2023.9.21

It was a rainy day.

To my lucky I did not have to use an umbrella.

I got a call from the travel agency about the trip I ordered last night. All the questions were answered.

From tomorrow my sumner vacation starts.

I am looking forward to visiting Kinkazan for the second year.

I was going to do something but fell asleep.

2021.2.5

It was fine.

When I got up, it was the time I usually leave home. I was so surprised and in a hurry that I stumbled at the entrance and hurt my right foot.

On my way to work in the train I booked the hotels and train for the next week.

At night I saw pictures of Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain by Facebook post, and I got many video clips of our birthday pictures of 20 years ago from my best friend in Seville, Spain which included our mutual friend in Granada. What a coincidence!

I hope to travel around the world safely soon.

2013.3.8

It was rather warm like May.  Spring is nearing.  In the morning I saw beautiful cherry blossoms with some leaves, but in the night they had more greens.
I went to travel agency to book flights for the next months after work.  I had two destinations but it was difficult to book both places at once in my budget and decided to book only one for now.  The person in charge was very kind to answer my requests.

March 8 is International Women's Day.  I was asked to write something for this day from my friend in Australia in January, but I could not.  I knew there is something we need to do for the women in need in the world.  First we need to know the reality such as what they really want.  Because from our standard it may look they need something like more education or something, but if they only know their own world, they may be happy in their world.  We cannot press our sense of value.
However before that we need to make our lives.  Without extra time and money it is difficult to do something for other people.  Even in Japan, there are still many people suffering from the Great East Earthquakes and Tsunami two years ago.   I hope to be rich enough to do something for others too......

１０月２１日（jyugatsu nijyuichi nichi）： October 21

There will be the 35 day ceremony of my cousin's death tomorrow in Aichi (愛知). I was wondering how to go.
If you want to save time, you can take Shinkansen Nozomi (新幹線のぞみ) which takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes from Tokyo　(東京) to Nagoya (名古屋) and costs yen 10,580. If you want to save money, you can take a night bus, which costs less than a half of Shinkansen, but it takes about 7 hours and a half.
There is an economical way to go there, which is puratto kodama (ぷらっとこだま) plan using Shinkansen but stopping every station between Tokyo and Nagoya. It costs yen 7,900 with a drink. You need to book at least one day before.
Since I was not sure how long I have to overwork, I decided to go there by bus.

７月１２日（shichigatsu jyuni nichi）： July 12

I went to the travel agency to check the flight tickets for my summer vacation. It seems the custom made tour is cheaper than making private tour. Flight tickets cost less than yen 100,000 but if the surcharge and tax are added it becomes about 1.5 times.
Today the exchange rate became about yen 79 for $1 which is higher than last week.
But I felt the flight tickets were still expensive.
They say from August the surcharge will increase again....

十一月十三日（jyuichigatsu jyusan nichi）： November 13

I went to the Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art and Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Literature. They stand next door.
It's been 32 years since the Museum of Art opened in 1978, and it welcomed 12,000,000th person today. This museum is very famous for the French artist Jean-Francois Millet.
In the Museum of Literature there was the message from the director saying something like "To read literature is to know life." I was surprised to know that there are many writers who were related to Yamanashi prefecture such as Akutagawa Ryunosuke (芥川龍之介), Higuchi Ichiyo (樋口一葉), and Dazai Osamu (太宰治).

十一月十二日（jyuichigatsu jyuni nichi）： November 12

I went to the Takeda jinja (武田神社), shrine and　Kai zenkoji(甲斐善光寺), temple in Kofu (甲府) today. There are many shrines and temples in Japan. It was cold and slightly rained at the shrine, and it seemed I got a cold.
The most famous person in this area is Takeda Shingen (武田信玄) who was the feudal warlord of the 16th century. And the Takeda shrine enshrines him. The red maples were beautiful.

十一月十日（jyuichigatsu toka）： November 10

I came to　Yamanashi (山梨). I am staying at a Japanese style hotel near the lake Kawaguchi(河口湖： kawaguchiko). The room is on the lake view side, and the dinner was really nice. I am going to take onsen (温泉), hot spring tonight.
On my way here I could see the beautiful Mt. Fuji (富士). The leaves were yellow and red. We call this koyo (紅葉), literally red leaves. Koyo (紅葉) is also read as momiji (紅葉), that is maple.
It was a very cool and fine day. We call this weather akibare (秋晴れ), literally autumn fine.
I hope you have a chance to see Japanese beautiful koyo season.

十月二十二日（jyugatsu nijyuni nichi）： October 22

TGIF.
I am now in Kofu (甲府), Yamanashi (山梨). It takes about 2 hours from Shinjuku (新宿) by Express train.
Yamanashi is famous for Mt. Fuji and five lakes arount it so called Fujigoko (富士五湖), fruits such as pear and grape, wine, and hotspring (温泉：onsen).
I came here on business, so I won't enjoy these things this time. But I hope I will taste very famous local foods at least.

五月七日(gogatsu nanoka) ： May 7

It is the birthday eve for me. I wanted to go to Florida to spend my birthday but the sudden business schedule change made my plan different. So as an alternative, I decided to go to Ise (伊勢) this year.
To go to Ise, first I need to go to Nagoya (名古屋). There are some choices to go there, but I chose the night bus. Night bus is yako basu (夜行バス) in Japanese. It is the cheapest way. The most expensive way is to go there by shinkansen (新幹線:bullet train). It is a fast and comfortable way. However if I go there by shinkansen on Friday, I have to book the hotel room for the night, and if I go there on Saturday, I needed to wake up VERY early to get on the first train. First train is shihatsu densha (始発電車).
So to save some money and to be the most efficient, I decided to use the night bus. Depends on when you book, the fare varies. Since I booked rather earlier, I could get the very cheap ticket, about one third of that of shinkansen.
I rode on the bus from Shinjuku (新宿) at 11:20 PM. They provided a blanket, a pair of slippers and a pillow. There were many buses to go many places, and there were so many people going here and there.