The Day in Miyagi

Our day helping out at the paprika farm
starts by waking up at 6:30 am.
(Although I hit snooze once…or sometimes twice.)

We eat breakfast at 7:00 am.

One of our local volunteer friends always lets us stay over.
We all really appreciate his hospitality.

We head to the volunteer center at 8:00 am.

The snow outside was amazing.
Everything was white and shimmering.

This is the old town hall that was damaged by the earthquake.
The deconstruction has started already.
We make our way to the site and start working at 9:00 am.
This day our job was to construct
the inner poles for three greenhouses.
We dug holes in the ground.
We hammered.
It was great.
I think I like manual labor.
We took a lunch break at 12:00 pm.
We always go to a local place to eat
and get to interact with the people there.
Everyone is so friendly.
We headed back to the site at 1:00 pm.
We ended for the day at 3:00 pm.
The sun sets a lot faster up north
so have to stop working pretty early.
But it felt good to be working outside under the sun!
And here is a picture of our team that day.

So this is a typical day volunteering in Yamamoto-cho.
It’s always a wonderful experience
working together as a team and seeing the improvements.
And above all, it’s a great feeling
to see the farmers smile with satisfaction.

The Solaryman

So many things about the SOLARYMAN series appeals to me.
And I think it’s the same reason behind the concept that
inspired photographer Yuki Aoyama to do this series.
SORALYMAN is made up of
the word sora (sky) and salaryman.
In Japan salaryman refers to the business men
who wear suits everyday and work in a large corporation.
Back in the day (not sure when exactly)
salarymen were considered to be a powerful force
behind the economic growth of Japan.
These days though, a lot of people think of  salarymen
as over-worked and under-payed.
(which is kind of true.)
And what with this economy,
many of these salarymen are not as upbeat as before.
This is why I love the SOLARYMAN series.
It doesn’t show the tired salarymen squeezed into
a packed train during their morning commute.
It shows these salarymen jumping around
all energetic and full of character!
Which they are.
I should know.
I work with them everyday.
And not being biased or anything
they are the best coworkers!
So, what do you think?

If you like this series
they are displaying poster size photos
from the SOLARYMAN series at
Libro Ikebukuro Honten Bookstore until Jan 27th.
(Yuki Aoyama Photography)

The Ningen Dock (aka Physical Exam)

Turning thirty is a huge turning point for women.
(or maybe just me…whatever.)
And one of the things I’d been dreading
finally came the other day.
The Ningen Dock.
(dum-da-dum-dummm.)
Ningen Dock is a full physical exam,
much more thorough than regular checkups.
(you can see my exam menu here.)
And in my company, after you turn thirty
you take this exam every year.
Most parts of the exam are fine
but I’ve been dreading the endoscope exam.
It came at the very end of the whole exam.
I’d been reading A Time To Kill
to kill the time waiting between exams.
So my head was full of the courthouse drama
while I drank a little something (to clean stomach),
got a muscle shot on my arm (to slow stomach movement),
and sprayed anesthesia down my throat (to numb).
Then I gagged my way through the whole exam.
They say it’s only about five minutes
but it was the longest five minutes of my life.
But guess what?
My doctor said my stomach and intestine
were both very beautiful.
She used the word Utsukushii (美しい).
But even more importantly
she said that I didn’t need to take
the endoscope exam again until I’m forty.
YAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!
Oh and did I mention that my Ningen Dock
includes a lunch at Grand Hyatt Tokyo?
I chose The Oak Door and it was delicious!
(they even made my meal vegetarian.)
With no endoscope exam to dread
I’m actually looking forward to the next year’s exam!

The Oak Door

Grand Hyatt Tokyo 6F
6-10-3 Roppongi
Minato-ku, Tokyo

03-4333-8784

Mon-Fri:( Lunch) 11:30am-2:30pm, (Dinner) 6pm-10pm
Sat, Sun, Holidays: (Lunch) 11:30am-3pm, (Dinner) 6pm-10pm
Bar: 11:30am-1am

The Snowy Day Lunch

It may have been a crazy day to go out for lunch.
But look at this great view we had of the snow outside!
I love this place because the place is spacious
and they have the yummiest foccacia.
And they can also make the meals vegetarian for you!
Great place to relax and talk for hours with your best of friends.
Which is exactly what Masa and I did on this snowy day!
Royal Garden Cafe Shibuya
Hotel Unizo 2F
4-3 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
Open: 11am-11:30pm

The Old Photos: Sledding

One of the great things about going back home?
The old photo albums.
The boxes and boxes of photo albums.
And I thought I’d share a few sledding photos I found here.

This is the apartment we grew up in.
That’s me, my sister, and my dad.
The apartment had a tiny slope behind it and
my dad would use his shovel to make a sledding course
so it would be an awesome bumpy and curvy ride!
I have such good memories of playing in snow.
Sledding is the bomb when you’re seven.

The Snow in Tokyo

The first fall of snow is not only an event,
it is a magical event.

You go to bed in one kind of a world and
wake up in another quite different,

and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found?

– J. B. Priestley
There’s something about snow that I absolutely love.
The white blanket.
The brisk air.
The quiet.
I still get excited over it.
So please please stay awhile.