Business Trip in Toyama

Hi there, I’m Mikihito.

I have done three days business trip. Firstly, one good thing was that I have been good with a colleague for the term. I was a kind of anxious about going business trip with a new graduate. We were supposed to spend time with during working hours as well as after work. We not only communicated during work but had good conversation out of work. 

Trip before business trip

Hi there, I’m Miki.

Today I have been to Toyama prefecture where is 2 hours and a half from Tokyo by bullet train (Hokuriku Shinkansen). Work will be on from tomorrow to Wednesday. I came here early to make a small trip. During a study for the exam for becoming a tour guide, I got to know famous places near here. I went to Zuiryuji temple and Amaharashi coast. 

Alumni Party

Hi there, I’m Mikihito.

Today an alumni party was held in Yokohama. This is an annual event that former students of  the seminar surrounds professor Lee who is the in charge of the seminar. 

Hair cut

Hi there I’m Miki. 

I woke up late due to fatigue from playing basketball yesterday. When I finally left my bed, It was already 8:30. Fourtunaly, today is office day so there is no problem with me arriving at 10. I usually leave my home just before 9:30 and get to the office at 10. I mean that I become a little bit lazy on an office day. Except for it, today was nothing special. I worked at the office and finished some assigned tasks. A few months until next week has not been busy due to attributes of our sector. Though I don’t remember whether I told you already, I am currently working for an accounting firm. I do not have a certification but I am working as an auditor. The term a few months after the date of settlement (March 31st is a common for most of Japanese company), from April to May are the busiest for us. I am going to visit many corporate clients, rarely work in the office. In the next week, I am going to visit Toyama prefecture  where is located in the north west from Tokyo. We have a lot of clients in Hokuriku region which is a group of prefectures consisting of Ishikawa, Toyama, Fukui. I have been there for more than 10 times in 2 years for business trips. I really like the Hokuriku because cuisines especially fish are extremely good. This region facing to the Japan Sea (the East Sea by Korean people), this area always access to fresh fish. It’s said that fish is taste better in the Japan Sea than the Pacific, and I agree to. Whenever I come to the region, I definitely eat sushi or seafood bowl. For this time, I have a plan to walk around Takayama city. Throught study for becoming a tour guide, I learned this city has many attractive places to visit. Visiting there, I’d like to make my business more pleasant. 

I went to Harajuku to have my haircut. I started coming to Harajuku for my haircut about a year ago by introduction of my sister. So, my hair dresser is my sister’s highschool friend. I don’t know how long I will keep coming here, but I really like someone washes my hair. In the beauty salon, I get my hair wash twice, before and after haircut. Someone really does not care but it might be an important point for me. It’s similar to taking a massage. 

Thank you for reading all. See you soon.

Miki

Basketball after work

Hi there, I’m Mikihito.

An advantage of living in an urban area is that you are able to maximize your time. 

In the morning, I went to Marunouchi for work. I visited a client site at 10am. I was upset in trains because I noticed that I forgot to charge a battery of my company's iPhone. Without the iPhone, it’s impossible to connect the internet, therefore I am not able to use my company laptop. It means I cannot work. I came up with an idea of using just a note and pens to complete the work (old style), but I thought it was very tough. I tried to make myself calm down, decided to buy an iPhone charger in any convenience store in Tokyo Station. Fortunately, the client site is located near Tokyo Station which is one of the largest stations in my country. I would be so scary if I went to the countryside in the same situation. I got a good lesson today like children do, “ I have to get ready for the next day.”  At lunchtime, I made a reservation for dinner on Friday. Backing to the office, I got a message from a friend of mine. It was an invitation to play basketball in the evening. The friend went to the same university as me. I met him for the first time in the library of San Francisco State University. Since then, he often asks me to play basketball together. Because his friends are always good people, I immediately decided to go there to play. The Basketball practice took place in a place named “Tokyo American Club” near Azabu, Tokyo. It took me about 30 minutes from my home in Yoyogi. After work, I went back to my home and got ready. I arrived at the place at 7 o'clock. It was impossible if I were living in Saitama. For two hours of playing, we played lots of games. Fortunately, we had 10 people, so we could play 5 on 5 without substitutes. It was a physical game. We also played in a small basketball court (approximately 18m), so we have to go up and down so quickly. We played basketball until 21:30. In the end, we all were exhausted. After the basketball, I had supper with Keisuke (the friend asked me to come today), had a good conversation about work. It was one of the best ways to spend time. However, I found out it’s still difficult for me to understand causal English conversation among native speakers. Though I can have a conversation in English, understanding other people’s conversation is far more difficult. So, I resumed watching an old American drama “Friends” in my room. I don’t how much I will improve my comprehension of casual English conversation, but I guess it’s worth a try. 

In the end of the day, I took a picture of the beautiful Tokyo Tower. 

Thank you for reading all. See you soon.

Miki

The Diary of a Young Girl

Hi there, I am Mikihito.

I have been reading those books since I came back home today. I said “those books” but you know that they are literary same ones but written in different languages. Though I bought both ones a long time ago, I have not finished either. Today I got a message from a former colleague, a good friend of mine as well, which makes me think of re-starting reading them.

I believe that one of the best things in life is to have good friends who can share ideas with you. He is the type of person for me. We became friends in an early stage of a course of training programs offered by the company, more than 2 years ago. One day it was difficult for me to understand what an instructor said in the front. When I was buying a bottle of water from a vending machine, I met him and had a conversation for the first time. We both agreed to the instructor’s remark implies that he looked down small-mid sized enterprises. Working as a consultant, the attitude is not that good, let alone saying that in a training program for new grads. Anyway, an important thing was that we shared the same complaint and became good friends. In an article I briefly read yesterday, famous a Japanese comedian said being able to share complaints is a certain condition to become good friends. I agree.

Though I am on the halfway through, I highly recommend you to read either one (pick the right one if you like English). I am being stunned by her ability to write. Even under the abnormal condition in the Netherlands (which occupied by Germany then), I guess that she happily lived and loved the world. That’s the power of her imagination, sense to feel happiness, and ability to express herself. I believe that this book must be read by any people all over the world. Living in the digital world, we are losing the ability to feel happiness in daily lives. This book definitely notifies us what truly important is. 

Thank you for reading all, see you soon.

Miki

Tempura

Hi there, I’m Mikihito.

Yesterday, I went back to my home. I saw my dad and mom. It was the last day of my summer break, so I did. My home is not far from my current home in Tokyo. Taking the Yamanote line to Ikebukuro station for 10 minutes from Yoyogi station and change to Tobu Tojo Line for 20 minutes to get to Shiki Station. My home is not near the station, then, taking a bus for 20 minutes or asking my parents for a ride to take me home. The area around my home looks totally different from where I live. Literally, there is nothing fun. I think that I cannot bear living there with my parents anymore, but I sometimes want to go back there to see my parents. Fortunately, my dad went fishing the day before, and he caught a lot. He was preparing for sashimi and tempuras when I return to my home. Sashimi is raw fish and tempura is fries. My dad’s hobby is fishing and skiing. He goes fishing in summer and skiing in Winter. When I was a child, he took me and my sister every year. Bringing it back, it’s a very good memory with my dad which I will never forget. Though I don’t like to see my lazy dad lying and sleeping on a couch after drinking alcohol, I will try to recall what he did for me when I am tempted to complain about him. Anyway, sashimi and tempura were pretty good. I have to add information that my mom is good at cooking tempura. Deep-frying tempura is my mom’s patent. There is a story backing in more than 10 years ago. My dad and I totally wasted fishes when we tried cooking tempura of fishes we caught. It’s difficult to describe here, but we remember that they were too oily, and tasted like s*it. Since then, we have never deep-fried fishes and asks her to cook tempura.

These fish tempura in the picture above tasted good as usual. I think that fish tempura of our family is a product of the corporation. 

Thank you very much for reading all. 

See you soon.

Mikihito