary but could not specify the date. Next I checked the Nohana photobook which I started since May 2018. So I could find the date, and read My Book diary and remembered the day.

I cooked oyako don for dinner. Oyako means parent and child and don means bowl. It is a rice bowl of chicken and egg.

2024.2.22

It was a cold rainy day.

At work I attended the Webex meeting for the first time.

Nikkei Stock Average has hit the new all-time high of yen 39098.68 since December 29, 1989 when hit the highest price of yen 38957.44. It's been a long time.

They say today is the day of cats because of the pronunciation of 2.22 which sounds like meow's of a cat.

From tomorrow we have a three days weekend.

2024.2.21

It was a cold rainy day. Since it was warm yesterday the difference is big.

To my glad the 114th ebook is No.1 in the USA.

I got a comment from a friend who told me that she visited Daiosaki light house last year and I visited there this year. 

Daioh-zaki is famous for the town of painters, and she is one of them.

I got another comment that she was happy to know there are many places to visit where she has never been and wanted to visit next time.

I am glad to be somebody's inspiration.

2024.2.19

It was cloudy and rainy.

Today is usui (雨水), one nijushisekki (二十四節気), 24 solar terms.

 Last one was risshun (立春) on February 4, and the next one is keichitsu (啓蟄) on March 5.

Usui literally means rain water.

It is a time to melt snow and snow becomes rain.

It's been warm these days.

It is actually becoming warm.

2024.2.18

It rained during night, was cloudy in the morning, became fine, but it seems to have rained during daytime at my place.

I wore kimono and went to Kimono style Miya to have redressed.  I visited shrines and temples and went to Iidabashi to meet my American friend's best friend and her daughter to show around Tokyo.

I chose two places, the 42nd red plum festival at Ushitenjin shrine and Koishikawa Korakuen Gardens. We got pork soup, green tea with sweets, and sweet sake. 

After getting the special red stamp they offered small cup of plum wine.

We enjoyed watching Japanese dram performances.

I got a twig of plum.

After the festival we went to the Koishigawa Korakuen Garden. There were plum trees too.

After saying good bye to them I went to Harajuku to see my friend to have dinner.

It was a nice day.

2024.2.16

It was fine and Mt. Fuji looked so beautiful covered with snow in the morning.

In the afternoon it became cloudy and we could not see Mt. Fuji.

I stayed and worked at home.There were lots of things to do.

I cooked French toast for lunch.

They say the Shinkansen between Kanazawa and Tsuruga will open and tickets purchasing to Fuki started and the seats for the first train were sold out in a minute. Fukui is very famous for Echizen crab. 

There were big earthquakes in Noto peninsula on January 1.

I hope the area will be recovered by tourism again.

2024.2.15

It was fine and rather warm.

I went to the nearby shrine before going to work as a ritual of the 15th of the month.

They said Haru ichiban (春一番), the first strong southern wind after the first day of spring, blew in Kanto area.

I have been busy at office these days.

After work I went grocery shopping.

2024.2.14

Happy St.Valentine's Day!!

How do you celebrate this day?

In Japan it has been a day that girls and women give chocolates to boys and men they like. In return boys and men give sweets to girls and women on March 14 which is called White Day.

These days many girls and women buy special chocolates for themselves or for anybody.

I got some chocolates this year. They were delicous.

It was fine today. They say it will be warm tomorrow. 

2024.2.13

It was fine.

Mt.Fuji looked so beautiful with white snow.

After 5 days off there were so many things to do at work, and I overworked for a while.

I got a present from England.

I have been wondering if I would go to seminar tomorrow or not, but after all I gave up. Maybe next time.

2024.2.12

It was fine.

Today is a transferred holiday, and the last day of the three day weekend.

I stayed at home all day long.

I made a new contract of fire insurance for 5 years.

I enjoyed the sweets my cousin gave me with green tea.

At night I watched my favorite TV program of the 99th Zennihon kaso taisho (第99回全日本仮装大賞) after three years.

2024.2.11

It was fine.

Today is a national holiday called Kenkoku kinen no hi (建国記念の日), National Foundation Day.

After checking out the hotel I headed for Atsuta jingu shrine.  At the Jingu mae station I got together with my cousin living in Gifu, and we went to Atsuta jingu shrine.

Since today is National Foundation Day we could see the special shinto ceremony and traditional archery performance. 

We got together another relative and had lunch.

After that we went to Shiratori Garden and enjoyed walking around and having sweets.

After saying good bye I went to have dinner at a famous restaurant. There was a long line about 30 to 40 minutes. I ate a square meal.

I went to pick up the suitcase and took 19:38 Shinkansen.

It was a nice trip.

2024.2.10

Happy New Year!!

I got up early and attended the morning tour to the Ise shrine for an hour and a half.

After having breakfast I changed to kimono.

We went to Naiku and offered okagura performance and went to inside the fence for the formal visit. There were so many people today because of the new year.

After that we came back to Jingu kaikan for lunch, and we visited the shrine again.

After the tour three of us went to have Akafuku, very famous sweets in Ise. To my lucky they took me to the station by car.

I came to Nagoya, had dinner, and came to the hotel.

To my delight my 113th ebook became No.1 in Australia.

It was a nice new year's day.

2024.2.9

I got up early to see the sunrise but couldn't.

I went back to the hotel to change to kimono and went to visit the shrines.

I happened to see a friend there.

I went back to the hotel to check out and went to Jingu kaikan via Life long learning center and visitor center to see the hina dolls. Since I visited all 6 places and I got a small present.  At the visitor center I got a useful information and headed for Jingu kaikan.

After leaving a suitcase there, I headed for Ise city to visit the Tsukiyomi gu shrine, and took a bus to visit the Yamato hime gu shrine, and headed for the meeting place.

There were 72 participants today for Mr. Fujimoto's tour. We visited two shrines, had dinner, and a lecture.

It was a nice day.

2024.2.8

It was fine. 

I arrived at Ise in the morning.

After leaving the suitcase I visited Futami okitama jinja (二見興玉神社) shrine first, took train to visit Hakuryu daimyojin (白龍大明神) waterfalls next, took another train and walked for half an hour to visit Yokoyama ishigami jinja (横山石神神社) shrine next, and tooked a bus to Daiosaki todai (大王崎灯台) Light House and visited the park and shrines there. The view from there was beautiful. They say there are 16 lighthouses where you can climb up in Japan.

I walked more than 22000 steps today.

It was a nice day trip.

2024.2.7

It was fine but cold.

There were some snow remained at the roadside and in the shadow.

I was rather busy in the evening and overworked for half an hour.

On my way home I stopped at the gas station. This past month  I have used air conditioning a lot and it ran less than usual.

I was asked to add LINE, and they gave me three boxes of tissue paper.

After having dinner I walked to the station and headed for Yokohama to get on the night bus to Ise.

To my delight my 113th book has been No.1 in the USA.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

2024.2.6

It was cloudy and cold.

I worked at home in the morning, and tooj a half day off to go to Tokyo.

There were four places to go. 

Firstly I went to Hebikubo jinja shrine to receive the special red stamp for January 6.  

Secondly I went to Ana hachimangu shrine to return the old amulet.

Thirdly  I went to Hoshoji temple to visit the mini version of the 88 temples in reverse way.

Fourthly I went to Akihabara to attend the monthly meeting. It was informative.

After the meeting I had tea and cake with my friend.

My 113th ebook present campaign has started and it's been No.1 in Japan.

It was a nice half day off.

2024.2.5

It was cloudy in the morning and sleeting when I got to the office. 

We had an alert of heavy snow, and our department decided to go home and work at home.

I came home after having lunch and started working at 14:00. There was an alert again, and the school decided everyone to go home.

At my area it did not snow, but it is cold today.

To my glad my 113th ebook has been No.1 in Japan.

2024.2.4

It was cloudy and cold.

I stayed at home all day long.

Today is risshun (立春), one of nijushisekki (二十四節気), 24 solar terms. The last one was daikan (大寒) on January 20 and the next one is usui (雨水) on February 19.

Risshun literally means stand spring, it is the start of spring. It is considered as the start of the new year.

They say it is good to write RISSUN DAIKICHI (立春大吉) on the paper and put it at the entrance. So I did.

I planned the schedule of my trip to Ise this week.

2024.2.3

It was fine.  

I stayed at home all day long.

Today is setsubun (節分), the day to divide the seasons.  There are four seasons, and there are four setsubun. It is a day before risshun (立春), first day of spring.

On this day we scatter roast beans to drive away demons.

We eat a rolled sushi called Ehomaki (恵方巻き) facing the good luck direction of the year.

I published the 113th ebook about sunlight pictures taken in January 2024.

2024.2.2

It was cloudy and cold.

After work I went grocery shopping for tomorrow's setsubun.

I received three deliveries at night. They were Internet ordered clear boxes to clear Kimono related goods, a return gift for hometown tax, and a renewed credit card.

This was the third time for me to receive the return gift for home town tax.  This time I chose 1k of broken assorted chocolate.

I also received a notice from JASSO that said I have completed paying back for student loan when I was borrowing during graduate student. In Japanese it is called scholarship but after all we have to pay back, so it is a long term loan with no interest.

At night there was a zoom session.

2024.2.1

It seemed to have rained during the night, but it was fine and cloudy in the daytime.

A new month has started. February is nigatsu (２月 or 二月) or Kisaragi (如月) in Japanese.

On the first day of the month, there are something I do. To change the plants, rice, and salt at the Shinto altar and to change salt at 5 places at home, and to visit the nearby shrine.

After work I went to have dinner with my colleague for the first time since I started the new job about 10 months ago. There were many choices, and I chose the recommended food of the day by a mail magazine. I enjoyed eating and drinking and talking a lot.

From this month I will try to drink soy milk.