Daily records and presentation of results (FY2022)
This is an annual report I do around this time every year, and as I've just finished my third year, this will be my third post. I'll include the previous ones below (Sorry, in Japanese).
As usual, to summarize the purpose briefly:
After contracting COVID-19 in March 2020 and experiencing a relatively severe case, I decided to make the most of the life I was given and started doing something I'd always wanted to do. I've turned it into a daily routine and have continued to do so ever since.
So, here I am at the end of my third year. I've been doing this daily routine for 1,095 days now. Interestingly, the 1,000th day happened to fall on New Year's Eve in 2022, which coincided with the end of the year and gave me a sense of accomplishment.
There's a theory called the "1,000-hour rule" that suggests it takes 1,000 hours of effort to reach a level where one is considered a "semi-professional" or "intermediate-advanced" in any field.
According to this "1,000-hour rule," I've been allocating 50 minutes per day to Chinese and piano practice in particular, which brings me to around 912 hours so far. I expect to hit 1,000 hours by the fall. However, I don't see any signs of becoming a semi-professional or anything like that.
Nonetheless, I have achieved three years of continuous effort. After three years, there haven't been many special discoveries, and it has become fully integrated into my daily life. So, there isn't much to write about. Until last year, I had been writing quite a bit about each aspect, but this year I'll just briefly go over the results.
Strength training and radio calisthenics (+α)
1. Radio calisthenics
Japan's Radio Calisthenics, also known as Rajio Taiso, is a popular form of group exercise that has been practiced in Japan since the early 20th century. These exercises are designed to promote health, well-being, and camaraderie among participants. Typically broadcast on radio and television, the exercises are accompanied by lively music and an instructor's voice giving directions.
The routines consist of simple, easy-to-follow movements that focus on stretching, strengthening, and increasing flexibility. They are designed to be accessible to people of all ages and fitness levels, making them a popular choice for school children, office workers, and senior citizens alike.
Radio Calisthenics is typically performed in the early morning, as it is believed to help participants start their day with energy and focus. Many people gather in public parks, schools, or community centers to take part in these exercises together, fostering a sense of community and social interaction.
In recent years, Radio Calisthenics has gained international attention as an example of a unique and effective approach to promoting physical fitness and well-being, as well as its potential to bring people together in a positive and healthy activity.
I always do the first and second activities every day. Last year, I used to participate in radio calisthenics at a nearby plaza, but if I go to the gym in the neighborhood during that time, I can't see my child off to school. So, I stopped participating and started doing it at home instead.
2. Muscle training
I feel like I'm maintaining my muscle mass, but living and working in Japan has been more stressful than I imagined (having been abroad for eight years, I experienced a complete culture shock and felt hopeless about the way work was done. It's still like that now, but with the pandemic calming down, I'll soon be working abroad again...). Over the past year, my alcohol consumption has increased tremendously. Because of that, even though I do strength training every day, I can only maintain my current muscle mass, and I don't feel like I've gained any more muscle. Still, the personal training I attended during the summer seemed to have some effect, and I feel like my muscles have become more prominent.
3. Other
I do Uketsu-san's dance twice a day, every day, no matter where I am. I even did it properly when I went to a rural village in Tanzania last October.
Uketsu-san is a Japanese YouTuber who focuses on the dark web.
As a result of the personal training I did during the summer, I concluded that it's best to do aerobic exercise every day. So, I make sure to do it for 30-60 minutes daily.
4. setbacks
Among the activities mentioned above, my streak of continuous strength training and aerobic exercise actually ended just a few weeks after the third anniversary of starting my daily routine, which is right around the time I'm writing this.
First of all, I recently experienced a sudden lower back pain while doing upper body strength training. If it was just that, I would still do some training for parts of the body that I can move without strain. However, the day after I hurt my back, I had a colonoscopy during a medical checkup, where they found polyps in my colon and removed them.
Due to concerns about rebleeding, I was instructed to avoid alcohol, greasy foods, saunas, and exercise for a week. I had no choice but to stop exercising temporarily due to the doctor's orders, and I plan to resume at the beginning of next week. However, I'm very worried and scared that I might lose interest in continuing, as my identity has been somewhat dependent on this continuity factor. I don't actually enjoy strength training or exercise at all; I was doing them simply because I had kept them up. Now that the streak has been interrupted, I have no idea what the future holds.
5. weight
My current weight is around 81-82 kg. In other words, after returning to Japan last year, I found all kinds of food and drinks to be delicious. Work was busy, and stress was high. The delicious food and drinks led to me gaining weight. I realized this was not good, so I started going to a personal trainer and managed to lose 7 kg. However, I've since gained back 3-4 kg. After all, the fundamental issue is that food and drinks are delicious, work is busy, and stress is high. I haven't really resolved the root of the problem.
In the past few months, I've discovered several delicious izakayas (Japanese pubs) and have been indulging in drinks almost daily. While the fundamental problem remains unsolved, living that way is not ideal, so even though it's a bit depressing, I decided to quit drinking until around the beginning of May. On top of that, the doctor advised me to stop drinking due to the aforementioned polyp removal, so I'm definitely off alcohol for now.
They say that quitting alcohol can lead to weight loss, but even after abstaining for just over a week, I haven't noticed any signs of that.
Finally, from the left, you can see a photo from 2018 when I was heavier, followed by photos from 2020 after I lost weight, and then 2021. The one on the far right is my current photo. I gave away my Sagami Original T-shirt to a young person I met during my travels who was uncertain about their future (the shirt says "life-changing" on the back, so it's perfect for encouraging young people in various ways). So, I'm wearing a similar red T-shirt instead. It seems that Sagami T-shirts aren't available for sale online, so Mr. H, please let me consult with you again if there's an opportunity in the future.
English (language)
I continue to spend 20 minutes a day maintaining my English skills, but this year, I didn't take any particular exams like the Eiken or TOEIC. Instead, as the COVID-19 situation is gradually improving, I've been using English more in my work. So, I spent the year listening to news podcasts every morning to understand current affairs while maintaining my listening skills.
Although it's not directly related to English conversation, with the emergence of ChatGPT, I can now have my English text checked and revised into more natural expressions, like a "machine-native check." As a result, I've started translating my past writings into English and sharing them on Substack. Although I've been working in English for a long time, there was always a sense that I couldn't fully express myself due to language barriers. So, I think the arrival of this technology feels like a sudden blessing, and it will significantly change my work outside of Japan.
Chinese (language)
Online Chinese lesson
Continuing to study Chinese for 50 minutes every day. As usual, I've been relying on Teacher B from the online Chinese conversation platform "Netchai," who lives in Inner Mongolia and is incredibly strict with pronunciation, making it difficult for the class to progress. When Teacher B is not available, there are a few other teachers, but Teacher B is the best and most particular about pronunciation.
Over the past year, I've progressed from the middle of the first volume of the textbook "Shuo Hanyu" to the middle of the second volume. It seems like I could use a slightly more advanced textbook, and when I attended a trial lesson at a local Chinese language school, they also recommended a higher-level textbook. However, I think it's probably best to slowly work through "Shuo Hanyu" with Teacher B and focus on mastering the basics.
As mentioned earlier, since the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually subsiding, I tried attending a trial lesson at a local Chinese language school. However, I decided not to continue because Teacher B is just too good and attending classes in person would be quite inconvenient.
Shadowing
On days when I don't have online classes, I keep listening to shadowing materials for HSK Level 6 vocabulary and example sentences. I play these materials on repeat quite often.
Diary
I'm still keeping a diary, and I'm around day 500 now. I tried making it public last year, but it was quite a hassle, so I've decided not to do that this year.
Duolingo
I continue to use Duolingo for pronunciation review and to maintain my daily streak by completing one lesson a day. It's quite effective for reviewing Pinyin, so it works well for me.
HSK (Chinese Proficiency Test) / Chinese Language Testing
When I first started learning Chinese, I hoped that in three years, I would be able to pass the highest level, Level 6, of the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi), the national standardized Chinese language test in China. However, I achieved my goal in about two and a half years, as I took the Level 6 exam for the first time this summer (a level where one can fluently understand information in both spoken and written form, and express their opinions and viewpoints in conversations and in writing) and barely passed it on my first attempt.
It was a challenging exam, and I thought I might have failed since I couldn't understand many parts of it. Surprisingly, I managed to pass with a score of 191 out of 300, just above the passing mark of 180 points.
On the other hand, I also tried taking the Level 2 Japanese Chinese Proficiency Test (equivalent to the Eiken English test). Passing this test would mean that my Chinese proficiency is at a level similar to Eiken Level 2. Unfortunately, I did not pass, as both the grammar and listening sections were quite difficult.
However, about 10 months have passed since my last attempt, and I recently tried some past questions and found that I could answer most of them without many mistakes. So, I decided to give it another shot in June and see how I fare.
Talking with Shiny
The annual event of speaking in Chinese with Shiny (Li Xinning) from Whatever Taipei, who I worked with at a company in New York, has become a tradition. This year, we decided to have a meaningful conversation by setting a specific theme, and I prepared some materials and acted as the moderator. As expected, my Chinese has improved after a year. To see how our conversations went last year and the year before, please refer to the articles I posted at the beginning of the previous year and the year before that.
This year, it seems that Shiny will be serving as a juror at the Cannes International Creativity Festival (previously known as the Advertising Festival). She was an intern at the company in New York, so it feels like a world apart. I tried to act like a senior and shared with her the unpleasant taste of the pizza served when the judging sessions run long.
I want to visit China soon.
I feel like it's finally time to put my Chinese skills into practical use and make friends with people in China. I haven't been to China for about three years, and I'd like to go and expand my work there. I believe that speaking Chinese with the locals and getting tipsy on Baijiu (a type of Chinese liquor) would help me discover a side of China I've never known before.
Playing Piano
It's been a year and a half since I became a disciple of Ms. Nishiyama and started seriously learning jazz piano. I practice diligently for 50 minutes every day, whether it's sunny or rainy, whether I'm in Japan, New York, or Tanzania.
Previous article abiut piano (in Japanese)
My repertoire of songs has increased, and I believe my expressiveness has improved. However, there's no specific goal in this endeavor; the more time I spend on it, the more I can do, and the more fun it becomes.
In fact, I've become somewhat capable of participating in sessions, and I've started to play something spontaneously at bars with pianos, fueled by alcohol. This undoubtedly broadens my life experiences and brings me nothing but joy. More than anything, as someone who has played the trombone, a monophonic instrument, I feel the resolution of the three-dimensional aspect of combining sounds, which I couldn't quite grasp before, is improving daily. It makes me think that this is something I'll continue for the rest of my life.
In March this year, there was a recital for Ms. Nishiyama's students.
I performed my original piece called "Neptune's Ring," a blues-like composition. It was the first piece I composed on the piano, and I wrote it with an image of blues being played in a thin and cold atmosphere on Neptune.
Additionally, I performed "Elevation of Love" by the Esbjorn Svensson Trio. This is a song I played at my wedding 19 years ago during the cake cutting, and I chose it because I really liked it. When I shared this story with my teacher, he said, "Why don't you play it!" So, I ended up playing it. I never thought it was a song I could play myself, so it was an incredibly satisfying experience. In a way, the image I've always had in my head, "if only I could play the piano," felt a little more real.
The video I compiled includes the two songs mentioned above, "Watermelon Man" that I played during a session around the beginning of the year, and a few other songs that I played last year as benchmarks.
Second-class Boiler Engineer
So, as mentioned above, I've been diligently continuing various daily routines as a part of my everyday life. I realized that I have a tendency to stick to these routines quite persistently about a year before I started these activities. Back then, I set a goal for myself to write an article on note every day for 365 days, which I detailed in the article from the year before last.
Previous Article (in Japanese)
This year, I decided to expand on this idea and conduct an experiment to see if I could consistently maintain a daily routine involving something I had absolutely no interest in.
I chose to study for the Boiler Engineer certification for 10 minutes a day. The main point here was that I was completely ignorant about boilers and had no interest in them whatsoever.
I started this daily routine in the middle of November last year. Since then, I've been learning about boilers every day without fail for about five months. Last week, I finally took the national qualification exam for the 2nd class Boiler Engineer at a very remote test center in Ichihara City, Chiba, and recently received a notification that I had passed.
Once I complete a three-day boiler training course, I will be a respectable 2nd class Boiler Engineer.
Initially, I had no interest in boilers, but as I gradually learned about their nature, I began to face things like "values in the boiler industry" and "the ingenuity that humanity has built up in the history of boilers." Now, I can even talk about boiler-related topics to some extent. However, I have never seen a real boiler in my life.
I think it would be great to write a separate article about "How to become a 2nd class Boiler Engineer in 5 months with just 10 minutes a day."
However, when I found out that I had passed, I was so happy that the winning jingle of the American Transcontinental Ultra Quiz echoed in my head.
So, although there have been some ups and downs, I have managed to continue for three years (although I am currently unable to continue strength training due to unforeseen circumstances). By this time next year, I hope to be able to proudly call myself a pianist who can manage boilers and speak Chinese. I look forward to updating you again in a year.