Business Trip to South Korea #4

On the final day of my business trip to South Korea, I had a half day free time walking around capital Seoul with my colleague.

We had put our baggage in lockers in Seoul station. Then we went to Namdaemun Market and Myeongdong Cathedral on foot. It took just fifteen minutes from the station.
The cathedral was very beautiful. I took not a few pictures in it.

Business Trip to South Korea #3

Office staff working for our subsidiary took us to nice restaurants everyday after work.

Yes, Korean foods and drinks suited my palate very much. Some foods were too spicy, but all in all, they were delicious.

I enjoyed every meal and atmosphere of the restaurant in Korea.

 

 

 

 

Sunflower Field in Mashiko

 I went to a sunflower field in Mshiko town near Utsunomiya city with my wife the other day. It took about half an hour by car. The flowers were in full bloom attracting visitors. I’ve never seen that many sunflowers blooming in one area. The scene was amazingly beautiful.

I had thought that there were plenty of people to view the field. But, twenty to thirty staff members took care of only about ten visitors including us.

They didn’t ask us an admission charge of the field nor a parking fee. We spent only 100 yen (1.3US$) for local vegetables.

On our way back home, we stopped over pottery shops to look ceramic wares. But it’s too hot to spend enough time to choose an appropriate one. Maybe we’ll buy next time.

Miya Matsuri Summer Festival in 2011

Miyamatsuri Summer Festival 2011 fell on a rainy day again this year.

Tens of thousands of people came to Odori Avenue in front of Futarasan shrine to watch the bustle of festival one week ago. I also went out to watch it with cans of beer and cameras.
It was a great fun to me.

Business Trip to South Korea #2

After landing on Gimpo International Airport, my boss and I took a taxi and headed to Suwon; about 30-minute-ride brought us to the hotel we had booked.

Suwon lies approximately 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Seoul. It houses one of CANON subsidiaries and many Samsung Electronics factories.
It was heavily raining.
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Business Trip to South Korea #1

I went on a business trip to South Korea with my boss. The work itself was very meaningful and the time after work there was also very wonderful.

The only bad thing during the trip was its weather.
Rain, rain, rain, rain, cloudy, and rain.
I saw a clear sky only from an airplane.

Summer Festival

The other day, I took pictures of summer festival participants in front of my condo.

When I checking pictures, sometimes, I realize myself how little I know about Japanese traditional festival clothes and gears. For example, what are the wood sticks they are holding in the first picture, how do they use them and purposes?

Are there special meanings of the hats and caps they are wearing in the fist and the second picture?

Please tell me if you know some.

JAPAN Wins The FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP GERMANY 2011

In the early morning today, Japan won the world cup football game in Germany.

I got up early and watched TV. It was a very exciting game.

I was happy to watch the live game.

People Celebrate Tanabata, A Japanese Star Festival

On my way from office to home on July 7th, I found bamboo trees decorated with colorful streamers, stars and small pieces of paper on which children wrote their wishes.

Those were Japanese traditional star festival decorations. I remember that I celebrated star festivals when I was a kid and that I wrote wishes and put them on a bamboo tree.
But, I can’t remember what kind of wishes I had at that time.

According to legend, the Milky Way separates two lovers Princess Orihime and Cow Herder Hikoboshi, and they are allowed to meet only once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. Tanabata celebrates the meeting of the Orihime and Hikoboshi.

-------------------Legend of Star Festval----------------------
Orihime (Weaving Princess), daughter of the Tentei(Sky King), wove beautiful clothes by the bank of the Amanogawa (Milky Way). Her father loved the cloth that she wove and so she worked very hard every day to weave it. However, Orihime was sad that because of her hard work she could never meet and fall in love with anyone.

Concerned about his daughter, Tentei arranged for her to meet Hikoboshi (Cow Herder Star) who lived and worked on the other side of the Amanogawa.

When the two met, they fell instantly in love with each other and married shortly thereafter. However, once married, Orihime no longer would weave cloth for Tentei and Hikoboshi allowed his cows to stray all over Heaven.

In anger, Tentei separated the two lovers across the Amanogawa and forbade them to meet. Orihime became despondent at the loss of her husband and asked her father to let them meet again.

Tentei was moved by his daughter’s tears and allowed the two to meet on the 7th day of the 7th month if she worked hard and finished her weaving.

The first time they tried to meet, however, they found that they could not cross the river because there was no bridge. Orihime cried so much that a flock of magpies came and promised to make a bridge with their wings so that she could cross the river. It is said that if it rains on Tanabata, the magpies cannot come and the two lovers must wait until another year to meet.
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Miyaichi-Sai, Summer Festival Is Held in Utsunomiya Today.

When I was taking a nap this afternoon, I overheard a sound of drums from outside. I got up, took an elevator to the ground floor and jumped out of my condo to see what’s going on outside.

Men and women, young and old, they were, not doing anti-government protest nor shouting against nuclear power plants, but they were enjoying their first summer festival in Utsunomiya, though it's still in the middle of a rainy season.

The scale of the festival was not so big as Miyamatsuri festival due in early August but I was able to get energy from them.

A Looooooong Cake

The other day, when I walked around a nearby shopping mall alone, I happened to find people making a very long strawberry cake together.

I asked them what’s going on?

A guy told me that they were making a 1000m-long strawberry cake to celebrate a five-year anniversary of Yataimura or a Japanese style pub mall.

After completion of making the 1Km-cake, I was presented two pieces of cake from them.

I brought them back home and enjoyed the yummy cake with my family.

One Day Weekend

Due to the big earthquake hit in Japan, my office was closed for a whole month from March 11th to April 10th. To compensate the one moth none-working period, the employees have to work even on Saturdays. So, my weekend is only today.

I played tennis in the morning, came back home, cleaned up my computer and took a rest for several hours at home. I should get up very early tomorrow as usual and head for my office. Sigh.
My body always complains me to get two days weekend.

Cactus Flowers

Three big cactus flowers bloomed at the same time in my house last week. The same cactus had only one flower in early May.

It gave us wonderful atmosphere same as last month.

Unfortunately, those flowers were in full bloom only for two days.

The name of the cactus is “Bijyomaru” in Japanese. The Japanese name literally means a beautiful lady.

I don’t know who named it but the cactus fits the name to a T.
Don’t you think so?

Track and Field Competition

I went to see a prefectural high school track and field competition a couple weeks ago.
My younger daughter 16-year-old Rina took part in 1,500m race of the competition. She could barely join the sixteen-member-finalists of the race. Then she ran through the goal line as 16th.

She has been a member of track and field club since she was a junior high student.
Yes, she keeps practicing long distance running over five years.
But, she couldn’t beat her own record that she got when she was 13 years old.

Like many women athletes, she seems to be struggling against becoming rich female body.

Business Trip to Mitsukaido

I went to a Canon affiliated company in Ibaraki prefecture on business from last Monday to Thursday. I stayed in a small town called Mitsukaido.

I only walked around in the town in the early morning and after work at night.

Strange to say, I rarely met people in the town. The town seemed like a ghost town.