My trivial thinking

I sometimes go cycling with my wife. She is just a beginner and 152 centimeter tall. Although she can't climb long steep hills, she is full of fighting spirit. She started cycling on a flat course and has gradually overcome some steep hills. This time, the course has many hills and may be severe for beginners, but she ran through the long course. I take her to more severe courses each time. She always overcome my challenge. Our cycling with 60s pair is wonderful, isn't it? We are planning the next touring now. I want to enjoy touring with my wife even if we are over 70 years old. distance 48.08km, average speed 17.8km/h, max speed 49.1km/h, pedal time 2:42:08, duration time 3:38:50, gain height 847m. at Sobura at Sobura wonderful downhill Tawawa farm the last long uphill

I went to renew my passport with my wife. I took a picture from the window of the passport center. The other side of this bridge is Kansai International Airport.

April 11th. Today is practically the last day of my London trip. All I'll do tomorrow is to leave London from Gatwick Airport. My daughter has many things that I have to bring back to Japan -- souvenirs for her sister, her own stuff and four heavy books etc. She is going to come to my hotel at 2:00 p.m. to check whether the capacity of my 65L rucksack is enough or not. If the size is not enough, I have to use her large suitcase. I have enough time to do something until she comes. The bus stop of the 24 line bus is in front of my hotel, and the bus is bound for Hampstead Heath. I suddenly realized that if I got on the bus, I was able to go to Hampstead Heath directly. I decided to go. I would be able to return by 2:00 p.m. There were few passengers in the bus. So I got a seat at the front upstairs because of enjoying the view from the window. The weather forecast said it was fine today, but it was raining a little when I got on the bus. I didn't know it, but the 24 line b...

I've been very busy since the middle of August. I have to get up early in the morning and I have to be late at night in my office. So I can't go anywhere except in business, I also can't read books and post any article in this blog these days. My younger daughter who is living in London seems to be busy, too. The other day she took days off and went to Germany to enjoy Christmas markets in Bremen and Hamburg.

"It would be nice to go to some hot spring in autumn, wouldn't it?" I remembered that my younger daughter said so before. So we went to Kinosaki Onsen in Hyogo Prefecture with my family including married elder daughter last week. Because the crab season began from November 7th this year. The weather was not good, but we enjoyed sumptuous crab dinner at a comfortable ryokan, a Japanese style hotel. We also enjoyed the famous hot spring. Next day, after we went around some souvenir shops, we went to Nova, a coffee house near Kinosaki Onsen railway station. The coffee was good and the music was nice. I asked to the owner's wife what music was this. She showed us the CD jacket of the music. This was LANDSCAPES by Jan Lundgren Trio, a Swedish Jazz band. We stopped over at Amanohashidate on our way home. Amanohashidate is famous as one of the Three Views of Japan since old times. It means the bridge to the heaven. I've been there twice before...

I met my elder daughter's boyfriend a year ago. At that time, they told me that they wanted to have a wedding overseas with only two. I told them it didn't matter. I didn't even ask him what he did nor what education background he had. It is my daughter who will get married with him, not me. I think that getting married is a personal matter, for neither the family nor the parents. Since then, we call him Ken-chan. Ken-chan might not know either St. Augustine or Spinoza. He might not read The Tale of the Heike nor Soseki Natsume. But he is a nice guy. I like him. We went to Kansai International Airport together by my car. Yumi, my younger daughter, came there in time. They two set out for London for their wedding and honeymoon tonight.

It is difficult to adjust the schedule of all my family. Today is a weekday, but probably the last chance to have lunch together. We went to a Japanese restaurant for my daughters' birthdays and to celebrate my elder daughter's wedding. It might be the last lunch for my family. The hospitality of this restaurant was very good.

We don't have a habit of hugging in Japan. I've never hugged with my wife, as a habit. I can't remember even walking together with hugging her my hand around her waist. It's only because it makes walking difficult. A couple years ago, what I said to my wife made my elder daughter angry and she hadn't talked to me for about a week. One day, she came home drunkenly late at night and suddenly hugged me crying. She said to me, "Dad, I love you, I love you ... I'm sorry for rebelling against you ... Please wash dishes by yourself. I feel sorry for Mother ..." It was a little embarrassing for me. Since then I wash dishes after dinner. We had had a tough time since she was a teenager and she had been living alone for some years. I remember that we went see a circus together and talked about life back then. After she came home to live with us, I got a letter from her on my birthday some years ago. She apologized for her behavior in her early y...

Today, March 3rd, is the day of Hina-matsuri . We do celebrate ' Hina-matsuri ' or the Doll's Festival for the future happiness of girls. The parents with daughters display a set of dolls dressed in court people's costumes from the Heian period. When my daughters were kids, my father gave them a set of small porcelain dolls. My daughters have grown up, but even now, my wife display the dolls for about two weeks until today every year.

My niece, Meg, went to London to study art when she was twenty years old. She had stayed there for more than three years, and graduated from an art college. After that, she worked as a designer in Tokyo. But she had enthusiasm for studying art further in London, so she saved enough money. She went to London again and got her master's degree at Saint Martins, Univ. the Art London. When my daughter, Yumi, had been living in London to study at SOAS, Yumi was supported with her kindness. After leaving London, she found her place to work in Dubai, but less than a year later she fell sick. We knew later it was a serious disease. She returned to Japan last year. Her parents were worried and sought the best medical care for her. She had treatment for completely one year and was able to overcome it with her strong spirit. We, all her relatives, were deeply touched by her efforts. Today, she returned to Dubai to work again. We are behind you all the way, Meg!

The year before last my daughters took my wife and me to Beijing for our wedding  anniversary, and they took us to Okinawa as my birthday present last year. This year, Yumi and my wife Kazuyo hoped to go to 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa ( http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/ ). Let's each pay a four, this time. It's not a present for me. In the early morning, October 30, we went to Kanazawa through Meishin and Hokuriku Expressway. We arrived at 21st Century Museum at 10 a.m. It took about five hours from Osaka by car. We visited Kenroku-en first. Kenroku-en that is one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan was close to the museum ( http://www.pref.ishikawa.jp/siro-niwa/kenrokuen/e/about.html ). I've been there once long time ago. There were many foreign tourists. Chinese tourists were speaking loudly. Please speak in a quiet manner. After that, Yumi insisted to go to Ohmi-cho Market for lunch ( http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e4207.html ). Yumi told ...

You can't withdraw money at ATMs during your trip. You don't have enough money. How do you get over that kind of situation? Nobody can go on a travel without money for a month. My daughter went to Europe alone on the beginning of this month. I've been worried about her trip because she can't speak English at all. A trouble happened soon on the first day. She failed to withdraw money at ATM at Heathrow Airport. She moved to Malta, and tried it at an ATM and failed again. She's never been able to withdraw any money for six days. Yesterday afternoon, she called me with skype in tears. Her debit card became invalid because she input an incorrect PIN(personal identification number) several times. She called the bank that issued the card, but their response was cold, "The only way to be settled the problem is to reissue your card." I called the bank again. My call was transferred three times, and told me the phone number of the particular department and yo...