Have you ever experienced meditation ?
I had not actually ever.
I was invited to attend a mediation class by my friend since last year, but I couldn't make it unfortunately because I was a little bit busy and the class started earlier evening.
Last week, I could finally experienced meditation at first time. The class is usually supposed to start at 7:30pm, however vege food is served from 7pm. I couldn't make it, though. At that day, I reached a place 10 minutes before its start, but I was surprised that attendees were not only Asian people but also people from many countries. At first, we chanted the Hannya Shyngyo together. After that, we did meditation while a teacher monk instructed us how to do that physically as well as mentally. This meditation took 20 minute, but this was really good for me because my stress was gone totally by doing this like as the teacher told us. Recently, I am suffering from much stress in my jobs, so it is really good to find ways to control my stress somehow. I realized surely that meditation is one of them. After finishing meditation, we could take a lecture about Buddhism idea for one our from same teacher. This was also amazing because the lecture presentation was really perfect in terms of documents as well as how to speak to people. This was not only a lesson for Buddhism but also how to do an English presentation. Finally the class finished at 9:30pm.
This is very educational for me, so I would like to continue to take this class. Surprisingly, this is free. Off course, some donation is expected by common sense.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Income tax return paper working
Today, when I left the office around 8pm, I noticed that my colleague was still in the office and was doing something in the copy room. It was really rare to see him at this time because he always leaves the office before 7pm. He looked tired of something, so I was really curious about what he was doing and asked him about that. He answered to me that he was struggling to prepare and file a tax return.
I was sorry about that because companies take care of it in Japan as long as he/she is employed. On the other hand, I got to know this since I came to U.S., but employees have to prepare and file a tax return in U.S by themselves. It looks that it is really cumbersome in U.S. and it is really easy in Japan, but there are pros and cons behind that. People in U.S. have to know system of tax in order to do filing even if they do not like to do it, and it takes long time for paper working. However, people can naturally understand what taxes really are instead of that. On the other hand, Almost all employed people in Japan do not have to take long time for paper working because companies do a filing instead of employees, but they do not know what taxes really are unless they are willing to understand it by themselves.
I am working in U.S., so I have to do it, though.
I was sorry about that because companies take care of it in Japan as long as he/she is employed. On the other hand, I got to know this since I came to U.S., but employees have to prepare and file a tax return in U.S by themselves. It looks that it is really cumbersome in U.S. and it is really easy in Japan, but there are pros and cons behind that. People in U.S. have to know system of tax in order to do filing even if they do not like to do it, and it takes long time for paper working. However, people can naturally understand what taxes really are instead of that. On the other hand, Almost all employed people in Japan do not have to take long time for paper working because companies do a filing instead of employees, but they do not know what taxes really are unless they are willing to understand it by themselves.
I am working in U.S., so I have to do it, though.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
San Gregorio State Beach
Last Saturday, I went for enjoying driving along the highway 1 from Half moon bay to Santa cruz.
This morning, weather was rainy but it changed to sunny afternoon, so I decided to do it.
At first, I went to the Russian ridge open preserve to see if I can enjoy a walk, but the ground condition was really mad due to the morning rain. This was obvious for me before getting there but I did not want to think so in my mind. Therefore, I changed my plan to enjoy a drive. Some mountain bikers enjoyed there though.
I was actually taking highway 35 north and the highway 84 west, and got to the highway 1. This route was not first time for me but this direction was so, because I usually take an opposite route. Therefore, I was feeling that every field view is really first time. When I turn left to the highway 1, I noticed that a state beach, San Gregorio, is just there at right side, and I parked my car at the parking without knowing about parking fee which was turned out later. This beach is really good because a lot of restroom, benches for rest are available in addition to beautiful beach. After enjoying everything for about 20 minutes, I went back to the parking, but I found something a envelope on the front window of my car unfortunately. When I opened the envelope, I got a letter telling me that this parking place charges me $8.00 and I have to pay it. I really wanted to say, "Oh my god, what the hell is this !? " If I have known it, I had passed this beach and wouldn't have parked my car there. When I got out of the parking, I notice that there is a small sign board in front of the open gate telling guests about the parking fee. So, this is my fault that I did not notice that sign before entering the parking. However I have a reason for that. From my experience, I have been to a lot of public parking along the highway 1 ever, but everything was free except this time.
Anyway, this was good experience that some parking is not free. I definitely have to keep this in my mind.
This morning, weather was rainy but it changed to sunny afternoon, so I decided to do it.
At first, I went to the Russian ridge open preserve to see if I can enjoy a walk, but the ground condition was really mad due to the morning rain. This was obvious for me before getting there but I did not want to think so in my mind. Therefore, I changed my plan to enjoy a drive. Some mountain bikers enjoyed there though.
I was actually taking highway 35 north and the highway 84 west, and got to the highway 1. This route was not first time for me but this direction was so, because I usually take an opposite route. Therefore, I was feeling that every field view is really first time. When I turn left to the highway 1, I noticed that a state beach, San Gregorio, is just there at right side, and I parked my car at the parking without knowing about parking fee which was turned out later. This beach is really good because a lot of restroom, benches for rest are available in addition to beautiful beach. After enjoying everything for about 20 minutes, I went back to the parking, but I found something a envelope on the front window of my car unfortunately. When I opened the envelope, I got a letter telling me that this parking place charges me $8.00 and I have to pay it. I really wanted to say, "Oh my god, what the hell is this !? " If I have known it, I had passed this beach and wouldn't have parked my car there. When I got out of the parking, I notice that there is a small sign board in front of the open gate telling guests about the parking fee. So, this is my fault that I did not notice that sign before entering the parking. However I have a reason for that. From my experience, I have been to a lot of public parking along the highway 1 ever, but everything was free except this time.
Anyway, this was good experience that some parking is not free. I definitely have to keep this in my mind.
Friday, January 20, 2012
LIMITLESS
Do you know a movie, named LIMITLESS.
I did not know this until Netflix suggested this to me. Last Sunday, I was browsing Netflix and looking for something interesting movies. Finally, I selected this movie because a package image really attracted me and made me feel that this was exciting and interesting seemingly. From my conclusion, this selection was really successful for me. A story is simple and easy to understand, which help me understand English even though I did not show subtitles.
The story is about a man who was a struggling writer but his life changed suddenly after he came across his ex-brother-in-law. The ex-brother gave him a tablet of drug which let him access to a brain 100%. According to the ex-brother, a typical human can use its brain up to 20%, however it allow you to use it 100 %. Actually our brains remember everything which we have seen, but we can not remember them because we can not explore our brain 100% by ourselves. He was not doing well at his work, so he tried it with a sweet temptation. After that, everything started to go well at first. After he could finish his novel faster, he realized that he could be out of a novel writer and could be more than that and could afford to earn more, like a money dealer. The story goes up and down a lot ,,,,.
If you want to know what would happen next, it`s better to watch it by yourself.
I believe that anybody wish once that we could use our brain 100%.
I did not know this until Netflix suggested this to me. Last Sunday, I was browsing Netflix and looking for something interesting movies. Finally, I selected this movie because a package image really attracted me and made me feel that this was exciting and interesting seemingly. From my conclusion, this selection was really successful for me. A story is simple and easy to understand, which help me understand English even though I did not show subtitles.
The story is about a man who was a struggling writer but his life changed suddenly after he came across his ex-brother-in-law. The ex-brother gave him a tablet of drug which let him access to a brain 100%. According to the ex-brother, a typical human can use its brain up to 20%, however it allow you to use it 100 %. Actually our brains remember everything which we have seen, but we can not remember them because we can not explore our brain 100% by ourselves. He was not doing well at his work, so he tried it with a sweet temptation. After that, everything started to go well at first. After he could finish his novel faster, he realized that he could be out of a novel writer and could be more than that and could afford to earn more, like a money dealer. The story goes up and down a lot ,,,,.
If you want to know what would happen next, it`s better to watch it by yourself.
I believe that anybody wish once that we could use our brain 100%.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
The hot spring in 5 colors
During the short trip to Japan, I went to a hot spring in Nagano prefecture. The hot spring name is Goshiki onsen. Go means five, and shiki means color, and onsen means hot spring, so five colors hot spring. Precisely, color of water surprisingly changes day by day in one of five colors, depending on the circumstance around the hot spring. When I went there at the end of December, it was heavy snow storm in the area, so many customers except me cancels a stay, so it was like that everything was for me temporarily. And the color which I was enjoying is dilute black at that time.
When I was in Japan, I used to enjoy hot springs around Japan. Hot springs always makes me feel better, removes my daily stress, refreshes my mind, giving me vitality for next day, and makes me believe that I`m gonna come again. Fortunately, We, Japanese, can enjoy many hot springs around Japan from the northern part to the southern part. So We can expect different type of hot springs every time. Another good point I`m always thinking is that drinking a beer immediately after enjoying it is really good taste. It`s because much water is lost gradually from a body during staying a bath, and a body naturally needs water. So that`s why you can taste it better than usual.
I have an episode about the onsen which I stayed this time. Please have a look at the picture above. You can see that an old man enjoys the onsen with smile. He is the owner of the onsen and 92 years old now. As I mentioned before, a customer was only me so I could talk a lot with people who work in the onsen. He is one of them. When I was talking the bath, he came and spoke to me. At first, he said to me that he was involved in the world war II and worked at the border between China and Russia to monitor Russian enemy. At that time, Russia was Japan`s enemy. He was a little bit higher position, so he was staying away from battles and collecting information about Russian which was sent from field agents. When Russian enemy was attacking his location, it was just announced that Japan was surrendering and the war was over. Therefore, he unfortunately lost a lot of his friend, but fortunately could survive the war.
When I was in Japan, I used to enjoy hot springs around Japan. Hot springs always makes me feel better, removes my daily stress, refreshes my mind, giving me vitality for next day, and makes me believe that I`m gonna come again. Fortunately, We, Japanese, can enjoy many hot springs around Japan from the northern part to the southern part. So We can expect different type of hot springs every time. Another good point I`m always thinking is that drinking a beer immediately after enjoying it is really good taste. It`s because much water is lost gradually from a body during staying a bath, and a body naturally needs water. So that`s why you can taste it better than usual.
I have an episode about the onsen which I stayed this time. Please have a look at the picture above. You can see that an old man enjoys the onsen with smile. He is the owner of the onsen and 92 years old now. As I mentioned before, a customer was only me so I could talk a lot with people who work in the onsen. He is one of them. When I was talking the bath, he came and spoke to me. At first, he said to me that he was involved in the world war II and worked at the border between China and Russia to monitor Russian enemy. At that time, Russia was Japan`s enemy. He was a little bit higher position, so he was staying away from battles and collecting information about Russian which was sent from field agents. When Russian enemy was attacking his location, it was just announced that Japan was surrendering and the war was over. Therefore, he unfortunately lost a lot of his friend, but fortunately could survive the war.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Temporary return to japan
Here I will write what I felt about the terrible earthquake crisis when I went back to Japan.
Since the end of December, I had returned to Japan temporarily for 2 weeks. This was first time since the horrible biggest earthquake hit Japan last March. This left us terrible disasters. One of those is devastation of tohoku area, and second of those is nuclear radiation problem around the sea side of Fukushima prefecture which Japanese people have to live with it for more than 30 years because the half life of Cs, main radio material, is around 30 years. Due to the former crisis, many people died unfortunately and many places were broken totally. As our ancestors fully restored devastated area in World War II, I strongly believe that people in Tohoku are sure to restore their loving place over time. However second crisis continue to be issue for long time, which even our descents will have to deal with.
So I was wondering what people think about it and how people live with it in Tokyo. My home town is almost Tokyo and the side of Fukushima prefecture, so amount of accumulated Cs is not negligible according to published results. So I am really concerning my friends living there and having small children because nuclear radiation effects on a body is more effective for small children. Regarding my family, if I say I do not worry them, it is not true but it is partly true because they are already old enough to be less influenced. As we know from Chernobyl case, most awful thing about nuclear exposed effects is that results will come out later as cancers, like 5 or 10 years later.
When I got to my home town and spent a few days, I surprisingly realized that nobody cares about it on the surface, and nobody shows his/her feeling seemingly. At first before I returned, I was thinking that there are a lot of signs for helping Tohoku, and activities for financial support, but it was not so. I was feeling like that all most people forget the earthquake and nuclear radiation, and think that it is already the past event. One of reasons would be that nuclear radiation effects never come out a the moment as I mentioned above. However, as a minimum action, people do not try to eat any foods from Fukushima to avoid internal exposure. This is right action but I am really sorry for people involved in food industry around Fukushima, This can not be helped any more. We do not have anything about that.
I did not visit at this time, but people behavior would have changed if I approached to Fukushima.
Since the end of December, I had returned to Japan temporarily for 2 weeks. This was first time since the horrible biggest earthquake hit Japan last March. This left us terrible disasters. One of those is devastation of tohoku area, and second of those is nuclear radiation problem around the sea side of Fukushima prefecture which Japanese people have to live with it for more than 30 years because the half life of Cs, main radio material, is around 30 years. Due to the former crisis, many people died unfortunately and many places were broken totally. As our ancestors fully restored devastated area in World War II, I strongly believe that people in Tohoku are sure to restore their loving place over time. However second crisis continue to be issue for long time, which even our descents will have to deal with.
So I was wondering what people think about it and how people live with it in Tokyo. My home town is almost Tokyo and the side of Fukushima prefecture, so amount of accumulated Cs is not negligible according to published results. So I am really concerning my friends living there and having small children because nuclear radiation effects on a body is more effective for small children. Regarding my family, if I say I do not worry them, it is not true but it is partly true because they are already old enough to be less influenced. As we know from Chernobyl case, most awful thing about nuclear exposed effects is that results will come out later as cancers, like 5 or 10 years later.
When I got to my home town and spent a few days, I surprisingly realized that nobody cares about it on the surface, and nobody shows his/her feeling seemingly. At first before I returned, I was thinking that there are a lot of signs for helping Tohoku, and activities for financial support, but it was not so. I was feeling like that all most people forget the earthquake and nuclear radiation, and think that it is already the past event. One of reasons would be that nuclear radiation effects never come out a the moment as I mentioned above. However, as a minimum action, people do not try to eat any foods from Fukushima to avoid internal exposure. This is right action but I am really sorry for people involved in food industry around Fukushima, This can not be helped any more. We do not have anything about that.
I did not visit at this time, but people behavior would have changed if I approached to Fukushima.
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