shopping
I haven't come to Tokyo for quite a while, so I had couple things I wanted to buy there. First, I went to an ourdoor goods shop to get a pair of hiking shoes, then went to Tokyu Hands, one of my favorite stores. It's got many interesting trifles. I wanted to get something for Charley's birthday there. I had no idea what a boy of Charley's age would want, so I had asked my male friends what they wanted when they were in high school, and one of them said high school years are the time when they could really get into what they were interested in, so I thought of getting something about golf, but are there any interesting goods about golf? I could only think of golf balls, which were too ordinary. Anything about the supermarket job? That would be too weird. I finally found a beach ball with the global map on it. I decided to get that for him so that he could check where Thailand and Japan were..... And then I also got an iPod! I can't believe how much our technology has advanced. When I was in kindergarten, our TV didn't even have a remote controller, I first used a videocassette recorder when I was in junior high, left my first message on a voice recorder of a phone to my piano teacher during high school, wrote my first e-mail in my senior year at college to a friend who was sitting right next to me, got my first mobile in Thailand, and now finally an iPod! I can even take a look at Charley and Apple's school via Internet. What would it be like when people of our age get old and senile?

graffiti
I came to Tokyo after the night shift. I was to meet Kanosan's friend who was an expert about Mac. He offered to update my Mac OS. Actually he's the one who gave me the notebook I've been using since last year. Thanks to this machine, my life has been convenient like an urban life, and peaceful as a life in the countryside. He also made me my namecards with Apple's drawing on the back. One time back in Thailand, Apple and I went out to lunch at a Japanese reataurant with our friends, and we had to wait quite a while until the meal was served. While we were waiting, Apple and our friends drew a picture of me on the back of a chopstick sac. It was one of those meaningless graffiti, but I just couldn't throw it away. After I came back to Japan, I framed it and put up in my room. And now, it's even on the back of my namecard!

a wine night

Kanosan has come to visit me again. She came last night, after work, and arrived around 22:00. She is a wine expert, so I usually drink wine when I'm with her. Right now, white wine is our favorite. I was pretty busy yesterday, so I bought this wine at a local supermarket, but it wasn't bad.
By the way, this is the living room of my apartment, where I spend most of my private time.

Masutomi Hot Spring
I went to the Masutomi Hot Spring with Kanosan again. This hot spring is known to have such a healing power that many sick people visit here.
On the way to Masutomi, we stopped by at Kanosan's relative's place. He runs a computer workshop with his wife. His wife took us out to lunch to a real nice country style restaurant. She was a very understanding, interesting person, and I enjoyed talking with her very much.

And the Masutomi Hot Spring was as great as ever. The water there is not as hot as other hot springs. It's set around 60F, so that we can bathe longer. It's like an indoor swimming pool. I almost fell asleep in it, and after I got out, I felt so sure that it really did have a healing power. I have cut my right finger, and it had swollen and hurt so bad, but after I bathed there, the pain has gotten so weak. Just 2 days ago, I was telling Kaori about the injury and how I tried to measure the patients' blood pressure with my left hand. I am sooo right handed that I have a very hard time using my left hand just about to do anything, but Kaori recommended me to try it so that my brain can be that of a left-handed people, who imagine everything visually and act rather emotionally than logically. I always wanted to be in the mental state of the left-handed people, so I really tried. But now the cut on my right hand has gotten better so quickly, I guess I missed my chance to be left-handed again.....