Golden "Week" Start

[prixmium]

It's Saturday here in Japan. Last Wednesday was a holiday, then I worked Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a blur of trying desperately to get a "syllabus" that is basically a course outline for the entire year for a course that didn't exist until this year finished. Friday was pretty chill, and now I am off until this coming Thursday.

I thought about trying to get out of town for a day or two but everything I looked at it seemed like money I would rather spend on seeing best friend or my dad later in the year. If I can think of a day trip that wouldn't just make me mad I might go? Like, I think it would be fun to just go somewhere on the Shinkansen, but I have no idea where to go, and I often find trying to "get out and do things" more exhausting than just trying to make my little nest a happier place to be...

But I do need trees/grass/mountains occasionally.

I might just go to a local park at an off hour and finally just sit on a swing when no kids need it?

Ideas welcome.

I have talked about this before, but I keep thinking about how even though I enjoy listening to content that's just... talking... like Reddit-reading videos, true crime documentaries, user-submitted story reading accounts, analytical videos... and so on. I always enjoyed watching documentary stuff with my family, since it was one of the things we could all agree on liking when I lived at home. However, I started doing it a lot on my own the first time I was in Japan in 2019. I think it was a way to keep myself company with the language fatigue and the time zone adjustment the first time. Back then, I was less willing to do the things I needed to do to keep in touch with my loved ones on the other side of the world. Especially back then, I did not understand hardly any of what I heard around me. Now, it's still mostly inscrutable, but I recognize phrases and explanations of things I hear often, at least in terms of the gist.

Recently, I lamented that I spend about 11 hours a day away from my house most days in order to facilitate working 8 hours and basic errands like feeding myself or buying groceries to feed myself at home. I had not really done the math before, but in my efforts to avoid being late, that's how it works out. Then, it occurred to me that I typically listen to non-narrative entertainment when I am able to consume any kind of media in public while eating or on transit. I think this makes it really hard for me to write, be creative, and watch the things I would like to watch.

To the end of trying to reteach myself, I started passively rewatching Skins, the UK tv show from my early college years, as I knew I could find it on YouTube.

Strange feeling, but I think I'm onto something.

We'll see if it ever actually sticks.

I know it's Saturday, but I figured I would try doing this. Again, just in the interest of not filing myself down with infinite scrolling:

The Friday Five for 1 May 2026

1. Do you like to spend time outdoors?

When the weather is right (not too hot, not too cold, not to wet), I do enjoy it sometimes. I'm pretty picky about it. I seem to enjoy it the most mid-morning or late in he evening due to the relative gentleness of the elements in those times. I really wish I spent more time in parks and stuff, but every time I think of it, I am either too busy, it's raining, or it's some extreme temperature.

2. What is your favorite flower?

I know embarrassingly few flowers by name. I like the ones that have a clustery form like lilacs and hydrangeas that have a nice scent but which doesn't give me a headache.

3. Any favorite warm weather activities?

I'm pretty overly sensitive to heat. If it's just warm and not hot, I like getting a little sun just by sitting or walking outside. Otherwise, I like... indoor activities in the summertime.

4. Have you ever kept a garden? If so, what did you grow?

I did not personally do so, but I used to help in my parents' garden (sometimes under duress...) when I was a kid. I once grew a couple of tiny watermelons. I remember harvesting lettuce from planter boxes as a child and picking tomatoes. I planted some dill that spread everywhere also. I would love to grow heirloom tomatoes or herbs, but I just dunno where I am ever going to have permanency and space.

5. Do you know how to swim?

No. I know this freaks people out, but I grew up next to a kinda dirty river with a mom who couldn't come after me if I fell in, so it was not a high priority, and my dad was not a good teacher about it. He didn't wanna force me when it terrified me.

Comments

[matsushima]

…it occurred to me that I typically listen to non-narrative entertainment when I am able to consume any kind of media in public while eating or on transit. I think this makes it really hard for me to write, be creative, and watch the things I would like to watch.
Same, tho.

For getting somewhere green without going too far… I don't know exactly where you're located but maybe Mt. Takao? Its about an hour from Tokyo Station and you don't need to worry about trying to get Shinkansen tickets during Golden Week. I went ages ago with a friend of mine and we had a good time. It was far enough away to feel like we'd gone somewhere but close enough to home that it was an easy day trip.

[prixmium]

Thank you so much for the suggestion. Yeah, I feel like everything I would plan is awful when everyone is off. Like, on the one hand I appreciate that there's a string of national holidays like this. On the other hand, it seems like staggering them and making sure that everyone gets that many consecutive holidays in a row but in a staggered or choice-based fashion would be better. But it wouldn't be Japan without the rat race.

[matsushima]

I realized I made a mistake in my first comment: Mt. Takao is about an hour from Shinjuku Station, so probably about an hour and a half from Tokyo Station. Sorry!

It's definitely good for parents and kids or romantic partners or whoever to have time off together but, yeah, it would also be nice if people had more than 10 days of PTO they could choose when to take 'cause the way it works now is, when you finally have the same days off as your friends, so does the rest of the country and so everything is more crowded and expensive.

[prixmium]

My current job at an ideological level is kind of not like this, but at an operational level sort of has to be sometimes, but I sort of feel like Japan wants you to somehow turn off your need to be a human being when it's time to be professional.

It's one reason I do kind of want to leave in the next few years.

That, and I just... don't have the energy and self-confidence to have a lot of IRL friends anymore, let alone in Japan.