samurai spirit

Only two days left at my current office! But, I’ve found myself still working just as normal.

I’ve remembered about when I left the company in Tokyo in March 2005, for which I worked for thirteen years. I’ve actually quit the job by a golden handshake. There were about ten people who retired with that offer. I remember that I was disappointed with the fact that most of them took holidays for two weeks or so at the end of their employment.

In principle you have the right to do it, but I thought it was too practical. I thought they should’ve thought about why the company had to reduce the employees – of course it was because of the company’s seriously bad economy. If you felt like thanking the company or your colleagues for your experience even for a bit, wouldn’t you feel like contributing to them to some extent? How much did you get paid for extra?

For a cost saving purpose, the office has in fact moved to a new place just before we quit. However, most of the leaving persons didn’t even help it. I just couldn’t believe it.

In the UK, when you quit a job, the condition is a bit different. You will normally get paid for the rest of your holidays, so you don’t really need to think about taking holidays at the end of your employment. However, some people seem to lose their motivation towards the end. Even so, I’m still trying to deliver the same quality of work until the very last minute, thought I think it’s just normal.

This kind of attitude may be an old Japanese way of thinking. But the thing is, if a Japanese behaves just as she or he is, most of the European people won’t blame it or make fun of it but they would rather appreciate it. You just need to try to speak more but don’t have to pretend as you were a European. This might be one of the most important things I’ve learnt in London so far.

I am the only Japanese in the office, so how everyone thinks about Japanese is really depending on my attitude. So, I will just continue as normal until this Friday 6 pm!

'october 2007'

This is the first and last note of this month. In fact, I could’ve written everyday – there have been so much happening. My life has dramatically changed only within one month.

One important thing is that I’m changing my work from 12th November. I sometimes wrote about some of my frustration at work on this blog, but I’ve finally decided to leave my current office. I felt the need of changing the environment. I thought that’s the best thing I can do for now in order for the achievement of my plan. Very fortunately, I’ve managed to find the next place so soon. That’s the place where my best English friend NY is working.

At the current office, I was certainly getting better and feeling much more confident than before. Maybe I should rather say I was ‘recovering’ as I was getting used to the work in this country including the use of English. But, at one point I started feeling difficult to change the ‘atmosphere’. Even though I’ve changed quickly, people didn’t seem to have changed how they treat me accordingly.

Particularly, it was really difficult to make my boss have a proper understanding about my career. When I spoke with him lately, I was so disappointed – he said, “I know you have very good experiences in Japan. You were working for a construction company, weren’t you? What can I say!?

Also, I’ve found the fact that I tended to adapt the ‘atmosphere’ and even sometimes forgot about challenging. I thought that if I change the work, I would be able to make a new start from a higher position and, at the same time, I could put more pressure on myself.

I thought it is a nice idea to work with NY as he has the best understanding of me. As a result, in the interview with his company, they understood about my career and what I intend to do very well. I believe NY’s recommendation of me to the company helped a lot for this. They are offering me a good condition with more responsibility. This means, I am now stepping up to the next starting point!

ERASURE LIVE at Royal Albert Hall

This was one of the most important events for me this year – the first ever chance to see Erasure’s full concert and first time to visit Royal Albert Hall!

Erasure ‘Light at the End of the World Tour 2007’
Date: 25 Sep 2007
Venue: Royal Albert hall, London
Support: one two

Since I was fascinated with their song ‘A Little Respect’ in 1988, I have been a huge fan of them. However, after missing their concert in Tokyo in 1989, I had never had a chance to see them until I came to London. Luckily, I’ve finally managed to see them at their acoustic live last year. The show was fantastic and I was so happy. But to be honest, I wasn’t a hundred per cent convinced as it wasn’t a normal live. So, then, the time has come!


Another special feature was the venue. Royal Albert Hall is not a highly acclaimed architecture but I quite like its appearance, probably because I’ve come across it on the very first day of my visit to London in 1993. I sometimes happen to see some classic concerts at the hall on TV, and every time I was dreaming of going there.

The show was very simple. The most interesting aspect of the concert was the band… Basically, there was no band but a small computer set. All the music was played by Vince with a Mac Book, a little keyboard or something and a little bit of guitar. The singer Andy loves karaoke, and in a way the concert was rather like a karaoke show. I thought it was rather honest as they are an electric pop band.

I enjoyed singing too, to their hit tunes mostly from 80’s and 90’s. As I used to sing them at home or in my car so many times, I remember most of the lyrics. I believe there’s no other Japanese who can sing Erasure songs like me!

When they started playing A Little Respect, I couldn’t help crying! I’ve realised this song is really very special. Of course, everyone was singing!! If you haven’t heard of it, you’ve gotta listen to it!!

'did you have a good time?'

As I wrote in the last topic, the stay in Japan was wonderful. As I’ve totally adapted the life in Japan, while I was there my life in London seemed even like a dream. So I was a bit worried that it might be difficult to re-adapt this life and the environment in the office in London, and about the use of English as well.

However, there was nothing difficult. I was a bit nervous when I returned to the office, but after having some chat with my colleagues I could easily settle down.

I rather felt very comfortable to be there again, because many people warmly welcomed me. This is just a general custom but everybody asked me about my holiday. Particularly, I was glad that LR welcomed me kindly with many smile. I’ve realised that this kind of people’s attitude is one of the good things in Europe. I think this was also one of the factors which made me interested in British and European culture long time ago.

I brought some sweets from Japan to the office. This is also a common thing in the office, which is almost the same as Japanese. But the different thing is the way people appreciate it. As soon as I opened my sweets called Yatsuhash, made in Kyoto, many people gathered around and curiously looked at them. Even the graphic on the box has amazed them. Yes, this is exactly what I expected! Finally, TQ asked me if he could bring one home for his girlfriend with the box. I was very happy as everybody enjoyed it.

summer holiday 2007 in japan

Yesterday, I’ve just come back to London from two weeks holiday in Japan. Yes, I had a great time! I was too busy for meeting friends and I didn’t even have time to write from Japan…

Thank you everyone, who came to meet me during my stay. I’ve met thirty people in total, but I couldn’t meet everyone I wanted to meet. The stay seemed like a month as I met different people almost everyday, but it was still too short! Sorry to those who I missed. Let’s make it next time, definitely!

two years

Yesterday, two years have passed since I moved to London. When I descended upon here, I never imagined I would still be here now. I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to complete the university course. So, now I’m very happy about the fact that I am working here and somehow feeding myself.

But I’m not satisfied with what I’m doing now. This is not just an unusual experience in my life, but it’s meant to be a very important part of my career. I need to do what I should do now and what I can do now. Lately, I’m thinking that that’s actually not my own fault, but it’s just because of the current situation which I am in. It seems that I need to have a fairly clever think in order to change something.

I always think I am lucky. I should say I was lucky that I’ve got a chance to come to London, probably at the right time! There were also many good lucks happened before, which are now helping me live and work in London. Just before I left Japan for London, a friend of mine said to me that I am actually not lucky but I am just able to make good lucks happen. Since then, I sometimes think that the important thing is to believe. If you do not stop believing, something will happen. So, I would never stop believing that the time will come some day!

we will rock you must go on

I went to see We Will Rock You a while ago. It was the second time after I saw it five years ago when I went to London for holidays quite soon after its launch. I’ve been planning to go again since I moved to London as I thought it’s worth seeing twice.

I remember the first time, it was not just a musical but a concert as well. It was absolutely magnificent. Although I couldn’t follow the language very well, I could enjoy it so much. Unfortunately, this time I was very stressed from my work as it was in fact the day before a deadline and I was a bit too tired to enjoy the show. Even so, when the band started playing some of Queen anthems like Killer Queen and Somebody to Love, suddenly my eyes became watery.

I started remembering about last time I was in this theatre. At that time, each song made me emotional and I kept crying almost throughout the show. I didn’t have a clear idea of what made me so. Probably, it was because the band was fantastic and was as if the real Queen members were playing. Even this time some songs made me so and I’ve realised how Queen’s music is special. There’s nothing like it.

The show itself was of course fantastic. It is such an enjoyable musical. In the story, Freddie Mercury is very much praised as a legendary rock star, and the audience clap and cheer for it. Literally, this ‘ritual’ is happening every day for more than five years. Also, the cast have been doing the same thing. This is incredible!