March 29-31, 2001: Freshman born |
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One of my nephew graduated National Fisheries University and will start his business life soon. I have been wondering where his first new post. What is surprising, his new office is here in Oita!
He came to my house prior to his first appearance to the office. |
 We welcomed him and enjoyed pleasant chatting over his experience in his long cruise to Hawaii or New Caledonia, and coming life in Oita. |
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| We moved to the counter to browse the web pages of National Fisheries University. He introduced us his pleasant days in the University. Time went on so quickly late into night. |  |
March 30, 2001: An easy day |
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It is getting colder since yesterday. It could be called "a cherry blossom chill." In the morning, however, I can enjoy gardening in the sunlight. |
| My nephew, Naruhiko, is still in bed. My husband set up a parasol for the first time this year. We will have a barbecue party on the terrace. |  |
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Naruhiko finally got up close enough to noon and helps my husband make fire in the stove. I prepared many materials for it. |
| The stove radiates cozy heat around it and attracts us with releasing savory smell of barbecue. It is really nice time to spend over pleasant chatting. |  |
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After the party, we will start to look around Oita, his would-be home ground. First we visited Wasada Town. He was surprised to see the huge shopping center. |
| In the event hall, I found a balloon shop. So many kids in spring holiday flocked around colorful balloons. |  |
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Washing machine and refrigerator will be necessities of his new life. We looked around household appliance shops. In the evening, we tried hot Lamian noodles in downtown Oita. |
March 31, 2001: The commencement |
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| Today, he will visit the office for his arrival greeting. He will move to an apartment today as well.
He consults with a mirror to tie a necktie with clumsy hands. Well, a freshman has just born! |
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I took his pictures in the garden to show them to his parents in Hokkaido Island through the web. |
 We first visited an observatory deck in Oita Gokoku Shrine and overviewed the industrial complex under sight. |
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| A spring storm accompanying cold shower scatters around beautiful cherry blossoms that bloomed at last after a long time. Cherry matches very well with a freshman, however. |
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 We three visited the shrine together. "A new life will start from now, I hope to go well with it." |
 We witnessed an unusual scene: a large votive picture of snake, this year's symbol in Chinese astrology, was removing down by the Shinto priests. |
| From the shrine to the office is just a five minutes drive. The spring storm is still raging around the car. It may be a "welcome shower" for him. In Saturday morning, the office awaits a freshman with the room lamps lit on the fourth floor. |
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I saw him off at the entrance of the office. Commence a good new business life! |
| We feel very lonely after we saw him off. We remember the same feelings before.
Yes, it was when our only son entered a junior high school in Tokyo. We saw off him at the front gate of the school and returned home. Today, we call back the happy-but-sad day. To relieve the loneliness, we drove up onto the hills nearby to view wild cherry flowers. |
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We drive through from Ryouzen hill to the Prefecture Forest. Many wild cherry trees and other white flowers are now in their heights. |
| We passed under a "cherry tunnel." If the sky is blue, it would be much more prettier.
In the evening, the nephew called me saying, "Thank you very much. The new apartment is ready to live from today. Please come and look it later." He said his new work starts on next Monday. Bon Voyage! I hope during his work in Oita, he will often come to see me. |
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