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Business Trip in Tokyo
I had one-day business trip to Tokyo today.
It is not unusual thing for me now, since I go to Tokyo once a week every week, and sometimes I don’t have enough time to stay a night there.
Whenever I go to Tokyo lately, I take a flight there instead of taking a bullet train.
The closest Shinkansen station is kinda far from my apt, but airport is just 5 mins by car.
I have to go there early in the morning whenever I go one-day business trip.
I got up 35 mins before I take a flight, but I made it fortunately!!
Today’s trip was for sales.
I am selling pancakes to “S” coffee chain store, which is one of the biggest coffee shop in this world.
Alo went to “L” fast food chain store, which is a famous one in Asia.
What I sell is what I plan, help producing samples, negotiate, and sell.
I have being negotiating with buyers of those stores for a while, and finally it is getting settle down.
If “MY” original pancakes would be sold at all stores in Japan, I would be so happy.
I would go to those two stores everyday, maybe…
“S” coffee shore is my favorite store, which I go almost everyday when I lived in the US.
I have spent so much money, so they should return me by buying my products!
After my sale job, I went to a couple sweets shop to brush my idea of other new products.
This is a picture of muffins, which I bought at Tokyo station, which is popular now.
Tokyo is such a trendy city like NY now.
I can get so much new infos here but now from my town, Osaka, unfortunately.
Since today was Friday, I could not get a flight ticket back to Osaka tonight.
Therefore, I took a bullet train.
I had to read a book which I was given from Mr. Kubota, elder person whom I got to know through work.
He gave me a book about a successful businesswoman, and I have to give him what I thought about it the next time I see him.
I saw him the other day after I got the book, but had not read it yet, and I got embarrassed at that time.
I don’t wanna be rude to him anymore.
I got Bento box for my dinner in a bullet train.
There were so many lunch box stores at Tokyo station.
There are many business people who make line to get a lunch box.
I felt relief that many other people live like me, being lazy and buying this kind of dinner.
It was good lunch box though.
It was 860 yen, not bad…
I got so tired by this trip so I took a cab from the station to my apt.
It was much much more than price for the lunch box.
I have to go to work tomorrow, Saturday.
December is the busiest time for our company, so we have to go to work Saturdays too, but not so many companies are open on Saturday.
Therefore, phone calls would not bother us.
I hope I can get much work done at office tomorrow.
White Tea
I went straight to Kyoto for work from my apt this morning.
Junior high kids were on a train for a field trip and they were sooooo noisy on a train.
All got so excited and I was not in a good mood since it was early in the morning and I was sleepy.
I glanced them and some boys said, "Look! The lady sitting next to you is upset!!" in loud.
I remember the days that I was excited with my friends on a train when I was much younger.
I felt myself being really old...
I might became regular boring business person...
The company I visited today gave me some of their products, which I really love.
Look all these white tea skin care stuffs on the above.
They are really good stuff!
Once my friend came to stay at my apt, he put his perfume before he goes to bed.
I felt weird about it a bit, but I tried that myself when I went to bed the other day.
Now I can't stop doing it.
I looooove good smell.
I have my aroma next to me when I am working on a computer.
I always use white tea hand cream at work.
Somehow, I feel comfortable by smelling good scent.
I went to Spanish style bar tonight.
It was on TV the other day, and my dad wanted to go there.
We had lots of Spanish dishes, sparkling wine, and red wine.
Actually they were not that good, so we left the restaurant soon,
We wanted to have desert so we went to my favorite cake store and bought a whole chocolate cake.
We brought it to a bar which my dad always goes, and we shared the cake.
I had two topics I wanted to talk with my Dad, and I could.
Somehow I get nervous eating out with my dad one on one.
Having lunch is better, cuz it gets like "lunch meeting" and can talk about work as much as I want.
However, at dinner, I felt bad to talk about serious stuff cuz I care that he must be tired.
Weird dad and daughter.
Since when we became to have this kind of relationship...?
He told me to go to Shanghai for work on the way back on a cab.
Should I go? Well, maybe not...
Easy Day
I took longer to get ready today than usual, and was going to be late for work in this morning.
Took a cab to work two days in row...
Anyway, today was a pretty good day.
Not too busy, could get along with everybody.
I had lunch with three younger workers and we discussed about many things.
I get excited talking with those girls, because they got so much possibilities since they are really young and pure, and I wish I could help them a bit.
Maybe I am going to be changed my position soon, and will be able to work with them at the same department.
My apple pies were baked today as a sample by using apples I got in Nagano the other day.
The artisan brought me the first one to let me taste.
I was so moved!! It was soooooooo delicious!!
Lately, I am getting good at tasting, good at telling difference.
They gave me two similar sweets and I could tell what the difference was right away.
They got surprised and I was proud of myself.
I felt glad that I ate so many kinds of cakes since I had complex about tasting before.
The effort is rewarding!!
I had a dinner appointment tonight, but it was postponed suddenly.
So I saw my friend, Shinsuke, tonight.
He was very energetic, so I always impress about his energy to work really hard and also to play around with girls.
When we set up the time and place to see each other, I was a bit frustrated with his selfishness.
So I was almost going to cancel the dinner, but I didn't.
Soon after I saw him, I understood why he sounded selfish, and I felt a bit guilty that I felt frustrating to him.
He looked so tired and he complained about his work as the first time. (He never had before)
Moreover, he got a broken heart with a girl whom he was interested in.
Lately, I listen to many of my friends’ “broken heart” stories.
How come boy’s sad story sounds more miserable than girl’s…?
Although they get hurt from love, but still being in love is good for them, no matter what.
I was going to have a quick dinner and go home, but he asked me to go to Karaoke with him.
So we did.
He thanked me that he could refresh by singing lots of sad song to cheer himself up.
Boys are romanticist like this.
By the way, he teased me about my girly shirt and hairstyle today.
I usually don’t wear girly clothes so I was kinda embarrassed but tried.
Not to be looked too girly, I made my hair regent style today.
My colleagues liked my style today though...
Ahhhh, what should I wear tomorrow, what kind of hairstyle should I do…???
Gotta go to bed now, can’t take a cab three days in row…
Eating Days
Autumn is the best season in a year in Japan for me.
There is so much good food in this season.
So I eat a lot lately.
Not only special food in autumn, but also other normal food makes me hungry.
I recovered from my sickness and since then, I eat, eat and eat.
Today I went to gym after work after two months, so I am kinda sore now.
Although we went to gym to work out to loose our weights, we ruined our all exercise.
My asistant and I could not help going to indian restaurant after gym.
We happened to find it when we were taking a new short-cut to the gym.
We were going to eat instead of going to gym, but we decided to go to gym first and then go to the restaurant.
It has been a while since the last time I ate Indian food.
It was really good.
I like Indian food, but can't eat too much becuase of a bad memory I had before in SF, anyway.
Too bad that I did not have a camera to take a picture of the Indian food we had...
So I put a picture of pasta I had last Sunday, instead.
We had Eggplant Keema Curry, Spinach & Cheese Curry, which is my favorite, and Mango Lassi.
We had cheese nan too, and we totally regret eating these much food.
What was the point to go to the gym...?
Ahhhhh, if we did not eat, we could have lost 1 pound, maybe.
How come I can be so happy by eating tasty food, though?
To be able to eat as much good food as I want, I should go to gym more often.
Hula Dancer
I was thinking about my grandma today.
I went to see her last weekend to her nursing home.
She looked totally different person, can't eat, can't say anything, can't remember anything, and can't walk.
She opened her eyes when I was telling her that I saw my cousin in Shanghai last month.
But other than that, she seemed like she was sleeping.
What happened to her??
She was such an active person before she got stroke.
Is she happy now? Does she still wanna live?
I am not sure...
I wish I could let her die, although it is sad and might sound pitty.
But to see her living without doing anything is even harder for us.
Living is hard.
Well, now about my Hula lesson.
I went to Hula lesson tonight after a month.
I could not finish working early enough so I took a cab on the way to the lesson.
It was so funny that the driver was the same guy as the driver the last time I took a cab.
He remembered me too, and we talked about the same topic we talked the last time.
Anyway, hula lesson was fun as always.
My teacher went to SF for Hula contest last month and got second prize there.
I had never known that there are many hula dancers in SF!
Today after the lesson, my teacher talked to me if I am interested in going up to the next level.
If so, I have to take 2 classes.
I am not sure if I can afford two lessons, and also not sure if I have enough energy to take 3-hour-long lesson.
But I wanna be hula instructor in the future when I turn to 70s, so maybe I should.
I can't make up my mind right now...Hummm.
By the way, today at work, one of my bosses gave me a hard time.
I don't know why the only thing he does is "rejecting".
When I gave him a report, the first thing he said to me is "NO. I reject it"
Damn it!! He should behave better.
I should learn how to treat people below me from his attitude.
I won't be mean like him for sure.
He had never motivated me!!!
Haaaaa, I am so glad that I could go to Hula lesson and refresh a bit...
This picture is Darch who was taking a nap, by the way.
I love taking nap next to her!
Enjoying My Own Night
This is in front of my house.
It is winter, but the landscape here looks like it is autumn, very beautiful.
Today I renewed my driver's license, so I went to DMV which is a little far from my house.
I had never got on a Japanese highway by myself, so I was very nervous when I was driving today.
After I got off form the highway, I went to a wrong way, which is oneway road from the opposite side.
I am glad that I did not cause any accident.
After I got a new licence, I went shopping to get on orange color skirt.
I did grocery shopping afterwards and it reminded me of the time I cooked a lot for my boyfriend when we lived together.
At that time, I thought that I should have taken care of myself better.
Since I live by myself now, I don't care about my apt much.
Actually, I like doing laundry, ironing, cooking, and cleaning but I love doing those for somebody else.
However, I realized that I should take care of myself to be able to take care of somebody else.
So I started from today.
I cleaned my room, and did enough skin care, and so on. (There are more stuff that I have to do in this apt though)
I can't do everything at once, but to start immediately is important, I believe.
The other day, I talked with a chef guy.
I got to know him through my friend.
To be honest, I am afraid of him.
He is really nice and polite, but it seems like he is very calm person and see me in different way from the way most of people see me.
We have talked just a couple of times, but the other day he said,
"You are struggling between dream and reality, aren't you?"
I was shocked.
At that time, I was talking about many things very happily and I was not looked "struggling"...
I always know what is right and what is bad.
I know what I should do.
Sometimes, since I know about "right thing" too much, I get really tired and depressed.
Because I am absolutely not perfect, I get disappointed that I can't do what I should do.
More than that, my weak point is that I expect other people to be perfect, although I know it is impossible.
I just smiled when he mentioned that, but in face, I was very embarrassed.
Again, he is not my friend whom I know for a long time, but he got to know my weak point.
I admit that I am an idealist, which I should change.
This is what I have been thinking about this weekend.
Christmas Decoration Day
Yay! I took a bath tub today, so I feel really good now.
Of course I take shower everyday, but had not taken a bath for a long time...
Today was a quite realxing day except this morning.
Since I went to bed at 4 in the morning, it was hard for me to get up at 10 this morning.
My student came to my apt at 10, and I got up by the bell he rang.
I am such a bad teacher...
I taught him for 2 hours, and took a shower and went to Spa.
I got Aloma Massage for 80 mins, I felt so good and fell a sleep during the massage.
My stomach got much better, and because of the aloma massage I could relax a lot.
The lady who gave me a massage told me to take a bath everyday for my health.
I stopped by hair salon.
I am wondering if I should get a hair cut again or dye my hair.
I could not decide today, so I just left after I chat with a stylist.
After all, went to eat a good Chinese restaurant with my family.
After dinner, my mon, sis and I started decorate Christmas tree.
It is a little bit earlier than the time we decorate it every year.
We got a new Christmas tree last year and it is huge!!
Each of us got a role, so we finished decorate whole rooms in 2 hours.
I can't believe Christmas is almost there.
I will be so busy to buy presents for many people.
Excited but, I gotta start saving money.
Good Holiday
Today was "Labor Thanksgiving Day", which means the day we appreciate hard workers.
In short, it was a national holiday in Japan, which means I got three-day-weekend.
It is like thanksgiving holidays in the US, but the difference is that we don't get any special food, family party, and so on.
I miss Thanksgiving...
Too bad that I could not be in the US at this time this year.
Anyway, today I met so many kinds of friends.
First I met Masaru, who is my old friend from Denver.
We had lunch, did shopping and ｆerris wheel.
We always share lots of stories, and this time we talked a lot about his marriage and my problems.
It is always nice to have somebody whom I can trust and talk to.
Next, I saw another friend who invited me to TV broadcast studio.
We went to see live TV show, which was the first experience for me.
I saw many famous people there, and a bit excited, they are all cuter than they are on TV!
After that, we decided to go to eat our friends's noodle place.
I asked my friend to call another friend whom I have not seen for 14 years.
We all got together at the noodle place and talked till 1 in the morning.
And now it is 3:45 in the morning.
I think I should go to bed.
I am watching old movie "Pay Forward", it is very nice movie!!
Ahh, but I gotta go to bed now.
I am very satisfied my day today.
Japan Is A Friedly Country
Today was a good day.
I am working at my company here in Japan now because of a big incident in August.
I was planning to move back to the US by quitting this job, but at that time, our one of the biggest customers got in big trouble and we were in trouble too.
We could not sell our products when they had to stop their business for three month.
However, today was the day they started their business again.
Now our company learns that we should not rely on our big customers too much.
It was such a hard lesson for us, so now we try to do something new which we don't have to rely on other companies.
By the way this picture is snack we got in Nagano when we visited a farmer yesterday.
I was so happy to be welcomed like this.
Speaking of "welcoming", I discussed with my American friend about immigration fingerprinting and photographing in Japan.
He was really upset about it saying that Japanese people are racist.
Actually I was not any feeling about this news.
I thought, "Whatever".
I was a bit surprised that so many foreigners are upset about this.
Because I was not upset when American people started doing it at their airport and made me put my finger on a machine.
I simply understood that they have to do what they have to do.
When I talked with my friend, I realized how uncomfortable the foreigners who come to Japan to get to know us.
It actually is not good way to welcome foreigners to our country.
I want them to understand that now Japanese government is messed up, and they started doing it without thinking much stuff.
Maybe we just wanted to copy America.
I want lots of people from all over the world come to Japan and want them to like us.
It is such an unfortunate that many foreigners feel that we are racist now.
Bad journal today since I am not ready to discuss about this topic, but just started thinking about it.
Anyway, I want all the people in this world think we are friendly and want to welcome people from many places.
Apple Business Trip
Today I went to a business trip to Nagano to buy apples.
We left early in this morning by car.
I park my car in a garage which is a little bit far from my apt.
So I had to ride a bike to the garage.
This morning I got in an accident with another biker on the way to the garage.
I was in a hurry to pick my assistant up so I speeded too much when I turned the corner.
The other person did the same and we crushed from the front.
Luckily, it was not that bad accident, but I fell off and now my arm hurts...
Anyway, I went to visit a farmer who raise many kinds of fruits.
I visited him to buy apples to make apple pies last year too.
Our apple pies were sold pretty well, so we decided to sell them again this year on Internet.
I could ask him to just send apples, but I wanted to go visit him and talk with him since they are special apples for me.
He let us take apples from his apple trees, which was the first experience for me.
It was really really cold in Nagano, but I had a good time, and I was glad that I decided to get apples by ourselves.
My stomach still hurts, but I could refresh a lot by this getaway business trip in Nagano.
People might say this would be counted as a business trip.
But business is simply person to person thing.
It is very important to see people face to face, and in fact, he was happy to see us getting his important apples.
I think I keep working because I can feel good sometime like today.
Under a Pressure
Last night, I felt chilly so bad so I had dinner in my bed, although I knew it was such a bad manner.
Soon after I ate, I passed out...
I woke up a couple times during the night since my stamache hurt.
This morning, I decided to go to see my doctor where is close to my apt.
I could not stop going to the bathroom, and I burped a lot this morning so I started being worried about my health.
My doctor checked me, and asked me,
"Are you under a lot of pressure now?"
I wanted to shout, "Hell yeah!!" (Of course I didn't)
This picutre is a part of the reason of my pressure, by the way.
I am not stressed out actually, but I feel pressure that I can't get some of my work done quickly enough.
I don't want my bosses to feel disappointed with me, and of course i am working hard because I wanna get the best result from what I am working on right now.
After I went to the hospital, I went to work and got many things done.
I figured that I would feel better if I can get rid of everything which made me nervous.
Unfortunately, I had to be absent from my Hula lesson tonight, because I should get some more rest to keep my energy.
Speaking of "energy", this time, I feel weird that I don't feel sick at all but I am full of vigor.
I feel totally fine, and probably people around me may wonder why I went to the hospital.
My co-workers kept telling me to calm down since I am looked too energetic.
I hope this is not becuase I am too high from this sickness.
Oh well, I will feel much better tomorrow for sure, gotta be.
Getting Cold, and Caught a Cold
It has been getting cold in Japan since the day before yesterday.
When it's cold, I feel lonely somehow.
Now the cup of Starbucks turns to Christmas version, which makes me miss my life I had in the US.
Anyway, it got cold here and I caught a cold.
Since last Saturday, I had a bad stomachache.
I had a bad pain, and had to go to the bathroom so many times.
I was kinda happy because I thought I could loose weight.
However, when I was at office today, I felt chilly and had an arthralgia.
I got fever, and obviously I was not in a right condition.
My boss made me go to the hospital to check if I had a bad virus.
So I did.
The closest hospital from my office is ghetto.
I had to pee for checking in a bathroom with other men.
I can't believe that a bathroom, which men and women have to share, still exists.
I did it anyway, but I was really embarrassed that I had to walk in front of a man who was peeing with me holding my pee in a cup.
The doctor tried to give me a shot, but I refused since I could not trust him.
I just got to know it was not a bad virus, so I relieved.
I left office soon after the bell rang today.
I just need to sleep.
I still feel chilly...
Had a Good Weekend
I read my old diary the ohter day.
Since I am not good at writing, and moreove, not good at keep doing one thing, there were only a few notes on my diary.
However, I could remember what I was thinking at that time by reading a few notes, and it was kinda fun.
So I decided to write little by little what I think each day here.
I wonder how long I can keep writing, but I will try from today...
I had been really busy lately and my work has been over my capacity.
Since I had not had enough rest for a month, I decided not to do anything during this weekend.
First thing I did was sleeping.
I slept more than enough, and I felt really good.
Afterwards, I cleaned my room and did laundry.
I took everything out from my closet, and found shits of mouse.
Yewwww, I don't want to imagine that there s a mouse in my apt.
If I find one, I will move on the next day for sure.
This picture is macaron which I bought in tokyo for work the other day.
They were damn good.
I go to see many sweets place for research.
So I eat a lot of sweets everyday.
Lately, I can't stop eating besides work.
Also I go out to drink a lot, and I eat really late.
very bad habbits...
I was too afraid of weighting myself but I finally did when I went to Spa today.
Then I figured that I did not gain any weight!
I felt really good because of it, so I did some shopping on the way home.
I wanted to do more cleaning but I called my friend and went to eat noodle which my friend runs.
By looking at my friend who is struggling running a restaurant, I realized that I could work harder.
Lately I think I comlain too much about me being too busy.
I think now is the time I should work really hard no matter what.
If I can go through this time, I will have lots of confidence and I can start something I want to do.
I believe it, so I will hang on here.
Tomorrow is Monday, first day of a new week!
