New Year's Resolutions

At the beginning of a new year, it is common for many people to make New Year's resolutions. These are goals that people want to achieve by the end of the year. I have a few resolutions for this year.

First, I want to finish writing my dissertation and do a defense this year. I have been working on my dissertation for over five years and I am starting to get tired of it. It might be difficult for me to finish this year, but if I work really hard I might be able to achieve it.

Second, I want to walk more. I recently have been counting my steps with an iPhone application called "Stepz". My goal is to walk 10,000 steps everyday. Some days when it rains a lot or it is really cold, it is very difficult to achieve this. So, my goal is not to achieve 10,000 steps everyday, but rather to average 10,000 steps a day for each month. That way, I can make up for days when the weather is bad or I have to go to meetings all day and don't have enough opportunity to walk.

Third, I want to hike more tall mountains in Japan. For example, I want to hike peaks that are more than 3,000 meters in the Northern and Southern Alps of Japan. The summer before the last one I hiked two peaks that were over 3,000 meters in the Southern Alps of Japan. It was amazing, but also very difficult!

Winter Break!!

My winter break was divided into two weeks. The first week was very busy with Christmas and end of year parties. I met with family and friends and ate lots of food and drank lots of beer and wine. I even cooked a chicken on my BBQ grill!

It was a lot of fun, but I was very tired after all the parties. The second part started on New Year's day and it was mostly staying home and grading my fourth year student's graduation theses. We visited a few neighborhood shrines and walked with my dog "Ziggy" almost every day.

I also watched some movies and TV shows on Netflix. Recently, I have been watching the TV drama called "The Crown" about the British royal family and Queen Elizabeth II. It is mostly a historical drama, but it is very interesting.

Favorite Restaurant

I like to go out to eat and drink. Often when I meet my friends we go to an izakaya style restaurant to eat and drink. Usually we go to Torikizoku. Torikizoku is a chain izakaya that specializes in yakitori which is grilled chicken on a stick. Here is what it looks like:

 

They have very cheap food and drinks. Actually, everything on the menu is 280 yen! Also, they have a huge selection of food and drinks. Of course they have different types of yakitori, but they also have fried dumplings, pork cutlets, fried chicken, grilled rice balls, chicken wings and salads.  For drinks they have beer, sake, cocktails, high balls, and shochu. I often drink high balls when I go there. I especially like the yuzu high ball. In summer, it is very refreshing:

You can visit this izakaya in almost any city. Look for the yellow sign with the old style chinese characters and "TORIKIZOKU" written on it near almost any major station in Japan!

Favorite Music

I love to listen to music and I am always listening to new music with my Apple Music application. I grew up listening to classic rock such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd. As a matter of fact I am named after one of the Beatles!

I even saw him live at Kyocera Dome when he came to Osaka in 2013.  However, I also like to listen to a lot of current music and attend live concerts. I have been to see the Fleet Foxes, St. Vincent, Grimes, Beach House, and Tame Impala. Next month, I want to see a new American artist in Osaka called Japanese Breakfast. Here is one of her songs:



I also want to see Mac DeMarco when he comes to Osaka in January. Here is one of his songs and videos:

I love listening to music. It is one of my favorite hobbies!

Favorite Season

Autumn is my favorite season of the year. It usually has very nice weather (although this year it has been too much rain!) and there are lots of fun things to do. It is a great time to go hiking in the mountains and enjoy the colors of the trees. This is a picture of Omine-san in Nara:

I also enjoy the cooler temperatures. After a long hot summer, it is a nice relief to feel the chill in the air and use a blanket to stay warm at night. Also, I have a wood-burning stove at my house, and I love watching the fire and feeling its warmth at night. It is so relaxing. Here is a picture of my dog, Ziggy, enjoying the fire:

I also enjoy autumn foods like sanma pumpkin, sweet potato, and of apples. Also, two of my favorite American holidays are in the fall: Halloween and Thanksgiving. I have always loved dressing in costume, trick or treating, and eating candy at Halloween. Thanksgiving is a holiday to get together with family and friends and eat lots of good food.

My Hobby

Everyone has hobbies. I have several hobbies including listening to music, traveling, watching movies and tv shows, and going hiking. Hiking is one of my favorite hobbies. Last weekend I had a chance to go hiking with my friend. We climbed to the top of Mt. Hyono, Hyogo's highest peak. It is located in northern Kyoto and is 1,510 meters high. We were very worried because the weather forecast said it would rain. However, we decided to go anyway and we were very happy to have very nice weather. We hiked for about five hours. It was very cold at the top, but it never rained! When we finished we visited a local hot springs and enjoyed a nice bath after a long hike.

Weekend Parties!

I hope you all had a really nice and relaxing weekend. I know I did. I had to work on Saturday morning, but I still was able to enjoy Saturday night and Sunday. On Saturday, we went to a new friend's house in our neighborhood and enjoyed a BBQ and roasted chicken. It was my first time to meet our new friends at their house and they were really nice and fun to spend time with. We enjoyed eating, drinking, and getting to know each other.

Then, on Sunday we went to another neighbor's house for a pizza party! Our neighbor's house had an outdoor pizza oven and they made several different kinds of pizzas. If you have never had a pizza from an wood burning oven, you should try it. It is very delicious and the pizza crust is very dark and crispy.

It was really nice to enjoy spending time with friends eating, drinking, and talking. We had good weather and enjoyed the weekend.