LONG LIVE HIS MAJESTY THE EMPEROR AND THE IMPERIAL FAMILY. GOD BLESS OUR NATION AND OUR PEOPLE. MAY THIS YEAR BE HAPPY TO US. THANK YOU.
２０１１年（平成２３年。皇紀２６７１年）明けましておめでとうございます。
皇室の弥栄、国運の隆昌、国民の安寧を祈念いたします。
本年もよろしくお願い申し上げます。
Category: Yuki’s Diary 日記
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Happy New Year 2011 / ２０１１年明けましておめでとうございます
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Keywords of the year 2010 / ２０１０年のキーワード
日本文が後ろに続きます。
The last day of 2010 has come! On the last day of each year I used to list up keywords representing the most impressive things I did or experienced within that year.
The keywords of 2001 are moving house in Tokyo, the change of office and Toyota Soarer I bought as my own car. The keywords of 2002 are the United States, which I visited for the first time and the first foreign place I’d ever visited. The keywords of 2003 are aeroplanes and musical, both of which I became deeply interested in in that year.
Those of 2004: Japanese literature because I was attracted by two female novelists who were the youngest ones that won the Akutagawa Prize, a blog that I began writing under the influence of them, Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong) I happened to visit, and GSM mobile phones I came across there.
The keywords of 2005 are darts I began playing, GSM/WCDMA mobiles because they began distribution in Japan and I owned Nokia’s handphones, and the second visit to Hong Kong in November.
2006’s keywords are US stocks and mutual funds that I began buying that year.
In 2007 I did the replacement of my own car, Toyota Soarer with Honda Accord in May, and a trip to Hawaii in July.
The keywords of 2008 are England (in which I became interested because of Kaoru Mori’s manga Emma) and Fukagawa (the area I moved to in summer).
The keywords of 2009 are the change of office and MacBook Pro. That year was of little fun for me.
In 2010, I’ve decided that the keywords of the year are trips to Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia; iPhone and credit cards. I visited Taiwan in January, Singapore and Malaysia in September. I bought iPhone3GS and iPhone4 as mobile phones and communication/entertainment devices. As for credit cards, I began being a cardholder of American Express and one other in July.
This year is a little happier for me than the previous years. I was able to travel abroad twice this year and really enjoyed each trip. Other than that my experience of this year was all work and no play, though.
Anyway, I hope the year 2011 be much better, much happier, and much more fruitful, with new experiences and new people. Thank you.
今年もいよいよ最後の日が来ました。毎年最後の日にはその年のキーワードを挙げてその年を振り返るのですが、
２００１年 都内一人暮らし、職場の異動、ソアラ
２００２年 アメリカ
２００３年 飛行機、ミュージカル
２００４年 ブログ（文芸業界）、アジア（シンガポール、香港）、ＧＳＭ携帯電話
２００５年 ダーツ、ＧＳＭ／ＷＣＤＭＡ携帯電話、香港再訪
２００６年 アメリカ株・ミューチャルファンド
２００７年 クルマの買い替え、ハワイ旅行
２００８年 イギリス、深川
２００９年 職場異動、ＭａｃＢｏｏｋ Ｐｒｏ購入、青春１８きっぷ
２０１０年のキーワードとしては、「台湾・シンガポール・マレーシア」、「ｉＰｈｏｎｅ」、「クレジットカード」としたいと思います。３番目の「クレジットカード」は、今年ＡＭＥＸゴールドカードやら他にもカード作ったので。今年はそれまでの数年よりは少しは良い年になったと思います。久しく行ってなかった海外旅行も今年は２度もできました。それ以外は仕事ばっかりで味気ない年ではありましたが；
ともあれ、２０１１年はもっと良くなって、出会いの多い実りのある年になるように祈りたいと思います。
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有馬記念２０１０
今年の有馬記念は、１着が「１ ヴィクトワールピサ」２着が「７ ブエナビスタ」でした。
私は普段は競馬はやらないんですが、毎年暮れの「有馬記念」だけは必ずやることにしています。毎回１００００円を投資し、勝てば来年は良い年になる、と勝手に信じています。
毎年１００００円はすっからかんになり、それとともに次の年はあんまり良い年にならずに終わってしまうんですが、去年の有馬記念では生まれて初めて「勝ち」ました。とはいっても戻って来たのは５０００円余りだったので、投資額１００００円からみれば損してることには変わりありませんが、今年はいままでの年よりかは少しはましな年になったんじゃないかな〜と思います。
そんなこんなで今年は何を買ったかというと・・・
馬連
１−７
５−７
７−１０
７−１４
７−１５
１０−１４
１−１４
枠連
１−４
１−７そして、単勝として「１５ レッドディザイア」を買ってみました。「レッド」という単語に、今年のキーワードである中国を想起させるものがあったので、ひょっとしたら入るかも、と思って；
これらをそれぞれ１０００円ずつ、計１００００円投資しました。
で、結果は、馬連「１−７」と枠連「１−４」が当たってました！ 配当金はそれぞれ５５０円と４８０円なので、それぞれ１０００円ずつ買ってますから戻ってくるのは都合１０３００円！！！
たった３００円ではありますが、初めて投資額を上回る戻りが出た年でした。
ということで、来年はきっと今までよりはるかにいい年になるんじゃないかと信じてます。。。 -
I’ve got an iPhone4! / ｉＰｈｏｎｅ４ゲットしました！
日本文が後ろに続きます。It’s a little bit late, though.
I had used Nokia N82 with Softbank Mobile’s SIM card as a main mobile phone so far. I had told my friends the phone number of it. But it had been kind of inconvenient because it had had narrower signal reception areas than the mobiles of NTT DoCoMo so if you had gone underground or deep into a big building you couldn’t have had it communicated. More than that, (it’s the situation peculiar to Japan, though) you can send SMS only to the mobiles of the same carrier as yours. Most of my friends had NTT DoCoMo mobile phones, so I’d wanted to change the carrier of my handphone into NTT DoCoMo.
NTT DoCoMo had released Samsung’s Galaxy S handphones in November, and they had been lovely for me, but they had been in such a short supply in those days that I couldn’t have got any. I’d given up waiting for one.
At that time, Japan Communications had begun releasing b-mobile’s micro-SIM cards together with unlocked iPhone4 imported from Hong Kong. JC had been selling the imported iPhone4 to its customers on hire purchase. JC was providing mobile phone service using NTT DoCoMo’s network, so if you had a mobile with b-mobile’s SIM card installed you could use it in almost the same manner as NTT DoCoMo, including sending and receiving SMS to and from NTT DoCoMo’s phones.
That’s why I purchased b-mobile’s micro-SIM card called “b-micro talkingSIM” and iPhone4. Before the purchase, I had cancelled the contract with Softbank Mobile and had the phone number used in it reassigned to the new micro SIM card so that I could use the same phone number as that I had told my friends.
ちょっと遅い気もしないでもないですが……。
電話番号を人に教えているメインの音声回線としてＮｏｋｉａ Ｎ８２にソフトバンクのＳＩＭを入れて使ってたんですが、ソフトバンクはなにぶんエリアが狭くて、地下やビルの奥などでは電波が届かないことがままありました。それに、（日本特有の事情として）異キャリアにＳＭＳが送れないというのがあり、周りにドコモユーザーが多い中、ソフトバンクだと不便を感じることがあったので、ドコモに変えたいという思いがありました。ドコモは１１月にサムソンのＧａｌａｘｙＳをリリースしたのでぜひ欲しかったんですが、なにぶん品薄で手に入らず……あきらめることにしました。
ちょうどそのころ、日本通信がｂ−ｍｏｂｉｌｅのマイクロＳＩＭカードと香港版ＳＩＭロックフリーｉＰｈｏｎｅ４をセットで分割で売り出すプランを始めたというのを知り、これは渡りに船だとばかり、これでｉＰｈｏｎｅ４をゲットしちゃおうと思った次第です。ｂ−ｍｏｂｉｌｅならドコモのＭＶＮＯなのでドコモ携帯にＳＭＳが送れますから。
てことで、「ｂ−ｍｉｃｒｏ ｔａｌｋｉｎｇＳＩＭ」というｂ−ｍｏｂｉｌｅのマイクロＳＩＭカードとｉＰｈｏｎｅ４を買っちゃいました。買う前にＭＮＰでソフトバンクを解約し、こっちに電話番号を移し替えました。
ｂ−ｍｏｂｉｌｅのＳＩＭカードは完全にドコモのそれでした。ただｂ−ｍｏｂｉｌｅ独自のＡＰＮ、ユーザー名、パスワードを手動で入れることになっており、さらにドコモが提供していないテザリング用の設定項目までついてました。マイクロＳＩＭカードを切り取り、ｉＰｈｏｎｅ４のトレーに乗せて本体に挿入し、ｉＴｕｎｅｓの動いているＭａｃＢｏｏｋＰｒｏとつないで電源を入れると……
数分して無事にアクティベートされました。アプリもｉＴｕｎｅｓからダウンロードできましたし、連絡先やメールアカウントなどのデータもちゃんとシンクされています。もちろんドコモ携帯へのＳＭＳ送受信もバッチリです。
おまけ：Ｑ−ＳＩＭ Ｄｕａｌ ＳＩＭ Ｃａｒｄ。マイクロＳＩＭカードと普通のＳＩＭカードを１本の薄いケーブルでつなぎ、２つのＳＩＭカードを１台のｉＰｈｏｎｅ４で使えるスグレモノです。ケーブルの一端をマイクロＳＩＭカードとトレイではさみ、それを本体に差し込み、他方の端に別のＳＩＭカードを入れて本体の背中側へ折り曲げ本体をケースに入れると、別々のキャリアの携帯番号が１台で使えるようになります。ＳＩＭカードの自動切り換えも可能です。 -
Festivals / 祭りの秋
日本文が後ろに続きます。
October is a month of fruits, readings, sports, art, and — more than those — festivals. There were various kinds of festivals in Kiba Park, which was close to my house. The biggest one was the Koto Kumin Matsuri festival from the 16th through the 17th of October.
１０月は食欲の秋、読書の秋、スポーツの秋、芸術の秋といろいろありますが、なんといっても祭りの時期だと思います。近所にある木場公園では毎週いろんなイベントがありましたが、なかでも一番大きいのが１０月１６日〜１７日の江東区民まつりでした。
It was the third time for me to see this festival, so there was nothing new in it. Everything was almost the same as usual. All I did there were to eat Indian foods bought from stalls inside the park and to watch a performance by Vivace, a marching band consisting of only female employees of ALSOK, a Japanese security company.In the same days, there was a festival by the students of the University of the Sacred Heart, which had been built in the former residence of Empress Dowager Nagako, the previous Emperor Hirohito’s wife. This university is for women only, so it’s usually closed to people other than the students of it, except on special days like the festival. I wanted to get inside the university because I wanted to see the historical houses inside, such as the former house of Nagako and the chapel of the university. During the festival, the university was open to the public, so it was one of the perfect chances to see them, which wouldn’t come so many times.
After seeing the Koto Kumin Matsuri, I went to Hiroo to see the festival of the University of the Sacred Heart called Seishinsai. I took the subway to Shibuya and there I took a bus to Japan Red Cross Medical Center, where I got off the bus, and I had a gate of the university. After the ID check at the gate, I got inside and walked along the path for several minutes then I had the Palace, the former house of the Prince Kuninomiya, where his daughter Nagako had been raised and lived until she had married the previous Emperor Hirohito.
江東区民まつりを見るのも３回目なので特に目新しいものはありませんでしたが、屋台でインド料理を食べ、ＡＬＳＯＫの女子儀仗隊「Ｖｉｖａｃｅ」の演奏を楽しんできました。
ところで同じ日に、広尾の聖心女子大学で「聖心祭」という学園祭がありました。ここの大学は旧久邇宮家の邸宅の跡地に建てられていて、香淳皇后が昭和天皇とのご成婚までの間、ここに住まわれていた場所にあります。女子大なので当然、普段は一般人はシャットアウトなんですが、聖心祭の期間中は一般人にも開放されています。ということで、久邇宮邸やクニハウスなどの歴史的建造物を見てみたかったので、聖心祭期間は絶好のチャンスというわけです。
ということで、江東区民まつりのあと、広尾に行ってきました。渋谷から日赤医療センター行きのバスに乗り、終点で降りると、すぐに大学の門が見えてきます。入口でＩＤチェックをすませ、中の小径を数分歩くと、「パレス」とよばれる久邇宮邸がありました。香淳皇后がご成婚までここに住まわれていた場所です。
The Palace パレス
The Kuni House, the site of the main entrance of the Palace, where Empress Nagako departed to the Imperial Palace at her wedding.クニハウス。久邇宮邸の正面玄関跡です。ご成婚に際して、ここから宮城へご出立あらせられました。
The Marian Hall, an auditorium of USH. The Latin phrase on the top made me feel it was gorgeous.
マリアンホール、講堂です。上のラテン語がゴージャス感いっぱいです。
The chapel, used daily for masses and prayers. An alumna of USH can use it for her wedding.
チャペル。ミサや礼拝など日常的に使われており、卒業生はここで結婚式をあげることもできます。
The interior of the chapel, where the student choir practised singing. I heard their sounds reflected in multiple directions on the round ceiling and resonated fantastically. I admired its gimmick of construction for helping Catholics feel God’s Power.Besides, there was an open-air stage, stalls selling foods and goods, and many kinds of events and amusements during the festival, but I left in haste because there were such young and bright boys and girls that a middle-aged man like me couldn’t stay any longer 🙂
チャペル内部。学生の聖歌隊が練習してました。丸い天井で音が反響して神秘的に響くように工夫されてつくられているのに感心しました。
それ以外にも露天ステージやら模擬店やらその他もろもろお楽しみイベントがいっぱいでしたが、若くてまぶしい男女がいっぱいいて、オジサンとしてはいたたまれなくなったので早々に退散しました。。。
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Going back to Japan
The last night of the trip I stayed within Changi Airport because if I had stayed in a hotel room, I would’ve missed the returning plane departing at 7:10 in the morning. Fortunately, Changi Airport opens 24 hours a day, and it doesn’t close at midnight. Because UA check-in counters were closed until 4:30 am, I had to stay on a bench on the departure floor.
However, sleeping on the bench wasn’t successful. When I lay on the bench, security guards came to wake up and said, “There’s no oversleeping here, sir.” I moved to another bench and slept hiding from them, but I couldn’t sleep very well, just slept only for an hour, because every time I heard the sound of somebody’s footsteps I was afraid that the security officers came to wake me up. Later I saw guests in the coffee shop on the same floor sleeping very well. I should’ve done it!
At 4 am, I saw the UA check-in counter open and began check-in. Although there were automated check-in machines, it became error while processing. I finally was led to a human-operated counter by UA staff and managed to have a boarding pass.
Soon I entered into a departure gate. I was surprised to see that there was just a screening machine for luggage, no security gates nor screening officers. Its security check was effortless. After luggage screening, there were immigration counters, where a piece of the disembarkation card I had got at Woodlands Checkpoint was taken away, and a departing stamp was stamped on my passport.
While in a restricted area, I went in front of the boarding gate for UA804 to Tokyo and opened my laptop to surf the net, because duty-free shops were closed until 6 am so I had nothing else to do. I was disappointed that there were no free WiFi spots even in the boarding gate areas in Changi Airport, unlike other international airports. Priced WiFi operated by StarHub was all in that airport. Even if I tried to pay for the WiFi by my credit card, the authentication of the credit card failed. I found that if I sent an SMS by a Singaporean mobile phone, I had an SMS by StarHub with user id and password. I tried to do it and once successful, but ten minutes later, the connection became unavailable. That’s why I rate Changi Airport as very badly in international airports in the world.
At 6 am, the duty-free shops began operation, but we had not so much time to shop because the boarding on UA804 was to begin at 6:30 am.
More than that, there were strict security checks at the entry of the boarding gates while there were simpler screening at the departure entrance, so I had no time to take a rest in front of the gate.
Anyway, the aeroplane arrived at Narita at 3:10 pm, just on time. I managed to return to Japan alive 🙂 -
Foods eaten in Singapore and Malaysia
As is often the case with me, I don’t usually go to luxury restaurants to eat foods abroad because I prefer foods local people usually eat daily. Here’s a list I’ve eaten in Singapore and Malaysia:
Chicken macaroni soup: at a food court of Changi Airport.
Chicken rice plate: at another food court of Changi Airport, where stewardesses of Singapore Airlines were having breakfast.
Mutton biryani: for lunch at a hawker stall in Tekka Centre, Little India.
This wasn’t put on a banana leaf but just paper, while in another local restaurant, Indians were eating foods on a banana leaf by hand.
Chicken kebab, hummus, and hibiscus juice: for dinner at Arab Quarters.
Nasi ayam (chicken rice) and sate (grilled chicken) sticks with coconut sauce: for lunch at a cleaner restaurant in Larkin bus terminus in JB. Those two foods and nasi goreng are what I couldn’t help eating in Malaysia.
Pizza Margherita (left) and sea bass with soba (right): eaten at a poolside bar of Thistle Hotel for dinner.
Nasi lemak: rice boiled with coconut milk with vegetables and half a boiled egg covered with a leaf. Bought at a restaurant in a Gemas station building. It was challenging to eat because the rice was fragile. That restaurant was dirty, with small flies flying around the table. I couldn’t eat even half of it.
The meal set at KFC: at a KFC in Gemas. It was cleaner, but shop girls of it were blunt and it tasted not very good.
Nasi goreng: at last, I found it. With this, my travel to Malaysia was complete. -
How to get to MRT Tanjong Pagar from KTM Singapore station
I wanted to walk to MRT Tanjong Pagar station from KTM Singapore station, but I could not find anywhere any signs leading to Tanjong Pagar station. I followed the people walking, but all of them went into a car park because they parked their own car there. I, having no my own car, had completely lost my way. Even if I asked the ticket counter staff of Singapore station how to get to the MRT station, all she answered embarrassedly was “Over there, 15 minutes’ walk.”
I walked to the direction as she said “over there”, but I lost my way walking for a while. The Lonely Planet I carried with me had no such maps. My iPhone didn’t show the map because M1’s prepaid sim card stored in the iPhone didn’t have enough balance. I walked on dark streets managed to get to Tanjong Pagar station 50 minutes later, sometimes losing my way.
The Lonely Planet and any other travel guidebooks I know have no clear maps or instructions between KTM Singapore station and MRT Tanjong Pagar. There are no signs to guide you to the MRT station anywhere in the Singapore station building. Then I’m the first person to guide you the correct way from KTM Singapore to MRT Tanjong Pagar. I’VE BEATEN THE LONELY PLANET!!
- First, get out of the station building on Cantonment Link, and you’ll see a road sign indicating the direction of “Tanjong Pagar.” Follow the sign and go ahead on Cantonment Link.
- Walk forward on Cantonment Link and then you’ll see an interchange of Cantonment Rd. and a road sign indicating that Tanjong Pagar is on the right. DON’T FOLLOW IT! Just walk ahead.
- You’ll get to an intersection of Anson Rd. Turn left on Anson Rd.
- You’ll see an entrance to MRT Tanjong Pagar station.
Or:
- Get out of Singapore station building, walk along on a wide road under an elevated highway, to the direction opposite to the station building.
- You’ll see a FUJI XEROX building, and turn left on Anson Rd.
- You’ll see an entrance to MRT Tanjong Pagar station.
That being said, the Singapore station should distribute guide maps at ticket counters or information booths and should build a taxi stand to let taxi cabs gather there to pick up passengers to the MRT station. It’s one of Singapore’s disappointing points, even if Singapore is one of the cleanest and most sophisticated cities.
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Rail travel in Malaysia
On the last day of my stay in Malaysia, I wanted to try to visit a small town in Malaysia accessible by train. I thought that Gemas, Negeri Sembilan was the most appropriate town to visit for a one-day trip.
I checked out of the hotel one hour before the train departure time (9:02 am) and asked the taxi cab parked in front of the hotel to send me to KTM JB station.
The waiting room of JB station was a bit dirty, and only a few people were waiting for the train. While sitting on a bench to wait for the train, a priest-looking man with an ocher robe walked up to me and talked in Chinese or Malaysian language to me, trying to force a charm and prayer beads upon me. I told him that I couldn’t understand what he said because I didn’t speak Malaysian. He then switched the language into English and said, “Doe-neh-sen, doe-neh-sen.” I understood that he was saying “donation,” so I refused it. He moved out of the waiting room and went somewhere else.
Half an hour later, quite a few passengers gathered in the waiting room. Then the priest came back and asked for a donation to each of them and was refused one after another. I guessed he should be a fake priest. It was the only morning, and my feelings were hurt by him.About fifteen minutes before the departure time, the boarding gate was open. We had my ticket punched and was allowed to get out to the platform. The rail had a 1000mm gauge, a little narrower than that of the Japan Railway. As far as I could see, it had almost the same width as JR’s rails, though. All the operation section is single-track, and non-electrified except certain sections in Kuala Lumpur.
No sooner had I get out to the platform than a train came in.
It was Express Rakyat, which had departed Singapore early in the morning and was to Butterworth late at night via Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh. A diesel locomotive was pulling coaches.
Inside view of a coach. The seats were hard like a bench, and the windows were dirty, just like a Japanese old train. Oops! It’s not a coach; it’s a dining car.
A coach was like this. It was much cleaner with soft seats and an LCD TV equipped on a wall, which displayed a movie while driving non-stop sections.
The train departed JB at 9:02 am, just on time. It stopped at Kempas Baru and Kulai, and ran for about an hour and stopped at Kluang. After departing Kluang, it drove for almost two hours before stopping at Segamat. Every station was simple.
They are the views from the train, which sped across jungles where palm trees, cycad trees, and other trees of tropical rain forest were growing in colonies.
Several minutes past twelve noon, the train arrived at Gemas.
Gemas was an important intersection of two major lines of KTM, so it was a large-scale station. The station building was as simple as any other station, though.At the moment when I got off to the platform, a stinky smell attacked me. It stank just like a dustcart collecting garbages. All the town was covered with such a smell. I don’t want to say that, but such kinds of smells were in the air in JB, Gemas, and every city in Malaysia.
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