MORNING SPEECH

How to Feel about Holidays

In our office, we have a short meeting every morning.
At the meeting, one of us has to give a morning speech for a few minutes to get used to speak in front of a decent amount of people.
Today one of my co-workers from sale department gave a speech about holidays.
It was a comparison of Japanese workers and American workers.
He said that majority of Japanese workers listen to the radio or watch TV on holidays, 30% of them use holidays to take a rest from their daily hard work.
And the rest of Japanese workers use holidays just for fun.
He mentioned an interesting point the Americans work for holidays but Japanese take holidays for work.
I have never thought about it, but it might be true.
If it is true, I am more American way to think about holidays.
Actually, I get nervous on a Sunday when I hang out with my friends till late at night because I get worried about my new week to go.
However, when I have a fun plan for my day off, I feel really happy and get more energy to work.
I think myself that I am a type of person who can work hard by looking forward to my holidays.

In Japan, there is a vacation time, which is called “Golden Week”, from the end of April to the beginning of May.
Since there are many national holidays during the time, we can get a one-week straight vacation if we are lucky.
This year, I only get vacation time for four days.
But I decided to go to Philippines with my boyfriend.
Since my vacation in Philippines will be a week to go, I am very motivated to work.

My sister asked me which is the reason why I am excited about this vacation.

1.To see my boyfriend, who lives far away from Japan
2.To go on a vacation with my boyfriend
3.To getaway from work
4.To getaway from Japan

Of course because of all the above!
Can’t wait to go to Philippines!!

FRIENDS

Time with Friends

When I was a kid, I always get excited to stay at my friend’s house.
I also liked to have my friends at home.
Lately, I stayed at two different friend’s house.
I went to stay at my friend whom I went to school together.
She is from Yamagata, which is countryside of Japan.
She got married three years ago, and now they built a new house, and she has a rabbit and likes to play with her, as you can see from the picture above.
My other friend from school and I visited her house to practice for a performance at our friend’s wedding in May.
We stayed up till 2 in the morning, which was the time her husband comes home.
We all were in the same class at university, and we were in a group in 8.
Eight of us held a party every two months, we went to trip together, we went parties together and we had lunch together most of the time.
Anyway, after we graduated from school, we could not get to see each other much.
However, whenever we see each other, we can go back to our school time and update our life story each other.

On another day, I spent a night at my childhood friend’s who also just got married.
Her husband is my friend too, and I have known them for a long time.
Their new lifestyle is so cute, and I did not feel they are married but they are roommates.
We all lied down and talk about many things with drinking till early in the morning.

The other day, I had my friend at apt.
He is my boyfriend’s roommate, and he visited his family in Japan.
Whenever I see friends from outside of Osaka, I don’t know what to do, but feel really happy.
I saw his sister who works in Tokyo too.
They were very cute brother and sister, and both of them can speak Japanese and English.
We talked a lot by speaking both languages.

I am lucky that I have much variety of friends from many places.
We share a lot of stories, and we learn a lot from each other.
My friend is coming to stay at my apt this weekend.
This time will be a weekend stay, so I have to cook for dinner and breakfast.
I am excited but a little nervous…

SILLY THOUGHTS

Bullet Train Trip

These are our new sweets we are going to start selling from next month.
I take pictures, write about them, make HP and stuff.
That is one of my favorite parts of work.
I went to conference about deserts and sweets in Tokyo.
There were lots to learn from it.
When I go on a business trip to Tokyo, I usually take Bullet Train and it takes 2 and a half hour to get there from Osaka.
I rather taking airplane, because it is much easier and take less time.
However, the two and a half hour is sometimes very useful time.
I sleep, read a business magazine, work with my PC, or thinking about stuff.

I was planning to go on a trip this weekend.
I was looking forward to getting relaxed with my friend at the trip straight after my business trip.
However, I had to cancel it because of my work.
When I had a meeting on Thursday, my boss told me that he is planning to have all members of my department to come to work on Saturday.
I asked him the reason why, and he said “To get together is important, and it helps to motivate members”.
I am like “What??” Having Saturday off motivates people much more than being together on holiday!!
What made me upset was that he told me three days before!!
I don’t understand why all other people will come to work without complaining.
I am a kind of person who does not mind to go to work on holidays if there is a certain reason for that.
I got depressed, and when I was in a bullet train coming back from the business trip, I was thinking what to do next and which made me a little bit happy.
Should I go back to school?
Should I quit my current job and start traveling all over the world for a while?
Should I work for travel agency? Etc, etc…
They are my nonsense thoughts.
Isn’t this a useful way to spend time in bullet train?

OPENING BUSINESS

My Friend’s Business

I have some friends who open their business or who are going to open a business.
Last month, I attended one of my friend’s birthday and engagement party.
They are my friends from college in Japan.
I went to Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, and my major was English.
Some of them from the same major, and most of their major were Brazil Protégées, and one of their major was French.
I don’t have so many friends from other major, but I became friends with them at café in campus I always killed my time.
Most of my friends lived in apt close to college, but I went to college from my parent’s house by one and a half hour train ride every day.
So when I had one class break, I usually spent my time at café with other students.
When we saw at the party, we exchanged our business cards, and felt weird that we are now working.
I had not seen one of the boys for 8 years since he quite school when he was junior.
We were quite good friends, but lost in touch, so we were so surprised to see each other at the party.
And more than that, I was very surprised that he became a president of a company.
I was thinking we would never know what would happen, because he was not a president type of person.

These are kids who are trying to open a noodle restaurant.
They rent a small apt to study noodle and eat noodle everyday there.
I have known one of the boys since I was a leader of YMCA which is 10 years ago.
He was one year older but I used to teach English.
The other boy is from Westin Hotel who was a main chef at a Japanese restaurant there.
Since they rent apt close to my place, they sometimes call me to ask me to taste their noodle.
At first time, I could not believe that the boy was a main chef, since they tasted pretty bad…
I gave them strict comments because I wanted to be honest, so I thought they would never invite me.
But they call me again and again, and each time, they get better and I got impressed.

Whenever I see those friends from old days change a lot, I am so happy for them, and also I get more energy.
I think I am lucky that I have lots of friends whom I can share or learn about many things in many fields.

MY LIFE

Who Am I?

There is "May Sick" in Japan.
"May sick" is a sick business people get in May, wondering about their jobs.
I think I get that sick now, although it is still April now.
I want to leave my work now.
I got promoted in April and since then, I have been tired of trying to deal something too hard for me to solve.
Now wondering what is the point to pretend that I can do something difficult although I can't do it easily.
Whenever I talk with someone, I tend to think about my job and feel jealous, and I hate to see the ugly side of me like that.
When I visit my friend who is married, I feel jealous.
When my married friends show their jealous to me, I feel "Why?"
When I talk with someone who is still a student, I feel jealous.
When they tell me that they feel jealous about me having full of energy, I feel "What?"
When I talk with elder people, I feel jealous that they can do everthing really well.
When they say I am talented, I feel even embarrased.
Now I really feel who knows real me.
This is something I have felt since I was little.
I think I have concentrated on doing more than I can do to make people feel impressed about me.
Now I feel lonely that I can't show real me, and I even don't know what is real me even...

This is one of projects I am deal now at work.
I think I work really hard to make this project success, but it doen't go like I plan.
People deal this project really slow.
Hard for me to pursue them, and to be honest, I don't know why I have to use my energy to pursue them.
I want to use this energy to success this project more.
My private life is the same way.
It does not go like I plan.
Then what's the point to make plans?
Tonight at dinner, people said they can't make a plan when to die and how to die.
It is so true, and I get loss what I am doing right now...

I think I should re-set my plan about my life.
I was not sure if I should write this personaly thing on this blog, but I decided to put on.
Hoping that I can laugh at this entry when I get over this problem.
And I think I should remember what and how I think when I facr to my turning point.
It is hard now to think about this kind of stuff, too difficult.
But I know that I will be much stronger after I go through this difficult situation.

SPRING IN JAPAN

Sign of Spring

This is a reproductive shoot of the field horsetail.
We see those on the round in Spring.
I found them at the parking lot at my working place.
My sister and I used to find those at embankment in front of our house.
We competed who found more, and asked grandma to cook those after we picked.
They were not delicious at all, but taste special because we were the one who picked those!
Spring is my favorite season.
Lots of flowers and the weather is nice, and everything look fresh.

However, there is a bad part of spring.
It is said that there are crazier men in spring compared with other season.
I asked my mom why but she just said it is because of this warm weather.
I was on a train at 11PM the other night, and I saw a crazy man.
He looked 50’s, and he was staring at his cell phone.
I was sitting next to him, and glanced his cell, and looked again.
He was watching porno video on the cell in the train!!
I wanted to tell him, “Excuse me, You are in a public space... Can you wait till you go home?”
It was very very strage situation for me.
I even don’t know how to download a video on my cell and watch it….
Oh well…

USED TO BE

Hang In There

These are pictures I hang on the wall at my apartment.
I love putting many pictures at my apt.
I started doing it since I saw so many pictures at American houses.
Especially, I thought it was neat to have lots of family pictures on refrigerator.
Now there are so many picture flames in my apartment with pictures of my family and friends.
Whenever my friends stay at my apt, they look at those pictures to kill their time.
The other day, my friend and my friend’s friend came over to my apt to stay, since we stayed my bar too late at night and they missed their train.
When we got home, my friend told to the other person who was looking at my pictures, “ Yeah, yeah. She used to be so cute, huh?”
I was like “Wha???”
I was shocked by two facts.
“I USED TO BE cute??” and “ I got changed since I was early twenties??”
Dang, I believed I had not changed since I was twenty!
But it seems like not…

Actually, I know I am getting old but still I believe I can be looked 5 years younger than my actual age.
In the morning, when I was preparing for work, I was told, “You are getting old… I can tell…”
I think my friend was paying back to me since the night before I told “ You look older tonight. You need to get a hair cut. And you seems like you gained weight, etc…”
We tease a lot each other and discuss about serious topic like our jobs or future.
We have been friends since we were in Denver, and both of us have gotten older compared the time we had no responsibility in school.
Now both of us were struggling in a society and tired.
My friend was really noisy by talking in the middle of night without consciousness about work.
I was also noisy with grinding my teeth and found a gray hair in the morning…

Ahhhh, full of stress… Life is tough, but we are hanging in there!!

MACROBIOTIC VS MYBAR

Healthy or Unhealthy??

Recently, I am interested in Macrobiotic Food.
Macrobiotic Life means this.
Usually Macrobiotic Food is not tasty, like a normal food we eat.
However, one restaurant, which I often go, serves quite good Macrobiotic Food.
Her thought is that “You don’t have to strictly admire Macrobiotic”
What she does is that she serves Macrobiotic Food mainly, but still serves a little bit of meat too.
Moreover, she serves alcohols.
She explained, “Since you eat very balanced food, most people feel better than usual, even after they drink alcohols”.
Once I went to this restaurant and drunk, and went to two more different places to drink will 2:30 in the morning.
I got so surprised on the next day, because I felt so good the next day!
I should say my body was really light, and did not feel any fatigue.
Since then, I love this restaurant, and people whom I took also feel the same way on the next morning.
Isn’t it interesting?

Because I am doing a research about healthy stuff for work, I am more interested in healthy food lately.
On the other hand, I go out to drink a lot these days,
I found a nice bar close to my apartment.
I love this place because of the following reasons.
1. I like the design of the bar (Smells wood and the light is very moody)
2. I like the atmosphere (Usually this place is not crowded)
3. I like the master of the bar (He makes good drinks and he is hilarious)
4. I like the location (So close to my apt, so I don’t have to worried about me going back home after getting drunk)
I never had “My Bar”, so it might sound silly, but I am very excited.
I like beer, wine and cocktail, but I can’t hold alcohols much.
However, when I am at this bar, I feel relax and can enjoy drinking much.
Usually, when I go to this bar, my friend stay at my apt, so we can stay there long.
When I go there, I feel I am healthy mentally, but of course on the next day, I am tired…

Is my life now healthy or unhealthy??

SHINY

Nails This Month

These are my nails this month.
I had my nail artist at my apartment late last night.
I am really lucky that I have someone who comes over my apartment to do my nails even late at night.
Unfortunately, I don’t have time to go to salon lately before they close.
I have to get my hail cut too, but have not been able to arrange the time…
I bet I look pretty bad now.

These are her some items she used to do my nails.
These shiny powders are really cute, and made me excited.
How come women love shiny stuff?
When I was in Beverly Hills, I went to some jewelry stores, which made me so happy.
I even sigh by seeing those beautiful accessories.
I wear rings all the time, but they were no longer shiny at all.
Finally, I shined them the other day.
Now I am happy with my shiny nails and my shiny rings.

Shiny stuff around me cheer me up especially in stressful days!

CHANGING BOARD

Unique Item In Tokyo

I went to Tokyo on business the other day.
It was the first time for me to see this strange stuff in a public bathroom.
I had seen a board to change a diaper for a baby in a public bathroom, but this was different.
It is called “Changing Board”
I saw a couple in different bathrooms in Tokyo.
This is a board to change clothes on in a bathroom.
I was wondering how many people had used this.
At the same time, I was wondering why they decided to spend money to have this board.
It is so nice of them to have this kind of stuff, but it made me laugh…

I don’t change clothes in public bathroom anymore now.
A public bathroom used to be such an important place for me as a high school student.
I went to a strict catholic school, and wore a uniform since I was an elementary school student.
We were prohibited to have pierces, keep hair down, or make uniform skirt be above our knees.
All of us wanted to wear a mini skirt, so we wore a belt all the time.
The belt was our secret item.
After we left school, we run into a public bathroom and used belt to hold our skirt.
We held skirt with a belt, and hid the part with a jacket, and hung out in a town.
Still we could get in trouble if we saw our teacher who patrolled a town to make sure if we went home straight.
It was kind of fun to do as many things as we could by going to a very strict school.

Anyway, this changing board somehow reminded me of my high school days.

APRIL FOOL

Spring Has Come

“Winter has gone, and spring has come” was the sentence I had to remember at my English grammar class in high school to learn present perfect tense.
It is such a boring sentence, which I don’t think native English speakers don’t say.
Anyway, spring has come in Japan.

This year, I totally forgot about “April Fool”.
I forgot to lie to anybody…
It was a day I was looking for when I was little, since I could lie and nobody got mad at me.
Maybe everyone is the same, but my parents were very very strict about telling lies.
They told me that was the worst thing to do.
So I always felt weird to be told to tell a lie a day in April.
Most of the time, I just lied for fun, nothing serious.
However, I remember that I gambled on April 1st when I was sixteen.
I lied to a boy whom I liked to see if he was interested in me or not.
It was so stupid of me to do such a thing, but because of a small lie I told, we started hanging out by ourselves.
Somehow it ended soon, and I even don’t remember where we went, what we did and how we ended.
But I remember what lie I exactly told him, maybe because I felt guilty that it seems like I deceived somebody on that day.
Now I am old enough not to get excited about April Fool, but every year I think what kind of lie I would tell to somebody.
But thinking lie which does not hurt anybody or nor deceive, but make somebody laugh is tough.
Too much work to do…!!!

April with Cherry blossom trees is such a special time for us, Japanese.
April is a month we start new things, such as entering school, starting working, going up to the next grade at school, moving, everything.
So whenever we see cherry blossom in April, we feel like refreshing and starting new things.
For example, from this April, I got a different title and have more responsible work at company.
I joined ceremony for employees who got different title, and I felt myself really refreshed.
Another example, I can’t help buying new stationeries in April.
Most of Japanese feel the same way that we can’t get rid of our custom when we were kids.
We had to buy new stationeries to go to new classes at school in April when we were kids.
I bought a new orange calculator this year hoping I will be better at accounting stuff.
Well, “Winter has gone and spring has come”
I am all excited about new things and new people thatI am going to meet.