The event held by friends

Long time no see. It’s been a while since the last time I updated this blog. I had decided to keep a diary on this blog, but I’ve got founded that it’s really tough job for me. I really wanna be more punctual and gain an ability to stick to what I decided to do. 

Anyway, I want to share the story of the event which I attended yesterday. This event was organized by friends of my highschool. The topic was “journey”, and the event was was named as “Travelling on Sunday”. The guys holding the event, Ren and Shu, were my highschool basketball team mates. Having been 8 years since graduating from high school, we are still able to see like this, partially thanks to this

connected society. Through the SNS, I am able to catch their updates. Without seeing, I know something about them. So I knew that they’ve been enjoying outdoor lives such as hiking and trail-running. I had been wanting to know something more about them in person.

Ren had acquired the working holiday visa to go to Ireland. He spent almost a year on going around entire Europe. He had a keen interest in long trails in Europe. Having three purposes of living in Europe: gaining an experience of working in foreign countries, improving an English comprehension, going exploration, the third occupoed 70 percent of the purpose. Arriving in Ireland, he began looking for a job. However, he was not able to find one until he sent more than hundreds of letters to employers. He finally found one in a hamburger shop, and woked for four months to save money for exploration. Listening to his his story, I was surprised at his energy sending hundreds of letters and being rejected as many times. I don’t know that I could do the same thing if I were in him. Looking for a job itself is tough, but he did it  in foreign countries with foreign languages. I learned that having a specific purpose is very crucial to keep a motivation. The clear purpose you have, the stronger motivation you will gain. He was able to stand there because he had the clear purpose of coming to Europe: exploration. Sharing a lot of beautiful pictures with us, I want to go out to touch something beautiful in first hand. Finally, he recommended me to read a book written by Taro Okamoto, a Japanese legendary artist. Ren was inspired by his book and began exploring the world. Reading the book, I will share my thought with him.

Shu is the other presenter of the event. He shared a story of reaching the top of Mt.Kilimanjaro in Africa with his dad. He also visited to a city of coastline where his uncle lives in. I did not know that he has Tanzanian relatives. His uncle married to a lady from Tanzania, and currently living there. The story began when his dad asked him to go to Africa. He said his dad had a dream of climbing the Mr. Kilimanjaro. Retiring from his work in three years ago when he was 60 years old, he asked his son to go to Africa together. During two weeks trip including flights, they spent a week in the mountain. It sounds really tough. I was inspired by his dad because he was enough active to visit Africa even after retired. I heard many people after retired turning into nobody can’t find a way to live without their labors. I though Shu is very lucky to have that type of dad (because it’s very difficult to imagine in my dad’s case.... I still love my dad anyway)

Japan vs. USA

Yesterday it was the day all Japanese basketball fans had been waiting for. The Japanese National team competed against the Team USA in the World Cup. Friends of mine and I gathered in my home to watch this game. We prepared snacks and drinks to wait for the tip off at 21:30 in Tokyo. Having lost against Turkey and Czech Republic, there is no hope to proceed to the knock out stage. However, the Team Japan is said to be the strongest ever. With Rui Hachimura, the first ever rottery pick in 2019 NBA draft as Japanese, the team has talents that it has never had. As a basketball fan, I expected the Japan could play well even against the Team USA. However, the result was different. The final score was 98-45. It was a devastating loss. TheTeam USA is not said to be the best team. Many American NBA superstar had decided not to play in the World Cup because of private issues and injuries. This the Team USA is called “third team” or “the weakest ever”, but I strongly felt that the USA is the USA. I was shocked by seeing the difference in all aspects (physical, speed, shooting etc.) of basketball between Japan and the USA. Japanese basketball has been developing rapidly in the last a few year. The professional basketball league in Japan (B.League) established in 2016, and Rui and Yuta Watanabe went to NBA after making impacts in the NCAA Division 1. However, it’s now doubtful whether the gap between Japan and the USA getting closer. At least, some individuals were able to play well (happy to see that Yudai Baba scores 18 points and made a good appeal for playing overseas). I earnestly hope that the Team Japan will be better as a team, and more Japanese players will compete in leagues overseas. Anyway, thanks to the Japanese basketball team, I had a great time with friends.

I reconfirmed that Kemba Walker and Donovan Mitchell is two of my favorites. I am looking forward to watching them in the coming knockout stage.

Please enjoy watching the the World Cup!!

Thank you for reading all, see you soon. 

Miki

Morning routine

Hi there I’m Miki.

I am writing this entry in the train to commute to a client office. I am doing it because I want to keep what I came up with as words. I regret what I have done before before leaving home in this morning. I supposed to leave home no later than 8:30 to take a train leaving 8:44 from the Shinjuku Station. I woke up 7:40 (it was later than I expected) and washed a bath tub and toilet, then somehow started cooking!! Moreover, I cooked not only miso soup but also stir-fried pork with KIMUCHI. Although I had to do the ironing and hang out the laundry stuffs, I spent too much time in cooking. Everything  should have been done in 50 minutes. It’s impossible!! As a result, I had to leave almost all things in the laundry (I don’t wanna imagine how it’s gonna be), as well as sink. I also left the stir-fry in the pan in the kitchen. Living in a one room apartment, the smell will be spread to the entire room!! You know how kimuchi smells like!? I don’t wanna imagine how it’s goona be (again!!). After all, I need to create a priority list and establish solid morning routines. I guess what you do everymorning is strongly connected to confidence and self-esteem. Therefore “creating morning routine” has been added to my task list for September. Now It’s no problem right now, because I will be at the working place on time and was able to write this entry because of my wrong doing in this morning. 

Anyway, have a nice day!!

Thank you for reading all.

See you soon!

Miki

Bouldering Night

Hi there, I’m Miki.

Today I went to Sports the event held by Mitsui Fudosan which is the company managing the building my office lives in. I did bouldering for the first time. The Mistui sometimes holds events relating to sports. I organized a team and participated in the 3 on 3 basketball event last years. We won the tournament, and I was given lots of things such as a shield, a towel, and 200 cans of beer!! Of course, I was very looking forward to trying bouldering, but I also looked to see professional athelets climbing on the wall in person. Two female sports climbers, Akiyo Noguchi and Mihou Nonaka, came to the place as the guests. I watched them climb on the walls on the TV a couple of times. I have been interested not only in this sports but players, so I submitted an application for joining the event as soon as I got announced via corporate e-mail. I was very happy to see them in person. As I expected, their climbing was so smooth that In addition, Ms. Noguchi is much more beautiful 

Korean foods in Shin-Okubo

Hi there I’m Miki.

Being in my home, I spent time in learning and reading books. I like weekend (who does not like it?) because I spent my time on what I cannot do in weekdays. I am a type of person who has much curiosity: I cannot leave something not being able to understand. Therefore, there lots of books remain on my desks. Weekend is the best time spending on reading books. But after all, I really want brush up English skills too. I spare a certain amount of time on learning English. I’ve been focusing on grammar and expression these days. Since I started writing this English diary, I tend to take care about them. I want to use collect grammar and a variety of expressions. I believe it is a good aspect of using English in public (same thing can be said not only for foreign language but also any skills and knowledge you want to develop). Whenever writing and speaking English, I cannot do without feeling inferiority. However, in the same time, it turns into insatiable motivation to learn English. Although I thought I was spending time in my home entire day, fourtunately I was asked to go dinner by a friend. It was a third day we hung out within a week. We went to Okubo, Korean town where is right next to the busy quarter of Kabukicho district, to have a chicken and beer. 지맥 is the word representing “chicken and beer” in Korean. Having a 지맥 in a Hangang River Park (한강 공원) is my favorite activity in Seoul. I had a good dinner with her in Okubo this time. We somehow ordered a plate of the spiciest chicken in the menu. It was spicier than I expected. Though I like spicy food, I am not able to eat too much. My Korean friend is good at having spicy foods as much as I am. it was too much for us. We also ordered a plate of noodles and stir-fry, but the quantity exceeded our capacity. So we left some food. 

Unexpected report from a friend

Hi there I’m Mikihito.

I would like to share a story occurred to me yesterday. I saw a friend to have drinks yesterday. He was a teammate of the highschool basketball team. We also have been playing basketball together for a year. We and a few guys created a basketball team a year ago to participate into competitions. This is the first time he asked me to go drinking by ourselves. Despite good friends, we’ve never had even a lunch or dinner together by ourselves. So I anticipated something happened to him. As soon as we drank a toast, he said to me that he divorced. More surprisingly, he did approximately a year ago. Although we had started seeing for playing basketball, I had no idea because he held it back until his mind fully recovered. I am glad that he looks good now. Though I cannot imagine that how much he was depressed during the course of the events, I really want to celebrate that he went through tough time and embarked on a brandnew life. Recalling it, I had never see him since graduated from highschool. Since the wedding party, we started hanging out many times. If there weren’t his wedding, we wouldn’t have drinks there today. Therefore, I said to him that I am grateful for your wedding. Although it may sounds weird, I always want to take a positive side. Moreover, I was happy that he shared very private matter with me in person. I am convinced that our friendship will be continuing for a long term. Our basketball tournament coming in the next months, we are going to achieve better result than the last one.

Thank you for reading all, see you soon.

Miki

Dinner in Shimokitazawa

Hi there, I’m Mikihito.

Because of the four day business trip, I felt tired in this morning. I had a work at a client office near Nishimagome station, in Ota ward in Tokyo. In the morning I took a bus from Gotanda station, but it took much more time than expected, so I barely made in time. I know I should have left my place earlier to leave plenty of time, but I have always been the edge since my childhood. 

After the work, I ate a dinner with a friend. We saw for the first time on the last Friday. On that night, we ate Churrasco, the term Brazilians use for Barbecue, in Shinjuku and went to Karaoke after it. Becoming good friends, I asked her to go dinner again. We met up in Shimokiazawa station at 7:15, then went to Shabushabu and Sukiyaki restaurant. We had a good time there. We spent a little time in an arcade playing “Taiko no Tatsujin” which is a popular drum game.  Because we both were full, we walked about 30 minutes from Shimokitazawa station to Sasazuka station to burn calories. While walking around, we dropped by a book store to read books and a convenience store to have some cups of coffee. I guess that we said goodbye at 12 am. Overall, I spent a very happy day.

Thank you for reading all. See you soon.

Miki