Hakone Garden

Today, I went to a Japanese garden, named "Hakone Garden", near my apartment. Hakone is the famous hot spring area in Japan. Reading that it was made in the 1910s, I was interested in this tiny garden.




There was an old Japanese house, a pond where carp was swimming, a small artificial waterfall and a wisteria tunnel. In addition, there was a bamboo garden and a tea garden around the main garden area. I felt pretty much like being in Japan!













I put pictures of this garden on my another blog and a friend of mine put a comment "Why don't you call me if you are in Japan?"

San Francisco

It was sunny yesterday. I felt like walking around San Francisco where there is a lot of beautiful scenery and a lot of hills. I planned to walk on Valeijo St. from west to east.

I rode on a cable car to get to a starting point. Riding on a cable car wasn't comfortable but the scenery from inside was great.







There were many stairways on Valeijo St. They were very tough for me, not exercising on a regular basis. In this season, the weather in San Francisco is cool, so I wore a coat. Therefore, I felt so hot that I broke into a sweat.





At North Beach, my destination, I went into a cafe and had a latte and a tuna sandwich. They were really delicious.







I really enjoyed walking around San Francisco. I will go to San Francisco again soon!

Car navigation system

I haven't wanted to drive since I came here. I have always got lost. This is because I can't pick up on the positional relationship to my destination even if I see signs of streets or cities.

The other day I wanted to drive to Monterey but I couldn't get there. I couldn't find the intersection to Monterey while I was driving on Highway 101. I was really disgusted with myself and bought a GPS. (Car navigation system)




Today, I drove to a winery near my town using the GPS. I could get there easily! This worked very well. The map was easy to watch and the guidance was really accurate. I should have bought this earlier. From now on, I will be able to go to wherever I like!

Sore back

I recently have had a sore back for a month. This is because I rarely exercise every day. When I was in Japan, for my commute, I waked from my house to a station, stood in a train and walked from the station to my office. When I think back, this were really good for keeping up my health. Now, living in California, I drive from my apartment to my office and walk from a parking lot to my office (just 3 minutes). How on earth can I keep my health in this situation? I should go to a gym in my apartment and exercise as soon as possible…

Golden Week

We can go back to Japan once a year at the company's expense and have a nine-day holiday. What a nice company! I arrived here on May 8, 2005, so I can use this holiday by May 7 at this time.

In Japan, many people have a long holiday, called Golden Week, from the end of next week. I planned to go back to Japan at this time to hang out with my friends. Before I booked an air ticket, I asked them if they could meet me during this holiday. They replied that they were supposed to work during this holiday. I was really disappointed and suddenly got reluctant to go back. I am about to relinquish this wonderful right...

Cherry Blossom

Today, I strolled around Mountain View Station. I saw beautiful trees. When I glanced at them, I thought they were cherry blossoms. I came close to them and figured out they were completely different trees.

Suddenly I missed cherry blossoms in Japan. We Japanese really like cherry blossoms. That is because we love the way cherry blossoms all come out together and soon blow off all together. In the full bloom season, many Japanese people rush into parks to drink and eat under cherry trees.

Some Japanese people think the cherry blossoms' life is the beautiful, ideal life style. I prefer the drinking life style under the cherry trees to the cherry blossoms' life style...

My favorite music

I love classical music. My favorite composers are Mahler, Brahms, Bruckner, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky. I always enjoy listening to their symphonies, piano concertos and violin concertos. They are passionate, thrilling or relaxing. I appreciate some rock music and Japanese-pop music. However, I believe none of them can exceed classical music.

There are many CD shops in the Bay Area, but they sell few classical music CDs. The other day, I noticed a CD shop in a book store where I always go. There were lots of classical music CDs! I found Mahler’s symphony No.9 conducted by Karajan and Stravinsky’s Petrushka played by Pollini which I have wanted for a long time. Of course I bought them immediately. I was really satisfied with this deal.

Easter Mass

It is Easter Sunday today, so I went to a Catholic church at Stanford University. I am not Christian, however I was excited because I had never gone to mass. A lot of students of Stanford University and ordinary people were there. The mass consisted of reading the bible, delivering a speech by a preacher, singing carols and serving a piece of bread and a sip of water. It was too bad that I couldn't listen to the preacher's speech very well because the sound system was not good. However, the carols were beautiful, the sound of the organ was gorgeous and the sacrament made me holy. I had a really good evening.