I’m Finally Back!

About three months of being absent, I could finally come back to this site. What happened in these months? Who cares. I was just spending so lazy time that I couldn’t even remember how to log in this site and have many troubled time due to my laziness. However and fortunately, I could come back now. The theme is “REBORN” now. I’d like to write about anything that I think worth to write and what I want to write!

https://www.instagram.com/official_upsidedown/

by the way, this is my new instagram account with my sweetheart living in Tokyo. We live in the total opposite sites in Japan. So, you know, upsidedown. This account is our challenge to make our dreams come true. If you could follow us, you would glimpse interesting and humorous way of our living in this era. Thank you for reading!

Friend in need is Friend indeed

I have a wonderful friend who really care about me, my dream and my ideal life. I’m not talking about my girlfriend thing, but true best friend. She comes from Illinois, US to Japan as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher). Fortunately I and she have been teaching English together for more than a couple of years. We are the same age, so we can share a lot of unique thoughts without any generational gaps. I have never seen a foreigner whom I can talk with more friendly or without any stress.

She is of course a genius and inspirational English teacher, and at the same time, she seems to have great talent to make a wonderful gifts. In the last time of my birthday, she gave me a cool, leather touch black notebook and pen. I thought she gave me this because she was disappointed with me, who is always talking like I want to be a writer or novelist, and haven’t finished writing a decent story. However, the moment I opened several pages of the book, I was so surprised because there was memos inside of the book, the topics for me to write about. There are topics I would never hit upon but wanted to write about somehow. And the first memo was like this.

Tomo’s Idea Notebook Happy Birthmas! (*my birthday is December 23rd)

I hope you enjoy writing in this notebook. I found some writing prompts for you that I thought were interesting. I hope that they inspire ideas for you to write about.

This gift isn’t just a notebook, it’s also an invitation for you to let me check your English any time you want, and a promise that I’ll always support your writing journey! Even when I’m in Sapporo, even when I’m in America (or the moon or wherever there’s wifi)

I believe in you as a writer and I hope you do too. I really enjoy reading what you write, and I can’t wait to buy your book someday!

The first memo inside the notebook

You can’t imagine how happy face did I have at the moment I found the memo, and I realize how am I fortunate. Thank you so so much. I’ve been in lazy for these several months. But from now, let me write about the topics you gave me. Thanks to you, I think I can start to write.

Rocket Start Type vs. Last Spurt Type

End of the fiscal year makes us really busy and stressed out. There are so many things left to be done. Murderous March is literally killing us in Japan. March is also known for the season of hay fever, so the creativity of Japanese really drop seriously in this season.

We all tend to think like “why should I do this with crying… I should’ve done this much more earlier” in this time. So, how can we change this kind of regrets? There is a “Parkinson’s law”. Let me quote from Wikipedia.

Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”^[1] It is sometimes applied to the growth of bureaucracy in an organization, but can be applicable to all forms of work.

In other words, we tend to put off our works as much as we can. When you asked a work and it’s deadline is April 1st, you would try to check if it’s 16:45 or 23:59. Then, you suddenly realize it’s Thursday, you would offer him/her alternative deadline of Friday 23:59. Moreover you could think like he/she cannot check the work on Friday night, so how about April 4th? Or like that.

The most of us, sadly, are such kind of type of people. We don’t want to work hard naturally. A book author once called this kind of people “las spurt type person”. Hmm… maybe so. And he also says, if you really want to be a person who will do things as soon as possible, you should become a “rocket start person”. This is the person who will do a 80% of work immediately and try to do 20% in the rest of time until the real deadline.

Do you want to change? No pain, no gain.

Spring is a Cruel Season in Japan

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Such a beautiful Sakura in this season

Long time no see folks. I can’t even remember when was the last time I posted an article. Somehow, I couldn’t write anything because of my laziness. But, my life was somehow good these days. The season of Spring has finally arrived even in this Hokkaido prefecture. We can feel the warmth of the spring breeze, and bugs look re-enjoying playing outside.

Anyway, Spring is a farewell and welcome season for the Japanese. Maybe because our fiscal and school year begins in April and ends in March. And March is often symbolized by “Sakura (the cherry blossoms)”. So when we see sakura, we have a mainly great possibility of a new start, and slightly a hint of farewell and sadness to say goodbye in this season.

I said goodbye to a very precious colleague today. He was such a great co-worker. He has almost three times as much working experience as I have. His back looked very huge to me. There have been many troubles or problems in my workplace, but thanks to him, I could somehow overcome them.

I shouldn’t write this, but there is certain kind of people I don’t work with due to their ass-hole attitude or character. I really hope I don’t want to be such people who are longed to be relocated as soon as possible by colleagues. But on the other hand, there are people who I don’t want to say goodbye to.

This is Spring, and this is where I am right now. Spring is sometimes cruel to our lives.

How To Be A Real Writer (Novelist) In Japan?

Unlike to the other states, it is winning prizes with authority that you need to to be a real writer in Japan. Of course you can be an essay writer if you are famous in some territories or genres. However, it seems necessary for you to win an important literature prize in Japan if you really want to be a fictional writer.

There are several important literature prizes. The most famous ones are “Akutagawa Prize” and “Naoki Prize”. Former prize is thought to be the most important literature prize for pure literature, and the latter is for entertainment literature in Japan. These are the most important prizes so that you could be immediately become famous when you win the prize.

As for the Akutagawa Prize, you can receive a special watch and 1,000,000 yen as an option. Once you win the prize, everyone would call you as Akutagawa Prize winning author or like that. I’m fond of reading the prize laureate fictions, but I have no idea how can you get the prize. The winners are people from very young to very old. When you really get the literature and describe with a solid fictional world, maybe you would receive the prize.

It’s one of my foolish dream though. I hope someday I can win it.

Tips for a Very Cold Day- How to Enjoy in the Real Frozen World

Good evening dear readers. To be honest, it’s very cold right now here in Hokkaido. The outside temperature is around -10 to -15 degrees Celsius. But of course, it doesn’t mean the temperature inside my house. It was 13 degrees Celsius when I came back home 30 minutes ago. I turned off my stove at 10 o’clock and then it was 20 degrees Celsius. Anyway, I turned on it again so it’s 17 for now. Much better. But my hands typing this is freezing and a bit shaking.

Today is a Japan’s National Founding Day. Compared to the United States, we don’t have the exact founding date, so it is set as the enthronement day of the Meiji Emperor in 1872. Anyway, it’s a holiday for most average Japanese people like me. But, it’s just so cold here. However, anything has Brightside, right? So, let me list up the bright things to do in this very cold winter season.

1. Enjoy Winter Sports
   I don’t own TV, but the real important information just flow into me in the right timing. I’m talking about the winter Olyimpic in Beijing. There, many athletes representing each nations shows great battles which I am not that interested in. People seems to be very happy when some athletes get gold medals, and seems to be unhappy when they get 9 places. But they often argure like “We are not pursuing the number of medals but the athletes moving great performances.” How dare you. Anyway, absolutely those athlets arouse our motivation for winter sports. In terms of that, I’m highy motivated, so I’m enjoying snowboarding (it really hurts when you are teh very begginer and fall down many times though). Since I started snowboarding, I began to hope more snowy days.
   
2. Drinking Hot Drink in Cold Place
   How about drinking a Hot Milk or Hot Chocolate or Cocoa. The air of winter is very sevear, but at the same time, it is ultimately sophisticated air, and never be more pure in all seasons. You would definetly love the taste, and you can only enjoy the ritual only in this several months.

Sorry but this is all I hit upon with. You can add your own tips in this comment section. Thank you very much for reading this and I hope your winter would be the great one. My hands are still cold but I’m excited to go snowboarding from now♪

Alcohol

There is a day when you want to cry with no specific reasons. However, the older you get, the less you can cry easily. Then, the solution for it would be drinking alcohol. Generally speaking, drinking is thought to be as one of a stupid thing. However, I wonder it would have great meaning in our life.

Drinking Alcohol makes me be more childish, or simple to our honesty. Therefore, sometimes I try to drink to become foolish and stupid enough to to laugh a lot and cry a lot. In terms of that, drinking is a great thing as long as you don’t drink it too much or addicted.

Sleep well and live well

How long do you need to charge fully yourself? I think I need about 8 hours. However, these days,y sleeping time is around 6 hours. I think it’s not good to keep my heath, so I would like to go to bed early today. Actually, today was really tiring day. We argued much and felt really sad. I’d like to accept that we have such days sometimes. Good night.

Yona Yona Dance

The Real Good Japanese Music: Robust and Motivational lyrics from SUPER BEAVER

In this article, I’m writing and introducing Japanese real good music. Today, I’d like to introduce you to “SUPER BEAVER”. There would be no doubt if you say you like the band now, you would be thought as you have really good music taste among these days.

The band is kind of popular, but not that popular like the Japanese mainstream rock bands. However, the band offers many great songs to not only TV drama programs or smash-hit movies based on a very popular comic “Tokyo Revengers”.

The band is famous for its simple but very strong lyrics with great rock music harmony. Here is a music clip of “予感(Yokan: a hunch)”.

予感のする方へ 心が夢中になる方へ
Choose the way of a hunch the way you would be crazy
正解なんて あってないようなものさ 人生は自由
True answers are nothing Life is free
今 予感のする方へ 会いたい自分がいる方へ
Now choose the way of a hunch To the place where the ideal you would be

And lately, their latest song sold out, the title is “Tokyo”. In this song, they seem to be appreciating their Tokyo where they were born and raised, and they celebrate people who they’ve met in Tokyo by now. So, Tokyo would be a metaphor for everywhere of our precious places in our life. Anyway, the lyrics really struck my heart.

愛されたい 心の奥 望む僕にも 愛する人
Wanna be loved I feel deep inside in my heart But I still have someone I love
愛されていて欲しい人がいる なんて贅沢な人生だ
There are people I want them to be loved How luxurious life is it

Telling the exact Japanese nuance is a bit difficult, but hope you could enjoy something of these SUPER BEVER songs. Thank you for reading and see you again!

Big Mac calls me

“Big Mac Set” in Japan

Never forget the time when I knew the word “Big Mac” for the first time in my life. I was 9 or 10 years old at that time. The city where I lived was the whole world, and everyday was full of new things and findings. My grandparents were so fine that they even hang me out together. My grandma often scolded me with tiny things (wearing T shirts in a cold day made her mad), but the sizes she cooked was my favorite forever.

The day when I know Big Mac was the day when I went to see a movie with my friend. The name of the movie is gone, but exact that time, he introduced me a story about NBA players. He was so fond of Disney, NBA or such American cultures. So, he said to me, “Have you eaten Big Mac already? NBA players often goes to McDonald’s after their games and try to eat Big Mac with team members. Since I knew it, I’m a huge fan of Big Mac. So, have you tried already?” He asked. I was so naïve then, I had eaten just plain hamburger or double cheeseburger. Then I though, alright, let me try it.

From that day, my life has changed. Big Mac was so delicious that perhaps I have been eating about 400 Big Macs before. I even eat it in the US, UK, South Korea, and Singapore. The truth is that you can enjoy the same taste wherever you are. That is Big Mac aka global Big Mac. I’m still falling love with Big Mac. No matter how you experience stressed out feeling, just take a bite at it, and you can only concentrate on Big Mac. Then, problem solved. Just drink a coke and all you can think of is when you would eat French fries next.