A Happy New Year! / Spending 2011 year-end holidays in Macau

 I left Utsunomiya for Narita International Airport by car in the early morning on December 24th.

It took five hours from Japan to Hong Kong by air.

After arriving in Hong Kong, we took an airport express train, a taxi and an express ferry.

Finally we got to Macau in the same day evening.

We spent our Christmas in Macau eating Chinese food, looking around ancient town streets, historical monuments and several World Heritages.


Macau had been a Portuguese colony in China and handed over in 1999.

It lies on south-western China, bordering Guangdong province to the north and facing the South China Sea to the south.



We visited Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral.
The cathedral was built in 1602 and destroyed by fire in 1835.
The picture taken there follows.

At Ruins of St. Paul's Cathedral

Every Chinese food perfectly suited our palates.

Hakone Ekiden Road Race

I went to Tokyo to watch Hakone Ekiden, a long-distance relay or a road race, with my daughter Rina and mother-in-law Noriko yesterday and the day before yesterday.

Hakone Ekiden is one of the most popular Ekiden in Japan, which features teams of students from various Japanese universities.

Rina is a great fun of a long-distance road race and also a member of Utsunomiya municipal Ekiden team.

She was so excited to watch the race that even ran with the ekiden runners. I thought that it was good for her to feel the first class runners' running speed by herself.

We all enjoyed watching the live race very much.

I wish all visitors of this blog a happy new year.

Happy New Year! From Utsunomiya

A Happy New Year.
How do you guys spend your holidays? I have stayed in Utsunomiya and been relaxed since Dec. 29, 2007. I sleep more than eight hours a day, eat a lot of junk foods and spend long hours lazily.

I usually go on a trip if I have enough days off. Why have I stayed home during this vacation?
Since Emi, one of my daughters, has to take an entrance exam to a high school on this coming January 6th. For preparing the entrance exam, she has classes in a cram school during this winter vacation except January 1st.

One of my colleagues from Osaka who has a son of the same age also spends this holiday season in Utsunomiya because of his son’s entrance exam. Many Japanese spend New Year's holiday in their hometown, but most families having examinee(s) are the exceptions.

On January 1st, the day Emi didn’t have a class, we went to Fukudaya department store to buy Fukubukuro (Japanese: 福袋, lucky bag, mystery bag).
Buying Fukubukuro is a Japanese New Year's Day custom. Shop owners make bags filled with random contents and sell them for a substantial discount, usually 50% or more of the list price of the items. My family members except me like buying Fukubukuro very much. Buying Fukubukuro was the only pastime of this New Year’s vacation for them, especially for Emi.

Today, on January second, I went to a gym to exercise and to attend a Yoga lesson. It was good for my loosened body. I check my weight and found myself 2 Kg heavier than usual. I’ll resume working on January 8th. I may gain more if I continue spending days without any exercise. lol

A Happy New Year From Odaiba

I stayed in a condo of my parents-in-law in Tabata from December 29th of 2006 to January 3rd of 2007 and came back to Utsunomiya yesterday. I spent this holiday in Tokyo visiting Odaiba, Ikebukuro, Ebisu, Shibuya and Tabata.
I usually exercise at least two hours a day but I did no exercise at all last seven days, ate a lot of food, drunk beer everyday and slept more than seven hours a day. I refreshed mentally but maybe gained weight. I'm not a person who makes New Year resolutions but I want to keep doing as follows:

1. Practicing tennis
2. Commuting by bike
3. Carrying out a new project successfully at work
4. Updating this blog at least twice a month
5. Keeping good relations with everybody

I wish all visitors to my blog a very happy and prosperous New Year!