Golden Week

This is not New York, it's actually Tokyo!

The Statue of Liberty in the picture was originally founded to commemorate the French year in Japan in 1998. Two years later, it came back to France. But because it was so popular, a replica was created in France and returned to Odaiba, a seafront area in Tokyo, in 2000.

It is now the best season in Tokyo -- nice and crisp, not hot, not cold either. In fact, this kind of nice weather is fleeting, as we're expecting the rainy season soon followed by a harsh summer.

In this gorgeous weather, my friend and I went see a movie in Odaiba. The movie was excellent...I'll write about it soon.

Yeah, it's Golden Week!!

Serge Gainsbourg - La Javanaise

Yes, it's April...as this song tells...and you know what, I'm set to learn French really seriously. When I finished reading La Laisse, I reconfirmed how uniquely excellent Françoise Sagan really is. So, my goal is to read her books in original.

So, I tune into NHK's radio French lesson at 7:25 am each morning. The theme music of the program is this song. Tonight I bought flash cards...gosh, this fondly reminds me of when I first started to learn English.......

Talent Is Everything....Almost, Perhaps

When I was chatting with a friend a few days ago, I came to this conclusion.

"After all, talent is everything, I think. If you have talent in a certain field, things will go well because the talent will make making effort make sense. But if you have no talent in other field, even if you make tremendous effort, things won't go well because you don't have the talent that makes making effort make sense."

The simplest example may be diet. Some people need to exercise, try really hard to refrain from eating a lot, and yet they stay fat. But I have never been overweight in my life. Rather, most of my life I've been categorized as thin. And yet I have never been on diet. It's just that I haven't liked sweets and fatty food since I was a little child.

Career would apply, too. Just recently, without any asking, I was offered an extremely honorable mission. I was frankly surprised. From any point of view, that means a top-level success in my chosen field. It's true that I have always put my career on the first priority in my life, and I have made tremendous effort. But that's not everything. I think I am talented in this particular field.

By contrast, there is a certain field in which I have also made tremendous effort, but have had little fruit, if not zero. I come to feel that I am not talented in this particular area....

So, my conclusion is that talent is everything.....well, almost, perhaps.

Car Wash

Over the weekend, my car did a debut of car wash! I realized that a black car needs so much care to look shiny....because once it's rainy, it's all over....but it was such a beautiful day on Sunday, I really wanted my loved one to shine. And it did become shiny! But again, it started raining tonight....ah well, that's life. It's just that a precious thing needs constant love and attention.....:)

A Famous Grocery Store

A grocery store where I go sometimes has gotten a lot of media attention these days.

The Narita Higashi, Suginami store of Summit, a middle-sized grocery store chain in the Kanto area, started to "sell" plastic shopping bags. They charge 5 yen (like 5 cents) for one bag in front of the cash desk. As a result, 89% of customers, including myself, are now carrying their own shopping bag.

If you google this grocery store, you'll swamped by so many stories on this!

Driving Home (2)

This is one of the most favorite scenes on the way home drive. Not sure how many times have I seen it since I was a child. But it looks, or feels to be exact, different when I see the scenary from my driver's seat......I mean, so much more satisfying!

It's Officialy Spring!

Tonight I took guests from Europe on a cherry blossoms viewing tour to the Rikugi-en garden. Founded by a Saitama-area Shogun Yoshiyasu Yanagisawa in the Edo period, the garden was then owned by a Mitsubishi conglomerate founder Yataro Iwasaki. Now it's a public park run by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. It's cherry trees are always the No.1 level in sightseeing guides. Lit up at night, they were magically beautiful...