（日本語は後半にあります）
【English】
A lot happened this week. I get tired when my schedule is full, and this week has been quite eventful and I am actually tired right now. However, there were some interesting experiences and I would like to leave them as “highlights of this week”!
Overnight trip to Yamanashi Prefecture
My husband's colleague invited us to Yamanashi Prefecture for a one-night stay on Sunday and Monday. The details of why he invited us are not clear to me either. It seemed that the maisonette he had arranged for themselves was unexpectedly large and that he had an extra room, so we were welcome to join him.
However, his wife was there, as well as the mothers of both, and even his nephew! I couldn't help but wonder why they had invited me and my sons, who were strangers to them, not to mention my husband, who was a direct acquaintance. I honestly felt a bit uncomfortable because I couldn't do much to help. I felt sorry for his wife, who was so quick, efficient, and hospitable.
At the same time, I felt as if I had been exposed to a new set of values. In Japan, there is an expression “kazoku mizuirazu,” which refers to a situation in which only family members and close relatives gather together without the presence of others, and it is almost certainly used in a positive sense. On the other hand, it is often considered uncouth or bothersome for a stranger to enter a place where only members of the family are spending time together.
However, the people we spent one night and two days with this time did not seem to have such a view at all. They seemed to think that families have their own stresses, and that family relationships can be smoothed out by including other people in moderation. I did not hear that clearly, though.
During our stay, I kept wondering if we were a distraction to them. But if we were a distraction, they wouldn't have invited us in the first place, and now I wish I had relaxed a bit more.
Assets in the tax-exempt accounts have decreased significantly
Our family has money invested in four tax-exempt accounts: iDeCo for me and my husband, Junior NISA for our elder and second son. I had linked the information of these four accounts to “Money Fowerd,” an asset management app, so that I can keep track of the total amount. Each account holds S&P 500 and global equity index funds.
And when I opened the app Friday morning, I found that the total amount in those four accounts was down significantly from yesterday. In the past, I had seen as much as -200,000 yen in one day compared to the previous day. I remember that I was quite nervous at that time, but this was the first time I had seen such a large negative figure.
However, all accounts are long-term investments, so there is nothing we can do because of the drop. Also, it is only a “day-to-day” minus, not a minus against the invested amount, so I am not losing money 😅.
Still, the fact that I was able to stay calm during this big drop is due to the fact that I have had horrible experiences trading bitcoin and other grass coins in the past. Thank you so much, cryptocurrencies!
My father came from my hometown
My father leaves for Taiwan from Narita Airport today for a trip today. While he was there, he stayed overnight at our house in Tokyo. To tell the truth, this was also decided suddenly last weekend.
He arrived around yesterday evening. After that, we waited for my elder son to come home from juku and went out for a dinner together. Yesterday was also the closing ceremony of the elementary school, so we also had a party to say goodbye to the first semester.
My father is now a pleasant old man, but in the past he was always in a bad mood, and our parent-child relationship was not good, if not bad at all. However, maybe it was after he retired from work, or after the birth of his grandchild, or after my grandfather passed away...his personality has become more rounded, and we are gradually able to have conversations.
It is also probably significant that having spent about 10 years as a corporate employee myself, I can now imagine how stressful it must have been for my father, who was a bank employee at the time.
My father had dinner at a suppon restaurant, which I will introduce later, and took a cab home. After breakfast at a nearby family restaurant this morning, he headed for the airport.
I ate softshell turtle for the first time
For the first time in my life, I ate softshell turtle. In Japan, it is called "Suppon".
I am not a fan of trying unfamiliar tastes, and I don't usually eat unusual foods. However, since my father was visiting today and my husband had made reservations at the restaurant, I decided to try it.
The meat of the softshell turtle was like chicken, and did not seem as turtle-like as I had imagined, or as characterized by any noteworthy taste or texture. My second son was so interested that he ate the sashimi of softshell turtle heart with ginger and soy sauce (by the way, I could not eat the sashimi).
On the other hand, my elder son's expression clouded over as soon as he saw the sashimi, and he said he would never eat it. He looked at the softshell turtle hot pot with eyes as if he were looking at something terrible.
At the end of the meal, when porridge made from turtle soup was served, he said it was delicious and ate it, but... the turtle dish seemed to be a bit of a shock for him.
Conclusion
These are my highlights of the week! It was a week of relatively new or unusual experiences. I was definitely tired and a bit sleepy, but I was able to update the Hive blog okay, and it was a good, active week.
This post is a participation post to InLeo Monthly Prompt. Follow the calendar and submit from InLeo. For more information, see this article ☺
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【Japanese】
今週はいろんなことがあった週でした。予定が詰まると疲れてしまう私ですが、今週はかなりいろいろな出来事が重なり、いま実際疲れています😅しかし、面白い経験もあったので「今週のハイライト」として残しておきたいと思います！
山梨県への一泊旅行
夫の職場の方からのお誘いで、日・月と一泊で山梨県に行ってきました。お誘いの経緯は私もよく分からないのですが、手配したメゾネットが思いのほか大きく、部屋が余っているから一緒にどうぞ、ということのようでした。
しかし行ってみると奥様をはじめ、双方のお母様、さらには甥御さんまで一緒！そんな場所に、直接の知り合いである夫はともかく、なぜ見ず知らずの私や息子たちも誘ってくれたのだろうと不思議でたまりませんでした。勝手が分からないためロクに手伝いもできなくて、正直ちょっと居づらかったです。てきぱきと手際よく、もてなしてくれた奥様に申し訳なくて😅
一方で、新しい価値観に触れたような感覚もありました。日本には「家族水入らず」という表現があって、これは家族や近親者だけが集まり、他人を交えない状態のことを指すのですが、ほぼ確実に良い意味で使われます。逆に、家族のメンバーだけで過ごしているところへ他人が入っていくのは野暮、煩わしいこととされがちです。
が、今回1泊2日を一緒に過ごした彼らには、そのような考えは全くないようでした。家族には家族のストレスがあり、むしろ適度に他人を入れることで逆に家族関係も円滑になる、と考えているようでした。ハッキリとそう聞いたわけではありませんが。
滞在中、私たち（とくに私）は邪魔なんじゃないだろうか・・とずっと考えていましたが、邪魔だったらそもそも誘わないでしょうし、今となってはもう少しリラックスして過ごせば良かったなと思っています。
非課税口座の資産が大きく減る
我が家には、4つの非課税口座で運用しているお金があります。私と夫のiDeCo、長男と次男のジュニアNISA。この4つの口座情報を「MoneyFowerd」という資産管理アプリに紐づけて、総額を把握できるようにしていました。この4口座では主に、S&P500や全世界株式のインデックスファンドを購入しています。
そしてその4口座の総額が、金曜の朝大きくマイナスに振れたのです。これまでにも、1日に前日比マイナス20万円くらいまでは見たことがありました。その時も相当ヒヤッとした記憶がありますが、ここまで大きなマイナスを見たのは初めてでした。
とはいえ、どの口座も用途は子どもたちの教育資金や自分たちの老後資金！長期投資なので、下がったからといってできることは何もありません。また、あくまでも「前日比」マイナスなだけであって、投資金額に対するマイナスではないので、損はしていないわけです😅
それにしても、この大きな下落でも落ち着いていられたのは、過去にビットコインやその他草コインの取引で恐ろしい目にあってきたからこそ、ともいえます。ありがとう、暗号資産！
地元から父が来る
地元から父がやって来ました。明日台湾に発つため（旅行らしい）、東京の我が家に一泊してから成田空港へ向かいます。これも先週末に突然決まったことです。
父は夕方ごろ到着しました。その後、長男が塾から帰るのを待って食事に出かけました。今日は小学校の終業式でもあったので、一学期お疲れ様会も兼ねて。
今となってはおもしろキャラと化した父ですが、昔は常に機嫌が悪く、親子仲は悪いとは言わないまでも、良くはありませんでした。しかし仕事を引退してからか、孫が生まれてからか、祖父が亡くなってからなのか・・・性格が丸くなり、少しずつ会話が成り立つようになってきました。
当時銀行員として勤務していた父のストレスは並大抵のものではなかっただろうと、私も約10年の会社員生活を経験して多少想像できるようになったことも大きいかもしれません。
このあと紹介するすっぽん料理店で夕食を食べた後、タクシーで帰宅。今朝は近くのファミレスで朝食をとった後、成田空港へ向かいました。世界的なシステム障害が起こっているとのことですが、無事飛行機は飛んだ模様。
初めてすっぽんを食べる
人生で初めて、すっぽんを食べました。
私は馴れない味を試すのが苦手で、普段珍しい食材は食べないほうです。でも、今日はせっかく父も来ているし、夫が予約してくれたお店だし、と食べてみることにしました。
すっぽんの肉は鶏肉のような感じで、想像していたような亀っぽさというか、特筆すべき味や触感の特徴はないように思いました。次男は興味津々で、すっぽんの心臓の刺身を生姜と醤油で食べていました（ちなみに私は、刺身は食べられませんでした）
いっぽう長男は、刺身を見るなり表情が曇り、絶対に食べないと言い出しました。すっぽんの鍋も、何か恐ろしいものを見るような目で見ていました。最後にすっぽんのスープで作られた雑炊が出てくると、それは美味しいと言って食べていましたが・・・亀料理はややショックだったようです。
おわりに
以上が、今週の私のハイライトです！比較的新しい or 珍しい経験の多い週でした。確かに疲れたし、ちょっと眠いけど、Hiveブログもまあまあ更新できたし、活動的で良い週だったなと思います。
この投稿は、InLeo Monthly Promptへの参加記事です。カレンダーに沿って、InLeoから投稿してみませんか？詳しくは、こちらの記事をご覧ください☺