Anna Matsushita

  The summer 2020 in Southern Kanoto was unusually hot and muggy. To keep good physical condition, I had homemade green smoothie every day. I followed recipe by an essayist Ms Michiko Miyamoto, known as “The most beautiful diet”  Despite of mushy appearance, the smoothie taste like fresh drinking vegetable salad, with plenty of Konatsuna green (Mustard-Spinach), tomato and cucumber, with a dash of lemon juice and Japanese basil. During summer 2020, I never felt giddy or tired, possibly helped by this eating habit. This is pretty voluminous smoothie, it can be replacement for lunch or dinner in case if you are on diet. Recipe :  A bunch of Mustard Spinach (Komatsuna) (100g) 1 Tomato 1/2 Cucumber 5 Japanese Basilico 1 tea spoon of sea salt 1 Table spoon of Safflower oil 1 cup of water (200 cc) 1 Lemon, freshly squeezed 1) Mix ingredients (except lemon juice) in mixer until smooth. 2) Add lemon juice and mix (not too long) 3) Mix ice cube if the weather is too hot Recipe is available from

  HR sent us an e-mail. “CEO will give us a speech. Please make sure to log on to computer. ” By that time, we cancelled all the businesses we have prepared for the year 2020. One day during lunch break, I chatted with some of the sales staffs, and was enlightened that they were working on few quotations. “I don’t know the exact purpose, but some are seemingly traveling abroad. Not sure if they are travelling from Japan. They are all last-minutes booking. I can only give them a couple of days to decide whether they want to book or not.”  So, we still had some businesses. I knew the volume was not sufficient to feed us all, but looked like business was still continuing – but until when? That was the biggest question I think most of us had in our minds. At the speech, the CEO formally announced that the company will lay off some employees. The detail was to be announced through managements. I remember we were all very quiet, listening to what the CEO was saying through the computer scree

  There are many poetry and quotes from literature posted on SNS, which express the air surrounded us during Covid days. Followings are memorandum of what I found on SNS, which were circulated as early as March 2020. Very powerful poetry and quotes. WHEN THIS IS OVER “When this is over, may we never again take for granted; A handshake with a stranger, Full shelves at the store, Conversations with neighbors, A crowded theater, Friday night out, The taste of communion, A routine checkup, The school rush each morning, Coffee with a friend, The stadium roaring, Each deep breath! A boring Tuesday. Life itself. When this ends, may we find that we have become more like the people we wanted to be, we were called to be, we hope to be, and may we stay that way — better for each other because of the worst.” Poem by Laura Kelly Fanucci It was the best of times, it was the worst of times , it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incre

  July came. I was already adjusted to new daily routine, both at office and at home. The office was always quiet and looked empty, with only one third of us were on a shift. Some people only turn up at office half a day in a month, due to the company's instruction to use up this year's paid holiday. We were supposed to be bracing up for busy winter period. Because the company expected that once the business return in winter, we would be too busy and no one couldn afford to take any day off. We started to cancel business scheduled in autumn. Anxiety begun spread among us, as the business was estimated to pick up from autumn onward. Our CEO was constantly in touch with employees, trying to convey his principle to keep the employment. However, rumour continued to spread about possible closure of some of the branch offices. All we could do was wait and see if the corona infection will cease, or at least remain at low level after the lockdown in almost all over the world. Europe se

June 2020 was another beginning to adopt to new life cycle. Normally I read books on train while commute, sometimes at station café in the morning. I had at least 2 hours to delve into reading books. With corona virus, I gave up reading at café as they requested customers to stay maximum 30 minutes. Café was no longer the place for relaxation and reading books with a nice cup of coffee. Reduced working days also lead to a need to change reading habit. Reading on the train was not bad after all, with almost no distraction. How was I used to such daily routine. After checking e-mail from office, I tried to sit down and read books at home.  It was somehow difficult to sit down and read books at home, especially fiction with nice ending. With so much was going on in the reality, not only because of the virus but the uncertain future of travel business, it was hard to escape into the world of fiction. I managed to finish few books. The Canterbury Tales (Puffin Classics) (English Edition) ww

  Once the first state of emergency was lifted, it was the time to adopt to so-called new normal. Reduced working hours and days, wash hands once arriving at office, rush to bathroom for a shower once back home, sanitize hands at shop front, keeping social distance. It was also a time to reconnect with friends, neighbours and local community. My mother and her friends were ready to go back to their regular chat over coffee at local community centre as well as local cafes. They were eager to do not only because they had loads to catch up, they wanted to support local businesses. At first, I was slightly concerned with them visiting cafes, as their average age was around 80. Not exactly an appropriate age to go out to mingle while the virus was still strong, I thought. Luckily, none of them became frail during quarantine. Armed with facial masks, small bottles of hand sanitizer and wallets, they began exploring their favourite cafes, shops and restaurants. Every day over dinner, my mothe

  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