Today I went to the Taco Bell in Shibuya, which opened last Tuesday as Japan’s first Taco Bell store, and hundreds of people had waited in line for more than two hours in front of the store on the first day only. Today there was a long queue, too. A staff member at the end of the queue said I would have to wait up to two hours to be served. It was a bit tough for me to wait such a long time, but I couldn’t help but do it to enjoy the American taste I’d ever had in New York, where I had traveled for a business trip.
Today in 1995, a big earthquake suddenly hit Kobe and the Hanshin-Awaji area, killing more than 6,000 people and destroying millions of households and buildings in that area. At that time, I lived in my parents’ house in Nishinomiya, Hyogo, a city in the eastern vicinity of Kobe. This entry is the record of what I experienced there when that disaster happened twenty years ago.
I list up the most impressive events I experienced each year as the “words of the year” every year-end, like this:
The words of the year for 2001: getting a flat within the Tokyo metropolitan area, a position change at the office, and Soarer. The words of the year for 2002: America. The words of the year for 2003: the airplane and the musical. The words of the year for 2004: the blog, Asian countries (Singapore and Hong Kong), and the GSM mobile phone. The words of the year for 2005: darts, the GSM and WCDMA mobile phone, and visiting Hong Kong again. The words of the year for 2006: the US stock and the mutual fund. The words of the year for 2007: changing my car and visiting Hawaii. The words of the year for 2008: England and Fukagawa. The words of the year for 2009: office position change, MacBook Pro and JR Seishun 18 Ticket. The words of the year for 2010: Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia; iPhone; and the credit card. The words of the year for 2011: the car, the British culture and China. The words of the year for 2012: Oji, the mahjong, the flight attendant and Facebook. The words of the year for 2013: Ayurveda, Korea, high school alumni and Tsuyoshi Takashiro. Now I have the words of the year 2014: England and Android.
I revisited the UK in September, as my first visit there in February was very nice. This time, I went to Folkestone, Kent, where the musical Half A Sixpence was performed, and I watched it at Kokugakuin Tochigi High School, via Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Rye, and New Romney.
I visited Kokugakuin Tochigi High School, where Mieko Saigusa, a friend of mine, taught dance and choreography to the Musical Club students. There was a cultural festival at this school, and the Musical Club members performed Half A Sixpence. It was the second time I had seen this show, having seen it ten years earlier at the same place.
I want to visit Folkestone, England, where this musical is set.
