Business Trip to Ohita

I left Utsunomiya at AM 9:11 for Haneda airport to take a plane to Ohita prefecture in Kyushu isle. I have to work at Canon Ohita branch for coming three days from Monday to Wednesday.

Kyushu isle is located in south of Honshu main isle. It was heavily raining at Haneda airport but it’s not raining here in Ohita.

After arriving at Ohita airport, which is surrounded by the sea, I took a hovercraft to the outskirt of Ohita city. The vehicle could run both on the surface of the sea and on the land seamlessly. It’s cool!

The hovercraft is lifted by downward blasts of air which create a cushion of air between the hull and the land or water. And it is driven forward like an airplane by the thrusting force of the propellers mounted on it.

I had few hours walking around the city alone in the afternoon. Now I am staying in a hotel near JR Ohita station and typing in my note PC.
An occasional business trip refreshes me by seeing different scenery and eating local foods. It's fun to me.

Today is Autumn Equinox Day in Japan

It’s Autumn Equinox Day today. Autumn Equinox Day falls on around September 23 and is a national holiday.
Memorial services take place at temples and people make visits to graves to comfort the spirits of their ancestors. Especially, Japanese elder generation perform the ceremony on the holiday.

It has been cooler in Utunomiya since a week ago. The morning glory flowers on my balcony keep their shapes till the evening.



I had nothing special to do today, so I just relaxed and took some pictures of the flowers at home.

Today is Respect-for-the-Aged Day in Japan

Today is the national holiday of Respect-for-the-Aged Day, which honors and shows respect to the aged. I don't know there is a similar holiday in other countries.
Do you know how many people aged 80 or older in Japan?
According to figures released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number has topped 7 million, almost 4 times as many as the population of Tochigi prefecture. I'm not sure that I can outlive 80, but I want to be a man being able to do anything he wants to do, even aged.

Midori Ishii, she is a famous dancer in Tochigi, now living in Tokyo held a performance in Utsunomiya city today.
She was born in Utsunomiya in 1913 and now 94 years old.
Her daughter is also a dancer, made a speech and explained some parts of her dances choreographed by her mother.
All dances including her apprentices’ were splendid.

Actually, my wife went to the performance instead of me.
I think being involved in one’s work at that age should be respected.

Happy Respect-for-the-Aged Day!

The picture on the top left was taken in Tokyo in 2006 when she was 93 years old.
Photographer: unknown

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Sports Festival in Junior High

I went to the junior high (from 7th year grade to 10th year grade) sports festival yesterday.
It reminded me of the days I was a junior high student. It had been a fun not only to join its competitions, but also to spend for hours and hours to prepare the festival with classmates.
Thanks school guys for showing your efforts, smiles and twinkling sweats for us.
I enjoyed a lot.

Tennis Tournament in Kiyohara Industrial Park

On the first Saturday of September, Kiyohara Industrial Park (KIP) association in Utsunomiya holds a tennis tournament.
Every KIP company team consisting three doubles can attend the tournament. I attended the tournament with my five colleagues last year and a year before the last, but couldn’t win.
This year is different. I’ve become a very strong tennis player… I want to say so, but actually I can’t say.
I asked four colleagues including two freshmen to join my team. All of them are very good tennis players. Luckily, they all said “YES” to join my team.
We attended the tournament and, as a result, “WON” yesterday.
We got a trophy, a certificate and forty bottles of beer as a prize of the winner.
The taste of the beer I drunk yesterday was excellent!