Anna Matsushita

 One spring, long ago, I stayed in Ireland for a month with a group of friends. We travelled extensively around the country and spent about a week in Dublin. With plenty of time at our disposal, some of us decided to visit Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands off Ireland’s west coast.   The Aran Islands, comprising Inishmore, Inisheer, and Inishmaan, are renowned for their rugged beauty and as the birthplace of the iconic Aran jumpers, famous for their intricate cable patterns. These islands hold a certain charm for knitters and history enthusiasts alike.   Our journey began with a long coach ride from Dublin to Galway, the gateway to the Aran Islands and the departure point for the ferries. Galway itself is a delightful city, known as the birthplace of the Claddagh ring, a popular Irish souvenir. The ring’s distinctive design—a heart crowned and held by two hands—symbolises love, loyalty, and friendship. It is often used as an engagement ring. I recall seeing this ...

  Our local shrine’s festival resumed for the first time in three years. Streets were once again jolly with illuminated lanterns. Kids were playing wood flute and drums to add festive feeling. They were performing the music in front of train station. People enjoyed the music in the evening.   I assume that the shrine must have planned the festival when the number of corona patients were decreasing daily – at least until June 2022. People must have put much effort into the preparation, looking forward once again to practice the music, drew out the portable shrine (Omikoshi) ready to be carried around the town, and float to carry the music bands.   Before COVID-19, the festival was like these;   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oWNuFH-CIg https://youtu.be/97cu-n3QXrc I watched the children playing music with somewhat mixed feeling. By the time the festival started, the number of COVID-19 patients were increasing at tremendous speed. I was tracking onl...

 New COVID variant is now spreading across Japan. I almost lost track of how many waves passed by, but the media reports that this is the 7 th wave here. The number of positive cases doubled over the past two weeks. Tokyo now sees more than 30,000 patients.   Despite this depressing news, I saw few positive changes.   My former employer, a travel company selling tours from Japan to Europe and Middle East, has brunch offices across Europe. These offices are now hiring some specialists who has experience working for group tours from Japan. It seems that European offices are ready to prepare for incoming tours from Asia.   The company used to handle tours from Asian countries to Europe and Middle East. With COVID-19, I heard that the offices in Japan is half closed, some comes to office for quotation and few tour operations. The employees there have been given temporary jobs at various institutions and organizations. I was relieved to hear that my former co...

The Japanese government announced that Japan will reopen to tourist from abroad from the beginning of June, allowing 20000 people per day.   This is good news for those who wish to visit and enjoy Japan for the first time in two years. Also, this is a big shift for those in travel industry in Japan. They can finally welcome visitors from abroad – some cities and towns have been relied upon visitors from abroad for years. They have been waiting for this moment for long time – two years are definitely long for some businesses such as restaurants, tourist spots and gift shops.   However, I had a big question: the Japanese government announced border reopening just two months before the scheduled date. And they only allow group tours with guides who control the itinerary and sanitation. I wondered - are the two months long enough to sell group tours?   I believe most of travel companies start selling group tours at least 6 month ahead of the departure dates. Two...

  During COVID-19 restriction, I did another project: writing essays on drinks in mainly in Europe, Japan and Caucasus.   As a one engaged in travel industry, I wrote many writings for my job to introduce European drinks, including wines, beers, whiskeys and liqueurs.   The work involves many research on internet as well as trying the drink myself. I felt it important to experience the drink itself, as I was introducing the drinks to potential Japanese travellers abroad – I did not want to sound fake.   This time, I could spend more time researching the backgrounds of each drinks. It was interesting to learn the history of each drinks and passion of those who made the first drink, and success of the business.   The main reason I wrote this subject was that I wanted to carry on researching food and drinks abroad. When I was working at travel company, the work involved many research. I wanted to carry on with that, in order to keep the antenna up a...

 When I was young, I came across with a picture of two entertainers in Medieval Japan, called Kusemai dancer, and Shrabyoshi.   They were one of the prominent street performers in Medieval Japan, and they were mentioned in a book called “Seventy One Songs on Craftsmen", illustrating various craftsmen which was established at the end of 1500’s   Here is the link to the original painting of Kusemai dancer and Shirbyoshi. (On the bottle left) 狂言・能楽の歴史｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp)   (Kusemai dancer on the left, Shirabyoshi on the right )   能・世阿弥｜文化デジタルライブラリー (jac.go.jp) So, what are Kusemai dancer and Shirabyoshi ? Kusemai, also known as Mai-Mai (Roughly translated as "dance, dance") is a male street dancer, usually paired up with a singer, and dance while holding a folding fan. Shirabyoshi is a female dancer dressed in men’s clothe and sing song while dancing. Kusemai | the-Noh.com | Noh Terminology Shirabyōshi - Wikipedia   In a boo...

The state of emergency was declared at many authorities in Japan from early .July to the end of September 2021. The number of Covid-19 positive case was high, and it persisted nearly 2 month and half. During this period, I was looking for a job. I briefly worked at a call centre in Tokyo, but I left there due to my lack of high-quality voice, as well as professional speech needed at call centre. Job market was quite fast during the spring of 2021. To be on safe side, I looked for permanent job, or temporary to permanent job, since I will be turning 50 years old soon, and I needed a stable position. While browsing on job agent’s websites and platforms, I came across many temporary position open for young people newly graduated from schools and colleges. It reminded me of recent concern for the job market for young generation in Japan. As far as media reports said, many young college or university graduates in Japan were reportedly struggling to find permanent job. Many can’t get c...