Although I can write tons of downside in the COVID19 catastrophe, I put here a positive change in my life since last spring when the situation began to be severely concerned. It is about my work: as the organization I work for ordered to work remotely instead of coming to the office, I can work much more flexible. Technologywise, remote working had been possible even before the COVID outbreak, but the organizational culture didn't allow me to do that. Now every staff is forced to work from home to some extent, and I comfortably choose remote working rather than commuting by semi-packed trains.

To be honest, I still don't know what happend yesterday (sorry, nothing special occured today) on the sport which I love: English Premier League Football, especially Leicester City Football Club. The Foxes, their nickname, placed themselves in the 3rd following the two giant Manchester clubs, ie. Manchester City and Manchester United. Although Leicester is not as big as famous clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea, they've played amazingly this season so far and can challenge the top 4 positions which leads them to the lucrative the Champions League next season. In this fixture, the East Midland side faced against Everton FC, another in form team this year. I'll watch the game when I get home and can't wait!

Recently, two of my friends get married and they are my "thanksful" as they've broaden my friend networks. I got to know them two years ago when one of the couple held an drinking party for sports fans(I'm a soccer freak, by the way.). The event was really fun and the participants there have met often since then. I've enjoyed a lot everytime I joined the parties with them because I could share my views as much as I want with those who also love sports, and, consequently, I have bunch of friends with various experiences. The couple have made my life much better than before, and I couldn't be thanksful to them than any other people apart from my wife.

Tokyo has been quite freazing and windy. The weather made my family hesitant to go outside, while we were supposed to join the cultural event held by city council. Eventually, we went to the venue, exposed with shower of rain in addition to strong wind. But, life is harsh: despite our "hard work", our son didn't like, even hated, the traditional musical show with "Taiko", Japanese drum, and we had to leave there as he didn't stop crying from the start. Efforts don't nesessarily pay off. This is the lesson my wife and I learned.

Although I know it's not good for health, I cannot stop playing with game apps before going to bed. My recent favourite is "Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) Club Manager"; you can manage a football club by recruiting and training players and upgrading facilities like a stadium. As a match takes just a few minutes, I tend to play much longer than I should, and it easily keeps me awake for an hour. While it is really fun, I sometimes regret as it's so hard to get up next morning and I feel that I shouldn't do that. But, I don't know why, I again start the app in the night...

On this weekend, I'm going to hold an online party which is for the celebration my friends' marriage (yes, my friend's' ! Both the groom and the bride are my friends.). To give a surprise, I asked other participants to send a short message video, and now I'm editing. Hope I get it done and all the plan goes well.

The biggest challenge for me was the racism to non-white people. I stayed in London when I was 13 and was quite nervous just because it was the first time to go outside of my home country. After just a week passes since my family had arrived in London, I got intimidated on my way home by local teenagers without any reasons. This experience was quite shocking for me and enough to make me difficult to have conversions with local lads. I'm proud of myself that I somehow overcame the horrible experience and am capable of communicating with many people in English.

"Typical Bedtown". I'm aware that this description is quite boring but is true. Located less than 45 minutes away from Tokyo by train, my hometown Abiko is small-medium size city with 130,000 residents. Although the city doesn't have many attractions, the life there is convenient as for the relatively easy access to both urban and nature-surrounding rural areas.

Although I and my wife planned to enjoy a short trip to a suburban area around Tokyo, it seems unlikely to leave the mega city because the Japanese government is going to issue the statement that the country is in the "state of emergency": we are facing the serious outbreak of COVID-19 as the number of infected people has been increasing with drastic pace. It would be quite boring and, possibly, tiring, but we cannot expose ourselves, especially our child, to any risks. Staying home is our choice, and hope everyone's safe.