The meaning of work

Many foreigners who I guided told me that Japanese people work very hard. (compared to foreigners)

I agree them.

I think that most Japanese don’t think about the in reason for working, because they are too busy every day. They just think that they need to work to make a living or get more salary or achieve status.

Some people are very confused when thinking about the in reasons for working.

In my case, I was very worried about my career until recently.

Because most of my friends are starting to give birth around in their thirties.(I’m 31 years old)

Some of them gave up their dream of a career, and decided to become a housewife.

In my case, I want to have a baby, however I can’t decide when is the best time.

I also want to get a better salary and title, and enjoy my life.

But I failed to find a new job recently.

So I changed my mind about my situation.

I do my best in my job everyday, and never get angry at my managers and colleagues.

All things which happened to me have a reason.

For example, if my manager orders me to do something which I disagree about, it’s the best chance to develop my persuasion skills.

When I joined my company 2 and half years ago, there were some colleagues I didn’t like.

But I’ve changed my attitude to try to understand their thinking and position, so I’ve become closer to them.

It’s only me that can have an influence on other people and situations.

Returning to the first topic, I want to give some advice to people who work hard and are worried about their future.

It’s only you who can change your situation.

Please think about your motivation working, not only your salary and title.

I usually have some trouble in my projects. But I think it’s a chance to heighten my skills of negotiation.

By the way, thanks to my husband, friends and parents, I could change my attitude.

Although I might quit my job someday, I don’t want to regret everything. So I do my best for everything(not only my job, but also everything in my life)

The trip to my parent’s house – Part.2

To tell the truth, on the next day of our trip to Kochi, we were planning to go to Kagawa, which is located in the north of Tokushima.

But all members were very tired, so we changed our schedule.

In the morning, we stayed at home and just relaxed, and in the afternoon, we went to 2 temples, which are not so far from my parent’s house.

Before write about these temples, I want to write about “Ohenro“.

In Shikoku, there is a peculiar Buddhism custom which is called “Shikoku-henro” or “Ohenro” or “Ohenro-san”.

There are 88 temples in Shikoku, and some people go on a pilgrimage to visit 88 temples from no.1 to no.88 or in reverse order.

To visit these temples is one way of fulffiling their wishes, or overcoming their physical or mental problems.

Nowadays, it is a popular tour to visit these temples, so tourists go there by bus or car or bike.

However some people visit all temples on foot. It’s very hard physical and mental training.

In Shikoku, if we come across”Ohenro-san”(people who visit temples wearing white costumes), we should treat them kindly.

For example, we give them rice balls, some fresh fruit, and of course, give them directions, if they are lost.

Someday, I want to be a “Ohenro-san” to train my spirit.

My parent’s, my husband and I went to the no.1 temple which is called “Ryōzenji“.

After visiting Ryōzenji(the no.1 temple) and Gokurakuji(the no.2 temple, which is near from Ryōzenji), we went back to my parent’s house before going to a steak restaurant to eat dinner.

My favorite aunt reserved the restaurant, but unfortunately she couldn’t come with us, because her relative died suddenly, so she needed to go to the funeral.

We had a nice dinner together and talked about many topics.

The next day, my husband and I left Tokushima early in the morning.

This time, I didn’t have enough time to talk with my grand mother and aunt, so I checked the schedule of future cheap flights to Tokushima.

I want to talk with my family more, so I’ll go back there on July 4.

The trip to my parent’s house – Part.1

In Japan, there is a long national holiday in May, which we call, “Golden Week“.

Generally it starts on May 3, Constitution day, and ends on May 5, Children’s day.

Especially this year, Golden Week was longer than usual because of the weekend.

My husband and I went back to my parent’s house, which is located 1 hour by plane from Tokyo.

In Golden Week, it’s difficult to buy discounted tickets.

In this season, many people travel by planes, therefore the airlines don’t discount tickets.

I was not able to get a good flight time(morning and afternoon), because other people had already booked them, so we went back to Tokushima prefecture(my hometown) ,at a somewhat late time.

I was very happy to see my parent’s, because it was last October when I went there last.

The next day, my father, my husband and I went to Kochi prefecture, which is next to Tokushima prefecture.

It was very far from my parent’s house our destination in Kochi.

My father drove for about 4 hours through the mountains, and by the time we reached our destination, we were all tired tired.

At first, we went to Kochi castle, which was the setting for a famous TV program in Japan.

There, we ate local ice cream which is called “Ice Crin”, the Japanese old name of ice cream.

I really like this ice cream!

The shop’s staff said to me, it was free to add other flavors during Golden Week. We were lucky!

After Kochi castle, we moved to a big and famous market in Kochi, which is called ‘Nichiyo-Ichi (Sunday Market)‘.

I remember this market, from my childhood, as I once went there with my parents.

By chance, I could get a free paper at the market. According to an article, there are more than 500 shops there!

It was very very crowded, because of Golden Week!

Vegetables, fishes, pickles, knives, flowers, etc are sold at many similar style of small shops!

The prices of them are not too bad, so we just enjoyed the peculiar atmosphere of the market, and bought small dried fish and one kind of miso which was packaged in a small container, for our breakfast when we returned to Tokyo.(Actually they were very tasty! So now I regret that I didn’t buy more!)

After passing through the market, we looked for restaurants for our lunch.

But there were not so many restaurants around us, even though there were many small shops!

I didn’t want to enter a usual restaurant.  To eat delicious local food is very important for me and my husband.

So we bought some fish cakes, tempura and grilled bonito which is called ‘Katsuo no tataki‘ at another market, and ate them in my father’s car.

I think it was a nice idea, hahaha.

We left Kochi at about 3p.m. and reached my parent’s house about 4 hours later.

All of us were very tired, but we really enjoyed the trip to Kochi. And I was able to talk with my father in his car after a  long time.

Oh! I have another thing that I want to write about.

On our way home, we stopped at a parking area in Tokushima, where I saw a wonderful sight!

There were many carp banners, which are called ‘Koinobori‘ over the river.

On Children’s day, we cerebrate the growth of children by decorating carp banners above our house.

In Some rural areas, the Koinobori are decorated over rivers, or between mountains.

To be continued!

Two new experiences of communication with foreign traveler

First of all, I invited a Singaporean couple to my house, because I trusted them fairly well.

I exchanged emails with the husband several times before they visited Japan, and I could get to know about his family, job etc.

Actually it is one of  my dreams to tell people about Japanese food, especially my hometown’s local food.

Although I stopped organizing my food event in Tokyo, at that time I wanted to popularize “Tarai udon”(my hometown’s local food), so I sometimes had events.

When I decided to invite them to my house, I asked my aunt to send me some “Tarai udon”.

It was very nice time to eat it with them.

To tell the truth, it was my husband that cooked not only Udon but also other Japanese dishes.

After lunch, I played the Shamiesen for them, and told them about Kimono culture a little.

I want to keep in touch with them, because it was also a lot of fun for me.

Next, I guided a Finish guy who contacted me via CouchSurfing.com.

We exchanged emails several times and discussed some topics before he came to Japan, so when I met him for the first time, I felt like we were already friends.

It was my first experience of CS(Couch Surfing).

As I wrote about him in my previous article, he was really kind and gentle.

At first, we met in Kanda, and went to a cafe and an Izakaya(Japanese restaurant or pub), where we talked about many topics.

Second, I joined an international gathering which he had told me about, in Siba park.

I met several people of 6 different nationalities!

I enjoyed this event.. but to tell the truth, I like more deep discussions with small groups of people than such large events.

However, I like cultural and international events, so if I had have continued to organize my own event, maybe I would not feel this way.

But now I want to communicate with a few people at a time, and become close friends with them.

Third, the Finish guy and I did some shopping on the weekend.

I think if my English was better, I could have helped his shopping more!

I’m planning to meet an Italian guy( I already met his sister, who studies Japanese and Japanese culture in Tokyo! ) , another woman who will come here from the UK, and a guy who comes from Morocco, who will be in Tokyo till August.

I hope our gatherings will be nice and we will become good friends.