sakura

after a bowl of okinawa soba for dinner, kazuto and i went to nakijin castle ruins for a night time hanami. we were surprised that okinawan sakura flowers are much darker in color and petite, compared to the ones in mainland japan. also, we heard on the radio that okinawa sakura petals do not dance with the wind, again unlike the ones in mainland. regardless of these differences in character, sakura in okinawa and mainland are indeed beyond beautiful.

books and magazines

when you live in the city, bookstores are everywhere. in okinawa, well at least where i live, there are not many bookstores around. tachi-yomi, which literally means "reading while standing," was no longer a common behavior that i could engage in. it has become something special. 

recently, i've turned to rakuten books and amazon.jp to order books. they are my saviorrrr! also, i started using fujisan.com for subscriptions although i hardly purchase magazines today. 

however, murmur magazine is the only exception! this magazine is full of wonder and honey. i stared reading this magazine a few years ago and i've been sooooo fascinated since then. i was able to gain a new perspective about life, which is more positive and respectful toward nature and people,,,,, so i think.

in addition to murmur magazine, i purchased another book about tax return and tax avoidance for freelancers. look! both  see both are shining in golden honey.

weekend translation

hello from okinawa. 

here, cherry blossoms are starting to bloom. i wonder if okinawan people also eat dango (japanese sweet dumplings) during hanami. i would not be surprised if they have something different than dango cos they eat okinawa soba on new year's eve as toshi-koshi-soba (year-end soba). okinawan people have developed such unique food culture that is different from that of mainland japan.

and busy busy busy! busy with shopping. bought a desk, a chair, and a desk lamp to create a comfortable work environment. i am getting ready to be a work-at-home translator.

last weekend, i completed my first translation job. by "first" i mean the first job after i have made up my mind to go freelance. this job was 2,700 jp characters from JP to EN and finished in 1.5 days. i'm still very slow to translate. kazuto said to me, "more you do, faster you'll be able to translate." yes, how fast you can translate is an importance factor.

this weekend, i got another translation job, which is approx. 15,000 jp characters from JP to EN. i have 3 weeks to complete this job.

since i still have my full-time job during the day, i need to plan ahead and work on the translations on weekends and at night. yup. time management is the key. 

speaking of time management, i'm blogging now when i really should be working on the translation... ohhhh bye now!

:)

tale of princess kaguya

 

it was a wonderful wonderful movie... i'm happy i saw it.

spring around the corner

it's 20C in okinawa which is about 68F. so warm. already feels like spring. in fact, january is the cherry blossom season here. in mainland japan, it's mostly from the end of march to the end of april. so here on this southern island, flowers will soon be blooming and silver grass will be dancing in green. yet, at the same time, i miss the gray-ish sceneries of winter with a cup of hot apple cider w/ a cinammon stick! have a cozy one!

new beginnings

a new year has come! it's the year of the horse in chinese zodiac. this means we can jump like horses and fly like pegasuses! yeah!

it was very quiet and peaceful in okinawa. the light enveloped me so gently as i was driving to work. it was really merry and bright.

happy new year to everyone!