Anna Matsushita

 In 1990, I came back to Japan from the UK, in an attempt to go to a university in Tokyo. Back in those days, high school diplomas given by scholls in abroad were not really accepted by universities in Japan, Even though you finished A-level or SAT, you still have to go through an entrance examination. Not many universities let students who studied abroad, so we were left with very few choices.   I failed my first university examination. I have not used Japanese for a while, and I was not familiar with essay writing in Japanese. It was pressurising to write these Kanji characters in handwriting, hoping that I didn’t make much mistakes – which, probably I did.   I took summer course for students who graduated from high schools abroad, to brush up English and Japanese languages, as well as essay writing, Withing two months intense course, I became much more confident using the both languages.   I took another entrance examination at a university in Tokyo. I recall there mus

 Recently, the third week of September is becoming to known as “Silver week” in Japan. The reason is that there are two national holidays in the third week.  In Japan, a week with consecutive holidays in May is known as “Golden week”.  So the long national holiday week in autumn became known as Silver week, as an opposite to the Spring holiday season. 22 nd or 23 rd September is Autumnal Equinox. Yes, just as Vernal Equinox day, the length of day and night are equal. If we look from astronomical point of view, it is just another day. In Japan, Autumnal Equinox is known as Ohigan, when many people visit family grave and pay tribute to the loved ones. There are various articles on Ohigan on the internet, so I will refrain from further explanation. Around Ohigan season, you might see flower called Red Spider Lilly, known as Higan bana (literary means "flower on he other side of river leading to Buddhist heaven) in many areas of the country. It is bright red flower, looks a li

  Spring in Japan comes quite sudden. From chilly and gloomy grey winter, the season suddenly changes with many flowers blooming day by day. I have been mostly living in Kanagawa Japan and been through the change of season many times, but the sign of spring time is always delights to my eyes. During COVID-19 season, it was nice to see these flowers, to keep your attention away from the depressing news for a while. First flower which brings spring to my neighbourhood is Ume blossoms (Prunus mume, type of apricot) on trees.  The blossoms are fragrant, with sweet and fresh that you can notice while walking pass a tree. The blossoms are mostly white and pink. The fruit of Prunus mume is edible, mostly salted to make Umeboshi or cooked with sugar for jam. The second flower that shows up in my neighbourhood is narcissus. They grow in tine woods underneath the trees. We grow yellow narcissus at home as well. They do tell a change of season, telling that the cold weather will soon be over. Ano

  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

  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.  

  The Japanese government lifted the state of emergency at the end of May 2020. I was glad to go back to office, just in a hope that Covid situation will improve. I understood that many specialists were saying that the second wave was on its way, possibly after autumn. I only hoped that the situation will be back to normal as soon as possible, and countries will open up their border for visitors. Due to reduced working days, I returned to office in the beginning of June. On the way to Tokyo, I saw many changes which took place during quarantine period. There were many empty seats on train even through it was peak hour in the morning. Train stations and annex shopping complex, usually crowded by commuters, were almost empty. At office, I was glad to meet my colleagues after long while. We congratulated each other for surviving the past two months. Luckily, no one was infected by the virus, and everyone looked just as healthy as ever. My first task at office was to cancel tours scheduled

  Good weather continued in May, and more flowers were seen in the neighbourhood. One afternoon, I came across with a wall of house covered with field bindweed, very pretty with its purple-ish flowers. One of our neighbour loves rose, and tend the flowers very well. This year, some gorgeous roses were seen, with beautiful pink and yellow. Unfortunately the nation-wise state of emergency was extended for another month. Our company followed request from the Government to close the office until the beginning of June. Patient was definitely needed to carry on with self-isolation. News on television often reported to stay at home during the long-awaited golden week – 5 consecutive day national holidays including weekend. It was ironic that we needed to stay home to avoid 3C, while many service industry went destitute when they were supposed to be getting busy during the holiday season. I tried not to watch news on television, only exception of 6 o’clock news in the evening to see the round-

  Good weather continued. During the daily walk, I noticed that more flowers were blooming around my neighbourhood. Small white roses were in their primes. And the lily of the valley bore full of small flowers underneath the trees. It was such a consolation to see the change of seasons during the suffocating period. The state of emergency was supposed to end by the beginning of May. Just as anyone else, I was longing to go back to the life before the quarantine – or at least to the life with more freedom we used to enjoy before the pandemic.

  We continued to have good weather for the spring of 2020 in Southern Kanto area. The usual guests at our slip of garden was our neighbour’s cat, trotting down as if on her usual expedition. Everything seemed so ordinary, except that we were trying to conceal ourselves from invisible virus. One day during my usual walk, I came across a wall covered with white old roses. I hadn’t noticed this before. They were beautiful in their prime, against pale blue sky. The roses must have been blooming in our neighbourhood by then, but somehow I didn’t notice another roses except this one. Days went on and I needed some distraction. I sneaked into kitchen and baked a batch-full of scones.  We enjoyed them for tea. We needed something for a change, to turn off television for a while and enjoy what were in front of us. Recipe : Mary Berry's scones Ingredients 450g/1lb self-raising flour 2 level tsp baking powder 50g/1¾oz caster sugar 100g/3½oz butter, softened, cut into pieces 2 free-range eggs

  Saturday came, and I went for my usual walking around my neighbourhood. It was a fine day, with a plenty of sunshine. Flowers were blooming everywhere. There is a patch of land where pine trees are planted. It used to be a sweet potato field. Back in good old days, local kids could help the farmer harvest the sweet potatoes. Now it is like a mini forest, thick with large pine trees. Underneath the trees, I saw blue periwinkles were blooming, resembling a large green and blue carpet. Some of the plants were budding and blooming along streets. On the edge of some streets, mini poppies were blooming, popping out their heads through some cracks on asphalt. Some of our neighbours with green thumb did some brilliant jobs. At their front gardens, I saw little narcissus and snapdragons. These are indeed some of the flowers that tells the end of chilly season. The air was mild and warm, very comfortable for a long walk. By this time, I was getting used to our daily routine for COVID days : We

  One of the highlight of spring in Japan may be to see cherry trees in full blossom. Some may wonder why people make such fuss about. But you might get some idea if you had a chance to go through the chilly and cloudy days in winter and early spring here. Most of the cherry trees planted in urban areas in Japan are called Someiyoshino. The prime of its blossoms are quite short, about one week at the most. Once in their prime, the trees looks like hoisting a huge fluffy pale pink cloud. It is perhaps this short life-span of the blossoms which attract people’s attention. It is sometimes magnificent to see them under clear blue sky, probably because of the contrast of colours. Our office was located near a river in Tokyo called the Meguro river. The river is known for having rows of cherry trees on its banks. During springtime, the local community set up some lanterns underneath the cherry trees and light them up in the evening. The lanterns glow in soft pink, lighting up the blossom fro

  It was 29th March when I wake up in the morning and felt unusual chill in the air. When I went outside of my house, I discovered it was snowing. It was the first snow in the Southern Kanto area in Japan that year. We had no snow in the winter, and I was partly happy and partly sad to see the snow The Southern Kanto area is one of the warmest areas in Japan, especially the coastal area where I live. The weather is mild, and we rarely have snow in winter. I love seeing snow, as it is not a usual thing to see often in where I live. It is nice to see even some flurry in the morning or late in the evening. It is also nice to see the land covered white, making small white mounds everywhere. Apparently the kids in neighbourhood are excited as well, and it makes me smile to see little snowmen placed on the walls and gates of some houses. However, snow also means that our infrastructure is not up to the weather, and there is always traffic chaos. To begin with, people can’t walk properly on s