I went to Sugamo to submit the Privacy Mark documents at the Japan Data Communications Association.

Sugamo is famous for its original street which is called the Sugamo jizo dori shotengai.

The street is also known as “Harajuku for old women”.

I guess you know that Harajuku is one of the famous shopping areas in Tokyo, and there are some famous shopping streets there.

In Sugamo, there are many shops in the Sugamo jizo dori shotengai.

the Japan Data Communications Association is near that street, so I thought that it was a good chance to enjoy window shopping in Sugamo after the submission.

By the way, I want to write about the Privacy Mark system which is becoming more and more widespread in Japan, and also about the Privacy Mark acquirement project in my company of which I’m in charge of the project leader.

When I finished the submission, it was getting dark outside.

I thought that most of the shops in the street would close before the evening because their customers are generally old people, so I needed to hurry.

One of my purposes in Sugamo was to buy salty rice cakes, Shio Daifuku in Japanese.

The red bean filled rice cakes are very common, however the salty flavoured rice cakes are a bit rare, and I imagined that they would be more tasty than the normal Daifuku.

Since my English teacher recommended me to try them, I was looking forward to buying them.

The following image is of the Shio Daifuku.

I ate them after shopping in Sugamo, with my friend and colleague, Naomi, who had recently moved near my area from Osaka.

If I have a chance to go to Sugamo again, I think I will buy them again.

Although the salty rice cakes were sold in many shops in the street, I bought them at the original shop which had developed the salty rice cakes. I think my choice was not wrong, because they were very delicious.

Red underwear is also a special item in Sugamo.

In Japan, red is a symbol of happiness and a celebration of longevity.

When one shop which is called Maruji, developed the red panties, they became a great hit. As a result other shops followed them.

It was a great experience for me to enjoy window shopping in Sugamo, because I really like such traditional shopping districts.

After window shopping in Sugamo, I went directly back to my apartment, and bought a bottle of wine and some snacks, then I prepared dinner for my friend who would come to my apartment after work.

Since my husband was staying at a hotel on that day, as he would play golf in the early morning of the next day, Naomi and I enjoyed chatting till midnight.

The following images are of our dinner. It was very healthy.

Now I will tell you about the Privacy Mark and our company’s Privacy Mark project.

If you have seen some Japanese company’s websites, you might have seen the following logo of the Privacy Mark.

The Privacy Mark is one of the official certifications, which is proof that Japanese companies deal with private information.

Here I want to explain to you about what private information is. Private information consists of, for example, names, addresses, telephone numbers and account information, which are sometimes misused for illegal purposes.

We sometimes see such news on the Internet or in newspapers or on TV, where companies have leaked private information which they are holding, to the outside.

It’s easy to imagine the damage to the companies which had leaked the private information and, also to the people who had their private information leaked.

So a solid system whereby companies deal with private information carefully and systematically, is becoming more and more important in Japan.

In addition, in the business world, it’s becoming difficult to get contracts for public projects, if the they don’t have the Privacy Mark; the official certification.

So my company decided to apply for the Privacy Mark.

However, to tell the truth, it is the second time for my company to try the Privacy Mark.

When applying for the Privacy Mark, it’s necessary to do many things, for example, create many documents, explain the Privacy Mark system to all members in the company, and of course, create new IT systems.

In addition, most companies can’t carry out the Privacy Mark application process without a specialist.

I heard that my company tried to get the Privacy Mark several years ago and hired an outside consultant, however they eventually gave up.

So I felt a heavy responsibility, when I was nominated as leader of the Privacy Mark project.

Soon I noticed that it was very tough to accomplish the project, because, it was troublesome to get all members in my company to cooperate with me, because most of them were very busy.

Furthermore, unfortunately, the managers in my company were lacking responsibility of commitment and understanding for the Privacy Mark application, because only I could communicate with the consultant according to the contract.

I had been feeling heavy stress to accomplish the task since several months ago.

However, now I’m thinking that I was very lucky, because I could learn how to accomplish such a big project, and could also know about the Privacy Mark system in depth.

I think that the most important thing in such a project is the management and delegation of various tasks to different people.

It’s necessary to consider the situation of each project member and think logically how to accomplish the project.

I usually work with only a few colleagues, and most of my colleagues also work with only a few members on our projects.

So we don’t have many chances to learn about such big projects where it’s necessary to consider all members.

Although I need to do many things for the next step of the Privacy Mark project, I feel more relaxed now, because I have finished the first step; the submission of the documents.

The next step will come soon, so I should continue to do my best.

I hope I will be able to report about the final step of the project in my blog.

Finally I finished my diary about my summer vacation.

I want to write about my decision for starting shamisen lessons with the new teacher from now.

In September, my original shamisen teacher’s teacher asked me whether I could help him to create his website.

I replied that of course, I would help him.

As I had written about my impression of his performance in my previous diary, it was my pleasure to help him.

He also asked me, if I would like to take his lesson. It was no problem.

To tell the truth, I was worried about my original shamisen teacher from whom I have been taking shamisen lessons since 5 years ago.

If I would take my shamisen teacher’s teacher’s lesson, surely my original shamisen teacher would feel uncomfortable.

So I frankly told him about my concern.

He answered that if I would take the same style of lesson from him, it must be rude to my original teacher.

However if I would take a different style of lesson from him, it would be no problem.

Actually he can teach various styles of shamisen lessons to his pupils.

Usually I receive lessons on Japanese folk songs, which style is generally called Minyo.
Minyo have been sung all over Japan for a long time, and the songs’ themes are about work, life and love for families and lovers.

Minyo’s historical background is based on poverty and people’s simple life styles.

Even tough now Minyo are sung on stage, and on TV, they are really based on Japanese people’s simple life style in the past.

My teacher’s teacher also can teach another style of shamisen lesson, which is called Hauta.

Hauta has been sung since the Edo period. The sound of Hauta is more cool than Minyo.

Still now, Hautas are sung by Geisha at high quality restaurants.

If I sing Hauta playing the shamisen and wearing a kimono, I think people would view me as a typical Japanese.

Let me return to the story about my teacher’s teacher.

In the end, I started to receive his Hauta style lesson.

I think Hauta is more difficult than Minyo, because Hauta’s tone is very different from Minyo. However I want to learn it more deeply.

In addition, I also wanted to know about the traditional customs of the shamisen world, so I asked him some questions about them.

He explained to me politely about those customs.

I also told him about my complaints against the traditional customs, which I had had for a long time.

He not only explained about such customs but also told me his opinion.

I was very surprised and could know about his passion for the shamisen.

Further more, luckily I could know about his background as a shamisen player deeply, because I am going to create his website.

Since I was requested to make his website, I sometimes follow him to his activities to take photos.

The purpose is not only to take photos, but also to learn his technique and about his shamisen world.

I think I’m really lucky.

I had believed that he was just a strict teacher, however I noticed my misconception.

I know most of his pupils complain against him secretly.
Most of their complains are about money and his furious temper.

He is not good at explaining his opinion, and his pupils also never ask him about money and the reason for his opinion.

What a shame it is that they can’t communicate deeply.

I want to help my new teacher by creating his website.

For him, the purpose of having his own website is to get more pupils, however, for me, the second purpose is to explain to his pupils about his activities and opinions.

Of course, he told me that he would pay me the cost of making his website, but I also need to pay for his lessons.

Actually my salary is not so high, so it’s my solid decision to learn the shamisen more seriously.

I believe, through studying shamisen, I can learn not only about the shamisen world and playing techniques, but also I can learn many new things.

The following image is of his website.

I have been a member of Shamisen group for about 5 years. The Shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument.

Today, I want to explain about such a traditional Japanese cultural organization.

Do you know the Iemoto system? Iemoto stands for the head of such a traditional organization or sometimes it means the system itself.

There are Iemoto systems in not only the Shamisen world, but also in the Japanese art of flower arrangement, Koto, Shakuhachi, Nihon buyo(traditional Japanese dance) , Japanese tea ceremony and other traditional Japanese cultural activities.

The members of each group need to use the same family name as it’s leader.

There are clear hierarchical structure in such groups, so we generally start out at the bottom class of the group.

Some years later after joining the group, our teacher will recommend us to move into the second class level.

At that time, we are allowed to use the same family name as the leader of our group and we also get a stage name.

I got my stage name about a year ago. However I payed about 300,000 yen to the headquarters of my Shamisen group to proceed to the next class level. It included a fee to my teacher’s teacher.

To tell the truth, I had refused my teacher’s recommendation to proceed to the next class level, because I felt it was a waste to pay such money just to get the family name.

I like traditional culture, however I dislike such a traditional system, not only because of the issue of having to pay big money, but also because there are some strange rules in our group.

Therefore I had originally refused my teacher’s recommendation.

However I finally accepted it, because the next pupil in line was waiting for her turn.

It’s natural to proceed to the next class level in turn, and I was the first pupil under my teacher.

I want to explain about such a hierarchical system again.

The order that we became pupils is very important in our society.

We need to call our senior members “Ne-san” which is polite and which expresses our respect.

However my teacher is a very friendly and kind person, so I couldn’t  learn about such a strict system very thoroughly.

We have yearly joint concert with my teacher’s teacher’s group.

My teacher’s teacher is quite important in the Shamisen world, because he was one of the pupils of the head of our Shamisen organization.

So his views are very conservative and I didn’t like his views or his group.

Last weekend, our group had a joint practice, and my teacher’s teacher was invited as an instructor.

At that time, I was shocked.

His technique was marvelous and his way of teaching was also great.

He taught us not only about the way of handling a Shamisen but also the reasons why we should handle a Shamisen in such a way.

I was very surprised, because I didn’t know such reasons.

Also on that day, there was negative shock for me.

I met some new members on that day, and some members lacked courtesy.

The thing I was most shocked by was a woman who seemed to be the same age as me, stepped over my instrument, and talked to other members too casually.

She also said that she didn’t bring the fee for our teacher and also didn’t prepare money for dinner.

Why?

The fact that most members didn’t put their fee into an envelope also shocked me. It was disrespectful.

Now I’m re-thinking about what traditional Japanese culture is.

When we are learning such traditional cultural activities, we also need to learn about etiquette.

Although I was not a good pupil, I need to know the spirit of traditional culture more deeply.

I planned a home party at my home last weekend.

That day’s afternoon, I accompanied my colleague who was looking for a new apartment in my residential area.

After that, I invited my friends to my apartment to eat dinner together.

One of my friends’s mother came to Japan from the US, so I also invited her to my apartment.

I originally wanted to eat Tarai-udon which is one of my hometown’s popular local foods with my guests.

But my husband wanted to express his hospitality, so he cooked some very nice dishes for us.

Most of the vegetables were grown by my father in his veggies garden, and all of them were organic vegetables.

He gives me vegetables every time I go buck home. And my husband usually cooks them for us.

All members said that the dishes were very delicious and couldn’t stop eating.

The following picture is also a local food in my hometown, Tokushima.

It is called “Fish-katsu” in Japanese.

I used to eat it as a snack when I was a child. It is a bit spicy and taste like junk food.

It is usually eaten with sauce, soy sauce, mayonnaise and spices.

One guest became to like it very much, so I gave her the rest of it.

By the way, I want to tell you about one of the Japanese customs which is that most Japanese men who are married never cook.

In Japan, for a long time, it has been normal that husbands work outside and wives do housework at home.

But now the situation is changing in that the status of women is becoming higher than in the past.

Most Japanese women who graduate from university want to continue their careers even if they get married, but most Japanese husbands don’t help their wives.

As a result, most wives need to work outside and inside very hard every day.

Some of my female friends sometimes complaine that their husbands never help them since they got married.

In my case, at first, my husband could not cook very well and also could not do housework, because his mother and his ex-girl friend did everything for him.

We started to live together 2 years before our marriage, and at that time, I was very busy with my previous job, so I couldn’t cook for him very much, therefore he started to try cooking for us by himself.

He soon became to like cooking, because he really likes to eat delicious food.

Also he was lucky, since he was working for a printing company, he got some cook books free of charge.

After several years, he became a good cook. Whenever he cooked for our guests, all of the guests said his dishes were very delicious, and some of them said that my husband could open a restaurant if he wanted to.

Some of my male friends say to me that they don’t have enough time to cook themselves, but I disagree with them.

I think the most important thing is whether they like to cook or not, and if they are married, whether they want to help their wives of not.

In my case, I used to think, I had a opportunity to learn English overseas.

But now I’m thinking that we can make our own chances if we truly hope so.

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)

In my free time, I sometimes guide foreign travelers who contacted me via the Internet.

I started this interesting hobby about 1 year ago.

The first website I registered with was Hi Everywhere!

Untill now, I have guided or just had dinner together with many people who were from America, Singapore, Peru, Sri Lanka,England, Bhutan and so on.

It was a very exciting experience, but I stopped it while my mental condition was not good.

About 2 weeks ago, I restarted doing this interesting hobby.

Another Singaporean couple contacted me via Hi Everywhere!

I invited them to my house to eat lunch together after we had exchanged emails several times.( I think it ’s better to exchange emails and get to know each other’s personalities before meeting )

Actually, I had made some mistakes in the past by meeting someone too quickly.

At first, I volunteered to guide them, as I just thought that I wanted to speak English and enjoy exchanging cultures with them.

So I didn’t think about their personalities very much and what they wanted me to do for them.

Some guys think that  Hi Everywhere! is a dating site. It is stupid!

That’s why I became to think the most important thing for me when volunteering to guide them( I don’t know other people’s thinking ) is to treat them like my friends.

I need not only exchange cultures, but also become friends with them.

Several months ago, my favorite friend, a Japanese American , recommended another website which is called CouchSurfing.

I think CouchSurfing is more useful than Hi Everywhere!

Around at the end of winter, some people contacted me via CouchSurfing .

And last week I met a guy who was from Finland.

We exchanged emails several times and discussed some topics.

He was a very kind, gentle guy! So I was very happy to see him.

Later I checked other users’ comments about CouchSurfing.

I guess the user quality of this website is good, specially for women to meet men via the Internet is dangerous.

I’ll write the details of my new experiences of guiding new people in the next article.

I have not written this blog for about 1 year, even though I have continued to study English.

I decided to restart writing this blog from now.

At first, I want to write about my recent life.

Last summer I gave up  Awa-odori( traditional Japanese dance ), which I had done for about 4 years.

I belonged to an Awa-odori group, but I couldn’t agree with the senior leader’s instruction.

I tolerated the situation for a long time, because I really love Awa-odori. But finally, I insisted on expressing my opinion to them.

So they said that they didn’t want to dance with me any longer.

I felt really sad, and did not to want to remember them or Awa-odori.

As a result from last summer to the beginning of this year, I lost my passion for everything.

Even the shamisen( traditional Japanese instrument ), which I had played for the same time as Awa-odori, I lost my passion like I did for Awa-odori.

I don’t know why?

Concerning my job, the situation was same.

I guess, no one could notice my bad condition except my husband.

I was really tired at that time.

Regarding my job, I even tried to change company, and registered with many recruiting agencies.

But from last October, the Japanese economy became very bad, and at last I gave up to change my job, and decided to stay at my present company.

At the end of last year, I cleaned up my apartment, and threw away many things.

I imagine from then, I started to recover from the situation I had gotten into.

Now I leave my office around 6:30pm, and after work, go to the super-market and buy meat, eggs, vegetables and so on for the next day’s lunch.

When I reach my home, I usually do some house work, and after the house work, practice the shamisen for about 1 hour.

And after practicing the shamisen, I start to study English, and go to bed around 11:00pm.

Every morning I wake up around 5:30am and study English again for about 1 hour and eat breakfast with my husband.

I go to my office before my colleagues.

This regular life style brings me stability.

The biggest change for me is not to feel anger against someone’s behavior.

And I feel my attitude is becoming positive.

I think I was tired from everything, and I needed to take a rest.

Now my dream is to improve my English more and practice the shamisen everyday, and to become a  shamisen master within 2 years from now.

It was  my past dream, but I had lost that dream.

Today, I got a letter from my favorite aunt.

She is my mother’s elder sister and I often went to her house and talked with her about many things.

She is not married and doesn’t have children, but she really enjoyed her life as teacher.

She started her job as a music teacher, and 38 years later when she retired, she had become a principal of an elementary school.

I can’t imagine what kind of effort she required, and what she had to sacrifice.

As soon as I received her letter, I called her and said congratulations.

I’m proud of her; her way living to fulfill her dream and her will power.

Through the process of trying to change my job, I could know my lack of experience and skills, and could come to understand what I want to do now.

I probably I can’t live like my aunt, but I want to live as I like.

I’m working for a small Japanese IT company in Tokyo.

Our staff are just under 30 people, but half of them are from 7 countries different.

And I have some foreign friends who are from several countries.

We sometimes talk about the working style of each country.

Most of them said to me that Japanese work too hard.
(They are working for Japanese companies.)

One of our coworkers is Danish.
He suggested us that if we could change our working style, some good things might be happened.

(He said that for example, it was good for us to work for 4 days and rest 3 days.)

He and other foreign coworkers(American,Australian) have the same way of thinking about an appropriate
working style.

By the way I also sometimes guide foreigners around Tokyo.

All of them also said to me that Japanese work too hard.
(Some of them came to Japan for business.)

Their home countries are different from each other, so now I think the “Japanese” working style is the strangest in the world.

One day, I said to my Korean coworker that I would change my working
time.

Now, my company starts at 9:00am and finishes at 6:00pm.

But I often must do over time.

So I sometimes finish my work too late time(for example,9:00pm or 10:00pm)

If I didn’t have so many jobs, I could meet my friends, learn English or other languages, read books, do house work, practice the Shamisen, run, and more after my work.

So, I talked about this topic to my Korean coworker.

But he said to me that our client’s schedules are the most important thing.

I think so too, therefore I like my job.

But I think that more important things in our life are good health of the body and mind, and good relationships between our families and friends.

He addied mind that, in Korea, the circumstance is worse than Japan.
The Korean social security system is 10 years behind than Japan.

He said that he guesses the Chinese social security system is much worth.

But, I heard from my Chinese coworker, in China, that the people’s working style is similar to Europe.

In Japan, to continue working for young woman who have children is very
difficult.

But in China, to continue working for a woman is easy, because her family generally supports her.

I think job is very important for us, but a side from our jobs, there are many important things.

In Japan, our parents and teachers had never thought us about the meaning of jobs.

So when we graduated from school and started working, we were confused.
But, then we didn’t have any chance to think about our jobs, because we are all very busy everyday.

I’m very lucky to know about some working styles in several countries.

I’m 30 years old, I like my job and I want to enjoy my life more.
But time is coming which I must decide about my future.

So I’m thinking about this topic.

How about in your country?

I registered at a temporary employment agency 2 weeks ago.
Because I want money for my travel and I want to work in another field.

1 week ago,I worked at a company which inputs many data for other companies,at Kachidoki.

My job was making many copies and scaning a number of plan.

I was very surprised at seeing the slogan”Cost-cutting! Increase efficiency!” on the wall.

One employee said to me that I had to make 1 copy within 1 minute.

I came to understand the structure of the industry.

This weekend,I worked at a hotel which was cheap and popular with many people.
That hotel’s name was”AKIHABARA WASHINGTON HOTEL”.

In the hotel,my job was cleaning bathrooms and washing glasses.

The head of maid explained to me the procedure for cleaning the bathroom.
Her explanation was so fast for me that I couldn’t understand it to hear the first time.

I started to clean rooms,but she said to me that I must hurry up,because I must clean 20 bathrooms.

I barely remembered the procedure and finished cleaning 1 room, but she said to me I was too slow.

Because I had never done such a job,I was slow!

And I thought that the procedure was unhygienic.

We used the same towel to clean the bathes,the toilets and the floors of bathroom.

And I washed glasses in the procedure!
They didn’t give me a glove and I had to clean the toilets!
How unhygienic it was!

The problem was due to too much cost-cutting at this hotel.

They don’t pay enough money for the maids,so the maids complain and they are not pleasant.

The hotel dosen’t employ enough people to clean rooms carefuly, and omit some procedure of the cleaning.

Some women said to me(they were temporary staff)that they won’t stay in a cheap hotel hereafter.

I expect that the companies which supply the cheap service,have the same problems.

I had a precious experience.

If I am going to receive cheap service, I must think about the background behind the service.

Well,I am going to bring my cup when I will stay in a cheap hotel.