Anna Matsushita

  December was approaching, and COVID situation seemed to have eased a bit, with lesser number of patient reported in daily news. However, situation was far from over. There was no vaccine available and we had to live under pressure to keep away from social gathering. As holiday season was approaching, I thought about organizing an event to celebrate Christmas and end of year more than usual. We all knew that we have to skip parties with friends and family for December. Why not organize an online event? I planned Christmas reading event, starting from Advent until Epiphany. The rest was quite quick. I picked up a Christmassy photograph, set schedule, jotted my idea on a social media for book lovers in Japan, and invited my SNS friends to the book club. I was glad to know that there were people who interested in the idea. Some of them were quite excited to read books on Christmas, especially those who have little children that they can read Christmas books with their kids. During our ti

  One afternoon in the beginning of December 2020, my mother suggested a lunch at her favourite café. It is called " Søholm Cafe ",   located in one of the shopping mall, known for its Scandinavian delicacies. My other likes the café for a good cup of coffee and exotic sweets from the north of Europe. It is quite popular café, usually filled with locals and you have to be very lucky to find a seat as it I always crowded. When we arrived, there were plenty of seats. At that time, the state of emergency in Japan was already lifted, but the number of COVID patients were on the rise again. Not many people were opting to dine out. We decided a quick lunch there. The café’s counter was already filled with festive seasonal delicacies like ginger biscuits. One new item was Tosca cake, nutty and sweet cake eaten in Sweden and Finland around Christmas time. We ordered asparagus quiche and chips. It was the first sit-down lunch after corona pandemic’s first wave was over. I haven’t eate

  On a warm weekend in November 2020, I visited Chigasaki Shonan Beach. This is a rural coastal area in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The beach is small and cozy, popular place for surfers and sports fishers. It is quite secenic, with Pacific Ocean right in front of you, with some islands over the horizon, and Tanzawa moountains on the west. I made a short trip during the state of emergency in Kanto area of Japan during COVID-19’s second wave, just to get away for a few moment to relax and inhale some fresh air. I suspected the beach is not crowded, and indeed there were only few people. Although it was slightly cloudy day, the visibility was good. I could see Eboshi Iwa rock clearly off the coast. The rock is called Eboshi, named after ancient cap called “Eboshi” worn by aristocrats in Kyoto back in 15 or 16th century. Usually there are swimming event to swim to the rock from the shore, takes about few kilo metres. The event might have been cancelled for 2020 summer. Far back of Eboshi

  November came and I was still out of job.  Just for a change from regular visi to job centre and endless search on the internet, I decided to treat myself a day out to the Enoshima Island.  The Enoshima Island is located off the coast in Shonan beach, near Fujisawa, Japan. The legend has it that a lonely dragon was desperate and angry with loneliness, causing terrible disaster to local area with endless storm. Then out of the blue, there came a beautiful goddess, which is said to be the Salasvati, speaking to the angry dragon why he is causing such a dreadful disasters. Dragon said that he want someone to stay with him. The goddess said that she will be with him as his wife on a condition that he will make an end to his  despair and guard the local area instead of causing natural disaster. Thus the island became famous for this romantic legend of dragon and Slasvati, couples from all over the world are visiting shrines, making wish for endless relationship. It was a warm day, and des

  One of the major incident after leaving the job was to claim unemployment benefit. It was the first time ever for me to be one the dole. Unemployment benefit is something that not people want to claim in everyday life. I have never expected to be in the situation like this before the Covid-19 pandemic. I have changed jobs before. But I didn’t receive unemployment benefit as I was unable to work straightaway because of injury or other health issues. In autumn 2020, I claimed my first unemployment benefit. The benefit itself is what I have already paid as unemployment insurance, however, I was so uncomfortable to receive this. I wanted to get paid for what I worked for. I continued sending out more resumes to various companies through my job agents. I wanted a position, just a small position where I could work. Unfortunately, it led me nowhere. 

  By the end of November 2020, I have been out of work for 2 month. I did regular walking around my neighbourhood, to keep fit, but it got too monotonous. I needed some change. One a sunny afternoon, I decided to cycle to the beach not too far away from my home. It was a warm day and the sea was calm. I did a bit of walking by the shore.  I came here quite often when I was a child. Me and my friends often came here, swimming, diving deeply into the water catching mussels or other seashells and took them home for dinner. These were fondest memory I have about this beach. It was refreshing. After looking and editing my resume on a computer screen for hours, I needed this short break to refresh my mind.

  While taking a regular walk, I began noticing bright yellow colours in my neighbourhood. It was the beginning of citrus season. In November 2020, weather in Southern Kanto was pretty mild, and trees became thick with citrus fruits. Some of the favourite fruits in our neighbourhood are bitter orange, yuzu, pomelo and kumquat. The bright yellow and orangne colours can be seen from the distant, simply lift up our spirits. Their sweet aroma are simply fabuous. There are many houses which grow citrus fruits in their gardens. It was such a pleasure to see trees very thick with bright yellow fruits.  Some of neighbours enjoy harvesting the fruits. They share them among neighbours and friends.  

  October flew fast. I sent out my resume practically every day to my job agents. No reply came from companies that I applied I registered more job agents, hoping that it will lead to more opportunities. Some of agent started to suggest few openings, and I sent my resumes. No result either. I couldn’t even get to job interview. Having started using job agents, I realized that their recommended system rely on computer or AI system, which were not exactly accurate for sending me the job position that I wanted. For example, if the see a word “manage (管理)” in my resume, they send loads of managerial job opening, which I have no experience whatsoever. Or, it I write “assistant” on my resume, then they started sending “Assistant IT support” or assistant vice president” jobs. If I wrote “Operation”, they sent out “CAD operation”. None of these matches my job experiences. The more I register job agents, the more I got confused. To relax from these strain, I gave myself a little treats. I picke

  Through July to September 2020, the second wave of Covid-19 spread throughout Japan. People gave up taking summer holiday, or visiting grandparents, relatives or friends back home. Looking back, I was slightly confused with the discrepancy we were facing. Many of us wanted to keep the economy running and support businesses. However, seemingly it has partly caused to lead to the spread of the virus. The number of Covid patients was on the rise throughout August 2020. It was alarming situation, however, the country was determined to keep the economy running. No curfew was enforced, thus people could lead as close as the ordinary life we have enjoyed before Covid came into our lives. I recall some of the news program on television mentioned that eating and drinking out at night were possibly one of the reason for the rise of Covid cases. The news program crew visited some of the small restaurants full of guests. The people interviewed by media were quite straightforward, that they want

  I’ve been to the office only two days during September 2020, due to reduced working days. The last day at office came very quickly. It was ironic that we should leave the company in September, when travel industry should have been enjoying one of the peak seasons. Quick farewell greeting was exchanged with those who were at the office on the day. It was quite hard to find the right word, as we all knew that no one wanted to leave the company because of Covid-19. I had my last lunch at the office with my old boss and colleagues, chatted over lunch how long we worked and what we were going to do next. One of my boss and my former colleague gave me a box of biscuits. It was a lovely gift from our local chocolate shop. I will treasure this box, as it will be a reminder of our working days together. On the last day of September, our team manager invited the team for farewell lunch. Most of us could make it. It was good to meet them once again, as I could not say good bye to them properly.

  September 2020 was busy period. As I agreed on early retirement, I started look for a job on the internet every day. At the same time, I updated my resume and CV. Due to reduced working days and paid leave, I only went to office half a day each week. While at office, I shared information with my colleagues on what we would be doing next. We were all forty something, or we should call it around fifty in Japanese way. Many of them have been working at the company over 20 years, and we did brain storming for their career, what they did during their term in the past 20 years. I started using a job agent from mid-September. The company recommended the job agency, and one job consultant took me under his wings. He was very modest, experienced person, agreeable and helpful. Adding to the job agent, I also registered several other job agency. It has been several years since last time I changed job, and I was amazed how the job application process has been changed over the years. Last time wh